MIDH held a validation workshop with the community and organized a training to set up a community-led monitoring committee 

As part of the joint MIDH/GI-ESCR research project on access to healthcare using the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method, MIDH held two workshops on Saturday 9 December 2023 in Gagnoa: the validation workshop of the participatory action research report and the training workshop for members of the community-led monitoring committee. 

Validation workshop on the PAR report

At the end of the field data collection, the MIDH project team, supported by GI-ESCR, proceeded to draft the report. However, in accordance with the requirements of the RAP method, this report had to be presented to the Gagnoa communities to include their inputs. It was therefore up to the communities to validate the report. 

On Saturday, 9 December 2023, 30 community members took part in a workshop to validate the report. 

The session began at 8.45 am with framing remarks by the president of MIDH-Gagnoa chapter. The participants then adopted the working method, consisting in reviewing the entire document and validating it paragraph by paragraph. 

The entire report was gone through line by line, giving participants the opportunity to provide corrections, rewordings, or substantive amendments in the report. Participants made additional recommendations. 

The workshop ended with the adoption of the PAR report by the communities. 

Training workshop for the monitoring committee members 

The second activity of the day, consisted in training the members of the Monitoring Committee. The 12 members of the monitoring committee were taught two subjects: the stages of the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method and the various advocacy phases.  

Regarding the presentation of the PAR stages, participants went through the following topics: Stakeholder Identification, Awareness and Mobilisation Workshops, Participatory Data Collection, Participatory Data Analysis, Strategic Planning Sessions, Design and Implementation of Pilot Interventions, Ongoing Evaluation, Documentation and Presentation of Findings, Feedback and Dialogue Sessions, Final Report and Advocacy.  

In the second subject on the various advocacy phases, the following topics were covered: Problem Identification, Advocacy Strategy Development, Partnership Building, Resource Mobilisation, Communication and Awareness Raising, Lobbying and Direct Advocacy, Monitoring and Evaluation, Impact Assessment, Ongoing Support.  

For this second workshop, an interactive method was adopted, allowing participants to contribute to the session. 

Overall, the training helped the Monitoring Committee identify the stages they would be mainly responsible for. 

The training, was conducted in a hybrid format, and was led by the president of MIDH-Gagnoa Chapter and the project coordinator, MIDH secretary general. 

The Monitoring Committee comprises 12 active and committed members of the communities with whom the PAR was conducted. Its aim is to monitor access to healthcare in Gagnoa and report back to MIDH on potential human rights violations in this regard within their capacity. Below is the list of groups or capacities they represent: 

1. Private sector union
2. Federation of women-led associations
3. Head of assemblymen
4. Imam
5. Pastor
6. ONG Santé
7. Organisation des Femmes Actives de Côte d’Ivoire 
8. Head of Village Chiefs
9. Youth leader
10. National Human Rights Commission
11. MIDH
12. MIDH