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Shaping the Future of Grassroots NGOs

2010-03-04T20:54:59Z

By Christina Lem

At times of change, start-up organizations should ask themselves what they want to become. If you want to remain independent, what is your future plan? Do you eventually want to be absorbed into a larger organization? Will you shut down once the need you're serving is met? NGOs should know how to shape their own future before others make the decision for them.

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A few years ago, I visited over 50 non-profit organizations throughout Southern and East Africa on behalf of a foundation. The majority were grassroots groups created by dynamic founders who were determined to provide direct services or advocacy aid to those in terrible circumstances. Often these organizations had tiny staff and relied on community volunteers. They had just enough skills to create a budget and to document metrics that measured outcomes. Some didn't, and were considered to be failing by the international NGOs that were giving them technical advice. Almost all were dedicated to the work, but overwhelmed by weak management skills, low capacity, emotional burnout, limited financial resources, donor fatigue, and lack of infrastructure and trust in government.

This was despite the fact that in 2007 Sub-Saharan Africa received USD 38.7 billion in international aid. Much of the money trickled down to these grassroots organizations via government or large NGOs serving as their intermediaries, where bottlenecks and drip feeds were common. Grassroots NGOs often complained of not receiving the technical skills they needed to become self-sufficient, while their technical advisors, who were either government or large NGOs, frequently felt NGOs were not organized enough to implement what they were being taught. It was a constant, frustrating tug-of-war.

Grassroots NGOs face similar challenges in Asia. In some Asian countries, NGOs also face a difficult legal non-profit registration system. In China, for instance, non-profits without governmental approval must register as business organizations, without tax exemption and non-profit legal protection. Yet these restrictions have not slowed the growth of China's non-profit sector. According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the number of those registered as government-operated non-governmental organizations (GONGOs) jumped from 6,000 nonprofit organizations in the late 1990s to 386,916 in 2007. Most grassroots organizations work without any registration.

For groups like these, private funding is critical for sustainability. But money is only part of the equation. Sooner or later almost all private funders will ask their grantees questions about their plans for long-term sustainability and organizational growth, especially international funders. Most grassroots directors are activists, not business managers. But these two realms may not be as different as they might seem.

In the US, only 30% of start-up businesses still exist after 10 years. According to Scott Shane's "The Illusions of Entrepreneurship," sole proprietorships--such as single-starter non-profits--have the highest rates of failure. One likely reason is that they frequently begin operations without plans for growth. Important questions such as increasing intellectual and resource capacity, succession, and the future growth of the company are often considered too late.

Grassroots NGOs often have to react to too many needs and have little time or energy to think about the long term. But the best approach to gradually increasing capacity? Strategically planning for such growth, in phases. This will require strong management skills and a diverse network of supporters. NGOs should ask themselves:

· Is our organization making a substantial impact? How can we prove this?

· Do we want this organization to grow? In what ways? Do we have the intellectual and management capacity to make this happen?

· How can we involve others--advisors, board members, funders, employees--who might have new and needed skills?

· What will happen if the founder leaves? Is there someone who can effectively take his/her place?

· Since we can't do everything on our own, should we merge with another grassroots organization or larger nonprofit, and share hard-to-find resources?

This kind of long-term organizational planning should be seen as fundamental to the organization's work. Convening, organizing and networking to share resources would further strengthen grassroots organizations as a whole. Knowing the answers to these questions requires an honest evaluation of how the organization functions and can effectively grow - which can be essential to attracting new donors and retaining the ones you have already.

Christina Lem is a consultant to international foundations and non-profit organizations, ranging from start-up groups to large, established entities.

10 Steps to Creating a Strategic Plan

2010-02-26T21:23:02Z

by Meg Davis

The strategic plan is the most important document of your organization. It defines who you are and why you do what you do. It ties all your work into your vision for the future. This is how we and the groups we train create a strategic plan. You might want to print out the model we use to look at while you read this (in English here, in Chinese here).*

]]> 1. Bring everyone together - The plan should be created collectively by ALL of the board, staff and volunteers of your organization - including student interns, administrators, and assistants.

This is essential because it is one chance for everyone to come together and agree on shared goals. If you as director just create the plan by yourself and hand it down to the masses, you miss a chance to build unity, and your colleagues will not feel as invested in their goals.

It is also important to include everyone as a matter of principle. If we want to build a more just and egalitarian world, we have to begin in our own organizations, by upholding basic rights and respecting every individual's right to participate in making the decisions that affect them.

Finally, your plan will be strengthened by other people's suggestions. As the director, you will find that useful ideas come from every part of the organization, and you might find that the people who clean the office and make the tea know a thing or two that you need to learn. (I put in that part because some of our colleagues in Asia have staff who make tea and buy lunch - at Asia Catalyst, we have to make our own tea, lol.) Ideally, it's best to have someone you trust from outside the organization facilitate the meeting, as they will be more objective and will see things that people inside the organization miss.

Set aside time to plan for at least a few hours. We like to buy food and drink for the group, and ask everyone to turn off cell phones and close email. We post large sheets of paper up on the wall and ask someone with good handwriting (usually that's not me) to draw and fill in the boxes, so that everyone can see the plan as it develops.

One of the things that most of us find challenging is keeping things simple. We directors tend to write vague mission statements so that we have lots of flexibility, and commit to more programs than we can really carry out with a small number of staff. But this harms our ability to raise funds, and eventually burns out everyone connected with the organization. A simple, clear plan is part of building a healthy organization.

If you find during this planning meeting that you are making tough decisions and deciding not to do certain things that you really want to do, then you are probably doing this correctly. The core of strategic planning is evaluating what resources you have, and making tough choices about what you can achieve.

2. Always go from right to left - Move from right to left, filling in one column at a time: Start by reviewing your vision and making sure you all still agree with it, then move to the left and discuss outcomes, then impacts, actions, and finally resources.

The reason why we do it this way is to make sure that our vision is aligned with our goals and our actions, all the way down to what we are doing next week. Try not to think about the actions (programs for this year) until you finish ALL the columns to the right of it. The number one mistake most groups make is to decide on this year's progams before the other columns on the right are done. If you do that, you just end up with a confused plan.

3. VISION: The 20-year goal - This is the ultimate vision of your organization, the thing that motivated you to start doing this work in the first place. When you achieve this vision, you can turn off the lights, close the office and go home. The vision should be even simpler than your mission statement: a short, clear statement of only one or two sentences that describes what you hope will be the end result of your work. It should be ambitious and inspiring.

Good examples: "End homelessness in New York City", "All courts in Indonesia sentence drug users to rehabilitation, not prison." Some of the groups we work with have something like this: "All people with HIV/AIDS in (X country) know and can implement their legal rights." Make sure you have consensus in the whole organization about this statement.

4. OUTCOMES: The 5-10 year goal - What are the steps that need to happen in five to ten years in order to achieve your 20-year goal?

These are big changes, but they are also things that are clear and measurable milestones - a change in law or policy, or a new facility established. At the same time, these outcomes should be realistic.

There should be no more than three or four outcomes, and they should all clearly be steps towards the 20-year vision.

Examples include, "Build new homes for 500 homeless families in New York City", or "All hospitals in our province will provide methadone to patients who are recovering injection drug users."

5. IMPACTS: The 2-year goals - This is often the most difficult part of the process, because it's the part where vision meets reality. We find that most organizations spend a lot of time working on this column.

In this column, you need to come up with specific, achievable results of your work in the next two years:

· Each of these should lead clearly to at least one of your 5-year outcomes.

· Each outcome should have at least one impact that connects to it.

· Try not to have more than 5-8 impacts. Eight impacts is already a lot to accomplish in two years.

You will need to make tough choices in this section and be honest about what you can really achieve with the staff and funding you will have this year.

You also have to be sure that your impacts logically result from what your organization actually does. This is where common sense becomes important. For instance, if all your outcomes (5-10 year goals) are about legal and policy change, but all your current programs are services such as providing emergency food and medical care, then you will have a hard time coming up with impacts that make sense. Your plan is not logical. You either need to change what you do, or change your outcomes.

6. ACTIONS: The plans for the next year - Once the vision, outcomes and impacts columns are done, the actions column is easy. It's just the programs you will do this year in order to create the 2-year impacts.

For instance, if one impact is "40 people trained in legal rights", your action could be "two legal rights workshops".

Each action should have at least one arrow pointing to an impact. In this column, you should try to be as specific as possible, using specific numbers.

7. RESOURCES - Writing all these goals can be overwhelming. In the resources column, you brainstorm about people who can help you with your actions: donors, peer NGOs, experts, other allies. List people you know already, and people you could begin to reach out to.

The nice part about this step is that it reminds everyone that we have a lot of people out there who can help us get things done. It helps us to leave the planning meeting feeling hopeful.

8. VERY IMPORTANT: LEAVE NOTHING OUT - Every single program activity of your organization must be included in the plan. It's important to be honest about what your organization is doing. This is where the model we use is helpful - it makes people look at issues they might ignore in their daily work.

For instance, if your executive director spends 50% of her time speaking at international conferences, then that should be an action on the plan which connects to impacts and outcomes. If it doesn't contribute to any clear goals, then her traveling is a drain on the organization, and she may need to spend more time doing something else.

If you're spending half your budget running a shelter for battered women, but all your outcomes are about changing national policy, you can't just leave the shelter out of the plan and pretend that you're not doing it (believe it or not, we've seen groups try to do this). Maybe you need to think of ways that the shelter can help to achieve policy change. Or maybe you need to add steps in the plan to make the shelter self-run, so that you can focus on your real goals.

Look at every single thing you do and make sure it is helping you reach your goals.

9. Check everything - Take one more look:

· Does every box have an arrow that points to another box?

· Does it all make sense?

· Will the Actions result in the Impacts, and will those lead naturally to the Outcomes?

· Have you included absolutely everything you do in your work?

We recommend showing the plan to a few friends & advisors to get their feedback before you make the plan final.

10. How to use the plan when it's done

Print out the plan and post it on your wall. Toast yourselves for creating a thing of great beauty and usefulness. Keep it up there where everyone in the organization can see it every day.

Create a monthly timeline - Create a table or spreadsheet with your list of actions on the left, and the months across the top. Plan out the steps involved to complete each Action each month, and the name of the person responsible for each step.

Use the plan in grant proposals - Send it to your donors to let them know you've finished the plan, and include it in your grant proposals. It helps donors to understand how your current programs fit into the big picture.

Check in a few times a year, or even once a month, to make sure that you are sticking with your plan. You might find that you need to make some adjustments to the plan as you go through the year.

That's it - good luck with your work, and if you use the plan, please let us know whether it worked for you. We're always looking for ways to improve this process.

*You can create this form in Microsoft Word, or email me to ask for a Word version of this plan. To create a new box, move the mouse to the box corner. When you see the crossed arrows, click on the box and hit Ctrl and C. Unclick on the box and hit Ctrl and V. You can drag the box around to where you want it using the mouse. To copy an arrow, click on it and hit Ctrl and C, then unclick and hit Ctrl and V. When you click on the arrow, you can click on one of the small circles to change the arrow's shape or direction, and click on the body of the arrow to move it around.

Sara L.M. Davis, Ph.D. (aka Meg) is the founder and executive director of Asia Catalyst.

Intervention with Elderly Chinese Clients of Sex Workers 中国老年嫖客干预

2010-02-17T17:37:04Z

by Li Man

李曼

China's population is aging, and the pressures of dealing with an aging population are becoming apparent. Today, according to a new report from the Work Committee on the Elderly, 134 million Chinese were over the age of 60, representing around 11% of the population. The report finds that of those between the ages of 66 and 71, 90% of men continued to have an interest in sex, versus 50% of women. In the range of 86-90 year olds, 51% of men had an interest in sex.

中国已开始进入老年化，老龄化对中国社会的压力正逐步显现。目前，中国60岁以上的老年人口为1.34亿，占总人口的11%左右，这是中国老龄工作委员会根据一项最新调得出的结果。资料表明在66--71岁的年龄段内，对性有兴趣的男性为90%、女性为50%，就是在86--90岁的年龄层中对性有兴趣的男性也有51%。

]]> The development of science has shown that sex is a lifelong emotional and physical need for older men. Not only is this not harmful, but a healthy sex life can contribute to prolonging the life. The report finds that a majority of men over the age of sixty continued to be able to engage in sexual activity. A healthy and satisfying sex life can prolong longevity, ease the mind, create emotional stability, eliminate loneliness, and increase confidence in other areas of life.

科学发展证明老年男性的性需求和性行为都是一种生理和心理需要，不仅没有害处，相反适当的性生活有助于晚年生活。调查结果表明：60岁以上的男性有半数以上仍然保持良好的性功能。适当而满意的性生活可以延年益寿、使心情舒畅、情绪稳定、消除孤独、增强生活的信心.

Even more importantly, though, the wives of these older men may sometimes no longer be able to engage in sexual activity, and some have passed away before their husbands. In situations in which these older men can not meet their sexual needs, they may seek other means, such as visiting sex workers. Because of traditional views still entrenched in Chinese society, most people view older people having sex as indecent, and fear that they will influence the family reputation. This leads older men to feel embarrassment about their sexual needs, and it leaves them with no choice except to seek out the most underground sex workers.

更为重要的是这些老年人的妻子已经不能正常的性交、有的妻子已经去世，这些情况导致他们的性需求得不到满足而只有去寻求其他方式解决如：找小姐（性工作者）。又因为中国传统思想的束缚，一般人认为老年人找小姐是：老不正经、下流等等，会影响家人的名誉和生活。所以使得老年人的性需求更为尴尬，他们不得不更加隐蔽地选择也是隐蔽的性工作者。

In one case, an 82-year-old man who had been unable to have an erection for a long time became seriously depressed, which in turn triggered a series of illnesses. One of our sisters, used her sexual skills, succeeded in stimulating this elder man, and afterwards his illnesses were cured. This older man was extremely grateful to the sister and maintained contact with her for a long time.

有一位82岁的老年人因为长期不能勃起导致心情非常郁闷，继而引发一系列疾病。一位姐妹用性技巧，成功地使这位老人重现雄风，之后很多疾病不治而愈。这位老人非常感激这位姐妹，从此一直保持关系。

Based on Phoenix's five years of experience, we have learned that these underground sex workers have many different identities: they are sex workers, also drug users, HIV-positive, lesbians, and single mothers...in order to survive, and get medical treatment, and pay for the educational costs of their children, many have no other option except to engage in sex work. And in the process of doing this work, the initiative to use or not use a condom is manipulated into the hands of the customer. Older clients are often especially unwilling to use condoms, because they feel that because of their advanced age, if they contract HIV it's not such a big deal.

据苦草工作室5年的工作经验得知：这些隐蔽的性工作者大部分具有多重身份：性工作者、吸毒者、艾滋病感染者、女同性恋、单亲母亲。。。。。。。为了维持生活、治疗、孩子的教育她们不得不隐蔽地进行性工作，而在工作过程中安全套的使用的主动权往往操控在男性手中。特别是老年嫖客不愿使用安全套，他们认为自己年纪已经大了，得了艾滋病也没有什么了不起的。

What is more, the sex workers they turn to are often women who have very limited education, and no ability to earn a living through other means. If we add to this the heavy pressure of social stigma and the weight of the pressure to earn a living, some of these sisters even have ideas about retribution against society. The risk to these older clients of contracting STD or AIDS is extremely high, but despite the risk, for all these reasons, both sides continue in this sexual relationship.

而这部分性工作者大都文化水平低、没有其它就业技能，加上严重的社会歧视和沉重的生存压力，有的姐妹甚至有报复社会的念头。所以老年人感染性病、艾滋病的概率是非常高的，因为种种原因他们之间的性交易虽然风险大但是还是在继续。

In another case, a 58-year-old man whose wife passed away visited sex workers for many years, and had sexual relations with at least ten women without using condoms. As a result of our intervention program with long-term customers, he tested for HIV and tested positive. However, he did not stop engaging in prostitution, and frequently harmed sex workers.

有一位58岁的男性因为妻子去世，长期在外面找小姐，和十几个姐妹多次发生性交，并且从来不使用安全套。在我们干预常客项目时检测感染了HIV，但是他并没有停止嫖娼反而更加频繁地去伤害性工作者。

Many people believe that HIV-positive women should not continue to engage in sex work because they could transmit the virus to others. But these people do not consider that they have no other choice; and that sex workers continue to risk other harm while doing this work, including infection with other diseases.

很多人认为这些感染的女性不应该再从事性工作，因为她们会传播艾滋病病毒，但是没有人想过她们无奈地从事性工作的同时也面临着更大的伤害，她们会感染不同的毒株、感染其它疾病。

In one case we know of, a 78-year-old man and an HIV-positive sister had sexual relations for 7 years. Because there was a firm emotional foundation, she told him that she was HIV-positive and recommended that he be tested. The older man tested negative for HIV, and so they continued to have sexual relations using condoms.

有一位78岁的老年人和一位感染的姐妹保持了7年的性交易关系，因为有了一定的感情基础，她如实告知自己感染HIV并建议老人检测。老人检测后没有感染，之后他们一直保持关系，只是在性交过程中使用了安全套。

We at Phoenix believe that intervention with these older clients is urgent. Past experience tells us that this approach is effective and that older customers are willing to accept it.

所以苦草工作室认为对老年嫖客的干预刻不容缓。以往的经验告诉我们，我们的工作方式是有效果的，也是嫖客愿意接受的。

Li Man is the founder and executive director of Phoenix (苦草工作室), an organization of sex workers in Gejiu City, Yunnan Province, China. The blog was translated by Meg Davis of Asia Catalyst.

Indonesian Odyssey: A Drug User's Quest for Treatment

2010-02-12T19:46:09Z

By Ricky Gunawan

The story of Rose - the first drug user sentenced by Indonesian courts to rehabilitation instead of prison - continued this month, with some dramatic twists and turns that highlight obstacles to implementing Indonesia's newly improved policy.

Rose was transferred from Pondok Bambu Detention Center to Cibubur Drug Dependence Hospital (RSKO Cibubur), on Monday, February 8, 2010. As I wrote in December, it took months after her July sentence for the corrupt detention system to actually move her to the hospital. During that time, Rose suffered from withdrawal symptoms without any medication. But even once the transfer was finally completed, it seemed the drama had only begun.

]]> Rose was transferred to RSKO Cibubur using a hospital vehicle, and accompanied by staff of our organization, LBH Masyarakat. Once she arrived, hospital staff examined Rose regarding her addiction history, and gave her some medicine. They then charged a fee of around US$42.

In response to the medical fee, we argued that Rose was transferred to the hospital as ordered by the court, and also that she comes from poor family. Therefore, she should be released from any fees.

The administration officer at the RSKO Cibubur informed us that in order to get free drug treatment there, a civil health insurance card (jamkesmas - insurance for poor people) would be required. Otherwise, Rose would be liable for the fees of about US$270/month for six months - an astronomical sum for an impoverished Indonesian family.

Actually, we suspected this might happen. Rose's mother had already begun the process of applying for a jamkesmas card in Bandung, West Java, where Rose is a resident. However, Rose's mother found herself trapped in Indonesia's rotten bureaucracy, ping-pong-ed from one unit to another unit.

Eventually, she was informed by the first officer who assisted her at the regional health agency that jamkesmas has a quota system. In other words, the government can only cover a limited number of poor people. If a poor person wants to apply for jamkesmas, s/he has to wait until someone from that quota dies.

This information was conveyed to RSKO Cibubur, but the administrative officer still refused to treat Rose without a jamkesmas card. Knowing Rose's condition in Jakarta, Rose's mother became seriously distressed about the bureaucracy in Bandung.

We were asked to deposit a large amount of money and sign a guarantee letter saying that if by Wednesday, February 10, Rose's jamkesmas card is not submitted, we agree to cover all the medical expenses. We did so, and then we asked Rose's auntie in Jakarta to sign the guarantee. But, she would only guarantee the costs until Wednesday. If on Wednesday Rose's jamkesmas is not ready, Rose's family has to pay all the medical expenses. Of course, as an underprivileged family, this is impossible for them.

And if Rose's family can't afford to pay the expenses, and the hospital can't receive her, what's the point of sending Rose to a drug treatment hospital for rehabilitation?

The hospital's standpoint -- that they want to treat Rose but need some guarantee of payment -- is understandable. Since it is the state's responsibility to pay the expenses, the state should provide a jamkesmas card. But the jamkesmas system, in which an impoverished person can join only if another jamkesmas holder dies, is completely ridiculous.

Luckily, we learned that in December 2009 the Ministry of Health had introduced a new program called "Jamkesmas for Newly Impoverished Persons". This new program is available for impoverished people who are in correctional facilities, detention centers, social shelters or who are victims of natural disasters. Fortunately, Rose qualifies for this program.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rose prepared all the documents needed and on the next day her application was approved. At first, the administration officer at the hospital refused her application, because the program is so new that detention facilities don't even know about it yet. Finally, Rose was accepted for treatment at the hospital.

Rose's dreadful experience once again reflects the fragility of Indonesia's legal system when it addresses drug users and the issue of addiction. Indonesia's Narcotics Law clearly states that the state will pay the treatment costs for drug addicts who are found guilty of committing drug offenses, as this is considered part of the punishment period. But as the first person to be so sentenced, Rose had to work hard to convince the hospital that she is impoverished, and that her rehabilitation is a court's order.

Rose's case shows that Indonesia does not yet have a system in place ready to serve convicted drug users who need rehabilitation. Had the whole system been set up, it would be obvious that Rose had to go to rehab first, treat her addiction and then serve her prison sentence. It would also be clear who is responsible for transferring Rose from detention center to the hospital, and what procedures to follow when arranging for treatment costs. Instead, Rose and her supporters have had to advocate to create such a system at every step of the way.

One thing is for sure: Indonesia needs to develop a good system that can address the above issues very quickly. If a drug user needs to be imprisoned, it is far better for her or him to go to rehab first to treat the addiction, instead of prolonging her or his suffering and creating new health crises for prisons.

Ricky Gunawan holds a law degree from the University of Indonesia. He is program director of the Community Legal Aid Institute, or LBH Masyarakat, based in Jakarta, Indonesia. The institute provides pro bono legal aid and human rights education for disadvantaged and marginalized people.

让男性杜绝暴力 - Engaging Men and Boys in Ending Violence against Women and Girls

2010-02-09T15:50:36Z

by Shiwei Ye

Globally, 30% of women suffer physical violence at least once from a male partner, and in multi-country studies done by the UN, nearly 20% of women say that their first sexual experience was forced.

全球30％的女性至少遭受过一次来自男性伴侣的暴力。联合国开展的多国研究表明，将近20％的女性声称她们的第一次性经历是在被迫的情况下发生。

Violence against women and girls is a gross violation of human rights. It is both a consequence and a cause of women's social, economic, cultural and political disempowerment and marginalization.

针对女性的暴力是对人权的粗暴践踏，这是女性在社会、经济、文化和政治上的弱势地位及边缘化导致的结果，也是这一现象出现的原因。

]]> While the primary perpetrator of gender-based violence is usually male, men and boys are also essential agents of change to prevent and end it. Men and boys should question oppressive gender stereotypes, oppose harmful cultural norms and practices, and act to transform institutions and structures that help reinforce gender inequities in public and private spheres. It is encouraging that the Asia-Pacific region is now home to many violence prevention initiatives with a focus on working with men and boys.

尽管大多数暴力行为的施行者是男性，但他们也是防止和杜绝暴力的关键人物。男性应当质疑那些压抑性别的刻板印象，反对有害的文化观念和习俗，并且采取行动改变公共和私人领域中导致性别不平等的机制和结构。目前，亚太地区出现了很多将男性纳入倡导目标的防止暴力项目。

In the Philippines for instance, the group MOVE or Men Opposed to Violence against Women Everywhere works with men to encourage behavioral changes and address gender-based violence and discrimination. In India, Men's Action for Stopping Violence against Women (MASVAW), an unregistered network of individuals and social organizations, campaigns to involve men in fighting for gender justice and work in 20 districts of Uttar Pradesh state through district forums with various groups such as adolescent boys in schools, colleges and university, academicians, journalists, advocates and social activists. The Cambodian Men's Network (CMN) strives to eliminate all forms of violence against women by conducting policy advocacy and building networks and alliances at the grassroot level to mobilize men for gender equality.

比如在菲律宾，有一个叫做"男性反对暴力侵害女性"（MOVE）的组织和男性携手，鼓励行为改变，反对性别暴力和歧视。在印度，"男性采取行动终止性别暴力（MASVAW）"，是一个由个人及社会团体组成的未注册网络，倡议男性参与到争取性别平等的事业中来。该组织在印度北方邦的20个地区与多个群体合作开展活动，如在校青少年，大学与学院，学者，新闻工作者，律师、社会活动家等。柬埔寨男性网络（CMN）通过政策倡导，建立基层网络联盟，动员男性参与推动两性平等，消除针对女性所有形式的暴力。

Men who resort to violence do so mainly because they are conditioned by patriarchal cultural norms to equate manhood with aggression, dominance over women and sexual conquest. This has serious health implications both for men and their sexual partners. Studies indicate that traditional men's gender roles discourage consistent condom use and promote risky sexual behaviors as manly. Women suffering from gender-based violence are shown to be more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

男性诉诸暴力主要是受到父权文化的支配，认为好斗、支配女性，以及在性方面的征服是男性的特征。这种观念对男性和其性伴侣的健康有着极其重要的影响。研究显示，传统的男性性别角色不鼓励坚持使用安全套，而且将危险性行为视为男性气概。遭受性别暴力的女性也更容易感染艾滋病和其他疾病。

Strategies to engage men and boys for gender equality must lead them to believe it is in their own interests to promote gender equality. Messages of non-violence and respect for women's rights are more effective when they emanate from men and boys, especially those holding social, political and economic powers. Male decision-makers and leaders should be actively involved in the formulation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of gender equality policies and programs. Gender-sensitivity trainings should be conducted for male-dominated institutions, including those of the police, the armed forces, the judiciary and the private sectors to mainstream gender into its institutional processes and organizational culture.

对男性倡议性别平等，就必须让他们相信两性平等符合他们的根本利益。由男性来传达非暴力和尊重女性权利的信息会更加有效，特别是那些掌握社会、政治和经济权利的男性。男性的决策者和领导者应当积极的参与制定、实施、监督和评估与性别平等相关的政策和项目。应当在男性主导的机构中开展性别敏感认知的培训，比如警察机关，军队，司法部门和私营部门，从而在其机构程序、组织文化中将性别平等纳入主流。

Men and boys must be mobilized in promoting equal access to and enjoyment of: the right to inheritance and property ownership; universal access to reproductive health services and commodities; employment, educational and vocational training opportunities; gender equitable parenting and caretaking; the right to participate in public and cultural life, just to name a few. Progress in these areas will go a long way in reaching gender parity in economic development and political participation, which not only empowers women but also drives growth and reduces poverty.

我们必须动员男性参与推动继承权和财产权的平等享有，生殖健康服务和用品的普遍享有，就业、教育、职业培训的公平机会，抚养和照顾儿童的平等义务，参与公共和文化生活的共同权利，等等。这些领域的发展将是一个漫长的过程，需要在经济发展和政治参与中达到两性平等，这样不仅是对女性赋权，也有助于推动经济发展和减少贫困。

Transforming long-held attitudes also requires effective social marketing involving a cross-gender alliance of civil society organizations, the media, educators, the private sector, faith-based organizations and community groups (both men's and women's groups). By coming together, coalitions of people committed to gender equality can promote sharing of good practices, data, lessons learnt and other resource tools. Strong coalitions are also more persuasive in sending positive messages on masculinities, carry greater political clout and enhance impact of advocacy at various levels.

要转变根深蒂固的传统观念，需要运用有效的社会营销手段，动员公民社会组织、媒体、教育家、私营部门、宗教组织和社区团体（男性和女性的小组）。这些共同致力于性别平等的人能够聚集在一起，分享最佳实践、经验教训，共享数据和其他资源工具。强有力的联盟能够更有效地传达关于男性气概的积极信息，施加政治影响，并使不同层面的倡导更加有效。

Finally, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of teaching boys to respect girls and women. We should conduct critical reviews of curricula, including at early stages of the formal education system, provide gender training for educators and others who deal with young people, promote knowledge sharing and cooperation between NGOs and ministries of education, prioritize gender equality as one of the valued educational outcomes (not just literacy and numeracy), and promote respect for girls' and women' sexual and reproductive health and rights in sexuality education.

最后，我不得不强调，教导男孩尊重女孩和女性是最重要不过的事情。我们应当对课程进行严格审查，包括正式教育体制的最初阶段，为教育者和从事青少年相关工作的人士提供性别培训，促进非政府组织和教育部之间的信息交流与合作，将两性平等作为评估教育的最重要成果之一（不只是读写和数学），并且在性教育课程中提倡尊重女性的性、生殖健康以及权利。

A society that denies security and progress to its women can sustain neither. Violence diminishes us all and to end it we need a willing coalition of women and men, girls and boys committed to realizing a peaceful, equal and just society.

一个否认女性安全与发展的社会是不可持续的。暴力是对我们的蔑视，需要男女老少共同联合，杜绝暴力，实现一个和平、平等和公正的社会。

Shiwei Ye is an activist based in Thailand.

Law Enforcement and Harm Reduction in Cambodia

2010-02-02T18:15:31Z

By Greg Denham

I have worked in the law enforcement field for over twenty five years, and a significant part of my work has been in the drug policy area. I have come to the conclusion that harm reduction services, particularly needle and syringe programs, are an essential component of a comprehensive strategy designed to reduce drug related harm in communities.

This view, however, is not always shared openly by other police. Privately, while many police officers accept that harm reduction services are important, their attitude is more likely to condemn than condone.

]]> Why does harm reduction get such a bad name, particularly amongst law enforcement officials? Police attitudes often reflect the views of the broader community. Many people find drug use to be abhorrent, and feel that when clean drug equipment is provided, 'abstinence'-based approaches (such as 'say no to drugs' or the 'war on drugs') are being undermined.

Police are particularly condemning of injecting drug use because they constantly deal with its negative outcomes. Police frequently deal with people they see as having 'lost their lives' to drug abuse. They also respond to the consequences of drug use when they assist affected families, victims of crime, and communities impacted by drug use.

It is not surprising therefore that there are barriers between police and harm reduction services. Service providers see police as inflexible, and see the coercive approaches police use in their treatment of users. Police may see health workers as 'soft' and narrowly-focused. At the same time, many police believe that they are 'caught in the middle' and cannot 'get it right' 100% of the time in 100% of the cases they handle.

Police often say that service providers should see the world more often through the eyes of police -- and I am sure the same words can be heard from those working in the harm reduction field.

So how do we address this impasse?

First, it might surprise both police and harm reduction service providers to discover that there are some things they agree about. From my experience, both groups actually have a lot in common, particularly at the grass roots level -- where the attitude is often that 'a problem shared is a problem halved'. There is usually a real need for a forum where both sides can discuss collaboration, shared outcomes, resource-sharing and problem solving - but fora like this rarely exist.

Research overwhelmingly supports the notion that collaboration between both sides can effectively reduce the negative consequences of drug use and help create an 'enabling environment' for harm reduction services. In particular, it is vital to engage local police in the decision-making process, to ensure that health services are delivered without hindrance.

But unfortunately, there are many examples worldwide of situations where relationships between harm reduction service providers and police have been problematic. In Cambodia there has recently been publicity about issues with injecting drug use and policing. The Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, has a high number of injecting drug users, many of whom live impoverished lives with little access to health care.

There, the provision of clean needles and syringes has been authorized by the Cambodian Government through the National Authority for Combating Drugs. The NACD is the same government department responsible for coordinating anti-drug efforts in Cambodia, and is made up of many police.

The NACD grants licenses to NGOs to allow them to deliver harm reduction services, in particular needle and syringe exchange, to injecting drug users. This service helps reduce some of the risks from drug use and in particular helps prevent the spread of HIV both among and from injecting drug users.

Korsang is one of these NGOs, and it meets the needs of injecting drug users by providing services that are 'user friendly'. There's space for users to come in off the streets, seek medical attention and get much-needed help. Korsang's client numbers are growing steadily as more and more people seek health care services from resident doctors and health professionals.

Korsang's work also involves street-based activities, in which outreach workers walk through areas of high drug use to give out. I have visited Korsang on several occasions and admire the dedication and genuine concern they have for their clients, people on whom many other agencies have turned their backs.

In this way, Korsang meets the health needs of injecting drug users in an environment of trust and acceptance. This often leads to misunderstandings in the local community who may feel that these services are bringing 'unwanted' people into the neighborhood. This in turn can lead to confrontations with police, who are called in to respond to community concerns.There have been several incidents involving Korsang and local police, and the relationship appears to have broken down. Work is required to determine the nature of this impasse and the underlying causes.

As a researcher and program developer in harm reduction and law enforcement with the Nossal Institute for Global Health, I have a vested interest in this situation. We are undertaking a research project to analyze harm reduction programs and their impact on law enforcement policy and practice in Cambodia (and in two other SE Asian countries, Vietnam and Laos). The project aims to help bridge the gap between agencies.

This research project, known as Law Enforcement and Harm Reduction at Nossal (LEHRN) - which is partnered with the National Institute for Public Health in Phnom Penh - will seek to identify how and why harm reduction services influence police policy-making and how this in turn affects police operational practice -- or in other words, 'what happens on the streets'.

In order to highlight this research project, a seminar will be conducted on February 24^th 2010 in Phnom Penh. This seminar, chaired by the Nossal Institute for Global Health's Professor Nick Crofts, will bring together regional expertise from the law enforcement and health sectors to explore issues of HIV and injecting drug use in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and beyond.

Speakers will also include representatives of the Institute for Social Development Studies (Vietnam), the National Institute of Public Health (Cambodia), the University of Health Sciences (Laos), and Victoria Police (Australia).

I would encourage anyone who is interested in understanding more about the complex relationship between law enforcement agencies and harm reduction services to attend the seminar. Please email me directly to get more information.

Greg Denham is Law Enforcement and Harm Reduction Adviser at the Nossal Institute for Global Health.

A Second Look at Korea's "Lifting" of its HIV Travel Ban

2010-01-26T17:43:48Z

By Ken Oh

Can rules be changed when they aren't changed? What may appear to be a purely metaphysical question is creating some real-world confusion in the Republic of Korea.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently applauded South Korea's announced lifting of its entry ban on HIV-positive foreigners. UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe also extolled the move, effective January 1, as an important step in the effort to realize the global freedom of movement for people living with HIV. But the reality appears to be more complex.

]]> I recently spoke with Adam Walsh, a journalist with The Korea Herald who said that the announcement has caused nothing but confusion about the current status of in-country HIV testing. Specifically, the recently-announced lifting of the travel ban didn't appear to affect mandatory testing rules.

Article 11(1) of the Immigration Control Act provides the ostensible legal basis for restricting entry to HIV-positive foreigners. This provision states that the Minister of Justice may prohibit the entry of "[P]ersons carrying an epidemic disease, narcotics addicts or other persons deemed likely to cause danger and harm to the public health." Article 46(1) permits the deportation of such persons, if they are identified within the country.

These provisions were not previously a concern for tourists and short-term visitors to the country. Professor Wagner notes that, unlike the United States, South Korea never tested tourists or required them to submit HIV test results. They weren't even asked about their HIV status at the time of entry. It appears then that South Korea's "lifting" of a travel ban was a bit disingenuous, because it was never enforced.

According to Professor Benjamin Wagner of Kyunghee University Law School in Seoul, no new laws or policies have actually been created. This was generally affirmed by Ministry of Justice spokesperson Ahn Gyu-seok who said that "In light of the January 1 announcement, the rule [regarding a "travel ban"] is just getting more flexible, meaning that the rule has not changed."

The wrinkle lies, however, with regard to foreigners who remain in the country longer. Article 8(3) of the AIDS Prevention Act requires "long-term sojourners", specifically those under the E-6 employment visa (e.g., entertainers and professional athletes) to submit HIV tests. If they are found to be HIV-positive, the government can still (and does) invoke Article 46(1) of the Immigration Control Act to deport them, especially if the government finds that they are having sexual relations with Koreans. Foreign-language instructors and others under an E-2 visa are still required to undergo an HIV test within 90 days of entry, although this requirement is currently being challenged on constitutional grounds.

It is appears too early to determine what impact, if any, the recent announcement will have on the momentum of Bill 3356, currently pending before the National Assembly. If passed, the bill would make HIV testing mandatory for all foreigners applying for work visas.

So why did the government makes it recent announcement about lifting the travel ban? Apparently, the rule change announcement is mere window dressing. HIV-positive foreigners will not be precluded per se from entering South Korea, but to remain they must submit to discriminatory procedures and live with the ever-present threat of deportation because of their HIV status.

In one sense, South Korea's announcement is at least a political stance in favor of the freedom of movement of PLWHA. On the other hand, this stance does not translate into any concrete action. South Korea has done nothing to dismantle the legal framework codifying discrimination against foreigners living with HIV/AIDS.

Ken Oh is the editor of Asia Catalyst's Chinese-language website, Asia Report (www.yazhoudiaocha.com).

Impressions of the China Sex Workers' Network Training in Qingdao

2010-01-25T18:05:19Z

中国性工作者网络青岛培训有感

By Zhang Lan and Li Man

From January 14-16, 2010, the Chinese Sex Workers' Network held its second national training workshop for sex work NGOs in Qingdao. The purpose was to help build the capacity of staff at sex work NGOs, as well as targeted training for staff on project management, institution building, project expansion, and so on.

2010年1月14日---16日，中国性工作者网络在青岛举行了全国性工作者机构的第二次培训，这是对机构工作人员的能力建设，同时也有针对性的培训工作人员一些关于项目管理/机构建设/拓展项目/法律问题等等。

]]> Under the guidance of these experts, Phoenix staffperson Zhang Lan was able for the first time to systematically study project planning, the need for clear concepts behind program design, and got some information about international organizations that support sex workers. Information about sex work and law is extremely important to our organization, so we're delighted that Zhang Lan can pass on what she learned about legal information to our sisters, as the sisters really lack this kind of information. Because of their long-term work in the sex industry, our sisters have internalized discrimination. They think that it is natural for police to attack them, and they don't have high self-esteem, so when they get into conflicts with the authorities they don't know what their rights are.

在专家的指导下苦草工作室的全职工作人员张兰第一次系统地学习了如何撰写项目计划书，对项目的理解有了清晰的概念，并且获得了一些支持性工作者的国际机构的信息。有关性工作者法律方面的知识对我们机构是非常重要的，张兰可以把学习到的法律相关的信息告知我们的姐妹们，而姐妹们也欠缺这些信息。因为长期的性工作使得这些姐妹自我歧视，认为自己就是被公安打击的对象，没有很好的自我认同，所以一旦被政府部门打击她们根本不知道自己应有的权利。

The training also covered "occupational safety". Many sisters are raped, gang raped, robbed, or victims of violence. Often they live in silence out of fear of exposure, and do not dare to report the identity of their attackers, which only contributes to the arrogance of the criminals. In our work, we encourage our sisters who have these kinds of experiences to report it as far as possible, using the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. Through our small group discussions, we share information about these violent clients, so that sisters won't take their money. We also encourage sisters to work in pairs, so that clients have no opportunity to become violent.

培训中也有关于"职业安全"的信息，在姐妹们中发生过很多被强奸/轮奸/抢劫/暴力等等的事情，往往由于害怕身份暴露而忍气吞声不敢报案，这样助长了罪犯的嚣张气焰。我们在工作中鼓励姐妹们碰到这样的事情权衡利弊后尽量报案，使罪犯复法。我们也会通过小组讨论把有暴力倾向的嫖客描绘出来，让姐妹们不赚他的钱。也可以两个姐妹一起出台，让嫖客没有机会施暴。

On projects that target sex workers, Zhang Lan learned how to monitor and assess implementation of the project and how to include some information on STDs and HIV/AIDS. Zhang Lan's feeling was that in order to do a good project, you really need to have a good team, and to build good working relationships with local government agencies, as well as continuing to improve the abiliity of staff people.

关于性工作者干预的项目，张兰学习了怎样监测和评估还有执行项目的一些知识，性病/艾滋病的基础知识。张兰自己的感受是：要做好一个项目首先要有一个好的团队，和当地政府部门以及其他项目有良好的合作关系，工作人员的能力要不断提高。

Zhang Lan and Li Man are staff of Phoenix (苦草工作室), an organization of sex workers and women with HIV in Yunnan Province, China.

End Overcrowding in Indonesian Prisons

2010-01-21T16:20:12Z

By Ricky Gunawan

Up through 2009, Indonesia suffered a tremendous blow from the so-called "judicial mafia", the corrupt network that controls the criminal justice system. Every sector of Indonesia's legal system has been paralyzed by this judicial mafia. It is made up of middlemen who, for a fee, can broker deals between police, prosecutors and judges. In a late response to this dismal situation, in late 2009 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono established a task force to "eradicate the judicial mafia in the first 100 days" of his administration.

Last week, the task force conducted a surprise visit to Pondok Bambu Detention Facility, Jakarta. This visit revealed shocking - yet, to those in the know, all too predictable -- findings. Arthalyta Suryani, a high-class criminal convicted of bribery, is imprisoned in luxurious conditions. Her "cell" is an 8x8 meter room with a refrigerator, flat TV with home theatre, air conditioner, and other facilities such as dining tables, maids and a Blackberry.

]]> Compare the above utterly ridiculous situation with other cells in the same detention facility. There are normally two types of cells, small and large. A small cell, nine square meters, should be occupied by 1-2 persons. More often, though, there are 3-5 persons. In the large cells, approximately 8x8 meters, there should be a maximum of 10 persons, but those cells are occupied by 20-30 persons.

The total number of prisoners in this particular detention facility is 1,172 - though the prison has a capacity of 500. This is appalling, but it is also normal for all detention centers and correctional facilities in Indonesia. As of 2008, the total numbers of prisoners/detainees are 130,420 persons while Indonesia's prison capacity is only 81,384 persons. A large percentage of those detained are charged with the crime of using drugs.

Responding to the overcapacity problem, President Yudhoyono has ordered an increase in the capacity of detention and correctional facilities. That means, building more detention/correctional facilities. However, if one looks at the numbers of criminal charges, building more facilities will not bring much improvement to the conditions inside. In order to reform Indonesia's correctional institutions, reduce overcapacity and make facilities more humane, there are a number of things we could do. One of these is to decriminalize drug use.

Criminalizing drug does not deter people from using drugs. Why do we make this sort of behavior a crime?

Drug addiction, like many other addictions, is an illness. People who use drugs need treatment instead of imprisonment. If someone who uses drug and is in addiction is detained by the police, her supply will be suddenly cut off. Detaining will not cure her; it will only make her condition worse. In Indonesia, the period of police detention is up to sixty days. And of course, sixty days in a police cell without a proper drug treatment does not result in a cure. Indonesia's lengthy legal process only prolongs the suffering.

The classic argument why we should criminalize drug use is that drug use is harmful and morally wrong behavior. And that is understandable. What is more, in Indonesia, the public still see drug users as sinners. However, we have to end this kind of moral debate. Research has proven that criminalizing drug use does not lower the number of people using drugs. Drug addiction is a disease, and we should provide more public information about the risk of drug use, instead of depicting drug users as sinners or worse, as demons.

Let's take a look at one Asian country which has a similar experience to Indonesia in the criminalization of drug users and resulting overcrowded correctional institutes: South Korea. According to Muhammad Mustofa, an expert in criminology from University of Indonesia, South Korea experienced a drastic reduction in the number of inmates after the state decriminalized drug use. Subsequent to decriminalization, South Korean prisons were no longer overcrowded. More space inside the cell means more humane and more hygienic conditions. If it can work in South Korea, it is worth a try in Indonesia.

"I don't have the money to pay for a hospital, so I give birth at home."

2010-01-19T20:33:28Z

by Ami Evangelista Swanepoel

Earlier this week we returned to an area in Santa Lourdes called Purok Matahimik, which means "quiet place". It is also known as "Pulang Lupa" or red earth because of the color of the soil, or simply known as "Dumpsite" because of the community's proximity to the Puerto Princesa landfill. This community is a top runner for where we might begin our services as it is quite isolated and very poor, with high numbers of malnourished children.

]]> We interviewed 13 women between the ages of 17 and 56.

Family Planning
We asked the women about their family planning practices and just over 30% of the women we spoke with use artificial forms of contraception. Three use the injectable DMPA (Depo Provera) and one uses birth control pills. All four women pay for their contraception themselves. Three of the women we spoke with use natural family planning methods including the calendar/rhythm method and the withdrawal method. One woman just recently gave birth to a baby and isn't on any contraception, but plans to be when her period returns.

Five of the women we interviewed do not use any form of family planning. One of them gave no explanation for why she prefers not to use any contraception. One woman said that she had been living in an isolated and rural area and did not have any access to any healthcare or family planning methods. Another woman said that she isn't using anything because she doesn't have a husband any longer and is on her own. Another respondent said that she didn't think she had to use anything because she's already old (she is 56 and has a four year old daughter.)

37-year-old Helen, who has three children, said, "I'm not practicing any family planning right now, but there were 5 years between my last two children so I think that's a good thing - but I'm not using anything. I tried using pills before, but I only lasted about 2 months. I got so dizzy from the medicine. I actually thought I was already done with kids but then I got pregnant again. I just gave birth two weeks ago. I'll probably go on something now - maybe the injectable [DMPA]. It's really hard when you think you're done with kids but then you suddenly get pregnant again."

How many is a good number of kids?

We asked the women we spoke with about their ideal number of children. The two youngest respondents, aged 17 and 18 and each with one unplanned child, said they would like to have 3 children. Both of them are now using contraception. Other respondents with 3-4 children answered that their ideals are the same as the number of children they do have. One woman, Carolina, 36 years old, said her ideal is three kids but she has five because she didn't know of any ways to control the number of her pregnancies. Merleta, who is 34, has four children, which she says is her ideal, but she has had eight pregnancies, and none of them were planned. Edita, 56 years old, says her ideal is three children. She has four living children but has had nine pregnancies in her life - none of which were planned. 39-year-old Marlyn said her ideal is three or four children, but she has nine children - none of them planned. She actually gave one of them up for adoption some years ago because she did not have the resources to feed and care for another child. 48-year-old Angelita's ideal is four children but she has eight. She lived in an isolated, rural area and had no access to contraception. Marilyn, who is 25 years old, says her ideal is four or five children. She has seven and is not on any contraception. She told us, "I can't do anything because my husband doesn't want me on any contraception. I actually asked my sister to adopt one of my kids because I have malnourished children and I can't handle all of them myself."

Pre and Post Natal Care
10 of our 13 respondents did receive prenatal care with their last pregnancy, but most only had two to four appointments before they delivered. Of the three women who did not seek prenatal care, one went to a traditional healer and two said they just took care of themselves.

After giving birth, five of the women we spoke with saw a health professional for at least one postnatal check up. One woman saw a traditional healer. Another did not have any check up but her doctor sent her a bottle of postnatal pills which she took for one month. More than half of the women we spoke with did not have a postnatal check up and four of told me they didn't even consider it because they just don't have the money to spend on a check up.

Health Care
Nearly all of the women we spoke with said that when they or their children are sick, they prefer to see a doctor when they can afford it, or seek free care from Barangay Health Workers. Two women said they they just buy their own medicine when they are ill rather than spend money on a consultation. One woman with no experience or training in herbs or alternative medicine said, "When I have money I like to go to a doctor. But when I don't have any money I just use herbs that I find around where I live."

Birthing
All of the women we spoke with except for one said that their preferred birth attendant is a traditional healer or a midwife. One person prefers a doctor. Seven of the women prefer giving birth at home and actually did have their children at home. Three women said they gave birth at hospitals just to make sure they would have the help they needed had there been any problems with their deliveries. One woman had her last baby at a hospital but the rest were born at home. She'd had eight pregnancies and four live births. One woman who has had nine pregnancies and four live births said, "I'd like to give birth in a hospital but I don't have the money to pay for it. So I give birth at home."

Thoughts on Family Planning
We asked the interviewees what their thoughts on family planning are and some of their statements were:

"You'll probably be more successful if you plan your pregnancies."

"You really have to do family planning because otherwise, you can't make a good future for your family."

"When you have lots of children it's hard to support all the children's needs."

"You should plan your family so that you can give them a good life."

Food and Nutrition
Most of the respondents breast-fed their babies. The majority of them breast-fed until their children were two years old, though some breast-fed for shorter periods (one to six months or a year) and some breast-fed for longer (until age three).

We asked if any of them receive supplemental food support and nearly all of them have children who are fed in the biweekly Aloha feeding. (To read about Aloha's program, see my previous blog entry by clicking here.) One woman said that she does not receive any support and added, while pointing to her daughter, "I really need some help for her - she's so skinny."

Household Income
We asked the women we spoke with about their monthly household income and whether they or their husbands have work. Most women reported very small amounts of income to support multiple people each month. One woman with four children said their monthly income is P1,000 (US$21). She doesn't have any work but would like to do anything to make more for her family. Another woman whose 84-year old husband is paralyzed sells fish in homes around the neighborhood, and makes about P500 (US$10) for her family of six. Another woman is a single parent and makes about three straw mats a month that she sells in the market. She can make about P500 ($10) to support herself and her son. Another single parent makes about P1,500 ($31) making and selling mats, and this supports her and her eight children.

Merleta, who has eight children, said, "My husband makes P1,000 (US$21). I make straw mats and in a month I can make around 5. They sell for P200-300 (US$4-6) each in the market. I make a little but I use it to buy rice or food for the children. So I never have anything left."

One woman makes P4,000 (US$84) a month buying and selling scraps (mostly recyclable plastic and glass) that she collects from the dumpsite. This supports the woman, her husband and their eight children.

The wealthiest of the women we spoke with has a husband who works as a painter and makes around P9,000 ($190) per month. She supplements this income with around P200 ($4) a week that she makes selling items at a small store in front of her home (these stores are called sari-sari stores and are usually stocked with some snacks and basic supplies like soap and cooking oil). She only has one child, so they have a much better situation than most of their neighbors do.

One family's experiences confirmed an anecdote we had been told by a friend who works for the city's Department of Social Welfare and Development. Our friend told us that the city government is frequently months late in paying salaries to city employees. Most people in Palawan have no credit, so late payment of salaries really puts people in a bind. People need cash and some resourceful (and cunning?) people have stepped in and lend city employees money until they receive their salaries, but they take a huge portion of the earnings as their fee. Some people think the city government is in on this lending scheme but this is not substantiated. One of the women we interviewed with three children said, "My husband is a driver for the city and should make around P6,500 ($136) a month. But the city doesn't pay the workers right away so then we have no money. He borrows some from lenders who then take a cut. So what he brings home is just about P5,000 ($105). I just take care of things at home and watch over the kids. Once my baby is older, I'd love to work - maybe run a sari-sari store?"

Other Resources
We asked our interviewees if they receive any supplemental support from groups conducting outreach work in their community. The women we interviewed noted that they sometimes get free care from the Barangay Health Center and the Puerto Princesa City Health Center. A Korean church group also organized a medical mission to the community once last year. They gave away medicine and clothes and performed circumcisions. They haven't been back since. One woman remembered an outreach program that the military once had but couldn't recall when that was or what exactly they did. One woman answered that she and her friends don't get any other support and added, "Contraception really should be free for us. The Health center is really far away and anyway when you don't have money, you can't buy anything so then you'll just get pregnant again."

Ami Evangelista Swanepoel is the founder and executive director of Roots of Health, a new NGO in the Philippines. For more information, please see www.rootsofhealth.org.

10 Ways to Protect Against Hackers

2010-01-14T21:15:35Z

By Glenn D. Tiffert

Google's recent revelation that its servers have been attacked by hackers, and that Chinese , US and European human rights activists have been affected, has drawn more attention to internet security. But in fact, any computer plugged into the internet may be probed by automated agents dozens-if not thousands-of times a day. These agents check a long list of documented and undocumented vulnerabilities, looking for any that exist in your system. The agents are indiscriminate.

]]> Even if you are personally not known to or of any particular interest to the people using these agents, access to your computer is still useful for masking their attacks on others or for mounting criminal activities. That is one way botnets of tens of thousands of computers are assembled.

Another way is to entice you to open a malicious email attachment or to visit a malicious web page, either of which may appear benign but actually contain hidden code that exploits software vulnerabilities on your computer. This code can allow a remote user to quietly take and retain control of your computer until it is detected and removed.

Here are ten things you can do to help protect your computer against hackers:

1. For greatest security, I suggest not installing or uninstalling Adobe Acrobat Reader and Flash Player, including their related web browser plug-ins. Reader and Flash Player have each suffered from a succession of critical vulnerabilities over the years. With certain versions of Flash Player, exploits exist that allow a remote user to turn on the built-in microphone and camera on your computer and secretly monitor you. Adobe eventually issues bug fixes, sometimes sooner, other times later.

There are free alternative PDF reading applications that will suffice for a great many computer users. On Mac OS, there are Preview and Skim. One Windows alternative is Foxit Reader.

Disabling Flash Player may not be feasible for some users. For example, some web sites require Flash Player to view multimedia content, and its absence can adversely affect viewing popular sites such as YouTube.

If Reader or Flash Player are necessary for your work, please make sure you have the latest version appropriate to your operating system, and get in the practice of checking periodically for updates. Visit: http://www.adobe.com/

2. Regularly check for and install operating system patches released by your vendors (e.g. Apple or Microsoft), web browser updates, and software updates (MS Office, etc.). Install and update anti-virus and anti-malware software, and most of all use common sense when opening attachments.

3. Never use an account with administrator privileges for ordinary work, particularly email or online activities such as web surfing. Use the admin account only for things like installing or updating software from known vendors, or configuring software and peripherals, then logout of the admin account when you are done. And of course, periodically change your account and email passwords.

4. Configure your computer to go to sleep after a short period of inactivity and require a password to wakeup. Also, disable automatic login; configure the computer to require a password at startup. This will limit somewhat the physical access a third-party has to it when your back is turned. I am aware of a nanny ("ayi") employed by certain expat executives who had access to and installed monitoring software on their home computers.

5. Activate the firewall built-in to your operating system. Check your documentation or online help for instructions on how to do this.

6. Whenever a new major revision of an operating system comes out (e.g. Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS 10.6), consider "clean" installing it, rather than installing it on top of your existing setup. This involves a fair bit more work (it's equivalent to setting up the computer again from scratch, including reinstalling all software), but it will help wipe any viruses or malware lurking on your system.

7. Consider purchasing an email digital ID. When you send an email, this will allow the recipient to authenticate your identity and allow you to encrypt the contents of your message. This minimizes the risk of spoofed emails and eavesdropping in transit. One such product is the digital IDs available at www.verisign.com. (Note: these do not work on webmail, only on clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird or Apple Mail.) Digital IDs work best when all the parties to an email message have one.

8. Run the Shields Up! test available at: https://www.grc.com/. This will benignly scan the ports on your computer and alert you to any which may be open and vulnerable to external probing and attack. I recommend scanning "All Service Ports." (Note: deciding what to do with the test results requires a knowledgeable user, as changing port settings may adversely affect the functionality of certain software.)

9. Refer to the configuration guides on this site for suggestions on how to enhance the security of your operating systems further. http://www.nsa.gov/ia/guidance/security_configuration_guides/operating_systems.shtml

10. New software vulnerabilities are found all the time, and sometimes attacks are devised before software vendors even become aware of the vulnerabilities or patch them. Your best defenses are caution and vigilance.

Glenn D. Tiffert is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of California, Berkeley.

Is Two Times a Trend? The U.S. and South Korea Lift HIV Travel Restrictions

2010-01-11T22:23:49Z

By Ken Oh

Last Monday, the United Nations issued a statement applauding the United States and the Republic of Korea for lifting travel bans on people living with HIV/AIDS(PLWHA). The US ban had been in effect for 22 years, and the South Korean ban had been similarly entrenched. Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, hailed the parallel policy changes as "a victory for human rights on two sides of the globe".

]]> What is the significance of these two countries' policy changes, historically and prospectively? The United States, for one, had maintained its HIV-related travel restrictions since the Reagan Administration. Such a ban has excluded thousands of foreign students, tourists and refugees from American soil, and no significant HIV/AIDS-related conference has been conducted in the United States since 1993. Such conference bodies may have their own official policies of refusing to patronize countries with such unreasonable travel bans, thus robbing the U.S. of a small stream of income from conference visitors. For the United States, the policy change was President Barack Obama's follow-through on his predecessor's 2008 verbal commitment to lift the restriction.

For South Korea, the change was equally significant. The country occupies an important political position in the region, and Korean UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon lauded President Lee Myung-bak's leadership in ending restrictions with no public health benefit. A 2003 UNAIDS report estimated the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in that country at 8,000. PLWHA in South Korea face the acute and home-grown problems of stigma and discrimination. Among the general public, there are overlapping discriminatory sentiments against foreigners more generally , and against PLWHA .

The travel ban was an overreaction to the inception of the epidemic, as the earliest HIV infections in South Korea occurred mostly through contact with foreigners. However, since 1992 more infections have been transmitted through domestic sexual contacts. Codifying a respect for the human rights of PLWHA could promote a shift in the thinking of the South Korean public -- and influence stigma and discrimination the region more broadly.

On the downside, there has not been a statement from the South Korean government indicating that the lifting of the travel ban has any effect on the status of compulsory testing for E-6 entertainment visas (which could influence sex workers traveling to South Korea); it doesn't appear that it has. According to a statement by the deputy director of the Ministry of Health in September, when the travel ban was discussed, the compulsory testing issue was raised and rejected as a possibility. Compulsory testing also still appears to be required for foreign-language instructors and non-professional employees, though the MOH said they would respect a pending constitutional court decision regarding foreign-language instructors.

Nonetheless, the lifting of these travel bans sends coordinate governmental messages to the world. The U.S. and the ROK are turning their backs on travel policies that were based on neither a scientific nor a public health rationale and that instead reflected unfounded misconceptions about the disease. More practically, these policy shifts attempt to articulate and develop policy approaches to the spread of HIV which do not drive those affected by it underground. According to President Obama, "It's a step that will encourage people to get tested and get treatment, it's a step that will keep families together, and it's a step that will save lives."

Will these recent actions have broader implications for the international community? Until this year, the United States and South Korea had been part of a sub-set of the international community with such HIV-related travel restrictions. 57 countries still have HIV travel bans, including China, Cuba, North Korea, Israel, Singapore, Iraq and Russia. Many of these countries have strategic, historical, political, or commercial relationships with the United States or South Korea. Human rights advocates, public health professionals, and anyone who supports rational policymaking can hope that the American and South Korean policy changes are not simply isolated actions but rather a sign of building momentum.

An important purpose of a country's borders is to exclude, to provide a basis for barriers to entry. In the context of international trade, the barriers may be in the form of tariffs or duties. They exist to protect a country's economic interests. Countries, private corporations and interest groups who feel they have been aggrieved by a foreign country's restrictions on trade have certain avenues of recourse, including the WTO's internal dispute settlement mechanism. In the context of travel and migration, however, HIV-related barriers do not protect a country's interests.

Worse, PLWHA have no legal or political recourse when faced with such exclusion. They can only hope that their destination country, and their own country, will protect their rights.

The recent actions of the US and South Korean governments are important steps in these countries' treatment of foreigners who have HIV/AIDS, and of the HIV/AIDS epidemic more generally. If these two policy changes are indeed a trend, let's hope this is one trend that does not go out of style.

Ken Oh is the editor of Asia Report, www.yazhoudiaocha.com.

Asia Catalyst Update

2010-01-04T21:57:07Z

January 2010

Happy New Year!

Here's the latest from our new Brooklyn office. Please help spread the word - we're looking for graduate and undergraduate interns for spring and summer 2010. Details all the way down.

]]> [INCUBATION]

Phoenix

In September, we officially began our incubation partnership with Phoenix, a group of 90 current and former sex workers living with HIV/AIDS in Yunnan, China. We helped Phoenix to develop a strategic plan for the next year, a monthly timeline and a budget for the first quarter. Our system helps new groups learn to make choices each quarter based on their financial realities, so if they overspend in one quarter, they have that much less the next quarter.

So far, Phoenix is making good progress. They have a computer and two full-time staff people now. Their programs include visits to women in prison and at home, advocating for treatment access for women with HIV/AIDS, an emergency medical fund for those in need, and building relationships with health department officials and NGOs in China and Southeast Asia.

Executive director Meg Davis and administrative coordinator Gisa Hartmann traveled to China in November to work with Phoenix on the ground. We did some computer training, showed them how to do a budget report, and threw a party for members' kids with songs, dances, games and prizes. We also met with the chair and director of the Women's Federation of Gejiu and some peer NGOs in Kunming, the provincial capital. Finally, we did a half-day advocacy training for 15 members of the group.

Check out our travel vlog (video blog) from Yunnan: http://asiacatalyst.org/blog/2009/11/asia-catalyst-in-yunnan.html (and thanks to Witness for lending us the cool Flip cameras)

Korekata AIDS Law Center

The November trip was full of mixed emotions as we officially ended our 3-year incubation partnership with Korekata AIDS Law Center in Beijing. The center is now fully independent and doing exciting work on the litigation, training and advocacy front. We helped the center staff with one final strategic planning meeting, and threw a celebratory graduation party at a Beijing café. It's been a wonderful experience working and learning together.

Fortunately, we won't have to miss friends at Korekata too much, as they are running a legal aid workshop for Phoenix this spring, and working with us and TTAG (Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group) for the next six months on a joint project to develop a legal rights manual for grassroots AIDS NGOs in Asia (more on this next time!).

Haven Project

We wound up our fellowship program for Chinese AIDS activists by hosting Chang Kun, a co-founder of Beijing Yirenping among others. Chang Kun is visiting New York for one month. During that time, he has been living at Housing Works, a leading AIDS and housing rights advocacy NGO. Chang Kun will assist Housing Works with translation into Chinese and their plans for the International AIDS Conference. He will also spend one day a week at Asia Catalyst's Brooklyn office.

You can read an essay by Chang Kun at: http://asiacatalyst.org/blog/bloggers/chang-kun/. He brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the office and it's great to have him here!

For those interested in meeting him in person, we are hosting an evening of wine and conversation on January 14^th. Email info@asiacatalyst.org or call us at (718) 514-2855 for details.

[ONLINE]

Asia Report

This fall, Asia Report, our Chinese-language website on rights in Asia (www.yazhoudiaocha.com) continued to grow with news on everything from caste violence in Nepal to the spread of HIV among men who have sex with men in Laos. We love hearing that colleagues in China are checking it out regularly and that our articles are often reposted to other sites. As the site never reports on issues in China, it is still accessible on the mainland.

This month, Asia Report worked with the Network of Sex Worker Projects to translate their very useful guide to the International AIDS Conference into Chinese. We hope that will help to get more Chinese activists to the meeting. We may also have funds this year to support Chinese AIDS activists speaking at IAC - more news soon.

Editor Ken Oh and graduate intern Sitong Chen have been working hard on preparations to launch an AIDS law database on the site in early 2010. The database will share the text of laws from around the Asian hemisphere. Stay tuned!

Blog

We've expanded the blog on the Asia Catalyst site, Human Rights in Asia, to include weekly essays by colleagues around the Asia-Pacific region on health and poverty in the Philippines, rights of drug users in Indonesia and Cambodia, and (most popular, in this economy) tips from donors on fundraising. We welcome submissions of 500-700 words on human rights in Asia - contact us at info@asiacatalyst.org if you're interested. Check it out at www.asiacatalyst.org/blog.

[ADVOCACY]

On World AIDS Day (December 1), we launched our new report, Restrictions on AIDS NGOs in Asia. The report finds that despite public pledges by world leaders, grassroots independent AIDS NGOs in Burma, Cambodia, China and Vietnam still face restrictions, from difficulties with registration to censorship of websites. Read the full report at www.asiacatalyst.org, or Meg's commentary on Cambodia's proposed new NGO law in the Phnom Penh Post at http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009120229886/National-news/ngos-vital-to-hivaids-effort.html.

We continued advocacy on cases of both individual AIDS activists and organizations. This ranged from working with the Yunnan AIDS Care Center to obtain urgently-needed second-line treatment for a former sex worker in Yunnan, to partnering with AIDS Policy Project to ask the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health to request medical parole for imprisoned AIDS activist Hu Jia.

On the road

On our November trip to Beijing, we met with UNAIDS, the Gates Foundation, and representatives from the U.S., German and Swedish embassies to advocate for the participation of independent grassroots NGOs in AIDS policy and law, and to press for donors and government to include AIDS law in their AIDS programming.

In October and November Asia Catalyst was also in Washington, D.C. to raise the same issues with State Department and Congress. Meg Davis was also invited to testify to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China on the rights of petitioners, rural people in China who petition the government for help with their cases and who often face the risk of retaliation. Meg also reconnected with legendary AIDS advocate Dr. Gao Yaojie, who testified to CECC about her work advocating for victims of the blood and plasma trade in China's Central Plains.

[ON THE HOME FRONT]

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Bob Monkhouse, the pioneering founder of Balinese harm reduction group Yakeba. The organization was a beacon to many former drug users and nurtured the development of the local movement for AIDS and human rights. Our condolences to the extended family of "Uncle Bob".

Coming and going

The board of directors bid a sad farewell to founding member Janice Brown, who left us to establish her own network of women in nonprofits and philanthropy, Powwow. The board is wooing some exciting new board members.

Many thanks to Hoh Koon Au Yeung, who has been working with Gisa to overhaul our financial system. Gisa will officially go from working part-time to full-time in January to handle our human rights manual as well as the admin work. (She's actually been working full-time all along but now will get paid for it - progress!)

Thanks to all the interns who helped out this fall: Sitong Chen, Karl Metzner, Hye Gi Kim and Susanna Arcella.

Seeking interns this spring

We are eagerly seeking graduate and undergraduate interns for spring and summer 2010. AC interns work on research, program work, and have input into all our planning and strategy work. This year there is the opportunity to do part of the internship in China. For more information, see www.asiacatalyst.org/get_involved. We will accept applications until all positions are filled.

[DONATIONS]

Because of the cutting-edge nature of our work, we can't rely on foundations alone to support what we do. Individual donations from you are essential to our survival. To make a secure, tax-deductible gift via Paypal, go to www.asiacatalyst.org/get_involved, or mail a check to: Asia Catalyst, P.O. Box 20839, New York, NY 10009.

Keep up with Asia Catalyst through our website: www.asiacatalyst.org.

We always welcome comments and suggestions at info@asiacatalyst.org.

Join our Cause on Facebook!

Citizen Journalism in Asia

2009-12-21T17:18:57Z

by Hye Gi Shim

"To be a journalist is to bear witness," wrote Roger Cohen of The New York Times, "The rest is no more than ornamentation." Today, bearing witness is made easier than ever thanks to the revolution in information and communication technology. The power to find, produce, and distribute information has expanded through the Internet and via digital cameras and cell phones leading to a growth of citizen journalists -- people without professional training in journalism who produce, augment, or fact-check the news.

Asia is home to some of the most wired countries in the world (South Korea, Japan, Taiwan) as well as to some of the most restricted ones (North Korea, Burma, Cambodia). The rising tide of the Internet, however, is lifting all boats. Citizen journalists are sharing opinions about corruption and food safety in Cambodia and China and are influencing presidential elections in South Korea and India, and influencing the outcome of major events.

]]> · During the 2002 presidential election in South Korea, OhMyNews, the world's first online newspaper that accepts articles from freelance contributors, played an influential role in the election of the progressive Roh Moo-hyun after it mobilized hundreds of thousands of reform-minded voters on the Internet.

· Tourists and residents in Southeast Asia provided firsthand accounts of the devastations caused by the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 through personal blogs, emails, and cell phones, helping the mainstream media outlets grasp the extent of the disaster during its initial stages.

· The Internet became the platform for information sharing and nationwide mourning immediately after the earthquake in China's Sichuan Province in May 2009. The news traveled through Twitter and similar Chinese-language microblogging services faster than through any major news agencies. Compelled by these responses, the government-controlled media reported on the earthquake with unprecedented speed and accountability.

· Visitors and citizens of Mumbai used Twitter, cell phones, and other online social networks to share the news of the terrorist attacks with the outside world in November 2008. These activities helped the spread of information during the earlier stages while government and mainstream media outlets were struggling to grasp the extent of the crisis.

The implications for citizen journalism extend beyond simple reporting of facts. In Asia, where only 6 percent of the population has access to free media and 51 percent live in restricted media environments, technological advances provide the ways in which citizens can sidestep restrictions and become a public interest watchdog, though often with repercussions.

· In Burma, one of the worst-rated countries in the world in terms of press freedom, the junta holds a firm grip on all print media. Access to web sites presenting critical views of the government is blocked, and all telecommunications equipment must be registered in order to trace and punish anyone posting unfavorable information or opinions. During the 2007 anti-government protests, however, visual and written reports of the uprising and the governmental crackdown flooded the Internet through blogs. Cell phone images and text messages also provided information to international audiences.

· China continues to produce the news in a strictly top-down manner. One of the handful examples of bottom-up citizen journalism is the story of Zhou Shuguang, a vegetable vendor who wrote about "nail houses" (homes that belong to people who refuse evictions for development) in Chongqing on his blog, His adventures, which drew millions of readers and pushed the issue to the mainstream media, ended when the authorities detained him for two days and shut down his blog.

Citizen journalism is raising new issues. Some note with concern the decline of conventionality in presentation, which can impede the readers' understanding of what is being written. Others, like Dan Gillmor, the author of We the Media, point to the issues of fairness. In what Gillmor calls "advocacy journalism," in which advocacy organizations report on issues that have not been picked up by major news outlets, there is a tendency to close the eyes to disagreements and nuances.

With the rise of citizen journalism, however, the concept of objectivity, a crucial value in traditional media in which governments and powerful corporations monopolized news production, is under challenge. The focus may now shift toward the accuracy and transparency of reporting, as citizens seek to utilize their access to technology in order to supplement, possibly even replace, traditional news sources.

New resources on sex work online

2009-12-18T17:04:09Z

Check out the new website launched by Paulo Longo Research Institute in honor of the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (yes, there really is a day for everything), www.plri.org. The site looks like a good resource for news and information on sex work, harm reduction and human rights issues. A recent wander through the site turned up these things:

A report from Pakistan's National AIDS Control Program last spring on how human rights abuses by the police are fuelling the spread of AIDS;
A report from Cambodia on how the response to trafficking led to a crackdown on sex workers with a lot of negative fallout;
Articles on trafficking and migration from various perspectives;
Articles on research methods and ethics that aim to move "toward innovative, interdisciplinary and participatory frameworks that reflect sex worker priorities and perspectives".

The site was just launched yesterday, so there aren't a huge number of entries yet; hopefully these will be filled out as the site develops. It would also be great if links below the abstracts led you right to the article - some just link to the host website. Put this together with AIDSLEX, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network's new site on AIDS law, and finding resources on AIDS and human rights online just got a little bit easier.