My colleague, Mithika and I are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Johannesburg to work with the full core membership and Secretariat of the Southern African Alliance on Youth Employment (SAAYE). As part of the capacity development support to SAAYE, the Foundation has brokered a learning exchange between Citizens UK and the Alliance, trialling a new model of support.
SAAYE is a recently formed alliance of church-based youth organisations, student groups and activists, trade union representatives and youth development trusts from nine Southern African countries. The Foundation has supported the Economic Justice Network (EJN) in establishing SAAYE; EJN now act as SAAYE’s secretariat. Over the past 18 months, SAAYE has been bringing the group closer together, clarifying their strategic mission, and building partnerships and allies. The Foundation has provided support to the Alliance and its members as they have continued to develop their mission at the regional and national levels. Foundation support is also helping the Alliance to enable working relationships between members.
The learning exchange will take SAAYE’s work from strategic planning to the next step: to formulate their actions for change, over a two-year period. We have linked them up with Citizens UK because of their expertise in organising and building the power of civil society to advocate and act. The sessions will be led by Lead Organiser, Emmanuel Gotora and Yasmin Aktar from the East London Community Organisation (TELCO). In addition to Citizen’s skills in developing the capacity of civil society leaders to constructively engage with people in power, the Learning Exchange will draw on Citizen’s work around employment and work such as the Living Wage campaign and the Good Jobs campaign which directly address youth unemployment using a multi-stakeholder group of leaders from London’s community groups, industry employers and training institutions. These experiences will provide some relevant lessons and ideas.
It is our hope that at the end of the four-day exchange, SAAYE national teams and the Secretariat will have analysed where, with whom and how, in each of their theories of change, they should target specific actions to have the greatest potential impact. Key questions like: Where can SAAYE have most relational power in making change on youth employment in each country? Who has power inside and outside the formal structures regarding youth employment policy nationally and regionally? How do the people who can make decisions relate to each other and how can SAAYE influence them? The outputs from the learning exchange will be available on the Foundation’s website.
The learning exchange between SAYEE and Citizens UK takes place in Johannesburg from 24 to 31 March, 2017. Photo Credit: Alan Levine Flickr CC
The Commonwealth Civil Society Forum has been announced for May 2017. A pdf version of the event poster is available for download here.
Issue
It is estimated that between 20 and 40 percent of the city of Port Harcourt’s population lives in self-built waterfront settlements. The government in Nigeria have plans to redevelop the city which would benefit from the inputs of local communities. The project is working with young people to share their experiences living in these waterfront slums.
Project
Human City Media Advocacy Initiative is establishing a group of engaged musicians and producers from marginalised communities with the technical skills, artistic capacity and cultural connections to initiate independent radio productions. The project is working with renowned Nigerian and international musicians, producers, artists and scholars to train and mentor young people. The project will also engage state and city government officials in debates on issues affecting communities, through community radio programmes and discussions.
Stakeholder Democracy Network and Human City Media Advocacy Initiative in Nigeria are empowering residents of waterfront slums to use music and other art forms to advocate for a more inclusive cityscape. Using music and radio production as a medium for social expression and constructive political engagement, the project is increasing the visibility of waterfront communities and their issues at local and national level.
Endorsed project title: Empowering residents of waterfront slums to advocate for an inclusive city in Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Photo credit: Flickr CC Igor Putina Soundboard
Stakeholder Democracy Network, UK
Stakeholder Democracy Network supports empowerment of citizens to work together and with their government to address development challenges. With core focus on democratisation, resilient communities, access to energy, environment and resource governance SDN has partnered with Human City Media Advocacy Initiative to work with marginalised waterfront communities in Port Harcourt over the past five years. www.stakeholderdemocracy.org
Issue
Stronger recognition of women’s issues in policy is required through increased representation in national and state governance. The experience in India shows that women elected in local government have played a key role in addressing critical issues affecting them and their broader communities, such as education, water management, health and domestic violence. The Women’s Reservation Bill, which was passed by the Upper House of Parliament in March 2010, is yet to be enshrined in law.
Project
Centre for Social Research is generating public and governmental support around greater representation and participation of women in national and state governance structures in India.
The project is advocating for the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve 33 per cent of seats in parliament and state legislative assemblies for women. Women’s representation in national and state governance will promote greater equality in politics and support stronger representation of women’s issues in policy.
The project is engaging members of parliament and advocating with political parties to promote more opportunities for women in leadership structures. This is being achieved using direct engagement with officials, media campaigns and mobilising citizens to raise public awareness. It is hoped that by forming a block of parliamentarians committed to voting and advocating in favour of the bill in the Lower House, it will be tabled and passed before the project comes to a close.
The project is fostering greater awareness and appreciation of women’s involvement in politics.
Endorsed project title: Promoting greater representation and participation of women in national and state governance structures in India
Centre for Social Research
Centre for Social Research (CSP) aims to empower the women and girls of India, guarantee their fundamental rights, and increase understanding of social issues from a gender perspective. CSR has a long history of engagement with policy makers on issues affecting women. And during the project will be leading the 33 per cent Coalition and facilitate a joint advocacy strategy in partnership with Women Power Connect (WPC). WPC promotes effective implementation of gender friendly legislation and the active participation of women in policy outcomes. It is the largest advocacy body for women in India, with a membership of over 1600 individuals and women organisations across 28 states. www.csrindia.org
www.womenpowerconnect.org
Issue
Many Jamaican communities are adversely affected by poor air and water quality from a variety of sources including open burning, mining, quarrying and other industrial activities. However, community awareness of the negative impacts on health and the environment is typically very low. In addition, data on air and water pollution levels is not made widely available, and Jamaican communities often find it difficult to access this information from state regulatory agencies.
Project
Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) is working with a selection of groups from communities experiencing air and water quality issues to form community-led advocacy networks. These networks are engaging with the government’s regulatory agency and other industry stakeholders to advocate for proactive disclosure of air and water quality data and an improved regulatory framework. The project is also conducting and sharing research on existing legal and policy frameworks in Jamaica and across the globe, to increase awareness and strengthen advocacy.
Ultimately, community awareness of the impact of air and water quality on health and the environment is expected to improve, and the communities involved in the project will be better equipped to engage with the issues identified.
The Commonwealth Foundation has awarded a grant of £59,390 over 24 months.
Jamaica Environment Trust
Jamaica Environment Trust is a non-government non-profit membership organisation based in Jamaica. Jamaica Environment Trust’s mission is to protect Jamaica’s natural resources using education, conservation, advocacy and the law, and to influence individual and organisational behaviour and public policy and practice.www.jamentrust.org
Issue
The use of unregulated, under-aged and under-paid child domestic labourers (CDLs) remains problematic in many countries around the world, with around 11.5 million children worldwide still thought to work in illegal situations.
In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – where millions of these child labourers live – there is an increasing willingness to change their plight, and this project will capture that willingness and use it to support positive movement away from this modern slavery.
Project
Global March is working with partner organisations in each of the three countries and will look to the progress already being made in India’s justice system on the subject and seek to further embed it in the fabric of people’s awareness. Based on the experiences of India’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Pakistan’s Grassroots Organisation for Human Development and Bangladesh’s Shishu Adhikar Forum will spearhead action in each of the countries, partnering with civil society organisations (CSOs) to amend laws, raise awareness, advocate for policy change and build the capacity for CSOs, government and law enforcement to work together in the fight against child domestic labour.
There will be training and workshops for CSOs, compilation of legislative literature, expansive regional and national consultations, and extensive analysis of existing structures – all with the aim of enhancing awareness and encouraging the will of many levels of society throughout India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to let their children live their childhoods in peace.
Project updates
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Congratulations to 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, two individuals whose causes closely reflect the 2015 Commonwealth Theme: A Young Commonwealth.
Global March Against Child Labour
The Global March Against Child Labour is a worldwide network of trade unions, teachers’ and civil society organisations that work together towards the shared development goals of eliminating and preventing all forms of child labour and ensuring access by all children to free, meaningful and good quality public education. It mobilises and supports its constituents to contribute to local, national, regional and global efforts and support for a range of international instruments relating to the protection and promotion of children’s rights, engaging with the United Nations, international and inter-governmental agencies.
www.globalmarch.org
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Follow /globalmarch on Facebook
Bachpan Bachao Andolan
Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) symbolizes India’s largest grassroots movement for the protection of children, ensuring their quality education. As on October 2014, BBA has rescued more than 83 500 victims of trafficking, slavery and child labour and has helped them re-establish trust in society and find promising futures for themselves.
Since its establishment by the Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi in 1980, BBA has led the world’s largest civil society campaign in the form of the Global March Against Child Labour and has been at the forefront of laying down laws against child labour and trafficking in India.
www.bba.org.in
Issue
The Spirit Child Phenomenon (SCP) is still a problem in northern Ghana’s Bongo region, where traditional soothsayers label certain disadvantaged children as messengers of bad luck, leaving them at risk of being killed by traditional healers known as concoction men.
Project
AfriKids is looking at issues surrounding SCP in order to address how to drive down the problem. The organisation will provide the education, incentives and stakeholder engagement to embed the cultural and technical change into the affected communities that will help to eradicate the phenomenon.
Training and awareness campaigns on child rights and healthcare will be run in local communities. Technical and financial support will also be provided for the concoction men and for families and women’s groups, while there will also be greater engagement between the various community groups and government health and education facilities for children associated with SCP. This culturally sensitive project will also focus on empowering women within the affected communities, helping them to work directly with key male decision makers.
AfriKids has already eradicated the practice in the Kassena Nankana district. It is hoped that the work to embed this change in communities in Bongo will result in it becoming a sustainable operation of continuous education and information that will help to make SCP a phenomenon of the past.
The Honourable Nana Oyer Lithur, Ghana’s Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said that the work has been transformative.
“I would like to use this opportunity to commend AfriKids Ghana for the extensive work on the subject of the “Spirit Children” in the Kassena-Nankana East and West Districts of the region,” he explained. “We are happy to hear that the practice of killing spirit children no longer exists in these districts. What is even more significant is the involvement of the practitioners of the tradition known as concoction men in the solution process”.
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Follow /afrikids on Facebook
Issue
In the aftermath of the genocide, women had to live with the social stigma of the sexual violence they suffered. The national government made attempts to improve the rights of those women and the resources available to them, and this project aims to help more women to embrace those reforms and apply them to help themselves and others.
Project
The Faces of Life project, run by Kemit asbl, supports and empowers women to use media and resources to speak up for themselves and to encourage others to do so as well.
Women will be trained to create visual art projects, expressing issues of importance to them. Exhibitions of these art projects will tour throughout Rwanda providing an opportunity for civil society organisations, members of the public and local leaders at various levels of governance to gather together and discuss the issues leading to greater awareness of stigma and taboos on womens’ lives.
KEMIT asbl has worked in cinema and audio visual trainings, film, video and TV productions for 12 years and is using this experience to train the women involved in how to advocate for policy reform for the issues that affect them.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAsN0KDpoW0?rel=0]
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Follow /kemit.production on Facebook
Issue
The pen and the written word are powerful tools for upholding free expression, cultural rights and democratic governance. Through creative expression, Commonwealth citizens have the ability to advocate for the legislation that underpins these rights.
Project
PEN International (founded 1921) is a global community of writers, who work to promote literature and defend freedom of expression. The organisation will target measures to build capacity, skills and knowledge in order to advocate in favor of freedom of expression. Local PEN Centres will participate in policy training to help with advocacy work on local, regional and international levels and a three-year advocacy strategy will map out plans to engage with regional-level forums such as the Africa Commission on Human Rights.
This work will serve to leverage the voice and influence of PEN Africa Network members in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia. PEN members will gain greater understanding of areas including freedom of expression and digital freedom, cultural and linguistic rights and quality education. It will help to empower not just them but the people with whom they work and future generations of writers, journalists and advocates.
Follow @pen_int on Twitter
Follow /peninternational on Facebook
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize aims to identify talented writers who go on to inspire their communities. It unearths and promotes the best new writing from across the Commonwealth, developing literary connections worldwide.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2000 – 5000 words). It is open to translated fiction. The overall winner receives £5,000 and regional winners receive £2,500. Translators will receive additional prize money.
