A thousand voices gagged by red tape

World Vision
Kené Mark Guindo

Decisions about health will always be better when citizens have the chance to give input

By Dr Kené Mark Guindo, World Vision Mali Child Health Now Campaign Coordinator

I stood in the reception of the embassy in Bamako, Mali, anxiously awaiting the judgment of the French authorities. Suddenly, a voice shouted my name, calling me forward to collect my passport. At last! After months of meticulously collecting documents; travelling hundreds of miles to arrange a new passport; attending a visa interview and following every instruction I had been given, I finally had the permission to travel. Relieved I approached the lady holding my passport, but watched as her big smile turned into a confused frown. Then she shouted to her colleagues: “I don’t understand… Can someone please check this passport one more time?!”

As my passport disappeared, I felt defeated. The end result? The French Embassy did not deny me a visa to travel to Geneva to attend the World Health Assembly, but it did not give me one either (the case is closed without further action). Rather than feeling angry or irritated, I was left with a profound sadness that rendered me speechless.

The local to global divide

Since 2015, in my capacity as an advocacy coordinator with World Vision Mali, I have been organising citizen hearings involving thousands of people at community, district and national level. These hearings have provided a space for communities to dialogue with local and national decision maker to voice their concerns and priorities. The results of these consultations, involving men, women and children, have been shared with the highest levels of government in Mali, to feed into the country’s development plans.

I was supposed to have been on my way to Geneva to accompany a community activist who took part in local hearings. We were to share the voices of Mali citizens at the Global Dialogue for Citizen-led Accountabilityevent during the World Health Assembly. We wanted to ensure global and national leaders understood what involving citizens in their decision-making could mean. Last year I witnessed several important policy changes as a direct result of citizen’s recommendations, like bringing electricity to health centres in impoverished municipalities and demanding accountability for a government's commitments to increase health financing. These can come about when ordinary people’s needs and perspectives are heard and noted.

A matter of life or death

Citizens and civil society from low-income countries must have opportunities to bring these needs to global decision-making processes like the World Health Assembly and the new High Level Political Forum meeting in New York this week to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, bureaucracy hindered us from even travelling to Geneva. What’s more, even if we had made it to Geneva, the Global Dialogue event was excluded from the World Health Assembly's main meeting; relegated to a side event held outside of the UN grounds.

Why do these things matter? As a medical doctor working with obstetrics in rural Mali, and in my current role supporting local to national advocacy, I have seen what happens when politics and development clash. I have witnessed first-hand the dire realities when poverty, corruption and conflict deny women and children access to essential services to survive and thrive.

Nothing about us, without us.

Something needs to be done about these systemic barriers that prevent nationals from low income countries sharing their voices with decision-makers at the global level. If we can’t even travel to attend such global events, and can’t speak to leaders when we arrive, how can our voices be heard? Where were the citizen voices at this year’s World Health Assembly? Buried under a pile of red tape, waiting for that stamp of approval; as if our voices were not suppressed enough.

We, the civil society, community representatives and ordinary citizens from low income countries will continue speaking up about our needs and rights, we will continue bridging the gap between the local, national and global. All we ask from you, the international community, is to realise and acknowledge the importance of our participation and input.