VIDEO about Community-led Total Sanitation in Indonesia – PCI

Solihin asks the crowd whether anyone wants to drink a cup of feces-contaminated water.

Project Concern International (PCI) is the first NGO in Indonesia to fully implement Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and offer no subsidies to communities. Watch the video here (and listen to some cool music):

View or download VIDEO here (MPEG4)
Download high-quality video (MPEG2, 700MB)

This video is about 18 minutes in length and shows how CLTS gets started in a community. The CLTS method emphasizes the importance of “natural leaders,” community members who emerge during the triggering session and demonstrate strong motivation and resolve to help their village become “open defecation free.”

Transdisciplinarity: global health workers breaking down walls

Message from Miriam (Section Chair)

As a lifelong international MCH professional, as a faculty member, and as citizen of the world, I am so excited about chairing IH Section this year. To me, what is so special about international health is that it is a transdisciplinary field. The term “transdisciplinary” may be new to some of you, so here’s the definition, developed by Piaget (yes, the same Piaget), translated by yours truly: “concerning interdisciplinary discourse, we hope to see a higher level emerge, “transdisciplinarity,” which would not settle for interactions or reciprocities between specializations, but which would internalize such interaction within an overall construct, and break down the walls between disciplines.”

Best of the Best

There was much to appreciate about the APHA 2008 meeting in San Diego, but two sessions that started off the meeting will stand out in my mind for a long time.

On Saturday we were supposed to have a Trade and Health tour of Tijuana, but because of increased violence there the trip was called off.  Instead, Tijuana came to us.  Over the course of three hours we heard from some inspiring environmental health efforts (a successful community effort to clean up a disgusting toxic waste dump) and occupational health work (a maquila worker-turned-activist).  The last hour was a fantastic film that I highly recommend to anyone interested in either or these topics:

Maquilopolis

How effective is our work towards reaching the MDGs?

By Elvira Beracochea, MIDEGO

Are we really making a difference? Should we account for our work and present transparent results, good and bad to our peers, host country partners and funding agencies?

This year the IH section hosted the second panel on “Aid Effectiveness and Accountability.” This panel is a follow on to the one we had last year. I am happy that the topic of Aid Effectiveness is raising more attention. I want to thank two guest presenters: Michael Hammer, Executive Director of the One World Trust, who came from the UK for this panel and Elisabeth Sandor of the OECD, who came from Paris for this panel.

One World Trus (www.oneworldtrust.org) is a fifty-year old non-profit organization in the UK evaluating and holding accountable organizations such as DfID, Aga Khan Foundation, etc. Their accountability report is a must for those working in IH. Last year the OECD decided to include health as its tracer sector and is monitoring progress towards the MDGs and the commitments made in Paris Declaration.