The developing world is characterized by growing inequality and discrimination against women, youth, and people with disabilities and sexual and gender minorities, all in the face of progressive national, regional and international laws and human rights instruments. Political and economic trends have further compounded inequality and social exclusion, and insecurity. The Tri-Color Trust equality and non-discrimination interventions contribute towards equality, protection and enjoyment of the rights of marginalized communities in the developing world. Developing countries are characterized by socially and legally repressive environment that negatively affects health outcomes of certain populations such as LGBTIQ persons, Women Living with HIV, sex workers, persons who inject drugs and persons in need of palliative care amongst others. The Health and Rights Program addresses the underlying systemic/structural determinants of health. This is through enhancing the agency of the affected populations to improve the social, legal, governance contexts to create enabling environment and accountability for equitable health outcomes for all, particularly for most marginalized in our society.
The program aims to achieve the following specific objectives:
- Laws, policies and practices adopt equality and non-discrimination as guiding principle and standard (removal of formal/structural barriers to access and participation supported).
- Full and effective participation of marginalized constituencies in decision making at all levels is promoted.
- Contributions and aspirations of marginalized constituencies fully recognized and capacitated as equal partners in development and in society.
- Enhance equality, protection and enjoyment of the rights of marginalized communities.
- Enhanced capacity of persons currently affected by marginalization to challenge the dominant socio-cultural narratives and norms that perpetuate their exclusion and marginalization.
- Empower the marginalized groups to gain a sense of their own power, including the capacity to define and prioritize their issues to advance their rights, including right to health in formal policy spaces as well as in the informal community spaces.
- To advance gender equality as matters of human rights and conditions for social justice in view to build a sustainable, just and developed society and end violence against women and girls in all its forms.
Key Priority Areas
Harm Reduction
Tri-Color Trust focuses on persons who use drugs to challenge their marginalization and overcome the negative consequences in health and the justice system. Due to the repressive social, legal and political environment, persons who use drugs remain marginalized and excluded politically, socially and economically and are neither organized nor possess the information to challenge this marginalization. The portfolio seeks to advocate for policies and practices that advance the rights of persons who use drugs.
Deliberate effort will be made to reach out to women in artisanal mining and female prisoners among other vulnerable groups.
Maternal Health
The Tri-Color Trust advances maternal health and rights in the developing world. This is through advocacy efforts to call for action to end maternal deaths; establishment of community-based monitoring of maternal mortality in different developing states; development of African Human Rights Commission level guidance on maternal health; standard implementation of maternal death audits in health facilities to identify/determine level and cause of maternal mortality; and increase the number of pregnant women going for HIV testing.
Palliative Care
Supports strategic advocacy and challenging of barriers in access to controlled medicines in palliative care settings. This is achieved through improving the evidence base to justify the need for palliative care and access to essential medicines and technologies; advocacy to get palliative care onto the health agendas of regional political and economic bodies, advocacy for enhanced access to controlled medicine for pain relief and management; support for palliative care integration into national health systems; and advocacy for increased funding for the integration and provision of palliative care services within health systems. The Tri-Color Trust will lobby and advocate for the development of service patient’s charter across disease lines cognizant of the fact that public healthcare systems in the developing world are fragile and this has been worsened by the COVID19 pandemic.
Health and Well Being
The Tri-Color Trust promotes greater accountability and transparency in health care provision. This is against the backdrop of increasing influence of the private sector and donors in public health care system. The portfolio seeks to create greater understanding of how this influence impacts health and human rights in the region and challenge specific cases and patterns of influence that harm the democratic pursuit of health as a human rights.
Seeks to address the violations of the right to health and targets the marginalized and criminalized communities. It aims at strengthening legal advocacy within the health rights field and facilitating the use of legal tools and legal strategies to advance public health.
Women’s Rights
The Tri-Color Trust focuses on research and knowledge development on key political, economic and social issues affecting women in the region. Gender mainstreaming and integration.
The Tri-Color Trust seeks to advance the rights of persons with disabilities through advancing a criminal justice system that is sensitive and responsive to the rights of persons with disabilities; enhancing access to education for persons with disabilities, through inclusive education; fighting discrimination and promoting equality for persons with disabilities; and building local communities in which persons with disabilities can effectively participate in community programs/activities.
Integrating gender into programming can be the key to catalyzing transformation in a community. Applying gender equity across the life cycle can break cycles of poverty and deprivation transparency and accountability, allowing boys and girls to enjoy life in all its fullness. Because gender norms are so deeply entrenched in communities and often a source of injustice and systemic poverty, failing to understand and address these negative norms can inhibit the success of The Tri-Color Trust contribution to the well-being of girls and boys. The trust will support programming and policy that transforms individuals, relationships, systems and structures toward gender justice for a more equitable world that promotes the dignity and well-being of every man, woman, boy and girl.
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
This seeks to support the advancement of the SRH and human rights of persons with disabilities, sex workers, adolescent girls and transgender and intersex people. This is through supporting them to gain capacity and enhance legitimacy of their voices in addressing the structural determinants of health including social exclusion, criminalization, stigma, violence amongst others. This is key to achieve desired HIV/ AIDS and STI prevalence rate in the developing world at the same addressing the risks associated with backyard abortion and unintended pregnancies in developing countries
Mental Health
The Tri-Color trust seeks to raise awareness about the mental health continuum, reduce stigma associated with mental illness, promote help seeking behaviours and emotional well-being practices, and prevent suicide through individual education, promoting sporting activities and outreach events. Mental health has a direct impact on academic success and it is important to cultivate practices that support emotional well-being. When mental health is overlooked, it can have detrimental effects on the individual and the community