pep bonet/noor
july 2011
health worker breakthrough campaign toolkit
contents
3 4 7 8 9 12 16 22 introduCtion to toolkit more HealtH Workers, Better supported our oBjeCtives CHoose your targets 2011 key moments loBBying taCtiCs moBilisation taCtiCs Beyond septemBer
introduCtion to toolkit
Welcome to your Health Worker Breakthrough Campaign toolkit. this toolkit will provide you with a timeline of opportunities, and ideas, tools and tactics for advocacy and campaigning activity. it will show how to further mobilise the public and political targets to make commitments to health workers and help save childrens lives. most importantly the toolkit will provide you with links to online materials to help with your lobbying such as example petitions, example letters to country leaders and press releases.
leticia ValVerdes
Why september?
in september around the un general assembly meeting in new York, countries will meet to assess progress on womens and childrens health and discuss ways forward. a growing number of ngos, together with several un bodies, are working together to make this a crunch moment an opportunity for a major political breakthrough on health workers, a moment at which the health worker crisis is addressed by developing and donor countries on 20 september a number of organisations are coming together to organise an informal but high-level political event to provide a platform for world leaders to set out their commitments to increase the number of health workers in their own countries and ensure resources and support for new and existing health workers. we want key donor and developing countries to see september as a moment for a step-change involving substantial and specific commitments to expand the number of health workers and give them the support they need.
as the un secretary general has noted, the world is suffering from a massive gap of more than 3.5 million health workers. this includes a pressing need for at least 1 million community health workers and 350,000 midwives. millions more existing health workers lack the support, equipment and training they need.
health workers are vital for progress on global health and development, and for ensuring the millennium development goals are met. bold leadership is needed. world leaders each need to make new, substantial and specific commitments to expand the number of health workers and better support those workers who are already in place. to motivate this kind of bold leadership will require a powerful coalition with strong public support. For this reason, a diverse range of organisations are issuing today this urgent call for more health workers, better supported. we share a vision where there is a health worker within reach of everyone, in every community. since then hundreds more organisations have add their voice to the call, coming together under the banner health workers count. go to www.healthworkerscount.org/organisations to find out who.
health workers are the backbone oF healthcare. properlY trained and equipped, theY can preVent most child and maternal deaths. without them, millions oF mothers and children haVe no one to diagnose illnesses, dispense treatment, assist at births or proVide immunisation. but the world is short oF health workers and millions oF them lack the power, training, equipment and medical supplies to deliVer basic health serVices.
pep bonet/noor
our objectives
in the run up to september, we want to work, together with partners, to build up momentum at national and global levels.
peter caton
20 july
11 AUgUST
1 SepTember
20 SepTember
july
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20 july: 2 months to go
Join the global stunt with a giant sticking plaster. the global icon for health workers
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count is the sticking plaster. we can provide you with a giant plaster to hold up or attach in front of a political building or landmark.
encourage others to take action on www.healthworkerscount.org. both
engage your advocacy targets. work with partner organisations coming behind the health worker call you could send letter or arrange a meeting with health worker advocacy targets. go to page 11. make a noise. pitch to media or use social
individuals and organisations can sign up online. You could also embed the sign up tool in your own website or send a letter to organisations you want to see come behind the health worker call. go to page 15.
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for example taking part in a plaster stunt and holding popular events. go to page 16 and 17.
for example a national health tribunal or national send off event. go to page 13 and 14.
push your messaging in social media and
media more ideas and materials will follow. go to page 18 and 19.
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there may be other moments and opportunities in your own country that you know would be a good time to lobby for more health workers, such as world breast Feeding week.
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loBBying tacticS
how do you reach your targets?
in the run-up to the september meeting, its really important that we lobby governments to encourage them to see september as a moment to stretch ambition and show global leadership in particular by making new, substantial and specific commitments to expand the number of health workers and better support those workers who are already in place. below are some ideas, tools and tactics on how you might be able to reach your targets.You should be realistic, pragmatic and strategic only choose whats appropriate in your context. 1. Secure partner support and work in coalitions its important to work with partner organisations and to form coalitions so that there are more voices behind the campaign for a health worker breakthrough. many voices strengthen our call and are harder for decision makers to ignore! You can see the organisations that are signed up to our urgent call for more health workers, better supported and encourage organisations to join at www.healthworkerscount.org. think about organisations in your country that might be interested, or that would be useful to bring on board.You could encourage organisations to sign up by giving examples of other organisations and the number of organisations that have signed up. You could also think about the working with specific partners or organisations in some of your activities. 2. Send a letter Sending a letter can be the first step to getting the attention of leaders and other politicians .You can set out the goals of our campaign and you can stress the urgency of it.You could include an example of the work of health workers and link this to popular activity, for example send them a sticking plaster. tell them about the september crunch moment. ask them questions. be brief, but set out the fact clearly and say what we hope to achieve. think about tying sending a letter to a key moment, they may agree to meet with you or attend an event. in partnership with others and well in advance of the unga write to, or try to meet with, your head of state or the minister of health. Outline what you would like to see from your government in terms of further commitments and implementation of commitments around health workers Encourage your Head of State to use the opportunity of the unga to make the commitment to health workers.
Download a template advocacy letter Download a template letter to organisations
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TIP: If you find someone who supports the campaign, remember to keep them up to date with your actions and successes.
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health workers are vital for progress on global health and development, and for ensuring the millennium development goals are met. bold leadership is needed. world leaders each need to make new, substantial and specific commitments to expand the number of health workers and better support those workers who are already in place.
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moBilisation tactics
in order to create pressure for change mobilising people is very important. it shows decision-makers that people believe its unacceptable that a mother or child does not have accessible health workers who are adequately supported to do their job of saving lives. We want to generate and demonstrate the groundswell of support needed for leaders to want to be bold. By getting millions of people to take action, and by ensuring significant global media coverage, well ensure the necessary buzz to build pressure for a health worker breakthrough. We want to see 3.5 million public actions, echoing the number of additional health workers needed.
1. use the website www.healthworkercount.org to encourage people to take action on July 20th we will launch an online platform on behalf of all the organisations coming behind our health worker call. the website will be a place individuals and organisations can sign up and take action for the campaign, upload campaign news and health worker stories and engage with other supporters. it will support local campaigners and organisers by providing downloadable tools and tactics. here is how you can engage and use the website to support your campaign: encourage others to take action. there is a sign up mechanism for both individuals and organisations. those that sign up will be asked to share their action via social media or upload their own videos, photos or story.You can also embed the sign up tool in your own website. Share your stories and encourage your supporters to do the same. even if your campaign activity takes place offline, you can still upload photos, videos and stories about health workers or your campaign activity to the website. exciting content will attract more supporters. Show the global support for the campaign to individuals or decision makers. an aggregator will show the number of actions taken in support of the health worker calls, and a map will show the actions taken around the world. photos, videos and blogs will provide more depth. Download the latest materials and tactics on the campaign, including updated versions of this toolkit.
go to www.healthworkerscount.org
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tip: conduct your stunt alongside campaigns in other countries to get greater media exposure.You could do this at the 20 July launch, or 11 august 3.5 million second countdown.
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tip: if you are organising an event or a stunt make sure you let the media know about it send a press release they may send someone to write a story for radio or newspapers. tip: organise an event where one or two health workers can tell their story. they can give people really good first-hand information about what they do and why more health workers are needed.
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You can include further factual background information can be added at the end of the press release, under the heading notes For editors. Tips for writing a great press release: Use one page at most for the main body of your press release. if you need to, a second page can include the additional information. Be sure the date of the release is at the top and include the campaign logo, and the sticking plaster visual if its relevant. Keep sentences short. Do not say the same thing more than once. Be as factual as possible, avoiding opinions. Think about your audience so that the information you give is relevant to them. Avoid jargon and acronyms. Editors and journalists will not want to spend time looking up terms. Include contact details so that journalists can speak to someone to get more information about the campaign. If you can, follow up the press release with a telephone call or an email.
You will get more attention for your press release if it is well written and gets your point across clearly. when writing your press release remember that you are announcing a campaign, an event or a news item. be sure to think about what to include based on the five Ws that should make up a news item: who, what, when, where and why. highlight the key date of 20 september, so that journalists know it is important that people take action now.
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give the release an eye-catching headline eg, the title of the campaign. Your first paragraph must state the purpose of the campaign succinctly and provide the most important facts, including important dates. next, explain the context for the campaign, in this case, for example, why health workers are vital for childrens survival and development. Give specific information from your country, if possible.You could include a quote from a health worker. < ends > this goes at the end of the main body of the press release, signifying that this is the end of the text that can be quoted verbatim.
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5. Use social media to spread the word social media has reinvented grass roots campaigning. Facebook, twitter,Youtube and the like has provided people with the opportunity to collaborate, coordinate and give voice to their concerns. using social media we can create strong campaigning networks and bring a great amount of people together in a short space of time to inspire change.
3. Start a Conversation:
follow twitter.com/healthworkers and the #healthworkers hashtag and visit www.healthworkerscount.org for latest information
2. Share:
Twitter Sending tweets out to your followers is a great way to keep everyone updated on whats happening, just dont forget to add the #healthworkers hashtag so we can keep track. Facebook Click and share photos, stories and other content from www.healthworkerscount.org to your facebook profile page and encourage your friends to take action. we will be running online events & activities throughout the lead up to september, so its vital for you to keep sharing and participating.
Blog Start blogging about the issue! Blogging beforehand can alert others and encourage them to learn more. share your blogs with us on www.healthworkerscount.org Vlog Start a Video Log (Vlog) on Youtube or Vimeo, comment about the issue and the spread the word. add it to
www.healthworkerscount.org
weve already seen the power of using social media to promote the campaign we reached over 2 million people on twitter when the healthworker statement was released in uk newspaper, the guardian, in may.
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Beyond septemBer
our job after the un summit is to continue to hold governments to account on their commitments (or lack thereof) and it is our job as campaigns to ensure that we communicate the result to our campaigners and develop the appropriate next steps.
depending on the outcome for your country, your post-september strategy could be focussed on 3 different approaches:
1. Celebrating Success. Your country has made
or built upon an ambitious commitment that sets it on track to meet mdgs 4&5. obviously such great steps forward should be recognised, but your campaigning focus should also now move to supporting implementation and holding governments to account.
2. Acknowledging good first steps and pushing for more. For most of us, the
the outcome for your country and the subsequent approach you take will also dictate the activities you undertake to meet your objectives. many of the ideas for pre-summit activity could also be done post-september to continue to ramp up the pressure or to assist with communication between government and citizens as well as implementation. some great post-september activities could involve: Public hearings or health tribunals as explained above: a great way for citizens to communicate their health experiences to decision makers Post-event congratulations or expressions of disappointment this could be another use for our global plaster branding Using national legislative events and opportunities to express your opinions (sending letters or organising demonstrations ahead of speeches or meetings of your local parliament) Reporting back and publicising the outcome in media through press releases, interview or opinion pieces (try to involve midwives or health workers as much as possible in this to make it more meaningful)
summit will delivery both victories and missed opportunities. it is important to acknowledge the best first steps but continue to put pressure on for the right plans and programmes to meet mdgs 4&5
3. Disappointment. campaigning means calling
out, tirelessly for the right actions to happen without fatigue. if your government disappointed you at the summit, you should express this (tactfully and appropriately) and keep up the good fight
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after september, we need to keep on leaders to deliver on their promises after the un ga.
Find out more