From November 15 – 17th Asia Catalyst hosted the concluding session of the Health Rights Advocacy Training Program in Bangkok preceding the convening of ICAAP 11, the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific. The Health Rights Advocacy Training Program brought together civil society leaders and activists representing a diverse breadth of organizations from across South-East Asia, the Pacific, and China to develop and implement rights-based advocacy plans at the intersection of HIV and the right to health. In addition to honing advocacy plans for their organizations, the two workshop training program, which included issue-specific group coaching calls between meetings, offered a space for regional collaboration and coordination ahead of the region’s HIV/AIDS conference, ICAAP, and provided extra travel and strategy support for the six advocates that stayed on after the training workshop to attend.
The program was based on Asia Catalyst’s Change It curriculum which shows how to plan and conduct local, national and international advocacy based on research. The participants were provided with training in advocacy planning and implementation through the course of the program, which resulted in some truly inspiring results. This was the first group training based on the Know It, Prove It, Change It curriculum and based on these results Asia Catalyst is positioned to scale the use of the curriculum around the region.
Since the initial session in May, which instructed participants in the critical skills for advocacy planning, the participants developed and began implementation of their advocacy plans. The goals and contexts in which the participants focused were varied and participants benefited from the knowledge sharing on advocacy from diverse contexts. Asia Catalyst staff and volunteers supported the advocates though the course of implementation through monthly coaching calls and individual consultation focused on the critical needs of the participants. In the reconvening of the group for the concluding session participants presented on the development of their advocacy plans and received further training in engagement with both policy makers and funders to ensure the continuation of their growth and success far beyond the program.
The participants showed tremendous movement in their goals since the original session of the program and Asia Catalyst is excited to see the continual growth of our newest partners in the region. Look out in the coming weeks for profiles of our participant’s work.
