A Voice For the Voiceless
MISSION
The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice
FROM THE PHOTO LIBRARy
www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called Best of AP. Make your own badge here.
Resources
> News Service
> Newsletters
> Issue 1, December...
News From The Advocacy Project:
News From AP Partners:
AP Helps to Launch a New African Network of Young AIDS Activists
The Advocacy Project has helped to launch a new network of young AIDS activists in Africa.
The network has been developed by Youth Against AIDS (YAA), a loose grouping of friends who began campaigning on AIDS while still in college. Working with AP, YAA has developed a network of representatives and contacts in 30 African countries.
The goal of the network is to campaign for a greater say by young people in AIDS policy-making. Lydiah Bosire, a 24 year-old Kenyan student who is president of YAA, argues that because the rate of infection is so high among Africa's youth and mainly spread by sexual contact, young people are often seen as part of the problem instead of the solution. In fact, she says, most young Africans act responsibly. Those that engage in risky sexual activity are often forced to do so by poverty or coercion.
In addition, young people can be brilliant communicators, and powerful allies in spreading the message of AIDS prevention to their peers. But before this can happen, they have to be involved.
This summer, we sent three YAA members to six African countries that are on the frontline of the fight against AIDS - Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Botswana. The YAA reports are currently being sent out via email in a series of 'On the Record', together with a number of profiles by African journalists who are helping YAA.
Among the themes covered so far in the series: teen sexuality, denial and discrimination in South Africa, Islam and sex education in Senegal.
This is the most ambitious and innovative partnership yet undertaken by The Advocacy Project, and the response to the series and website has been exceptionally positive. Some of the correspondence is reprinted below.
The partnership with YAA also marks the first time that we have simultaneously released a series of 'On the Record,' a new website, and a 'web map.'
New AP Partner Seeks to Avoid Duplication by Aid Agencies in Afghan Relief Effort, Advocate for Afghan Civil Society
Relief agencies must take special care to avoid undermining Afghan civil society as they seek to provide emergency assistance to Afghanistan, according to a new organization and partner of AP.
The organization is the Center for Humanitarian Cooperation (CHC), founded by Roy Williams, the former head of USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and a respected figure in the humanitarian community.
Williams has decided to offer the Center's services to help NGOs gear up for the Afghan relief effort. With this in mind, the Center organized two briefings for NGOs in December, in Washington and New York. The Advocacy Project was invited to jointly host the meetings because of AP's work on behalf of civil society during the Kosovo crisis. AP's technical director has also helped to develop the CHC website.
Both meetings concluded that while Afghan civil society will be an essential partner in rebuilding the country, foreign relief agencies must curb their natural temptation to take over aid, hire expatriates, and throw money around. Afghans have been running aid programs effectively throughout the long years of international isolation, and there is no reason to supplant them now the danger is receding.
Afghan civil society could have an even more important role to play if, as seems likely, the Afghan political structures are decentralized.
At the same time, working with Afghan civil society could throw up its own dilemmas for foreign aid agencies. How much will they need to defer to local warlords? What if they are pressured to hire Afghans with dubious human rights records? What if they are forced to work through religious groups that are on a donor blacklist? Should they try and promote ethnic plurality? How far should they push to involve women if they meet local resistance?
These and other dilemmas were given a full airing at the two December meetings, and they underscored the need for NGOs to work together in the region and at headquarters. The meetings also agreed that an accurate flow of first-hand information from Afghanistan could prove critically important in helping groups like the new Center lobby with donors and UN agencies.
The meeting allowed Williams to identify an action plan for his Center. This will start by sharing ideas with other NGO coordinating groups, including the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) in Geneva and Interaction based in Washington, D.C. The Center is also developing an information capacity to monitor and synthesize the massive amount of information beginning to emerge on Afghanistan.
Whether or not this will lead to a coordinating role for the Center remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: as the number of foreign agencies soars, the challenge of coordination becomes more difficult - and more necessary.
AP Asked to Boost the Information Capacity of Central and East European Roma NGOs
AP has received a grant from the Open Society Institute-Hungary to provide support for 26 Roma organizations in nine East European countries.
Phase One of the project will start early in 2002. The goal of the project is to help Roma NGOs build on help they have received from OSI and make better use of information and communications technology as they struggle to maintain their identity and participate in the emerging democracies of East Europe.
Under the agreement with OSI, AP's technical director will start by assessing the information needs of a sample number of the Roma groups, working closely with a local researcher. Most of the technical support and training will be provided by a team of Roma eRiders (nonprofit technology assistance providers) from the region.
This project will build on two other agreements between AP and OSI. Under these, AP is supporting the information work of the Kosovo Women's Network and providing technical support for the Roma Women's Association of Romania. Progress on both of these projects will be covered regularly in future issues of AdvocacyNet.
Up to 300,000 Children Sexually Abused in US Annually, According to NGO Newsletter
As many as 300,000 children are exposed to sexual exploitation and sexual abuse each year in the United States, according to the latest issue of 'On the Record for Children,' the newsletter of the NGO Committee on UNICEF. The newsletter is produced each month for the NGO Committee by The Advocacy Project. The December issue was written by journalist Anaga Dalal.
The global scandal of trafficked children has been well aired, and a million children are trafficked into prostitution and other degrading forms of sexual exploitation each year. But the problem in North America was only raised at the international level this month, when delegates from Mexico, Canada and the United States met in Philadelphia.
The meeting examined different aspects of the sex trade. One article in the newsletter looks at a new study by two professors from the University of Pennsylvania, which lays out some statistics and analyses some of the causes of sexual exploitation in the United States.
Another article looks at the innovative work of a center in San Francisco, which seeks to rehabilitate child victims, and even the perpetrators of sexual abuse. Many of the center's staff are themselves former prostitutes or sex workers who have experienced severe trauma as children in the form of sexual and physical abuse, rape, incest, beatings, torture.
Other articles look at the trafficking of children into the United States from Canada and Mexico, and in the other direction. Much of the trafficking is the work of organized crime. It also appears to have become easier as a result of lax border controls and open trade.
AP Technical Director Advises Women Waging Peace
Our technical director Teresa Crawford worked with delegates at the annual colloquium of Women Waging Peace (WWP), a network of over 150 women from more than 20 conflict areas. This year's colloquium was held at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Ms. Crawford gave advice on how the web can be used as a tool of social activism. She is also advising WWP on how to better use email and the web to communicate with their network.
Letters: Youth Against AIDS in Africa
The new series of 'On the Record,' and the posting of the YAA website, has already elicited a huge response from readers. Here are some of the messages, taken from Issue 6 of the series:
'WITH AIDS NO FUTURE!' (From Alioune Gueye, Mali)
News From The Advocacy Project:
New AP Website Design Seeks to Showcase Partner Campaigns
The Advocacy Project website has been redesigned in order to reflect the growing consolidation of AP and better showcase the work of our campaigning partners. The new design is by Aeronet Communications of San Francisco.
While the basic structure and content of the site remains the same, an effort has been made to present the material in a livelier and more accessible format. This includes the use of more photographs and a cartoon on the home page. This month's cartoon shows African youth holding the AIDS pandemic at bay.
One reason for updating the AP website is that we are now expanding beyond our original 'virtual' character, and acquiring a more institutional character. We opened an office in Washington in June, and are now incorporated in the District of Columbia.
AP has also broadened its sources of funding considerably in the last year, although the bulk of our funding still comes from the Dutch Ministry of Development Cooperation. Details about our new structure and AP's mission are available on the site.
The site also carries illustrated profiles of selected AP partners and spells out the criteria for partnership with AP. As a general principle, we seek to work with networks, because they represent a range of different groups and need to speak with one voice. This makes it more likely that they will benefit from the sort of information support we offer. We have identified eight international networks that we will try to support in 2002. Many of our current partners are members of these networks.
Issue 1, December 2001
News From AP Partners:
- AP Helps to Launch a New African Network of Young AIDS Activists
- New AP Partner Seeks to Avoid Duplication by Aid Agencies in Afghan Relief Effort, Advocate for Afghan Civil Society
- AP Asked to Boost the Information Capacity of Central and East European Roma NGOs
- Up to 300,000 Children Sexually Abused in US Annually, According to NGO Newsletter
- AP Technical Director Advises Women Waging Peace
- Letters: Youth Against AIDS in Africa
News From The Advocacy Project:
News From AP Partners:
AP Helps to Launch a New African Network of Young AIDS Activists
The Advocacy Project has helped to launch a new network of young AIDS activists in Africa.
The network has been developed by Youth Against AIDS (YAA), a loose grouping of friends who began campaigning on AIDS while still in college. Working with AP, YAA has developed a network of representatives and contacts in 30 African countries.
The goal of the network is to campaign for a greater say by young people in AIDS policy-making. Lydiah Bosire, a 24 year-old Kenyan student who is president of YAA, argues that because the rate of infection is so high among Africa's youth and mainly spread by sexual contact, young people are often seen as part of the problem instead of the solution. In fact, she says, most young Africans act responsibly. Those that engage in risky sexual activity are often forced to do so by poverty or coercion.
In addition, young people can be brilliant communicators, and powerful allies in spreading the message of AIDS prevention to their peers. But before this can happen, they have to be involved.
This summer, we sent three YAA members to six African countries that are on the frontline of the fight against AIDS - Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Botswana. The YAA reports are currently being sent out via email in a series of 'On the Record', together with a number of profiles by African journalists who are helping YAA.
Among the themes covered so far in the series: teen sexuality, denial and discrimination in South Africa, Islam and sex education in Senegal.
This is the most ambitious and innovative partnership yet undertaken by The Advocacy Project, and the response to the series and website has been exceptionally positive. Some of the correspondence is reprinted below.
The partnership with YAA also marks the first time that we have simultaneously released a series of 'On the Record,' a new website, and a 'web map.'
- Special thanks to Kabissa - Space for Change in Africa for hosting the YAA website and distribution list for the YAA newsletter. To learn more about Kabissa visit their website.
New AP Partner Seeks to Avoid Duplication by Aid Agencies in Afghan Relief Effort, Advocate for Afghan Civil Society
Relief agencies must take special care to avoid undermining Afghan civil society as they seek to provide emergency assistance to Afghanistan, according to a new organization and partner of AP.
The organization is the Center for Humanitarian Cooperation (CHC), founded by Roy Williams, the former head of USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and a respected figure in the humanitarian community.
Williams has decided to offer the Center's services to help NGOs gear up for the Afghan relief effort. With this in mind, the Center organized two briefings for NGOs in December, in Washington and New York. The Advocacy Project was invited to jointly host the meetings because of AP's work on behalf of civil society during the Kosovo crisis. AP's technical director has also helped to develop the CHC website.
Both meetings concluded that while Afghan civil society will be an essential partner in rebuilding the country, foreign relief agencies must curb their natural temptation to take over aid, hire expatriates, and throw money around. Afghans have been running aid programs effectively throughout the long years of international isolation, and there is no reason to supplant them now the danger is receding.
Afghan civil society could have an even more important role to play if, as seems likely, the Afghan political structures are decentralized.
At the same time, working with Afghan civil society could throw up its own dilemmas for foreign aid agencies. How much will they need to defer to local warlords? What if they are pressured to hire Afghans with dubious human rights records? What if they are forced to work through religious groups that are on a donor blacklist? Should they try and promote ethnic plurality? How far should they push to involve women if they meet local resistance?
These and other dilemmas were given a full airing at the two December meetings, and they underscored the need for NGOs to work together in the region and at headquarters. The meetings also agreed that an accurate flow of first-hand information from Afghanistan could prove critically important in helping groups like the new Center lobby with donors and UN agencies.
The meeting allowed Williams to identify an action plan for his Center. This will start by sharing ideas with other NGO coordinating groups, including the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) in Geneva and Interaction based in Washington, D.C. The Center is also developing an information capacity to monitor and synthesize the massive amount of information beginning to emerge on Afghanistan.
Whether or not this will lead to a coordinating role for the Center remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: as the number of foreign agencies soars, the challenge of coordination becomes more difficult - and more necessary.
- Visit the CHC website
AP Asked to Boost the Information Capacity of Central and East European Roma NGOs
AP has received a grant from the Open Society Institute-Hungary to provide support for 26 Roma organizations in nine East European countries.
Phase One of the project will start early in 2002. The goal of the project is to help Roma NGOs build on help they have received from OSI and make better use of information and communications technology as they struggle to maintain their identity and participate in the emerging democracies of East Europe.
Under the agreement with OSI, AP's technical director will start by assessing the information needs of a sample number of the Roma groups, working closely with a local researcher. Most of the technical support and training will be provided by a team of Roma eRiders (nonprofit technology assistance providers) from the region.
This project will build on two other agreements between AP and OSI. Under these, AP is supporting the information work of the Kosovo Women's Network and providing technical support for the Roma Women's Association of Romania. Progress on both of these projects will be covered regularly in future issues of AdvocacyNet.
Up to 300,000 Children Sexually Abused in US Annually, According to NGO Newsletter
As many as 300,000 children are exposed to sexual exploitation and sexual abuse each year in the United States, according to the latest issue of 'On the Record for Children,' the newsletter of the NGO Committee on UNICEF. The newsletter is produced each month for the NGO Committee by The Advocacy Project. The December issue was written by journalist Anaga Dalal.
The global scandal of trafficked children has been well aired, and a million children are trafficked into prostitution and other degrading forms of sexual exploitation each year. But the problem in North America was only raised at the international level this month, when delegates from Mexico, Canada and the United States met in Philadelphia.
The meeting examined different aspects of the sex trade. One article in the newsletter looks at a new study by two professors from the University of Pennsylvania, which lays out some statistics and analyses some of the causes of sexual exploitation in the United States.
Another article looks at the innovative work of a center in San Francisco, which seeks to rehabilitate child victims, and even the perpetrators of sexual abuse. Many of the center's staff are themselves former prostitutes or sex workers who have experienced severe trauma as children in the form of sexual and physical abuse, rape, incest, beatings, torture.
Other articles look at the trafficking of children into the United States from Canada and Mexico, and in the other direction. Much of the trafficking is the work of organized crime. It also appears to have become easier as a result of lax border controls and open trade.
- Subscribe to 'On the Record for Children' by sending a blank email to this address.
- Visit the NGO Committee website
AP Technical Director Advises Women Waging Peace
Our technical director Teresa Crawford worked with delegates at the annual colloquium of Women Waging Peace (WWP), a network of over 150 women from more than 20 conflict areas. This year's colloquium was held at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Ms. Crawford gave advice on how the web can be used as a tool of social activism. She is also advising WWP on how to better use email and the web to communicate with their network.
- Visit the Women Waging Peace website
Letters: Youth Against AIDS in Africa
The new series of 'On the Record,' and the posting of the YAA website, has already elicited a huge response from readers. Here are some of the messages, taken from Issue 6 of the series:
- ...I just wanted to inform you that a translation of a piece from OTR Aids appears in this week's (December 16th) Taiwan Church News in Chinese. The article begins with a paragraph describing the numbers. It goes on to talk about the formation of YAA and directs people to your web site. So you're not only in English and French, but now also in Chinese, at least here in Taiwan. Congratulations and keep up the good work. (From David Alexander, Taiwan Church News).
- (You write in OTR 3 that) 'age in the fight against AIDS is irrelevant.' Please dispense with combatant language and adopt conciliatory terms, such as struggle, effort, endeavor....(From David)
- (I am) a Nigerian Science Student and a certified member of the Nigerian Red Cross Society. Please, what are the procedures if I want to join the Youth Against AIDS or the Nigerian Youth AIDS program? I have been searching for a Youth Organization like this for a long time and at last I got hold of this one. Please get back to me and inform me. The Nigerian Government must begin to see the youths as Dynamite with Vibrant talents and Zeal going somewhere to explode! Without us, then there is no tomorrow! Thanks in Anticipation! (From Micheal Yemi Ige, Nigeria)
- I work with an international organization that develops and supports children's programs around the world. I would like to get involved in your organization in some way. Mainly because I am working with a start-up HIV/AIDS awareness project in Kenya, which I co-founded. I am also working with a group in Uganda that works with street children and AIDS orphans. My friends and I, here in the US, have established an education fund that will assist children to attend and complete their education (http://www.africawired.com). In sum, I would like to know how I can get involved in your work. (From Maggie Kamau, Kenya)
- Here at the National AIDS Council of Mozambique we welcome this initiative dealing with youth questions and AIDS. We need all the help we can get from our AIDS collaborators in Africa. Thanks for all the work you are doing and we will follow avidly whatever you come up with. (From Janet Mondlane, The National AIDS Council of Mozambique)
- We will like to work with you in the exchange of information and ideas in the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. We need educative, preventive, and informative materials. Thank you. Yours in Service. (From Uche Chukwu, Lesotho)
- (Translated from French) I have received your four messages and thank you very much. However I had the impression that education by 'pairs' (peer education) does not convince you and I don't know the reason for this. In Mali, education by 'pairs' is one of one of the best ways to fight AIDS. It permits us to approach with ease questions concerning HIV/AIDS and Sex, which is a taboo subject in Mali. Being face to face with a colleague or a friend allows the interlocutor to be at ease to talk and exchange ideas and information. As to the partnership between Government and Youth: Unhappily, on the level of studying or elaborating the politics of the fight against AIDS, youth do not, or hardly, intervene. The involvement of youth at this level is very weak. In the words of Lydiah Bosire, 'We must not be seen as a problem, but rather as a potential source for the solution.' I share her point of view and think it is very important. Youth sadly make up the preferred target of HIV/AIDS, and it is not often that that they are allowed to offer their own solution.
'WITH AIDS NO FUTURE!' (From Alioune Gueye, Mali)
News From The Advocacy Project:
New AP Website Design Seeks to Showcase Partner Campaigns
The Advocacy Project website has been redesigned in order to reflect the growing consolidation of AP and better showcase the work of our campaigning partners. The new design is by Aeronet Communications of San Francisco.
While the basic structure and content of the site remains the same, an effort has been made to present the material in a livelier and more accessible format. This includes the use of more photographs and a cartoon on the home page. This month's cartoon shows African youth holding the AIDS pandemic at bay.
One reason for updating the AP website is that we are now expanding beyond our original 'virtual' character, and acquiring a more institutional character. We opened an office in Washington in June, and are now incorporated in the District of Columbia.
AP has also broadened its sources of funding considerably in the last year, although the bulk of our funding still comes from the Dutch Ministry of Development Cooperation. Details about our new structure and AP's mission are available on the site.
The site also carries illustrated profiles of selected AP partners and spells out the criteria for partnership with AP. As a general principle, we seek to work with networks, because they represent a range of different groups and need to speak with one voice. This makes it more likely that they will benefit from the sort of information support we offer. We have identified eight international networks that we will try to support in 2002. Many of our current partners are members of these networks.
Back
- News Service
- Newswire
- Newsletters
- Issue 12, July-August 2004
- Issue 11, May-June 2004
- Issue 10, March-April 2004
- Issue 9, January-February 2004
- Issue 8, November 2003
- Issue 7, May-June 2003
- Issue 6, March-April 2003
- Issue 5, February 2003
- Issue 4, January 2003
- Issue 3, April 2002
- Issue 2, February 2002
- Issue 1, December 2001
- Bulletins
- Multimedia
- Global Issues
- AP Diaries and Staff Blogs
_
Services
Fellows+
Dissemination+
Training+
.jpg)
FIND A PARTNER
The Advocacy Project develops partnerships with advocates on the frontline and with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In so doing, we take our cue from partners and tailor any support to their needs.