Partner update: Key Health and Development Networks (HDN) programmes transfer to AIDSPortal

Following the sad news earlier this year that Health & Development Networks (HDN) had lost its core funding, the AIDSPortal has been working with HDN colleagues to put a plan in place to transfer key programmes to a range of partners, including the AIDSPortal.

Following the confirmation of arrangements with other partners and donors, AIDSPortal and HDN are now pleased to confirm which HDN programmes will be transferred to the International AIDS Alliance and many prgrammes will be hosted by AIDSPortal. Here is a breakdown:

eForums

HDN has been at the forefront of harnessing the power of on-line communications to facilitate dialogue and advocacy. AIDSPortal will host the tools. In addition, SAfAIDS will manage and moderate the Africa eForums, and there are plans underway to transition the management of the South East Asia eForum, SEA-AIDS to the 7 Sisters Network.

The AIDSPortal will work with the Alliance to manage and develop the tools used by Key Correspondents (i.e. healthdev.net), providing user support and moderation skills and continue to collaborate with the Alliance and SAfAIDS to ensure global oversight.

Between now and the end of July 2009, a core team remains at HDN to continue the challenging work of documenting these key programmes into toolkits to enable a smooth transition to AIDSPortal and other partners.

National Partnership Platforms (NPPs)

The NPPs were developed by HDN with the aim of creating a national space for effective dialogue between civil society, government and other stakeholders – with a particular focus on transparency and accountability. Using information, dialogue, advocacy and documentation tools and approaches, they also aim to facilitate meaningful engagement between governments and civil society to monitor national AIDS and TB targets and milestones.

Three NPPs will be transferred to Alliance linking organisations in Zambia (Partners Zambia), Uganda (Partners Uganda) and Cambodia (Daiku Cambodia). Overall coordination and oversight of these NPPs, knowledge and learning across individual platforms, as well as integration with in-country key correspondent programmes, will be led by Alliance Secretariat. The Alliance will continue linkages with the other NPPs in Namibia, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Thailand.

Key Correspondents

The Key Correspondents (KCs) are a network of 200 community-based writers who share stories from their communities to ensure community voices are heard in the response to HIV and TB and also aim to connect with policy makers to advocate for social and policy change.

Management and coordination of this programme will be fully transferred from HDN to the Alliance.

In recognition of the value and importance of this programme, the Alliance has committed funding for a new Key Correspondent Coordinator and a full-time Programme Assistant to be based in the Alliance Secretariat from July 2009.

TB

HDN is well known for its work supporting people with HIV and TB. In order to ensure this expertise is maintained and maximised. HDN’s TB programme (led by Bobby Ramakant) will be based in Alliance India.

For more information please contact Rob Worthington at rob@aidsportal.org.

To see more about the programmes described here visit the HDN website.

Mobile phones - a tool for social change

Looking to do something a little different? Would you like to learn about how to use technology more effectively to promote social change? Why not attend a Mobile Active event.

"Mobile Active is a community of people and organizations using mobile phones for social impact. They are committed to increasing the effectiveness of NGOs around the world who recognize that the 3.5 billion mobile phones provide unprecedented opportunities for organizing, communications, and service and information delivery." - Mobile Active 2009

They're holding a bar camp - Mobile Tech 4 Social Change - in London, UK on 23rd May 2009.

Or if you live on the east coast of Canada why not check out the Mobile Tech 4 Social Change bar camp on 23 May 2009 in Halifax.

Each event includes

• interactive discussions
• hands-on-demos
• collaborations about ways to use, deploy, develop and promote mobile technology in health, advocacy, economic development, environment, human rights, citizen media, to name a few areas.

Participants for Mobile Tech 4 Social Change barcamps include nonprofits, mobile app developers, researchers, donors, intermediary organizations, and mobile operators.

For more information go to http://mobileactive.org/.

ICTs now a major feature in mass mobilization campaigns in Africa?

The African national Congress (ANC) ran an election campaign that has been described as “slick, cool and clever”[1], resulting in it winning 66% of the South African vote and the closest rival on 17%.

Indeed, we were expecting nothing less after the Barack Obama campaign that captured the heart of American voters and the world. There are suggestions that the ANC borrowed features from the Obama Campaign.

So what did the ANC do that was different? One thing was to use cyberspace to effectively go after the youth vote. Young people in South Africa’s political speak, are under 40 years old.

“Because we live in a world where cyberspace is used by millions of potential voters, we could not leave that space unattended. This is why we set up a massive communication centre, which we used to communicate our message to those who are connected to the web” said an election manager quoted in the Sunday Times newspaper.

Virtually all the political parties contesting the election had a web presence however; the ANC was the most visible.

No, the parties did not use the internet to aggressively solicit donations- although the option to make donations was available. Voters could among others, receive email newsletters, participate in discussions on face book and other sites, chat with political party representatives, and download election theme songs onto their mobile phones.

I must add that beside the web, the ANC hosted parties with plenty of barbecued meat, celebrity personalities, luxury cars, wine and beer and music and dance- a surefire way of grabbing the attention of the upwardly mobile sector of society.

The Independent Electoral Commission that managed the elections had a website where voters could check if they were registered to vote. They could also do the same by mobile phone. A section of the website was devoted to explaining the process to first time voters.

Another interesting site was the vote2009.co.za where visitors could match their views on prominent issues with the parties’ manifestos, to help them decide on which party to vote for. Issues sampled included HIV/AIDS, healthcare, education, crime, the death penalty and poverty.

So did this work and will the web feature prominently in the election campaigns of other African countries?

Time will tell and as the analysts do the maths and tell us how many of the 77% voter turnout, were below 40 years old.


[1] Sunday Times, 26 April 2009

Find a job using your mobile phone

Do you want to get involved in the HIV & AIDS response but don't know where to start looking? Users in India can now get alerts to new job postings on AIDSPortal delivered to their mobile phone through the Google SMS Channel.

The Google SMS Channel is a free service that lets you get SMS updates on new HIV & AIDS related jobs. All you need is an Indian cell phone number. You can sign up on the Google SMS Channel website and there is a useful FAQ section if you have any questions on how to set up or use the SMS service.

This is a trial service so we would really like your feedback! Is getting an SMS with new job postings useful? What suggestions do you have to make it work better for you? info@aidsportal.org.

On March 16 and 17, Andree Gacoin, AIDSPortal Facilitator, held a two day workshop in NYC with members of the MenEngage Alliance: Fabio Verani (Instituto Promundo), Pancho Aguayo (CulturaSalud), Theresa Castillo (EngenderHealth) and Lucio Verani.

The objectives of the workshop were to train MenEngage members to use AIDSPortal information services, and to identify strategies to facilitate information sharing and networking with the MenEngage Alliance.

MenEngage is a dynamic alliance of non-governmental organisations that seek to engage men and boys in effective ways to reduce gender inequalities and promote the health and well-being of women, men and children. Since 2007, they have run the 'Men and Masculinities' page on AIDSPortal, and they are now also moderating the 'Hombres y Masculinidades' page on PortalSIDA.

Check out the pages for the latest resources related to men and masculinities - and join AIDSPortal and PortalSIDA to directly add your own case studies, tool-kits, policy briefs or other resources.

Also, you can learn more about the MenEngage Alliance during the upcoming Global Symposium 'Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality' which will be held March 30 - April 03, 2009 in Rio de Janerio, Brasil.

What I learned at Info-Activism Camp in India

From graffiti to drama, digital activism, hot coco (cooperation and collaboration), story telling through video, Expanded SMS and Mobiles, sourcing and verifying data, Content Management Systems(drupal, joomla and Pluno), blogs and blogging, wikis silhouette to geo mapping geo wanking, it was a time of innovative learning and building on a diverse range of tactics to enhance civil society activism

Info-Activism is an approach which helps rights advocates tactically utilize information, communications and digital technologies to enhance advocacy work. Tactical Tech believes that new technologies have significant potential to enhance the work of campaigners and advocates, giving them the tools to gather and analyze information and the means to turn that information into action.

The info-activism camp was held in Bangalore, the capital of the state of Karnataka, in Doddaballapura taluk at Green Valley resort This was my first info-activism Camp and I didn’t quite know what to expect, by the end of it I found my self rejuvenated, inspired, relaxed, energized, challenged, invigorated and full of new ideas to apply and share what I learned in an AIDSPortal context.

Over 130 established advocates and experienced technologist and designers from around the world attended. Other participants included: women empowerment organisations, journalists, media, sex workers, sustainable society, Health /HIV/AIDS orgnaiations, philanthropic organisations , environment, civic, technology and research organisations, as well as number of independent consultants. See full list at:
http://www.informationactivism.org/participants#pagetop

The main aim was to provide an environment where they all can build relationships, exchange knowledge and develop strategies, partnership and skills. Topics were varied and diverse. They included:
• Strategy and issue areas
• Information Acquisition, Analysis and Evaluation
• Outreach and Video
• Visualisation and story telling
• Publishing and Engaging Audiences
• Increasing and Sustaining Participation
• Cooperation and Collaboration
• Telephony and Voice communications
• Security and Privacy

Notes and materials for the above topics are available at:
http://mobiles.tacticaltech.org
http://www.tacticaltech.org/mappingforadvocacy
http://www.tacticaltech.org/infodesign
http://security.ngoinabox.org
http://www.informationactivism.org/messageinabox
http://www.informationactivism.org/mobilesinabox
http://www.informationactivism.org/mapsforadvocacy


In examining the effects certain technology designs may have on a particular group of people, one must not lose sight of the nature of technology.
Technology itself is a profound form of social change, which has permanently changed the way humans think and relate to one another. My time in the camp triggered some very exciting feelings. I have learned loads of many new tactics. Now I am thinking ahead- what I need to do with the skill and knowledge.

To find out more about Info-Activism go to http://www.informationactivism.org

Posted on behalf of Leonard Odini, Resource Centre Manager, KANCO

The AIDSPortal team would like to congratulate Leonard Odini for being accepted to the HINARI Access to Research Initiative. Thanks to Leonard's application to the HINARI Programme, set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other major publishers, his organisation now has access to one of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature journals. This includes over 6200 journal titles.

Leonard is the Kenya AIDSPortal Facilitator and Resource Centre Manager for the Kenyan AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO). Leonard's registration with HINARI will benefit KANCO staff and members.
KANCO membership consists of over 900 Kenyan organisations responding to HIV. They range from health workers, researchers to AIDS activists who can now access the latest research via HINARI and the KANCO resource centre.

Your institution/organisation whether it be, an academic, government or research institution may be eligible to register for access to journals through HINARI. Check your eligibility here!