SCN News No 34 - UNSCN

28 FEATURES
www.unsystem.org/scn
The Peoples Health Movement: The People’s Health Movement (PHM) is a network of health activists
established in 2000, initially to revitalize the principles of the Alma-Ata Declaration on Health for All and
primary health care (International Conference on Primary Health Care, 1978). PHM now has a presence in
around 80 countries, and has become actively engaged with WHO as both critic and supporter. PHM’s
activities include a campaign to strengthen the right to health and facilitating the process of generating Global
Health Watch, an alternative report on global health (Lee 2007).
Training and Capacity Development
With the move towards decentralised health systems, many health and nutrition workers, particularly at
district level and below, now require, in addition to clinical skills, substantial public health skills in planning,
advocacy, programme design, programme implementation and monitoring and evaluation, all of which are
fundamental to the successful implementation of programmes. Since such skills are often in short supply, this
poses a considerable challenge to training institutions and organizations. Failure to respond to this challenge
of reorientation, training and support, contributes to a lack of capacity to implement policies and plans at local
level “Human resources are often the greatest threat to the success of reforms” as a lack of development and
training lead to low levels of staff morale, low productivity, high turnover and a drain of human resources into
the private sector and other countries (Martinez and Martineau 1998).
Successful nutrition programmes have invariably been found to have high levels of community participation
(Shrimpton 1995). The greatest challenge is linking community-based programmes with service delivery
mechanisms; thus forging partnerships for improved maternal and child nutrition (Tontisirin and Gillespie
Box 4
FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN)
Over the last 20 years FIAN has supported the struggle of social groups and communities who have had their right to
food (RtF) violated. FIAN has intervened in more than 400 cases, in 60 countries. In this process FIAN has worked
closely with the victims of violations themselves or with CSOs and social movements closely related to them. Cases are
only taken up when victim groups contact FIAN – directly or through partner organizations - requesting support
(Windfuhr 2007).
Most of the above cases are related to hunger and malnutrition of peasants, smallholder farmers, indigenous peoples,
and rural workers. Most are related to land grabbing by local large farmers, and many to displacement from traditional
land by “development projects”, usually controlled by large corporate interests, with the support of national
governments and international finance institutions. More recently cases of urban hunger and malnutrition and
malfunction of public food programmes have been documented.
FIAN’s case work has influenced different dimensions of peoples´ struggle against hunger and malnutrition. Firstly, it
has strengthened the capacity of local civil society and social movements to struggle for their rights at the national
level, in face of local and national governments, and to be protected from actions of local or international economic
interests that undermine people’s ability to feed themselves. More recently it has strengthened the capacity of civil
society to negotiate adequate public policies that promote the RtF. Secondly, it has participated in standard setting for
the RtF at the intergovernmental level. In 1997, FIAN, with other organizations, drafted an International Code of
Conduct on the RtF, endorsed by 800 civil society organization and social movements (FIAN 1997). This code formed
the basis for General Comment 12, of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1999, which
clarifies governments’ obligations in relation to the International Covenant on ESCR (CESCR 1999).
Finally, the World Food Summit follow-up, influenced by civil society pressure, coordinated by FIAN, led to the
elaboration and approval of the Guidelines on the promotion of the Right to Food by the State members of FAO, in
2004 (FAO 2004b).
FIAN sees the Guidelines as a potent tool to hold Governments accountable to their obligation to respect, protect,
promote and provide the RtF. To support that struggle, FIAN continues to document violations and lobby governments.
FIAN is presently developing tools to support civil society in introducing the RtF into national and international policies,
including capacity building and monitoring tools that can be used to pressure governments to adopt coherent policies at
local and national level and provide reports to the international monitoring bodies (FIAN 2007a-c).
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