PHM-Exch> Help organize PHA3 workshops on the role of NGOs in national health systems and global health policy

Tue Mar 20 06:04:02 PDT 2012

...................
Are you planning to attend the 3rd People's Health Assembly in July?

MMI wants to organize a series of PHA workshops on NGO accountability, NGO

integration in national health systems, and NGOs and global health
governance.

We would love to connect with anyone interested in co-hosting these
workshops.

...................

The Medicus Mundi International Network <http://www.medicusmundi.org/>
intends to contribute to the People
<http://www.phmovement.org/en/pha3/about> 's Health Assembly with a series
of workshops on the role of NGOs in national health systems and global
health policy - which is very much timely, but might not take place in the
plenary sessions of the Assembly. The NGO debate might also be linked with
the discussion about the role of NGOs in the People's Health Movement. The
relations between social movements such as the PHM and many of its members
and NGOs - who are themselves often collaborating with grassroot
organizations - have not always been easy. It is now time to define the
common ground, share experiences and strengthen alliances. Will Cape Town be
the place for this?

We herewith invite interested organizations to co-host the workshop series
together with MMI. Let us know if you want to get involved! And get back to
us if you have particular questions or suggestions. If our proposal is
accepted by the PHA program committee (deadline for submission is 31 March),
we will then start to plan the workshops together. We expect co-hosts to
contribute to the further program development, but also to the costs of the
workshops according to your interests and financial capacities. 

...................

Outline: Series of self-organized workshops during PHA 3

In the public interest? The role of NGOs in national health systems and
global health policy

Instead of an introduction

"Contracting NGOs for Health - this has been more than a slogan, but a
strategic priority of the Medicus Mundi International Network (MMI) over the
last years: the promotion of the integration of private not for profit
health institutions in national health systems. We have been strongly and
successfully advocating the development of contractual arrangements between
private not for profit facilities and Health Ministries. But when one
promotes a technical approach to address a public health issue, one also
likes to be ensured whether it works. Therefore we mandated the ITM Antwerp
to conduct a study on the experiences with contracting in Sub-Saharan
Africa, focusing on faith-based institutions. Now we know the results - and
we are rather concerned with what we learnt." (Contracting between
faith-based and public health sector in Sub-Saharan Africa: An ongoing
crisis? The case of Cameroon, Tanzania, Chad and Uganda,
<http://www.medicusmundi.org/en/contributions/events/2009/contracting-crisis
> MMI 2009)

"It is now becoming clearer that NGOs, if not careful and vigilant, can
undermine the public sector and even the health system as a whole, by
diverting health workers, managers and leaders into privatized operations
that create parallel structures to government and that tend to worsen the
isolation of communities from formal health systems. The purpose of the NGO
Code of Conduct for Health Systems Strengthening is to offer guidance on how
international NGOs can work in host countries in a way that respects and
supports the primacy of the government's responsibility for organizing
health system delivery The code serves as a guide to encourage NGO practices
that contribute to building public health systems and discourage those that
are harmful." (NGO Code of Conduct for Health Systems Strengthening, 2008,
<http://ngocodeofconduct.org/> http://ngocodeofconduct.org) 

"International NGOs are at a crossroads. Caught up in a tide of technocracy,
they have become increasingly managerialist - 'outsider' experts
disconnected from the real struggle. But which road should they take? Can
they transform societies, or should they opt for a more modest role, as
catalysts for change?" (
<http://www.thebrokeronline.eu/Special-Reports/Special-Report-The-future-cal
ling/The-road-not-taken> Ellen Lammers in:
<http://www.thebrokeronline.eu/Magazine/archive/Issue-28-Special-Report-The-
future-calling> The Broker, March 2012) 

"We call on the UN to recognise and distinguish between industries,
including business-interest not-for-profit organisations (BINGOs) and public
interest non-governmental organisations (PINGOs), that are both currently
under the 'Civil Society' umbrella without distinction." (
<http://coicoalition.blogspot.com/2011/09/coi-coalition-statement.html>
Conflict of Interest statement of concern, September 2011) 

MMI's objectives for the PHA workshops

Eventual co-hosts may define their proper objectives for the planned
workshops - these are ours: Medicus Mundi International is a Network of NGOs
working in the field of international health. Having been invited to join
the People's Health Movement as an affiliate Network, MMI wants to
strengthen the ground for cooperation with other members of the Movement.
The workshops will be providing a space for critical reflecting on the role
and the future of private not for profit health service providers and
international NGOs and what it needs to make us part of the solution and not
the problem, linking up with debates on the role of NGOs in global health
governance.

Workshop topics

.         The challenge of integrating private not for profit health service
providers in national health systems 

.         The NGO Code of Conduct for Health Systems Strengthening (2008) -
just another piece of paper?

.         Legitimacy and accountability of international NGOs: Part of the
problem, or part of the solution?  

.         Public vs. business interest NGOs (PINGOS and BINGOS) as actors in
global health: A simple story of the good, the bad and the ugly?

.         Social movements and NGOs: sharing experiences and strengthening
alliances towards Health for All 

Inputs, speakers

To be determined together with co-hosts and PHA organizers (for regional
partners). 

Confirmed co-hosts

Thanks to  <http://www.wemos.nl/Eng/> Wemos,  <http://www.cordaid.nl/>
Cordaid,  <http://www.medico.de/> medico international and IBFAN
<http://www.ibfan.org/>  who already agreed to be part of the team. 

Contact

Thomas Schwarz, Executive Secretary, Medicus Mundi International Network

 <mailto:schwarz at medicusmundi.org> schwarz at medicusmundi.org -
<http://www.medicusmundi.org> www.medicusmundi.org 

Feel free to forward to your partners and colleagues who might be
interested.

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