Fighting For Rights
PT Foundation & Grassroots Activism In Malaysia
A Practical Case Study
By Jean-Michel Piedagnel
Objective: Fighting for the right of HIV prevention and against prejudice for people living with HIV/Aids and empowering the most vulnerable communities.
Target groups: Sexual workers, transgender, drug users and Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) in Malaysia
PT Foundation (PTF) does HIV prevention, care and support work in Malaysia, it has just celebrated its 21st anniversary. Their main target groups are those most exposed to risk of HIV infection: transgender, sex-workers, drug users and MSM. This is an Community based Organisation (CBO) which is confronted everyday with the contradiction of a typical south-east Asian conservative society with an additional dash of religious tradition. In Malaysia sexual issues are still very taboo, not to mention sex changes (a very different attitude than its neighbor, Thailand) and drug users. The penalty for drug trafficking is death. Read more
The Future Of The Aid Sector
Learning from Southern NGOs
By Jean-Michel Piedagnel
Western NGOs and the humanitarian sector are having a bit of a midlife crisis. They need to open up to the 21st century and to the societies that will shape this 21st century, they happen to be outside of Europe and of the USA. I am not talking about opening the humanitarian system so that it embraces all new and emerging NGOs. The international humanitarian system has become a “bubble” that is largely driven by OECD donors driven (80.9% of the financial contributions comes from OECD’s 23 members). I am talking about learning from the way Southern NGOs engage in political debates to reassert our independence and impartiality. Read more
