Engaging Key Stakeholders

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:01 -0500

by Syed Asif Atlaf Chowdhury and Roy Romesh Chandra

Download full notebook below.

In this notebook, we learn about how the development agency CARE-Bangladesh involved key stakeholders, particularly a transport workers’ union, in the task of HIV/AIDS prevention in Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh has one of the lowest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world, it is surrounded by countries in which the disease is widespread, and many worry that it is only a matter of time before it spreads to Bangladesh. Transportation workers, such as truck drivers, are particularly at risk of contracting and spreading the disease. CARE-Bangladesh worked to gain the trust and respect of the Bangladesh Truck Driver’s Federation and then together implemented a program of advocacy including health education and services through integrated partnership. Particularly important was the cultivation of a sense of ownership of the project on the part of the union, including the employment of paid peer educators and the use of union premises for outreach work and health services. The story of CARE-Bangladesh’s work provides important insights into engaging key stakeholders in advocacy work that is socially acceptable and relevant to the lives and experience of target communities.

Since the first identification of HIV and AIDS, their prevalence has been particularly high in communities situated on transport routes, such as border posts and port towns and cities. The HIV virus spreads as people travel, so transport workers are particularly vulnerable. Although Bangladesh is currently rated 161st of 166 countries and territories in rates of HIV/AIDS, it is in close proximity to Asian countries with relatively high rates. Rather than wait for the epidemic to arrive, CARE-Bangladesh sought a strategy that would prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

CARE-Bangladesh recognized that it was crucial to engage transport workers, unions, and companies as key stakeholders in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS. As a result, in partnership with the workers’ union and associations, and with owners of the transport companies, we initiated a behavioural change program to prevent an HIV/AIDS epidemic and to provide quality health care services to transport workers, especially truckers. Because we planned to give the project over to its participants–namely the transport union–after the initial design phase, the primary stakeholders, especially the union, have been actively involved in program development and activities. By holding the union accountable and responsible, CARE-Bangladesh has facilitated a process whereby the workers’ union has become an implementer of health care services, including prevention services, related to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV.

The active involvement of the union has brought many positive results. Its participation and sense of ownership have been essential in sustaining the program and making it socially acceptable. Union involvement was also instrumental in the scaling up of project activities and the ability to quickly create a nationwide service network.

To address the mobility and needs of some 300,000 transport workers, the program now has 45 Drop-In Centres (DICs) nationwide, each called "Traveller," about 300 paid peer outreach workers, and 25,000 volunteer peer educators (recruited from the transport workers themselves). Approximately 4,000 transport workers receive health services from the DICs each month. The project has also established a system for the social marketing of condoms through Peer Outreach Workers and more than 200 local depot holders. On average, 200,000 condoms are sold through this system every month. The establishment of these DICs not only addresses the mobility of transport workers, but greatly improves their access to effective health care services.

In this notebook we share our experience of engaging critical key stakeholders–CARE-Bangladesh, the transport trade union, and the transport workers–to create a holistic approach to HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and treatment. We hope our experiences will be helpful for others who want to work with community-based organizations, unions, and other civil society actors in the context of their own countries and issues. And we hope this effort will provide a model for establishing effective cross-border interventions as well.

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Action Theatre

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:07:59 -0500

by Motahar Akand, Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK)
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The goal of Action Theatre is to develop the capacities of young people and cultural activists at the grassroots level to be a force for change, helping to create a society based on human rights, gender equity and social justice. The tactical outcome is the creation of local theatre groups who would initiate discussion, debate, analysis and actions on critical human rights issues in their community. Participants in the tactic also enhance their leadership skills and human rights awareness.

Six individual elements–six roles–work in conjunction with one another to provide a complete Action Theatre experience:

Initiator: Creates an action theatre group.
Core team: ASK staff members who initiate Action Theatre in other communities.
Primary team: Community members who form the human rights theatre group, or Manobadhikar Natya Parishad (MNP), and implement action theatre
Upazilla level Manobadhikar Natya Parishad (UzMNP): Federation of local MNP groups.
Partner NGO or PNGO: The local group with which ASK works to coordinate the program.
Community Organizer (CO): Local community member working under the supervision of the PNGO to build the primary team and provide support to them.
Audience: Participants in performance who are tasked with defining the action to be taken.

In this tactical notebook, we outline the Action Theatre framework that has been developed and replicated in twelve working areas across Bangladesh. We will share the key elements and steps necessary for the successful application of this tactic, as well as some of the challenges and unexpected outcomes we have seen. Local theatre groups are now gaining ground as a mobilizing force in Bangladesh. This tactical notebook will help provide you with the information you need to determine whether Action Theatre is appropriate for your country and human rights issue.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from http://www.adobe.com

Bangladesh, English

Engaging Key Stakeholders

Action Theatre