The Public Advocacy Program

The introduction of Public Advocacy to Concern for Children Trust (CFC) marks a pivotal moment in the organization’s growth. It is the first organizational step towards social policy. Hence, at this juncture CFC begins to look at the country’s political and social spectrum in the context of a welfare state. Therefore all advocacies that take place through CFC will focus on approaching the needs of disadvantaged citizens on a policy level. Policies will be tackled holistically, where Advocacy Consultants will be brought onto the CFC team. Each Advocacy Consultant will have specific expertise in the particular policy issue.In line with its strategic goals, CFC launched the advocacy component of its program in late 2007. CFC began its advocacy practices with the land lease issue for the squatter settlement of Machar Colony and public health concerns in this community.The Advocacy Program has been developed in light of the organization’s long term objective in developing into a fully functioning Policy Institute. The Program is the first step towards this goal.

Currently the Advocacy Program entails:

   Public Advocacy Community Empowerment
   Public Advocacy Land Rights Department
   Public Advocacy Heathcare Department

Community Empowerment Department
Income Generation
Economic advancement plays a key role in creating a positive mood in the environment and providing incentives for those living in the community to become involved in their own development. Studies have proven a correlation between feelings of confidence and hope with progress of economic welfare. In recognition of this reality the Public Advocacy Program has ensured that income generation opportunities on a community level exist with in all ‘Initiative’s launched. Further details regarding these opportunities can be found under Community Based Organization (CBO’s), data collection, Mother Child Healthcare and Mental Health efforts falling under Public Advocacy.

Community Based Organizations (CBO’s)
The formulation of Community Based Organizations will take place in ‘Machar Colony’ as a formal endeavor to organize the community to adopt the ideals of participatory democracy. It will present a forum on which community members will interact with one another in a formal setting, for the pursuit of a common agenda. The Program expects that structured community organization will develop leadership skills and create a susceptible setting for social change. It will give members an opportunity to seek accountability from elected officials on a provincial and federal level. CBO’s are the fundamental agents in the effective execution of petitioning, lobbying and overall advocacy with in electoral politics.

As apart of CFC’s Community Driven Development Project (CDDP), Community Awareness Meetings are being held on a weekly basis in different locations through out the Colony. Experiences during these meetings have revealed a therapeutic practice in which members of the community indulge in dialogue about the social, political and economic issues plaguing the community. These meetings have allowed CFC to witness the resident’s desire to work towards their own rights and to become politically involved for the forward movement of their community. However, at both male and female meetings it became obvious that the resident’s desires and passions would have to be guided by a structured framework. The CBO will provide the structured framework and assist in remaining focused on issues that need to be advocated. The upcoming year will concentrate on property/land rights and healthcare. Healthcare will be limited to the scopes of Mother Child Healthcare, Mental Health and Special Education. These issues have been identified through dialogue taking place during the Community Awareness Meeting and other channels of data collection. The Public Advocacy team’s responsibility is to create a road map on which best to support the identified causes.

National Working Group
The purpose of the National Working group is to have an independent and effective body to channel and support the activities of the Public Advocacy Program. It will brainstorm for the program, presenting new challenges and ideas to be discussed and taken into account during CBO meetings. They will be a source of evaluation, monitoring and revision of progress. The group will be an amalgamation of government representatives, non-profit organizations working in the fields pertinent to the program’s agenda, human rights organizations, media and other stakeholders of the society in which we live. The national working group will meet on a quarterly basis. The meeting will comprise of five focal members. Each member will represent a separate organization; this includes fundamental government representatives from the provincial and federal cabinets.

During these meetings the Public Advocacy Manager will receive the member’s input and relate proceedings to concerned team members. A Public Advocacy Consultant will attend the meeting in situations in which policies that fall under their expertise are being discussed.

They will address issues at hand by distinguishing what is problematic in the systems that already exist. They will evaluate the policy options prevailing in the country and conditions needed for retrieving the data the national working group will speculate the potential of change in the specific field being studied. It is based on these speculations that the Public Advocacy in proceeding with the program.

Bill Board Project
The Billboard serves as a daily reminder therefore serving as a community awareness initiative in which the life styles of those living in ‘Machar Colony’ are highlighted. This ‘Initiative’ approaches private individuals with consumer sensitivity.It presents ‘Machar Colony’ as a ‘product’ and the billboard will be a mechanism in molding public opinion about the area in which CFC carries out service provision operations. In terms of advocacy, it will be the first stepping stone in inviting private individuals to join platforms that will be created to push advocacy agendas in a government setting. The billboard has been planned in correspondence to CFC’s Public Advocacy Program’s philosophy to have the area in question advocate for it.At the moment, no bill board post is located directly outside the Colony’s entrance,therefore the Public Advocacy team is lobbying to have the city government allocate a pole to be put in front of the Colony.

Data Collection
Effective advocacy can only take place with the accumulation of quantitative data that can be presented to private and public agents for the evolution of policy development and execution. At the moment, CFC has a plethora of qualitative available for usage. This information has been accumulated through needs assessments carried out before the development of project designs that are implemented by the organization. It is vital that CFC acquires this quantitative data in order to provide legitimacy to the organization’s operations and overall advocacy effort.

The data collection process formulated by the program will simultaneously serve as an income generating exercise. The resource mobilizer will hire ten individuals from the community. They will receive a stipend at the end of the process. These individuals will be allocated a district in the area to carry out surveys. They will be required to go door to door and spend thirty to forty minutes per survey.Questions listed in the survey are questions that are not included in the surveys taken by the Federal Bureau of Statistics. They are limited to the information they can collect from the community. The processes of data collection adopted by CFC are shared with the Federal Bureau of Statistics. This decision has been made based on the fact that donor agencies hold the bureau at highest credibility for the presentation of quantitative data. Hence the Public Advocacy Program has adopted the same methodology. The survey will be done in partnership with the agency.

The information will illustrate constituencies residing in the community. The Advocacy team will use this information as a bargaining tool with government representatives affiliated with the Ministries concerning the issue in question. Recognition of the politically driven actions undertaken by government representatives furthers the notion that the program has been designed to be sensitive to the different actors involved in advocating.

Documentaries
The Public Advocacy Healthcare Department comprises of three ‘Initiatives’; Special Education; Mental Health and Mother Child Healthcare. Every ‘Initiative’ will have a documentary focusing on concerns related to each one of the ‘Initiatives’. The audience for these documentaries will first be the residents of ‘Machar Colony’ and based on their reaction will be taken to other katchi abadis for viewing. All documentaries will be in Urdu and have English sub-titles Members of the community will become informed of the policies set in place and given guidance on how to participate in their successful implementation. The program has avoided inclinations towards one comprehensive document encompassing all ‘Departments’ and ‘Initiatives’ in light of its audience. The Program desires to stream line the interests of those living in the community. Documentaries will be shown to members of the CBO’s in accordance to the group’s point of concentration, for instance Mother Child Health.

Public Advocacy Land Rights Department
The population of the Colony is approximated at 700,000 and has been in existence before the 1982 Sindh Katchi Abadi Regularization and Development Order, which states all katchi abadis identified before 1982 are applicable to regularization. This means that those individuals living on the land will have the opportunity to lease the land on which they live. However, ‘Machar Colony’ is located in the industrial centre of the city and is under the authority of Karachi Port Trust (KPT). It is for this reason it remain in the list of those katchi abadis that are not applicable to land lease rights and are dismissed as an "unofficial katchi abadi".CFC aims to advocate for ‘Machar Colony’ to be included in the list of ‘official katchi abadis".The CBO’s created through this Program will network with other "unofficial katchi abadis" and will lobby at appropriate agencies. A platform of non-profit organizations, corporations, government representatives and civil society members will present quantitative data, petitions and negative publicity to the Chairman of KPT.

Public Advocacy Heathcare Department
Public Advocacy’s Healthcare Department umbrella’s a Mother Child Healthcare Initiative, a Special Education Initiative and a Mental Health Initiative.

The Mother Child Healthcare Initiative is viewed through a women empowerment perspective. In line with the philosophy adopted by CFC for the purposes for the Public Advocacy Program the disadvantaged client will be the primary actor in promoting human rights violated due to a lack of existence or effective implementation of policies in the country . Hence for the purposes of the Mother Child Initiative the Public Advocacy team’s primary responsibility is to empower deprived or discriminated women to recognize they deserve the services of a well-equipped mother child health facility.

They will be empowered through economic advancement, campaigns facilitated by the program, education, political participation, counseling and awareness raising. Simultaneously relationships with government agents, private sector and the public sector will be formulated to create visibility for these women. At this point in time public Advocacy Healthcare Department is launching the Thalassaemia campaing which is pushing for a law to be implemented requiring blood reports at the time of ninkkah in order to prevent thelsimia major.