This documentary “Maternity waiting homes in Namibia: Hope for the future” focuses on one of the core components of PARMaCM, the importance of keeping pregnant women and young mothers safe via the construction of maternity waiting homes in Namibia. PARMaCM stands for “The Programme for Accelerating the Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality” and its objective is to accelerate the achievement of MDGs 4 and 5 of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health in Namibia. The movie is the product of concerted efforts of the Namibian TV Production Company Quiet Storm and the three PARMaCM stakeholders, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), the European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It explores why maternal health statistics are not higher given the income and service levels and how these challenges are being addressed.
Useful Resources
This document is a resource to support resource mobilization efforts for the ‘Orange the World: Raise Money to End Violence against Women and Girls’ initiative. It provides background information on the UNiTE campaign, the 2016 campaign theme and gives tips and advice on how to make the most of your fundraising activities. All funds raised aim to support UN Women’s Flagship Programmes on ending violence against women – “Prevention and Essential Services,” “Safe Cities and Safe Public Space” and the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women- that challenge harmful norms and practices to break the vicious cycle of violence and expand the provision of services and access to safety for survivors of violence to enable them to speak out and rebuild their lives.
This HIV Gender Assessment Tool, published by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the Stop TB Partnership, aims to assist countries in assessing their HIV and tuberculosis (TB) epidemics and responses from a gender perspective, to ensure that the responses are gender-sensitive, transformative and effective in responding to HIV and TB and to support countries in the submission of gender-sensitive concept notes to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). The UNAIDS HIV Gender Assessment tool was developed recognising the need for more systematic data collection on gender equality and HIV, as revealed by the mid-term review of the UNAIDS Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV 2010– 201410 and was developed in a UNAIDS Secretariat led consultative, multi-stakeholder process.
In this video from Health Systems Global, Professor Christina Zarowsky and poster presenters from the symposium explain their understanding of and debates on the concept of resilience.
The Media Action radio programme Hiigsiga Nolosha (meaning desire or aspirations for life) is designed for Somali youth as a discussion platform to prompt "dialogue and interaction across divides, create... understanding and acceptance between youth from different parts of the country, improve... how youth are viewed (by themselves and adults), give... young people hope and motivation for the future and help... them to believe they can positively contribute to their country." The project was created to improve capacity of local Somali partner radio stations to deliver audience-driven, and particularly youth-focused, media programming. Hiigsiga Nolosha "has been broadcast via the BBC Somali Service and three partner community radio stations and included both a drama Maalmo Dhaama Maanta (A Better Life than Today) and discussion segments produced by each partner radio station." Phase I formative research showed a need for programming in which youth could exchange "ideas and experiences and come up with solutions to the challenges they face. The impact evaluation at the end of Phase I found that the programme had given Somali youth an opportunity to interact and express their ideas, had helped to highlighted commonalities of young people, had positively shifted how young Somalis viewed themselves and contributed to youth empowerment."
Democracy in Africa, a site promoting writing from African authors, have assembled a reading list on African Politics. This reading list is collated in solidarity with those who are currently attempting to decolonise the university across Africa, and beyond. It includes readings on themes such as Citizenship and Statehood, Social Movements and Civil Society, the Politics of Gender and Youth, the Politics of International Development amongst others. The hosts welcome your recommendations of outstanding scholarship to add to it. Currently, the list focuses on English translations and texts but the site hosts are in the midst of developing lists in other languages and would welcome suggestions.
This open access book presents findings of and separately authored case study examples of work in a global study titled ‘Building the Next Generation of Community-Based Researchers’ (a.k.a. the Next Gen project), funded by the Social Science and Human Research Council of Canada. The Next Gen project aimed to increase access to high quality training in Community-Based Research (CBR) within higher education institutions (HEIs) and civil society organisations (CSOs). The book presents a state-of-the art in pedagogies and strategies for building CBR capacities, to strengthen the existing training for fieldwork and theoretical and curricular content on participatory research within and outside academia. It outlines a number of important trends, approaches and challenges in the field of training the next generation of researchers in CBR; through a comparative analysis of 21 institutional case studies of CBR training providers from around the world and includes the results of a global survey of training CBR in HEIs & CSOs. With over 40 contributing authors from all around the world, Knowledge and Engagement is the first book of its kind, which represents a collective effort to bring many note-worthy aspects within one umbrella (i.e., ‘Community Based Research’), analyse the current scenario and training opportunities, and provide recommendations with regard to what can be done in the best possible manner. It includes two case studies from East and Southern Africa, namely Training And Research Support Centre Zimbabwe and Umphilo waManzi South Africa.
The Inequality Question is a unique project to debate global inequality issues. On the last Thursday of each month – #ThoughtfulThursday – children formerly or currently living on the streets of Uganda choose one inequality question to discuss and lead a live conversation online, with participants worldwide. These conversations give participants and facilitators the opportunity to discuss their thoughts, experiences and aspirations on how to make the world a more equal place. Individuals, classes, groups and organisations are joining into the conversation, not only to have direct discussions with children experiencing many inequalities, but also to spark ideas that lead them to undertake an “Inequality Challenge”, so that they can become a catalyst for change. Samuel Woria undertook one of the Inequality Challenges that focused on gender. For one week, six women dictated all of Samuel’s decisions. Samuel chose to take part in this challenge because he believes that men in Uganda do not treat women fairly and equally. His experiment not only facilitated challenging conversations, but also made an impact in his community. Many men have contacted Samuel to say they are trying to alter their behaviour towards women, and women have expressed their happiness to be shown such public support in their struggle for equality.
The Habitat process was launched by the UN in 1976, when governments began to recognise the risks of rapid urbanisation: in particular, rising inequality, falling quality of life and unsustainable development. More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and this figure is predicted to rise to almost 70% by 2050. As a result, cities have become focal points for addressing many of humanity’s greatest challenges. Economic inequalities have dramatically increased, and are heavily concentrated in urban areas: almost one third of city-dwellers live in informal settlements, such as slums. Habitat is a state-led process, so many world leaders and UN representatives will be at the conference. The UN also established a General Assembly of Partners to encourage the participation of local authorities, grassroots and indigenous organisations, women’s and youth groups, as well as the private and charitable sectors. The main topic of discussion was the Zero Draft of the New Urban Agenda (NUA): a 24-page document, which outlines the nation states’ shared vision for a sustainable urban future. The NUA has undergone three rounds of revisions between May and September 2016, to iron out conflicts and reach a consensus between the UN nation states. The “right to the city” is also enshrined in the document, calling on governments to create “cities for people, not for profit”, ensuring an inclusive, gender and age sensitive approach to city planning, as well as continuing efforts to reduce urban poverty. Unlike the Paris climate agreement or the SDGs, the NUA is non-binding – it merely provides guidelines for those involved in urban development. It does not give practical advice about how the NUA should be carried out, and who is in charge of implementing it. It does recognise the need for producing evidence to inform the implementation of the NUA, but does not indicate how progress should be measured and assessed.
The Drama for Conflict Transformation (DCT) methodology introduced in this toolkit is used to create community conversation about conflict issues, piloted in conflict-prone areas in Kenya, amongst other countries. Since 2010, participants have collaborated with more than 50,000 audience members to talk about solutions to bullying in schools, labour migration, bride kidnapping, resource scarcity, and substance abuse. The idea is that, "when youth are engaged positively and given a voice, they can play vital roles in building peace. This toolkit is designed to introduce young people to an innovative theatre methodology that creatively examines and transforms conflict. After working through the exercises in this manual, youth will be equipped to lead community dialogue as agents of positive change.” This toolkit guides facilitators in creating a custom workshop to introduce youth to the DCT methodology. The material can be adapted by the facilitator to be culturally or regionally specific and to integrate various themes important to the participant group. Many options for workshop modules - including lead-in activities, warm-up modules, main sessions, energisers, and closing activities - are included to allow the facilitator to craft workshops that best fit their local context and needs. After working through these exercises, participants are expected to be able to analyse conflicts in their communities using theatre exercises, create a Forum Theatre performance based on a community conflict issue, and engage with their local communities through DCT. The toolkit is divided into two sections. Section I: Introduction to DCT Methodology and Facilitation includes hints on organising a DCT workshop, structuring exercises, and establishing group dynamics, as well as an illustration of good facilitation to create a safe, fun, and informative space for participants. Section II: DCT Activities and Theatre Techniques includes a toolbox of DCT activities, arranged by type (warm-up, lead-in, main activity, energiser, or closing activity). Notations on sequencing indicate when certain exercises should be used to build upon earlier trust-building or skill-building work. A glossary of terms, bibliography of relevant works, and selection of handouts are found at the end of the manual.