Survivor Empowerment Initiative
Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.
Samantha
Galliet
Campaigning for Cancer
, GT
Campaigning for Cancer
+27836291024
Balblair Building, Kildrummy Office Park
, GT
These are some of the elements incorporated into the project:
Wall of remembrance: Incorporates the following elements: public interaction, public awareness, all survivor stories, Impactful, relevant to South Africa’s current tone. Shoppers asked to fill in “sticky” with name and issue impacted them during cancer journey. Use of different colour ribbons symbolizing different cancers. The wall banners will be displayed at well attended public events such as rugby or cricket and we can leverage of the television coverage. The wall banners will circle the field and at half time are pulled from goal post to goal post to display the number of cancer survivors.
This is followed by a national television appeal which leads the National Call to Action.
A ‘big’ debate on television bringing together industry experts to discuss topical issues surrounding cancer to raise awareness of the issues.
The creation of powerful informed cancer advocates who can help create and facilitate a National Call to action around cancer in South Africa which will address: (a) lobbying for a national cancer registry (b) lobbying for a National Cancer Control Plan (NCCP)
The project will roll out over two years. Firstly the funding needs to be secured in order to decide on exactly how the execution of each associated event will take place. The information necessary to create a National Call to Action needs to be carefully reviewed based on the data that we collect form the Rememberance Walls.
Without buy in from stakeholders and particularly the NGO community the project would be severely compromised. The project is additionally entirely dependent on the funding raised as a large portion of the project is focused around communication and media.
More than 10,000
$1000 - 4000
Yes
Idea phase
, GT
Yes
Campaigning for Cancer
1‐5 years
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Stakeholder relationships are crucial to any advocacy project and in order to ensure that our project is embraced by the South African public and most importantly the cancer community we need to have the people that work ‘at the coal face’ actively participating in the activities we execute. Communicating the message around the project can happen with the assistance of these partnerships and they can offer guidance on where and how we can best focus our programmes. Medical professionals, funders and providers and pharmaceutical companies all contribute to the road that the cancer patient travels and as such need to have input in this process.
Collaboration: Planning with participation of the NGOS going forward as we have been. Involvement of other stakeholders to ensure success
Sound strategy development for each event
Monitoring and evaluation processes setup and maintained to ensure the project is successful
I (Samantha Galliet) was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of breast cancer at the age of 29 in 2005. My only chance of survival was an expensive new treatment which my medical funder denied me access to despite me being on an extremely expensive benefit plan. I took them to court and won my case setting a precedent in South Africa. This enabled countless other women to access this life saving treatment. The turning point came when a woman came to me in the chemo room, took my hand and with tears in her eyes said “you saved my mother’s life.” My life changed in that instant and I knew that I had to do something for others in the same predicament. While I was fighting for my life I dumbfounded at how little information existed around cancer advocacy in South Africa. I had no-one to turn to and felt lost and alone. There were no organizations empowering cancer patients with knowledge and tools and I had to become a medical and legal expert overnight with not background in either discipline. I managed to learn quickly but there are many people less fortunate than I am (South Africa has a very low literacy rate and many people are not well educated). I founded the first breast cancer advocacy NGO (PinkLink) which, due to an unexpected demand, soon encouraged me to found Campaigning for Cancer, an advocacy organisation giving a voice to cancer patients and those affected by cancer.
400 words or fewerAfter founding Campaigning for Cancer the process of understanding healthcare and the systems governing it began for Samantha. For the last three years, she has made it her mission to speak to patients from all races and walks of life in order to establish what the real issues they face are.
Samantha has lectured extensively on patient advocacy including talks to universities, corporate companies, banks, medical schemes, IT companies and pharmaceuticals. Samantha has also sat on advisory panels at various medical symposiums and events. She has attended a number of international conferences and is considered an expert in South Africa on cancer advocacy.
A recent highlight was Samantha was appointed to represent consumers on the Prescribed Minimum Benefits Task Team (PMB) in May 2010. Representatives from the South African Government, Medical Aid Schemes and Medical Professionals are part of this vital committee which will have a huge impact on the treatment that patients and healthcare consumers receive in South Africa. This is the first time that an NGO has been invited to participate in the debate and policy development around these issues.
Samantha was invited to deliver the cancer Advocacy Plenary at the ESMO Lung Cancer Conference in Switzerland in April 2010 and has been invited to participate in the UICC (United International Cancer Control) Global Conference in Beijing China in August 2010.
Additionally Samantha has recently been appointed to the American Cancer Society Global External Review Committee comprised of subject experts from the public and non-profit sectors to provide a formative evaluation of the Society’s proposed strategy for the Global Health Program.
Samantha is considered an advocacy expert in South Africa and has continually appeared in numerous media (television, print, radio). She continues to promote advocacy and educate patients and the public on speaking out and fighting for patients rights.
Through another organization or company
Prime Consulting South Africa