Asia Catalyst Launches New Health Rights Advocacy Training Program

Asia Catalyst aims to encourage regional exchange and collaboration through our newest initiative – the Health Rights Advocacy Training Program. The prog­­ram builds off of the rights training curriculum, Know It, Prove It, Change It: A Rights Curriculum for Grassroots Groups – a joint project with Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) and Dongjen Center for Human Rights Education and Action.

On May 20, 2013 Asia Catalyst brought together eighteen health rights advocates from nine countries across East and Southeast Asia who are promoting the rights of marginalized communities directly affected by HIV/AIDS. The group spent a week in Bangkok, Thailand, where they participated in sessions led by experts in health rights and advocacy skills, received peer-feedback on their advocacy projects, and visited organizations that are leading grassroots movements in sex worker rights and fighting discrimination and stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS. Hai Vuong, a health rights advocate and photographer from Supporting Community Development Initiatives in Vietnam, captured some of the highlights.

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[REPORT] Managing Strengths and Weaknesses: A Survey of Chinese Health Rights Groups (2012)

China Program Officer Mike Frick produced a snapshot of the current state of health rights groups in China, based off information gathered from NGOs that participated in Asia Catalyst’s coaching program. China’s 
civil
 society
 sector
 has 
grown
 rapidly
 over 
the
 past 
ten 
years, 
but
 it 
is
 still 
in
 an 
early
 stage
 of
 development. 
Because
 most
 grassroots 
NGOs are
 unable
 to 
legally 
register,
 and
 because
 most
 founders 
have 
little
 to 
no 
prior
 NGO
 or
 management 
experience,
 they
 face
 numerous
 challenges 
in 
the 
effort
 to
 professionalize 
operations
 while 
providing
 needed
 services 
and 
conducting
 policy
 advocacy.
 Read the full report here.


[RESOURCE] Keeping Your Records Straight

By
Gisa Hartmann

Like most small-sized NGOs the one thing we don’t have too much of is time, so we
try to keep our financial records in a manner that is easy to manage, but also
allows us to comply with all the various reporting requirements.

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