CARAM Asia

CARAM Asia (Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility) is a regional network of 42 civil society organizations, migrant organizations and migrant support organizations from 18 countries across Asia. CARAM Asia works to improve migrant workers’ access to health services through research, capacity building for migrant communities and organisations, coalition building, advocacy with governments and service providers.

 

Grantee type: Regional

Grant: $473,100

Grant period: 2016-2018

Lead organization: Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility Asia (CARAM Asia)

 

• The number of international migrants worldwide has continued to grow over the past seventeen years, reaching 258 million in 2017, up from 173 million in 2000. Nearly 80 million of these migrants are in Asia, and 25 million in Africa.
• In high income ‘destination’ countries, migrant workers including documented and undocumented or unauthorized migrants may have little or no protection against human rights violations, including mandatory testing and deportation related to HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), tuberculosis (TB), and pregnancy. Because migrants face poverty, discrimination, violence, potential loss of work or deportation, and other human rights violations, they may have limited access to health services.
• Migrants living in both destination and source countries can have higher HIV, STI and TB risks because of exposure to new sexual partners and networks and because of lack of access to voluntary testing and treatment. Yet migrant workers are not considered at one of at-risk populations in many countries’ National HIV/AIDS Control programs, and CARAM Asia’s research shows that migrant workers generally have a low level of knowledge about HIV.
  Migrants have important direct experience of HIV-related health needs and barriers to health services. Organizing and advocacy by migrants and other inadequately served populations (ISPs) are central to efforts to improve human rights environments, improve HIV service accessibility, and improve efficiency and effectiveness of national and international funding for health and human rights.
• In several countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka, nationalist politics have sparked proposed or actual restrictions on advocacy and organizing by marginalized communities, requiring support for those community-based advocacy organizations to develop strategies and take actions to sustain a voice for health and rights.

 

RCF funding 2016-2018

CARAM Asia received US$ 473,000 in funding from the Robert Carr Fund during 2016-2018, which was a renewal of RCF funding support since 2014. This funding was allocated to both core and strategic program costs, investing in CARAM Asia’s organizational capacity and convening of collective action across Asia. In 2019, the Robert Carr Fund awarded CARAM Asia an additional US$ 700,000 in funding for continuation and expansion of its work.

 

Geographic coverage

CARAM Asia is a regional network in Asia, convening and supporting 42 civil society organizations, migrant organizations and migrant support organizations from 18 countries across Asia. With RCF funding, CARAM Asia works intensively with partners in five countries:  Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka, while also linking with migrant advocate organizations in other countries of Asia.

 

Population coverage

CARAM Asia supports the empowerment, leadership, health and rights of migrants, including recently returned or deported migrants, who are living with HIV or who lack access to services because of gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or engagement in sex work.

 

Activities 2016-2018

With RCF funding in 2016-2018, CARAM Asia worked with partners in five countries —  Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka – to support migrants with counseling and referrals to services, to support the capacity of HIV-positive migrants and other migrants who lack access to services to serve as resources and advocates in their networks and communities, and to build capacity of government officials, media, and other stakeholders to understand the issues faced by migrant workers and migrants who  are recently returned or deported.  CARAM Asia partners have also worked with national networks of people living with HIV (PLHIV) to build capacity about migrant rights and services.  CARAM Asia has also had meetings with migrant advocates about shared priorities, including defending the health and rights of migrants to destination countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

 

Results 2016-2018

With sustained support from RCF and other funders, CARAM Asia has been able to sustain an advocacy network across 18 Asian countries that defends and promotes the health and rights of migrants, including recently returned or deported migrants, who are living with HIV or who lack access to services because of gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or engagement in sex work.

• Network strength and influence: CARAM Asia partners in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka have supported capacity of HIV-positive migrants and other migrants who lack access to services to serve as resources and advocates in their networks and communities.
• Human rights:  Migrants and their allies and advocates in multiple Asian countries have educated and trained government officials, media, and other stakeholders to understand the issues faced by migrant workers and migrants who have are recently returned or deported.
• Access to services: Hundreds of migrants, including migrants who are HIV-positive, in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka have been provided with counseling and referrals to services.