region asia: regional summary progress report 2013 · 2014-06-25 · region asia: regional summary...
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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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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)
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.
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
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,
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.
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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%