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Region Asia: Regional summary progress report 2013 1. Analysis of result achievement 1.1 Achievements of results within focus areas 1.1.1. Human Rights Human rights remain a challenging area of work in Asia. In Thailand it was possible to work on human rights however the political crisis disrupted advocacy work while in Sri Lanka, human rights are suppressed in public discourse and cannot be addressed directly. In Myanmar there is increasing space to talk about human rights, and LGBTI rights are emerging in public discourse thanks to the work of HREIB/Colors Rainbow while in Bangladesh there is space to discuss human rights because the mainstream political environment is supportive except where fundamentalism has taken hold. In Cambodia violence is directed at civil society from capitalists and the government, as exemplified during the garment industry living wage protests, but slowly a space to voice human rights issues is emerging. Despite a challenging year, Diakonia’s Country Offices were very quick to address issues and partners found ways to undertake activities on human rights utilising a variety of techniques. The focus in the Asia region was to empower rights holders, particularly vulnerable groups, to create a space for civil society where otherwise there was none, so that the voices of rights holders could be heard and that they may claim their rights. With a few exceptions, only a small amount of work was undertaken on contributing to legal processes and shadow reports and other than Cambodia, protecting human rights defenders was not a focus either. Depending on the space for civil society to discuss human rights, each country had different entry points, for example Bangladesh could advocate directly with the government and through the courts, whilst Sri Lanka needed to approach human rights issues via development ‘activities’, such as income generation projects. In 2013, Diakonia strategically phased out partners who were no longer aligned with Diakonia’s vision and Strategy for Change (SfC), but did so with due consideration to being a ‘good donor and accompanying partner’ assisting partners to find other sources of funding and giving plenty of notice and support during phase out. New partners working on human rights were also phased in where needs arose. The ACT Forum was particularly useful for networking and coordination but there is now a need for even greater advocacy efforts and solidarity actions by linking grassroots communities with national, regional and international level advocacy. It was also noted that partners were working more positively with the media on human rights issues which offers some protection for human rights defenders. Diakonia Country Offices include a gender perspective as a foundation stone for any partnership and this is reflected in partners’ program proposals however work still need to be done with partners to apply gender mainstreaming in the implementation of programs and in reporting. Diakonia Bangladesh’s partners undertook planned activities under this theme and progress was achieved particularly within ethnic minorities and on worker’s rights. Progress toward results in Public Interest Litigation was a highlight of the year and despite mobility difficulties caused by the protests and blockades, training workshop activities were undertaken with some minor adjustments to plans. The network of Diakonia’s partners is the real strength of the program and through the network, the partners can link community issues/actions with advocacy e.g. the Rana Plaza disaster where four of Diakonia’s partners collaborated. A strategic shift in Diakonia Cambodia’s approach towards human rights and away from livelihood activities resulted in the phasing out of two partners and the addition of one new partner. Diakonia Cambodia saw progress towards results in human rights and assisted partners with capacity building under this thematic area. Empowerment and collective action

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Page 1: Region Asia: Regional summary progress report 2013 · 2014-06-25 · Region Asia: Regional summary progress report 2013 1. ... GSMI noted there was demand for more human rights

Region Asia: Regional summary progress report 2013

1. Analysis of result achievement

1.1 Achievements of results within focus areas

1.1.1. Human Rights

Human rights remain a challenging area of work in Asia. In Thailand it was possible to work

on human rights however the political crisis disrupted advocacy work while in Sri Lanka,

human rights are suppressed in public discourse and cannot be addressed directly. In

Myanmar there is increasing space to talk about human rights, and LGBTI rights are

emerging in public discourse thanks to the work of HREIB/Colors Rainbow while in

Bangladesh there is space to discuss human rights because the mainstream political

environment is supportive except where fundamentalism has taken hold. In Cambodia

violence is directed at civil society from capitalists and the government, as exemplified during

the garment industry living wage protests, but slowly a space to voice human rights issues is

emerging. Despite a challenging year, Diakonia’s Country Offices were very quick to address

issues and partners found ways to undertake activities on human rights utilising a variety of

techniques. The focus in the Asia region was to empower rights holders, particularly

vulnerable groups, to create a space for civil society where otherwise there was none, so that

the voices of rights holders could be heard and that they may claim their rights. With a few

exceptions, only a small amount of work was undertaken on contributing to legal processes

and shadow reports and other than Cambodia, protecting human rights defenders was not a

focus either. Depending on the space for civil society to discuss human rights, each country

had different entry points, for example Bangladesh could advocate directly with the

government and through the courts, whilst Sri Lanka needed to approach human rights

issues via development ‘activities’, such as income generation projects. In 2013, Diakonia

strategically phased out partners who were no longer aligned with Diakonia’s vision and

Strategy for Change (SfC), but did so with due consideration to being a ‘good donor and

accompanying partner’ assisting partners to find other sources of funding and giving plenty of

notice and support during phase out. New partners working on human rights were also

phased in where needs arose. The ACT Forum was particularly useful for networking and

coordination but there is now a need for even greater advocacy efforts and solidarity actions

by linking grassroots communities with national, regional and international level advocacy. It

was also noted that partners were working more positively with the media on human rights

issues which offers some protection for human rights defenders. Diakonia Country Offices

include a gender perspective as a foundation stone for any partnership and this is reflected in

partners’ program proposals however work still need to be done with partners to apply

gender mainstreaming in the implementation of programs and in reporting.

Diakonia Bangladesh’s partners undertook planned activities under this theme and progress

was achieved particularly within ethnic minorities and on worker’s rights. Progress toward

results in Public Interest Litigation was a highlight of the year and despite mobility difficulties

caused by the protests and blockades, training workshop activities were undertaken with

some minor adjustments to plans. The network of Diakonia’s partners is the real strength of

the program and through the network, the partners can link community issues/actions with

advocacy e.g. the Rana Plaza disaster where four of Diakonia’s partners collaborated.

A strategic shift in Diakonia Cambodia’s approach towards human rights and away from

livelihood activities resulted in the phasing out of two partners and the addition of one new

partner. Diakonia Cambodia saw progress towards results in human rights and assisted

partners with capacity building under this thematic area. Empowerment and collective action

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at a grassroots level was a feature of results achieved in 2013 as was the expansion of

community led actions resulting from strengthened networking between communities.

Furthermore, activities focused on advocacy at both an international level while judicial

advocacy progressed significantly, resulting in high profile campaign wins. A greater use of

ICT has enabled partners to increase reporting of cases and undertake advocacy and citizen

journalism, as well as encouraging journalists to focus more on human rights issues.

However the post-election unstable political situation impacted on some program

implementation and there remains a general lack of trust in the justice system, despite the

success of high profile cases. Diakonia Cambodia actively supported LGBTI communities,

resulting in LGBTI recognition being strengthened.

In 2013, human rights violations continued in Myanmar and government harassment, arrests

and imprisonment of human rights defenders meant activists took significant personal risks

undertaking activities, particularly on the issue of land grabbing. Moreover, due to cultural

and legal reasons, LGBTI continued to be a challenging area of work. Potential conflict

between IDP’s repatriating and existing settlers is a source of concern. Nevertheless, in

contrast to Myanmar prior to the 2012 elections, small openings in the space for civil society

to engage with human rights have occurred at a local and national level. Partners’

emphasised knowledge and awareness raising through training and print and electronic

media, as well as community organising work with Village Development Committees (VDC)

and alumni groups resulting in collective action, particularly on the land grabbing issue.

Moreover, networking for advocacy and documentation of human rights violations to be used

on advocacy in the future, such as in the acknowledgement of ethnic rights, was also

undertaken with incremental progress being achieved.

In Sri Lanka, collectively and broadly speaking, the activities of partners made progress

towards results under the human rights theme, however taken individually, some partner’s

activities did not progress as planned. The partners focused on increasing knowledge and

awareness raising through training but not activities aimed at mobilising communities, with

government restrictions and violence hampering activities in 2013. For example, ‘issue’

based organising is very difficult within the current political climate so ‘activity’ based

organising, i.e. training, was strategically used. Informal networking and collaboration is

understood to be important and progress is being made at the provincial level but not yet at

national level.

Combining awareness raising, organising and advocacy strategies, a number of Diakonia

Thailand’s partners worked under this theme, and Diakonia Thailand sees potential for some

partners to expand their projects to reach a larger target group. The unstable political

environment in Thailand has affected the ability of partners to undertake advocacy work with

government and partners also found that relationship building with local authorities,

especially on issues of land title, human trafficking, legal status and citizenship was set back

when the local officer either left and is replaced, or the relevant local officer was unwilling to

engage.

• Empowering Rights Holders to know about and claim their rights

Diakonia Bangladesh partner OWDEB, (an organisation working for gender equality and

women’s empowerment in society), conducted capacity building activities for CBOs, the

Community Development Forum, NJK, the Student Forum and the Adolescent Forum on

human rights and good governance training, leadership training, democracy and the

Bangladesh constitution, the WTO, HIV and Aids and gender sensitivity and training on

registration system for Local Govt. to protect women and children from unsafe migration. As

a result, women were informed about their rights, especially CEDAW, and they took an active

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role against discrimination inside and outside the family. For example, action was taken

against the family violence of a neighbour and 64 cases of VAW were recorded in 2013 with

48 being resolved. Furthermore, women accessed services at the police station, the

government health office and at school where previous they are afraid to complain about any

misconduct. And the adolescent/youth group were an active force in urban & rural areas

against the abuse of children, especially girls such as eve teasing and other such notorious

actions. The Teacher’s Forum now plays an effective role in child protection for girls and

against drug abusing by youth.

In Thailand, working at a grassroots level, partners including MEDF-CSP, (an organization

working with ethnic minorities) and KDSF-SLP, (working with ethnic people), increased

awareness of human rights undertaking training for community leaders and members of

targeted villages. DCCN, (working on citizenship issues for stateless children), ran

participatory counselling clinics at schools and shelters about legal status rights. And in

addition to a number of partners working on land mapping, land rights training was also

undertaken by partners resulting in increased awareness of land rights, community forest

and natural resources management as well as increased numbers of volunteers within

communities advocating for improved land rights with local authorities. For example, after the

KDSF-SLP conducted training on basic rights, community management, natural resources

and environmental management to villagers in four villages, two villages (Sop Khong and

Mae Hard village) together with government officers completed land mapping and gathered

all related information. They are now in the process of proposing to the Local Administration

Organization that a code of law be established according land title deed procedure

established.

Diakonia Myanmar partner GSMI, (an organisation working to empower grassroots and

marginalised communities to prevent poverty and enhance their capacity), conducted human

rights trainings in the Kachin zone. As a result, the grassroots communities have more

confidence to raise cases of human rights violations and GSMI linked their cases to the

relevant support groups, for example, by coordinating a meeting with lawyers to advocate

their land rights issues in court. GSMI noted there was demand for more human rights

trainings from participants.

In Sri Lanka, partner WDC, (an organisation working on gender justice, feminist voice and

empowerment), developed a briefing note on the importance of recognising the informal and

care economy at a local and national level. WDC’s ‘Suriya’ has been conducting small

discussions with many women as part of a campaign to call for labour rights for women in the

informal economy. As a result, more women understand their economic rights, more women

are ready to move further to demand their rights, more organisations have started to talk

about this topic and divisional secretariats were very supportive and also accepted the

importance of this issue.

• Protect Human Rights defenders

In Cambodia, a highlighted story is the result of the activities of EC (an organisation working

to transform the national development model into one that respects, protects and fulfils the

human rights of the Cambodian people), LICADHO (a national human rights organisation

protecting civil, political, economic and social rights in Cambodia) and CFSWF (an

organisation promoting the rights of female service workers). Boueng Kak Lakes’s (BKL)

most high-profile campaign called for the release of imprisoned BKL activist Yorm Bopha.

Upon appeal to the Supreme Court, Bopha was released on bail on the 22nd November, with

the judge ordering a re-investigation of the case. Furthermore, EC’s advocacy efforts through

dialogue with the new Governor of Phnom Penh, resulted in the BKL families that had been

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excluded from the 12.44 hectare arrangement would receive replacement land plots with

titles in the 12.44 area, marking a significant breakthrough. As a direct result of EC’s

international advocacy, the US Senate Appropriations Committee adopted language in its

Budget bill which required the US Executive Director to the World Bank to vote against any

new loans to Cambodia until the BKL community received appropriate redress.

• Contribute to legal processes and shadow reports on Human Rights

In Thailand, the Mirror Foundation (a partner working on citizenship rights), and their civil

society network recognised the need to improve the process of seeking legal status and

submitted a complaint letter to the government about the problems of document submission

and the approval process, resulting in the Interior Ministry issuing a letter to the local

authority to improve transparency. Furthermore, the work done on the legal status of children

and the training within schools, resulted in increased access to basic education for children

from ethnic minorities.

In Bangladesh, a highlighted case in 2013 was BLAST’s (an organisation working on access

to justice for the realisation of human rights and advocacy for empowerment of the poor)

legal case taken to a Division Bench of the High Court over the continuous threat to evict

about 500 sex workers of the Madaripur Brothel as it violated the fundamental rights of the

residents of the Madaripur brothel as guaranteed by the Constitution and the arbitrary

decision to restrain clients of the sex workers from entering the Madaripur brothel. As a

result, signboards were removed from the four gates of Madaripur Brothel that were imposing

restrictions upon the clients of sex workers from entering the brothel and the court directed

officials not to disturb and harass the sex workers and allow them to continue to work as the

case continues through the courts.

In Cambodia, LICADHO was very active during 2013, advocating, investigating and opening

legal cases on behalf of rights holders. LICADHO’s monitors investigated 972 new cases on

human trafficking, land grabbing, freedom of expression, killing and attempted killing and

forced eviction and LICADHO’s lawyers opened 22 new cases involving land grabbing,

human rights defenders, human trafficking, domestic violence and rape; of which the most

high profile case resulted in the release of outspoken land rights activist Yorm Bopha.

While in Sri Lanka, LST (an organisation working on human rights, IDPs from war affected

areas and community capacity building), made a submission to the UN treaty bodies on the

National Action Plan on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in Sri Lanka.

1.1.2. Democracy

In 2013, Diakonia Asia Region worked more on Democracy when compared to 2012.

Partners in Thailand and Cambodia worked with local authorities to promote civil society

participation, while Cambodia’s and Sri Lanka’s strong democracy focused partners

contributed to transparent and fair electoral processes. In Myanmar there continues to be

more space for civil society to become involved in democracy. On the other hand, little work

was done within the region to break through existing or new policy spaces for developing

countries to promote development. In all the countries, decentralisation has enabled partners

to reach out to local authorities and by engaging with local decision makers, partners were

able to consolidate opportunities and tap into government resources however because this is

a politically contested space there is always a danger of being seen as getting too close to

government. Diakonia works with vulnerable people, often marginalized and excluded from

public life, and by supporting their development through capacity building to empower rights

holders to claim their space and rights, this is increasing their democratic participation.

Nevertheless, democracy is a very sensitive issue in some countries and harsh

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consequences for political activities including threats, intimidation and retributions are

evident, with examples of government crackdowns on political activists prevalent. Diakonia

observed that being a part of a donor community as well as an international and diplomatic

community can act to protect space for Diakonia and partners when threatened. In terms of

gender mainstreaming in democracy, progress is slow. With some notable exceptions,

increasing women’s participation in community democracy and progress towards women’s

formal representation in local and national political processes, and particularly in decision

making roles, remains a challenge.

In Thailand, a focus on advocacy, including strategic networking and training for awareness

raising, resulted in not only grassroots participation and empowerment, but change being

achieved at a policy level. Advocacy efforts at a national level, however, were affected by the

unstable political environment towards the end of 2013 whilst the issue of land title policy

change is extremely challenging. Nevertheless, progress is clearly being made and new

networks formed laying the groundwork for further advocacy efforts and Diakonia Thailand is

confident results will continue to be achieved.

In Bangladesh, knowledge and awareness raising was the focus of the activities but there

were also notable community actions by religious minorities to highlight their rights during the

election period. Nevertheless, political unrest and fundamentalism saw an increase in

violence against women (VAW) in religious minorities, particularly Hindu, during the election

period. Tribal conflicts affected activities on local democracy and calls for the recognition of

indigenous identity in Bangladesh is causing concern with the government, also indirectly

affecting program activities.

In Myanmar, while many challenges remain, the peace process and cease fire agreements

between ethnic minorities and the government enabled partners’ to undertake activities

organising communities to claim their rights. In 2013, Diakonia Myanmar’s partners focused

on strengthening local democracy. By involving local authorities in activities, the voice for civil

society was beginning to be acknowledged by local authorities. Emphasising knowledge and

awareness through training and print and electronic media as well as community organising

and networking work with Village Development Committees (VDCs) and alumni groups,

partners achieved progress on democratic rights with communities beginning to mobilise to

claim their rights and participate in democracy. Moreover, VDCs practiced internal

democracy and put democratic structures in place however more work is needed on gender

balance and equal gender participation. Diakonia Myanmar noted during monitoring visits

that even when women were present at meetings in some VDCs, they do not actively

participate and lacked decision-making roles. All partners worked with ethnic minorities,

raising awareness among the target groups about their rights and campaigned to increase

acknowledgement of ethnic rights.

Cambodia’s 2013 elections proved challenging for partners’ work on democracy. Their

activities focused on local political participation. Partners mobilised communities to advocate

at the commune level, organised communities to make representations to political candidates

(pre and post-election) and organised local level debates between political candidates on

issues of concern to local communities. Partners were active in empowerment and collective

action to challenge local democracy although at times, some partners lacked strategic

planning before undertaking activities. A greater use of ICT has enable partners to increase

reporting of issues related to democracy. However, the post-election unstable political

situation impacted on the program implementation and Diakonia Cambodia’s partners noted

that local level duty bearers have not been responsive to advocacy efforts by the partners’

target groups.

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Democratic reform at the national level is a notoriously challenging area and Diakonia Sri

Lanka continues to support a high profile partner in this area (PAFFREL). Nevertheless,

democracy at the grassroots and CBO level increased as did the level of participation of right

holders in the local context which has seen progress towards increased democracy in local

government. Also knowledge and awareness raising activities increased awareness of

democratic principles and standards at the national level.

However progress is slow in increasing participation and engagement in democratic decision

making and processes while partners work on strengthening the foundations of local

democracy through training and knowledge and awareness. Partners undertook activities to

increase women’s participation in decision making, however cultural values restrict women’s

roles from fully participating and there exists strong resistance to the acceptance of women’s

roles in democracy and women’s direct democratic participation locally and nationally.

• Promote qualitative participation of civil society in processes crucial for

development

In Thailand, enhancing the capacity of village leaders and community volunteers to advocate

for the communities at a local level was achieved through local trainings facilitated by

Diakonia Thailand partners, MEDF-CSP and UHDP (an organization advancing human rights

for ethnic minorities). Moreover, the Mirror Foundation, in collaboration with a network of

academics and CSO’s, negotiated with local authorities to participate in the process of

solving legal status problems. Government offices both at the policy and implementing level

recognized the need to open up a working space for NGOs and civil society to become

involved in the process of individual status and rights solution and through this engagement,

the working committees was able to monitor and advocate for improvements in laws and

policy related to citizenship and child rights violations.

Diakonia Myanmar partner SEM, (an organisation working on promoting a culture of peace

and sustainability in Myanmar), coordinated their annual meeting in Dawei, where

controversial industrial development projects are being resisted by the local communities,

and local partners Metta, Paung Ko, Ju Foundation, Pestalozzi, Socially Engaged Monastic

Schools, Multicultural groups and DDA were invited. Feedback from partners was collected

and strategic planning for 2014 developed. Through a one day exposure field trip to the

project area, all members met with community leaders and provided solidarity and joint

planning discussions.

In Cambodia, organising for community solidarity and networking was a feature of partner’s

work under this theme resulting in collective action by community members. For example,

with the support of EC the 2013 Community Organising for Housing Rights (COHR) annual

gathering was attended by 142 residents from 17 communities. As a result networks were

fostered by integrating communities from three disputed areas (Lake, Canal and Railway)

and a solidarity action was planned. This was first step in the program’s goal of organising a

strong urban poor community federation.

Bangladesh’s EU project which is co-funded by Sida CivSam also works with participatory

processes for good governance with partners BLAST, PARTNER, BARCIK, MKP and

OWDEB.

• Contribute to fair and transparent electoral processes

In Cambodia, LICADHO organised partner NGOs and community based organizations to

monitor polling stations in 20 provinces during the election and CFSWF using collective

action with CINTRI Workers to secure the advance payment of salaries to enable workers to

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return to their home province to cast their votes. Diakonia Sri Lanka’s partner PAFFREL

undertook significant work in this area. Of the many activities undertaken in 2013, PAFFREL

monitored the Northern Provincial Council Election deploying eight international observers for

ten days and established a complaints and intervention unit at PAFFREL head office. On

Election Day, 2,942 stationary observers and 644 mobile observers comprising 161 mobile

teams were deployed resulting in 90% of polling stations being monitored in the provinces.

PAFFREL noted that the misuse of public resources was minimised as a result of the

monitoring. Moreover, by combining training, support and advocacy activities, PAFFREL was

successful in opening up dialogue with politicians and members of civil society, academe and

the media on reforms to local government election laws.

• Protect space for civil society

Diakonia Thailand’s partner, TCJ collaborated with ethnic minorities and local CSOs about

climate mitigation issues, encouraging discussion and documenting concerns that were sent

to the Department of National Park (DNP). The DNP is now aware that further

implementation of REDD+ will be closely monitored by civil society. Furthermore, TCJ

advocacy efforts have resulted in a consultation process between the DNP and grassroots

groups who are directly affected by its forest-carbon policy, where previously the Department

ignored their voice.

In Cambodia, PAC (an organisation that supports the diversifying of civil society by

supporting people’s action, people’s initiatives, peoples’ learning and people’s voices),

continued to strengthen cross-sector communication, undertaking a root-cause analysis of

social injustice, collaborative cross-sector work and capacity development of grassroots

cross sector networks. 2671 grassroots people participated in the three Cambodian

Grassroots People Assemblies (CGPA) in three provinces. They targeted the National

Election demanding respect for human rights, rights to land and natural resources and anti-

corruption. The growing confidence and collective action of the grassroots cross-sector

networks resulted in candidates from the three main political parties (CPP, CNRP and

FUNCINPEC) being actively engaged on issues of concern to local communities. PAC also

strengthened LGBTI communities, registering a membership-led LGTBI rights organisation

with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior.

Furthermore, advocacy efforts over several years at a national and international level

achieved significant progress for communities affected by land dispossession in 2013. In

October, the ADB Compliance Review Panel (CRP) visited Cambodia to conduct its long-

delayed investigation visit on the Railway project. Several findings of the CRP concurred with

arguments that EC-Development Watch (DW) put forward in complaints to the CRP in its

advocacy efforts over several years. If approved, this will constitute a substantial victory for

the affected people on the Railway project.

• Ensure policy space for developing countries to promote their own development

In Sri Lanka, partner LST produced a policy paper on the human rights approach to

development. The document analysed the “development drive” in post-war Sri Lanka using

national and international human rights standards and best practices including the UN

Declaration on the Right to Development and the ‘home grown’ National Involuntary

Resettlement Policy. As a result, the Human Rights Based Approach entered the

development discourse in Sri Lanka and explained the duties of state actors and the rights of

affected peoples. Furthermore, Diakonia Sri Lanka partner CNGO initiated research into

unemployment of youth in the Jaffna District.

1.1.3 . Gender Equality

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In 2013, the focus of partners’ activities was combatting gender based violence and women’s

political and economic empowerment. Bangladesh in particular, recognising that gender is a

priority area in need of work, responded by partnering with numerous organisations with

strong capacity on gender equality. Cambodia planned to include gender partners in 2013

however due to disruption caused by staff turnover, this was postponed until 2014,

nevertheless ToT for men to train men in gender equity was implemented in Cambodia –

something the Regional Office will consider expanding across the region. Much work

remains, particularly promoting the involvement of men, and Diakonia is aware of where

there are weaknesses in-country and are taking steps to fill needs with plans to add new

partners to increase the gender focus. Further consideration will be given to gender sensitive

budgeting to ensure there is provision of a gender element in activities so as to

reduce/eliminate disadvantage. Empowering women is an important element of a broader

level need to reverse oppression and discrimination caused by cultural and traditional values

sanctified by religion within society. Therefore Diakonia will review where we can achieve the

most impactful change and in order to achieve that, first we will undertake a gender audit of

partners to establish a baseline and identify issues. While progress towards achieving results

can be small and slow, Diakonia views gender equality as a long term, ongoing process of

change and we will continue to work across religious and ethnic groups, creating a space for

dialogue and understanding. Diakonia is a strong, value based organization which is

reflected in our institutional policies, structures and systems and we choose partners who

share and implement those values in their activities. Gender equality will continue to be a

priority for Diakonia and we will continue to build our portfolio of partners with a strong

gender focus.

In Thailand, the main focus in 2013 was promoting the political and economic empowerment

of women, particularly in the area of trafficking of women and girls, although a short term

project for Hmong women achieved significant results in the area of reducing GBV. Using

knowledge and awareness raising training and a variety of campaigning activities resulted in

the empowerment of women within the target group communities and increased knowledge

and awareness of gender equality issues within communities and provinces and across

target audiences.

In Bangladesh, partners’ activities directed at CBOs achieved progress however partners

have not yet undertaken activities with NGOs and GOs. Women’s leadership increased in

target groups and knowledge and awareness and organising with children and youth is

showing progress on issues like child marriage, dowry and stalking. Advocacy efforts

achieved results at a national level on legal reform as have activities helping to increase

women’s mobility and income generation. The networks of women CBOs have been

strengthened to take collective action on gender and human rights. Training increased

women’s knowledge and skills to access economic opportunities leading to greater asset

ownership while some small progress was noted in increasing male participation in domestic

work. Increasing gender sensitivity and reduced gender stereotyping in the media is evident

as a result of activities by partner BARCIK. Gender equality is a significant challenge in

Bangladesh with the rise of religious fundamentalism causing regressive notions of women’s

roles in society and reducing women’s mobility. Moreover, attacks and violations of women’s

rights created a greater gender division in society compared to 2012. Existing religious,

family and inheritance laws discriminate against women. The Bangladesh government has

reservations about the implementation of CEDAW, thus progress towards achieving results

are small given the size of the problems.

There are many barriers to achieving gender equality in Myanmar including women’s low

education levels and limited access to education opportunities, particularly in rural areas as

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well as discriminatory cultural attitudes and practices towards the role of women and girls in

society restricting their involvement in decision making in communities and political

participation. In light of this, in 2013 Diakonia Myanmar’s partners focused on women’s

empowerment at the household and community level through income generation activities

and self-help groups (SHG) and also through training/exchange visits and awareness raising.

With the focus on women’s empowerment, there were only a few activities on GBV and

SRHR and because the SRHR partner began work at the end of 2013, progress towards

results are likely to be seen in 2014.

In 2013, all of Diakonia Cambodia’s partners increased women’s participation in their target

areas and field monitoring undertaken by Diakonia staff revealed women actively participated

in community decision making and meetings. Partners promoted the role of women in their

target areas and also within their own organisations. Moreover, scores of victims of GBV

were assisted and, conscious of the need to balance the service delivery element of GBV

projects with change focused activities, Diakonia Cambodia’s partners empowered women

through trainings, organised collective action at a grassroots level and increased the use of

IEC to raise awareness and document cases. Again, local level duty bearers were not

responsive to advocacy efforts by the partners’ target groups and, in cases of GBV, women

had to contend with corrupt local authorities and a slow and costly judicial system, resulting

in women dropping GBV cases. Furthermore, cultural/traditional beliefs about the role of

women/wife in the household, community and in politics were an obstacle. Diakonia

Cambodia can see progress under this thematic area from the activities undertaken by

partners, although it is unlikely all planned results will be achieved by the end of the

programme.

Gender equality is a cross-cutting theme for all of Diakonia Sri Lanka’s work and partners’

activities, thus women’s empowerment is a strong component of most programs and, in

particular, partners working on GBV have seen progress towards results. All elements of

Diakonia’s Strategy for Change have been utilised however engagement with duty bearers

was difficult due to cultural/social attitudes and, at times, competition for funding caused a

lack of cooperation among partners/NGOs working in the area.

• Promote political and economic empowerment of women

In Thailand, NLCF, (an organization working with ethnic minority women and girls at risk),

used life skills workshops to empower and inform participants from their shelter with

knowledge about their rights resulting in some of the participants sharing that knowledge with

family and community members.

Diakonia Bangladesh partner, PARTNER, (an organisation working on gender and good

governance), helped develop the leadership of women activist, the adolescent girls group,

the student volunteer group and the gender and development forum by facilitating

discussion/debate/tea stalls/courtyard meeting sessions and trainings. As a result women’s

leadership roles in the community and in the family increased.

In Myanmar, partner MBC’s (an organisation working on community driven development),

capacity building of VDC’s resulted in women from target villages being empowered to take

part in decision making at the family level and as well as in community affairs. 40% of the

women from the households in 98 project villages managed pig raising and, due to earning

an income, were able to take part in decision making in family related matters such as family

consumption expenses, children’s education expenses and purchasing other necessary

items, etc. Participating in VDC work has enhanced their experiences and enabled them to

more effectively participate in development activities.

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With a particular focus on supporting women’s income generation as a way of increasing

women’s empowerment, in 2013 Cambodia’s Morodok (an organisation encouraging

community groups to assert their rights over the use of natural resources and livelihood

improvement), organised 15 meetings for 330 villagers (203 women) to establish crop

production networks and as a result, five crop production networks were established.

Diakonia Sri Lanka partner WDC supported women to raise their voice at a national level on

the contentious issue of reproductive health and rights in post conflict Sri Lanka. WDC are a

member of the Women's Coalition for Disaster Management (WCDM), a coalition of 29

women’s groups, which was invited that to take part of the national meeting to make a public

presentation about the reproductive health issues in Batticaloa. This meeting was attended

by health ministry officers, INGOs, NGOs and doctors. Women spoke on reproductive health

services, contraceptive access, under age pregnancies and maternal mortality issues.

WCDM focussed particularly on issues of rural women in the post-war context.

• Combatting Gender Based Violence

In Thailand, the Hmong Association, an organization working for the empowerment of

marginalized Hmong women, trained 14 Hmong women, mainly widowed and divorced, to

become change makers in the community. They have been trained in how to undertake

research and how to document and tell their stories to the others especially to Hmong

leaders and elders and their parents. They were also trained in Yoga and self-empowerment

to appreciate the importance of self and internal self-power. Following the training, a new

team of Hmong women’s network committees were elected working on and advocating for

the rights of Hmong women.

In Bangladesh, partner BARCIK, (an organisation working to promote gender sensitised

mass communication), organised workshops on gender sensitive report writing, including an

in-depth assessment of the role media in gender justice and a review/analysis of specific

cases of rape, acid throwing, violence, harassment and abuse. Most journalists frequently

mention the victim’s name and detail information while reporting such incidence. As a result

victims’ privacy was compromised and they found themselves in a socially vulnerable

position. After participating in the training, workshops and discussion on gender sensitive

reporting, most of the reporters became more conscious about not disclosing victims’ details,

instead they mentioned the possible punishment in the report title. In one session, President

of Nachol Upazilla press club, Chapainawabganj district pointed out that “it was beyond my

imagination that a report could harm a victim although it is prepared for helping them, this

sharing meeting has compelled us to think differently’’.

Partner HREIB/Colors Rainbow supported increased collaboration between transgender

activists and women’s activists, where traditionally there have been divisions or evidence of

discriminatory attitudes. Transgender groups took part in women’s rights network meetings

and in events held in November for the Elimination of Violence Against Women Day. During

network location visits, Colors Rainbow increased engagement with local lesbian

communities, connecting with several recently established lesbian groups, many of whom

expressed interest in establishing a broader lesbian network. Colors Rainbow Board (CRB)

discussed means of providing technical assistance for the growth of lesbian CBOs, an under-

served and underrepresented demographic, through formal and informal network activities.

In Cambodia, CFSWF’s involvement on International Women’s Day on ‘Stop Violence

Against Women in Public’ challenged the silence surrounding GBV by publicly recognising

the issue while LICADHO’s support for victims of GBV is respected and widely known,

bringing many cases of domestic violence to court.

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Diakonia Sri Lanka partner SWOAD, (an organisation uplifting socio-economic conditions

among communities the Ampara District), provided training on GBV to 200 women leaders in

six divisions. As a result, violence against woman (VAW) cases decreased in the locations by

between 5%-10%. Also there was increased reporting of incidents and the leaders of CBOs

who attended the training, conducted awareness training on GBV for women in their villages.

Diakonia Sri Lanka partner, WDC, organised programs to sensitize government officers on

issues of importance to the community. As a result, the Mathurata Police Station took the

initiative to organise an awareness program on violence against women and children in

collaboration with Hanguranketha Women’s forum.

• Promote involvement of men

As noted, little work was done on this in 2013 nevertheless Diakonia Bangladesh partners’

ADESH, PARTNER and USS all focused their training on increasing men’s participation in

domestic work with some improvements although results are far from achieving equality in

this area. In Cambodia, Morodok’s small business enterprise projects provided an

opportunity for women and men to learn about gender issues. As a result of the project,

gender issues have been sensitised within the community and a positive response has

emerged from the men about women taking on management roles and being more involved

in the decision-making process.

• Promote Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

In Thailand, MAP Foundation (an organisation working for the health and knowledge of

ethnic labour), was the principle partner undertaking activities on SRHR although some

trainings were also conducted by other partners. MAP conducted two camps for young

people in Chiang Mai and Mae sot provinces opening space for migrant youth to meet and

exchange information and discuss health issues. Training on basic rights, education rights

and SRHR was also provided. 88 youth from the migrant communities participated in the

camps (40 girls, 48 boys) and are now following MAP news and information concerning

education, sexual education and health and other special activities on various social media

platforms.

Diakonia Bangladesh partner BNKS (an organisation working on strengthening reproductive

health rights of ethnic minority communities in Bandarban), undertook activities to increase

awareness and knowledge of SRHR issues including: training on safe delivery, antenatal,

neonatal care; coordination of a workshop with a health service provider; awareness

sessions on HIV and Aids, child marriage, environmental and life skills; street theatre on safe

motherhood, child marriage and the risk factors facing pregnant women. As a result, the

community are now ensuring nutritional food is provided to pregnant women during the

antenatal and neonatal periods. Furthermore, there was an increase in pregnant women

delivering their child at the Upazila health complex, mother and child care centre and Zila

Hospital as well as an increase in the use of birth control for family planning and condoms.

While Diakonia Sri Lanka doesn’t have a specific indicator on SRHR, the activities of partner

WDC raising community awareness of reproductive health and their monthly group meeting

of commercial sex workers (CSW) as part of their HIV and Aids prevention program is

noteworthy. With the awareness provided on reproductive health, STDs and HIV and Aids,

the communities who were earlier reluctant to speak about such issues in public now come

forward to discuss their problems.

1.1.4 Social and Economic Justice (SEJ)

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In 2013, all Country Offices undertook activities on SEJ as it forms a significant part of

Diakonia Asia Region’s Strategy for Change. SEJ covers many activities and areas of work

such as HIV and Aids, citizenship, education, access to social services, land grabbing,

income generation, migration, trafficking, labour, climate and so on and across this broad

spectrum of areas Diakonia Country Offices strategically focus on priority issues rather than

include ‘everything’ depending on country context as well as the expertise of staff. Activities

undertaken created resilient communities, building their capacity to survive disasters (climate

change and conflicts). The high priority areas for SEJ in 2013 were: access to land and

natural resources; women’s economic rights (crosscutting); economic inequality; climate

change; and combining humanitarian relief work with disaster risk reduction where Diakonia

focused efforts in line with Diakonia’s global priorities. Building social and economic

opportunities through service delivery and income generation activities are strategically

important in countries where the political context disallows an open approach to justice

issues. Many partners have used economic activities to introduce discussions on the cause

of poverty, inequality and justice. Moreover, the level of knowledge and awareness in local

communities, at first contact, can be quite low about justice and rights thus partners need to

lay foundations to build for work in the future. Gender mainstreaming was strong in the areas

of income generation and access to services, with partners specifically targeting women’s

involvement. Diakonia Regional Office has identified a need to increase climate

change/adaptation work as well as a need to expand advocacy and legal action at a national

level and in the courts, as country partners working on these areas have been quite

successful. Furthermore, land grabbing is an issue across the region and work undertaken

utilising ICT, such as GPS technology to document land title, could also be extended across

region.

In Bangladesh, social and economic justice are cross-cutting issues especially with gender

equality. It is Diakonia’s assessment that rights holders have greater access to services as a

result of activities undertaken under all thematic areas. Capacity building has assisted

partners in climate adaptation and environmental management while other activities

improved the resilience of communities facing disasters and adverse effects caused by

climate change. Diakonia Bangladesh noted that women have limited access to disaster

information because their mobility is restricted to the household in many communities,

nevertheless, community based disaster management committees do have women

members.

During 2013, Myanmar’s focus was capacity building and organising VDCs, CBOs and

SHGs. The strengthening of VDCs, CBOs and SHGs increased their capacity to negotiate

and engage with local authorities to increase government/community development work in

their villages. The livelihood activities of some partners have freed communities from

indebtedness to loan sharks through income generating activities, rice banks and rolling

funds. However, land grabbing by trans-national /intra-regional corporations as well as

military and armed ethnic groups’ expansion onto village land remained a significant

obstacle. Furthermore, livelihood target groups faced direct competition from China for

products, restricting the market for their product in rural areas and subsequently limiting

income generation. Poor infrastructure, transportation and telecommunications causing

logistical problems, further limited the opportunities for rural communities to develop their

livelihoods.

In Thailand, with a focus on the empowerment of women in communities and in the

household, training was undertaken that improved women’s economic capacity and voice in

the community. The activities undertaken show progress towards the result within the target

areas.

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Diakonia Cambodia’s partners utilised knowledge and awareness raising, organising,

collective action and advocacy to advance social and economic justice at household,

community and national levels. Partners undertook knowledge training and organising to

assist and empower women to have a greater role in household decision making, such as

income expenditure. Collective action at a grassroots level was a feature of activities under

this theme, and while partners assisted communities to resist land grabbing and land

concession, it was the communities themselves that led advocacy efforts, supported by

partners. One partner utilised collective action strategies with their target groups to achieve

results to improve compliance with labour laws for their workplaces. Other advocacy

activities achieved progress for workplace justice at a national level and international

advocacy on land rights/land grabbing issues also saw progress. In 2013, there was a

greater use of ICT/IEC in advocacy for land rights issues. There were obstacles to achieving

progress, notably the government threats of legal action and lawsuits to intimidate

victims/activists of land grabbing with the result that some were actually imprisoned and

people were fearful of speaking out. Moreover, the government systematically ignored land

title registration applications and enabled company land grabbing/concessions. Furthermore,

local authorities intimidated communities making it hard to organise meetings and there was

conflict between the FDI and local communities.

In Sri Lanka, progress toward results under this theme is mixed, with some progress

achieved a local level, without much progress at national level. It will take time to refocus

activities nationally and in 2013, no partner undertook this work. Predominately, partners

worked on livelihood and microcredit activities although not all activities were well targeted to

support the most vulnerable in communities. Within Sri Lanka’s post-conflict context in the

north, partners have strategically identified and targeted women headed families for women’s

empowerment activities. Knowledge and awareness raising activities were the focus as was

establishing and organising community groups, particularly for strengthening community

income generation activities. Mobilising for collective action continues to be difficult under the

current political environment so some partners focused on building the economic and social

foundations of sustainable change and this has broadly led to progress towards results.

• Promote economic empowerment and access to social services

In Thailand, the primary partner working in this area was KDSF-WEDP (an organization

working to strengthen women’s capacity), who, through their training programs and the

establishment of self-help groups, was able to improve stability in household food sources

and the household economy as well as increasing income and group savings and credits.

Furthermore 50 women from three villages can now read and write. A significant

accomplishment of the project was solidarity and social harmony in the society due to

frequent interactions/communication between group members. Women become more

confident to speak both in private and public settings and communities are progressing

towards a gender balance in decision making.

Diakonia Bangladesh partner SARA (an organisation working on gender and good

governance), established linkage between local service providers and the community

resulting in 1920 out of 6500 families having received services from different government

departments (especially Health, Education, and Agriculture, Fisheries, Legal Aid and others).

In Myanmar, partner MCC RIDP (an organisation working on rural development programs for

cultural minorities), was the principal organisation working under this goal, for example, MCC

RIDP enacted 65 village action plans (VAP/community projects) in 52 of villages from 12

areas during 2013. Village development activities included education, agriculture projects,

animal revolving banks, rice banks, machinery and fresh water supply. As a result, VDCs are

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mobilising and organising communities to engage with the project and lead in the

implementation of the respective village development activities. The community projects are

functioning well and as planned and community members are aware of development issues,

gaining increased skills to implement project activities. In most of the project villages, there

was more participation in community development activities than previously.

In Cambodia, STT’s (an organisation working with urban poor communities), mapping and

community profile documentation project undertaken in close collaboration with the effected

communities, resulted in production of crucial documentation to be used when applying for

land titles or in negotiations with actors seeking to displace communities from the land.

Moreover, communities working with STT have seen improvements in their communities

through the upgrading of toilets, road construction, and the fixing of various dilapidated

housing. These activities involved local authorities which strengthened community/local

authority relationships and helped to build trust.

Diakonia Sri Lanka’s partner SWOAD’s capacity building training for government officers on

the Do No Harm approach and land rights resulted in 25 government land officers from six

divisions being trained and 43 land rights cases have been identified in Navethanvelly Grama

Nidhary division, 15 of which have been handled by the officials. Moreover a methodology

was developed with the government to facilitate villager’s access so they will be able to raise

problems faced at the village level.

• Improve responsibility and development effectiveness of resource flows to

developing countries.

While Diakonia Myanmar does not have a specific goal under this theme, partner SEM

recorded some interesting results, for example, strategic meetings on Dawei Advocacy were

held in March and December 2013. These strategic meetings brought together a variety of

stakeholders who are working on the Dawei issue, connecting local, border based and

regional organisations from Thailand and Myanmar, enabling relationship building,

information sharing, big picture activity implementation and forming areas of collaboration.

Partners expanded from the first to second meeting, with seven new organisations joining the

second meeting making a total of 21 organisations attending the meetings. The meetings

provided an important channel for information sharing because information has been scarce

from the Thai and Myanmar governments and the Italian-Thai Development Group (ITD).

Common objectives were developed among the groups on: community empowerment,

increased information, good governance of the project, people-driven sustainable

development and advocacy. These will be used in advocacy on implementation activities by

respective organisations, including a new focus on collaborating with Japanese civil society

in light of expected involvement of the Japanese government in the project.

• Reduce drainage of resources from developing countries and promote domestic

resource mobilization for development

In Sri Lanka, partner LST undertook essential training on land rights and human rights

issues. For example, a workshop held with legal activists, community level activists, land

activists, land officers and lawyers in Jaffna focused on state policies and military

acquisitions of land in the Northern Peninsula. As a result, the skills and knowledge of land

laws and policies among lawyers who file cases on behalf of clients was strengthened.

Furthermore, IDPs who were resettled in the Mannar and now face land issues, were made

aware of their legal rights. As a result steps are being taken to file a civil case in the District

Court to reclaim their lost properties. It was observed that with better informed stakeholders,

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progress has been made towards achieving judgements in land rights cases that are based

on legal principle and not political motivations.

In Myanmar, as a result of GSMI activities, 21 people were trained in mud house building

establishing 58 mud buildings such as houses, toilets, training halls, clinics, libraries and

kitchens in nine states and regions. Furthermore, GSMI alumni who attended solar

installation training, installed solar sets in the Kyaukky township. 24 households received a 6

volts battery light each. And action plans were developed by each of 20 member

organizations of the Chin Green Network and joint plans to organise annual

meeting/workshops were made so as to make environmental report cards and undertake

collective actions and tree plantings. A network website was also developed for information

sharing. GSMI facilitated awareness training on land resource management for the network,

consulting members about process. As a result, 25 action plans were made and four were

implemented.

In Bangladesh, ADESH, OWDEB, MKP Gender and SARA ran workshops on climate

change/adaptation and disaster management. As a result communities planted trees and

prepared for the likelihood of flooding and storm events. Target communities also have

greater knowledge and understanding of the causes and effects of pollution. Of note was

SARA’s Agricultural Package Training which was attended by 125 farmers-VDC members

(73 men and 52 women). The training was facilitated by officers from Agriculture, Fisheries,

Forest & livestock departments. As a result, a good relationship has been established

between the government officers and the VDC members and VDC members are now able to

easily contact government officers and seek advice when they need information related to

agricultural activities.

1.1.5. Peace and Reconciliation

In 2013, Thailand, Cambodia and Bangladesh did not undertake work in this area. But 2013

had been a particularly significant year for Myanmar where developments in peace

negotiations among the various armed ethnic groups proved more challenging. Myanmar

focused its activities towards peace and reconciliation efforts as the repatriation of refugees

from Thailand to Burma and IDPs returning from years of internal armed conflict increased.

As work progresses under this thematic area in Myanmar, a Do No Harm approach will be

central to the methodology to reduce conflict over land ownership/ displacement issues.

Furthermore, Diakonia considers the crisis in the Arakan state involving the Rohingya

population an urgent issue, the risk of retaliation to partners who may want to work on this

issue is too great, and Diakonia prefers to continue to study the situation towards safely

engaging stakeholders after extensive strategy planning. While Sri Lanka has worked on

ethnic conflict and post conflict reconciliation for many years, the Country Office notes that

ethnic conflicts are also emerging as religious power conflicts and thus plans to increase

work on religious peace and reconciliation. Sharing knowledge about conflict, peace and

reconciliation issues across countries, regionally and internationally will be focus of the

Diakonia Regional Office as work under this theme increases. Regarding Diakoinia’s

Strategy for Change, there was a service delivery orientation of the work undertaken, often

as an entry point to rights issues, however awareness raising and cross-

cultural/religious/ethnic understanding dialogue was also a feature as was organising

communities for exchange and dialogue, notably an exchange with Myanmar partners and

AJAR (Timor Leste) on women in conflict and victims of sexual violence was organised with

a follow up to occur in 2014. Advocacy is particularly difficult due to the fear of reprisals and

personal danger. Diakonia will use our international and diplomatic contacts to assist with

advocacy and protect civil society space.

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In Myanmar, activities showed progress in bridge building between communities, religious

groups and in conflict areas utilising networking, awareness raising, training and exposure

visits to share knowledge and experiences.

In Sri Lanka, predominantly partners’ activities relied on knowledge and awareness raising

about the government’s commitments to national truth and reconciliation, however the

Government did not implement all of the commission’s recommendations and progress was

not achieved in partners’ advocacy activities aimed at keeping the government accountable

to those commitments. On the other hand, partners were able to use the recommendations

of the national truth and reconciliation commission as a tool in community organising around

land issues. Within the changing socio-political environment of Sri Lanka, Diakonia Sri Lanka

noted that activities of partners are geared towards ‘ethnic’ conflict issues however ‘religious’

conflict is an emerging problem and in 2013, partners’ activities are not designed to address

these issues, something that will require review. Much of the conflict related work was

service delivery for trauma survivors.

• Promote peaceful conflict management

In Myanmar, partner SEM supported an exposure visit to Cambodia and Thailand, organised

for Sangha members of diverse ethnicities, representing inter-religious groups, 969 affiliates,

armed groups (DKBA) and engaged individuals. Participants learnt and discussed peace

from an intra-faith perspective as a first step towards exploring inter-faith peacebuilding in the

wake of spates of religious violence occurring across the country. Partner KDN supported

three days training on public peace processes organised by the Taungoo alumni. The

training was requested by the Brigadier in charge of No. 2 Brigade of the KNU to build the

capacity of the senior officers of his Brigade. 80 persons out of which 60 were senior KNU

officers and 20 were from the community based organisations attended the training where

resource persons from Hope facilitated. It was a significant achievement of the CM alumni to

build up the capacity of the KNU officers who are now in the process of peace talks with

government. The exchange built trust and good relations between the local partners and the

officers of the KNU in this area.

• Promote a responsible role for Private Actors in conflict (Rights for People, Role

and Rules for Business, Role and Responsibility for States)

In Sri Lanka, partner AWA (an organisation working on community centred development

through women’s empowerment and participation), worked to establish co-existence among

Tamil and Muslim communities to reduce ethnic tensions. After building trust among the

communities, it was observed that there was a cordial relationship developing, such as

helping each other during the occasions such as family discussions, wedding functions and

funerals. Moreover there was an increase in opportunities to share the sadness and seek

solace of the mental anguish the communities suffered through the conflict. And partner

EHED undertook joint initiatives on International Children’s Day with the participation of 63

Muslim and Tamil children club members from Kattankudy and Aarayampathy villages in the

Batticaloa District. Several games were conducted with the participation of the children and

common prizes were awarded to all children. Moreover, the children clubs celebrated

different ethnic groups’ festivals to build understanding and community.

1.2 Capacity building of partners

Diakonia Asia recognises that while all countries undertook some form of capacity building

with partners, this is an area that requires renewed effort over the next two years. In terms of

what type of capacity building to deliver, each country will be required to undertake a needs

assessment of their partners. Coaching and field work support was a priority with all country

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offices working closely with partners to identify gaps and meet needs. Partners’ reporting on

outcomes and impacts has improved since 2012 however activity based reporting remains a

focus of many and the problem runs deeper when partners are activity driven rather than

change driven; an issue that could be resolved by encouraging the development of a theory

of change for each organisation and incorporating it into their strategic planning. This, of

course, requires ongoing training/coaching. Furthermore, mentoring and coaching partners at

the time of reporting would be highly beneficial so that partners can learn to better highlight

results and analyse their work through a theory of change, as well as improving the quality of

partner reports.

Capacity building was provided, for example, to: support strategic planning for a partner

transitioning from Thailand to Myanmar; build administrative and financial capacity in

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand that improved internal management systems; improve

external communications for partners in Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.

• Administrative and financial capacity

To improve administrative capacity, Diakonia Thailand undertook a partnership meeting for

information sharing and project updates as well as joint planning on project/programme

interventions and partner’s capacity building for the coming year. The meeting results were

fruitful and partners linked to each other and referral cases and information on best practices

was discussed and shared.

• Internal democracy

With Diakonia Bangladesh’s support, most of the partners (10 out of 11) have developed

their Complaint and Response Management Policy relevant to their respective context,

ensuring it is simple and accessible to rights holders. Several have finalised their Policy and

received the approval of their respective board. Partners (10 out of 11) have drafted

Accountability framework and action plan and (10 out of 11) have drafted Open Information

Policy. Several partners have completed setting up of physical complaints boxes at their

locality (e.g. SARA alone set up 30 boxes at their different working areas).

• Gender mainstreaming at institutional and project level

While gender mainstreaming occurred within partner activities, some countries’ partners

were able to achieve more than others. In 2012, training on gender mainstreaming was

provided by the Regional Office for all Country Offices and internal assessments undertaken.

In 2013, this training was reflected in a Diakonia Code of Conduct for staff so as to bring

Diakonia as an organisation up to standard before we, as a capacity builder, could work with

partners on gender mainstreaming. Partners’ meetings and discussions on gender

mainstreaming in 2013 has clearly contributed to greater awareness in some countries

however cultural limitations and partner capacity to conceptualise gender mainstreaming

within projects remains a barrier. It was noted that partner reporting doesn’t always reflect

the gender mainstreaming that is actually occurring and thus revising tools and monitoring

the gender element in projects is required in the future.

In Thailand, gender awareness training for partners’ staff was conducted. Based on results

from the evaluation, all participants increased knowledge and awareness of gender issues

and monitoring visits and partners’ narrative reports show that gender sensitivity has

increased but further work remains to be done at project implementation level.

• Thematic capacity

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In Sri Lanka, an introductory training workshop on Humanitarian Accountability was

conducted by CHA with participation by 26 representatives (8 women and 18 men) of the

partner organisations. The objective of the training was to enhance participants’ skills to

understand the importance of the Humanitarian Accountability and Humanitarian

Accountability Partnership (HAP) standards and training on Do No Harm was organised with

the expectation of improving partners’ understanding and skills in conflict sensitive

programming and implementation of development and humanitarian projects.

• Methodological capacity

In Myanmar, staff from partner organisations were trained in conflict sensitivity, peace

building and best practice on accountability. All partners agreed that a Do No Harm approach

should be adopted in their projects. Moreover, staff from GSMI, PK and SEM were involved

in a Commercial Conflict Dependent Actors workshop led by Diakonia Head Office. They are

actively working with the community for human rights, land grabbing and corporate social

responsibility issues related with mega investment companies from Thailand and China. All

participants requested more capacity building in this area in the future.

• External communication capacity

In April 2013, Diakonia funded the Executive Directors from Cambodia’s partners Licadho,

STT and CLEC (based on partners requests) to undertake an advocacy trip to Stockholm to

provide an update on Cambodia Human Rights Issues relating to: Conflict Over Land; the

EBA Trade Scheme and Cambodian Sugar; Land Titling and Directive 01; HRDs and

Freedom of Expression/Assembly Issues; and the July 2013 National Assembly Elections.

Cambodia partner CLEC also attended a Business and Human Rights forum with five UN

Special Rapporteurs. The delegation urged an investigation into the Everything But Arms

initiative in Cambodia resulting in a commitment by Rapporteurs to take action on the case

and send a “joint allegation letter” to the European Commission.

1.3 Diakonia added value

• Accompanying partner

During 2013, Diakonia initiated the new Accountability Framework to support the on-going

accreditation process under HAP. The Asia region will systematise the follow up of this

concept through discussions and by adapting the global commitments made by Diakonia as

part of the HAP certification process. On a country level both Thailand and Bangladesh had

trainings on HAP with partners. The Asia Regional Office with its advisors on PME,

communications and themes including gender mainstreaming and resource mobilisation and

humanitarian issues, together with financial and administrative staff, gave support to country

offices in order to meet those new requirements. During 2013, Thailand and Cambodia

country offices accompanied partners and organised a meeting with potential donors. Also

Cambodia Country Office co-supported some advocacy actions by partners to show support

and solidarity.

• Capacity builder and conveyor of synergies

One of the main areas of Diakonia’s added value is capacity building for partners in conflict

sensitivity and peace building. As Diakonia Myanmar now has an internal advisor on these

issues, Diakonia Myanmar can mentor and act as a resource for the partners working on

peace building/ education. Diakonia was able to organise the partners working in SE

Myanmar and initiate the discussion to prepare CBOs for refugee returnees and Diakonia

Head Office ran a workshop on Commercial Conflict Dependent Actors highlighting the Do

No Harm approach for private companies to avoid conflict in communities.

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Diakonia Bangladesh played an important role as bridge builder between partners within the

country programme. The long term partnership approach, consisting of a number of

complementary partners at different levels of society created synergies between different

partners at different levels. For example Nari Jogajog Kendra (Women network) in MKP (a

community based organisation) has close contact with BLAST(National HR organisation) for

legal advice. ADESH connected with UTSA for psychosocial care for the victims of Rana

Plaza. BARCIK developed modules with input from other partner organisations; the modules

are being used by different partners too. BARCIK, with the help of Diakonia partners, also

organised workshops and trainings for local journalists. In late 2013, Cambodia partner

STT’s mapping team started to collaborate with EC to work on alternative plans to eviction

for communities at threat. There has also been a growing interest in STT’s Media Project

work especially ’Urban Voice’ and its crowdsourcing map with several partner organisations

enquiring in 2013 about collaboration for different urban development and human rights

projects.

• Resource mobiliser and grant manager

In 2013, Diakonia Sri Lanka together with Diakonia Mozambique and the Regional Office in

Africa under the facilitation of the Head Office in Sweden, prepared a joint proposal and

submitted it to the Swedish Post Code Lottery (SPL) on Gender and Climate.

Diakonia Sri Lanka worked together with Diakonia Bangladesh to develop a concept note for

SRHR with the support of the resource mobilisation advisor and submitted it to the EU. It was

a good learning experience for the partners who joined and the process strengthened their

capacity in joint project design and responding to global calls for proposals. Diakonia Sri

Lanka also negotiated an addendum with the Royal Norwegian Embassy and extended the

contract until July 2014 with extra funds.

Diakonia also submitted a Concept Note in 2013 with HREIB/CRB for EU EIDHR call (lot on

LGBT) which was accepted with the full proposal prepared in 2014. Results are pending.

While Diakonia Thailand initiated a workshop to explore fundraising opportunities for the

Legal Status Network.

• Awareness raiser and advocacy organisation in Sweden and Europe

In 2013, Diakonia Cambodia funded partners to attend advocacy and awareness raising trips

to Sweden and Europe.

2. Summary of deviations from original plans during 2013

In Thailand, with a change in the national government in 2011 and continuing political

instability during 2013, on-going policies relating to community land title occupied an

uncertain political space. At the project level some activities were postponed due to political

instability in Thailand. In the Mirror Foundation’s project, a public forum to advocate for a

rights protection policy for stateless people, a study trip for journalists to build alliances, as

well as other public campaigning was postponed. One new partner, DCCN, has been added

to the programme to undertake work on the coordination of a legal status rights network

advocating on policy issues related to legal status and citizenship.

After the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, with Diakonia’s support, partner ADESH

provided emergency support through rescue tools, food and cleaning items. UTSA’s planned

working area was in Chittagong (far from Savar) but UTSA is one of the specialist

organisations in Bangladesh that has expertise in providing psychological care. They also

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came forward, in cooperation with ADESH, to run “Psychosocial First Aid Camp” for 12 days.

A total of 162 survivors received psychological support through various tools e.g. Sociometry,

Sociodrama, Playback Theatre and Living Newspaper Theatre. And in the legal arena related

to the Rana Plaza collapse, BLAST was taking legal action to arrest and freeze the bank

accounts of owners.

In Cambodia, due to the national elections many community activists spent their time with

their political affiliations resulting in a reduction in activity at a community level. In some

communities, local authorities restricted NGO interaction with the community fearing those

activities would be politicised. Partners phased out from 2012 were ILDO and RCEDO.

Diakonia Cambodia and the Diakonia Regional Office agreed to include some of the HRDEM

partners, Licadho, STT and EC in Civsam in 2013. Licadho was selected because EWMI cut

funding for 2013 at short notice while STT and EC needed more funds to advance their

advocacy activities to a higher level. CFSWF was the only new partner introduced to Civsam

in the late 2013.

Diakonia Sri Lanka had to manage the Royal Norwegian Embassy phasing out of the country

affecting 50% of Diakonia partners and as a consequence, many will be phased out from

July 2014. This has impacted on the partners’ capacity to fully implement their programs and

Diakonia Sri Lanka noticed they are becoming more donor driven in order to compete for the

limited project funding. New partner SLCDF submitted a proposal to work in the Northern

areas affected by the war in Mullathivu and Killinochchi and Vavuniya for livelihood and

community mobilisation of the returning community. New partner PREDO works with the

most vulnerable plantation community (Tamil ethnicity). LST (Law and Society Trust), Viluthu

and Suriya contracts ended under the RNE program in 2012, as these were strong

organisations working on human rights, violence against women and good governance, the

Sri Lanka program decided to absorb these organisations into the Civsam Grant for long

term funding as the RNE funds during the last year were significantly reduced due to phasing

out. The Sri Lanka ACT Forum, formed in March 2012 with a membership of one national

partner and four international donors (NCCSL – National Christian Council Sri Lanka,

Diakonia, Christian Aid, Lutheran World Relief and UMCOR), has seen the exit of Christian

Aid, LWR and UMCOR, leaving only NCCSL and Diakonia.

In Myanmar, Gaia Sustainable Management Institute (GSMI), which is mainly working for

grassroots leadership become a new partner for Diakonia in January 2013. Diakonia made a

new contract with HREIB to work for LGBTI rights in Myanmar in August 2013. Diakonia

contracted Paung Ku in September 2013 to support human rights documentation and social

impact assessments for Myanmar/China Gas pipeline which runs across 22 townships from

Rakhine to Shan state. Diakonia also contracted the NGO Gender Group in November 2013

for the inclusion of disability in gender equality and to address gender based violence

especially for disabled women.

3. Risk management

3.1 Internal

Across the region, global audit reports are requested from all partners and financial reporting

is now standardised to an internationally recognised level.

In Thailand, to reduce the reliance of some partner organisations on a centralised

organisational power structure, Diakonia encouraged partners to move towards

decentralising and delegating power across the levels of their organisations. To reduce the

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turnover of staff in partner organisations, Diakonia encouraged partners to develop and

implement operations handbook and also approved long term contracts to provide job

security for staff. Furthermore, staff capacity building was provided throughout 2013 based

on staff needs and as identified by supervisors. Other capacity building coaching and training

was conducted based on partner needs assessments. For issues like human trafficking

where partners may face dangerous criminal elements and corrupt officials, Diakonia

encouraged and supported partners to work with wider multi-disciplinary teams and networks

across provinces to achieve their goals.

In Bangladesh, all partners have organisational visions, missions and objectives however

none of them have time bound formal strategy plans. External evaluations emphasised the

need to formulate this planning document with short and long term goals specifying why they

are working with a particular combination of projects and to articulate their respective

theories of change. Most partners have identified the need for a Contingency Fund to help to

protect project interventions when disasters occur. Some partners have developed

contingency plans however there is no allocation of funds for emergency support.

Diakonia Cambodia tries to avoid partners becoming too dependent on financial support from

Diakonia by using a 30% benchmark, with our contribution rarely exceeding 30% of partners’

total budget. Diakonia is in a process of diversifying funding and reducing Sida dependency.

High staff turnover in partner organisations is frequently a problem and thus institutional

learning is a key. To the extent that Diakonia Cambodia delivers training, we strive to offer

tailor made coaching, taking place in the partner organisations’ offices, rather than joint

trainings for all partners taking place in Phnom Penh. Furthermore, coordinated overall

strategies with other likeminded donors are undertaken.

Diakonia Myanmar is in the process of office registration in Myanmar aiming to get official

status and recognition in the country. Organisation registration and an MOU with Ministry of

Social Welfare will reduce risks relating to funds transfers, increase security for staff and

partners and improve sustainability and access to resources.

3.2 External

In 2013, the Asia region faced many socio-cultural, political and environmental challenges

and events. In Thailand, the country descended into a severe political crisis with the capital

city shutdown and parliament dissolved as thousands converged on the streets of Bangkok

calling for the overthrow of the democratically elected government. In Bangladesh, 2013 was

the most violent year in post-independence Bangladeshi history, and pre-election and

election phases in particular were marked by widespread violence, blockades, strikes and

voter intimidation as religious fundamentalism spread. Moreover, the Rana Plaza disaster,

where over one thousand people died and thousands more were injured, highlighted the

neglectful and negligent conditions garment workers are exposed to on a daily basis in this

export-orientated country. In Myanmar, the space for civil society continued to improve and a

tenuous cease fire in the conflict areas has relieved some tensions but land grabbing,

particularly as a result of mega-projects in this newly opened-up country, displaced many

people and is causing environmental and social consequences. In Cambodia, a weakened

ruling party held elections and defeated a united-and widely popular-opposition party amid

evidence of fraud and vote-rigging. Discontent intensified with communities affected by land

grabbing and garment workers seeking a living-wage protesting on the streets. The

government responded with harsh crackdowns, arresting protesters and deaths and injuries

occurred calling in question Cambodia’s fragile grasp on democracy. In Sri Lanka, due to rise

in Buddhist extremist groups, religiously motivated attacks on people of other faiths has

added to the country’s already volatile ethnic conflict situation in the north. Moreover, the Sri

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Lankan government’s past, and on-going, poor human rights record is being challenged by

the international community but strongly resisted by the ruling party who remain domestically

popular.

The Asia region country offices and their partners were able to respond to these challenges

and because the region has a good spread of projects being undertaken across all thematic

areas, rights holders in target areas were well supported. Diakonia Asia Region is cognisant

of the potential for country situations to change so remains reflective and will continue its

process of refocusing its work areas towards change orientated partners, supporting rights

holders with activities that will improve their lives and empower them to claim their rights.

Throughout 2013, the Asia Regional Office supported our country offices in numerous ways.

2013 was the first year that saw 100 percent local fulltime staff (including all five country

managers) in each country office across the region, supported by advisors and consultants

where required such as a peace and conflict specialist in Myanmar. Country and regional

staff represent diverse cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds who understand the local

context while the skilled advisors provide support in areas such as PME, finance and

administration, resource mobilisation, human resources, humanitarian assistance, thematic

goals and communication. And to encourage communication between the country offices, the

regional office acted as a sounding board, facilitating exchanges between country managers

and working like a regional network.

While progress is clearly being made towards results in the Asia region and some significant

change was achieved in each country as we completed the second year of the three year

programme, some general obstacles challenged progress, notably: some partners failed to

establish baselines during the project planning stage making it difficult to measure progress

and some of the partners lacked capacity, which is being addressed by support from

Diakonia; country offices noted that the problems being addressed are so huge that the

impact of the projects can feel small and insufficient; there was generally a shrinking space

for civil society and a smaller funding pool with donors exiting countries creating competition

for reduced funding sources and putting pressure on Diakonia to fill partners’ funding gaps

(with the exception of Myanmar where democratic reforms have opened up some space for

civil society in comparison to pre-election Myanmar and donors are increasing funding in-

country however this funding tends to go to large INGOs, embassies and government

development projects and competition for funding is intense); and staff turnover within

partners and country offices caused some disruption to project implementation and

management.

4. Development effectiveness, Good Donor- and Partnership

In addition to financially supporting and providing capacity building coaching and training,

Diakonia empowered partners to run their programmes with a high level of autonomy and

local ownership. Partners’ projects are diversified and complementary to achieve results

through empowering, organising and advocacy. Strong networks among partners and joint

capacity building events were particularly helpful. Diakonia partner organisations participated

in monitoring, reporting and evaluation workshops, reviewing the programmes at a partner

and country level, reviewing their institutional structure and visions, sharing ideas and

receiving training to improve future reporting. Diakonia coordinates with other back donors

where possible and successfully collaborated with the ACT Alliance forum for joint training,

sharing information and resources.

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When donors withdraw from a country, partners’ financial capacity and sustainability is often

severely affected. Diakonia spends considerable effort in supporting partners’ fund raising

activities and provides core funding (where possible) to allow partners to fund staff and

administrative costs associated with running a plethora of projects. Funding for overheads is

highly appreciated by partners.

Diakonia is conscious of not increasing the reporting burden on partners so takes a flexible

approach to reporting formats, accepting partner reports prepared for other back donors and

continues to work with partners and other back donors to improve reporting. And Diakonia

has, since 2012, followed HAP standards and the relevant partners are following this

standard in their programing.

5. Lessons learned based on selected evaluations

In 2013, some partner organisations in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar engaged

consultants to undertake external evaluations of their projects and organisations. Some of

the key findings were:

• A strong rights based approach (RBA) is required and therefore partners should

orient all their work to a RBA model.

• Further efforts are needed to enhance the level of participation of men in the

gender equality programme.

• Improve partners’ capacity in Planning Monitoring Evaluation and Learning

(PMEL) and it was recommended to organise training for staff capacity

development.

• It was recommended that where required, partners start the process of registering

themselves with appropriate government authorities as CBOs or NGOs to provide

some security.

• In target areas, women’s visibility outside homes was still minimal. The essential

strategic balance of assigning active, if not equal, roles to men and women

promote gender equality was recommended.

• Develop strategies to engage and monitor the poor and poorest’ involvement in

the projects.

• Implementing partners need qualified accountants who have sufficient knowledge

of standard accounting procedures or by promoting the existing accountants to be

more systematic and efficient.

• An exchange program among implementing partners to facilitate learning and

sharing of experiences is worthwhile.

• Strengthen or enhance reporting and documentation skills of association project

coordinators and at the VDC level to improve the quality of reports.

• More frequent trainings highlighting roles and responsibilities, accountability,

transparency and good governance practices and skills for planning and

reviewing are recommended to strengthen and empower those local actors in

future phases.

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6. Budget and Outcome

Asia Regional Outcome/budget Comments on deviations

Appr budget Revised

Nov Actual costs % higher than 10%

CIVSAM 4,833,575 3,698,771 3,705,539 100%

Overall summary Asia Region 2013

TOTAL Outcome/budget

Appr budget Revised

Nov Actual costs %

CIVSAM 30,500,000 31,100,000 29,834,675 96%