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Giving voice to people’s right to health
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People's Health Movement (PHM) website
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News of an evaluation of the People’s Health Movement (PHM), December 2004
From Assembly to Movement A global People’s Health Movement (PHM) began to emerge in December 2000 when nearly 1500 people from over 90 countries met for five days in Savar, Bangladesh to re-establish health and equitable development as top priorities in local, national and international policy-making. In the four years since this initial People’s Health Assembly (PHA) the movement has stumbled, struggled, and become stronger, and today is having an increasing impact on health policy and practice. More attention is now being paid to developing strong and effective relationships with other networks, movements and organisations. Strategic planning and a communication strategy are also priorities.
A unique approach to social mobilisation The People’s Health Assembly was itself a unique social mobilisation exercise. In country after country, it involved people in village meetings, in district meetings, in national events, in regional workshops to prepare for the global gathering in Bangladesh. New models for organising, new approaches to giving voice to the vulnerable and new ways to advocate for social change are significant outcomes. Anyone who took part in the PHA describes how it changed their lives. The challenge now is to see if the inspiration, solidarity and linkages can be sustained.
Taking the PHM forward Up until the beginning of 2003, any assessment of the efforts to move the PHM forward would have had little to say that was positive. Work on the ground appeared patchy, sporadic and largely uncoordinated. But now greater coherence is beginning to emerge. A large factor in the slow follow up to the PHA lay in the lack of a clear strategic plan and a communication strategy to reach out to different audiences.
Networking, linkages and alliances There are enormous challenges in maintaining an effective network that combines a range of organisations and individuals. Networks, organisations, and individuals involved in the PHM work on a wide range of issues – from the very specific to the very broad – and at a number of levels – local, national, regional and international.
Leadership and governance Although there has been discussion of structures to provide guidance and leadership for the PHM, there are still unresolved issues. This is to be expected in what is a ‘young movement’.
Strategic thinking and planning Movements and networks often respond to situations as they arise: a policy has been issued that needs to be challenged; a threat to the environment has become evident; a human right has been violated. Something needs to be done now, with urgency. People need to be mobilised to take action. However, this needs to be put into the context of a strategic framework which is light and flexible while providing a unifying planning guide.
Diversity One of the exercises that the evaluation team did with nearly 80 people in 2003 in Geneva was to encourage them to identify how they came into contact with the PHM and how they pictured their involvement. The images of the movement that they drew were diverse, but had some common elements. The ideas of joining hands, connecting and working together and of waves of energy, surging and growing were two powerful currents. Above all, the pictures they drew were a celebration of diversity and it is that diversity that is the main strength of the PHM.
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www.healthcomms.org
© 2000-2005 Exchange, London, UK
PHM evaluation summary report - Challenging injustice: giving voice to
people's right to health (PDF 8 pages, 124 KB)