New Panel Formed to Review European Campaign Projects
	Face to Face Testimonies
	Campaign Management Ideas

A new review panel has been formed to continue to evaluate European Face to Face Campaign partner project funding proposals.

The panel consists of Lyn Thomas, Regional Director of the IPPF European Network, Alex Marshall, UNFPA, and Walter Coddington, Coddington Management.

The panel will apply several criterion to the evaluation of Campaign partner proposals. Most important, the proposed activity or event must refer to the Campaign name, purpose and primary sponsors, and must promote issues or activities related to international population assistance, including family planning and sexual health, population and development strategy, and/or population assistance advocacy. It is very important that the identity of the Face to Face Campaign and its purpose be clearly and carefully integrated into (not just tacked on) Campaign partner projects. Doing so accrues to the benefit of all Campaign partners - a fact we have learned from several campaign donors, and potential donors including foundations, the European Commission and several European development agencies.

The Face to Face Campaign is endeavoring to fund Campaign partner proposals at a minimum level of $30,000 the second year of the Campaign. Currently, however, not enough funds are available to fund all Campaign partners at this level. UNFPA and Coddington Management are working to raise additional monies so that at least $30,000 will be available to all partners for second year projects. Until that time, proposals that meet the evaluation criterion will be funded on a first-come, first-serve basis. Coddington Management solicited project proposals from all Campaign partners in April and May of 1999. Campaign partners should continue to submit project proposals directly to Coddington Management.

A third series of Face to Face Testimonies was organized in New York from June 30th to July 2nd during UNGASS with the focal issues on Female Genital Mutilation, services for refugees, safe motherhood, and AIDS. This series was coordinated by IPPF, CEDPA, World Population Foundation and RFSU.

Waris Dirie, the Somali supermodel and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, spoke about her personal experience with this harmful practice. A Senegalese religious leader, Demba Diawara, shared details about his work to ban FGM which has resulted in more than 40 villages making declarations against this traditional practice. Demba said that having talked to women in his own village about the damaging impact of FGM, he decided to "put on my shoes and go walking" - traveling to many villages to get others, including men, religious leaders and community leaders, to talk openly about the issues.

Demba's efforts are supplemented by educational programs supported by the local NGO Tostan. Molly Melching, Executive Director of Tostan, translated for Demba and spoke about the Tostan education programs.

Speaking on the second day of the Testimonies, Albanian FPA Director Valentina Leskaj described the current situation in her country where many thousands of Kosovo refugees now need health services. "The suffering has not just stopped. It has just started," said Leskaj, who described the urgent need for NGOs and international development agencies to create sustainable support for these people. Speaking later on South Africa Broadcasting TV, Leskaj questioned the decision of some development groups not to provide emergency contraception in the refugee camps. "This is a violation of the human rights of these refugee people," she said.

Also speaking on the topic of refugees and reproductive health were Pamela DeLargy, head of UNFPA's Emergency Relief Office, and Anja MeOulenbelt, a psychology consultant specializing in sexual violence and trauma counseling and author of Beyond Shame. Speaking on safe motherhood the third day of the Testimonies, former IPPF President Dr. Fred Sai described the continuing suffering of women in his own country of Ghana. "In the area where I grew up, there is hardly a home that has not witnessed the death of a woman in childbirth," he said. Dr. Sai described safe motherhood as humane, economical and achievable. "I have no doubt that if it were a plane full of men who died every day, we would have found solutions to pregnancy-related deaths by now."

Janet Ikeda, program director of IDEI, spoke about maternal mortality and the sexual education of teens in Guatemala.

The final day of the Testimonies was chaired by Katarina Lindhal of RFSU. Speakers included HIV-positive Reverend Gideon Byamugisha of Uganda who spoke openly of the need for all churches to promote safer sex. "Love is about protecting your partner," he said. Beatrice Were, who runs support services for HIV-women in Uganda, described the very difficult decisions that mothers must make concerning their health status, and how young children may well have very negative perceptions of people with HIV. Anne Fiedler, publisher of "Straight Talk", a popular youth newsletter, spoke about the sexual and reproductive health issues faced by young people in Uganda.

This column is devoted to ideas for managing the Face to Face Campaign. The issues addressed here range from using campaign volunteers, to developing positive relationships with the media, to budgeting. The information in this column is based on the Guide To Campaign Management by Coddington Management, issued to Campaign partners in June 1998.

Budget Management

An advocacy campaign should develop a financial outline of the campaign that provides discipline, direction and guides for financial decision-making.

A project budget format is recommended, one that facilitates financial planning, particularly in the areas of fixed expenses and variable expenses.

A three-budget approach can be very useful. This approach includes a minimal budget that covers basic necessities; an operational budget that covers basic needs; and an optimal budget based on the most money that could realistically be spent. Start with the optimal, then the minimal, and then select an in-between figure that is realistic in terms of the campaign's fundraising potential and campaign needs. These figures create the operational budget.

Finally, create a financial control system with expenditure approval procedures, standardized bookkeeping, regular budget reviews, and methods for minimizing costs (competitive bidding, cash discounts, etc.).