Asia Catalyst Update

December 2010

Here’s what we did with your help in the last quarter. Our work to help grassroots Asian AIDS groups to survive
and thrive scaled up, with new projects in China and Thailand. But we need your
help to help others. Please give:  www.asiacatalyst.org/donate

[TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE]

In the fall, we issued a call for proposals from grassroots AIDS NGOs seeking help
with organizational management in China. Applications came in from all over –
environmental groups, groups of disabled people, women’s groups, and HIV/AIDS
groups.

In December, Gisa Hartmann, moving into her new role as China program director,

met with eight of the groups that had applied for help to evaluate their needs
and develop work plans. The groups we’ve selected for help with such skills as
strategic planning, communications and volunteer management include those
working with drug users, sex workers, people with HIV/AIDS, and LGBT groups in Yunnan
Province and in Beijing.

Gisa also spent a few days working with Phoenix, the sex workers’ group we work with
on China’s borders with Vietnam. Phoenix is recruiting a new fundraiser so that
they can begin to take over the grants we currently manage for them. They’re
also developing plans to investigate the experience of women and girls who are
trafficked into China from Vietnam.

While Gisa was roaming around Yunnan, AC executive director Meg Davis traveled to
Shanghai to meet with China’s national network of sex workers’ organizations to
plan a March workshop with the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers on lessons
learned from the experiences of sex worker groups in other parts of Asia. We’re
also planning to give intensive training over four months to four China network
members on planning, budgeting and fundraising. Those four trainees will then
become resource people for the twelve groups in the network.

In Kunming, Meg and Gisa together led a weekend retreat for Yunnan AIDS Initiative
in strategic planning. Yunnan AIDS Initiative, also known in China as Blue Sky,
has had impressive success in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of
HIV, through their partnership with international AIDS expert Dr. David Ho and
the Aaron Diamond Research Center. We helped Blue Sky develop their first
vision statement and a draft plan for the coming year.

Meanwhile, in Bangkok, Ariel Herrera has begun helping AC to develop a Southeast Asia program.
Ariel spent an intensive two days with staff of our Chinese website, Asia Report,
and Burmese staff of a similar site, HIV in Myanmar, to develop plans to merge
the two sites. He and Meg also met with staff of Thai AIDS Treatment Action
Group to show them how to create a global budget, which incorporates budgets
for each of their programs.

[RIGHTS CURRICULUM]

This year, Asia Catalyst, Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group, and Korekata AIDS Law
Center have cooperated to begin creating a rights curriculum for grassroots
NGOs working in AIDS-affected communities. Know
It, Prove It, Change It: A Rights Curriculum for Grassroots Groups is a
three-part series that draws on intensive consultation with local NGOs to create
a resource that meets their needs, in Thai, Chinese and English.

On December 1, World AIDS Day, we published the first volume of the series: Prove It: Documenting Rights Abuses. The
English manual and a trainer’s supplement are available for free download at https://www.asiacatalyst.org/news/kipici.html.
Chinese and Thai translations will be out in January 2011.

In 2011, we’ll begin to develop the next volume of the series: Know It: The Rights Framework. We’ll have
that ready for publication in August 2011, followed by Change It: Ending Rights Abuses.

[ADVOCACY]

We continued our advocacy for compensation for those infected with HIV through
hospital blood transfusions and blood sales in China, and for the release of
our friend and colleague, Chinese AIDS activist Tian Xi, a victim of China’s blood
disaster who has petitioned tirelessly on this issue.

Here’s what happened this quarter:

–
UNAIDS spoke out for the first time on Tian Xi’s case at the Red Ribbon Forum, a
platform for Chinese government consultation with domestic NGOs. Tian Xi’s
mother joined the forum, delivering impassioned speeches and asking for
support. At the end of the forum, UNAIDS director Mark Stirling responded by
thanking her for her participation and calling for Tian Xi’s release and for
compensation for all those infected with HIV/AIDS through the blood disaster.

–
South African AIDS activists joined in the call for Tian Xi’s release, with protests
in Pretoria by the Treatment Action Campaign and COSATU, the national trade
union.

–
Asian regional networks joined the campaign, with statements by Youth LEAD (an
Asia-Pacific network of youth groups) and the Asian Harm Reduction Network.

–
Human Rights Watch and leading AIDS NGO Housing Works also joined the campaign with
editorials and online reports.

Asia Catalyst first worked on the blood disaster with our 2007 report, AIDS Blood Scandals: What China Can Learn from
the World’s Mistakes. The report examines China’s blood disaster in
comparison with the many other countries that have had similar outbreaks.

We will continue to lend our support to Chinese colleagues in their ongoing efforts
to win compensation for the disaster. For updates and background information,
please see www.chinaaids.wordpress.com.

[EVENTS]

 

On December 1, World AIDS Day, Asia Catalyst and Asia Society joined together to host a panel on
HIV/AIDS and human rights. One of Asia Catalyst’s most
important roles is taking on topics–and organizations–that often get
overlooked.  Our panelists were a great example of this:

 

• Joanne Csete, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, discussed the critical role of sex workers
  as one of the most effective agents of change in the fight against HIV;
• Kevin Robert Frost, amfAR: the Foundation for AIDS Research, examined the definition of men who have sex
  with men in Asia and how their self-identification
  with a gay identity (or lack thereof) relates to human and civil rights in Asia;
• Daniel Wolfe, Open Society Foundations, delved into the criminalization of drug users throughout Asia and how these practices prevent people from using health services; and
• Joe Amon, Human Rights Watch, eloquently set up the framework for the discussion.

 

A group of about 90 people crowded into the room at Asia Society to raise
questions and explore the challenges of addressing human rights in the AIDS
response, and the discussion was moderated by Meg Davis. You can view the
December 1 event online at: https://asiasociety.org/video/policy-politics/aids-asia-complete

On November 17th, Meg also spoke as commentator on a panel on
environmental and AIDS NGOs in China at the Council on Foreign Relations. The panel
was moderated by NYU Law School professor Jerome Cohen, and panelists included
Chinese AIDS activist Wan Yanhai and NYU visiting professor Benjamin van Rooij.

On October 20th, friends and supporters of Asia Catalyst and China Law
and Policy joined at a happy hour organized by Elizabeth Lynch at the White Rabbit
on Houston St. We’ll gather again in the new year for dim sum or drinks –
contact us at info@asiacatalyst.org if you’d like to be on our list for events in New York.

 [ON THE HOME FRONT]

As you can see, we’ve grown a little since the days when AC was run from a laptop
in a cafe. In November, we moved to a slightly larger office in the Green Desk
complex in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), Brooklyn. When we’re
not in Asia, we welcome visitors – give us a ring at 718-514-2855.

We were sad to say farewell to Ken Oh, who helped to launch and grow the Asia
Report website and its AIDS law database. Ken is heading to China soon to work
on his LLM, but we hope to figure a way to lure him back someday.

At the same time we are excited to welcome Ariel Herrera, who is representing us
in Bangkok and helping to merge and relaunch the Asia Report site (www.yazhoudiaocha.com) with its partner,
HIV in Myanmar (www.him.civiblog.org).

Asia Catalyst also welcomes our part-time accounting manager, Jenny Jiyoung Kim.
When she’s not in the AC office, Jenny runs her own small business, www.overallbaby.com. And this semester,
we’ve enjoyed working with Tanawat Luek-r-suke, an undergraduate intern who,
after a foot injury, hiked in on crutches twice a week to work on our first
ever promotional video (coming in 2011).

[LEND A HAND]

Individual donations from you are essential to our survival, and all gifts are tax-deductible.

 

To make a secure gift via Paypal, go to www.asiacatalyst.org/get_involved.
You can also give through our Facebook Cause page for Asia Catalyst. Or, mail a
check to: Asia Catalyst, P.O. Box 20839, New York, NY 10009.

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