Useful Resources

Whilst the peoples’ right to participate in making decisions that affect them, many governments and development agencies still apply top- down development paradigms. This toolkit's strength is the fact that it has been developed based on empirical project work undertaken in Kitale, a secondary town in Kenya. It is targeted at social workers, planners, development workers, community groups and development agencies operating at the micro-level through existing government structures, in this case the local authority. As a tool, it is intended to mobilise and create synergy with local residents, local development institutions and development agency workers; and demonstrate how locally available resources and experiences may be harnessed in order to improve access to basic infrastructure and services for improved urban livelihoods. The toolkit has been divided into three parts; the first part looks at the philosophical foundation, origin, development and strengths of participatory planning methodologies globally, regionally and locally; the second part looks at the processes that are mandatory in any given participatory planning exercise; while the third gives an empirical and step wise account of the Kitale projects implementation processes; key milestones, challenges faced, innovations and/or best practices, and lessons learnt.

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.

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.

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."