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Issue 17
IN THIS ISSUE:
EVENTS & NEWS
1. Machreq/Maghreb
2. Trade/Economics/Microfinance
REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
1. Gender
2. Gender & Youth
3. Machreq/Maghreb
4. NGOs
5. Poverty
6. Children & Youth
OTHER USEFUL LINKS
1. Machreq/Maghreb
2. NGOs
EVENTS & NEWS
1. MACHREQ/MAGHREB:
Growing Momentum for Reform in Middle East.
Lead: “Whisper it quietly to the pessimists and Washington's newly assertive neo-realists, but what seemed to be a disappointingly modest democracy initiative emerging from last June's G-8 Sea Island summit is gaining real traction. The positive response of reformers in the Middle East itself is generating growing momentum despite the overt hostility of many Arab regimes and a more nuanced diplomatic skepticism from some in foreign policy elites who combined to dilute the original Greater Middle East Initiative”. Democracy Digest October 19, 2004 www.freedomhouse.org
EU to Produce Plan for Palestinian State - But Do Palestinians Want It?
”The European Union will shortly unveil a plan to ensure the viability of a Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders, it is reported in Brussels. Frustrated with what they see as US diplomatic inertia resulting from domestic political imperatives, EU politicians are pushing to accelerate the EU's engagement in the region. A detailed plan is expected shortly from external affairs commissioner Javier Solana for advancing the Road Map drawn up by the Quartet of the EU, US, UN and Russia. Solana's paper is expected to focus on security, economic development and reform, and to emphasize the need for free and fair elections”. Democracy Digest October 19, 2004 www.freedomhouse.org
Protests at Continued Detention of Bahraini Human Rights Activist.
It has been reported that human rights activist Abdul-Hadi al-Khawajah pleaded not guilty on Saturday to "inciting hatred" against the Bahrain government and circulating false information about top officials. “The hearing was delayed for 90 minutes by protests from dozens of supporters who invaded the courtroom. His arrest last month and the dissolution of the Al Oruba human rights centre have highlighted the fragility of recent democratic reforms in the kingdom”. Democracy Digest October 19, 2004
Empowering Iraqi Women.
The U.S. State Department has launched a $10 million project with the aim of helping more Iraqi women become involved in politics: "Several academic
and non-governmental organizations will execute projects designed to train potential women candidates about competing in the elections and to encourage women to exercise their right to vote. The grants will also support the establishment of women's networking and counselling centres." http://usinfo.state.gov/mena/Archive/2004/Sep/27-387029.html
2. TRADE/ECONOMICS/MICROFINANCE:
Call for Papers: MENA Economies, Past Perspectives and Future Challenges.
EcoMod Network is holding a conference on 'Middle East and North African Economies: Past Perspectives and Future Challenges'. The conference will take place at the Free University of Brussels, on June 2-4, 2005. “The conference aims to promote and stimulate an exchange of ideas in economic research of the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries”. Deadline for abstract submissions is January 15, 2005. Deadline for submission of full papers is April 15, 2005. Please see website for further details. Available online at:
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC15984
REPROTS, BOOKS AND ARTICLES
1. GENDER:
Women environmentalists demand end to gender apartheid.
Lead; “The first global women's assembly on the environment has highlighted the crucial roles women play in conservation and sustainable development and developed a manifesto with policy recommendations and a portfolio of project ideas”.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~10 23218~intcmp=00001
New Attempt at Bringing Female Suffrage to Kuwait.
“Disenfranchised Kuwaiti women merit full political rights”, claims Kuwait's influential Supreme Council for Development and Planning. “The council plans to introduce legislation guaranteeing women's right to political participation. The decision is likely to spark parliamentary conflict with Islamists and tribal leaders who vehemently oppose the idea, and successfully killed a 1999 bill granting women the right to vote and stand for office”. www.gulfnews.com/Articles/Region2.asp?ArticleID=135976
Gender and Citizenship Cutting Edge Pack.
Lead; “In what ways can citizenship promote gender equality? What does citizenship mean for people living in poverty and insecurity? It has been argued that using the language and arguments of citizenship is a powerful way to bring about gender equality through focusing on people and how they interact with institutions. In response to this, this report seeks to reframe citizenship from a gender perspective and to show how struggles for women's rights must be seen as citizenship struggles that affect everyone in society rather than minority interests”. http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC15961
Women's Empowerment, Gender Equality & the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
This ‘information and action guide’, developed by the Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), looks at how women have “responded to the MDGs and provides a gender perspective for each of the eight Millennium Development Goals”. Lead: ” Gender equality is not only a goal in its own right, but an essential ingredient for achieving all the MDGs, be it poverty eradication, protecting the environment, or access to health-care,” asserts WEDO. In addition the guide also provides a list of actions that organizations can take to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality.
www.ippfwhr.org/publications/download/monographs/WEDO_M DG_Guide.pdf
IGNOU-UNESCO Multimedia Gender Training Kit.
This gender training kit comprises of “resources on gender and development drawn from the World Wide Web and audio/video/print materials. There are seven gender training modules in the kit. They are designed in self-instructional format and include lessons, self assessment…”
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~10 23502~intcmp=00001
Valuing women.
In this article called valuing women, a commentary and discourse is given about the ‘characterisation of women through development discourse’. Lead: “Women. What are we good for? Absolutely everything. But you would never know it from development work. Within development rhetoric, we have value in terms of our capacities to reproduce and to nurture children, families, communities and nations, our propensity to consume, and our victimisation in violent confrontations. In essence, we breed and feed; we buy and cry. But we do so much more. We create; we console; we connect”. http://www.comminit.com
2. GENDER & YOUTH:
Working With Men and Boys to Promote Gender Equality and To End Violence Against Boys and Girls.
This report reviews gender based violence and promoting gender equality with a focus of men and boys in the South Central Asia region. It summarises the three-day workshop on 'Strengthening partnership with men and boys to promote gender equality and end violence against girls and boys', “where participants from the region met and shared practical experiences of and theoretical insights into working with men and boys on issues of masculinities that promote gender equality and non-violence towards children and women. The workshop also developed strategies and concrete action plans for increasing partnership with men and boys to address violence against girls and boys and for promoting gender equality from child-rights based approach”. http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16230
Global Child Labour Data Review: A Gender Perspective (vol. 3). This report provides an analysis of child labour disaggregated by sex. It reviews existing child labour data, specifically from a gender perspective, and provides a detailed review of and comparison between six countries, Ecuador, Ghana, the Philippines, Dominican Republic, South Africa and Turkey to look at general trends in child labour and sex differentials. “The report also presents an analysis of rapid assessments by sector, namely agriculture, child domestic work and commercial sexual exploitation, to find the root causes of child labour and the factors that push children into abusive situations in agriculture, domestic work and commercial sexual exploitation”. http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16119
3. MACHREQ/ MAGHREB:
Bridge to Baghdad - United States & Iraq. This article relates a program initiated by DCTV an independent non-profit media centre, in which young Americans and Iraqis participate in dialogues about the conflict between their nations using satellite technology. “Prior to the filmed interactions, documentary films are created to explore these young people's lives in the context of conflict - and to invite comparisons and contrasts between their experiences. The purpose of the initiative, which has expanded to involve media in the form of the Internet and television, is to foster dialogue between young people and to provide a human perspective on the experience of war”. http://www.comminit.com/experiences/pdskdv42003/experiences-1323.html
Iraq Reconstruction. In this article from the World Bank a description of the recent donor's meeting in Tokyo of the International Reconstruction Fund for Iraq is related. For example a discussion of working papers that address various aspects of Iraq’s needs is related. “Although preliminary, the papers address key areas such as building an investment climate, reforming state-owned enterprises, the food grain market and trade”. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/M%20ENAEXT/IRAQEXTN/0,,contentMDK:20270728~pagePK:14113%207~piPK:141127~theSitePK:313105,00.html
Progress or Peril? Measuring Iraq's Reconstruction.
This report sets out to “develop a broad-based, data-rich, multidisciplinary model for measuring progress of reconstruction in Iraq that has as its core the Iraqi perspective. It is based on data covering the period form June 2003- July 2004”. http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16127
4. NGOs:
CIVICUS releases first results of Civil Society Index project.
“The Czech Republic, one of the 61 countries participating in the CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI) project, is the first country to successfully complete an assessment of the state of its civil society. The resulting ‘CSI diamond’, which provides a graphic representation of the state of civil society in a particular country in four main areas, indicates that while the values practiced and promoted in the Czech civil society arena and the external environment in which its civil society exists and functions are relatively strong, the structure of its civil society and the impact of the activities pursued by its civil society actors are somewhat weak”.
www.civicus.org/new/content/Art1csi.htm
United Nations Volunteers (UNV) project explores the economic value of volunteerism. Lead: “Determining volunteerism’s contributions to a country’s economy is at the centre of a pilot project launched this month by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The joint JHU/UNV Volunteer and Non-profit Measurement Project will be carried out in nine pilot countries– Brazil, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mali, Mozambique, the Philippines and South Africa”.
www.unv.org/infobase/news_releases/2004/04_10_14DEU_jhu.htm
Involving the Community: A Guide to Participatory Development Communication. From the article: “This guide introduces participatory development communication concepts, which aim at facilitating the active involvement of different community groups, with the other stakeholders involved, and the many development and research agents working with the community and decision makers. The book also discusses the effective two-way communication approaches, and presents a methodology to plan, develop, and evaluate communication strategies”. http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16136
5. POVERTY:
Partnerships in Development: Progress in the Fight against Poverty. Lead: “Over the past 10 years, the World Bank has published eight Poverty Progress Reports. This latest report focuses on cooperative efforts between the World Bank and other development and financial organizations to help countries see poverty as a multidimensional problem, and to adopt multifaceted strategies for reducing it. This report uses statistics and case studies to illustrate the Bank's poverty reduction programs”. http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC14960
UNCDF: Mid-term Review of the MicroStart Yemen Programme (Prepared by UNCDF for UNDP, Yemen)
Lead: “The MicroStart project is a pilot component of the UNDP’s Support to Yemen National Poverty Alleviation Programme. The main objectives of this project were: to develop the capacity of local participating organizations to deliver sustainable micro finance products”. http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/rc/ItemDetail. do~1023192~intcmp=00001
UNCDF: MicroStart Yemen: Options for the Institutionalization of the Taiz Project and Recommendations for Phase II of the MicroStart Program.
This article relates further information about the MicroStart project in Yemen, which is a component of UNDP's broader support to the Yemen National Poverty Alleviation Programme. “The MicroStart Yemen technical review was conducted in June 2001 by independent consultants and the findings of the mission were formulated”. http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/rc/ItemDetail. do~1023205~intcmp=00001
UNDP Morocco MicroStart Programme Document.
Lead: “UNDP, in consultation with practitioners and donors, devised MicroStart as a pilot global programme to build the capacity of local organizations to initiate or expand existing microfinance activities. UNDP Morocco, in its efforts to join the Moroccan Government”.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/rc/ItemDetail. do~1023201~intcmp=00001
6. CHILDREN & YOUTH:
Voice of Arab Youth (VOAY) - Middle East & North Africa.
This article relates a project established by the Academy for Educational Development (AED). “This project aims to give young Arabs the chance to document and discuss their experiences working on community development projects in the Middle East and North Africa. Selected participants receive training and funding to support projects to be carried out in their home countries. VOAY is designed to enable 18-25 year-old Arab leaders to implement community growth initiatives with self-designed projects in the fields of education, income generation, and/or job creation”.
http://www.comminit.com/experiences/pds82004/experiences-2058.html
Child Labour: A Textbook for University Students.
“This textbook is designed for university students to learn about the causes and issues surrounding child labour. Each chapter discusses the topic, presents questions for further discussion and suggests further reading materials. The book is set out as follows: part 1 discusses different forms of child labour, part 2 looks at the causes of child labour and issues related to education and girl child labour, part 3 presents the different actors fighting against child labour, researching child labour, and the actions that organisations and individuals can undertake”. http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC14051
Progress for Children: A Child Survival Report Card.
This report produced by the UN, looks at trends in the indicators for the fourth MDG, which aims for a two-third reduction of under-five mortality rates between 1990 and 2015. “Tracing back to the 1960s it takes a regional and global analysis to the achievements in reducing child mortality. It finds that global gains have been made in child survival since 1990, but there are also significant discrepancies within and across countries and regions”.
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16112
OTHER USEFUL LINKS
1. MACHREQ/MAGHREB:
Middle East Partnership Initiatives (MEPI). Lead: “The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is a US Presidential initiative founded to support economic, political, and educational reform efforts in the Middle East, and to champion opportunity for all people of the region, especially women and youth. MEPI is seeking new and innovative proposals to promote and support positive change in economic, political, education programs and the empowerment of women in the Middle East and North Africa. Applications should include cost-sharing, partnership with local NGOs or local governments in the region, a public diplomacy outreach plan, and an alumni network component. MEPI is looking for creative ideas that can be implemented relatively quickly to produce concrete results. Applications may address one or more of the stated purposes; proposals need not cover all priorities”. The
next deadline is November 1, 2004. For more information and for the application, please go to http://mepi.state.gov/27603.htm
Soros Foundation Open Society Institute (OSI): The Middle East and North Africa Initiatives. Lead: “The Open Society Institute (OSI) is a private grant-making foundation that serves as the hub of the Soros Foundation network. OSI and the network implement a range of initiatives that aim to promote open societies by shaping government policy and supporting education, media, public health, and human and women's rights, as well as social, legal, and economic reform. To diminish and prevent the negative consequences of globalization, OSI seeks to foster a global open society by increasing collaboration with other nongovernmental organizations, governments, and international institutions. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Initiative is a largely grant-making program that develops OSI's activities in the MENA region. Its grant-making program supports efforts on behalf of women's rights, human rights and freedom expression, arts and culture”. For more information, please go to http://www.soros.org/initiatives/cep/focus_areas/mena
2. NGOs:
The Development Gateway portal.
“This portal provides interactive content and resources on development, including more than 30 online communities on key development topics, the AiDA directory of development projects, the dgMarket online public tendering service, and Country Gateways in more than 50 developing nations. The portal is a service of the Development Gateway Foundation, an independent non-profit organisation. As an enabler of development, the Development Gateway Foundation works to improve people's lives by building partnerships and information systems that provide access to knowledge for development”.