APA Small Grants program - from strength to strength
The APA Small Grants Project has recently completed its 7th cycle of funding and with its completion, comes some interesting lessons learnt, some new challenges identified and offers a valuable insight into what translating the ICPD Agenda into country level programs in 2009 means in the Asia Pacific Region. The APA Small Grants program is one of the major components of the core work of the Asia Pacific Alliance and has operated as such since APAs inception in 1999. The grants program is supported by funds provided by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and each country is provided with USD 25,000 to carry out activities that support APAs core objectives.
Thematically, the 7th round of APA Grants explored the three main areas of Reviewing ODA Performance; High Level Advocacy; and the Intensification of Partnerships and Networks. A summary of these projects follows.1. Australia
Partners: Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA); Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA); Sexual Health & Family Planning Australia (SH&FPA)
Partner activities during this cycle involved advocacy strategies that built on existing domestic support and the government's current focus. This included focusing on HIV/AIDS in the Pacific and collaborating with other development NGOs on the ‘Make Poverty History' campaign to advocate for increased Australian ODA. As part of their Country Advocacy Plan, partners held regular briefings with the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (PGPD) before international meetings and with AusAID officials on RH issues in the Pacific.
High level advocacy and public education to raise awareness were carried out to continue the momentum of earlier activities. Key highlights and accomplishments are as follows:
* An international expert was invited to give a number of presentations on the ICPD agenda to parliamentarians, high level government officials, academics and NGO (see Appendix 1 for photos). The expert also held interviews with newspapers and radio.
* A nationwide ‘Common Ground' postcard campaign and regular communications (e.g. newsletters, website) helped to reach a larger community with the key issues.
The combined activities resulted in increased interest and support by policy makers, MPs, NGOs and particularly the general public on population-environment-development linkages. Together with the advocacy efforts of other organisations, this has led to a small increase in the government's 2006-7 aid budget for funding RH and population policy which has been maintained for 2007-8 (9%). The new Labour government has also committed to increase ODA from 0.3 to 0.5% of GNI by 2010 including for RH.
2. Canada
Partners: Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD); Sierra Club Canada (SCC); Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (YC)
During the seventh cycle, Canadian partners undertook three major activities:
* Engagement of new partners for SRH advocacy;
* Analysis of CIDA expenditures vis-à-vis ICPD goals; and
* Conducting an extensive survey of potential donors in Canada and elsewhere.
The Youth Coalition joined APA as a Canadian partner in November 2006 to strengthen the linkages between population, environment and youth issues from a Canadian and international perspective. Other new partners have been identified and include Canadians for Choice and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC).
Partners updated an analysis report of CIDA spending for population assistance and developed it into a ‘score card'. The latest available figures show that funding rose from approximately USD 29 million in 1996 to USD 82 million in 2002. Each partner has also continued to monitor the changing political climate (e.g. report card on government's views on abortion and women's rights) and educate policy makers.
3. Japan
Partners: Japanese Organization for International Cooperation for Family Planning (JOICFP); Organization for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement (OISCA); Conservation International (CI)
In Japan, partners focused their attention on two major activities:
* Reviewing and studying the new ODA environment to develop in-country advocacy strategies to reflect ICPD, MDGs and the delectation of commitment on HIV/AIDS.
* Maintaining and utilizing the Japanese APA/ICPD homepage to raise awareness on RH-environment-development networks and link to APA member websites in Japan.
Advocacy efforts to increase the amount and quality of Japan's ODA were achieved through a series of study meetings. Influential ODA experts (scholars, journalists, government officials) were invited to discuss a range of topics and a policy recommendation was submitted to key officials in MOFA and other agencies. A media seminar was also held and resulted in newspaper articles on the need for increasing ODA. The study meetings benefited Japanese partners through networking with the ODA experts as well improving their advocacy skills. Building on the information gained from the study meetings, JOICFP has successfully advocated to MOFA for global health to be on the agenda of TICAD IV and the G8 Summit to be held in Japan in July 2008.
One of the achievements of Japan's Advocacy Plan included a Youth Task Force to advocate to Japanese youth on SRH through workshops and brochures. OISCA further raised awareness on the population-environment-development linkage by disseminating key messages to its country network and has received positive feedback. From an initial mapping of potential donors, it was found that although few recognize SRH, keeping an eye on Japanese corporations is crucial as many are already assisting health related projects particularly in HIV/AIDS and maternal health (e.g. Johnson & Johnson, Sony).
4. Korea
Partners: Planned Population Federation of Korea (PPFK); Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA); Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI); Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM)
Korean partners' objectives during the seventh cycle were threefold:
* To increase the effectiveness of the Africa Initiative and ODA policies in Korea for women's health and the environment in developing countries.
* To raise the awareness of government officials, parliamentarians, journalists and the general public in Korea on women's health in Africa with relation to water issues.
* To highlight gender inequity and water shortage in Africa on APA Korean website.
To achieve this, partners participated in study tours to Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (photos in Appendix 1). It included a workshop in India on gender mainstreaming in water and sanitation and visiting local initiatives in drought-stricken areas of Kenya that promote environmental conservation and community development. Reports, photos and films were then produced and publicized through the media and APA Korean website to raise public awareness on the issues. The website further supported advocacy efforts by Korean partners and created awareness on the interrelationship between environment, development and RH. A ‘RH and Environment in the Africa Initiative' report on ODA policies and the water situation in Africa was also distributed.
The National Council of Youth Organizations in Korea (NCYOK) has been approached to apply for APA membership. Partners found that there are not many other foundations or funds in Korea that support SRH in developing countries.
5. New Zealand
Partners: Family Planning International (formerly FPAID); Development Resource Centre (DRC); Positive Women/New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF)
Partners continued to expand their population, development and health network in New Zealand. During the seventh cycle, two new potential members were recruited for coalition building -Positive Women/NZAF and Oxfam New Zealand (no longer pursuing membership). A series of workshops for current and prospective members were held to clarify the work of APA, develop the terms of reference for the partnership and draft a country advocacy plan. Links were also established with NZAID to orientate new staff to APA and input into NZAID's plans.
Quality resources were developed on ICPD, MDGS and APA's focus within a Pacific context to increase the understanding of the wider development community (MPs, policy makers, NGOs, media). A range of stories and photos from across the Pacific Islands were collected to produce evidence-based advocacy tools for linking population and development. The tool will be widely distributed in print and online to be used by the partners and other advocacy organizations in their promotional work.
These efforts combined with the work of other organizations have contributed towards the NZ government recently committing to increase ODA to 0.35% of GNI by 2010.
6. Thailand
Partners: Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand (PPAT); Population and Community Development Association (PDA); Raks Thai Foundation
In Thailand, partners undertook three major activities to strengthen joint cooperation and integrated efforts in SRH programmes:
* Reviewing Thailand's SRH situation and progress to date for advocacy to donors and potential donors and partners on continued efforts in SRH programmes;
* Raising the awareness of concerned agencies on the linkages between RH components and their relevance to the MDGs and ICPD;
* and Mapping of in-country donors including potential donors and partners.
Creative advocacy materials were developed to support the activities in the form of a report card on the current SRH situation in Thailand and recommendations for achieving the MDGS and ICPD PoA. A wall chart was also produced to explain the linkages between RH components throughout the life cycle. These tools, both in Thai and English, will be disseminated to the public, TICA and other relevant agencies to increase or at least maintain the support for ODA and SRH programmes in Thailand.
It was learnt from the initial mapping of in-country resources that there are very few organizations working on integrated RH and only focus on specific and isolated components of RH. However, there is potential to collaborate with local institutions on the ICPD PoA (e.g. technical support from universities).
Discussion
Due to ongoing changes in governments and officials, several partners have had to respond to new political environments in their country. In some cases, such as the political uncertainty over the past year in Thailand, this has caused a delay in implementing small grant activities. Canada and Japan also had to refocus their advocacy efforts with a new prime minister in place and a growing opposition party.
Another challenge for some partners continues to be a lack of awareness of stakeholders (policy makers, parliamentarians, NGOs, public, media). During the seventh cycle, Korea found that public knowledge on the linkages between women's health and environmental issues was poor and a low priority in overseas assistance. In New Zealand, a planned workshop for the development community on the ICPD PoA and advocacy had to be postponsed due to limited interest. Partners also found that prospective members in New Zealand had difficulty fully understanding APA's goals and the population-environment-development linkages.
A common challenge remains for all countries to convert the growing awareness on the ICPD agenda to increase both the amount and quality of ODA and donor's support for APA goals. For Australia, it is difficult to influence ODA directly with out a sustained advocacy effort and follow up, especially since ODA was not an obvious election issue. Despite the continuous advocacy work in Japan, it was not possible to increase the ODA amount given the government's firm policy.
The limited financial and human resources of small partner NGOs can be a major constraint on implementing activities, especially with the current unfavorable exchange rates. For example, ACPD in Canada had to discontinue its Right On newsletter as they were unable to retain the staff responsible for it. Whereas in Thailand, there is no APA focal point in each of the partner organizations affecting the coordination of small grants activities. To sustain in-country initiatives, further resources need to be mobilized by APA partners beyond the present donor support.
The experiences of APA member countries during the seventh cycle SGP offers valuable lessons learned as summarized below.
* Engaging a range of stakeholders: This includes reviewing country networks and collaboration with other international aid NGOs to advocate for integration of population, environment and development activities. Joint efforts by different development NGOs on a single campaign such as Make Poverty History demonstrated a positive result in Australia. Japan realized that approaching the media and influential experts was crucial to implementing their advocacy work for increasing ODA. In bringing new country members to APA, developing a Terms of Reference helped to establish a strong effective coalition in New Zealand.
* Sustaining advocacy efforts: It is important for partners to take advantage of the interest and awareness generated by advocacy activities, particularly with high level stakeholders. To continually put pressure on the government to increase its focus on ICPD, Canadian partners use electronic communications and other NGOs' membership base to mobilize activists. After increasing public awareness on women's health in Africa with relation to water issues, Korean partners plan to disseminate more advocacy materials to policy makers to initiate projects by government agencies.
* Effective communication strategies: Key messages need to appeal to different target audiences to ensure resources are used effectively. New Zealand partners discovered that instead of workshops to impart information, research into the development sector should first assess how best to communicate the issues. Subsequently they gathered individual stories to give photos and statistics a more powerful advocacy message.
