A Voice to the Voiceless

By Nontokozo Ndlovu, 1st year MDP student

Nono in placement

My placement is with the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) located in Gaborone, Botswana. BONELA is a human rights organization whose mission is “Working to ensure Protection, Promotion and Fulfilment of the Right to Health in Botswana.” The focus of the organization is help prevent the spread and infection of HIV, TB, STI’s, by addressing stigma and discrimination through community engagements, capacity building, research, legal aid and strategic impact litigation amongst others.

While health is at the core of their agenda, they work to ensure that human rights are upheld in Botswana. BONELA’s vision is to make the right to health a reality in Botswana. This is a challenge because socio-economic rights are not enshrined in the Constitution and any protection of those rights is dependent on the Government of the day (BONELA Annual Report 2017). Thus, BONELA aims to protect the people of Botswana by advocating for the inclusion of socio-economic rights in the constitution including the right to health. 

My field placement is in BONELA's legal department which focuses on advocacy for human rights violations, policy amendments and the constitutionalizing of basic rights of the people of Botswana especially the right to health. Public health has proven to be much broader than what I had initially thought. I had thought that everyone in Botswana had access to health care services but from the experience of being with BONELA I see that people still struggle to access healthcare facilities. I now know that there is need to amend the constitution, and include the right to health as it is a human right that protects the people and should be upheld at all times, so to ensure that a person’s health and well-being is not adversely affected.

From BONELA's Facebook page

While serving in the legal department, my work focused more on binding law, the penal code and the Public Health Act 2013. The time I have been here, I have been exposed to a lot of things which have been informing and life impacting.

Recognition, Response, Reconcilation

By Ashley Saulog, 1st year MDP student

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders' flags

Ninna Marni

Magandang araw

Hello

I would like to acknowledge that the land I am on today is the traditional lands of the Kaurna people and that I respect their spiritual relationship with their Country. I also acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.

I am grateful and honoured to be able to be a visitor and student amongst amazing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, community members, educators, and government officials here in Adelaide, South Australia.

For 12 weeks, Reconciliation South Australia (SA) has graciously taken me under their wing to learn and participate in the reconciliation activities and efforts among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the broader Australian society. Reconciliation South Australia is a non-profit organization with the vision of increasing understanding of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to live in a just and equitable society. I was fortunate enough to arrive in South Australia during Reconciliation SA’s busiest time of the year consisting of Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Day.

The Reconciliation SA team is led by Executive Director Shona Reid, who has guided me into the reconciliation space at the state level. She has welcomed me into conversations surrounding pushing reconciliation across different systems to create social change through the five critical dimensions that together represent a holistic and comprehensive picture of reconciliation in Australia. Reconciliation SA works within the five dimensions identified to measure reconciliation in Australia: race relations, equality and equity, institutional integrity, unity, and historical acceptance.  

Generations of Change program in Mount Gambier, South Australia

A highlight of my placement was my involvement with the Generations of Change program that is delivered in partnership of Reconciliation SA and ActNow Theatre Company. Students and teachers experience the ‘Responding to Racism’ interactive theatre performance delivered by ActNow Theatre which is crucial to encouraging the students to interject and inspire responses about safe responses to racist microaggression.  In the first segment of the program called Learn, students are paired with actors or Reconciliation SA staff and are asked to share personal or second-hand stories of encountering racism. Hearing the youth voice their opinions and lived experiences of racism made me reflect and share my own experiences of growing up in Canada as a first generation, Filipino Canadian. We discussed the difficulties of identity, the contradictions of home life and school life, and the importance of cultural representation at schools. The safe environment and open conversations allowed the students and me to bond over how similar our stories are.

I am looking forward to sharing more of my relationships and adventures with Reconciliation SA over the next few weeks!

All My Relations: Building Connections in South Australia

By Taylor Wilson, 1st year MDP student

Before I start this blog post, I would first like to acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region, where the SAHMRI building is located; I recognize the Kaurna peoples cultural, spiritual, physical and emotional connection with their land.  I honour and pay my respects to Kaurna elders, both past and present, and all generations of Kaurna people, now and into the future. I also pay respect to and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other parts of Australia, and their connection to country. I want to say thank you to the warm welcome I received from every single Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and non-Indigenous person I have met here and for allowing me to come to their home and work with them.  

SAHMRI building, Adelaide, South Australia

Six weeks into my placement at Wardliparingga, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute’s (SAHMRI) Aboriginal Research Unit, and I can safely say that this group of people have exceeded all expectations I had for coming to work here. Thanks to Implementation Science theme leader, Dr. Natasha Howard, I have been exposed to the various projects and academics that make up the unit. From the Aboriginal Diabetes Study (the first and largest of its kind) to the Barngarla Language Project. Then you have incredible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander scholars like Dr. Odette Pearson who works on understanding how policies and practices drive Indigenous health inequities; Dr.’s Karla and Kootsy Canuto who work in health promotion and Aboriginal men’s health (respectively); and theme leader, Dr. Alex Brown, an Aboriginal medical doctor who holds the unit together and pushes them to be the best Indigenous academics they can be. Not to mention all the incredibly talented up and coming young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are working tirelessly on these projects as research assistants, administrative assistants, project officers, and so on. It’s incredible to see a team so steadfast in their Indigeneity along with non-Indigenous team members so supportive of their Indigenous colleagues.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health, much like Indigenous health in Canada, is a vast sea of systemic issues and barriers, but the passion and fight that the Wardliparingga team has to make a difference and change the lives and circumstances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ is inspiring and commendable.

Damper - traditional bread

When I first arrived, I have to say I was nervous. Being Indigenous, but from another part of the world, I wondered if I would feel as connected here as I do at home. Being connected to land and people is what keeps me grounded, so would I feel the same here? During National Reconciliation Week (May 27 - June 3, 2019), the theme was “Grounded in Truth, Walking Together with Courage,” with the underlying theme of relationship building and connecting in a shared understanding. As I got to know more people, had more conversations around who I was and who they were, I began to feel more connected. I learned that their connection to the land and their language was just as important as my own. I learned that health inequities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are incredibly similar to those we face in Canada and get to share insights and discuss Indigenous-led solutions. I got to share food with them and enjoy some traditional foods like damper (much like bannock from home), watch and listen to traditional Kaurna performances, and share stories of what it’s like being Indigenous where we are each from.

I am learning more than just the academic things I do at Wardliparingga. I am building more than just networks. I am only half way through my placement, and I am looking forward to what else I have to learn and sharing more of who I am with the people here.

Jack Buckskin and Dance Co. at the Gawler Reconciliation Event

By the Community, for the Community

By Kara Passey, 2nd year MDP student

Throughout my learning in the MDP program, I have had many opportunities to learn more about our responsibilities to the land and original peoples of Treaty One territory, including the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, Dene peoples, and Métis. During my first field placement I worked with Pauktuutit, the Inuit women’s association of Canada, and learned about the unique experiences created by the colonization of the Arctic, and how these events continue to impact Inuit wellbeing and sovereignty today.

I wanted to expand this learning and gain practical skills, and I found this opportunity within Winnipeg at the head office for Arctic Co-operatives Limited, the southern hub for the administrative activities needed to run the many co-operative businesses run in 32 different Inuit and Dene communities in Canada’s arctic. These businesses include grocery and retail stores, hotels, gas services, cable and internet services, art purchase and distribution to the south, and more.

Kissarvik Co-op in Rankin Inlet

When the fur market crashed and HBC posts officially closed in the Arctic in the 1940s, Inuit were left unable to return to their traditional ways of life, and unable to access the new European goods they had become dependent upon. This resulted in a large number of Inuit who were dependent on government subsidies and supports for survival, and so the need to strategize an approach which provided goods and services to the community as well as sustainability was imminent. The first Inuit co-operative businesses were incorporated in the 1960s, and the Canadian Arctic Co-operative Federation (now known as Arctic Co-operatives Limited) was officially incorporated in 1972. This enabled arctic co-ops to consolidate their buying power for the purchase of products for their retail stores and to also provide services such as accounting, audit, training, and management support to help the co-operatives to improve business efficiencies. Arctic Co-ops is now approaching 50 years of business, and continue to open new hotels, and explore other opportunities for growth in their partnering communities.

My role was within the Communications and Marketing department, where I had the opportunity to work with various departments across the organization on both internal and external communications. This position allowed me to take what I have learned from MDP and apply it in a practical sense - where else is the voice of a community more important than in our communications strategy? While I continue to work with the Communications and Marketing team on various projects, such as our website redesign, I hope to implement more of what I’ve learned from the MDP program into our approach - such as highlighting the perspectives and stories of communities, and communicating how valuable the co-op model has been to our original inhabitants of the Arctic.

The Classroom Experience vs the Field Experience

By Gloria Makafui Dovoh, 1st year MDP student

One of my greatest aspirations in my academic career is to apply my classroom knowledge to practical experiences. I consider this an essential background to suggest sustainable interventions for issues related to gender and education. I embarked on a journey to experience practical learning with the Regional Advisory and Information Systems (RAINS) in Ghana.

RAINS is a non-governmental organization that works with communities and development partners to improve the quality of life for vulnerable groups such as children, women, girls and people with disabilities. RAINS strengthens local structures to take actions to promote and ensure fairness for all people in society. The organization envisions a just society that is based on equity with equal opportunities for all and respect for diversity. 

RAINS logo - two interlocking horns

The interesting thing about RAINS is the variety of projects available, ranging from; alternative approaches to education, women and girls empowerment programs and supporting smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacities to climate change. Interestingly, all of these project activities have gender issues cutting across. My work here is simple - To participate and learn from the various activities the organization is undertaking with various communities in Northern Ghana.    

From interactions with some community members and project officers, the issue of female migration has been reported to be exceptionally difficult to tackle. Young females migrate independently of their families to urban and/or peri-urban areas in search of greener pastures. These young females are usually vulnerable since they have a low economic capacity, low education or training among other structural vulnerabilities. This practice of young girls migrating down south happens to be deeply rooted in the conventions of the people for many decades and seems too complex to eliminate.

Children at African Union Day of the African Child 

Based on this experiential learning, I realized the importance of considering the context and cultural principles of the said community in order to understand these practices. Relationship building and open-mindedness are also useful tools for working with community members. 

A striking report on the dynamics of migration explains how social status is gained as a result of migration. “Girls who return from urban areas are perceived to have higher social status than girls who have not migrated. Additionally, migrant females are more likely to be empowered and confident in comparison to their non-migrant counterparts.” - Female community member.   

"Also in some communities, returnee female migrants have higher bride prices as compared to their non-migrant counterparts.” - RAINS Project Officer.