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.

Wei Tingting and Beijing Gender Health Education Institute: Experiences of the first China AIDS Walk

Wei Tingting has been working at the Beijing Gender Health Education Institute since 2011 and is currently a project manager with a focus on the China AIDS Walk (CAW).

In 2012, China AIDS Walk organized 20 fundraising and anti-discrimination events through partnerships with universities, the LGBT community, foreign embassies and gay social clubs. 45 fundraising teams were formed and 120 people from six countries participated in the Walk. Ten celebrities supported the event via video message, social media and direct participation. Pleasure Up and Durex provided funding, and four fundraising events were organized in Beijing bars. Approximately 3,400 individuals donated to China AIDS Walk and it received media attention in the Chinese and foreign press. Several foreign embassies, international organizations and community-based organizations actively supported CAW. Walkers raised 164,705 RMB (roughly $27,000 USD). Funds facilitated access to antiretroviral treatment for impoverished PLHA, and supported initiatives by a local HIV/AIDS community based organizations.

Wei Tingting presented on integration of different resources including celebrities, media, businesses and non-profit sector through collaboration based on clear communication of needs and expectations. She highlighted that the project was not a simple fundraising event, but a project to educate the public in tolerance and non-discrimination, while giving prominent exposure to the local LGBT population as a positive force.

This piece is the fourth in a series introducing you to the partners that Asia Catalyst is supporting through scholarships, strategy and translation to attend the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific. The Congress brought together over 4,000 delegates from 22 countries in the region in Bangkok this month.

Wang Baoyi and the China HIV/AIDS Community-based Organization Network: Fighting discrimination against People living with HIV/AIDS in China

People living with HIV/AIDS  in China face wide-spread discrimination in health care settings. Though Prime Minister Li Keqiang recently publicly expressed support for PLHA, in early 2013 a patient in Tianjin had to remove his HIV positive status from his medical records before he could undergo life-saving surgery. This illustrates failure to address medical discrimination on a systemic level.

Wang Baoyi is the secretariat for the China HIV/AIDS Community-based Organization Network. The CBO network is the largest network of community based HIV/AIDS organizations in China and counts among its members organizations of sex workers, men who have sex with men, and people living with HIV/AIDS and hemophilia. In China, discrimination in health care setting has become one of the major barriers that prevent People living with HIV/AIDS from accessing universal, life-saving medical service.

A main initiative of the CBO Network is fighting medical discrimination. In its course of work, the CBO Network has organized training workshops for organizations in Henan and Hebei Provinces, and launched an initiative highlighting doctors willing to treat people living with HIV, the “Sunshine Doctors.”  Baoyi took part in a roundtable discussion on medical discrimination and gave an oral presentation titled “The Role of Community-based Organizations in Fighting Medical Discrimination against People Living with HIV/AIDS in China” at a general assembly titled “Understanding and Eliminating Stigma and Discrimination in Healthcare Settings.”

This piece is the third in a series introducing you to the partners that Asia Catalyst is supporting through scholarships, strategy and translation to attend the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific. The Congress brought together over 4,000 delegates from 22 countries in the region in Bangkok this month.

Continuing the Fight for Acceptance of Female Sex Workers in China

“我们是有益的，没有害处。只要社会不歧视我们，法律不惩处我们，我们就过得很幸福。”

“We [sex workers] are doing something beneficial for others, not harmful. As long as society does not discriminate against us, and the law does not punish us, we will lead a happy life.”

Lanlan, a founding member and executive director of Xin’ Ai was born in 1978, a time of great economic change for China. After dropping out of school at thirteen, she tried her hand at farming and eventually found work in a restaurant, chopping vegetables and washing dishes. In 2000, after the birth of her daughter, Lanlan turned to sex work to support her child and aging parents.

Founded in 2008 to work toward the decriminalization of the sex trade, and prevent violence and discrimination against sex workers, the organization, also provides violence prevention training, training  in persuading customers to use condoms, health, legal and human rights training, HIV/STI blood testing, and medical referrals.

Lanlan was motivated to start a sex worker support group when she began to feel, as she says, that “AIDS NGO staff could not relate to sex workers or their particular needs.” Today, Xin’ Ai conducts outreach to sex workers, providing them with occupational safety training, health training, and legal training. The mission, says Lanlan, is self-confidence, self-respect, and mutual support.

Lanlan wants to know more about overall international strategies for AIDS prevention as well as ways of international funding for AIDS prevention in China. At ICAAP Lanlan gave an oral presentation about her work at Xin’ Ai and took part in a roundtable discussion on female sex work and presented a video on sex work in the Asia Pacific Village.

This piece is the first in a series introducing you to the partners that Asia Catalyst is supporting through scholarships, strategy and translation to attend the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.  The Congress brought together over 4,000 delegates from 22 countries in the region in Bangkok this month.