PHA-Exchange> FW: [drumbeatchat] Using the People's Charter for Health

[Andrew Chetley]

Hi,
some of you might find the response below of interest. This comes from the
Communication Initiative's discussion list, DrumbeatChat, where I posted a
notice about the People's Charter.
best wishes,
Andrew


-----Original Message-----
From: Penny Poole [mailto:ppoole at mozcom.com]
Sent: 22 September 2001 06:19
To: drumbeatchat at comminit.com
Subject: Re: [drumbeatchat] Using the People's Charter for Health


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Thanks for this Andrew. There are several nimble NGOs that have developed
programs that use health, or other interventions, as opportunities for
management of violent social conflict.

The Carter Center www.cartercenter.org has made the link between peace and
health and those are its core programs. The health programs complement the
peace programs by providing a venue to fight a common enemy. In Africa the
common enemies are guinea worm and river blindness. The intervention
planning venues provide opportunity for trust to build among people who
would not ordinarily choose to be in the same room together. Communication
is opened at a high enough level between parties to the conflict to build
relationships and through them, plant seeds of peace. Much of conflict is
stoked by information asymmetry, and health programs are one way to begin
building bridges of communication that can lead to peace. (btw, the Carter
Center has nothing to do with Habitat for Humanity. The Carters work for
Habitat one week a year, and Habitat uses that fact well.)

Another useful conflict theory is the Multi Track Diplomacy model of Louise
Diamond and Ambassador John McDonald. The MTD model identifies more than two
tracks to peace. (Track one is the official government to government peace
negotiations, track two is conflict professionals, usually NGOs like the
Carter Center, but also government employees at lower levels who do the
groundwork to prepare for Track One). In fact, Diamond and McDonald name
nine tracks, including financing, education, activism, religion, etc.
http://www.imtd.org/about-theory.htm . It is no surprise to communicators
that Track Nine, public opinion and communication (media) runs through the
spokes of the other eight tracks in the system model, forming an "inner
circle."

Still another excellent conflict transformation NGO (and member of this
list) is the Search for Common Ground www.sfcg.org , which uses media such
as community radio, drama, television, film, and training to work towards
building peace in wounded parts of the world. Clearly, in a country such as
Afghanistan that suppresses communication, where you can be jailed for
owning a television and where people exist in a state of utter oppression
and dire poverty, transformation communication has to take a more personal
form, such as what led to the recent arrests of the Christian aid workers in
Kabul.

I echo the sentiments of many earlier contributions, that we must attack the
twin roots of the world's conflicts -- poverty and inequity. I fervently
hope the US will increase its contribution to ODA from .01 percent to the
.07 percent GDP pledged at Rio and that conflict prevention / transformation
/ and peacebuilding through poverty reduction and communication be the focus
of every aid agency on the planet, whether public or NGO or corporate
foundation or private philanthropist. Now, more than ever before, we have
witnessed first hand that poverty is everyone's business and affects
everyone.

Thank you all for your rich contributions and commentary. I have noticed
that many are dealing with this long gasp since Sept. 11 through this type
of sharing and reflection, which offers opportunity for healing.

with all my good wishes,

Penny Poole
Development Communication Specialist/
Conflict Management Strategist
Currently on assignment to the Asian Development Bank in Manila



> Andrew Chetley
> Programme Director, Exchange
> A networking and learning programme on health communication for
development
>
> c/o Healthlink Worldwide , 40 Adler Street, London E1 1EE, UK
> Tel: +44 (0)20 7539 1591 (direct)
> Fax: +44 (0)20 7539 1580
> E-mail: healthcomms at healthlink.org.uk
> http://www.healthcomms.org