12:50, 12 November 2009
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Cell phones aren't just nice to have in developing countries --
cell phones play an essential role in delivering health care information, mobile banking capabilities, advocacy and awareness messages, commodity prices and weather reports to people who might never receive the information otherwise. As well, cell phone allow people an opportunity to gather and immediately share information to help in logistics, coordination, evaluation and reporting activities that are essential for various community and organizational programs and local quality of life.
See
this list of service delivery via mobile phones in the developing world. for an excellent list of examples.
You can also see "
Handheld computer technologies in community service/volunteering/advocacy", a pioneering article written in 2001 that offers even more examples of cell phone use in the developing world and as a part of NGO service delivery (note that this article has moved; if you linked to the article previously online, please adjust your links accordingly).
08:43, 5 November 2009
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The bombing of the guest house in Afghanistan that housed so many United Nations staff has, ofcourse, been very much on my mind. I'm not surprised that the UN is pulling much of its international staff out of Afghanistan or into more secure compounds following last week's deadly attack.
These events are a tragedy for those who lost their lives and even those who survived the attack, but altogether, they are also a tragedy for Afghanistan, as noted
this blog by Sarah Bailey: "The ultimate tragedy is that the cost of keeping aid works safe may be the well-being or even the survival of those who rely on their assistance."
UN workers were already incredibly restricted in their movements in the country and interactions with everyday Afghans before this latest attack. When I was there in 2007, I felt like I would go out of my mind being able to walk only within the boundaries of my guest house and my work place, for the most part, except for a handful of acceptable restaurants (and good luck finding a UN driver on your one day off to go to such, especially if you are a woman aid worker in Afghanistan). But since the first attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul in January 2008 (which killed American aid worker
Thor Hesla, among others), international aid workers are even more restricted in their movements. For most international aid workers -- at least most aid workers worth their salt -- it's interactions with locals and experiencing the country on a personal level that fuels the drive to be there, to give up family and friends for such long periods in order to serve the region. As safety precautions cut aid workers further off from every day life in the country, Afghans themselves suffer - it's harder to get them the resources they need, as communications channels become so severely limited.
But my greatest fear now is for local aid workers in Afghanistan; most of the people I worked with
when I was in Afghanistan were Afghans themselves. My fellow aid workers from Afghanistan provided most of my window into Afghan culture. Their work makes them a target. Some families have stopped allowing women family members out of the house, forcing them to quit their jobs.
It's hard to believe that, in 2007, Afghanistan was so much safer than Iraq (which was why, when offered a job in both places at the same time, I chose the former). Now, almost three years later after that original job offer, things have changed so dramatically. And tragically.
My Afghan women colleagues say that for as bad things have gotten, life is still better for them than it was under the Taliban or under the Afghanistan warlords -- but
Afghan women's gains are not holding. Please write your US Representative and your Senators to remind them that
the safety and freedom of Afghan women needs to be a priority; every decision made in Afghanistan needs to have their concerns at the forefront.
Thomas, stay safe.
10:38, 4 November 2009
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Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) for Internet and ICTs is a guide to integrating a gender analysis into evaluations of initiatives that use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for social change. GEM provides a means for
determining whether ICTs are really improving women's lives and gender relations as well as promoting positive change at the individual, institutional, community, and broader social levels. The guide provides users with an overview of the 4 elements of the evaluation process and outlines suggested strategies and methodologies for incorporating a gender analysis throughout the evaluation process. "GEM is not simply an evaluation tool. It can also be used to ensure that a gender concerns are integrated into a project planning process."
You can read a summary here: And
you can see the guide itself here (but this URL may be changing soon; the web site is currently in transition).
If you do anything regarding information and communication technologies, please read these materials.
You don't have to be a gender specialist to be an advocate for women in development activities.
Also see
women-only hours at community Internet centers? why?
11:20, 19 October 2009
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While
I was in Afghanistan, I was notorious for kicking-back field reports that stated "the community was consulted" about this or that project, but that never said if the decision-making included any women. Sadly, the report writers often came back to me with a scowl and lots of excuses about why women weren't included when "the community was consulted."
When you work in humanitarian and development efforts, you must always be aware that talking to the official leadership of a community, a region, whatever, does
not mean you are hearing about the needs of all citizens, such as minority populations or even majority populations -- women. There
are ways to seek out and include women in even socially-conservative areas so that they can be a part of decision-making.
A good example of this is an intervention in Egypt which used Egyptian women to reach other women regarding eye care, highlighted in
a brief article by the Community Eye Health Journal. The successful strategy they employed was this:
- The team undertaking the intervention held various meetings and presentations to establish a trusting relationship with local policy makers, local health authorities, local community leaders, local non-government organizations (NGOs), etc.
- The team used this network to explain that women weren't receiving eye care at the same rate as men, and that saving or restoring women's sight benefits the whole family.
- The team used this network to identify local women with previous experience in community development projects who could be trained to reach female community members in the intervention villages, as they would be able to enter homes and meet with women without coming into conflict with local cultural practices.
- 42 women were trained over three days, and 30 were selected. as "health visitors,"
- The health visitors then visited 90 per cent of the population in the two intervention villages from March to December 2007.
- During each visit, health visitors explained to women that saving or restoring their own sight would benefit the whole family. Each family received a variety of educational materials, including a calendar with illustrations relating to eye care and information on the importance of seeking eye care for the women in the household.
The result was a huge surge in the number of women receiving eye care as part of this intervention. And maybe something more: a change in the way the community viewed the value of its women? That wasn't measured, unfortunately.
Ofcourse, Egypt isn't Afghanistan. Every country presents special challenges when it comes to reaching women regarding development interventions. But there's
always a way! Regardless of your role in humanitarian or development efforts,
always make reaching women a priority.
See also:
Folklore, Rumors (or Rumours) and Urban Myths Interfering with Development and Aid/Relief Efforts, and Government Initiatives (and how these are overcome)
and
Building Staff Capacities to Communicate and Present (materials developed for Afghanistan).
10:49, 14 October 2009
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Center for Global Development research fellow David Roodman set the philanthropy world and the humanitarian world abuzz last week when he wrote that
Kiva does not work the way many lenders might think it does. Roodman details how "the person-to-person donor-to-borrower connections created by Kiva are partly fictional." His criticisms of Kiva have been reblogged and caused quite a stir, and a number of knee-jerk reactions. Yet, his comments and supporting details that "
What Kiva does behind the scenes is what it should do" and that
"technically" Kiva isn't hiding anything aren't being referred to as well.
Before you decide to blog about this subject yourself, or to offer a summary of what's going on, please read
Roodman's entire post. Read the ENTIRE post. Many of the people blogging about this obviously haven't.
Kiva Co-Founder and CEO Matt Flannery
wrote a detailed response to Roodman's blog, featured on Roodman's blog itself. And it's a good response, one that people interested in crisis communication should read.
Flannery's response on Roodman's blog is not going to be enough, ofcourse; there are
too many bloggers out there reposting tiny snippets of Roodman's original blog and glossing over the details in order to create a firestorm of criticism against Kiva. Best of luck to Flannery
and Roodman to try to bring the discussion back to the facts. Flannery is going to have to get busy posting replies to a lot more blogs, as it's unlikely they will post links to his reply. In those replies, he should
- quote liberally from Roodman's original blog, as Roodman anticipated a lot of the criticism with several of his original comments,
- point out what Kiva will be doing differently because of Roodman's post and the resulting firestorm,
- defend the practices that Kiva won't be changing because the changes would hurt those Kiva is trying to serve, and
- reiterate that the most important people in the Kiva equation are those that benefit from loans, not the donors.
Kiva needs to be ready to lose some donors, but also to
work to change the way remaining donors and new donors think about effective financial aid to the developing world, because that's at the root of this firestorm, IMO.
I'm a Kiva donor, and I'll continue to be one.
13:22, 8 October 2009
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Improving the health of adolescent girls in the developing world is the key to improving maternal and child health, reducing the impact of HIV, and accelerating social and economic development. KEY.
The new report,
Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health sheds light on the realities of girls' health and well-being in developing countries, on the links between the health of girls and the prospects for their families, and on the specific actions that will improve health prospects for millions. This report, free to download, describes the most prevalent and serious health problems adolescent girls face in developing countries, linking them to a combination of specific public-health risks and social determinants of health. It highlights the diverse ways in which governments and non-governmental organizations have sought—often successfully, albeit on small scale—to break vicious cycles of ill health. Finally, and most importantly, the report lays out an ambitious yet feasible agenda for governments, donors, the private sector, and civil society organizations—complete with estimates of indicative costs.
My favorite organizations addressing the health and prosperity of women and girls?
Support even just one of these organizations, and you are supporting women and girls, thereby making a difference for
everyone.
You can find more resources about addressing the needs of women and girls in developing countries at the
Aid Workers Network.
18:03, 22 September 2009
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I've just updated my free guidebook,
Basic Fund-Raising for Small NGOs/Civil Society in the Developing World. The document is meant to provide very basic guidelines for
small NGOs in the developing world regarding fund-raising and adhering to the basic principles of good governance, and to point to other helpful resources regarding fund-raising.
By small non-government organizations and small civil society organizations (CSOs), I mean organizations that may have only one paid staff member, or are run entirely by volunteers (unpaid staff); and may or may not have official recognition by the government. Such organizations are extremely limited in their resources, and are often in unstable environments and/or serving profoundly poor populations.
This document is not written for nonprofits serving the "developed" world -- organizations serving communities in North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand or Japan would probably not find this document particularly helpful, as it has been prepared to make recommendations relevant for small nonprofits serving in a
developing country.
THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT A LIST OF FUNDERS/DONORS.
Let me repeat that: THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT A LIST OF FUNDERS/DONORS.
It is, instead, a set of guidelines on how to prepare an organization to be attractive to donors, how to search for potential donors that support organizations in the developing world and how to approach such potential donors.
When I originally drafted this document, back in 2005, it was 15 pages long; now, it is 27 pages. It is a PDF file. To request it, please email me with:
- Your full name
- The name of the NGO you represent
- The city and country where the NGO you represent is located
- The region your NGO serves (if different than its location)
- Details on how you found out about my blog (what you are reading now)
- A statement saying you will not forward this document to anyone outside your organization, and you will not post it to your web site nor to an online discussion group (I frequently update the document, and want to ensure people are getting the most recent version).
You contact details will not be sold, traded or given to any other organization.
11:03, 17 September 2009
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While I was the volunteer coordinator and primary content contributor/wrangler for the Aid Workers Network, I had the pleasure of working with several aid and development workers doing amazing things in the world, who were willing to volunteer their very precious spare time to helping others on AWN. One of them was Peter Casier of the World Food Programme, who took on the task of managing the blogs section of AWN. He's still at it, and here's a recent post he made to the AWN forum that he graciously agreed to let me repost here. GIven how often I get messages from people who want to work abroad in aid or development, as well as how often I read criticisms of aid workers, I thought this would be helpful to share (and note the tips for aid workers who want to blog at the end):
Peter:
There is a lot of information around that interests us, aidworkers and humanitarians. It fascinates me, both in the quantity of information and in the way it is dispersed. Few social aggregators and social media sites have categories which are of interest to us, or offer selected news of our sector. Stuff is dispersed everywhere. Selections via Google News on search criteria like "Aid" or "development" return too much noise ("aid to the banking sector" is much more popular nowadays than "aid to Africa"... e.g.)
For a year, I have been experimenting with different means to get the relevant information automatically collected in simple,low bandwidth and searchable sites.
Not only would it give those working in the nonprofit sector an easier overview, but it would also help in broadcasting news of our sector to the "general public". Call it "advocacy through information"...
Gradually this has grown to different sites.
- Aid News aggregates the latest news bulletins related to aid news (and areas in which we work). (updates broadcasted via Twitter @AidNews)
- Change Thru Info does the same but for news bulletins from humanitarian agencies, and blogs about development, aid,... (updates via Twitter @ChangeThruInfo)
- The Other World News only shows the latest posts, refreshed each time the site is loaded.
- Non Profit Blogs stores a random selection from about 300 nonprofit blogs. (updates via Twitter @NonProfitBlogs)
- You and Us and Me does the same for "Green News" (updates via Twitter @NewsOnGreen)
- Humanitarian News is my latest project (@HumanityNews on Twitter), and a bit grander in scope. It takes in about 600 different sources (news sites, blogs, generic websites), and puts them into 5 sections: aid news, blogs by aidworkers, news updates from the nonprofit sector, blogs from the nonprofit sector, and green news. This aggregator is much faster and powerful than the other ones, features selective RSS feeds, and daily Email updates with the latest news. On average, Humanitarian News stores about 300 updates per day (I am still tuning the site to ensure it misses not a single article).
The site has been up since 3 weeks, and collected up 6000 articles so far. The power with a repository like this, is the search. E.g. searching for DRC, or Darfur or "health+climate change", gives you an overview of what has been published in all these sources.
I do quite a bit of an effort to keep the sources focused and updated, to filter junk out of the posts (and sites), and to update the list of sources continuously...
Have a look and tell me what you think.
PS: While building these sites, I (with sweat blood and tears) collected a bit of experience on blogging, blogging tools etc.. So for those of you blogging as a hobby or blogging for your nonprofit organisation, I compiled some of my experiences in a site with blogging tips, specifically for the nonprofit sector: BlogTips.
Enjoy.
Peter
13:32, 31 August 2009
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Back in August 2003, I had the pleasure of co-hosting an online discussion at
TechSoup regarding
Gender and the Digital Divide. It was a discussion regarding the barriers that keep women and girls away from computer and Internet-related classes and community technology centers (telecenters, Internet cafes, etc.). One of the things that came up in this discussion back then was that
the barriers for women and girls to tech access are even more pronounced in developing countries, where family-obligations and cultural practices keep large numbers of women from ever stepping foot into a community technology center, telecenter, Internet cafe, etc., whether nonprofit or privately-run.
I was reminded yet again of this recently while corresponding with an Afghan female colleague: her employer has blocks on hundreds of web sites, including several she needs for her own career and skills development. But
using an Internet cafe is not an option for her, and thousands of other women in Kabul like her, because:
- her family would never allow her to go to such a place without a mahram (a male relative she could not marry, such as a brother, uncle, or father, acting as a safety and social escort), and most men aren't willing to devote a few hours a week to accompany a female relative to an Internet cafe.
- given the atmosphere of many public Internet sites -- the posters in the wall, what's being looked at on some of the computer screens by male patrons, men coming and going -- it's not an option for her to use a public Internet site even with a mahram.
My friend -- and thousands of other women in Kabul -- need a place that's either devoted only to women Internet users, or, a public site that has women-only hours. I have yet to find either using Web searches and posts to various online communities.
But it's not just in Kabul. Cultural practices keep women out of public Internet sites in communities all over the world.
I appreciate so much that I have the freedom where I live to walk into any public place with Internet access, and not have to worry about any social or legal ramifications as a result. But I also have to acknowledge that not every woman on Earth does have this freedom and, until they do, community technology centers run by nonprofits and Internet cafes run for-profit need to think about their accommodations for women and girls.
Public Internet access points in Kabul, elsewhere in Afghanistan, or in other developing countries, can encourage more women to use their services by:
- creating women-only hours at a time that is appealing to women, or creating a women-only space with its own supervised entrance/exit and its own bathroom
- providing women-only classes
- staffing women-only hours, women-only spaces or women-only classes by women volunteers or women paid staff members, and with just one or two male staff members (if any) closely supervised and never, ever alone with any woman (staff or customer)
- providing childcare for women using the site (it's okay to charge a nominal fee for this)
- a computer user space free of any images that might be deemed offensive to a conservative culture
How else can community technology centers, telecenters, Internet cafes, etc. in conservative areas be more accommodating of women and girls? Let's hear from you.
14:33, 28 August 2009
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The
International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, part of the
United Nations Development Programme, is sponsoring a
Global Photography Campaign, "Humanizing Development". Anyone, anywhere, is invited to
contribute photos that show promoting inclusive development, gender equality and/or democratic governance. The campaign is intended to counterbalance the frequently shown images of desolation and despair. Success is happening in development -- it's time that everyone mobilize to show it!
Everyone and anyone can contribute photographs: professional and amateur photographers, students, civil society activists, government officials, UN staff members, travelers, aid workers, whomever.
The campaign will be
open for submissions from 1 June to 1 October 2009. Photographs need to be sent through
the form on the web site.
A photo gallery will to be permanently located at IPC-IG office and open for public visitation. A series of photo exhibitions will also be organized in several cities around the world.
On a related note: While
I was in Afghanistan, I uploaded photos taken by staff long before I arrived in the country, as well as by colleagues while I was in the country, to
Flickr. These included photos of a joint program by the Afghanistan Ministry for Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) and
UNDP engaged in
community organizing and staff, mostly Afghan staff, in action in the field. I also trained staff in
how to take photos in the field.
Our communications office got so many comments from Afghan expats thrilled to see such positive images from their home country, as well as positive comments from the press, from other development agencies who wanted to use the photos, etc. Sharing these photos got our own staff members excited about the work they were doing, and internal staff started using photos much more in their reports. Our program ended up receiving much more attention than ever in various publications, like the
UNDP annual report, because of these photos shared on Flickr.
If you want to share photos on online, it is essential that you
- Put detailed descriptions on photos when you upload them, describing what is happening in the photo. Include the name of your organization and individual program, as well as the city and country where the photo is taken, in every photo.
- Be sure to use tags for the photo if you want the photo to show up in photo searches using words that aren't in the description (such as "gender and development" or "participatory development", etc.).
16:07, 24 August 2009
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The August 24 issue of The New York Times Magazine is dedicated to international women's issues.
"There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism. That’s why foreign aid is increasingly directed to women. The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution."
See:
For even more information, here is list of organizations working to help women in the developing world, compiled by volunteers at the Aid Workers Network.
And for those of you working anywhere, trying to contribute to anything, remember: you do not have to be a gender specialist to mainstream women's issues in your work
12:47, 19 August 2009
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It's August 19 - the first
World Humanitarian Day. It honors those who are working or have worked in the promotion of humanitarian causes, particularly those who have died while working in aid and development.
This
designation was made by the United Nations to honor the late Mr.
Vieira de Mello on the anniversary of his death: he was killed in the Canal Hotel Bombing in Iraq in 2003 along with 20 other members of his staff while working as the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in Iraq.
Anywhere between dozens and hundreds of humanitarian aid workers are killed, kidnapped, or seriously injured in violent attacks every year. 2008 was the worst in 12 years, with 260 humanitarian aid workers killed, kidnapped, or seriously injured. This toll exceeds the number of victims among U.N. peacekeeping troops. Many, if not most, of these humanitarian workers are locally-recruited staff.
Reporters and members of Western militaries love making fun of aid workers, which is interesting, since I've rarely heard aid workers turn the tables... probably because they are too busy.
And before you ask: here is a detailed page on
how to get a job in humanitarian work. And another on
how to volunteer abroad.
I knew one of those staff members in Iraq that was injured and, ultimately, died. We met only once, and I remember the meeting well. He wasn't a friend. But he *was* a colleague, someone who got excited about the
Online Volunteering service into 60 seconds of my description of such. After that, every murder or attack on an aid worker anywhere makes me stop in my tracks and read every media account I can get my hands on. Kinda drives my husband crazy sometimes...
In memory of
Thor David Hesla, someone whom I never met, but whose death I mourn, for
obvious reasons.
20:30, 14 August 2009
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An ongoing, mostly annoying, debate on
The Thorn Tree discussion for Afghanistan is about risk and safety in Afghanistan. Is the country safe enough for tourists, let alone aid workers? The debate rages on.
Many people new to aid work dream of an experience that will be exciting, personally-fulfilling, inspiring and full of photo opportunities. But the reality is that aid work is often filled with a lot of danger, conflict and frustration in exchange for the "excitement." Similarly, many seasoned adventure travelers dream of going off the beaten track, to countries and regions where there are few other tourists, so they can experience something "pure", and they assume their tourist status will somehow protect them from the forces that make an area relatively tourist-free, forces like violence and conflict.
For either of these groups, Afghanistan is NOT what you are looking for, IMO.
I've been both an aid worker and an adventure traveler.
My first two months in Afghanistan had me dreaming of bringing over
my husband and enjoying some of Afghans' gorgeous natural, historical and cultural treasures together when my contract ended. The last two months of my contract had me wanting out of the country as quickly as possible, as violence and kidnappings escalated. A year later, we opted to take a month-long tour of Eastern Europe, including several post-conflict zones (Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) -- the perfect mix of not
too many tourists, not
too many risks, tons of great places to experience, and a limited infrastructure to keep it that way for a while.
Believe it or not, Northern Iraq is nothing like the rest of Iraq, nor like Afghanistan, in terms of violence, corruption or insecurity. The semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq has a growing number of hotels, a not-entirely-awful infrastructure (water and electricity), and a population that moves around in relative freedom. There are huge markets where hundreds of people shop regularly and, with appropriate precautions, its safe to walk down many streets. And I'm sure that's exactly why those three Americans went to the region -- the
three Americans who have been detained by Iran while hiking in Northern Iraq near the poorly marked Iranian border. Even with that incident, I wouldn't try to talk a seasoned adventure traveler out of going to Northern Iraq -- provided they steer clear even
seeing the Iran border.
Oh, the perfect balance aid workers and tourists seek as they work and travel abroad... It's a funny thing. And it's best summarized by a
fantastic graph created by one of my favorite bloggers. Saucy language, so if you are easily offended, don't read the blog nor look at the graph.
07:00, 6 July 2009
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Being a female aid and development worker presents a lot of unique challenges, and I often wonder if male workers are aware of these.
Western women are often seen as honorary men when working in the field, and therefore don't always have the same cultural restrictions as local women may have. However, and very unfortunately, foreign women can also be seen by locals and even some of their foreign co-workers as promiscuous because they aren't traveling with a male family member -- and therefore, foreign female aid and development workers often have to be extra careful in how they present themselves and their relationships with male colleagues.
(
Here is a blog entry I wrote about my own experience as a female aid worker in Afghanistan, and here's
here's another blog entry specifically on harassment)
Local women can have an even tougher time as professionals in aid and development, because they may be seen as defying local customs and even religious laws regarding how women should behave, and local people they encounter through their work may feel they have the right to enforce cultural and religious practices and prevent such women from doing their jobs.
Fatema Begum Labony is from Dhaka, Bangladesh and is working in a research organization. She is the only female member in monitoring and evaluation division of her organization. She recently visited 30 schools in remote areas of Bangladesh for data collection, and sometimes had to stay hotels in the areas she visited. She wrote this blog entry,
Being an female(!) evaluator, that I found fascinating.
An excerpt:
"They specially gave me a room beside the office of room service from where hotel staff can monitor my mobility all time. I have to fill up police verification form where I have to write detail about me along with my hair color, skin color etc. They also gave us some special restriction like we couldn't go each others room, we have to come early at night. At the end of the check-in process the manager whispered to my male colleague, 'remember that we have guard in our hotel. They always moves inside hotel'".
Read the entire entry here.
Also check out all the resources at the
Eldis Community. It's especially for people working in or researching practices in aid and development, and aside from being difficult to navigate, it's really a great resource.
11:19, 10 June 2009
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Differences are a fact of life. Differences are normal. Unfortunately, people are often excluded from society, education and work because of their difference, such as a disability. But the good news is that addressing the needs of one group of people deemed "different" often makes a project or product more accessible and useful to
everyone: that bathroom stall for people in wheelchairs gets used by a woman with children; closed-captioning for the hearing-impaired is used much more by people learning English and on TVs in bars and restaurants; offering a text transcript of a podcast allows people who prefer to read than listen, or who don't have headphones and are sharing an office, to access the info; and on and on.
Make Development Inclusive is a project working to ensure that people with disabilities are served by the development policies of the European Union Member States, the European Commission, and European non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the fields of development cooperation and humanitarian aid. The site has great resources for anyone working in aid and development, not just people from the EU or funded by the EU.
Just as
I mainstream gender issues but I'm not a gender specialist, you can make your development and humanitarian aid work accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities, without being an expert in such. It's all about your approach and your attitude. Why leave anyone out?
07:03, 27 May 2009
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INTRAC's latest newsletter,
ONTRAC Issue 42, looks at HIV and AIDS in the workplace, and reviews how organizations can respond to the personal and organizational impacts of HIV and AIDS. Articles from the varied perspectives of international NGOs, African consultants, practitioners working in low prevalence countries, and personal testimonies, shed light on how and why organizations can respond to the personal and organisational impacts of HIV and AIDS.
Download ONTRAC Issue 42 in PDF.
Almost no one in sub-Saharan Africa has remained untouched by the HIV and AIDS. Most have relatives and friends who are HIV positive or who have died of AIDS. Having staff infected with HIV and affected by AIDS in the extended family decreases productivity. There is increasing absenteeism due to sickness, care of the ill and funerals. Scarce management time is diverted to dealing with HIV/AIDS issues. But when donors and CSOs together acknowledge the threat caused by HIV in the workplace, there are many positive ways forward to build organizational resilience to the disease.
INTRAC (International NGO Training and Research Centre) is a non-profit organization based in the United Kingdom and working in the international development and relief sector. INTRAC supports NGOs and CSOs around the world by helping to explore policy issues, and by strengthening management and organizational effectiveness.
17:46, 12 May 2009
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There is no cut-and-paste strategy for community development or solving a community's problems, no one thing that will work everywhere. But strategies
can be adapted from one area for application somewhere else, and it is
always a great idea (not just good -- GREAT) to read what's been done elsewhere, in case there are approaches to adapt for your own use, or pitfalls that other initiatives experienced that you could plan to avoid.
I recently came across a web site chock-full of fantastic free and low-cost resources to be used regarding community development, produced by the
Canadian Centre for Community Renewal. One of its resources is its FREE
Tools & Techniques for Community Recovery & Renewal, a catalogue of over 60 specific methods that communities have used to enhance their economic and social well-being, often in the face of dire financial circumstances. It's a ready resource for anyone trying to strengthen or revitalize the economy of a town, neighborhood, or region. It's especially designed for the residents of such an area to use themselves. The tools include guidelines for conducting an Inventories of businesses, organizations, and skills, developing a literacy program, encouraging women entrepreneurship, developing a community revolving loan fund and oh so much more.
For communications tools and case studies relating to community and human development/empowerment, my favorite resource remains
The Communication Initiative. If you work in communications for a nonprofit organization, non-governmental organization (NGO), school, university, aid agency or government program focused on helping communities or the environment, this resource is well worth your time to read regularly. Subscribe to the initiative's email newsletter,
The Drum Beat, to know when new evaluations, case studies, reports and research have been added to the web site.
Take at least 30 minutes a week to shut your door, not answer your phone, not answer email, and, instead, to read these and other resources that can help you in your own work. It's time well spent!
10:36, 9 May 2009
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It's Saturday, and that means it's personal blog day. And once again... it's going to be focused on women in Afghanistan. They are still there, they are still struggling, and they still need your support. You are NOT being culturally insensitive by supporting the cause for women's empowerment in Afghanistan, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
Here are two updates from the
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) worth your time:
Keep yourself updated about what's happening with women in Afghanistan, so you can talk to your friends, and write your House of Representatives dude or dudette, and your Senators, to let them know you expect them to keep pressuring Afghanistan regarding the rights of women. If it weren't for outside pressure, the women of Afghanistan would have little hope.
You CAN make a difference!
Other good resources to stay up-to-date:
Also see this excellent
list of non-governmental and international humanitarian organizations operating in Afghanistan
06:50, 20 April 2009
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The
Association for Women's Rights in Development has a a terrific worldwide initiative on
Resisting and Challenging Religious Fundamentalism. This is an advocacy-research project that seeks to strengthen the responses of women’s rights activists to the rise of religious fundamentalisms across regions and religions. It aims to foster a deeper and shared understanding of the way fundamentalisms work, grow and undermine women's rights, and to share strategies that have been used by women’s rights activists to resist and challenge religious fundamentalisms.
There are
three publications from this initiative worth your time to read:
Shared Insights: Women’s rights activists define religious fundamentalisms
What do we mean when we speak of the phenomenon of “religious fundamentalisms”? Is the term useful for women’s rights activists? Who are the main fundamentalist actors in the contemporary world? By grappling with these questions, this publication aims to understand how women’s rights activists from different parts of the world experience and define the complex phenomenon of religious fundamentalisms. Based on the responses of more than 1,600 individuals to AWID’s survey in September 2007, and 51 in-depth interviews conducted by the AWID research team, this publication aims to explore how women’s rights activists characterize religious fundamentalisms and to reach a better understanding of their views and experiences of the issue in various parts of the world.
Religious Fundamentalisms on the Rise: A case for action
Religious fundamentalisms are gaining strength within the world’s major and minor religions, and across all the world’s regions. In the views of women’s rights activists, these movements have intensified over the last ten years, and have grown more visible, strategic and aggressive. This publication draws on the survey responses of more than 1,600 women’s rights activists and interviews with 51 key experts. It seeks to build a deeper and more shared understanding among women’s rights activists and their allies of the way fundamentalist projects work to undermine women’s rights, human rights and development.
Ten myths about religious fundamentalisms
The myths exposed in this publication come from the experiences of more than 1,600 women’s rights activists who responded to AWID’s Resisting and Challenging Religious Fundamentalisms survey, as well as 51 key experts who were interviewed for the project.
Together, these women’s rights activists represent a diverse group: ranging in age from under 16 to over 65 years of age; working on different issues and affected by different religious fundamentalisms; working at local, national, regional or international levels in various regions, and in organizations that range from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) to government and multilateral agencies. They include academics, human rights defenders, youth and development workers, as well as members of religious
organizations.
Despite this diversity, we found many myths in common: myths we hold about religious fundamentalisms, as well as myths that religious fundamentalists would like us to believe. Our research reveals that the behaviours and impacts of religious fundamentalisms are clearly more negative than they would like to admit or take responsibility for. But it also reveals that religious fundamentalisms are not as simple to analyze as we sometimes believe. In other words, some major myths, promoted both from the inside looking out and from the outside looking in, were exposed by our findings.
This publication is about the top ten myths common to all regions and religions covered in AWID’s research. They can be countered by holding religious fundamentalists accountable for what they say and do, and by ensuring that our analysis most closely matches the lived experiences of women’s rights activists. By exposing these myths, we hope that we can contribute to strengthening resistance and challenges to religious fundamentalisms.
Great stuff! Also see
my favorite women-focused resources.
09:53, 4 April 2009
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It's the weekend! And that means: time for
a personal Jayne blawg:
The government of Afghanistan is about to launch
a new law that will severely limit the rights of all women in the country, turning back the clock on so many of the gains of the last seven years. Under this law, rape of women within marriage is legalized, women may seek work, education or doctor's appointments only with the male head-of-household's permission, and only fathers and grandfathers would be granted custody of children. Afghan President Karzai signed the law last month, but his government refuses to share the text with even its own people.
The law clearly violates both UN conventions and the Afghan constitution, two things that Karzai promised to uphold.
You can read more about the law in the
Guardian, the
Telegraph, even
Fox News.
U.N. Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay, says the law is another clear indication that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is getting worse not better.
Where are the public challenges to Karzai and Afghan warlords from country donors and Western leaders? Where are the confrontations and public disdain by those who should be holding the Afghan government responsible for these type of actions? Good luck finding such. I'm sorry to say that President Obama,
by his own admission, does not see the rights of women in Afghanistan as a priority , per his being asked on April 4 about this issue at a press conference in Europe. If the price of fighting al-Qaeda means supporting the Taliban and other fundamentalists to turn against such and having women in the region re-assume the status of animals... or slaves... the Western governments will look the other way. Sorry, gals!
Like many Americans, I first became acutely aware of Afghanistan long before September 11, 2001; I started paying attention when emails flew around the Internet in the mid-1990s, talking about the horrendous conditions for women under the Taliban. The USA and its allies invaded Afghanistan to find the coordinators of the attacks on the USA in 2001, but the reality is that many millions of people were hoping that this invasion would stop the persecution of women in Afghanistan, and these people's continued support for military, aid workers and money being sent to the country has come from the passion to help Afghan women, not to find a group of international criminals.
World leaders' inaction on this is not about respecting cultural differences; its about supporting state-sanctioned oppression. If institutionalized oppression of a people was wrong in South Africa, if it was wrong in the American South, it's wrong NOW. The only hope women in Afghanistan have for stopping this law is if Western donors threaten to pull funding and its support of the Afghan government, and that will only happen if people start pressuring their own governments. So please: write every elected official at the federal level in your country and let them know you find it unacceptable for your government to fund oppressive regimes that don't respect human rights and want women to become chattel. Tell them you want pressure on the Afghan government NOW to honor its own constitution and respect universal human rights.
Tell your friends to do the same.
Remember: SILENCE MEANS APPROVAL.
