IN THIS ISSUE:

EVENTS & AWARDS

1. Corporate Social Responsibility
2. NGOs
3. Youth

NEWS

1. Disability
2. Machreq/Magreb
3. NGOs

REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES

1. Gender
2. NGOs
3. Trade/Economics/Microfinance
4. Youth

WEBSITES

1. Gender
2. Youth

EVENTS & AWARDS
1. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
Corporate Social Responsibility. This is a “rapid response” discussion that will examine the role of standards, government and PPPs. Lead : “Corporate social responsibility programs help companies meet or exceed what is required by law and expected by society, but they can also be little more than public relations exercises”.
http://rru.worldbank.org/Discussions/topics/topic43.aspx

2. YOUTH:
Youth Employment Summit (YES 2004). The Youth Employment Summit (YES) will be held in, Boca del Rio, Vera Cruz, Mexico, from October 4 - 7, 2004. The summit will review the strategies within the context of the YES Framework for Action, highlight successful programs, policies, and projects. http://topics.developmentgateway.org/youth/rc/ItemDetail.do~101%200576~i...

“Youth and Urban Space: Threats and Opportunity for Urban Culture”. The Global Development Awards. This is open only to scholars and practitioners based in developing countries, with an emphasis on “recognising and supporting the work of younger researchers at the start of their careers. Every year, approximately USD $400,000 is awarded in prizes to researchers, both as cash and travel to GDN's Annual Conference”. Deadline: Sept 20 2004 http://www.comminit.com/awards2004/awards2004/awards-881.html

3. NGOs:
Small Grants Programme (SGP): International Deaf Children's Society (IDCS) This award grants organisations up to £10,000 for projects that provide “measurable and sustainable improvements to the individual lives of deaf children and their families”. Lead: “This could be either by piloting new services or improving existing services in the area of health and education or by promoting the empowerment and participation of deaf children and their families”. Deadline: Nov 30 2004 http://www.comminit.com/awards2004/scholarships2004/awards-838.html

World Urban Forum, Barcelona, Spain, 13-17 September 2004.
Lead: “One of the major themes discussed at the Forum will be theme of this year's forum is: Cities: Crossroads of cultures, inclusiveness and integration?” http://topics.developmentgateway.org/youth/rc/ItemDetail.do~101%200573~i...

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Current Issues in International Humanitarianism. This is a call from the Development Practice organisation, for various papers under the headings of; “Globalisation”, “Their needs and our interests”, “Witness”, “Commercialisation”, “Working with security forces”, “Regulation and Rights”, “Relief and development”, “Women’ s perspectives” and several others. The Development Practice organisation offers “practice –based analysis” and research regarding social dimensions of humanitarianism. For more info; http://www.developmentinpractice.org

1. DISABILITY:
Disabilities Learning Program. “The World Bank Institute has launched a learning program aimed at incorporating the disabilities dimension into development policies and practices at the urban and municipal levels. The program, part of an international effort to include disabled persons in the development process, is based on estimates that some 10 percent of the world’s population must cope with disabilities --about 400 million of them in developing countries”.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,conten%20tMDK:20244035~...

2. MACHREQ/MAGREB:
Gaza Community Mental Health Program Wins Peace Award. The award was granted by Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR), USA. The award that was presented on July 31st is an annual award that begun in 1998, and is given to an organization that promotes peace through values such as gender equality and sustainable development. http://www.grassrootsonline.org/gol_082704_gcmhp.html

Palestinian and Arab Prisoners in Israeli Jails Continue Hunger Strike Demanding Improved Conditions. Lead: “The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights expresses its deep concern at the continued actions of the Israeli Occupation Authorities towards the legitimate demands of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Thousands of Palestinian and Arab detainees have joined this strike. The strike began in four Israeli prisons on the 15th of August in an attempt to exert pressure on the Israeli authority to improve the conditions of confinement.”

3. NGOs:
CIVICUS soon to launch new Civil Society Watch activist web site Lead: “CIVICUS’ Civil Society Watch (CSW) programme is soon launching a new activist website which will act as the programme’s primary advocacy tool and create a greater outreach for programme activities. The site promotes one of the underlying aims of the programme which is to mobilise quick, principled and effective responses to events that threaten civil society’s fundamental rights to collectively express, associate and organize throughout the world. The website will regularly feature ‘Action Alerts’ depicting situations where civil society is under threat, and ‘Take Action’ campaigns where users are encouraged to make a difference. Users can vote on issues relating to threats to civil society and post their comments and suggestions in the community section. The Library Section contains publications and articles for those undertaking research on civil society issues. The site launch date is to be announced in the following edition of this newsletter”http://www.civicus.org/new/intro_new.asp

1. GENDER:
WHO: The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI). “Sexual Violence is both a public health problem and a violation of human rights, but it has been a long struggle to have it recognised as a legitimate health issue. Sexual violence to date has received little attention from researchers, policy makers and programmes”.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~10%2010184~...

Women's Alliance for a Democratic Iraq. This article relates the “Women's Alliance for a Democratic Iraq (WAFDI)”, which is an international non-partisan and not-for-profit women rights organization. “WAFDI is dedicated to a free and democratic Iraq with full and equal individual rights for women. WAFDI is committed to the advancement of women...”http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~10%2010583~intcmp=00001

2. NGOs:
Aid Agencies Rethink Strategy. In this article, a group of the world's leading nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including CARE, OXFAM, Save the Children, and World Vision, has produced a new report, entitled "Ambiguity and Change: Humanitarian NGOs Prepare for the Future. The article touches on the crises that many humanitarian organizations have to face today, and the patterns of aid that these organisations follow. In essence it is a call for help from the experts.
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/92003/1/

Dimensions of the Global Civil Society. A new topic on the Development Gateway is the “Johns Hopkins Comparative Non­profit Sector Project”. It is a project that reveals “important information about the dimensions of the global civil society”. Lead: “Despite the upsurge in the number of voluntary, non-profit and civil society organizations and their growing significance as development actors, there is very little systematic knowledge and empirical data about this sector -the Johns Hopkins Comparative Non-profit Sector Project seeks to fill this knowledge gap and offers new evidence about the scope and significance of this sector”. One of the things it demonstrates is that the non-profit sector is a far more significant economic force around the world than is commonly understood – “representing a $1.3 trillion dollar industry”. http://topics.developmentgateway.org/civic

3. TRADE/ECONOMICS/MICROFINANCE:
Migrant Workers and Xenophobia in the Middle East. This is a paper produced by the UN by R, Jureidini. It analyses both the patterns and cases of xenophobia in the region. Issues raised include, the history of migration to the area by foreign workers, the trends of employment and abuse that these workers are subjected to, amongst many others.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/httpNetITFramePDF?ReadForm&parentunid=045B62F1548C9C15C1256E970031D80D&parentdoctype=paper&netitpath=80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpAuxPages)/045B62F1548C9C15C1256E970031D80D/$file/jureidin.pdf

Display and Evaluation of the Progress Made by the Republic of Yemen in Executing the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries. This is an ESCWA study published in Arabic. This study reveals, and evaluates the measures taken by Yemen over the last three years in executing the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries (LDC’s) adopted by the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries that took place in Brussels, May 2001. Lead: “The study focuses on government measures taken in various social and economic sectors to improve economic growth on the one hand and to implement the recommendations of the conference on the other”.http://www.escwa.org.lb/

4. YOUTH:
Youth Employment Network. The Youth Employment Network (YEN) was created in partnership with the World Bank, UN, and ILO to “develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work. The YEN is engaged in the advocacy work and also”.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/youth/rc/ItemDetail.do~100%209909~i...

Creating More Opportunities for Young People Using Information and Communication Technology. This paper details ways, in which young people can move from self employment to running their own business, using information and communication technologies, drawing from a report produced by the author for the Global Knowledge Partnership. http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/ItemDetail.do~101044%205~int...

1. GENDER:
Rethinking Domestic Violence: A Training Process for Community Activists Website. This tool aims to strengthen the capacity of a wide range of community members to prevent domestic violence. “The Training Process is organised in six parts: Introduction; Becoming Aware of Gender and Rights; Deepening Understanding of Domestic Violence, which helps participants think about their personal experiences and come to a deeper understanding of why action is necessary; Developing Skills and Personal Qualities; Taking Action to Prevent Domestic Violence; and Appendices which provide information on how to monitor and evaluate the process of domestic violence prevention in the community. Each section offers a series of two-hour modules designed to strengthen capacity of participants to prevent domestic violence. All the interactive modules have been extensively field-tested in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya and designed to be easy to follow, even for those with minimal training experience”.To download: http://www.serve.com/adnet/index.shtml

A Comprehensive Website on Women, Children and HIV. The Women, Children, and HIV Website “is the result of a collaboration between the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Centre at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and the Centre for HIV Information (CHI) at the University of California”.http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~10%2010656~intcmp=00001

2. YOUTH:
European Youth Portal. Developed with and for young people, this portal (currently available in 22 languages) is part of a European Commission initiative to provide access to youth-related information on Europe. Information and experience exchange are tools designed to enhance young people's participation in public life and contribute to their active citizenship. http://www.comminit.com/links/linksunmulti/links-640.html