Group Activities

Rising tolls from HIV/AIDS related diseases

PKumCheMebeng — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:16:12 -0500

The death toll arising from the HIV/AIDS related transmission, psychological trauma, stigma, lack of care , and improper feeding scale is very high and predominant among rural communities. The persons hard hit are youths living in low income communities predominantly dependent on rudimentary agro-pastoral farming. In these areas, there are very low levels of government Intervention and infrastructure and structures of aid are unavailable. Unable to make the necessary and right production quantities and yet with so much time at their disposal, and little distraction infrastructure, most young people in rural areas turn to sex for pleasure. Some of the girls as young sixteen take up sex hawking to generate up keep income. What can we do to reduce such HIV/AIDS prevalence among young people in the rural areas

New Tactics Community Members

Cameroon goes to the polls

PKumCheMebeng — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:54:07 -0500

On Sunday 22 July 2007 Cameroonians will be going to the polls in what has been called twin elections- Parliamentary and municipal election. Campaigns are heightening within political party rungs for the 180 seats at the legislative house and several other local council seats. It is worth noting that Cameroon is a multiparty democratic country with almost 170 political parties which saw their light in early 90. Out of this number of legalised parties only 7 ( CPDM, NUDP, SDF, UPC, MLDC, MDR CDU) currently have Parliamentary seats at the legislative house of Assembly. There are currently close to 180 Parliamentarians. In the past the number of women in the Legislative House of Assembly and in the other portfolios have been greatly underrepresented. Out of 180 Parliamentary seats in the previous Parliament, we could barely count barely count a handful of less than 30 women. From six universities, we have one female Rector. Of the number of Divisional officers there is only one woman and, less than ten women from 65 ministerial positions. The number of women occupying important positions in the rungs of political leadership is so insignificant, despite their strengths and numerical power. This could result from the general mistrust the national political system has for women. This year again, while other parties made strides to ameliorate the representation rate of women within the parties – through internal arrangements – others remained so adamant and consecutive. As elections draw near, women have been mobilized to come out massively for women since this group make majority of the population. Although the representation of women at party level has improved, it remains a big question whether the society will be able to entrust their votes to the women. The fear is that at election time, the number of women actually voted may slim down despite party interest. Several Women movements, NGOs and Associations have tried to develop strategies to build the interest of women first to get involve in peacebuiding governance and to trigger their interest in political leadership. Such has been the case with More Women in Politics which has been a national effort to promote women involvement in leadership. Kwachu Justine of Women in Alternative Action, a vibrant local NGO that give alternative solutions to women empowerment and capacity building has said that with such a move, one can hope to develop a two way traffick sign for women- ushering them to gain access to important portfolios that can enhance impressive pressure on the changes they may want to see and as well ushering women to understand the necessity of releasing their votes on behalf of the women. “The absence of women in powerful structured sectors in one way threatens the democratic system as a whole. As a result, there is need to build confidence of the woman in the woman so that they can be representatives of their own numerical strength, firstly we need to improve their interest in political participation and then get out their votes for the women” she has said. WAA Carries campaigns to reawaken the consciousness of women to participate in the political process.Two main ways of tackling the problem are foreseen:-· Creating an informed womanhood· Developing their synergic power to build together. What ever results these efforts may give, we are beginning to see that women can use their majority roles to change what they actually want to see changed.

New Tactics Community Members

commenting on poverty scales among widows

PKumCheMebeng — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:51:36 -0500

The definition of poverty is steadily moving towards a human rights-based vision highlighting its underlying multitude of causes. The relative poverty of women in general, is already an issue to be considered. In some parts of the world, poverty is intensified when a woman losses her husband and becomes a widow. This is because after the burial of her husband, she is driven away from her husband’s residence, by her in laws, and has no right to take with her anything from her “former house”. We will like to generate discussion on how we can enhance mass awareness of women and children socio economic and civil rights so that in their rights, women and children can dream of poverty free lives.

Training Tools

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 18:18:47 -0500

TACTICAL THINKING

TACTICS, STRATEGY & CREATIVITY

ARTICLES & GUIDES

Overview of Tactical Mapping Eight-pages Tactical Mapping (Article)* Two-pages [Croatian] [Spanish] [Tetum (East Timor)] [Turkish]	These articles provide an overivew of Tactical Mapping, a method of visualizing relationships sustaining human rights abuses (ie. institutions, individuals...). Such a map can be used to track the nature and potency of tactics available to affect these relationships. See also 'Visualizing Information for Advocacy' by the Tactical Technology Collective.
Tactical Mapping (Tool)* [Croatian] [French] [Spanish] [Turkish]	A guide for creating a tactical map using the example of "A Tactical Map of the Issue of Torture".
Sample Tactical Map*	Image of a tactical map as it is being created.
The Need for New Tactics (Article)* [Bangla] [Hebrew] [Spanish]	Six reasons that new tactics are needed in human rights work.
The Need for New Tactics (Guide)* [Croatian] [French] [Russian] [Spanish] [Tetum (East Timor)]	A guide with examples of how others have used new tactics effectively in human rights work.
Understanding Strategy and Tactics* [Croatian] [Russian] [Tetum (East Timor)]	A guide for thinking about why strategies and tactics are important in your work.
Developing Creative Tactics and Strategies [Croatian]* [French]* [Hebrew]* [Russian]* [Spanish]*	Learn, step by step, how to adapt and use innovative strategy to advance and enhance human rights work globally
198 Methods of Nonviolent Action* [Tetum (East Timor)]	Publication from The Albert Einstein Institution.

EXERCISES & GROUP ACTIVITIES

A Big wind blows* [Tetum (East Timor)]	This trust-building and "get to know you" game can be used a few times over the duration of a multi-day workshop. As trust levels increase, the statements can get more risky...
Creating Ground Rules* [Croatian] [Tetum (East Timor)]	This quick exercise will allow a group to establish its own set of rules and principles. When self-generated, rules are more likely to be "owned" by the group. If participants do not respect the rules, you can refer back to the list to re-centre behaviour.
Creating a Tactical Timeline (Exercise)* [Croatian] [Tetum (East Timor)]	Designed by Nancy Pearson and Philippe Duhamel for the Asia Regional Workshop of the New Tactics Project, August 2005.
Stories under the Baobab* [Croatian] [Tetum (East Timor)]	We will tell stories of our struggles and look at what makes our efforts successful.

TOOLS FROM TRAINING FOR CHANGE (trainingforchange.org)

Creating a Buddy System*

[Croatian] [Tetum]

How to set up a Buddy System.

Flip the Blanket*

[Tetum]

A tool to build trust and learn about group dynamics through a group challenge and a tool that can help define strategy, tactics, and leadership roles.

Myth Reality Value (Info)*

[Croatian] [Tetum]

A tool to help you base a campaign on broader societal values.

Myth Reality Value (Exercise)*

[Tetum]

Spectrum of Allies (Diagram)*

[Tetum]

A tool to examine social forces and groups, spread across the spectrum from those who are the most active supporters to those who are the most dedicated opponents.

Spectrum of Allies (Exercise)*

[Tetum]

Vision Gallery (Exercise)*

[Tetum]

An activity used with "village" groupings (issue-based clusters) to help us envision goals that may feed our strategizing exercises.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files on this page. You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.