ZAMBIA: Education and Community Support Promote Health Outcomes

February 20, 2013

3 min read

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ZAMBIA:

Education and Community Support Promote Health Outcomes

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Supporting learners as “whole children” cultivates sustainable life skills.

In Zambia, Creative is addressing the need for a comprehensive, inclusive approach to education by implementing components that address learners’ needs for support in health and psychosocial areas. The USAID-funded Read to Succeed (RTS) Program strives to improve student performance in schools by focusing on early grade reading and holistically integrates issues affecting girls’ education, such as prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, knowledge of life skills, and community engagement and support.

Recently, Mary Lyn Field-Nguer, Creative’s Senior Associate for Health, visited with Creative’s RTS staff in Zambia to provide technical assistance and learn about the program. A visit to a local school shed light on the challenges that teachers and learners face. It is difficult to expect teachers to go beyond the day to day teaching to support learners as “whole children,” a concept that guides Creative’s work, when they face a 1:60 teacher to student ratio at a school in a rural community affected widely by HIV and AIDS.

In one school visited, for example, a head teacher and sixth grade student both cited recent incidences of girls in their class getting pregnant. Creative’s work in Zambia centers around life skills education and guidance counseling services and aims to address problems affecting girls in particular, such as early pregnancy or dropping out to care for family members. One to one and group sessions and engaging parents and community members are strategies applied to provide information and support to girls as they enter a time when they must learn more about sexual and reproductive health and make good choices that will affect their education and their futures.

“I have been working in the remote parts of Zambia, so I have seen girl children drop out of school because their parents died of AIDS,” shared Dongo Yezi, RTS Zambia Project Coordinator for Community Mobilization. “I want to help the lives of girl children. I have seen young girls married off early, so they do not go far with their education. They say their parents feel it is a waste of money to educate a girl child, and if they marry them off early, they will get the dowry – and the girl can’t make the decision. More often than not, the men they marry are much older and already have other partners, raising a girl’s risk of [contracting] HIV.”

“The rural communities are heavily affected by HIV,” explained Peter Sampa, RTS Zambia Community Mobilization and Grants Advisor. “I have seen how HIV and AIDS contribute to school drop-out rates because the older children have lost their parents and have to take up full responsibility for their siblings as caregivers. This limits their ability to attend school and makes them grow up fast.” RTS is working to address these issues both at the root cause and the subsequent effects. By helping children stay in school, they will learn to read and will then be empowered to stay HIV-free, finish school, understand health messages, and help their future children.”

The RTS staff is knowledgeable about the challenges and results to be achieved under the program, and they are dedicated to mitigating the impact of HIV on learners, communities, and educational outcomes.

“I am working on Creative’s Read To Succeed project because I have lost some family members to HIV, and I am caring for a nephew who lost the mother a couple of years ago,” shared Audrey Mwansa, RTS Zambia Deputy Chief of Party. “If he had no one to support him in his education and with no emotional support, his life would have been bleak. For me, I live with this issue every day. It’s not about the job and the salary, but about sharing what I have learned in life with someone else.”

Peter, Audrey, and Dongo are examples of how an individual can have a lasting impact on a child’s life and within the greater community. Staff with personal commitment, competence, and an understanding of the local context, are critical to programs such as RTS. By working in close collaboration with national and local partners, the RTS team is prepared to make a difference for learners in Zambia.

— Mary Lyn Field-Nguer, Education for Development Division[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

ELECTORAL SECURITY: Addressing Electoral Conflict

February 20, 2013

3 min read

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ELECTORAL SECURITY:

Addressing Electoral Conflict

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Over the last two years in what has been termed the “Arab Spring,” the collapse of long-standing regimes in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya has created space for political contestation that citizens in these countries had never before experienced.

Having demonstrated their strength through actions on the street, the citizens of the Arab Spring looked to electoral processes as crucial to legitimizing government, promoting accountability and good governance, as well as contributing to national stability. While elections can serve these needs if administered impartially and in a peaceful environment, they can also de-stabilize nations and de-legitimize governments if mired in conflict and violence. What is more, the potential for violence can keep citizens away from the polls and deter candidates from openly campaigning. Recent events in Libya and other countries evidence that, despite forward progress and remarkable gains across the Arab world, these processes and ongoing transitions remain fragile. This has particular implications for other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region slated to hold elections in the coming months—should upcoming polls experience conflict and violence, transitions risk being de-railed, and the legitimacy of governments questioned.

Electoral_Security_1

Recognizing the threat that violence poses to the integrity of elections, over the past year Creative has been working with state- and non-state stakeholders across the globe to develop strategies to prevent, manage, and mediate election-related conflict and violence. Through a program funded by USAID to help state- and non-state actors in these locations manage potential conflict surrounding upcoming elections, Creative’s Jeff Fischer and Patrick W. Quirk performed electoral security assessments in Afghanistan, Burundi, Guatemala, and the Philippines. In doing so, they used the Electoral Security Framework – Technical Guidance Handbook for Democracy and Governance Officers (Framework), which Creative developed for USAID.

Building on findings from these assessments and extensive interviews with experts across the globe, in January USAID published the Best Practices Guide in Electoral Security – A Guide for Democracy and Governance Programming (Guide). The Guide provides USAID’s development professionals, as well as electoral assistance and conflict prevention policy-makers and practitioners, with a global overview of best practices in programming they may use to devise interventions to prevent, manage, or mediate electoral conflict and violence. Within the context of electoral security, the Guide defines a “best practice” as a policy, practice, or program intervention that has demonstrated measurable results in achieving electoral conflict prevention, management, or mediation. The Guide presents best practices as organized by: 1) electoral phase; 2) thematic area; and 3) policy, practice, or program activity by state and non-state stakeholder.

The Guide is the companion volume to the Framework, which describes an assessment methodology to develop a profile of potential threats to electoral processes so that donors and partner governments can develop programmatic responses to prevent, manage, or mediate such threats. In its work, Creative has used the Framework to perform electoral security assessments in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, the Philippines, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The Framework and Guide are tools that actors in the MENA region and beyond can apply to devise strategies and interventions to prevent, manage, and mediate violence and conflict surrounding upcoming polls and thereby help ensure citizens have the opportunity to express their opinion and tangibly impact their society’s future.

— Patrick W. Quirk, Conflict Management and Mitigation

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Farewell to an Icon: DICK McCALL by James "Spike" Stephenson

February 20, 2013

3 min read

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Farewell to an Icon:

DICK McCALL by James “Spike” Stephenson

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Last month, Creative lost the daily joy of the presence of an icon. Dick McCall retired. Fortunately, he will still work a few days a week as a consultant, but I will profoundly miss the daily dose of his wisdom, humor and good will, as will the cadre of Creative employees that Dick mentored over the years. For his peers, the days are a little less bright, with a little less laughter.

Dick was a child of the Great Plains, who started his career as a journalist, before turning his skills to the development and implementation of foreign policy, as Democratic staff to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC). When I first met him in 1990, he was visiting El Salvador, seeking a way to jump-start negotiations to end the, then, ten-year civil war that had decimated that country. He was by then a moderate senior staffer for the SFRC, with strong contacts with El Salvador’s left. I was USAID’s private sector officer, with strong contacts with the country’s mercantilist oligarchs. When Dick asked me to introduce him to and help him to understand the latter, I was skeptical. Most Democrats opposed US policy in El Salvador, and Dick’s transparent motive to be an honest broker seemed suspicious, at best. Over the next two years, as we worked behind the scenes to bring the factions together and hammer out a peace agreement, I learned that Dick’s extraordinary ability to gain the trust of the oligarchs, military, government and guerillas was the thread that bound together the whole effort. He is still a hero to Salvadorans of all political persuasions who lived through those two years of hard work that brought a lasting peace.

In 1993, Dick left the SFRC to become Chief of Staff at USAID, where his brokering skills were tested in Somalia, Rwanda, and other nightmares. He served three Administrators under two Administrations, before retiring from government to join Creative in 2001. Here he served as Senior Vice President for programs and in his last years as Senior Vice President and Senior Advisor. For the past seven years, I had the pleasure of teaching, writing and partnering with Dick on various panels and workshops. We each came in early and usually started the day with a discussion of current affairs or events. We sought each other’s advice and valued it equally. In that regard, I was one of many—because Dick was a good listener and patient observer. A man of great intellect, curiosity, experience and passion for our work, I never saw him bored by the quotidian pursuits of doing business. But there was little that escaped his critical gaze and impartial appraisal. Dick was and remains the consummate “straight shooter.”

Lest this sound like an obituary, Dick is still with us—but only for two days a week. For those of us who know him, that is better than going cold turkey, but not much and not enough. For those of you who do not, take advantage of those days and get to know him before he retires completely. You will be enriched.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

South Sudan: Innovative Training Expands Teachers’ Teaching Toolbox

January 30, 2013

2 min read

Catharine Corbin (Washington, DC)

Sudan HEAR

Originally designed to support the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Health Education and Reconciliation (HEAR) project is currently in its seventh year of implementation and is building the capacity of community members, government officials, educators, and health workers to foster sustainable access to quality education and health services. Although the English is the language of instruction in South Sudan, many teachers were originally trained in Arabic or other local languages. Through HEAR, teachers build their skills and confidence to teach effectively in English. HEAR has worked in the border regions between the North and South Sudan since 2006 and now implements programming in four northern states in South Sudan. Since South Sudan’s independence in July 2011, the HEAR project has shifted its focus to target internally displaced persons and returnees in the Republic of South Sudan zones of Agok, as well as the surrounding states bordering the North: Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Western Bahr el Ghazal, and Unity. (more…)

Creative announces publication of USAID’s Best Practices Guide in Electoral Security

January 24, 2013

2 min read

Patrick W. Quirk (Washington, DC)

Creative is pleased to announce the publication of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Best Practices in Electoral Security – A Guide for Democracy and Governance Programming (Guide). The Guide was co-authored by Jeff Fischer and Patrick W. Quirk, of Creative’s Conflict Management and Mitigation Team.

The Guide provides USAID’s development professionals, as well as electoral assistance and conflict prevention policy-makers and practitioners, with a global overview of best practices in programming they may use to devise interventions to prevent, manage, or mediate electoral conflict and violence.

Within the context of electoral security, the Guide defines a “best practice” as a policy, practice, or program intervention that has demonstrated measurable results in achieving electoral conflict prevention, management, or mediation. The Guide presents best practices as organized by: 1) electoral phase; 2) thematic area; and 3) policy, practice, or program activity by state and non-state stakeholder.

To inform the Guide, Fischer and Quirk performed electoral security assessments in Guatemala, Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Burundi, employing the methodology described in USAID’s Electoral Security Framework – Technical Guidance Handbook for Democracy and Governance Officers (Framework), which Creative developed for USAID. The assessments were augmented with additional analysis as well as interviews of electoral security and conflict management practitioners from across the globe.

The Guide is the companion volume to the Framework, which describes an assessment methodology to develop a profile of potential threats to electoral processes so that donors and partner governments can develop programmatic responses to prevent, manage, or mediate such threats. Since developing the Framework, Creative has used it to perform electoral security assessments in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, the Philippines, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Patrick W. Quirk, Management Associate, Conflict Management and Mitigation, Creative Associates International

Questions? To contact the authors, please email Jeff Fischer and Patrick W. Quirk.

Creative announces publication of USAID’s Best Practices Guide in Electoral Security

January 23, 2013

2 min read

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Creative announces publication of USAID’s Best Practices Guide in Electoral Security

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The Guide is the companion volume to the Framework, which describes an assessment methodology to develop a profile of potential threats to electoral processes so that donors and partner governments can develop programmatic responses to prevent, manage, or mediate such threats. Since developing the Framework, Creative has used it to perform electoral security assessments in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, the Philippines, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Questions? To contact the authors, please email Jeffrey Fischer and Patrick W. Quirk.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Technology transforms Development Partnerships

December 6, 2012

4 min read

Citizens leverage technology to engage directly in the democratic process.

Jacqui Deelstra (Washington, DC)

During his historic, recent visit to Burma, President Barack Obama said to the Burmese people, “When your voices are heard by the government, it’s far more likely that your basic needs will be met.” In this statement he encapsulated the spirit of Making All Voices Count: A Grand Challenge for Development.

This effort was launched on Wednesday, December 5 and brings together the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), USAID, and the Omidyar Network. They have established a $45 million fund to help harness new technologies, such as social media and mobile phones, to enable citizen engagement and improve government responsiveness. Funded under the partnership will be innovations that seek inclusive ways to empower all citizens to voice their concerns and demands and to improve governments’ responsiveness and accountability to those citizens.

For me, this is an incredibly exciting initiative that highlights work done by organizations that I respect and know well. As a master’s student, in 2010, I spent my summer in Tanzania researching projects that encouraged citizens to use their mobile phones to report on service delivery issues, such as electricity outages and teacher absenteeism. I was extremely privileged to be hosted by Twaweza, an initiative founded by Rakesh Rajani, that Samantha Power highlighted during the launch event. Twaweza believes in the power of information and that citizens can lead change in their communities and hold governments accountable when they have access to the right information and channels to make their voices heard. Though as Ms. Power pointed out, citizens are not naïve and recognize that motivating a government to change its behavior and build the systems needed to be responsive to citizen needs is incredibly challenging.

The efforts of a Twaweza partner in Tanzania, Daraja, were also mentioned by Ms. Power. Daraja put in place a system for citizens to report broken water points to government water engineers using SMS and observed the process to ensure response to those reports. Ms. Power explained during the launch event that this project largely failed because people did not believe reporting would make a difference. They had for so long have been failed by their government and been voiceless that they did not believe anything would be different this time.

What we learn from initiatives such as Twaweza and Daraja is that the technology really is the easy part. One can set-up a short code to receive SMS messages from citizens or a website to display budget information relatively easily. But getting desired citizen and government involvement is a far greater challenge.

Similar opinions were expressed by the distinguished speakers at Wednesday’s launch event. Justine Greening, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development, said that while internet and mobile devices can change the way that government and citizens interact, she knows that some interventions that funded by DFID have failed because they focused on the technology and not on the people using the intervention.

Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Director-General for SIDA, expressed that more dialogue with governments and political will is needed to ensure citizen voices are heard. She said SIDA has worked well with citizens and NGOs to adopt new technologies for advocacy, but the question remains as to whether there has been political buy in and if it has actually made a difference.

An initiative to facilitate this government dialogue is the Open Government Partnership (OGP). OGP is currently made up of 57 countries that have agreed to greater disclosure of government information, such as budgets, and adopted a national action plan to work towards improving citizens’ access to information.

In his remarks, USAID Administrator, Rajiv Shah, said when technology is applied responsibly and fitting with the local context, it allows people to demand better services, fight corruption, and ensure transparency. I agree with this statement, but there is another part of the equation. This is the work being done by international development organizations to build the capacity of citizens in emerging democracies to articulate effectively their needs to their governments, while also to ensure governments have the necessary systems in place to respond to citizen demands. When this foundation is in place, technology truly can be transformative in making sure voices are not only heard, but also that governments can respond appropriately and effectively.

Jacqui Deelstra, Program Associate for Technology, Creative Associates International.

Helping those who have no one else

December 1, 2012

1 min read

Audrey Mwanda (Zambia)

Audrey Mwansa, DCOP — Audrey Mwansa, Deputy Chief of Party/Guidance and Counseling Adviser, USAID/Creative RTS Zambia

“I am working on Creative’s Read to Succeed project because I have lost family members to HIV and I am caring for nieces and nephews who have also lost family members. If these children had no one to support them in their education and with no emotional support, they would now be street boys. For me, I live this issue every day. It’s not about the job and the salary, but about giving what I have achieved in life to someone else.”

– from Audrey Mwansa, RTS Zambia Deputy Chief of Party, Creative Associates International

Correction: Audrey Mwansa has lost family members to HIV/AIDS, not her parents as originally stated.

Educate a Girl, Better her Community

December 1, 2012

1 min read

Dongo Yezi (Zambia)

Dongo Yezi, Project Coordinator for Community Mobilization, USAID/Creative RTS Zambia

“For me, I have been working in the remote parts of Zambia so I have seen girl children drop out of school because their parents died of AIDS. I want to contribute the little that I can in order to help the lives of girl children. I have seen young girls married off early so they do not go far with their education. They say their parents feel it is a waste of money to educate a girl child and if they marry them off early they will get the dowry – and the girl can’t make the decision. Often the husband is older or has many wives or partners, which then puts her at higher risk of HIV.”

– from Dongo Yezi, RTS Zambia Project Coordinator for Community Mobilization, Creative Associates International

Preventing AIDS by Helping Children Stay in School

December 1, 2012

2 min read

Peter Sampa (Zambia)

“From the educationalist point of view, messages about HIV and AIDS prevention, about gender, and all health messages and motivation are “hidden in the print.” The importance of the Read to Succeed project is to teach learners how to read – if they learn how to read, they will be able to understand the messages. They will learn how to prevent HIV, how to take care of themselves, how to stop GBV, how to use the reporting and referral systems so that they can report. But students must stay in school if they are going to learn to read – the school must provide support to the learners, and the community must support the learners. They need a supportive environment that can respond to their individual needs.

The rural communities are heavily affected by HIV – I have seen how HIV and AIDS contributes to school drop-out rates because the children have lost their parents whom they need to support them. Many children also have to take up full responsibility for their siblings as caregivers. This affects their ability to attend school – children are children. This makes them grow up fast. RTS is working to address these issues both from the root cause and the effect. By helping children stay in school, they will learn to read and will then be empowered to stay HIV-free, finish school, understand health messages, and help their future children.”

– from Peter Sampa, RTS Zambia Community Mobilization and Grants Advisor, Creative Associates International

On World AIDS Day, A Message from Zambia

December 1, 2012

2 min read

Mary Lyn Field-Nguer (Washington, DC)

Creative RTS Team in Zambia — The USAID/Creative RTS Team: Peter Sampa, Audrey Mwansa, Dongo Yazi, Tassew Zewdie

I am so pleased to have the opportunity to be in Zambia which I have visited many times since the 90s to work on HIV, to now provide technical support to Creative’s USAID-funded initiative – RTS, or Read to Succeed. The project is working to improve learner performance in Zambia with a particular focus on early grade reading in 12 districts in 6 provinces, primarily rural areas. The project is building teacher capacity, strengthening teacher assessment and learning related to the teaching and assessment of student reading, and improving learner support through HIV prevention and life skills education, community engagement, and guidance and counseling system development. If children are able to read, it will be easier for them to grasp information that can be provided to them – RTS will help to further their ability to protect themselves. We will help communities know how to talk about HIV.

I feel especially fortunate to be here, on World AIDS Day, when awareness of the impact of HIV in all sectors of Zambia is high. I am so pleased to see that many of the strategies that are at the heart of RTS – girls’ education, prevention of SGBV, life skills teaching in schools, community engagement – were highlighted as sound approaches to HIV prevention in the newly released PEPFAR Blueprint: Creating an AIDS-free Generation, released this week by the State Department. We hope you enjoy the following posts from our dedicated and committed staff working to save lives, educate communities to stop the spread of AIDS and improve health.

Mary Lyn Field-Nguer, Senior Associate for Health, Creative Associates International

It’s World AIDS Day: Educate, Learn, Act.

December 1, 2012

1 min read

Mary Lyn Field-Nguer (Washington, DC)

World-AIDS-Day-Malawi-copy — Children learn about AIDS prevention – Zambia, World AIDS Day

On World Aids Day, Creative is taking a stand with millions around the globe to fight the global AIDS pandemic and help educate communities about healthy habits to prevent the spread of AIDS. HIV makes life tougher for many children and young people in developing countries. More than 15 million children have lost a parent to AIDS, as well as siblings, friends, and teachers. Over 5 million adolescents are living with HIV; 2,500 are newly infected every day. They face stigma in their communities and schools, and many students must leave school to care for sick parents and younger siblings. Since 1999, Creative has managed over 20 projects with HIV and other health components worldwide, primarily using schools as platforms for intervention. Creative’s USAID and PEPFAR-funded, school-based prevention and life skills education projects link children and youth to health services and support productive futures through drop-out prevention, including accelerated learning programs that provide a second chance to over-age students, and students who have not been in school due to conflict, to complete the primary basic education cycle.

Throughout the day, Creative’s staff and health workers will share their thoughts about the importance of working to improve community health and combat HIV/AIDS nationwide. Check back on VOCES regularly today!

Mary Lyn Field-Nguer, Senior Associate for Health, Creative Associates International