Face to Face: Archives: March 2005

Working for Women's Rights

"The Intensive Therapy Centre (ITC) seems in reality a torture center where women are confined completely naked after having been unnecessarily drugged" / "Mujer en CTI, supuestamente Centro de Terapia Intensiva, en realidad parece un centro de tortura intensiva donde se las encierra desnudas y totalmente intoxicadas con medicamentos innecesarios"
Photo by: Evelyn Ruman (São Paulo, Brasil),
Place: Brasil, 50x40 cm

March 2005
Building Consensus, Coalitions and Capacity

	Women and Youth in the New Millennium
	Building Towards the Future
	The POWER to Stop AIDS

Women and Youth in the New Millennium

Building Consensus

Ensuring access to sexual and reproductive healthcare is essential for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

WOMEN AND YOUTH IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Jeffrey Sachs, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General on the MDGs and director of the Millennium Project, has said “Reproductive health services … are absolutely critical tools for alleviating poverty, and in particular for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.”

Women and Youth in the New Millennium is a celebrity-driven, pan-European advocacy initiative designed to:

Build public awareness of the link between sexual and reproductive healthcare and the Millennium Development Goals.
Provide the media with sexual and reproductive healthcare and Millennium Development Goal-related information and communication materials.
Recruit and train young adult activists as “sexual and reproductive healthcare and MDG” Champions.
Directly inform parliamentarians and other policymakers about the link between sexual and reproductive healthcare and Millennium Development Goals.

Highlights of the Women and Youth in the New Millennium initiative:

Conceived by three European Union celebrity sexual and reproductive healthcare advocates.
Developed by award-winning European writers, filmmakers and directors.
Sponsored in part by European commercial broadcasters (private sector).
Endorsed by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Chaired by former Irish MEP Mary Banotti.
Advised by the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA).
Managed by Magic Path Entertainment (Finland) and Face to Face International.

All elements and activities of the Women and Youth in the New Millennium initiative work to reinforce and support one another:

TV Documentaries. The initiative kicks off with made-for-TV documentaries that dramatize the true stories of women, youth and grassroots organizations that, largely unaware of the MDGs, work against great odds to help realize similar goals. The documentaries illustrate the connection between sexual and reproductive healthcare, gender equality and the Millennium Development Goals. In each EU donor country, a celebrity spokes-person will narrate the documentaries in his/her native language.

The Women and Youth in the New Millennium documentaries will be co-produced by Medicine Man Productions and Magic Path Entertainment. Medicine Man Productions is Finnish singer/songwriter Mikko Kuustonen’s production company. Mikko is the originator of and driving force behind the TV documentaries. Magic Path Entertainment is a Helsinki-based production company that is also responsible for the sale and distribution of the TV documentaries. In Finland, the YLE TV network is committed to the project. Magic Path is also in discussions with AVEK, ZDF-ARTE (Germany), Europe Images International (France), the Scottish production company Tern TV, and BBC and Channel 4 in the U.K. Broadcast distribution of the documentaries will be through pre-sales in Finland, France, Germany, the U.K., Sweden, Norway, and the U.S., and after-sales in Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan.

The TV documentaries will be directed by Sweden-based Jerzy Sladkowski. Sladkowski has strong international credentials and credibility. His most recent documentary production, Noble Virgins, won a special Prix Europa in 2003.

The TV documentaries will feature women and youth interviewed in the recently released book by best-selling Danish author, Hanne-Vibeke Holst (see below).

The Book. A central component of the initiative is best-selling Danish author Hanne-Vibeke Holst’s recent book When I Got Angry—containing 15 portraits of women and youth from developing countries who represent the kind of catalytic individuals instrumental in bringing about the realization of the MDGs in their respective communities. In Denmark, Gyldendal has published the book and will distribute it through retail/commercial channels and venues. Publishers in other European countries are now being signed up.

Engaging Young Adult Activists. On a single county pilot basis, the Irish Family Planning Association has applied for an EU grant to recruit and train young adults (who are already active in social, environmental, trade, labour, political, media, and development affairs youth councils) as Women and Youth in the New Millennium “Champions” or spokespersons. These Champions will first learn by studying the initiative’s TV documentary and book portraits, then inform others about the link between women and youth, S&RH and the achievement of the MDGs as well as the relevance of development assistance to donor countries.

Informing Policymakers. Former MEP Mary Banotti and Catherine Heaney of DHR Communications (Dublin) will brief MPs and MEPs throughout the European Union on the link between sexual and reproductive healthcare and the Millennium Development Goals. On a case-by-case basis, they will involve certain MPs and MEPs in the Women and Youth in the New Millennium initiative as spokespersons, informing other MPs, journalists and young adult activists.

The Web Site. The TV documentaries will direct viewers and readers respectively to the Women and Youth in the New Millennium Web site. The site will feature the women and youth portraits contained in the TV documentaries and the book. The portraits will be accompanied by study guides for the media, teachers, activists and policy-makers.

Status: In the fundraising stage.

Building Towards the Future

Building Coalition

Governmental and non-governmental cooperation is essential for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

BUILDING TOWARDS THE FUTURE

Prior to the recent tsunami and with the exception of a few post-conflict situations, there has been a decline in the flow of development assistance to Asia and the Pacific Islands. Today, even if tsunami-relief funding commitments are met, the total amount of aid is only one challenge. Another challenge is that of capacity. One United Nations study found that about 25% of international assistance to Asia and the Pacific Islands remains unutilized because of poor planning and lack of capacity to make use of the resources.

Face to Face International and seven NGO members of the Asia Pacific Alliance (a network of governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and technical assistance groups that work in the areas of population, development and the environment) want to help increase the capacity of governmental agencies and NGOs in Asian and Pacific Island countries to build the partnerships, programs and resources necessary to meet the ICPD Program of Action and Millennium Development Goals for their respective countries. This capacity building initiative is called “Building Towards the Future.”

The long-term goal of the initiative is to bring about in the region:

A reversal in the spread of HIV/AIDS.
A decrease in infant mortality.
A decrease in maternal mortality.
A reduction in poverty and hunger.
A halting of environmental degradation.
The formation of the partnerships necessary to accomplish the aforementioned objectives as well as help ensure that the results are sustainable.

On August 13-14, 2004, the New Zealand Family Planning Association and Face to Face International hosted the Building Towards the Future workshop in Auckland. Forty-five participants (including Members of Parliament, Ministers of Health, donor representatives and S&RH and AIDS NGO directors) from 14 countries discussed the capacity building needs in the two regions.

Follow-up discussions with regional development donors and consultants confirmed the workshop participant’s consensus that the Building Towards the Future initiative should:

Focus on HIV prevention or use it as an entry point.
Link sexual and reproductive healthcare with HIV prevention and other MDGs.
Be implemented on a country-by-country basis.
Build or strengthen social service program partnerships between relevant governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Support the development of service programs that are larger in scale than traditional pilot programs, dramatically increasing the number of people served.
Support the development of sector-wide and multi-sector (health, education and employment) social service programs that are more deeply rooted in the community in order to improve efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability.
Build individual institutions and/or coalitions capable of securing and managing larger development fund budgets.
Develop or improve financial reporting, monitoring and evaluation system.

Status: Building Towards the Future initiative partners (the coalition) will meet in Bangkok in April 2005 to select target countries and discuss next steps.

The POWER to Stop AIDS

Building Capacity

Integrated multisector programming is essential for achieving
the Millennium Development Goals.

THE POWER TO STOP AIDS

The world is now about 25 years into the HIV/AIDS crisis and, according to the widely respected interpersonal communication specialist, Dr. Arvind Singhal, there are relatively few effective and sustainable HIV prevention programs. Dr. Singhal, in his comprehensive analysis of existing HIV prevention programs, concludes that the following are critical success factors:

The involvement of the business community.
Communication interventions designed to decrease the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.
Communication initiatives that appeal to audience emotions.
Programming that utilizes an interpersonal network approach.
Involvement of people living with AIDS (PWAs) in the prevention process.
Integration of HIV/AIDS prevention programs with sexual and reproductive health programs.

POWER does all of the above and more …

POWER helps communities make greater use of existing local resources, institutions and activities to address HIV prevention. POWER enables communities to be more reliant on the self-interests and skills of each community stakeholder instead of being largely dependent on international assistance.

POWER is a multifaceted approach to HIV prevention that supports four primary HIV prevention activities:

Communication: building awareness of how HIV is transmitted, and where to go to get counseling, barrier protection and testing.
Service: providing sexual and reproductive healthcare, including emotional counseling, peer and PWA group interaction, condom distribution and HIV/AIDS testing.
Transportation: enabling clients to get to service providers and enabling service providers to get supplies.
Income Generation: enabling clients to pay for services and service providers to pay for supplies and other overhead.

Designed to build total community support for HIV prevention, POWER can greatly improve the effectiveness of any existing HIV prevention program.

The POWER approach:

Builds community consensus that HIV poses a serious threat to the health and well-being of the entire community.
Identifies all local public and private organizations (the coalition,) that can provide services, skills or resources in support of the four above-mentioned HIV prevention activities.
Coordinates the public and private sector institutional services to support HIV prevention activities (collective capacity building).

Key to the success of the POWER approach to HIV prevention is the identification and leveraging of incentives that make each potential partner in the community a willing and effective program member. This is particularly important in the case of private sector and overburdened public service partners. For example, a local distributor of beverages may see the importance and efficiency of delivering condoms along with soft drinks to the local bodega, but will want to be compensated in some way for the extra effort required. This extra compensation may be provided in the form of otherwise unaffordable endorsements by local VIPs.

The POWER approach to HIV prevention does not stop at the cooperation of public and private stakeholders to reinforce behavior change communication, facilitate HIV testing and distribute condoms. POWER works to generate income for PWAs, at-risk individuals and communities as well.

POWER proactively seeks out existing local businesses (and NGOs) that are in a position to incubate (for a return on investment) new low-tech, high-employment, basic commodity-oriented businesses.

For example, the space and equipment requirements for packaging (not manufacturing) condoms are very modest. The same can be said of bottling soft drinks and certain cleaning products. The business of packaging and selling condoms in a developing country can be profitable if it can share rent, transportation and marketing costs with another profitable and compatible business.

As new business opportunities are identified, the regional POWER program development consultant assists with securing start-up capital. And the local POWER program development team identifies unemployed and under-employed PWAs and high-risk individuals to fill management and other employment positions.

POWER TV and radio reality series

POWER uses a novel approach to building awareness of the POWER HIV prevention program itself—the POWER TV and radio reality series.

The POWER TV and radio reality series features real people and real businesses involved in community POWER HIV prevention programs. POWER reality shows are sponsored in part by commercial TV and radio show producers and local advertisers.

Face to Face International and Population Media Center have worked together to develop a POWER reality series budget and implementation plan. Population Media Center will coordinate production and broadcast distribution of the POWER TV and radio programming.

POWER realty shows serve multiple purposes, including: helping to promote and popularize the POWER HIV prevention strategy; generating free or greatly discounted publicity for businesses or products that participate in POWER HIV prevention networks; helping to build HIV awareness and de-stigmatize HIV/AIDS; and serving as the basis for HIV prevention counseling and peer group discussions.

Status: Face to Face International is contacting Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs) in Africa to determine their interest in piloting POWER.


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