Strategies for Access to Essential Services

1. Strategies for Access to Essential Services OIYP Kaleidoscope Workshop October 2007

2. Strategies for Access to Essential Services • Aim: • To explore the meaning of access to essential services • To explore human rights-based approaches and MDGs in relation to access to essential services • To analyse the challenges faced by a local community in accessing essential services • To practice developing strategies to address access to essential service barriers • To share experiences with other action partners

3. Why Access to Essential Services • Access to essential services is a vital component of development strategies for poverty reduction. • Without this vital component strategies or goals such as MDGs cannot be effectively achieved

4. What do we mean by Access? • Right of entry/Right to use • Physically • Economically available and affordable • Free of discrimination (sex, age, skin colour, religion, birth status, etc) • Level of access is determined by : • The required standard or level of service and expected use which will vary between each type of service and each region

5. What do we mean by basic essential services? • Health care services • Education services • Clean water & sanitation services • Transport services • Information and communication services Vital or basic services required for a dignified and decent life

6. Access to Essential Services • Is having physical and economically available and affordable access to basic/vital services on a non-discriminatory basis, allowing us to strive for a decent and dignified life

7. Access to Essential Services • When talking about increasing access to essential services, it is important to consider the empowerment of the poor/marginalised population. • When we talk about empowering those marginalised we can no longer only focus on the needs of those marginalised but we also have to focus on their rights = entitlements. • Therefore access to essential health services becomes more than a moral obligation it becomes a legal obligation, this is the first step towards empowerment.

8. Human Rights Entitlements • Everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms set forth in the universal declaration of human rights (1948), without distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion,property, political or other opinion, national or social, origin, birth or other status.

9. Universal Declaration of Human Rights • Article 26 • Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education should be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

10. Conventions and Covenant (Pact) • 1949 Geneva Convention • 1965 Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination • 1966 Covenant on Civil and Politcal Rights • 1979 Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights • 1984 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment • 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child • 2003 Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

11. Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Art 13) • Primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all • Fundamental education shall be encouraged or intensified as far as possible for those persons who have not received or completed the whole period of their primary education • The development of a system of schools at all levels shall be actively pursued, an adequate fellowship system shall be established, and the material conditions of teaching staff shall be continuously improved.

12. Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) • A human rights based approach identifies the rights-holders and their entitlements and corresponding duty-bearers and their obligations, and work towards strengthening the capacities of rights- holders to make their claim and of duty-bearers to meet their obligations.

13. HRBA to Accessing Essential Primary Education Services • Primary Education Rights • Marginalised children have the right to obtain primary education, the governent is obliged to provide primary education to those marginalised. • Therefore the human right-based approach would: • Strengthen marginalised families capacities to have the economic means and accessibility to access the primary education and • strengthen the government capacities to provide the free primary education which needs to be of good quality, economically and physically accessible and provided on a non-discriminatory basis.

14. Group Exercise I: scenario • Who are the rights-holders and the duty-bearers? • What entitlements do the rights-holders have a right to? • What entitlements are being violated or not fulfilled in the scenario and why (barriers)? • What is needed and how can we strengthen the capacity of the rights-holders to claim their entitlement? • What are the legal obligations of the duty-bearers? • How can we strengthen the capacity of the duty-bearer to meet their obligation

15. Group Exercise II - AES Strategies • List the basic essential services available in your local community. • Choose a basic essential service and answer the questions below; • What kind of human rights do we have in relation to the chosen essential service? • What works well in relation to accessing this service and what needs to be done to maintain or build upon it? • What are the potential barriers/challenges faced by the local communities in accessing this services? • what strategies are needed to address these barriers and in order to realise the human rights? • Give examples of activities needed to be implemented to realise the strategies?