IN THIS ISSUE
EVENTS
HUMAN RIGHTS
More Sudanese Women Needed at Peace Talks, and in Government
GENDER
Symposium on Arab women’s Economic Rights – November 11
Lebanese NGOs identify ways to end gender discrimination / 12 – 13 October 05
NEWS
TRADE AND ECONOMY
Lebanon's WTO entry may hang on piracy issues
INSEE puts Lebanon's 2002 GDP at $18.6 bln
Forum highlights Lebanese unemployment
World Bank urges Lebanon to reduce size of public sector
MEDIA
Labour Reports - Asia, Middle East, and the South Pacific
ENVIRONMENT
Capacity Building for
Nile-Basin Water Resources Management
Activists in Lebanon urge drivers to leave cars at home
Hundreds protest against Sidon dump/ South Lebanon
GENDER
Women's rights activists dispute Iraq's title of region's most progressive state
Follow the Women’ cycling across Middle East in support of peace
Stop Violence Against Women Campaign – Global
DEVELOPMENT
Alzheimer's group in Lebanon assists caregivers and family
Middle East experts call for increased funding for education
Lebanon slips in human development index
Money laundering task force approves wide-ranging regulations to combat terror funding
Report: Lebanon has made impressive advances in field of child education
Lebanon: No excuse for the lack of reliable statistics
INTERNATIONAL FUNDING
FINNIDA
HUMAN RIGHTS
Iraq Constitution: Expectations focus on upcoming referendum
Orphanage in Lebanon sees tragically high rate of arrivals
UN human-trafficking expert slams Lebanese Penal Code
Lebanese homosexuals seek Dutch asylum to escape prison
'Citizen-refugees' overlooked by many
ICT
Tanmia’s successful experience using local projects database
Promoting youth income generation opportunities through information & communication technologies (ICT)
Syria: Online Government Services Will Be Offered
REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
DEVELOPMENT
E-Commerce & Development Report 2003
Designing a national system of social targets based on international millennium development goals
We the people 2005: Mobilizing for change: message from civil society
Non-Profit Management Resources – Actions without Borders
2005 world summit outcome: Achievements UN brief
Globalization and Health
Globalization and investment opportunities: co-integration study of Arab, U.S. and emerging stock markets
Lebanese Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004
GENDER
Learning in Partnerships
Empowering women migrant workers in Asia: Briefing kit files
Gender mainstreaming in development and trade policy and practice: Learning from Austria, Belgium, and the UK
Progress of the world’s women 2005: women, work & poverty
Muslim Women and Development Action Research Project - North Africa
Female Genital Cutting: Breaking the Silence, Enabling Change
TRADE
Where are we in the Doha Round?
MEDIA
Use of Media in Awareness Education About Prevention and Needs of Disability
TRAINING MATERIALS/TOOL KITS
IT4Youth – Palestine

EVENTS
HUMAN RIGHTS
More Women Needed at Peace Talks, and in Government - NAIROBI, Sep 10
A meeting in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi has highlighted the importance of giving Sudanese women a greater voice in their country's political affairs, if Sudan is to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). More details

GENDER
Symposium on Arab women’s Economic Rights – November 11
This forum, to be held in Bahrain from November 11, is part of a partnership among countries of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) region and the Group of Eight (G8) industrial countries.
Recommendations from the opening symposium, which focuses on reinforcing the role of Arab women in economic development, will be discussed along with proposals from other workshops in the UK, US, Jordan and Qatar.
NGOs and activists who wish to register or receive further information on the symposium should visit the website and here for registration.

Lebanese NGOs identify ways to end gender discrimination – October 12 – 13 2005
The Arab NGO Network for Development, in association with the Canadian International Development Agency, the Lebanese Women Network, Oxfam Quebec, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Social Affairs Ministry, addressed the issue of discrimination against women in a conference held Tuesday 12th of October at Beirut's Crown Plaza Hotel.
Social Affairs Minister Nayla Mouawad said: "Gender equity was mentioned in the Ministerial statement for the first time in the history of Lebanon and that alone is an achievement, although it has not yet been executed because the Cabinet is preoccupied with strengthening the security situation." Source

NEWS
TRADE/THE REGION
Lebanon's WTO entry may hang on piracy issues
Lebanon's chief negotiating team for World Trade Organization's (WTO) accession announced that Beirut should move fast to prepare all of the required procedures for entering the trade institution by the end of 2006. "We urgently need to speed up all the legal, administrative, and enforcement requirements that will help us join WTO right before. Read Article

INSEE puts Lebanon's 2002 GDP at $18.6 bln
Institute National de la Statistique et de Etudes (INSEE), during the opening of the National Accounting for 1997-2002 conference that was attended by Premier Fouad Siniora, estimated Lebanon's GDP in 2002 at $18.6 billion, slightly higher than earlier estimates. Read more

Forum highlights Lebanese unemployment
Unemployment rate among Lebanese university graduates is about 70 percent, according to leading industrial lobbyist, a consequence of a long-neglected industrial sector that has drastically tightened job
opportunities. "Seventy percent of our university graduates are unemployed according to the head of the European commission. Read more

World Bank urges Lebanon to reduce size of public sector
The World Bank said Lebanon should reduce the overstaffed public sector by offering some of the staff early retirement packages. "Lebanon's overall public wage bill is relatively low by international standards, yet opportunities exist for considerable savings through future retirements that should be used to build a competent civil service capacity. Read more

MEDIA
Labour Reports - Asia, Middle East, and the South Pacific
This is a project designed to meet the dual purpose of providing co-production/training opportunities for Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) developing country member broadcasters while building awareness and visibility of specific labour issues within the region. It began with the first conference and workshop session in Bangkok, Thailand, from January 11-13 2005 and will be followed by another later in 2005 or early in 2006. In the interim, participants have returned to their home countries to produce a series of "Labor Reports"... Read more

ENVIRONMENT
Capacity Building for Nile-Basin Water Resources Management
Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania
& Uganda
The goal of this initiative, which is an umbrella for several communication-centred projects being carried out by partners in this region, is to secure better access to information on the availability, use, and
development potential of the Nile resources these countries share, to the end of improving water resource management in the region. Information and communication technologies (ICTs), as well as face-to-face workshops, are used as tools to build capacity within particular communities for more cooperative
management of environmental resources... Read more

Activists urge drivers to leave cars at home
Environmental activists gathered at the Press Federation yesterday to call on all drivers to leave their cars at home today, and find alternative methods of transportation for a nationwide "Car Free Day." According
to environmental organization Green Line activist Firass Abi Ghanem, "With 1.3 million private cars. Read more

Hundreds protest against Sidon dump / South Lebanon
Representatives from various environment and civil organizations were joined by hundreds of citizens and the mayor of this southern port city at the site of a collapsed waste dump yesterday, and called on officials to end an environmental crisis facing the area.

GENDER/ THE REGION
Women's rights activists dispute Iraq's title of region's most progressive state
Women's rights activists in Iraq say rising extremism is restricting their freedom, even as the country prepares to vote on a constitution that is touted as one of the Arab world's most progressive regarding women. "Women cannot walk freely out in the street," said activist Ban Jamil, who directs the Rasafa Branch of the Assyrian Women's Union. Read more

Follow the Women’ cycling across Middle East in support of peace
More than 300 women from 34 countries are cycling over 300 kilometers from Beirut in Lebanon, through Syria to Damascus, to Amman in Jordan and into Palestine to Ramallah from 15-25 September 2005. The women, part of ‘Follow the Women’, an international group aimed at end violence in the Middle East,
are covering some 50 km a day. They include professional women, nurses, doctors, policewomen and mothers who say they have decided to take a break ‘for a good cause’. To learn more

Stop Violence Against Women Campaign – Global
In the context of the 16 Days Against Gender Violence Campaign and in honor of the World AIDS Day 2004 theme of Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS, the USA-based Amnesty International launched a 2-year global advocacy campaign to stop violence against women. The organization is urging women around the world to "add your voice to the growing chorus of committed individuals demanding change… For more information

DEVELOPMENT
Alzheimer's group in Lebanon assists caregivers and family
On the occasion of World Alzheimer's Day on September 21, Founder and President of the Lebanese Alzheimer's Association (LAA), Mansour described her relationship with the disease as "a love story."
"Unless we fight the stigmas of the disease we will never be able to raise awareness for it and an estimated 30,000 cases of Alzheimer's in Lebanon and 1.5 million cases throughout the Arab World are staggering enough to call for action". Read more

Middle East experts call for increased funding for education
Education experts from across the Middle East called for increased funding for what was identified as every country's most vital sector during the first day of the second Arab Gathering for Education at the Phoenicia Inter-Continental Hotel. Kicked off yesterday, the four-day conference has brought together experts in education from all the Arab countries for a debate on how to provide education for rural communities with specific needs. For more information

Lebanon slips in human development index
Lebanon has dropped a rank – down to 81st out of 177 – in the latest edition of the United Nations
Development Program’s Human Development Report HDR. A summary of the 2005 report was distributed during a news conference at UN house in Beirut, titled “Aid, Trade and Security in an Unequal World.” For more information

Money laundering task force approves wide-ranging regulations to combat terror funding
Cash money transfers and donations to charity groups will come under tighter scrutiny by
the Arab states that have joined the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force which was set up by the Group of 7. Speaking at the end of a two- day meeting, the president of the MENA FATF Mohammad Baasiri told reporters. Read more

Report: Lebanon has made impressive advances in field of child education
Poverty, disease, the lack of education and protection are but some of the problems facing over 600 million children in the Islamic world, according to a new report, which cited Lebanon as one of the countries, that have made an impressive advancement in the field of child education. Read more

No excuse for the lack of reliable statistics
Some researchers believe the deficiencies in official figures may be intential. For any one who has searched in vain – and with increasing frustration – for accurate and up-to-date statistics in Lebanon, the
lack of reliable information is more than evident. Obtaining accurate and recent – or recently accurate – information and statistics from the concerned ministries in this country has always been problematic. For more info.

INTERNATIONAL FUNDING
FINNIDA
Part of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, FINNIDA, the Finnish Department for International Development Cooperation, is a tool of Finland ’s development policy and pursues objectives in harmony with Finland ’s overall foreign policy. As such, FINNIDA aims to: promote global security; reduce widespread poverty; promote human rights and democracy; prevent global environmental problems; and promote economic dialogue.
Finland channels 10 to15 per cent of development funds through NGOs In 2004, support was granted to
nearly 140 Finnish NGOs, with a total of 350 projects in 80 countries. In addition, FINNIDA also supports international and regional NGOs in the field of conflict prevention, promotion of human rights, democracy and good governance and support for civil society. For more information on FINNIDA

HUMAN RIGHTS
Iraq Constitution: Expectations Focus on Upcoming Referendum
The new Iraqi draft constitution was sent for printing on September 19th, 2005 after weeks of disagreement between political leaders mainly regarding the issues of representation of the three majorities, Shia, Sunnis and Kurds; degrees of autonomy for the regions; and control and use of
oil resources.
Iraqi constitution experts believe that more work should have been done to bridge differences. A rejection of the document would be a severe blow to the country’s progress and rebuilding. Failure to agree on the
constitution is seen as likely to deepen the Sunni-Shia divide and lead to more sectarian violence
The constitution will now be decided upon in a referendum on 15 October, 2005. For more details

Orphanage sees tragically high rate of arrivals
The year 2005 "was the most difficult" in the history of the Dar al-Aytam al-Islamiyya (Islamic Orphanage), considering the big number of children allowed joining the orphanage, according to the director
general of Mohammad Barakat. For more details

UN human-trafficking expert slams Lebanese Penal Code
One in three of migrant workers in Lebanon are estimated to be victims of human trafficking as revealed by a special rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights. "The [Lebanese] government appears to have recognized human trafficking as a problem," said Sigma Huda, commissioned with a fact-finding mission on human trafficking of women and children in Lebanon. Read more

Lebanese homosexuals seek Dutch asylum to escape prison
Lebanese homosexuals have sought political asylum in the Netherlands to escape their country's tough laws which brand homosexuality an "unnatural" act and to avoid jail at home. Article 534 of the Lebanese penal code "bans unnatural sexual relations" although it does not explicitly refer to homosexuality. Read more
 
'Citizen-refugees' overlooked by many
Trying to escape the weight of the political, social and largely economic crisis currently undermining the country, many Lebanese citizens have been forced to live in the degradation of the country's Palestinian
refugee camps. However in the camp of Beddawi, northern Tripoli, a whole neighborhood of "purely". Read more

ICT
Tanimia’s successful experience using local projects database
Morocco's Country Gateway, called Tanmia, is using the Local Projects Database (LPD) to
facilitate the coordination and transparency of foreign aid in Morocco, for UNDP. LPD is an open source software created by the Development Gateway. Tanmia personnel are collecting and entering the data for UNDP, which will analyze it and distribute findings to the government and donors. To visit Tanmia

Promoting Youth Income Generation Opportunities Through Information & Communication Technologies (ICT): Best Practices in Asia & the Pacific - by Richard Curtain
Curtain provides a series of best practice examples demonstrating how young people have used ICT to generate employment opportunities. On the low-technology end, these include selling telephone-based services, working as "information intermediaries" and engaging in e-commerce based
activities in rural areas. In the middle-technology range, telecentres and cable television providers are being run by young people with equipment such as printers, photo-copiers or satellite dishes. Curtain emphasizes not only many cases of success, but also the barriers that many developing countries face in
realizing the potential that ICT offers. Read more

Syria: Online Government Services Will Be Offered
As part of efforts to make use of ICT in some vital sectors as health, tourism and communication, the Syrian Ministry of Communication and Technology is planning to launch a project to set up "The E-Government Gate" to help provide some services with the cooperation of several state ministries and institutions.
The project envisages setting up 'data gates and state services' on the Internet to serve as main access points for both the citizens and state agencies as well. This mechanism would also secure credibility and
privacy of the data as well as the information exchanged between users. For more information

REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
DEVELOPMENT/THE REGION
E-Commerce & Development Report 2003
Chapter 1: Recent Internet Trends
The global number of internet users continued to grow in 2002, reaching 591 million people. The annual rate of growth, however, slowed from 27.3% to 20%. If current trends continue, UNCTAD concludes, internet users in developing countries could constitute 50% of the world total in the next 5
years. In Africa and the Middle East, women tend to represent less than the 35% of the total internet user population. Read more

Designing a national system of social targets based on international millennium development goals
Author(s): Neri, M.C.; Xerez, M.C.
Produced by: Global Development Network (GDN) (2004)
This paper discusses the idea of adopting social targets based on international Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in order to encourage commitment of specific locations at the sub-national level to global targets. Based on the classic principle-agent framework, the results of the static models show that adopting transferring criteria according to which the poorest municipalities receive more resources may induce adverse incentives to poverty elimination. This is due to the fact that giving the priority to these locations stimulates the municipal government to reduce its social investments in order to receive more transfers.
This paper is part of a bigger project called the Millennium Development Goals and Social Credit: Think Global, Act Local, which main idea is to offer a framework where specific communities can coordinate
social efforts and to gauge social performance at local level. Available online

We the people 2005: Mobilizing for change: message from civil society
Author(s): Foster, J.W.; Wells, P.
Produced by: North-South Institute (NSI) (2005)
This document is based on a global online survey of civil society engagement with the implementation of the MDGs. Over 400 groups from the North and South provided information about their work on the MDGs and their assessment of progress.
The report concludes that the best approach to the MDGs is one of critical engagement and advocates for applying frameworks of social and economic rights for a renewed and concerted attack on inequality. The report recommends that radical policy change in each of the areas of trade and investment, aid and debt cancellation is essential to progress, as are the building and maintenance of peace. The inadequacy of MDG goals in the areas of health systems and HIV/AIDS must be transcended in an immediate global action to save lives. The failure of the goals to deal with climate change and global warming in any significant fashion requires urgent action. Available online

Non-Profit Management Resources – Actions without Borders
Running a non-profit organization is challenging work, and it often helps to seek advice from others in similar situations. Action without Borders provides a guide to resources on running non-profit organizations, including information on starting an organizations, recruiting and managing volunteers,
and fundraising. View the guide at www.idealist.org/tools/management-resources.html

Progress of the world's women 2005: women, work & poverty
This report marks the fifth anniversary of the UN Millennium Declaration and the tenth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. It argues that unless governments and policymakers pay more attention
to employment, and its links to poverty, the campaign to make poverty history will not succeed, and the hope for gender equality will founder on the reality of women's growing economic insecurity. Author(s): Chen, M. et al, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) (2005). Read more

2005 world summit outcome: Achievements UN brief
Author(s): United Nations
Produced by: United Nations and Global Security (2005)
This fact sheet summarizes the agreements made by the world's leaders, meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York September 2005, on the action to be taken on a range of global challenges, and changes to be made within the UN system. Areas of action are available online.

Globalization and Health
This online journal is a free, peer-reviewed publication focused on globalization and its effects on health. The journal will address issues raised by the increasing international proximity in which humans live
and the effects of market liberalisation and technological advancement on healthcare and welfare. Read more

Globalization and investment opportunities: co-integration study of Arab, U.S. and
emerging stock markets
Author(s): Elfakhani, S.; Arayssi, M.; Smahta, H.
Produced by: Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), Saudi Arabia (2004)
There is a debate in the investment circles on whether international diversification is still possible despite growing globalization and the consequent integration between various stock markets all over the
world. This study explores whether Arab markets can offer international investors unique risk and return characteristics to diversify international and regional portfolios.
The results of the paper as well the recommendations are available online.

Lebanese Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor – February 28, 2005
Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides for equality among all citizens; however, in practice, some aspects of the law and traditional beliefs discriminated against women. Although the law reserves a percentage of private
sector and government jobs to persons with disabilities, there were few accommodations made for them. Discrimination based on race, language, or social status is illegal and was not widespread among citizens; however, foreign domestic servants often were mistreated. There was credible evidence that
foreign domestic servants suffered physical abuse, had pay withheld or unfairly reduced, or were forced to remain locked within their employer's home for the duration of their contracts. More details

GENDER/ THE REGION
Learning in Partnerships
The paper describes a trend toward including "unheard voices" and diverse groups in international development. Learning "is increasingly recognized as an active and ongoing process....This contrasts with
traditional notions of teaching that emphasize the 'transfer' of technology or knowledge." Furthermore, partnerships no longer revolve around discrete project funding; social and economic life is organized through "global flows of information, financial resources, and power in a 'network society'." Read more

Empowering women migrant workers in Asia: Briefing kit files
Author(s): UNIFEM East and Southeast Asia
Regional Office Produced by: United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) (2004)
This kit explores migrant women's experiences through real-life stories, facts about women's migration for work in Asia, accounts of gendered violations and impacts throughout the migration cycle, and
the contributions and capacity of women migrants. It explores the the links and differences between trafficking, smuggling and migration and provides practical leads on what can be done: strategic interventions, examples of good practice and tools and references for gender- and rights-based programming. Available online

Gender mainstreaming in development and trade policy and practice: Learning from Austria, Belgium, and the UK
Author(s): Painter, G.
Produced by: Women in Development Europe (WIDE) (2004)
This paper reflects studies of gender mainstreaming in the development and trade policies and practices of Austria, Belgium, and the UK, commissioned by WIDE. The author presents each countries' policy framework for development and trade, examines gender mainstreaming strategy and practice, and
highlights successes and challenges. The findings reveal that while progress has been made, much work is needed to turn political will into reality. Available online

Progress of the world’s women 2005: women, work & poverty
Author(s): Chen, M. et al
Produced by: United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) (2005)
This report marks the fifth anniversary of the UN Millennium Declaration and the tenth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. It argues that unless governments and policymakers pay more attention to employment, and its links to poverty, the campaign to “make poverty history” will not succeed, and the hope
for gender equality will founder on the reality of women's growing economic insecurity. Available online

Muslim Women and Development Action Research Project - North Africa
The Research Project was undertaken to explore the complex links between women's perceptions of Islam and their rights to reproductive health and education. The project aimed to provide awareness to enable culturally aware and gender-sensitive public policy decisions to be made in areas such as reproductive rights and education, both at the national and international level. Action research was undertaken in partnership between research associates recruited from the Netherlands and partner organizations in selected North African countries. The project produced: country resource books and synthesis report; policy guidelines on themes researched; videos of exchanges between women as support to the resource book; a video entitled "We cannot dream alone", capturing women speaking about their lives and researchers talking about their learning; and publications on Islamic ethics, gender and human rights.
http://www.comminit.com/africa/experiences/pds72004/experiences-2619.htm...
Contact dvl-info@minbuza.nl

Female Genital Cutting: Breaking the Silence, Enabling Change
by Julia M. Masterson & Julie Hanson Swanson
This publication examines the occurrence of female genital cutting (FGC) and common rationales for its practice. Historical efforts to eliminate the practice are explored within the context of an emerging human
rights framework, and a synopsis of three concrete strategies and their results, implemented by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Egypt, The Gambia, and Senegal, is provided. The projects examined were: using a Positive Defiance Approach (PDA) to identify positive role models who had withstood social pressures and not had their daughters cut or who advocate against the practice; working in collaboration with various stakeholders, community members, circumcisers, religious and local leaders, to design and alternative rite of passage curriculum for the traditionally very important girl initiation ceremonies; and Tostan who designed and conducted education classes for over 900 women in 30
villages, providing instruction in human rights, reproductive health, problem-solving and health and hygiene. Read more

TRADE
Where are we in the Doha Round?
Author(s): Halle, M.
Produced by: International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) (2005)
This paper provides an overview of the Doha Round process, noting that it revolves around the liberalization of agriculture, as the 'last frontier for trade liberalization' and the arena where most gains stand to be made. However, it cautions that whom these changes will benefit is a matter of conjecture. The
papers head points and conclusions are available online.

MEDIA
Use of Media in Awareness Education About Prevention and Needs of Disability
This 5-page Executive Summary describes this India-based study as having three objectives: examining the role-played by both print and electronic media in creating awareness among the people at large about
prevention of disability and the needs of the disabled; examining the extent of impact among the disabled; and offering recommendations for media to adopt effective communication methodology. Read more

TRAINING MATERIALS/TOOLKITS/ PROGRAMS
IT4Youth – Palestine
The International Youth Foundation and the Welfare Association are offering enhanced education and job training to youth in isolated rural areas in Palestine. The programme aims to equip approximately 6,000 students and youth per year, as well as teachers, parents, and community members, with information technology (IT)-related skills. A particular emphasis is placed on expanding access to IT education and training for girls. While the use of IT for education, learning, and access to jobs is a key focus, boys and girls from economically poor neighborhoods and refugee camps come to the centre daily to create music and art with digital technologies.
http://www.comminit.com/experiences/pds72004/experiences-2011.html
Contact Patricia Langan plangan@iyfnet.org
OR Sana
Abu Bakr abubakrs@jwelfare.org