PHM-Exch> [PHM] a bit of history (7)

[Claudio Schuftan]

*MOVEMENT BUILDING PROJECT  2012* RATIONALE





Within the People’s Health Movement (PHM) there is agreement about the
importance and need to focus more energy and resources on building,
strengthening and supporting the country level and grassroots formations,
which are considered the foundations of PHM. This concept note provides a
broad framework for doing so.



As a health movement, PHM works at local, national, regional and global
levels [and] facilitating the engagement and cooperation of and the
advocacy between the different levels through networking, coordinated
programs, capacity development and campaigns.  When local PHM health action
and activism is strong, it provides a foundation that further strengthens
national, regional and global actions, as well as increases the impact of
such actions. PHM activities such as advocating and organising for the
right to health (RTH) and locally needed campaigns form part of its local
grassroots and country level movement. The country level is the foundation
upon which all PHM strength rests, including for its global actions.



In the past, movement building has happened sometimes in a rather ad-hoc
way. There has been a growing realisation that we need a more structured
and proactive approach. In particular, emerging country circles require
more proactive and organised support and more capacity development inputs.  For
example, the International People’s Health University has proven to be a
very effective way to inform young health activists about the need for a
movement such as PHM and inspire them to take action upon return to their
countries. Our experience in Africa shows how more follow-up and support
for IPHU alumni strengthens the movement at the local level.



This concept note [aims to] harnesses the renewed energy that arose from
the Third People’s Health Assembly.  About 850 people attended the Assembly
which culminated in the development of a Call to Action. During the course
of PHA3, there were many requests for support in setting up country circles
and strengthening country mobilisation and activities. This concept note
highlights ways to further strengthen PHM at the country level in a more
structured and proactive manner.


COMPONENTS



PHM proposes the following steps to actively support global movement
building that will be adapted to different contexts and circumstances:



-       Development of a Movement Building Guide for Country Circles,

-       Significantly strengthening its regional outreach support,

-       Identifying and drawing on existing local and global resources,

-       Development of global programs and tools for movement building,

-       Worldwide introduction of short training courses on activism, and

-       Strengthening PHM's existing communications capabilities.



1.     *Development of a Movement Building Guide*



At the country level, PHM coordinates the collaboration, advocacy and
actions of various networks and groups.  Country circles, sometimes called
‘local chapters’, develop according to the country context and  country
health needs; circles are most often themselves networks of local civil
society organisations that come together for joint action around specific
issues, but are sometimes formalised and legalised as an organisation.
There is no ‘blueprint’ for how to organise locally as this depends on the
local context and issues, on activities chosen and on the circumstances of
the organisations and individual people building the health movement.



Our experience in Africa, where an Outreach Coordinator is employed, shows
that emerging groups require support and examples to guide them in setting
up their local PHM.  The development of a guide with practical examples of
movement building for people to be inspired and to get ideas will assist in
responding to the need described above.



The guide will include the following:



-       Selected case studies of the establishment and functioning of
existing PHM country circles and groups:  success stories will be
documented as a resource and as examples for emerging groups; includes case
studies of the initiation of core activities of PHM groups.

-       Common factors and underlying principles identified as having lead
to different country successes; ideas for actions that can be adapted to
start a local group will be shared.

-       Different tools and resources available from PHM’s global network
(see below) including links to other relevant online resources available.



The guide will be made available online and on CDs and in hard copies for
groups without easy access to the internet.



2.     *Regional Outreach Support *



According to PHM's external evaluation completed in early 2011 “The
existence of a Regional Outreach Coordinator has proven to be successful
for follow-up and movement building in the regions.”  Currently, one
Regional Outreach Coordinator is employed part-time in Africa which is the
region that has shown most progress in the past years in terms of growth
and activity.



>From this experience we have learned that:

-       Regional outreach and support is essential in following up and
strengthening regional and global activities such as the IPHU and PHM's
WHO-Watch ensuring that these are supported by country level engagement.

-       Coordinated and regular networking and communication is essential
in keeping PHM members  involved in the movement. The continuous sharing of
information and back and forth flow of communication makes PHM stronger and
more visible. For example, the Outreach Coordinator uses a dedicated Africa
mailing list to inform local circles about different opportunities,
positions and activities; this has lead to greater ownership at the country
level, as well as to increased activities[, usage] and participation.

-       Ongoing support in the form of advice on press releases, policy
positions and how to function as being part of PHM has proved to be a
sustainable way of engaging with interested groups and has led to an
increase in activities and in a visible PHM presence in Africa.

-       Coordinated regional activities have assisted in unifying and
strengthening regional coherence in responses to global issues to which PHM
regularly responds.



Regional Outreach Coordinators are also deemed essential to facilitate and
support countries in the use of the new guide (see above). Their role will
be to contextualise recommendations made in the guide where needed, as well
as to proactively promote the use of the guide, to link countries to the
support and/or advice they require and to ensure availability of
appropriate assistance when [it is] needed to support local processes after
the circles are established.



Regional Outreach support resources will include Outreach Coordinators for
each key region, as well as the resources they will need to travel and
engage with country processes as required.



3.     *Identifying and drawing on existing resources*



One way of supporting emerging groups is by making information and
resources available to them as needed.

Two different types of information will be made available in the form of a
directory:



-       Existing materials on community development and appropriate
participatory organisational development.

Within the fields of movement building, activism, organisational
development, advocacy and actions for social change, much valuable
materials have been developed by a host of organisations. Here it is
suggested to create an online resource library with selected relevant
materials and links to support emerging groups.



-       This will provide links to information and resources useful in
developing activities such as advocacy, press releases, campaigns, etc.

This will be further enhanced by creating a directory of available PHM
activists and supporters with expertise and experience in specific areas
(content and organisational). Country-level groups can thus seek assistance
through the Regional and Global structures and individuals to draw on their
expertise as required.



-       Plain language primers of various key PHM documents and resources:  for
example, the Global Health Watch, PHM's global right to health campaign and
the Cape Town Call to Action will also be made available.



-       PHM networks and organisations in different countries.

This database will be used to create links within and between countries.
Often groups strengthen their activities through having direct contact with
and learning from success stories in other countries or regions.





4.     *Global programs and tools for local movement building *

Currently, PHM successfully runs a number of global programmes including a
Right to Health campaign, an International People’s Health University
(IPHU) and a WHO Watch. These programmes provide an organising framework,
they build capacity and provide new knowledge to young health activists
that get involved; they provide a means of further engagement and inspire
individuals and groups to become part of PHM. PHM proposes to more
proactively engage in [explore] ways in which these global programs will
strengthen local activism.



-       Given the efforts of the Regional Outreach Coordinator for Africa
in following up on IPHU alumni, the IPHU has shown itself to be a strong
tool for movement building. This concept note suggests linking the above
mentioned resource directory with the IPHU resource library and providing
course materials for use in IPHUs on movement building and local activity.



-       Amongst PHM members, there is agreement that the WHO Watch program
needs to focus more on linking WHO watching with local activism. PHM here
suggests actively  linking country circles and global-level activities  with
the aim of giving the country level a bigger say thus clearly strengthening
the country level movement. Ghana's PHM has been relatively successful in
doing this; the reasons for this success and underlying strengths will be
explored for possible replication.



-       As an umbrella for local action across the world, the Right to
Health Campaign is another vehicle that has been supporting and encouraging
local action and, as such,  has lead to strengthen local movement building.
PHM proposes to further engage [identify practical ways for] countries to
become part of the global campaign.





5.     *Short training courses for activism*



A global network such as PHM provides space and opportunities to civil
society orgnizsations from different countries to learn from each others’
experiences.  PHM itself, and the progressive health movement more
generally, can indeed be strengthened by encouraging greater dialogue and
learning from their different experiences.



-       PHM suggests developing the contents of a short training course
aimed at bringing together emerging and established country circles, and
facilitating a process for them to share and explore further skills for
movement building, for activism, for human rights-based work in health and
for social mobilisation.  This training course will combine skills sharing
and facilitated sessions so as to allow sufficient space for engaged
discussions, dialogue and exploration of ideas.  Skilled facilitators will
run this training using participatory methodologies.



-       A “training manual” and facilitator guidelines will be developed in
advance of the first training and adapted according to the feedback
received after the first training course.



-       Materials will be developed to support the participants on return
to their countries. Further support will be provided by the Regional
Outreach Coordinators.



-       We propose a pilot launch of this training in Africa of two courses
where at least three people per identified country are present.  This will
assist in refining the training before it is rolled out in other regions.



6.     *Translation *



Globally, PHM works in English, with most important communications being
translated into Spanish, French and Arabic. At the country level, there is
often the need to translate core communications into local languages, so as
to reach a wider audience.



We will propose funding for translation of the Movement Building Guide, the
Cape Town Call to Action and any other core documents related to country
circle development into Spanish, French and Arabic, as well as selected
[core] languages according to country needs.



TO BE ADDED:



-Response to the growing obesity epidemic and the role TNCs play in it
(issue overlooked in the NY NCD Summit); Response to the increasing
transnationalization of food.

-Privatization, Sexual and Reproductive Rights, universal access to health
care and to essential medicines, double burden of communicable and NCDs as
related to malnutrition and obesity.

-Funding to prepare a manual with the principles of RTH work including some
case studies. (Collection of relevant information and testimonies
documenting violations of the RTH).

- Use of some 'unifying themes' in our HFA Campaign, e.g., on social
determinants of health, universal coverage, essential medicines,
privatization, public health budgets, etc.

-Links will be sought with Parliaments, women's and youth movements,
medical and nursing students.

-Organization of mass events, public hearings and dialogue with authorities
at various levels.

-PHM circles (active, dormant or new) encouraged to further link with and
reach out to local activists and groups, to involve them in PHM activities.
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