Creating Your Vision

What is your vision for the campus and/or community?

Our project was created to provide insecticide treated nets to locally run health organizations along the Thai-Burma border to prevent the spread of malaria in Eastern Burma. These nets will be distributed to groups of internally displaced people (IDPs) who have fled their homes within Burma and often lack access to proper health care and housing.

Burma has suffered under a brutal military regime for the last 20 years and the region of Eastern Burma has seen the most political conflict and violence. By addressing the issue of malaria, our vision is to strengthen the relationship between peace and health, since health correlates directly with human rights and humane treatment, especially in areas of armed conflict.

This vision attempts to use a grassroots up approach to social change by connecting local health care networks to larger international foundations. We will have two teams working towards our vision. One team, Anna Weaver and Andrew Tyner, will stay in the U.S. and manage non-profit logistics over the year. The second team, Stephanie Willette and Arianna Schindle, will work on the ground on the in Thai-Burma border facilitating the distribution of nets and the documentation process. Our vision is to help organizations like Nothing but Nets and Malaria No More, currently fighting malaria in Africa to realize that malaria in Burma is also an urgent public health crisis that must be addressed. We hope to ultimately convince them to extend their focus to Burma and put our project under their control. Thus, our immediate goals for both teams are to raise the initial funds and evaluation mechanisms needed to launch the project and then upon returning to the U.S. present this information to these organizations.

In order to complete this vision, in one year, our U.S. team hopes to raise enough money to purchase 50,000 nets. The total amount of funds we would need to raise to reach this goal is $250,000. The team on the ground hopes to document the project and ensure its sustainability on the local level. Our emphasis throughout the documentation process will be to use technology, like digital photography and blogging, to help grassroots activists and malaria patients represent themselves on their own terms to the larger organizations and international community

Assessing Your Campus and Community

What campus/community problem does your blueprint address? What structures, practices and policies institutionalize the problem?

Our project seeks to prevent the widespread contraction of malaria, which is the cause of 45% of all deaths of IDPs in Eastern Burma.  This is equal to about 3,000 deaths per year, although these numbers are low estimates. Due to the brutal military regime that controls Burma, IDPs do not have access to healthcare because they are not considered citizens.
Also as a result of government policies, the majority of international organizations are prevented from entering Burma. The UN has been unable to intervene because of Burma’s sovereignty and its close economic ties to China. The necessity for local grassroots NGOs to be the primary means for humanitarian aid was highlighted recently by the Burmese government’s restrictions on international aid organizations following the disastrous effects of Cyclone Nargis

What communities will you work with?

• Campus community
• Local community
• Statewide community
• Nationwide community

Assessing Progressive Power

Where are your strongest potential resources? Where do progressives have power on your campus or in your community?

Ideas and Information: The main forums that disseminate information in the local Burmese communities are Burmese papers and information distribute by workers and volunteers of local organizations like GHAP. We will use forums including local newspapers in the US, emails to family and friends, our website to post blogs and updates, et

Policies: The Burmese government doesn’t allow aid groups into the country, so the organizations we are working with run their aid campaigns from inside Thailand and seek to connect with Burmese IDPs to provide resources and healthcare. The U.S. government decreased its funding to Burma this year. Especially in light of Cyclone Nargis, these funds must be maintained, increased, and made accessible to local groups.

Resources: Forums that allocate funding: The main funders along the Thai-Burma border where we are working are all international organizations.  These include church groups from around the world, universities, groups in Thailand, USAID, and other government funded health groups, and private organizations that are based outside of Burma. We will be approaching US based organizations on both a local and statewide level.  These include local church groups, student groups at various universtities, community organizations, and larger corporations.

People: In the local Thai-Burma area, people working toward out cause include health groups and health workers, religious groups, Burmese student groups, and Burmese political groups such as the ethnic groups. We will be working in the US to mobilize student groups with human rights organizations, church groups, and expanding our student networks to work with national human rights groups such as STAND.

Setting Goals and Deliverables

• Goal 1: U.S. team fundraises to get $250,000
• Become a 501c3 non-profit organization
• Establish mechanism for transferring money from U.S. to Thailand
• Create fundraising campaig
• Goal 2: Thai-Burma grounds team creates strong grassroots networks and educational materials to distribute 50,000 nets and throughly documents this process personal stories and public health and NGO evaluation mechanisms.
• Develop institutional capacity of local NGOs to distribute nets
• Establish an evaluation mechanism to gauge project impact
• Write and submit final report for YP4 and Davis Peace Project, etc.
• Goal 3: U.S. team and grounds team consolidates information in the U.S. and meets with established malaria organization ex. Nothing But Nets and Malaria No More to convince them to merge our project with their organizations.
• Establish early contacts with members of important organizations to inform them of our project vision and goal
• Maintain communication throughout year so they have an understanding of our level of commitment to this vision
• As year ends, approach organization(s) about using our established infrastructure to continue and enlarge project
• Merge with other Burma student groups in the US to collaborate on the project

Power Mapping

Key Player	Definition	Who is this player/s in your campus or community?
Target/Decision Maker	The person(s) that can give you what you want	GOAL 1: Establish corporate sponsorship/big donors Gates Foundation grant write local organizations IRS Banks US government can provide more funding to the border Religious groups GOAL 2: Local NGOs –FBR, GHAP Doctors and people in the medical field who have expert knowledge GOAL 3: Nothing but Nets Malaria No More
Constituency/Our Folks	The people impacted by the problem	Local NGOs and IDPs
Allies/Our Friends	The people and organizations that can help you get what you want	GOAL 1: Kalamazoo College: Fred Jackson and Heather J Bill Richardson Rick Halpert BEAT-Free Burma Health Guild-Joan Hawxhurst Center for international programs (CIP) Others: AFCD STAND-Curt Fitzpatrick and Jenna Paul Flickinger Alicia Turner Simon Billinesss Alison Geist Chad Nancy Owens group – Nancy Owens YP4 Students (Rachael, Nicole) Dennis Wilder US Campaign for Burma - Jen and Thelma GOAL 2: GHAP FBR ISDSI - Ajan Mark and Ajan Mike MAP KNHS Mae Tao Clinic Dr. Westerman GOAL 3: David Hyman and David Knopka Bill Richardson Other universities – Columbia (Geoff), American (Cate), Chicago (Christina)
Demands/The Goods	What you want	Goal 1: 501c3 status; bank account; $250,000 Goal 2: nets; transport; educational materials; evaluative mechanisms; report; communications back to U.S. Goal 3: publicity; web site;YP4 contacts
Opponents/Obstacles	Who is against what you want or obstacles you will have to overcome	The government of Myanmar Government doesn’t allow in much foreign aid or workers Government often seizes donations from aid groups Tax Issues; Banking Fees Difficulty in getting visa permission to stay in Thailand for extended time periods Language barriers (Thai, Burmese, Karen)

What is your primary approach? Network and Alliance Building

Why did you choose this approach?

We chose networking because we’ve established connections with grassroots groups who will administer the nets, thus our best role is to create sustainable financial and educational networks to support their efforts.

Did you have secondary approaches? What are they?

Leadership and capacity building is the secondary approach because we are empowering local organizations to create and maintain sustainable solutions.

Our tactics and approaches to these goals focus on mobilizing our administrative team to accomplish goal 1 and for our field teams to accomplish goal 2 by July of 2009. Then begin to transfer the project to Nothing But Nets from July to September 2009. If they are unable to meet this goal, we will then strategize about how to continue to keep BEAT sustainable.

What are your vehicles?

• Nonprofit organizations
• Networks

What will your tactics and activities be?

Our key tactics will include:
Communications
Pamphlets
Money Delivery System
Website updates
Fundraising Emails
Newspaper articles
Identify and Elicit Funders
Establish corporate sponsorship/big donors
grant write
local organizations
Follow Up
Regular updates to all donors (1/month)
Thanks yous

Our work on the ground will be determined more clearly once we arrive on July 3rd. We will be living with the local NGOs and working alongside them through Sept. at which point we will assess our next steps. We are working with a malaria specialist who will ensure that we are sending back reports on our public health efforts which he will assess and distribute in the U.S.

Timeline

Timing	Tactics and Activities	Notes
Spring Semester	Jan:
	Feb:
	Mar:
	Apr:
	May:
Summer	Jun: Establish 501c3 Status Establish Regional Networks Get media, pamphlets, etc. distributed Create funding strategy Establish bank accounts Finalize travel Blog and communicate via web	We will remain on the Thai-Burma border for 9 months to ensure the continued success of the project and bring over several students and potentially doctors from the U.S. to assist with malaria control efforts.
	Jul: Travel to Thai-Burma border Begin strategizing with local organizations Get local materials and purchase nets Begin writing initial reports Secure access to funding Fundraise Local Businesses and Grants Maintain contacts with donors Begin conversations with Nothing But Nets, etc.
	Aug: Continue fundraising Transport and distribute nets and educational materials Begin evaluating distribution Help connect local groups with global networks Sept- Write final Davis and YP4 report Potentially do second evaluation
Fall Semester	Sep:
	Oct:
	Nov:
	Dec:

Connecting Back to Vision

How does your strategy contribute to your vision for your campus and/or your community?

Our strategies of networking and cacpacity building help us, the "outsiders" to Burma's struggle for democracy, to empower local people to secure their human rights through public health. We are acting mainly as a funding resouce and launching the program, so the locals will be able to sustain it after we are gone with the international funding souces and organizations in our network.

Resources and skills you will need

What skills do you need for this approach?

Non-profit management skills: networking, media/website, fundraising, legal knowledge, etc. minimal Thai and Burmese language skills; public health knowledge; evaluation knowledge

Other $
$10,000 from the Davis Peace Projects
Outside funders including churches, businesses, etc.

What type of support will you need from YP4?

• Media support — story placement, media strategy, press releases
• Connections to resources, fellows and partners
• Funding

Funding: $1,000.00

Where will you get support other than YP4?

The Davis Peace Project Staff and Students at Kalamazoo College