Good News Agency – Year XI, n° 176
Weekly – Year XI, number 176 –
10th September 2010
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi, Ph. D.
Good News Agency carries
positive and constructive news from all over the world relating to voluntary
work, the work of the United Nations, non governmental organizations and
institutions engaged in improving the quality of life – news that doesn’t “burn
out” in the space of a day. It is
distributed free of charge through Internet to 10,000
media and editorial journalists in 54 countries and to 3,000 NGOs and 1,600
high schools, colleges and universities. It is an all-volunteer
service of Associazione Culturale
dei Triangoli e della Buona
Volontà Mondiale, an
educational charity associated with the United
Nations Department of Public Information. The Association has been recognized by UNESCO as “an actor of the global movement for a culture of peace” and it is a
member of the World Association of Non Governmental Organizations.
International
legislation – Human rights – Economy
and development
– Solidarity
Peace and
security – Health – Energy and Safety – Environment and
wildlife
Religion and spirituality – Culture and education
"Advance
Global Health: Achieve the Millennium Development Goals"
Convention
on cluster munitions became binding international law on 1 August 2010
Forty-one African states are
among the 108 countries that have signed the Convention, and
The CMC urges as many states
as possible to join the Convention and attend the First Meeting of States
Parties on 9-12 November
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/news/?id=2563
UN
mission opens first base ahead of referendum in southern
3 September 2010 – The United
Nations peacekeeping mission set up after the end of the north-south civil war
has opened its first field office for the referendum to be held next January on
whether the south should secede from the rest of the country.
The Mundri
West county referendum base, which was inaugurated on Wednesday in Western Equatoria state, will be one of 79 across southern
Voters are expected to go to
the polls on 9 January next year to decide to secede or stay part of
The referenda are being held
under the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the civil
war, and the UN mission – known as UNMIS – is tasked with providing both
training and technical and logistical support for the vote.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35824&Cr=SUDAN&Cr1=
Jubilant
Kenyans usher in new constitution
30 August - Cheered by
hundreds of thousands of jubilant Kenyans waving national flags, President Mwai Kibaki signed a new
constitution on Friday that curbs his sweeping powers and strengthens civic
rights.
"No one could have
thought that out of the bitter harvest of the disputed election and the
violence that pitted our people against each other just two years ago, we would
be witnessing today the birth of a national unity that has eluded us for more
than 40 years", Prime Minister Raila Odinga said to constant cheering.
Nearly 70 percent of Kenyans
that voted in the August 4 referendum endorsed the new supreme law, hoping for
a fresh start from
The new legal framework
address issues such as corruption, political patronage, land grabbing and
tribalism, which have plagued the country for decades. Kenyans started
demanding a new constitution about two decades ago, saying the basic law penned
at the time of independence from
http://www.africagoodnews.com/democracy/jubilant-kenyans-usher-in-new-constitution.html
Ban
commends Solomon Islanders for peaceful legislative elections
27 August - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today commended Solomon Islanders for taking part
in peaceful and orderly parliamentary polls that led to the selection this week
of Danny Philip as the new Prime Minister of the Pacific archipelago.
The conduct of the
elections “demonstrates the commitment of Solomon Islanders to peace and
democracy,” according to a statement issued by Mr. Ban's spokesperson.
A United Nations team trained,
briefed and helped deploy international observers who monitored the elections
as they took place earlier this month.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35747&Cr=pacific&Cr1=
23 August
2010: 12th International Remembrance Day : a global commemoration
The night of 22 to 23 August
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38068&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.htm
UN
launches global action plan to combat scourge of human trafficking
August 1 - The United Nations
today launched a global action plan to combat human trafficking, with senior UN
officials urging that governments worldwide take coordinated and consistent
measures to try to defeat the scourge. The plan, launched at a high-level
meeting of the General Assembly at UN Headquarters in
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told today’s meeting that the action plan should
serve as “a clarion call” to UN Member States, international organizations and
civil society groups of the need to take immediate steps “to stop this terrible
crime against human dignity, which shames us all.”
The UN has estimated that more
than 2.4 million people are currently being exploited as victims of human
trafficking.
“It is slavery in the modern
age,” Mr. Ban said. “Every year thousands of people, mainly women and children,
are exploited by criminals who use them for forced labour
or the sex trade. No country is immune. Almost all play a part, either as a
source of trafficked people, transit point or destination.” The
Secretary-General urged countries, philanthropists and others to contribute
generously to the new trust fund for trafficking victims.
ANERA
welcomes
August 18,
For more than two decades,
ANERA has provided relief and development assistance to Lebanese and
Palestinians in refugee communities. Working with local partners, ANERA also
organizes vocational training and access to higher education to build
marketable job skills – from catering and hotel management to IT and
agriculture-related expertise.
“This new legislation
reinforces ANERA’s commitment to build more training
programs that better prepare underprivileged Palestinian and Lebanese youth who
seek a productive future for themselves and their families,” said John Viste, ANERA’s Lebanon Country
Director.
ANERA is working with a number
of Palestinian and Lebanese non-profits to improve vocational education in the
country. Most recently, ANERA rehabilitated vocational training centers for
Palestinian youth in and around the Nahr El Bared
camp in northern
http://www.anera.org/newsResources/ANERA-LebanonWorkBill.php
UN
Summit on Millennium Development Goals -
With only five years left
until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world
leaders to attend a summit in
Coming amid mixed progress and
new crises that threaten the global effort to halve extreme poverty, “the
summit will be a crucially important opportunity to redouble our efforts to
meet the Goals,” he said, referring to the targets adopted at the UN Millennium
Summit of 2000, aimed at slashing poverty, hunger, disease, maternal and child
deaths and other ills by a 2015 deadline.
“Our world possesses the
knowledge and the resources to achieve the MDGs” the
Secretary-General stated in his report in preparation for the September summit.
“Our challenge today is to agree on an action agenda to achieve the MDGs.”
UN Summit on MDG: big issues
make the big screen in Times Square, New York
New York, NY, September 8 - As world leaders convene in New York this
September for a high-level summit to advance the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the United Nations Foundation unveiled a high-impact
public service announcement about the most critical issues facing the world
today on the Toshiba Vision screen in Times Square. During a launch event at the Renaissance New
York Times Square Hotel, United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) Assistant Administrator and Assistant Secretary-General Sigrid Kaag, and the UN Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer Rick
Parnell unveiled a special Public Service Announcement inviting people to get
involved to solve global problems — marking the first time that the work of the
UN is featured prominently in this iconic space.
The 30-second PSA debuting
today was produced by GOOD in partnership with the UN Foundation and Millennium
Promise. It focuses on the eight MDGs: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve
universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce
child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership
for development. The PSA will continue
airing on the Toshiba Vision screen throughout the month of September as world
leaders meet at the UN General Assembly, UN MDG Summit, the Clinton Global
Initiative and other high-level meetings.
Three additional PSAs will air on the Toshiba Vision screen, focusing on how
individuals can help the UN advance the MDGs by
empowering and educating girls, ending preventable childhood diseases, and
protecting the environment. They will be
broadcasted along with the new MDG PSA throughout the month of September. The videos are available for viewing and
downloading at www.unfoundation.org/mdgs
InterAction
responds to the Obama Administration’s action plan to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals
September 3 - InterAction’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Task Force
recently finalized its response to Celebrate, Innovate and Sustain: Toward 2015
and Beyond, the Obama administration’s action plan
for addressing the MDGs. The response from the group,
comprised of InterAction member and partner
organizations, recognizes the action plan’s emphasis on transparency and
predictability for country partnership and tackling infant mortality, among
other items. However, it also expresses concern about dearth of details on
strategic partnerships and
InterAction recommends that
the Obama administration consider the following items
in the weeks leading up to the UN Review Summit in
1. Integrate its individual programs related
to achieving the MDGs into one cohesive strategy.
2. Issue a Global Development Strategy prior
to the MDG Summit.
3. Engage the NGO sector more actively in
the development and implementation of a Global Development Strategy.
4. Explicitly recognize the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) as the
5. Work with Congress to reform key laws,
including those pertaining to development aid, USAID, trade and subsidies.
Various
UN Member States will call for a Currency Transaction Tax at MDG
In the lead up to the MDG
Summit, and following a meeting in Paris (on 1 September), 60 countries have
agreed a common position on, and are actively supporting the introduction of,
an international multi-currency transaction tax to raise funds for development
aid.
The joint position follows a
report of the Committee of Experts to the Taskforce on International Financial
Transactions for Development, which was released in June 2010 and which
concluded that a tax on financial transactions at the international level – a
Currency Transaction Tax – would be the best and most feasible option to deal
with the financial deficit in global public assets and in international
development. (...)
The report “Globalizing
Solidarity: The case for financial levies” analyzes the different tax options
that could be imposed on the financial sector in order to overcome the
financial shortages that are obstructing the implementation of international
development agreements, especially the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or those related to climate change.
The report estimates that the
financial deficit will reach between 324 and 336 billion US dollars in the
period 2012-2017. This would include a shortage of 156 billion in the fight
against climate change and a shortage of about 168-180 billion in official
development assistance (ODA).
Although the introduction of
an international Currency Transaction Tax – a tax of 0.005% on international
financial transactions to be introduced on the British sterling, the euro, the
dollar, and the yen – will not solve this financial deficit, the report does
find that it could raise around 35 billion US dollars annually.
http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?page=amdg10&id_article=2854
Manila, September 1 - As part
of its assistance to people suffering the effects of the armed conflict in
Central Mindanao, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has
started to release 13 million fingerlings into marsh areas to help people earn
a living again.
More than 2.3 million tilapia
fingerlings were released in recent weeks in Datu Salibo and Mamasapano in Maguindanao. Another 220,000 fingerlings were released in Barangays Libungan Torreta and Matilac in
Aside from the fingerlings,
the ICRC will soon distribute rice seed and tools to over 10,000 needy people to
enable them to restart their farming. In addition, beginning in September,
3,000 vulnerable families will be given vegetable seed that they will be able
to use in their own backyards. After Ramadan, the ICRC will provide training in
farming and fishing techniques.
In the past few months, the
ICRC has completed several projects resulting in improved access to water and
to sanitary and health-care facilities for some 35,000 displaced people and
residents in
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/philippines-news-010910
Focus
on lowland farming yields multiple benefits in Liberia
EU
and FAO back plan to revive areas with high agricultural potential
Monrovia/Rome, 26 August - The
fertile lowlands that cover one-fifth of
"In using more of our
lowlands, not only will we get higher yields, we will also minimize
deforestation and soil erosion," said J. Qwelibo
Subah, Director-General of Liberia's Central
Agricultural Research Institute, underlining the environmental benefit of his
government's plan.
Liberian rice production has
increased significantly since the end of a 14-year civil war in 2003. It jumped
from from 85 000 metric tonnes
(mt) in 2005 to 144 000 mt
in 2007, for example. Still,
Through the European Union
Food Facility (EUFF), the European Union (EU) has committed to respond rapidly
and on a large scale to rising hunger around the world as a consequence of high
food prices, compounded by the global economic crisis. Over €228 million are
being channelled through FAO for operations in 28
countries in Africa, Asia and
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/44545/icode/
Brazilian
President blows whistle on hunger: Lula da Silva joins "1billionhungry" campaign
The whistle-blowing took place
at a ceremony held in
FAO' goal is to obtain one
million signatures by the end of November and present them to the 192 Member
States due to attend FAO's Governing Council then.
Currently, about one billion people in the world suffer chronic hunger.
The "1billionhungry"
project is a major communication campaign intended to rally global support for
an end to hunger in the world. Other
celebrities who have signed the petition include actor Jeremy Irons, musician Chucho Valdés and and athlete Carl Lewis.
Civil
society finds new resolve in working together at CIVICUS World Assembly to
solve global crises
The event included a series of
plenaries and workshops that brought together
viewpoints from a unique spectrum of organisations,
big and small, south and north, government and non-government. In a plenary
session, a range of panelists including the World Bank’s Vice President,
Otaviano Canuto,
discussed the challenge of seeking out solutions to the economic injustices
facing the poor and marginalised.
First
Regional Conference finds practical ways grow industry: train staff, listen to
clients
August 16 – Microfinance
practitioners in
A historical first,
international, regional and Southern Sudanese government officials, donor
representatives, technical experts and microfinance practitioners gathered July
20-21 to discuss the state of microfinance services and institutions (MFIs) in their communities as well as share best practices
and determine ways to expand outreach and increase sustainability.
The microfinance industry in
Conference attendees
identified several key obstacles to expanded loan services, notably the
industry’s poor physical and legal infrastructure and the low financial
literacy of both customers and staff. And while changing the state of
large-scale infrastructure may be beyond the MFI practitioners’ control, they
agreed that they could expand and improve consumer services by investing in
more basic changes like increased legislative advocacy efforts, staff training
and improved financial literacy for staff and clients.
Ghanaian
Agriculture Association attracts significant bank loan
Volunteer
training helps local group build skills to better compete
August 12 – The National
Association of Mechanization Service Centre Operators (NAAMSECO), through the
support of ACDI/VOCA, has earned the approval of a $4.5 million bank loan from
a leading Pan-African bank. The award is one of the largest loans ever approved
by Stanbic Bank
NAAMSECO is a Ghanaian
association of private mechanized agricultural service providers. Like many
private ventures in
Armed with a new business plan
and fresh knowledge and skills, NAAMSECO staff made an impression on Stanbic Bank. Within a short time, the bank approved the
$4.5 million loan for NAAMSECO to expand its business.
http://www.acdivoca.org/site/ID/news-Ghanaian-Agriculture-Association-Attracts-Significant-Bank-Loan
2010
WANGO
The 2010 WANGO Africa
Conference was the second edition of a WANGO regional conference/retreat held in
Kenya 2010 served as a leading
meeting for representatives of local, regional, and international NGOs,
government, business and support agencies in the region and beyond. It
addressed issues crucial to the growth and development of the humanitarian
sector in sub-Saharan
The World Association of
Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO) is an international organization uniting
NGOs worldwide in the cause of advancing peace and global well being.
http://www.wango.org/NGONews/July10/WANGOAfrica.htm
Geneva/Quetta,
September 3 - A string of natural disasters that caused widespread suffering
and devastation in Balochistan in 2010 seems largely
to have gone unnoticed outside this arid south-western province. The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), acting through the Pakistan Red Crescent
Society, responded quickly to the first bout of monsoon flooding in July by
distributing food for 21,000 people in the flood-affected Sibi
district towns of Talli and Sultan Kot. More relief assistance is set to be distributed in the
coming days in this severely affected region.
Floods in the Bolan district in March were followed in quick succession
by destructive winds and coastal flooding from cyclone Phet
in early June. Before the current catastrophic floods focused the world
spotlight on
Despite restrictions on the
movement of expatriate staff within Balochistan, the
ICRC remains committed to bringing aid to people in need.
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/pakistan-news-030910
Democratic
People’s Republic of
Francis Markus, IFRC,
September 1 - It’s normally a
busy city on the border between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(DPRK) and
The DPRK Red Cross Society
immediately mobilized its disaster management team to
http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/10/10083102/index.asp
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/ghana-news-250810
August 30 - With Education
International's help, three Pakistani teachers' organisations
will support thousands of educators who lost their homes and personal
belongings. They will provide up to 30,000 victims with aid supplies including
clean water, clothing and tents.
The number of teachers in need
of humanitarian aid is estimated to be almost 100,000. The Pakistan Teachers' Organisations’ Council (PTOC), the All Pakistan Government
School Teachers’ Associations (APGSTA) and the Central Organisation
of Teachers (COT) will use their extensive national networks to distribute aid,
concentrating on the provinces of Punjab, Sindh,
Khyber Pakhtoonkhoa and Azad
Kashmir which were worst affected by the region’s deadliest floods in 80 years.
The humanitarian aid program, for which EI has opened its solidarity fund, will
be coordinated by the All Pakistan Trade Union Congress (APTUC), an affiliate
of the ITUC.
The relief program will also
include health care services and trauma counselling
for more than 1,000 victims. EI’s General Secretary,
Fred van Leeuwen and Chief Regional Coordinator,
Aloysius Mathews, flew into
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=1348&theme=solidarityfund&country=pakistan
Save
the Children Valentine’s Day Card contest encourages kids to advocate fairness
for all kids
Open to students in pre-K
through 12th grade, the contest encourages children to design Valentine's Day
cards and submit them to Save the Children by October 31, 2010. Designs selected by Save the Children and AFT
judges will be posted online on November 3 where kids will vote for their
favorites. The five most popular designs will be printed on Valentine's Day
cards available in time for Valentine's Day and offered as part of a gift with
a donation to benefit Save the Children's programs to fight childhood poverty
in the
Themed "Uniting a
Generation," the contest is live now at http://www.k2kUSA.org — Save the
Children U.S. Program's new campaign designed to engage kids in the fight to
ensure a fair chance for all kids in the
http://www.savethechildren.org/newsroom/2010/valentines-day-contest.html?print=t
Three
million DKK to disaster-struck
DanChurchAid
supports the
August 9 - There is an
increasing need for assistance as deadly flooding spreads and blocked roadways
and communications continue to hamper aid workers from reaching cut-off
survivors with vital food and supplies. DanChurchAid’s
local partner Church World Service work around the clock to help the surviving
by providing food packages, shelter materials and non-food supplies. In
addition, one mobile health unit has been dispatched so far, delivering
emergency health services. Last Friday DanChurchAid
was able to send an additional three million DKK to the areas affected by the
disaster as a result of additional Danida funds. Last
Monday the first 750.000 DKK was given to support the relief work.
DanChurchAid is a member of the
ACT Alliance, a global coalition of churches and agencies engaged in
development, humanitarian assistance and advocacy.
http://www.danchurchaid.org/news_publications/news/three_million_dkk_to_disaster-struck_pakistan
CARE
activates clinics, emergency stockpiles in
Humanitarian
group works with local partners to respond to deadly floods
Working through a local
partner, CARE has conducted eight mobile health clinics in the
CARE also is transporting
emergency stockpiles of tents, shawls, mosquito nets, plastic floor mats,
family hygiene kits and kitchen sets in the Swat, Charsaddah
and Nowshera districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK). Initial distributions are expected to reach 5,200 people.
http://www.care.org/newsroom/articles/2010/08/pakistan-flood-care-responds.asp
Rotary
Club Portorož donation to the ITF
On September 1, Rotary Club Portorož successfully completed the project named »Cleared
surface for a new life« which has been initiated in 2006 by their members. The
initiative aimed to raise funds to demine areas contaminated
with mines, to provide socio-economic assistance and rehabilitation to mine/UXO
victims in former
In an effort to make this
campaign as efficiently as possible and to achieve its purpose, the Rotary Club
Portorož joined forces with a humanitarian non-profit
organization ITF (International Trust Fund for Demining
and Mine Victims Assistance).
Rotary Club Portorož has together with its fellow Rotary Clubs in
http://www.itf-fund.si/News/Rotary_Club_Portoroz_donation_to_the_ITF_306.aspx
FoEME wins
Euro-Med Dialogue award
'Ambassadors
of Intercultural Dialogue for Ecological Sustainability'
Tel Aviv / Bethlehem / Amman,
September 1 - ‘ECOPEACE Friends of the Earth Middle East’ (FoEME),
a civil society advocacy organization jointly established by environmentalists
from Palestine, Jordan and Israel, has been officially announced as the 2010
winner of the Anna Lindh Foundation’s
Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue Award.
Taking place this year on the
theme of ‘Intercultural Dialogue for Ecological Sustainability, the Dialogue
Award is unique in the fact that it is bestowed and voted upon by members of
the Anna Lindh Foundation’s region-wide Network of
3000 civil society organizations working across the 43 countries of the Union
for the Mediterranean.
Launched for the first time in
2006 by the Anna Lindh Foundation and its partner Fondazione Mediterraneo, the Euro-Med
Dialogue Award is now in its fifth edition, with previous years recognizing the
achievements of individuals and organizations across fields including interreligious dialogue, art and mutual understanding, and
the promotion of a culture of peace.
For more information, please
contact Mira Edelstein, Foreign Media Officer, Friends of the Earth Middle
East, mira@foeme.org
MAG
has helped the children of
September 1 - More than seven
thousand children set their sights on a place in the Guinness Book of Records
after an unexploded ordnance (UXO) risk assessment by
MAG at
After five minutes of
bouncing, the record had been unofficially broken with a total of 7,203 balls –
beating the previous best of just over 3,000 set in the
http://www.maginternational.org/news/gaza-two-world-record-attempts-made-possible-by-mag/
63rd United Nations Annual
DPI/NGO Conference
Huambo, August 13 - Over
four hundred thousand euros is being invested by the Spanish Co-operation in a
project for training technicians of the National Demining
Institute (INAD). The information was given to ANGOP, by the assistant of
projects from the Spanish Co-operation, Javier Cabrera Cornide,
at the end of the second phase of a five-day course of Planning and Logistical
Support to Operation of Humanitarian Demining, in the
locality of Essaque, Tchikala-Tcholoanga
District.
According to Javier Cabrera Cornide, 16 heads of demining
teams from equal number of provinces participated in the course. "The
Spanish Co-operation released 425,000 euros for this project, divided in three
phases. The idea is to train trainers that can multiply information and
knowledge for demining technicians of the country,
thus helping to keep
http://allafrica.com/stories/201008130822.html
Strenuous
promoter of Gandhian values receives Indian award in
11 August - The Palas Athena Association Executive Team announced that
co-founder, Lia Diskin, was
offered the Jamnalal Bajaj
Foundation 2010 International Award for her contribution to promotion of Gandhian values outside
The Palas
Athena Association team sees this prize as yet another acknowledgement of her
contagious enthusiasm and creativity, which "we have the privilege of
sharing while supporting her work of strengthening social networks and
educational programs. This recognition makes us feel part of the vital process
of re-creating and improving coexistence between persons, religions and
cultures".
Founded in 1972 as a
non-profit organisation, Palas
Athena is a Brazilian NGO dedicated to fostering and managing
community-oriented programs and projects in the fields of Education,
Healthcare, Human Rights, Environmental Preservation, Social Welfare, and
Culture of Peace. PALAS ATHENA's main purpose is to
enhance human relationships, while bringing together diverse cultures and
drawing on multiple sources of knowledge.
International
Positive Week - September 20-26
This year, the Culture of
Peace Initiative's (CPI) special 2010 project is "International Positive
Week" (September 20 - 26), a celebration and global initiative in
conjunction with Celebrate Positive, the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI) and
the United Nation's International Day of Peace.
This special program focuses
on the 2010 UN NGO Positive Peace Awards (The Voting Academy includes Pathways To Peace, Rotary International and Sister Cities
International). The goal of this week is
to celebrate and shine the light on the world's most positive Communities,
Athletes, Entertainers, Schools, and Businesses, while promoting the message of
World Peace.
Please take a minute to share
your nomination for most Positive Community or Business. We invite you to
nominate your own! During International
Positive Week, different categories of "Positive Peace" will be
highlighted each day during the week-long celebration.
September 20: Positive
Business Day; Sept. 21: Positive Entertainer Day (International Day of Peace);
22: Positive Community Day;
23: Positive School Day;
24 - 26: Positive Sports Weekend.
http://www.celebratepositive.com/
21
September, International Day of Peace - Youth for Peace and Development
The International Day of
Peace, observed each year on 21 September, is a global call for ceasefire and
non-violence. This year, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
is calling on young people around the world to take a stand for peace under the
theme, Youth for Peace and Development. The United Nations is looking for
stories from young people around the world who are working for peace. The
campaign slogan this year is "Peace=Future, The math is easy.” This year,
the International Day of Peace (IDP) falls within the same time period as a
major summit on the Millennium Development Goals, the world’s largest
anti-poverty campaign. The
In addition, the UN General
Assembly has proclaimed 2010 as International Year of Youth: Dialogue and
Mutual Understanding. A campaign launched by the UN Department of Economic and
Social Affairs (DESA) on 12 August promotes the ideals of respect for
human rights and solidarity across generations, cultures, religions, and
civilizations. Those are key elements that reinforce the foundations of a
sustainable peace.
Youth, peace and development
are closely interlinked: peace enables development, which is critical in
providing opportunities for young people, particularly those in countries
emerging from conflict. Healthy, educated youth are in turn crucial to
sustainable development and peace. Peace, stability and security are essential
to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at slashing poverty,
hunger, disease, and maternal and child death by 2015.
Each year, the
Secretary-General, his Messengers of Peace, the entire UN system and many
individuals, groups and organizations around the world use the Day of Peace to
engage in activities that contribute to ceasefires, end conflict, bridge
cultural divides and create tolerance.
http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/2010/
Eliminating
nuclear weapons and safeguarding nuclear technologies
Residential
course, 9-16 January 2011
- Andalo
(Trento),
ISODARCO (International School
On Disarmament And Research On Conflicts) has organized residential courses on global
security since 1966 primarily in
The 2011
No special application form is
required. We suggest that you apply on-line at www.isodarco.it
or download an application form from the same location. Applications should
arrive not later than November 15th, 2010 and should be addressed to the
Director of the School: Prof. Carlo Schaerf,
Department of Physics, University
of
September 2 - Silver Spring,
Md., USA - As floodwaters move further south down the Indus River, larger
numbers of people are being forced from their homes and communities, prompting
the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to refocus the
implementation of its emergency medical response to Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province,
report agency officials.
ADRA is working closely with
World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health for the Punjab
province to establish operations of Mobile Health Units in unreached
areas of the district of Muzaffaragarh, some
ADRA’s Mobile Health
Units are comprised of doctors, surgeons, pediatricians, and nursing staff that
provide medical care around the clock, treating more than 220 patients a day
for malaria, diarrhea, and other diseases and ailments resulting from the
contaminated floodwaters. http://www.adra.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=11085&news_iv_ctrl=1141
MSF
helps thousands of displaced people in isolated Shabunda
region, South Kivu, DRC
September 2 – Thousands of
people have been forced to flee their villages in the Shabunda
area of
MSF teams were already at work
in the south Shabunda area, where they had been
providing medical care since late June to 20,000 displaced people. When this
second wave of displaced people reached the Katshungu
and Shabunda regions in early August, MSF was quick
to respond, setting up two health centres in Mbangayo and Lupinbi, in the town
of
Cholera has also broken out in
the town of
Polio
eradication staff mobilized to support
Health
system could take years to recover following flood damage "beyond
imagination"
August 26 - Polio eradication
staff and resources have been mobilized en masse to support the response to the
devastating floods directly affecting one in 10 people in
Currently, the Ministry of
Health's strategy is to vaccinate all displaced children under 5 years with
measles vaccine and oral polio vaccine (OPV), and to distribute Vitamin A.
Other routine antigens have been distributed, but not in all camps. In the
areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (previously known as
North West Frontier Province) where flood waters have receded - Peshawar, Charsada, Dir Lower and Swat - mass campaigns administering
measles vaccine, OPV and Vitamin A have been conducted in all affected Union
Council administrative areas.
The UN has launched a flash
appeal for the flood relief effort, and as part of this, funds would go to
support emergency measles/polio campaigns.
http://www.polioeradication.org/content/general/LatestNews201008.asp#05
President
of
August 16 - On 8 August 2010,
the President of Chad, Idriss Deby
Itno, received the prestigious Rotary 'Polio Eradication
Champion' award. (...)
The 'Polio Eradication
Champion' award was established in 1995, and is the highest honour
Rotary presents to heads of state, health agency
leaders and others who have made significant contributions toward polio
eradication.
In receiving Rotary’s 'Polio
Eradication Champion' award, President Deby Itno joins a group of other distinguished leaders whom
Rotary has honored including India’s Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, current UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former Secretary General Kofi
Annan, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, and former Chairperson of the African
Union Commission Alpha Oumar Konare.
http://www.polioeradication.org/content/general/LatestNews201008.asp#05
Project
HOPE and Merck partner with the Nicaragua Ministry of Health to vaccinate
Nicaraguans against pneumococcal disease
Program
will reach more than 1 million Nicaraguans and strengthen health care capacity
Millwood, Va., USA, August 12
- Project HOPE, a global health education and humanitarian assistance
organization, in partnership with Merck, a leader in global health care, (known
as MSD outside of the United States and Canada), is collaborating with the
Nicaraguan Ministry of Health (MINSA) to further advance efforts to vaccinate
vulnerable populations against pneumococcal
infections, a major cause of pneumonia. The program will vaccinate more than 1
million people living with HIV/AIDS, adults ages 50 and older and individuals
between the ages of 4 and 49 with indicated chronic diseases.
Through this public-private
partnership, Merck will donate to Project HOPE more than 1 million doses of its
vaccine PNEUMOVAX® 23 (Pneumococcal Vaccine
Polyvalent) and make a charitable contribution of approximately $700,000 to
help strengthen health care capacity in Nicaragua over the course of a
three-year phased program.
As part of the program,
Project HOPE staff in
http://www.projecthope.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_us_press_releases_08_12_10
(top)
International
Day Against Nuclear Tests - observed 9 September 2010
At UN Headquarters, as an
exception this year, the Day will be observed on 9 September. On that day, the
President of the General Assembly will convene a special commemoration meeting,
which will be addressed by the Secretary-General. Plans are under way elsewhere to observe the
Day by various activities, such as symposia, conferences, exhibits,
competitions, publications, instruction in academic
institutions, media broadcasts and other activities.
Las week, UNODA and DPI
launched a new website commemorating the Day. Currently, the site http://www.un.org/en/no-nucleartests/http://www.un.org/en/events/againstnucleartestsday/ is available in English only, with all
language versions to follow shortly.
FAO
launches NASA developed fire monitoring system
Will
help countries to detect fire hotspots in real time
Rome, 11 August - FAO today has launched a new online portal
on fire information and real time monitoring to help countries to control fire
effectively and protect property and natural resources. The new Global Fire
Information Management System (GFIMS) detects fire hotspots from satellites
operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Developed in collaboration
with the University of Maryland, GFIMS has an online mapping interface for
displaying fire hotspots in "near real" time meaning that there is a
lag of approximately 2.5 hours between satellite overpass and the data being
available. The new system also allows users to receive email alerts on specific
areas of interest, enabling subscribers to react quickly.
"The GFIMS has been
launched at a time when the incidence of megafires
tends to increase," said Pieter van Lierop, FAO
Forestry Officer, who is responsible for the agency's activities in fire
management. In
http://www.fao.org/nr/gfims/en/
By Amanda Wheat
August 23 (Media Global) -
This particular plot of Amazon
forest is worth $7.2 billion because of the 846 million barrels of natural oil
reserves resting quietly beneath its surface. But
While
August 29 - Hunchun, China: Jilin province of
China and neighbouring Primorsky
province in Russia agreed today to collaborate formally in working towards the
first transboundary Amur
tiger protected area amidst celebrations for the second annual Amur Tiger Cultural Festival in the northeastern Chinese
city of Hunchun.
The signed agreement,
facilitated by WWF, the global conservation organization, will help wildlife
authorities eventually establish a transboundary
protected area – a cooperative conservation network that crosses country
borders - in the provinces that are home to the world’s largest big cat. The
population of the highly endangered Amur tiger is
currently estimated at 500.
In the agreement signed by Jilin Provincial Forestry Department of China and two
Russia agencies – the Wildlife and Hunting Department of Primorsky
Province and Special Inspection “TIGER” of Russia, the two sides will work
together in establishing a tiger conservation protected area in both provinces,
as well as partner to restore the endangered species.
Western Province of Kenya, a
few years ago was properly afforested area with various species of indigenous
tress. The weather was favourable to farmers and we had food security. At the moment because of deforestation, we
have serious floods and scarcity of food. Our organization has taken steps to
help in controlling the deforestation that is causing and increasing the spread
of deserts in this area. Most of the trees we plant are fruits and indigenous
herbal treatment plants.
We use youth and women
organized self help groups, schools and religious groups to visit the
communities and initiate desertification control activities. We organize,
information, education and communication activities in partnership with these
groups. Apart from that we invite youth
from various universities and countries who visit our communities to
participate in planting of trees and facilitating in various seminars and
workshops.
We have plans to set up
properly equipped Training and Demonstration center for farmers, youth, women
and all stakeholders to ensure that the message and activities to control the
spread of deserts is deeply rooted and available to the grassroot
people. One of our major obstacle is funding.
We have not established proper source of funding therefore we have
shelved some of our plans. For more details and/or support, or to plan an
eco-friendly stay please contact Silvanus A. B. Malaho, Executive Director of Kenya Volunteers Development
Services, and President of Rotary Club of Bungoma
South: siabuma@yahoo.com
August 29 - The Circle of
Light and Hope Interfaith Encounter group met on the 18h of July; the main
topic of the discussion was:
In Christianity,
In conclusion,
The Interfaith Encounter
Association is dedicated to promoting peace in the
http://interfaithencounter.wordpress.com
Pan-African
Bishops Conference (SECAM) MDG Tour, 7-18 September
Brussels, 25 August - Ahead of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Review Summit in New York (20-22 September),
a delegation of African bishops and development experts meets European
political leaders to discuss efforts to improve the well-being of African
communities, the obstacles they encounter and priorities to achieve change.
The Church in
The delegation is organised by the Pan-African Bishops Conference SECAM with
the support of CIDSE, an international alliance of Catholic development
agencies. The group travels to
Programme highlight:
‘Undermining Africa’s future?’ – debate in the
European Parliament (
The
Feather Project: a new effort promoting intergenerational collaboration
At the Earth Charter + 10
Conference in the Peace Palace in The Hague last June 29, Rabbi Soetendorp, co-chair of the Earth Charter Task Force on
Religion, Ethics, and Spirituality launched the Feather Project, which is a
collaborative effort inspired by the Earth Charter to build intergenerational
dialogue and collaboration between elders and youth, and to draw upon the
wisdom of the world’s spiritual traditions to address the major global
challenges humanity is facing. The Feather Project involves capturing on video
the core messages of moral and spiritual leaders of our time, based on the
following question: “Based on your life experience, what lesson would you like
to share with the next generation?”
On the Feather website, these
inspiring messages are being combined with the visions, dreams, and aspirations
of young people and suggested steps to put this inspiration into practice. The
rationale here is that in this combination of visions, wisdom and best
practiced action projects lies a key to unlocking the immense resources of
human imagination, creativity and compassion that are so much needed in our
troubled times.
More information can be found
on the Feather Project website at http://featherproject.org that portrays the
video messages of several Earth Charter youth representatives recorded at
EC+10.
EU-funded
education support programme for
September 2 - A European
Union-funded programme to support Somali
administrations in developing a well-structured education and training system
has been launched in north east and
Dr. Manfred Winnefeld, Technical Advisor for the EU's
support for the education sector in
In
The EU which is supporting the
programme has also been supporting the development of
secondary education during the past 10 years. In this time, the number of
secondary school students in north east and north west
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=1350&theme=educationforall&country=somalia
Save
the Children and Ministry of Education launch new television campaign to help
children feel safe returning to school in
Uzbek
and Kyrgyz parents and adults urged to line the streets in a corridor of peace
and welcome children to school
Osh, Kyrgyzstan,
August 30 – Save the Children and the Ministry of Education in Kyrgyzstan today
launched a major television campaign to help mend ethnic tensions and help
children feel safe and protected when they return to school on September 1. The
campaign is encouraging Kyrgyz and Uzbek parents and adults to line the streets
in a corridor of peace and welcome children as they walk to and from school.
“After the ethnic unrest, many
children are afraid to return to school. They fear violent attacks from the
opposing ethnic group,” said Will Lynch, country director of Save the
Children’s
Ethnic violence broke out
between minority Uzbeks and ethnic Kyrgyz in southern
The new television spot called
“Welcome to School” shows similarities between Uzbeks and Kyrgyzs
as their children prepare for their first day of school, and encourages them to
reconcile their differences and come together to help allay children’s fears of
returning to school.
http://www.savethechildren.org/newsroom/2010/kyrgystan-students-safety.html?print=t
By Reeni
Aminchua, IFRC
30 August - The International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), with support from
the Singapore Red Cross, has been developing young athletes’ understanding of
global humanitarian issues at the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games in
The games were held for two
weeks from 14 to 26 August with some 5,000 athletes and officials from the 205
National Olympic Committees. Helping the event run smoothly were an estimated
20,000 local and international volunteers, and there was also a strong media
presence with 1,200 representatives from the media.
IFRC was one of six
international organizations to participate in the culture and education programme designed for the athletes at the Olympic village.
The programme encourages greater learning, sharing
and interaction among the athletes, while inspiring them to embrace and live
the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. The programme forms an integral component of the games and is
built around the five themes of olympism, skills
development, well-being and healthy lifestyle, social responsibility and
expression.
http://www.ifrc.org/Docs/News/10/10083003/index.asp
The
Relay Initiative in the frame of the European Year of Volunteering
Be a
Reporter - apply before September 27
The European Commission
invites you to be one of 27 Relay Reporters who will highlight volunteer
stories all along The European Year of Volunteering 2011. For it, we will
select a volunteer filmmaker, reporter or journalist in each EU Member State.
You are welcome to apply online before September 27, 2010, by midnight: http://eyvolunteering.eu
This unique experience will
include:
- 12 days reporting in another
EU country with our professional HDV camera
- 10 months web-reporting from
your country with the pocket video camera we will offer you.
As Relay Reporter, all the
video, audio and web reports you will produce during the Relay will be promoted
All costs are covered by our organisation.
For contacts: Georges Drouet, European Coordinator of the EYV Relay European Year
of Volunteering 2011: relay@paueducation.com
New
team for ANERA early childhood education initiative
August 9,
The multi-year program
includes curriculum and national standards development and capacity building
for preschool educators; mentoring programs for teachers in coordination with
West Bank universities and upgrading infrastructure at selected preschools as
quality preschools for practice training of teacher trainees in the
As Education Program Manager, Mleahat will supervise all of ANERA's
education program work in the
The Early Childhood Education
project has been endorsed by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and will be
developed in cooperation with the ministry and local NGOs to encourage
community involvement in childhood education.
http://www.anera.org/newsResources/NewTeamEarlyChildhoodEd.php
* * * * * * *
(top)
63rd United Nations Annual DPI/NGO Conference
Advance Global Health: Achieve the Millennium Development Goals
30 August – 1 September 2010 •
Lesley Vann, Good
News Agency’s Publisher Representative to the UNDPI
The 63rd
Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference was held in Melbourne, Australia, 30 August to 1
September 2010, titled “Advance Global Health: Achieve the Millennium
Development Goals” (MDGs).The Conference highlighted the
achievements and on-going efforts of diverse international NGOs, grassroots
civil society representatives, and healthcare advocates, in partnership with
the UN, Member States and other actors. This annual Conference went further to encourage greater
awareness among the wider public about the interconnectivity of global health
with human rights, disarmament, human security and climate change. The event
highlighted effective ways in which civil society, in partnership with other
actors, can contribute to fostering global health -- not just managing disease.
It also underscored the need for more integration of health programs, methods
to generate outcome health data that informs research and programs, cost
effective healthcare delivery and sustainability, disease prevention, and the
need to achieve multidimensional equity within global health.
The objective of this UN DPI/NGO Conference positioned
“on the road” in Australia, and away from New York, was to diversify and
increase the geographical representation of NGOs associated with the United
Nations Department of Public Information, as well as focusing on the work of
NGOs in the region.
This year’s Conference had an Opening session,
Roundtables, Workshops, special Events, Exhibits, Youth activities, and a
Closing session. There was a commitment to transparency and to making the
proceedings available to the entire world. Video footage was available for
viewing by all, on the UN’s DPI/NGO Conference website: www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/index.asp
The outreach of the Conference and its sessions
were designed to foster increasing commitment by NGOs and the world community
to the vital global health and MDG needs discussed. In addition the Conference
generated greater mobilisation and cohesion within
the NGO community – fostering dialogue and partnerships within and between vast
numbers of NGOs and their participants. Solutions to pressing global health
conundrums were considered and generated. Breakthroughs for Millennium
Development Goal implementation were further envisioned and mobilised
– thus renewing global dialogue and strategic planning.
In order to facilitate these exchanges, NGOs and
participants were requested to participate in the Conference in the spirit of
constructive dialogue and fraternity. These clear parameters sparked a dynamic
and vibrant gathering, alive with the spirit of inquiry. The Opening and
Closing sessions rallied participants with both vision and calls to action,
which the four Roundtable panels and many Workshops underscored.
Roundtable I explored “The
Role of the NGOs and Civil Society in Helping Achieve the MDGs.”
This Roundtable recognised that MDG achievement by
2015 is firstly the responsibility of member states toward their citizens.
Simultaneously, NGOs and civil society actors have the capacity to influence
these member states to make progress, and they have the capacity to leverage
progress through their own spheres of influence. Affirming the fact that
international, national and local NGOs and civil society are change agents
spurring MDG progress, Roundtable I considered the most effective ways in which NGOs can articulate
their positions with governments to influence policy and address the need for services
to improve health and well being; ways in
which different segments of civil society can work in partnership to achieve
the MDGs; and how programs can be designed so that progress can be
objectively tracked and evaluated over time. This Roundtable’s Moderator, Dr. Padmini Murthy, encouraged input from Panelists and the
audience. Panelist Ruth Bamela Engo-Tjega of
Roundtable II explored
“Equity, Rights and Progress towards the MDGs.” This
session addressed the recognition that as momentum builds towards accelerating
progress to meet the goals of the MDGs there is a
danger of creating greater inequity. Experience has shown it is easier to
improve the health of those who are already better off than it is to address
the needs of the poorest and those who have no access to health care. Discussion in this Roundtable responded to
many concerns, including ways in
which NGOs can advocate for more attention to be paid to the health needs of
the poorest and least well served; the use of equity sensitive indicators to measure
progress towards achieving the MDG’s; and what should be done to raise
awareness of the significance of MDG 8 (which calls for the establishment of
global partnerships for development), and its importance for achieving all of
the MDGs. How we address the responsibilities of
developed countries to work towards greater global equity was examined,
alongside what actions are needed to re-invigorate dialogue on the synergy
between human rights and public health. The panel also addressed how NGOs can ensure the focus
on mortality targets does not divert attention from conditions affecting
quality of life, for example, access to basic necessities as food and shelter,
individual security, disability and mental health problems. Discussion also ensued
regarding ways
in which we can accurately document progress in attaining gender equality.
Panelists represented regional diversity spanning
Roundtable III explored the
theme, “Strengthening an Integrated and Systems Approach to Achieving the
Health MDGs.” While all the MDGs
contribute to health, MDG 4 (reduce child mortality), MDG 5 (improve maternal
health) and MDG 6 (combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases) each have
specific health targets. This fact raises a number of questions which this
Roundtable addressed, such as how
collective efforts of NGOs, civil society, the medical community, the private
sector and governments can be maximised, with systems
strengthened rather than undermined, as we work towards achieving the MDGs in integrated ways; in what ways we can ensure that in
attending to closely related causes of specific health problems, underlying
social determinants of poor health, (especially gender equity and poverty), are
also addressed and not neglected; and how the
physical, financial, cultural, linguistic and other barriers to achieving the MDGs can be addressed. Panelists were gathered from the
Roundtable IV took up the
theme, “Achieving the MDGs in Our Changing World”. This panel noted that developing countries, in
particular, are experiencing swift demographic transitions with sharp rises in
the populations of young people and older persons, increased urbanisation and globalisation.
Closely associated with these issues are migration and other influences, as
well as environmental deterioration and climate change. This fourth Roundtable
examined such issues as how to ensure flexibility within the MDG agenda so that
governments and the international community are not diverted from responding in
a timely way to these changes; to what
extent more attention can be focused on the “other diseases” of MDG
In addition to these Roundtables, there were offerings
highlighting the roles of Youth and Media in global health, and there were
Exhibits and Events highlighting key Conference themes. Sub-committees worked
collaboratively to plan all of this, including the logistical complexities of
the many Workshops.
The Conference Workshops provided valuable
opportunities for NGOs to interact and discuss in greater depth, in an informal
setting, key global health themes, with an emphasis on effective practices that
participating NGOs can take home and implement. Therefore this annual
Conference had, once again, a global impact for the common good.
The Workshops examined critical Conference themes, such as bridging
global health gaps that still exist, and encouraging equity of treatment and
access, addressing failed maternal and child health strategies, promoting civic
activism around health and wellness, and strengthening an integrated approach
to achieving health for all.
Dr. Mary
E. Norton
Conference Chair stated, “we need to harness the
energy of those passionate about these topics and, through collaboration, help
them understand their role and responsibility to utilise
this knowledge, to mitigate the underlying causes of illness, and create a healthy world.”
Though
progress toward achieving global health has been steady much more can be
achieved and many more lives saved. A high-level UN meeting is planned in
September to measure MDG progress. NGOs are indispensable partners to the UN in
the twin goal of advancing global health and achieving the MDGs.
It is hoped that this three-day exchange of ideas and best practices in
“Health is the tie that binds all of the
Millennium Development Goals together. If we fail to meet our target on health,
we will never overcome poverty, illiteracy, achieve universal education and
meet the other MDG challenges,” reminded
UN Secretary-General,
Ban Ki-moon and WHO Director General, Margaret Chen. It was in this spirit
that the Conference participants came together generating renewed global
commitment among civil society to the redemptive work of the United Nations and
its Millennium Development Goals.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Conference Website http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/index.asp
This Conference website is designed to serve as
a resource for the press, photo journalists, the broadcast media, news agencies
and bloggers. You will find information on the
Conference including press releases, information on accreditation, and press
coverage of the Conference. This site posts photographs and other media-related
information materials, including speeches. During the three-day Conference, live and
archived Webcast of the Opening and Closing sessions
and the Roundtable discussions were available.
This site also offers other valuable social
media tools for the public, civil society and the media.
Contact e-mail addresses:
• Conference e-mail: 63undpingoconference@un.org
• Committee of Experts: expertdpingo@gmail.com
• Youth Sub-Committee:
youthcommitteeconference2010@gmail.com
• Workshops Sub-Committee:
dpingoconference2010workshops@gmail.com
• Events and Exhibits Sub-Committee:
events.exhibits.2010@gmail.com
* * * * * * *
Next issue: 1st October 2010.
Good News Agency is published in English on
one Friday and in Italian the next. Past issues are available at www.goodnewsagency.org.
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi, Ph.D.
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