Partnerships, and their accompanying networks, are now presented as an essential ingredient for fair SDG implementation. But what happens in practice? Network analysis reveals how development ‘partners’ may in fact informally depart from established rules and relationships, with the end result that networks may amplify the very disparities of power they were intended to reduce. In this seminar, Moira Faul argues that with a better understanding of how partnership works, network members could rewire relationships for more inclusion, and ultimately better policy and practice solutions.
Governance and participation in health
Partnerships, Power and the SDGs
Faul M: UNRISD seminar, Geneva, March 2016
A Resolve to Reform - A look at the Director-General's Opening Address at the 138th Meeting of the Executive Board (EB138)
People’s Health Movement: Geneva, 25 January 2016
The 138th Meeting of the Executive Board (EB138) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) taking place from 25 to 30 January 2016 in Geneva includes a host of issues, including reviews of the WHO’s governance, finance and emergency structure. In the opening remarks of WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, the topics touched on ranged widely from Ebola to Road Safety, with an emphasis on Universal Health Coverage in her final paragraph. A pointed reference to the “explosive spread of Zika virus in new geographical areas”, was a conscious effort to highlight the potential threats of infectious disease beyond Ebola, and the much needed reform of the WHO’s emergency structures. She commented on Universal Healthcare Coverage as “the most efficient way to respond to the rise of non-communicable diseases” , although the PHM note the debates on how the proposal for UHC has shifted the focus from how services should be provided to how services should be financed, with private sector providers and private insurance assumed to be part of the solution, despite evidence that this can lead to ‘health-defeating’ market failures. The Director General noted, however, that some policy recommendations on child obesity “pick a fight with powerful economic interests”. These remarks were welcomed by PHM if followed through with changes in the organisation’s relationship with big business.
Health governance in Sub-Saharan Africa
Mooketsane K; Phirinyane M: Global Social Policy15(3): 345–348, December 2015
The interdependence of states and increasing movement of people, the spread of contagious diseases and the heightened complexity of global health issues make cooperation among countries indispensable. Unfortunately resourcing remains a critical challenge to effective health governance. The authors argue that financial resources are not really a major challenge for Sub-Saharan Africa as it is usually perceived. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth has been robust and capital inflows higher than the developing countries’ average. Notwithstanding threats to the region seems poised for better prospects. The authors argue that health governance should be given a higher significance if growth rates are to be sustained and strategies developed for collaboration between governments and non-state actors. Many Sub-Saharan Africa countries still view non-state actors with suspicion, but the authors argue that those that have embraced them as development partners have reaped some positive results in the provision of health services, such as in the role of mission services in health care provision in Botswana and Malawi. They suggest enhancing a multi-pronged cooperation between African state and non state actors and that the porous borders across countries necessitate regional cooperation to effectively combat the spread of diseases.
Migration Governance and Migrant Rights in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Attempts at Harmonization in a Disharmonious Region
Dodson B; Crush J: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Research Paper 2015–3, October 2015
This paper examines prospects for enhanced regional migration governance and protection of migrants’ rights in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Migration in this region is substantial in scale and diverse in nature, incorporating economic, political and mixed migration flows. In addition to movements between countries within the region, migrants also come from across the African continent and even further afield. At its foundation in 1992, SADC as an institution initially embraced a vision of intra-regional free movement, but this has not become a reality. If anything, there has been a hardening of anti-migrant attitudes, not least in the principal destination country of South Africa. There have also been serious violations of migrants’ rights. Attempts at regional coordination and harmonisation of migration governance have made limited progress and continue to face formidable challenges, although recent developments at national and regional levels show some promise. In conjunction with the 2003 SADC Charter of Fundamental Social Rights and 2008 Code on Social Security, incorporation of migrants into the SADC 2014 Employment and Labour Protocol could signal a shift towards more rights-based migration governance. The paper concludes by arguing that there can be no robust rights regime, either regionally or in individual countries, without extension of labour and certain other rights to non- citizens, nor a robust regional migration regime unless it is rights-based.
One Million Signatures to Have a Clear Law on Abortion
Centre for Health Human Rights and Development (CEHURD): Uganda, September 2015
The Centre for Health Human Rights and Development(CEHURD) through the Coalition to Stop Maternal Mortality due to Unsafe Abortion, marked the Global Day of Action on Safe and Legal Abortion on the 28th of September 2015. The global trending hash tag on social media was #BustTheMyth that all messages on myths and facts on abortion were attached to while sending out to followers on social media. A petition was read in line with the theme; Because every woman and Girl Counts and a campaign to have 1 million signatures was launched. The campaign sought to have one million signatures to be presented to parliament and the Speaker of Uganda Parliament, the Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga and entire legislative council, to consider having a proper and clear law on abortion. Two social media campaigns in line with the theme were launched to boost the main campaign with the hash tags; #BustTheMyth and #LetHerSpeak: Because every woman and girl counts.
World Health Organisation Executive Board meeting 138
World Health Organisation: Geneva, January 2016
The WHO Executive Board is composed of 34 members technically qualified in the field of health. Members are elected for three-year terms. The main Board meeting, at which the agenda for the forthcoming Health Assembly is agreed upon and resolutions for forwarding to the Health Assembly are adopted, is held in January, with a second shorter meeting in May, immediately after the Health Assembly, for more administrative matters. The main functions of the Board are to give effect to the decisions and policies of the Health Assembly, to advise it and generally to facilitate its work. The full set of documents under consideration at the 138th WHO Executive Board meeting are available online at the organisation's website.
Bringing stakeholders together for urban health equity: hallmarks of a compromised process
Katz A; Cheff R; O’Campo P: International Journal for Equity in Health 2015, 14(138), 2015
There is a global trend towards the use of ad hoc participation processes that seek to engage grassroots stakeholders in decisions related to municipal infrastructure, land use and services. The authors present the results of a scholarly literature review examining 14 articles detailing specific cases of these processes to contribute to the discussion regarding their utility in advancing health equity. They explore hallmarks of compromised processes, potential harms to grassroots stakeholders, and potential mitigating factors. The authors conclude that participation processes in urban areas often cut off participation following the planning phase at the point of implementation, limiting convener accountability to grassroots stakeholders, and, further, that where participation processes yield gains, these are often due to independent grassroots action. Given the emphasis on participation in health equity discourse, this study seeks to provide a real world exploration of the pitfalls and potential harms of participation processes that is relevant to health equity theory and practice.
CSO conference on Global Health and Universal Health Coverage: Dakar, February 2014 Workshop Report
Action for Global Health (AfGH); Network of West African NGO Platforms, (REPAOC): 8 December 2015
Action for Global Health (AfGH) in partnership with the Network of West African NGO Platforms, (REPAOC) convened a conference in Dakar, Senegal, 17-19th February 2014, which brought together civil society actors from 23 countries and five continents. The main purpose of the workshop was to gain clarity and consensus on what Universal Health Coverage (UHC) incorporates, building upon Civil Society Organisation’s (CSO) country experiences from a grassroots level; develop a common understanding of the strengths of the UHC concept and the pitfalls of its implementation; define a clear position on how UHC should be framed to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for all; and outline a course of action for CSO advocacy on the right to health. The meeting concluded with a declaration – Ensuring UHC is fit for contributing to the right to health – which captured the main discussion points and reflections of the CSOs present.
Regional health governance: A suggested agenda for Southern African health diplomacy
Penfold E: Global Social Policy 15(3), 278-295, 2015
Regional organisations can effectively promote regional health diplomacy and governance through engagement with regional social policy. Regional bodies make decisions about health challenges in the region, for example, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the World Health Organisation South East Asia Regional Office (WHO-SEARO). The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has a limited health presence as a regional organisation and diplomatic partner in health governance. This article identifies how SADC facilitates and coordinates health policy, arguing that SADC has the potential to promote regional health diplomacy and governance through engagement with regional social policy. The article identifies the role of global health diplomacy and niche diplomacy in health governance. The role of SADC as a regional organisation and the way it functions is then explained, focusing on how SADC engages with health issues in the region. Recommendations are made as to how SADC can play a more decisive role as a regional organisation to implement South–South management of the regional social policy, health governance and health diplomacy agenda.
20 Years Later – The Role of Art and Justice in South Africa’s Democracy
Sachs A; Justice Cameron E: African Futures, Essays, 2015
At the entrance to the Constitutional Court of South Africa stands a sculpture of a large man yoked to a cart. His burden is a human one: a man and woman who themselves are seated on the back of a fourth figure kneeling on the cart. At first glance, the sculpture resonates with the history of servitude that marked the dehumanising institution of apartheid. On closer reflection, the sculpture reveals a more complex message. The sculptor, South African artist Dumile Feni, did not create any racial differentiation between the four figures, and the man drawing the cart is the only figure large and strong enough to accomplish this task. The title of the work is History, and the four figures carry each other in a way that reflects the dependence, the interconnectedness and the tension that have always characterised human relationships. History is the first of many artworks that challenge a visitor to the Constitutional Court to reflect on South Africa’s tortured past and the country’s transition to a constitutional order. The Constitutional Court Art Collection (CCAC)[1] is both a living monument to the ideals on which South Africa’s post-apartheid Constitution is based and a reminder of the work that remains.