Grantee Profiles

Strategic communication for better health

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:30:43GMT

In Viet Nam, the shift in the burden of diseases from the infectious causes to chronic and behaviour-based illnesses requires effective health communication to be an essential component of public health interventions. Traditional information, education and communication campaigns developed by the government continue to be the norm in public health information services in Viet Nam. These campaigns provide information for general audiences rather than targeted information based on comprehensive research that identifies obstacles and motivates behaviour change. Many considered these campaigns to be ineffective, lacking purpose and difficult to evaluate.

More importantly, health-sector communicators in Viet Nam lack the necessary skills to carry out effective health-promotion communication programmes. In 2005, an Atlantic-commissioned comprehensive feasibility study to the Center for Communication Programs of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (CCP) confirmed an urgent need for developing a system to design, implement and evaluate effective strategic and systematic behaviour-change communication programmes.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Established in 2003, the Center for Community Research and Development (CCRD) is one of the first nongovernmental and nonprofit Vietnamese organisations to specialise in research and interventions for community health promotion and development. CCRD handles major health communication projects in Viet Nam, including working in partnership with CCP to develop and launch an innovative Atlantic-supported 26-episode television serial drama to motivate the adoption of healthy behaviours and practices in injury prevention, alcoholism, HIV/AIDS and maternal child health.

Atlantics grant is enabling CCRD to develop into one of the leading organisations in behaviour change communication, which will ultimately contribute to improving the health and lives of people throughout the country. During 2007 and 2008, CCRDs goal has been to expand its capacity by hiring qualified professionals in health-communication planning and strategy development and to broaden its partnership with government agencies, research groups and communication specialists.

Since August 2007, with technical support of CCP, the Center for Community Research and Development designed and organised in-house training sessions in health communication research, evaluation and entertainment-education script development for more than 40 writers, television producers, public health workers, researchers and lecturers from various partner institutions within medical colleges, mass media, NGOs and the private sector throughout Viet Nam. CCRD has also started to upgrade its communication technology and facilities. In 2007, as a part of its leveraging efforts, CCRD received contracts for a number of major health communication projects. This work has provided additional revenue to support the organisations growth and created on-the-job training opportunities for CCRD staff to practice their skills in designing and evaluating behaviour-change communication programmes, as well as helping to strengthen its credibility in this field.

Through careful planning, ongoing monitoring and reassessing the planned activities on a regular basis, CCRD is ensuring that it remains on track to become the premier organisation for the research, design, production and evaluation of strategic health and development communication programmes in Viet Nam.

Providing a Vital Social Security Safety Net

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:38:50GMT

Greater access to services and protection of socio-economic rights are at the heart of a successful Atlantic-funded programme in South Africa. And individual women are leading the effort to provide a vital social-security safety net in poor rural communities.

Based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Centre for Criminal Justice (CCJ) serves 4.5 million people living in the Midlands region of KwaZulu-Natal. CCJ has 14 centres, most with two field co-ordinators who in addition to doing casework, assist clients to access social security and avoid illegal evictions from farms. CCJ also runs workshops to make people aware of rights and services due to them under the Constitution and in law. Additionally, staff members present workshops on womens rights, healthcare, child care and childrens rights.

More than 80,000 people have benefited from the assistance of the CCJ since 1997. Income generated from successful claims for social security amounted to almost ZAR 4 million, a significant injection of capital into an impoverished area.

Winnie Kubayi, who directs the CCJ work, points to three factors of the programmes success:

First, the community outreach centres and their operations are selected by a panel of stakeholders in the community, which ensures ownership and local support.

Second is an understanding of the role that traditional community systems play in a modernising civil society. "We have to balance and harmonise the traditional way of doing things and the governmental way of doing things, because they are sometimes in conflict," she said.

The third piece is CCJs insistence on a holistic approach to problems. "We try to get to the underlying problem," Ms. Kubayi said. "When you are dealing with domestic violence, for instance, the cause of the problem may be alcohol or poverty."

While domestic violence cases are prevalent, Zandile Khanyile, a field co-ordinator, says the cases that she finds most satisfying involve orphans, who are often living with "child-headed" families. Her assistance includes securing donations food, clothing and toys that immediately improve their lives.

The success of the CCJ programme is spreading. Ms. Kubayi will travel to Senegal this summer. "They called us and said: Please tell us how to go about it!"

For more information, visit http://www.ccjonline.org.za.

Shaping a Replicable Community-Based Eye Care Development Programme

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:16:36GMT

Le Hai Huyen My, 14, of Da Nang City, is among the youngest of thousands of Vietnamese people who have a much brighter future, due to the collaborative work of two Atlantic grantees, the Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) and the Da Nang Eye Hospital.

In 2005, My, an excellent student, lost sight in her right eye. The worst thing about my blindness was the fear. I didnt know what was happening and I was worried about becoming completely blind, she said.

Her dad, Le Quoc Hai, took her to Da Nang Eye Hospital, in hopes that his daughter would see again. The diagnosis was cataract with uveitis, which is curable with a $200 surgery. While Mys dad, a bus driver who makes only $3 a day, was trying to borrow the money for the procedure, the doctors told him about a free cataract surgery programme for the poor, funded by the Hospitals partner, The Fred Hollows Foundation, an organisation dedicated to blindness prevention in developing countries. Fred Hollows agreed to cover Mys operation.

Avoidable blindness, primarily from cataracts, is a major public health problem in Viet Nam. Many of the poor with cataracts -- primarily in rural areas -- dont know they have a treatable condition.

In two years, FHF has upgraded and equipped three eye facilities in three central provinces with a total population of five million people. The Binh Dinh Eye Clinic now meets the criteria to become one of three eye hospitals in the Central and Highlands provinces. The Foundation has trained six surgeons who have conducted 6,000 cataract operations.

FHFs community-based vision care network includes 2,500 volunteer village health workers trained to identify eye problems. In addition, Fred Hollows staff has developed effective campaigns to raise awareness of blindness prevention, treatment services and to increase confidence in eye doctors.

We still have a lot of people in darkness because they cannot access the service. Our most significant accomplishment is shaping a community-based eye care development programme that we can replicate in other provinces, said Dr. Huynh Tan Phuc, FHF Country Manager in Viet Nam. Plans for expanding to other areas are in process.

Ireland's First Centre of Expertise in Geriatric Care

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:46:49GMT

Doctors, researchers and clinical staff at the Centre on Excellence in Ageing at St. Jamess Hospital in Dublin are well on their way to changing the care of older people in Ireland.

Only two years old, the Centre, led by Dr. Rose Anne Kenny, is having an impact on many fronts as the countrys first centre of expertise in geriatric care. In 2006, its Falls and Blackout unit treated approximately 800 older adults in its first year. The new multidisciplinary stroke team has revolutionised the care of stroke patients, providing the capacity to deliver specialist care from point of admission to discharge and beyond. The successful clinical programmes already have attracted additional research resources for dementia, falls, frailty and social engagement using innovative technologies.

The government has committed to co-fund with Atlantic a new state-of-the-art hospital and research facility to open in 2011. The Centre will provide comprehensive diagnostic and treatment services fully integrated with research and training. The vision is for it to become the National Centre of Excellence in Ageing, and its quality will be comparable to similar centres internationally. Ultimately, it is expected to handle 10,000 day cases annually, and treat dementia, acute admissions, rapid rehabilitation, stroke patients and the chronically ill.

These leaders are also looking ahead to the consequences of Irelands ageing projections from an economic, social and policy perspective. By 2030, one in four Irish people will be over 65, with the highest increase in people over 80. Of females born today, over 50 percent is estimated to live to 100.

The Centre, in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin and other Irish universities, has initiated The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (TILDA) pilot study. The full study, planned for 2008, will chart the health, social and economic circumstances of over 10,000 people for at least 10 years. Hopefully, TILDA will develop synergies with similar studies from other countries.

"Ireland is one of the last western countries to launch a longitudinal study. The data will be hugely important for medical and government research and policy. We have the opportunity to answer key questions about successful ageing raised by other studies and to make Ireland the best place in the world to grow old," said Dr. Kenny.

Bridging the Gap Between School and Out-Of-School-Time Learning

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:21:27GMT

Public and private investment in out-of-school-time (OST) programmes in the U.S. has soared over the last decade. While more does not always mean better, Higher Achievement wants to know for sure that its programme is delivering results.

Higher Achievement is an academic enrichment programme that offers four years of intensive, ongoing OST academic support to economically disadvantaged students in grades five through eight. Since 1975, Higher Achievement has challenged more than 10,000 young participants or scholars in the Washington, D.C. area. Currently, Higher Achievement serves over 400 students in D.C. and another 50 in Alexandria, Virginia, and it plans to expand to Baltimore by 2009.

Its mission is to increase scholars educational and long-term opportunities, and in 2007, 83 percent of scholars were placed in top high schools.The average GPA of incoming scholars is 2.3, and this years graduates boasted an average GPA of 3.8.

The programmes teachers and mentors nurture scholars in a supportive, fun atmosphere that encourages academic curiosity and achievement.In addition to improving grades and test scores, Higher Achievement offers a uniquely well-rounded experience by providing scholars with positive development opportunities, such as creative arts studios and competitions, including an annual spelling bee and poetry contest.

Higher Achievements strategy for success is bridging the gap between school and out-of-school-time learning.

Eighty percent of the scholars are referred to us by their teachers, and our relationships with the school systems deepen from there, said Richard Anthony Tagle, Executive Director.We believe that we can best benefit our young people by preparing them well to go back to school the following fall. Higher Achievement scholars enter the classroom with confidence based on solid preparation.

Higher Achievement also is committed to rigorous evaluation of its impact on the lives of participants.The evaluations findings will offer clarity about the effects of factors such as duration of participation and parental involvement. The data will strengthen policy makers and funders ability to direct resources to the most valuable approaches and enable practitioners to implement best practices.

Ensuring Human Rights Protections and Access to Justice

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:09:09GMT

I just kept fighting to be free. I knew I couldnt give up because if I returned to Sierra Leone my life would be in danger.

That is how 25-year-old Badiatu Tunis, a Sierra Leone native residing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, describes being detained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for more than three and a half years while the agency tried to deport her. Following enforcement practices that are now commonplace, DHS arrested Ms. Tunis in 2004 on the day she completed her seven-month criminal sentence and shipped her to a suburban Midwestern jail.

Fortunately for Ms. Tunis, a jail nurse alerted the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) to the case. The nurse observed that Ms. Tunis was in ill health, the result of genital mutilation in Sierra Leone, and knew she would face dangerous consequences if deported.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of NIJC, the leading immigrant and human rights programme in the Midwest United States and an Atlantic grantee, Ms. Tunis gained her freedom in June 2007 after a long battle. A year earlier, she had won her legal case before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals with the aid of NIJC and its pro bono attorneys. The Court ruled that she faced harm in her home country that was prohibited by the Convention Against Torture, but DHS refused to release her. Ms. Tunis freedom came shortly after NIJC filed suit in May 2007 claiming that her detention was arbitrary.

NIJC, a programme of Heartland Alliance, ensures human rights protections and access to justice for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers through direct legal services, policy reform, litigation and public education. Drawing on its core legal services, NIJC advocates for national reform. NIJC partners with other Midwestern organisations that work on behalf of immigrants detained in remote locations.

Our goal is systemic reform through the courts as well as the legislative branch and executive agencies. Our cases before the Seventh Circuit Court have educated federal judges on the failure of the immigration system to uphold American ideals of justice, said NIJC Director Mary Meg McCarthy. More than 230,000 immigrants from all regions of the world are being held unjustly by the U.S. government each year. Immigrants like Badiatu Tunis are not threats to our country and should not be detained.

Public Views on Shared Education in Northern Ireland

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:37:47GMT

Northern Ireland is a deeply divided society and the level of separation between Protestant and Catholic communities is reflected in its education system. Less than 6% of the school-aged population is educated together. The system of education in Northern Ireland is undergoing significant administrative and structural change. A declining school-aged population, coupled with more than 50,000 surplus desks, has meant that schools are now being required to think about new ways of sharing and collaborating with one another. The degree to which parents are prepared to let their children share and collaborate more closely with a school from the other community is largely untested. This grant seeks to address this deficit by conducting a deliberative poll.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

This grant will provide parents with an opportunity to determine, through use of deliberative polling, how far they are prepared to engage in shared education at a local level in Northern Ireland. Deliberative polling uses public opinion research, stakeholder participation and the media to help measure and change attitudes through informed discussion and debate. The work aims to identify the conclusions people would arrive at if they were given the opportunity to become more informed about a policy issue.

The poll will be the first of its kind in Northern Ireland.It will test, in concrete terms, the extent to which communities are prepared to accept shared education, within the context of falling school rolls and surplus places. Intended short term outcomes include:

Increased media profile on issues of shared education
Policy makers influenced by robust research
Findings contribute to the thinking of the ongoing Strategic Education Review

The poll and findings will also contribute to a range of long term outcomes, including:

Greater understanding of shared education amongst key stakeholders resulting in increased collaboration
Greater understanding of shared education amongst general public
More localised agreements on options for shared education
Increased number of shared schools and inter-community collaboration
Replication of polling methodology to other policy areas

A Voyage of Discoveries

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:37:49GMT

The shadow of socio-economic class hangs heavy over Bermudas school system. From 1994 to 2004, Bermuda saw a steady increase in the percentage of students attending private schools. Only 65% of Bermudian children attend public school, and most of them are black and many are poor. Their opportunities are limited, and their levels of achievement are low.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

The Bermuda Sloop Foundation (BSF) is taking an island-appropriate approach to changing this picturehelping disadvantaged youth build their self-esteem, skills, knowledge, and networks at sea. The literal vehicle is The Spirit of Bermuda, a historically inspired schooner constructed with Atlantic support.

BSF invites public school youth to embark on learning expeditions intended to instill self-reliance and discipline. The schooner accommodates 26 students at a time on a five-day voyage. Some 700 youngsters set sail each year.

This special out-of-school-time (OST) programme offers opportunities to learn ship operation, history and geography, and black Bermudians contributions to maritime history. Students also receive technical training in electronics, mechanics, culinary arts, or wood and metal work.

Atlantic support is also enabling BSF to collaborate with other organizations dedicated to quality OST programmes, such as the Bermuda Football Association and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bermuda, in order to connect disadvantaged youth with caring adults and positive experiences on land as well as at sea.

Laying the Foundation for Public Health in Viet Nam

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:54:13GMT

As Viet Nam aspires to greater economic development, the health of its citizens is of primary importance to achieve and sustain growth.For a country with limited resources, good health can only be attained when there are sensible population health policies for allocation of resources for health prevention and treatment.Sound policies and their implementation occur when there is a adequately trained public health work force to carry out the needed research and training.Since 1997, the Government of Viet Nam has recognised the importance of public health in improving the health of the population and mandated the establishment of training and research institutions in all three regions of the country.However, public health is still a fledgling field in Viet Nam, and current academic, outreach programmes and facilities cannot adequately meet the challenge.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

In 2001, the Ha Noi School of Public Health (HSPH) was established as the first university of public health in Viet Nam and quickly became the countrys leading institution for public health training and research.HSPHs mandate is to be the premier institution for public health teaching and research in the country and a model for the other regions to replicate.Since 2002, Atlantic has provided HSPH with the resources to build up its institutional capacities with clearly defined development targets comparable and compatible with other national and international public health institutions.The grants focused on improving the infrastructure and capacity of the information system and enabling the HSPH to improve human capacity through staff development using available resources from inside and outside of the country.

Even though great progress is being made at HSPH, continuing support is needed in the next five to eight years in order for HSPH to be truly influential in public health in Viet Nam.This current grant is a third in a series of grants designed to enhance teaching and research capacity at HSPH.Supports from Atlantic have been designed around the basic institutional needs of HSPH and have enabled it to plug gaps that other aid programmes failed to address.In particular, this grant seeks (1) to improve the quality training at HSPH to international level; and (2) to develop stronger linkages between HSPH and the policy-making bodies of the Government through the establishment of the Centre for Applied Research and Training in Health Economics and Health Policy.

The HSPH is headed by the Dean, Dr. Le Vu-Anh, who is well-known to Atlantic as being a very efficient and effective grantee.He has an energetic and very capable staff to coordinate and implement sophisticated institutional development projects.The steady growth of the HSPH in recent years under Dr. Anhs tenure as Dean is a testament to his visionary and pragmatic leadership. Grants from Atlantic have allowed for the strengthening of the development enabling the school to fulfills its mandate and become the Centre of Excellence in Public Health in Viet Nam.

Increasing older adults sense of control over their chronic diseases

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:46:27GMT

Situation in Brief

While most older adults report themselves to be healthy and independent, they also report high rates of chronic illnesses that threaten that health and independence.Over 80 percent of older adults (65+) have one or more chronic illness such as hypertension, arthritis, or diabetes.Preventing further health declines in the face of such conditions requires specific skills to work effectively with medical professionals, make health promoting changes in diet or lifestyle, and promote a sense of control over the illness.

The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, developed at Stanford University, is a proven approach to help people with chronic illnesses develop such a sense of control and be more effective in managing their health.It has been widely adopted around the world, including Canada, Australia, and England where it is a part of the National Health Service and known as the Expert Patient Programme.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant:

To make the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) widely available in five American states.

Through a grant to the National Council on Aging (NCOA) the Atlantic Philanthropies will support a competitive award program for states wishing to build infrastructure for the CDSMP and offer it statewide to the large numbers of vulnerable people.This technical assistance and challenge grant effort by the NCOA will be conducted in partnership with the Administration on Aging and the broader federal department of Health and Human Services, which will support up to twelve states to adopt the CDSMP and other health promotion programming for older adults.Collectively, this initiative will include more than $20,000,000 in philanthropic, state, and federal funding to help bring this program to older adults in the United States.

We Are America : Achieving Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:37:18GMT

At the end of 2005, there were an estimated 11 million undocumented people living and working in the US. This large group represent some of the nations most vulnerable and disadvantaged people.With no rights, these people live in the shadows and are subject to discrimination and violations of their basic human rights on a daily basis. Many undocumented live in mixed families, and the fear of retribution and deportation stymies the whole family from access to basic services.

As it stands today, the US immigration system is ineffective, unrealistic and inadequate. In order to address the needs and
rights of both the undocumented population and the future flow of immigrants, the country needs comprehensive reform of its current immigration laws and policies. The present US political landscape provides a short yet important window of opportunity for passage of reform legislation.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

The Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CCIR) is a joint legislative advocacy and grassroots mobilization initiative begun in 2003 with the mission to enact rights-centered comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the US. This coalition effort is guided by a core set of rights-based immigration principles and priorities, including: a path to permanency for the undocumented, family re-unification and labor protection for future flows.

Atlantic has made three grants to date in support of this effort: a planning grant in the amount of $100,000, and two core support grants, one in 2004 which was renewed in 2005, totaling $7m.The initial planning grant enabled these twelve advocate groups from labor, community development, ethnic identified groups, national immigration advocacy, and regional immigration coalitions to come together at a common table and set a coordinated agenda and strategy.The two core support grants enacted this strategy through advocacy, lobbying, communications, message and media development, grassroots mobilization and education efforts. To widen the reach and coordination of this inside/outside strategy, a sister 501(c)(3) coalition, The New American Opportunity Campaign, was created by the CCIR.

Building Sustainable Change for the LGBT community in Ireland

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:11:48GMT

Situation in Brief

Over recent years notable progress has been made in achieving legislative protection for the rights of discriminated groups, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community. This legislation has been accompanied by new institutional structures and supports for accessing rights, such as the Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission. Ireland now has one of the most comprehensive anti-discrimination systems in Europe. Despite these advances however, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people continue to experience discrimination and exclusion. This is felt in many areas including: the failure to recognise same-sex partnerships for the purposes of immigration, inheritance, tenancy, pensions and other employment benefits; serious bullying and harassment of young gay people in schools; increasing homophobic violence; and a higher level of depression and suicides especially among young gay men.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

In December 2005, Atlantic approved a five year grant to the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN), the only national LGBT community advocacy organisation with full-time staff. The grant will enhance the LGBT communitys capacity to work with statutory agencies to ensure that its needs are reflected in the design and delivery of mainstream services.

Atlantics funds will support the costs of implementing GLENs Building Sustainable Change (BSC) programme (2006-2010) which has four objectives:

·To deliver legislative andpolicy reform in the area of same sex partnerships

·To change the way in which the education system addresses sexual orientation and ensure that schools provide a safe environment for lesbian, gay and bisexual students

·To develop a sustainable capacity within the LGBT community to meet its own needs, advocate effectively, and interface with social policy, service planners and mainstream organisations

·To develop GLENs organisational capacity to deliver effectively on the above objectives.

These objectives will be pursued through research, the use of demonstration projects, networking and lobbying, communications and training to build the advocacy and delivery capacity of the LGBT community.

With the help of an Atlantic grant in 2004, GLEN recruited a Chief Executive, a Director of Policy and an Administrator. This latest grant will enable GLEN to recruit an additional three staff in the areas of policy, education and regional development.

Uncovering the past for a better future

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 18:36:21GMT

Situation in Brief

South Africa became a democracy in 1994. The political negotiations which led to democracy were accompanied by high levels of violence as elements of the old order sought to destabilise the political transition. A sinister, unidentified Third Force promoted violence between opposing political movements and carried out a series of massacres in informal settlements and on commuter trains. Many in the democratic movement suspected - but could not prove - the involvement of the South African Defence Force (SADF), the countrys military.

The extent to which ministers in the apartheid Cabinet and other senior members of the ruling National Party were involved in provoking the violence or had knowledge of the militarys role has never been disclosed. In 1992 the President at the time commissioned an internal inquiry by General Steyn.Its findings were classified and never publicised. Shortly after Steyn reported to President de Klerk several generals were dismissed.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

A key objective of the South African programme is to advance reconciliationby providing South Africans with the means to understand and come to terms with the human rights abuses of the past.

Fourteen years after the Steyn Report an Atlantic grantee the South African History Archive (SAHA) has obtained and published it. With Atlantic support SAHA uses the Promotion of Freedom of Access to Information Act to retrieve records about human rights abuses which are not yet in the public domain.

The Steyn Report reveals that senior generals in the SADF had indeed established a clandestine project Öperation Pastoor to destabilise the transition to democracy. The military supplied weapons to opposing political forces, recruited mercenaries to carry out the massacres, placed bombs in the offices of anti-apartheid groups and used agents to fan extensive internecine violence between the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).A third of all acts of violence could be attributed to military sources. Senior officers in the military were also involved in the planning of an aborted right-wing military coup.

The publication of the Steyn report provoked strong media and public reaction and has strengthened the democratic governments commitment to civilian oversight of the military.

The publication of the report is a sobering reminder of how close the military and right wing forces came to scuttling the transition to democracy and how extraordinary an achievement post-apartheid democracy is.

By bringing clandestine illegal activities of the apartheid police, military and intelligence services to light SAHA hopes to ensure that similar actions will not be repeated in the future.

Securing a Bill of Rights

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 18:24:38GMT

Situation in Brief

The 1998 Belfast Agreement stressed the centrality of protecting human rights to building a better future for Northern Ireland. The Agreement made explicit commitments to producing a Bill of Rights (BOR) for Northern Ireland. This process of achieving a Bill has been beset with political arguments and foot dragging. The Human Rights Consortium, which is made up of over 100 civil society organisations, has been campaigning for a strong and effective Bill of Rights since it was established in 2000. Through this time, the Consortium has organised numerous high profile events, published information and briefing materials, conducted and commissioned research and organised a series of publications and education activities across Northern Ireland.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

The need for civil society mobilisation on the Bill of Rights has never been greater, especially in view of recent developments towards establishing a Roundtable Forum between civil society and political parties on the Bill of Rights. This investment will enable the Consortium to implement a comprehensive strategy towards achieving a strong and effective Bill of Rights. The strategy will focus on increasing the advocacy and lobbying capacity of civil society organisations and it will be underpinned by localised and sectoral campaigning and communications.

The grant will produce impacts that are not only relevant to achieving an effective Bill of Rights but which also strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations in coalition building, advocacy, communications and lobbying. Critically, it will result in:

Increased awareness of the Bill of Rights process
More localised and diverse activity in support of a Bill of Rights
Influential players lending support to the Bill of Rights Debate
Stronger organisations, communications and lobbying skills in consortium organisations around Bill of Rights

Civil society strengthened and better prepared to use advocacy, communications and grassroots mobilization to foster social change
People using a Bill of Rights to assert rights and improve access to justice

Mentoring Offers Promise in Classrooms

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 17:00:02GMT

The educational system in Northern Ireland is not meeting the needs of individuals or society. 21% leave school without achieving the minimum standards for success; many leave with no qualifications at all. 23% of adults have no qualifications, and 28% are economically inactive.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Business in the Community is tackling this problem by bringing corporate employees into schools as mentors to disadvantaged youth (many from families in which no one has held a steady job for several generations).

Three programmes Time to Read, Time to Count, and Time to Compute build the skills of 8-to-11-year-olds. The Big Move helps 11- and 12-year-olds transfer to new schools. The Student Mentoring Programme encourages self-confidence in 15-to-16-year-olds. e-Pals, an internet mentoring programme, develops confidence and IT skills in 16- and 17-year-olds.

These programmes represent a promising but not yet proven model. With Atlantic support, Business in the Community is testing and refining the model to be sure that the programmes:

Reach the students most in need of them
Can expand to large portions of the educational system in Northern Ireland (and potentially in the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere in the European Union)
Can be delivered consistently across schools
Achieve the desired results of better educational skills, self-confidence, and personal and professional aspirations.

Collaborating on Transportation for Older Adults Across Geographies

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 16:07:40GMT

In October, Atlantic funded a US study tour for representatives from Bermudian and Irish charitable organisations intended to expose them to creative transportation solutions for older adults. In addition to addressing transportation needs, the study tour also addressed effective strategies for building and maintaining collaborations and envisioning new approaches to engaging and serving older adults. Identifying these three common needs within the Ageing programme provided an exciting opportunity for collaborating across geographies.

The study tour focused on improving transportation for older adults in Bermuda and Ireland through two in-depth days with Portland, Maine-based Independent Transportation Network (ITN). The ITN provides a consumer-oriented, community-based senior transit system using private cars driven by volunteers.

This central site visit was followed by half-day site visits in Boston to the Multicultural Coalition on Aging (MCA) and Experience Corps. The participants involved represented The Bermuda Red Cross, Age Concern Bermuda, Project Action (Bermuda), The Salvation Army Community Care Ministries (Bermuda), Age Action Ireland, Irish Link, Flexibus Meath Accessible Transport Ltd (Ireland), and The Senior Help Line (Ireland).

The study tours closed with a group debrief session where the Bermudian and Irish organisations discussed the potential and possibilities for implementing the models presented. The Ireland Team reported the need to analyse the Irish situation in further detail in order to present to relevant stakeholders the possibility of implementing a model based on the ITN. The Bermuda Team agreed upon forming a report to present to their respective Boards for further feedback. The two groups agreed to develop an electronic newsletter designed to keep group members up-to-date on each others progress and to plan future meetings.

Working to Restore Sight in South Africa

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:45:02GMT

In South Africa there are approximately 330,000 blind people, 80% of whom live in rural areas. Cataracts, though preventable and treatable by a simple and inexpensive means, cause blindness among more than 66% of blind people in South Africa. This figure increases to 80% among the indigent population.

The 14 countries that form the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region produce only 14 cataract surgeons per year. South Africa produces no more than two per year, and they are all in the private sector. Until 2004, there was no full-time optometrist in the public sector in the Eastern Cape Province. In April 2006, there is only one optometrist serving the entire Province. South Africa does not have a single state-funded ophthalmic training centre.

The Eastern Cape Province, the poorest Province in South Africa, is home to about 7 million people, of whom 52,500 are blind. The Province requires 17,500 cataract surgeries annually to meet the minimum WHOs vision 2020 programme objective of making cataract surgery accessible at a rate of 2,000 to 3,000 operations per million people per year. Currently, government institutions conduct no more than 3,000 cataract operations per year, leaving an estimated shortfall of 14,500 cataract operations per year.

This ongoing annual shortfall does not address the current backlog of over 35,000 cataract blind people. Critical shortcomings also exist in other areas of vision care and treatment, including surgical treatment of glaucoma, laser treatment of diabetic retinopathy and harvesting and storage of corneas.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Atlantic provides support to the Fred Hollows Foundation South Africa to construct a multifunctional eye hospital, Sabona Centre, in the Eastern Cape Province to:

provide high-volume cataract surgery;
train cataract surgeons; and
create a centre of excellence for community eye-health.

Through this grant, Fred Hollows provides approximately 3,000 sight restorative surgeries each year at the Sabona Centre and a further 2,500 operations in the five rural satellite hospitals. The satellites are run by local doctors and nurses trained in cataract surgery at Sabona Centre.

Sabona Centre trains approximately five general practitioners annually, including those in private practice prepared to do session work in the public hospitals, as cataract surgeons. The programme operates a child eye-health outreach to identify refractive error and provide spectacles at District Clinic level, targeting the estimated 135,000 children of school-going age with refractive error.

Through the training of general practitioners and ophthalmic technicians, the Sabona Centre project is creating a pool of public service-oriented cataract surgeons who provide an invaluable blindness prevention and sight-restoration service to disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in South Africa. Besides giving sight back to those who otherwise would have been condemned to a life of blindness, the project also provides a catalyst model for training and retaining health professionals for the public sector, to serve the rural poor. The Eastern Cape Provincial Government is providing R70 million (US$12 million) in support of the work of this project.

Tackling Rural Poverty Among Older Adults

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:41:50GMT

People who live in rural poverty often remain invisible to society, obscured physically by beautiful scenery and statistically by their wide geographic dispersion. This is particularly true for older people who live in rural poverty.Nearly one-third of the rural elderly in Northern Ireland exist on very low incomes. Many, especially older, single women, often occupy the worst housing there is.

The Rural Community Network (RCN) conducted in-depth research that highlighted some of the key issues affecting older people living in rural poverty, including the central roles that voluntary and community groups play in their lives.

The organisations important findings and recommendation were omitted, however, from the governments official strategies for assisting older people, entitled Ageing in an Inclusive Society: Promoting the Social Inclusion of Older People. As a consequence, the needs of the poor, rural elderly in the country have been left unaddressed.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

RCN is using its Atlantic grant to attempt to address the needs of Northern Irelands poor, rural elderly.

The organisation is preparing detailed case studies on a number of the social issues affecting older poor people living in rural areas, including transportation, social isolation, housing, accessibility and community safety; as well as issues impeding the groups that seek to serve this population, including health care policy, community services, training and relationship building. The final report will combine the findings and recommendations of these smaller studies to identify the overall implicating of ageing among the poor, rural elderly.

In the short term, RCNs work will provide a clearer, more substantive understanding of the issues affecting the older rural poor, including updated statistics and recommendations for initiatives that could help alleviate social problems. Over a longer timescale, the research findings should inform the work of advocates fighting on behalf of older people who live in rural poverty.

Keeping Older Adults On the Move

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:39:00GMT

One of the major obstacles to older adults participation in society is their lack of access to activities outside their homes. Also, older drivers face the highest fatal crash rate of any age group in the country.

Not surprisingly, an estimated one million people age 70 and older give up driving each year and outlive their decision by six to ten years. More than half of older adults who no longer drive stay home on any given day due to lack of transportation options. As a result, older non-drivers become isolated and are less able to participate in their communities.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

To establish a national network of transportation services for older adults based on the Independent Transportation Network. The model developed in Portland, ME, provides door-to-door transportation services to older adult members. It relies on paid and volunteer drivers (the majority of whom are older themselves), and various streams of income: 58% from earned revenue and the balance from local fundraising efforts.

With Atlantic support of a planning process, four communities (Santa Monica, CA; Mercer County, NJ; Orlando, FL; and Charleston, SC) will replicate the model with support from local foundations.

In February 2006, Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, introduced to Congress the Older Americans Sustainable Mobility Act, based on the ITN America model. It is a two-part $25 million bill that would:

Create a tax deduction for older adults who donate their cars to a transportation programme and would require that they get financial credit toward future rides with the same programme
Provide five years of grants for developing and expanding driving programmes patterned after ITNPortland.

Already, several state legislatures are easing rules to help create new transportation options. Maine passed a law last year that made it simpler for nonprofits to let older adults trade in their cars for transportation service. In Connecticut, a new law provides matching public money for communities that start efforts modeled on the Maine network. Rhode Island is considering versions of both laws.

Supporting Nursing Home Accreditation

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 21:06:37GMT

Health care services in the Republic of Ireland suffer from a lack of quality and safety standards. In the nursing home sector, largely unregulated practices often have left vulnerable older people open to neglect and abuse.

To address the poor quality and safety standards in the health care system, the government set up an agency, the Irish Health Services Accreditation Board (IHSAB), which developed the Acute Care Accreditation Scheme (ACAS) in 2001. In 2004, IHSAB adapted these standards for Specialist Palliative Care Services called the Palliative Care Accreditation Scheme (PCAS).

The PCAS has been open on a voluntary basis to applications since July 2005. Milford Care Centre was the first facility in the country to achieve full accreditation as a Nursing Development Unit and therefore is well-positioned to respond to this recent initiative from the IHSAB. By going through the process to gain accreditation for its Palliative Care Services, Milford not only hopes to raise its own standards regionally, but also to act as a model to encourage other palliative care providers nationally to apply for accreditation.

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

The aim of this two-year grant is to support Milfords own accreditation so that the standards achieved by Milford can serve as a national model and be disseminated nationally through the development of a quality and safety education programme.

Apart from raising the quality and safety standards of service providers in the sector, the accreditation will also act as an on-going monitoring instrument driving cyclical improvement in the sector as organisations are required to re-apply for accreditation every three years.

Grantee Profiles

Strategic communication for better health

Providing a Vital Social Security Safety Net

Shaping a Replicable Community-Based Eye Care Development Programme

Ireland's First Centre of Expertise in Geriatric Care

Bridging the Gap Between School and Out-Of-School-Time Learning

Ensuring Human Rights Protections and Access to Justice

Public Views on Shared Education in Northern Ireland

A Voyage of Discoveries

Laying the Foundation for Public Health in Viet Nam

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Increasing older adults sense of control over their chronic diseases

Situation in Brief

Purpose and Impact of the Grant:

We Are America : Achieving Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Building Sustainable Change for the LGBT community in Ireland

Situation in Brief

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Uncovering the past for a better future

Situation in Brief

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Securing a Bill of Rights

Situation in Brief

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Mentoring Offers Promise in Classrooms

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Collaborating on Transportation for Older Adults Across Geographies

Working to Restore Sight in South Africa

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Tackling Rural Poverty Among Older Adults

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Keeping Older Adults On the Move

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Supporting Nursing Home Accreditation

Purpose and Impact of the Grant

Increasing older adults sense of control over their chronic diseases

We Are America : Achieving Comprehensive Immigration Reform