Hope for the Babies International, HOBI

Annual Report 2016

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HOBI’s Vision and

MissionVision

HOBI’s vision is a world where rights of women and children are respected and no babies and their mothers suffer of poor health or die because they do not access skilled care. A delay in making decision for seeking care for pregnant women is a sign of ignorance but also often related to women’s low status in society. When human rights of women are respected and women and their families have established good relations with health providers and facilities, the lives of babies and mothers can be saved.

Mission

HOBI aims to promote human rights by empowering economically local women’s groups to knit sets of baby sweaters and hats, socks and blankets, as incentives to be provided through health system to those babies whose mother has attended antenatal care and delivered with a skilled birth attendant. The knitters get a small financial compensation for their work. In knitting groups women also learn about health and are encouraged to become change agents for promoting

skilled care for pregnant women in their community. The solidarity demonstrated by HOBI knitters and supporters in other countries is a motivating factor both for women as well as health personnel and gives hope for better future!

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Activities 1 January to 31 December 2016

The fourth full year of activities for HOBI included several exciting events through which the awareness about HOBI and the issues we are dealing with - newborn and maternal health and human rights - was raised among people in Geneva and around the world. The knitted items were given to about 5000 newborn babies in Afghanistan to improve their chances of survival. 30 women in Kabul were empowered through monthly health education and they had regular employment as knitters. The Afghan National Public Health Institute carried out a Qualitative assessment of HOBI with very positive results.

ExhibitionsIn May, an exhibition of hundreds sweaters, blankets, cocoons made by women of different countries, was organized with the t heme “Newbo rn S u r v i v a l t h r o u g h W o m e n ’ s Empowerment” at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva in collaboration with the World Council of Churches. h t t p s : / /www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/ events/newborn-survival-through-womens-empowerment The o p e n i n g o f t h e exhibition was marked with a series o f e x p e r t presentations, music performance, auction and Afghan refreshments. (see announcement, Annex 1). We are very grateful for the great number of volunteers who made it possible, including the “ m o t h e r ” o f t h e Finnish NUTTU project, Pirkko Tuppurainen, who has designed the sweater model used by HOBI knitters! Through sales of knitted items and the auction of photos of Afghan children and donations, we were able to raise funds for HOBI. In April, a HOBI team member who had a stand in the Fair called “Bébé et Moi” in Palexpo, Geneva, also exhibitied HOBI outfits and distributed brochures.A member of Grand-Saconnex knitting club organized in December an exhibition in senior citizens home, Happy Days, in Plan- les -Ouates, Geneva. HOBI banners and knitted items were also exhibited in an Indian Dance event in May in Geneva. as well as in the Finnish Christmas market in November.

Good FestivalGood Festival took place in October in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was an event for innovators and entrepreneurs from all over the world with the same purpose: Creating a product or offering a service that builds a better world http://www.goodfestival.ch/listing/hope-babies-international/HOBI got a Gold medal, the PremaGayan award for compassion and wisdom, celebrating innovations that change the world. The award is a great recognition for our work, but it does not come with any financial backing. A crowdfunding website was set up by the Good Festival to support HOBI https://www.onemillionsparks.com/campaigns/hope-babies-international.

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ProductsKnitted baby cloths made by volunteers in different countriesHOBI has many “solidarity knitters”, volunteers who offer their skills and time in support of Afghan babies. They are in in Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK and US. We do not know the names of the all knitters nor their numbers, however, we know that their age range goes up to 93 years!In 2016, the following items were received:1523 sweaters497 hats241 blankets242 pairs of socks4 cocoonsAlso other items were received, including knitted toys and scarves.

Based on the estimates that for one sweater, 80 g of yarn is needed, for one hat about 20 g, for pair of socks 10 g, for a cocoon 150 g and for a blanket 300 g, we can estimate that about 210 kg of yarn was received and used. Most of the yarn used by knitters outside of Afghanistan was received as donations from many sources and often the knitters themselves bought and donated the yarn.

The knitters outside of Afghanistan are all volunteers who have donated their time freely. Based on the estimates that making one sweater takes 6 hours, a hat takes 2 hours, socks 2 hours and a blanket 20 hours and a cocoon 15 hours we can estimate that close to 16000 hours (close to 2000 working days) were spent in knitting!

Knitted baby cloths made by women in AfghanistanSince 2013 HOBI has partnered with an Afghan NGO called “Omaid Afghanistan Humanitarian Services- OAHS”, directed by Mr Walid Abawi. Through a contract made with OAHS, in July 2013, a knitting group of 10 women was established in Bibi Mahro area in outskirts of Kabul. In May 2015, two other groups were added, one in Dashte Barchi and one in Qala-e-Wazir, bringing the total number of knitters to 30. Once a month these women receive yarn, purchased by the OAHS coordinator Mrs Roya Osmani from the Kabul bazaar. They knit sweater and hat sets and the following month receive their salary ( 220 Afghanis per set ) and get more yarn. Each knitter has one or several trainees who learn knitting and different patterns but are not receiving any salary.

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The coordinator has distributed the sweater-hat sets - including those shipped from Geneva - every month to different clinics and maternity hospitals. In each hospital photos have been taken of the babies with their new sets and these photos have been printed and laminated and mounted in the wall of the clinic in order to encourage women to come and deliver at the clinic.

Based on the available amount of funds, the contracts with OAHS have limited the number of sweater-hat sets to 300 per month. In 2016 there was funding for 10 months of activities. Thus the total number of items knitted in Kabul in 2016 was:3000 sweaters3000 hats

Health education sessionsHealth education sessions with the three groups of knitters in Kabul continued every other week or once a month to enhance the knitters’ knowledge about their family hygiene and health protection. The materials which are used are published guidance of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Ministry of Public Health and related materials downloaded from the websites. These sessions are interactive and the topics have been chosen based on the requests of the knitters. The coordinator first presents a topic and then they discuss together.

Collaboration with Afghan Embassy in GenevaIn March, the Afghan Ambassador Dr Suraya Dalil, former Minister of Public Health of Afghanistan, visited the Grand-Saconnex knitting group. She described the women’s situation in Afghanistan and shared her own experiences and rsponded to questions.

Collaboration with WHOWHO Kabul office, Dr Adela Mubasher, facilitated the distribution of the sweaters received from Geneva and Finland by giving them in the Malalai Hospital in Kabul.

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Visit of President of HOBI in KabulDr Heli Bathija, President of HOBI, was in Kabul in August for a private visit. During her time there, she had meetings with the OAHS coordinating team and with the knitters. She participated in the Dashte Barchi Hospital in distribution of knitted items that she had brought with her. She and the OAHS director met with The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Dr Nasrin Oryakhil who was earlier the Director of Malalai Maternity Hospital. The purpose of the meeting was to explore possibilities for collaboration with the Ministry in their Women’s Empowerment program. Dr Bathija also had a meeting with the Director of Afghan National Public Health Institute (ANPHI), Dr Noormal Bashir and the Director of Research of ANPHI, Dr Mustafa Lais to discuss a plan for evaluation of HOBI’s activities.

Evaluation of HOBI by Afghan National Public Health Institute (ANPHI)

ANPHI carried out an evaluation of HOBI in Kabul in the end of December 2016. They used qualitative method to assess the achievement of the project and its effectiveness. They randomly selected one knitting group (Dashte Barchi) from the three grouping sites. They also selected one health center randomly for health professional focus group discussion, FDG (Istiqlal Hospital). For mothers FDG, they again selected randomly one Health center (Rehman Mina Comprehensive Health Centre). They also conducted 2 in-depth interviews with the coordinator of the project and with the director of one maternity hospital (Istiqlal).

The report was completed in January 2017, attached in this report as Annex 2. “Conclusions: The qualitative method shows a general perception of stakeholders and may lead further quantitative exploration. The assessment has revealed that by and large the project was successful in meeting its objectives. However quantifying the amount of success is behind the scope of this study. The project was conducted as a pilot with limited resources but a general perception has been explored that the project has motivated the participants to come and use institutions for antenatal, delivery and postnatal checkups. The overall view of the subjects was quite satisfactory and optimistic.

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The project has helped knitters in meeting their financial needs to some extend and made them independent in some of their expenses. It has helped the knitters to improve their skills and trained others. They have learned health education messages and they have practiced at home and communicated the messaged to others around.

The health professionals were happy with the project. The project has motivated mothers to come for antenatal checkups and institutional deliveries. We observed the register having details of receipt and distribution of stuffs transparently. However, the increase in the number of patients is anecdotal and we cannot measure the increase until we do an intervention study. Mothers who were interviewed were quite instrumental. They were happy with the way project has assisted them and motivated them to come for institutional consultation even from the far distance.

The director of the hospital and coordinator of the project were of the view that the project has achieved its objectives and resulted in attraction of patients.

Suggestions:ANPHI team have come with following suggestions:· The overall view of the subjects were that the project should continue· The number of sites, knitting groups and provinces should be increased

especially rural areas· In order to measure the impact of the project we need to do an intervention

study with control sites and compare the increase in the rate of patient turnouts. “

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ChallengesTransport: There is a continuous challenge in transporting the knitted items first from knitters to Geneva and then to Afghanistan. In 2016 we did three shipments (March, May, December) from Geneva using a company “World Freight”. We acknowledge with gratitude the reduced rates offered by “World Freight”. On three occasions, suitcases with knitted items were transported from Geneva by individuals traveling to Kabul. We like to mention with gratitude that the staff of the Embassy of Finland in Kabul and their colleagues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Helsinki transported sweaters and cocoons from Finland.

Fundraising: In 2016 the donor base was expanded but overall the funds received were less than in 2015. The details are described in the Financial Report.a. Town of Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland: The support went down from 15,000 Swiss

francs to 5,000. No explanation was offered, but the most likely reason is the change in the leadership of the city council.

b. Ecumenical Women’s Group: New donor that gave HOBI 3,000 Swiss francs. However it will not be possible to renew application, as Ecumenical Women’s Group is closing its activities

c. Individual donations during the exhibition and afterwards: 3,119 Swiss francs: d. Crowdfunding: the site was set up by the Good Festival team for few days https://

www.onemillionsparks.com/campaigns/hope-babies-international/. Unfortunately, there were many technical difficulties and the momentum was lost. However, 400 Swiss francs was received.

e. Oak Foundation: In 2015 the Oak Foundation gave HOBI 25,000 Swiss francs but nothing for 2016. However in June 2016 they promised 50,000 Swiss francs for 2017

f. Municipality of Genthod: The President of HOBI was encouraged to apply by a member of the municipal council, but unfortunately the application was not successful. No reason was given.

g. Fondation Hans Wilsdorf: a member of the Grand-Saconnex knitting club encouraged the President of HOBI to approach this foundation. The application was not successful but again no reason was given.

Transferring funds to OAHS: The best way for transferring has been through Western Union, but the problems have related to the fact that only one transfer per day can be made at the maximum level of between 1,400 and 1,500 Swiss francs. Also, the transfer charges are about 4%. The wire transfer to OAHS bank account was successful two times but two other times it did not work out.

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Promotion of HOBI

a. Facebook --https://www.facebook.com/hobiproject , available since May 2012, currently ! 3400 likes, 68 postings in 2016, tens of thousands of visits.

b. Brochures, available since May 2014 in English and French

c. Thank you cards for knitters and other contributors, available since September 2014

d.The website www.hobiproject.org was designed free of charge in 2014 by a professional web design company “DG-design”. The company continued to host the site (for a fee), but was unable to maintain it for us. In 2016 the site was transferred to BlueHost (for a lower fee, and with 24/7 support), and Catherine Watt has undertaken to maintain it. The recurring problems of hacking and spam have been resolved and regular automatic backups and security reports have been set up. Attention can now be given to improving the layout and content, and incorporating the web shop

e.In April 2016, Tarun Bathija compiled a video using clips sent by phone of the OAHS ! team. Video is subtitled in English and is available on youtube https://! www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7AUNVCZOGY&t=12s. While it is authentic and provides ! important information, we have not used it in promoting HOBI due to its amateurish ! quality.

f. A student team in Vienna, Austria has been working on an animated short 3 minute ! film on HOBI but it has not been completed yet.

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