Arts Competition 2023 Info Pack

Background information

The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) is collaborating with the University of Nairobi’s Center for Human Rights and Peace (UoN-CHRP) to organize an Arts Competition about the importance of public services. The theme for the 2023 competition is 'The Role of Public Services in building a Just, Inclusive and Equal Society'. The competition aims to raise awareness about the importance of public services in today's changing societies. 
Participants are invited to express their views and experiences on public services as a right, with a possible focus on specific areas such as education, health, water and sanitation. The competition aims to inspire the youth to envision the transformative potential of quality public services accessible to everyone, while further equipping participants and their communities to promote the right to public services.

What are public services and why are they important?

Public services encompass a range of services that are necessary to live a dignified life. Different societies may have different definitions for public services.^[1]  In general, they include education, healthcare, transportation, housing, waste collection and disposal, water and sanitation, and can also include social security, energy, food, care services, among others.^[1]

These services have traditionally been owned, managed, and delivered by the government for the benefit of the people, which is why they are referred to as ‘public services’.^[2] Sometimes, the public services are directly owned and managed by communities in the interests of the people, and are not driven by any commercial or profit-making purposes.^[2]

Public services are essential to the realisation of human rights. Some services are recognised as human rights (such as education and water) or deeply connected to the realisation of human rights (for example, you cannot enjoy the right to health without access to good quality healthcare services).

For public services to contribute to the enjoyment of human rights and enable a dignified life, they must be:

• Available – they should exist 
• Universal and accessible to all, including women, persons with disabilities, people living in poverty, without discrimination
• Responsive to the needs they serve, and culturally appropriate
• Participatory, meaning all members of the society should have an opportunity to participate when key decisions are being made
• Good quality
• Adequately funded
• Transparent - it should be possible for anyone to access necessary information about the service
• Accountable – where someone’s rights have been violated as they use the service, it should be possible to seek and get justice.

Why are public services important? 

Developing and ensuring equitable and universal access to quality public services is crucial to the realisation of human rights, reducing inequalities and building just, inclusive, and equal societies. Public services serve vital purposes that allow all of us to live a dignified life. They also ensure the protection of the environment and foster a sustainable planet. Public services serve essential purposes that should not be commodified. Meaning that governments and other actors, such as companies, should not take advantage of their importance to make a profit out of it. Public services are for the people, and reflect core values of society such as solidarity, equality and human dignity. It is thus key that those services remain public, available and universally accessible to all, without discrimination.

However, recent decades have seen the growing involvement of private actors in the provision of those services in ways that have reduced access and quality of public services, while increasing inequality in society. Political and economic powers have encouraged governments to privatise public services while reducing regulations that would ensure that people using the services are protected. This undermined the government’s role in the provision of these services. In many parts of the world, inequality has become so extreme that societies are unsustainable. Although the involvement of private actors may play a positive role in certain cases, the increased privatisation of public services raises many human rights concerns including evidence that it may lower the quality of and result in unequal access to these services, segregation, and the reinforcement of unbalanced power relations.^[1]

Although these are challenging times, there are reasons to remain hopeful. A growing number of people and social organisations are coming together to raise awareness on the paramount importance of providing properly funded and good quality public services which are key for achieving economic, social and cultural rights. Public services are the foundation of a fair, inclusive and just society.

List of Resources that may help you gain more knowledge on Public Services and their importance

Videos

1. Education is ours- A short video highlighting how the private actors in education are denying many children in Kenya, Chile, USA and across the globe the right to quality education and how the failure of governments to regulate and monitor private actors is exacerbating this inequality. 
2. Nielimishe - a short film highlighting the challenges school-going children face accessing quality education in low-income urban environments in Nairobi. 
3. Beats of time- a short film portraying the impact of public private partnerships and reproductive justice in Africa, threaded through three generations of Kenyan women and their dealings with their country’s public health system. 
4. Health Rights in a Pandemic: A Case Study of Universal Health Care in Kenya- This documentary explores Kenya's path towards universal health care, highlighting the right to health and the importance of access to quality healthcare for everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. It examines Kenya's pilot program prior to the pandemic, the impact of COVID-19, and the future steps needed to achieve the right to health in a post-COVID world.

Reading

1. Healthcare Systems and the Commercialisation of Healthcare. A Glossary. The glossary defines important healthcare concepts including financing, provision, governance, actors involved, and different types of healthcare systems.
2. Patients or Customers? The Impact of Commercialised Healthcare on the Right to Health in Kenya during the COVID-19 Pandemic- A report highlighting the consequences of policies in the health sector supporting the growth of private actors in the health sectors and how a lack of government regulation is impeding the enjoyment of the right to health especially to communities living in the informal settlements with a focus on the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic. 
3. Transparency of Private Commercial Education Providers: A case study of Bridge International Academies- A case study of Bridge Academies looking at the need for accountability and transparency for education provider whether private or state.
4. Abidjan Principles Briefs-prepared GI-ESCR which are a reference point for governments, educators and education providers when debating the respective roles and duties of states and private actors in education.
5. Public education works-lessons from five case-studies in low- and middle- income countries. Study showing that well-organised public education systems are possible and working everywhere, with political will and use of locally relevant practices.
6. Global Manifesto for Public Services- The manifesto positions public services as the foundation of a fair and just society and of the social pact that implements the core values of solidarity, equality and human dignity. 
7. Gender transformative public services- Webinar: From gender-responsive to gender-transformative public services. Public services as a tool to promote gender equality.
8. States’ Human Rights Obligations Regarding Public Services The United Nations Normative Framework A policy brief looking at comments made by UN human rights monitoring bodies and experts about Economic Social and Cultural Rights including what are public services and the State obligations to provide the same.
9. States’ Human Rights Obligations Regarding Public Services essential for the enjoyment of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights - The regional perspective A policy brief capturing the concerns raised by the UN human rights treaty bodies and the standards developed by regional human rights bodies in response.
10. Public education works lessons from five case-studies in low- and middle- income countries. Study showing that well-organised public education systems are possible and working everywhere, with political will and use of locally relevant practices.
11. Public Financing of Public Services A brief on the importance of publicly funded public services and how this can be achieved.

What else you need to know

1. The competition is open to all University of Nairobi student
2. The genres are highlighted on the website and split according to Visual Arts and Performing arts. The participant is allowed to integrate elements of both genres in their submission e.g. Song and dance
3. Participants must ensure their entries are original, not offensive or illegal, and related to the Competition's theme
4. There will be an in person community discussion on public services for a just, inclusive and equal society for all interested students at the University of Nairobi main campus on 19th October 2023

For further information on the terms and conditions for the competition check out here