Our Views, Our Voices Barbados Training Workshop participants are engaging in advocacy.
Our Views, Our Voices is an initiative of the NCD Alliance and people living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that seeks to meaningfully involve people living with NCDs (PLWNCDs) in the fight against NCDs. In late November 2019, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition held an Our Views, Our Voices peer-led training workshop in Barbados. Participants engaged in fun activities which equipped them with skills to use their lived experience – as PLWNCDs or caregivers to PLWNCDs – to become meaningfully involved in NCD response. Attendees were encouraged to engage in advocacy by sharing their stories and using their voices to take action and drive change in the fight against NCDs. While our participants were all at different stages in their advocacy journeys, they came together to lend their voices to NCD advocacy efforts. See some of their activities below:
Comments Draft National Strategic Plan on NCDs for 2020-2025
In early December 2019, participants submitted comments on the Draft National NCD Strategic Plan for 2020-2025 to the Barbados Ministry of Health and Wellness. This was done to ensure the voices of PLWNCDs were reflected in the draft of a key strategic plan that will shape the NCD response in Barbados for the next five years.
Stories of Change
Every person who engages in advocacy has a unique lived experience which led them on their advocacy journey. Some of our participants shared their stories at the November training. Here are some memorable quotes from our participants Tracie-Ann Jessamy and Carmen Chaderton:
Tracie-Ann is a stroke survivor living with aphasia – a language impairment that can affect the ability to speak or understand speech and the ability to read or write. She has been sharing her lived experience for several years. Read more about Tracie-Ann’s story below:
- “CARE Dawgs participant tackles aphasia with a new life goal in mind “ – Mary Frances Early College of Education, The University of Georgia – July 2015
- “When speech won’t come understanding aphasia” – Better Health Magazine, Barbados, April 2016.
- “Tracie-Ann’s story: adapting to a new life after stroke” – FaN Project
My Advocacy Strength Series
NCDs affect everyone in our global community either directly or indirectly. Anyone can be an advocate. This series aims to showcase how persons interested in advocacy can use their strengths to make a difference. Through the Our Views, Our Voices Barbados training workshop, participants identified some of their strengths and considered how they could use those strengths to support their advocacy efforts and drive change.
Have you considered what your advocacy strength might be and how you could use it drive change and contribute to the NCD response?
Check out the HCC Our Views, Our Voices Barbados, ‘My Advocacy Strength’ series below:
The HCC looks forward to seeing this group of advocates continue to lend their voices to the local NCD response.
Our Views, Our Voices Barbados Training Workshop participants are engaging in advocacy. This work is supported by the NCD Alliance as part of its partnership with Access Accelerated to support work related to the Our Views, Our Voices initiative, find out more about the NCD Alliance Programme here.