http://Sahro.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/317459


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PSU APPOINTED NIMCO AHMED MOHAMOUD DEAN OF ACADAMIC AFFAIRS

First Female Dean in Puntland Higher Education

June 1, 2007 Puntland State University Garowe Campus President has appointed Nimo Ahmed Mohamoud Acting Dean of Academic Affairs. This appointment is an additional responsibility to her current teaching position.The first female dean, she will be head of the Academic Division responsible for teaching/ learning, research, registry, admissions, and student services provision.

The aftermath of the civil strife left many women alone and with no means to provide for their children, and in great need of additional education and training. Puntland State University attempted establishing educational initiatives concentrated on training centering on gender equity, enhancing the role of women and the promotion of human rights.

Nimo Ahmed Mohamoud is product of Puntland State University mission and vision and Ms. Nimo stated “I am committed Puntland State University to be one of the best higher education in Puntland and Somali in general. Nimo graduated from a two year Diploma course offered female students at PSU during its formative stages. Afterwards she left Puntland for India, where successfully completed Bachelor of Business Administration and Masters Business Administration. Upon completion of the MBA, Nimo consulted with PSU administration expressing her desire to come back to Somalia. PSU in liaison with UNDP Somalia-through the QUEST program organized and facilitated Nimo’s return to her former College as an Instructor.

Ms. Nimo has Bachelors degree in Business Administration from University of Madras India and master’s degree in Business Administration from (Training and Advanced Management and Communication) TASMAC India validated with the University of Wales UK. She will be the youngest female to hold such position in Puntland. Nimo aspires to foster democratic Institutional leadership to steer PSU to greater heights of prosperity. She is committed to the developing of and upholding PSU values of gender equality and women development through Education.

Puntland State University vision is to improve the life of Puntland and Somali people through the provision of sustainable education and skill-training policies with feasible education programme development. The University will enhance its reputation as an institution of higher learning where imagination, innovation, and application of knowledge are integrated to provide leadership into the future.

If you will like to learn more about PSU please contact and scheduled a meeting with Mohamud Hamud at kaaloorg@yahoo.comThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or phone +2525794076.


Contact: Mohamud Hamud
Tel: +2525844247/
kaaloorg@yahoo.com


]]> Tue, 25 Dec 2007 05:41:00 EST http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/317459 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/240577
From Kindness: Making a Difference in People's Lives: Formulas, stories, and insights
By Zelig Pliskin
Printed with Permission of Shaar Press

Some people identify themselves with their faults, weaknesses, and limitations. This weakens and limits them. Others identify themselves with their virtues, skills, and positive qualities. This strengthens those people and brings out their best.

Identify yourself with your strengths and virtues. This will help you help others do the same.

"What are your main strengths and virtues?" you can ask. Some will feel comfortable telling them to you. Others won’t. Some out of modesty. Others because they haven’t as yet identified themselves with their strengths. When they do, it will feel so natural to them that they will readily mention it to others. It’s not boasting but a statement of fact similar to one’s height or color of eyes.

Keep offering positive feedback whenever you can. The less a person identifies with his strengths, the more important it is for you to strengthen his identification with them.

Positive feedback is different than general praise. It is when you notice skill, talent, and excellence and comment:

"That was very good."

"I see that you are highly skilled at this."

"Well-done."

"This job was done with precision."

"You do this excellently."

"I admire your proficiency."

"You are a true expert."

One of my students told me this story:

My parents criticized me, and rarely gave me positive feedback. I grew up feeling that I had many more faults than strengths. What changed my view of myself was a series of meetings I had with an empowering teacher. He pointed out strengths that I only barely realized that I possessed.

"You are your strengths," he told me.

"But I hardly ever apply them," I argued.

"If you would apply them all the time I wouldn’t have to reinforce your awareness of them," he smiled. "What really stops you from identifying yourself with your strengths?" he challenged me.

I thought for a moment and admitted, "The true answer is simply because I’m just not used to seeing myself that way."

"Experiment for an entire week," he suggested. "This week consider yourself a person who has these strengths. See the difference this makes."

I tried this for the week. It helped me so much that I kept it up. This was the single most empowering advice I had ever heard and it has made a major difference in my life.

-----------------------------------------------------------------


Kind Words
is a free weekly e-mail distributed by Partners In Kindness.

Although the content of these e-mails contains copyrighted material, Partners in Kindness allows users who register at our website to reprint them in print, on a website, or on an e-mail distribution list at no cost.

If you have permission to reprint this e-mail, please ensure that you reprint the entire e-mail (including this notice).

Kindness is like music, art, sports or any other discipline -- it can only be mastered with practice, training, and lots and lots of encouragement. That is what PartnersInKindness.org is trying to promote.

The archive for Kind Words e-mails is located at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PartnersInKindness

For further information, please visit our Website http://www.PartnersInKindness.org

e-mail: info@PartnersInKindness.org]]> Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:50:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/240577 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/231817
It has been some time that i wrote on this blog! I had nothing interesting to jot down!
But now i do!

I am in Sierra Leone for a month doing research on the cultural dimension of systematic violence against women. I am in Freetwon fo 2 weks and i will be in Makeni for another two.

Its hot and rainng heavily here as it is the rainy season; but the people here are so friendly and helpful that i just stare in admiration!!!


more soon!!!

we go si back!!!
sahro]]> Sat, 14 Jul 2007 07:19:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/231817 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/161643
Lets share the verbal manifestaions of love and passion....
Hope we can inspire each other...

check this out..sent to me by a friend:

Woman has Man in it;
Mrs. has Mr . in it;
Female has Male in it;
She has He in it;
Madam has Adam in it;
No wonder men always want to be inside women!
ANSWER IS
Men were born between the legs of a woman, yet men spend all their
Life and time trying to go back between the legs of a woman...... Why?
BECAUSE HOME SWEET HOME.

]]> Sun, 11 Feb 2007 10:40:00 EST http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/161643 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/161249
Please share your stoties with me.
Thank you so much!
Sahro]]> Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:30:00 EST http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/161249 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/85751
I am working on a program that deals with Violence against Women (www.cordaid.nl). I would like to know what your views, expereinces and expertise are on the topic of CULTURALviolence against women and young girls in the world. Cultural violence will be the theme of the paper i will write at the end of the year; its my contribution to the program's further development because i think it is an important one.

Acoording to theorists, not much is academically written about the topic of cultural violence against women. The world has not given it its due attention, often because of its sensetivity-the word 'culture' makes it even harder. In every part of the world, women’s roles and positions in society are prescribed. One of the key aspects of every culture is the way it defines gender roles. Almost without exception women are assigned to roles which are subservient to those of men. These roles are often enforced through violence.

Social and political institutions foster women’s subservience and violence against women. Certain cultural practices and traditions – particularly those related to ideas of purity and chastity -- are invoked to explain or excuse such violence. Virtually every culture in the world contains forms of violence against women that are nearly invisible because they are seen as “normal”.

Often, the behaviour of a woman is considered to reflect on her family and community. If a woman is seen to be defying her cultural role, she may be held to have brought shame and dishonour on her family and community. In such circumstances, violence or the threat of violence is used as a means of punishment and control. In the most extreme cases, this can result in permanent disfigurement and even death. So-called “honour” crimes are treated leniently in the legal codes of many countries.

Case study: "At least 270 women were murdered in “honour killings” - usually by their husbands or brothers - in 2002 in Punjab province alone. The figures were compiled by the non-governmental Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, based on police reports. Some were killed because they protested against forced marriages or asserted their right to choose their husband. Others were killed for actions such as a look misconstrued as a sign of an illicit relationship" (www.amnesty.nl)

Even in countries where laws criminalize violence against women, tolerance of violence may be found at all levels of society. Gender-based violence is made possible by the ideology of sexism which argues that women are worth less than men in the sense of having less power, status, privilege, and access to resources. Sexism is a system of beliefs and attitudes based on the alleged inferiority of women; an inferiority which translates into attitudes that hold that women cannot be believed, that women are inferior, and that women are inherently subordinate to men.

According to the top United Nations refugee official there is a “massive” culture of neglect and denial about violence against women, and refugee populations are in the front line of the scourge. The recent rapea ccusations of UN peacekeeping soldiers in Sudan is not being adequately handled in my opinion because that culture of neglect and denial exist everywhere- even at the UN level.

Sad. very Sad.

]]> Sat, 06 Jan 2007 06:56:00 EST http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/85751 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/83059 http://www.iwmf.org

Africa Program


The International Women’s Media Foundation sponsors two major projects in Africa: the Maisha Yetu project to improve the quality and consistency of reporting on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria and the Carole Simpson Leadership Institute.

The goal of IWMF’s Africa programs is to bring the voices of African women more prominently into the media – as reporters, producers, managers, executives, CEOs and media experts.

To accomplish this goal, the IWMF has offered training workshops for journalists on the following topics:

leadership development
media management
computer training in new media technologies
journalism ethics
specialized journalism skills
balancing work and family
coalition building
reporting on HIV/AIDS

More than 1,000 journalists have participated in IWMF programs and workshops conducted for journalists in Africa. The IWMF launched its Africa network in partnership with the Dakar-based Africa Women's Media Center which closed in 2004.

The IWMF continues to work on a variety of projects across the continent.


http://www.iwmf.org


]]> Fri, 22 Dec 2006 14:21:00 EST http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/83059 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/63255

Somali peacebroker: Yusuf Al-Azhari spent six years in solitary confinement as a political prisoner
BY:Michael Smith

Yusuf Al-Azhari was walking between two Somali villages recently when he found a woman lying under a tree with her four children. She had malaria. He laid her head in his lap and she died four hours later. He took the children to the nearest village, a kilometre away, gathered the villagers together and found families to take them in. Countless other children are not so lucky in a nation still in a state of anarchy following the collapse of its Marxist government in 1991 and an all-out civil war. For the past six years there has been no government or judiciary; schools and hospitals are closed, disease and famine rife; children die of malnutrition; and warlords fight for control of the capital, Mogadishu.

Al-Azhari is one of a network of peacebrokers among the intellectuals, religious leaders, businessmen and the women who are bringing together the warring clans in sustained dialogues for reconciliation. A former diplomat and senior administrator, he now describes himself as a `peacemaker and reconciliation promoter'. Recently, the reconcilers spent four months bringing together clans that were fighting each other in the southern port of Kismaayo. For 28 days, their leaders sat under a tree `without accusing each other' until they reached an agreement. `We prefer to call the clan leaders "peace lords" in a psychological bid to tranquillize them,' says Al-Azhari. `Now there is no civil war in Kismaayo. What we are trying to do next is to form a reconciliation conference, either in Somalia or outside.'

It is a dangerous task. At one point, 22 peace negotiators were rounded up and shot. Al-Azhari was one of only three who survived. He had two bullets taken out of his thigh; one remains embedded in his leg. Contrary to world media perception, Al-Azhari says the UN's abortive peacekeeping and humanitarian intervention in Somalia in 1993 was a net benefit to the nation. It ended the worst of the civil war and created a climate in which the warlords, leaders of Somalia's six major clans, were willing to sit down and talk. Where the UN, and the US forces involved, went wrong was in attempting to arrest such warlords as General Aidid, at a time when the nation had no legal framework to bring them to book. Instead, the UN's action merely elevated their status.

In the absence of the UN, much of the drive for peace is coming from the women who have seen their families butchered on an horrific scale. A UNICEF report says that some 40 per cent of Somalia's children are believed to have died or are completely disabled, physically and mentally. Al-Azhari brings to his work of reconciliation his faith as a devout Muslim, his years of experience in diplomacy, and his personal experience of repression. For six years in the Seventies he was held without trial in solitary confinement. Yusuf Omar Ahmed Al-Azhari was born in 1940 into a wealthy family. He took his doctorate in political science and international law at Mogadishu University, and married `the best girl in town', Kadija, the daughter of Prime Minister Abdu Rashid Sharmarke, who later became the second president of independent Somalia. Al-Azhari was appointed senior diplomat in Bonn and then Ambassador to the USA. Smalia, with its strategic access to the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa, became an increasing focus for the cold war between the superpowers. In 1969, Sharmarke was assassinated and five days later General Mohammed Siad Barre came to power in a Soviet-backed coup. His regime was to become one of the world's most oppressive.

Al-Azhari is uncompromising about the part that corruption played in discrediting capitalism and democracy. He cites Western construction companies, brought in to build 30 schools, who offered so many `commissions' to officials that only three schools were built. `The people turned to the socialist-communist system in reaction,' he says. Summoned home from Washington, he was soon arrested, under `emergency security measures', and imprisoned for four and half months. He was transferred to a military camp to be trained in Marxism for nine months, before being sent to work as a farm labourer. Passing all these tests, as he puts it, he was appointed Director General at the Ministry of Information and National Guidance. `I was supposed to orientate the public to the principles of scientific socialism,' though he remained suspect to the regime. He held this post for nearly two years, during which he was offered scholarships in the Soviet Union, East Germany,

North Korea and Cuba, `all of which I managed somehow to decline'. In 1974, he became Ambassador to Nigeria, covering seven other West African nations. At a reception in Lagos for a large Soviet delegation, Al-Azhari queried why such a high level delegation had come to a capitalistic country, `when they always tell us that capitalism is evil'. His question may have sealed his fate: within two weeks he was recalled to Mogadishu. A year later, he was asleep with his wife and four children when soldiers burst in at 3am and seized him. He was handcuffed, blindfolded, thrown into a Land Rover and taken to a prison 350 km outside Mogadishu. It was built by East Germany to Stasi specifications: a cell three metres by four, where Al-Azhari had `no one to talk to, nothing to read, nothing to listen to'. And `to remind me that I was not a tourist in that cell', the guards tortured him daily, both physically and psychologically. He was one of thousands swept up in the purge. Many died, were driven mad or disabled. He too reached the point of madness: `I was full of anger, hatred and depression. I was completely dehydrated, all skin and bones. I lost half my weight. It is painful to recall.' One evening, several months after his capture, he knelt down in despair and prayed: `God, if you are truly there, help me to have peace within myself. Give me a vision of the good purpose you have created for me.' He remained on his knees for eight hours. `They felt like eight minutes. When I got up at 4am I felt light in body and soul. I had no fear. Instead a cool air of love and forgiveness had been planted in my heart.'

His guards, who had enjoyed baiting him, thought he had gone mad when he greeted them in the morning as `brothers'. From that day on, Al-Azhari ordered his day into a routine: half an hour for jogging exercise; half an hour for breakfast; the rest of the day for reviewing his life. `In the evening I was soaked in prayer from 5pm till I went to bed.' As well as a sense of God's presence, which never left him, he also found comfort in his `friends': an ant, a cockroach, a spider weaving her web, and a lizard. The guards threw mutilated rats into his cell to indicate the fate that he might suffer, and shone bright lights on him at night to keep him awake. Yet the punishments cased to touch him. `I felt happy and free,' he insists. Once he was handcuffed for 48 days, the irons cutting into his wrist. His whole forearm became swollen and infected with maggots and puss. When he refused to have his arm amputated, the prison doctor shrugged, believing that he would die anyway. The guards removed the handcuffs, and Al-Azhari was able to squeeze out the infection. Within 20 days, the swelling had subsided. `I could move my fingers again.' But the scar remains. Outside the jail, the Marxist nation was degenerating into economic chaos and poverty. `Barre couldn't even pay the prison guards,' says Al-Azhari. `Everyone was turning against him.' Eventually the prisoners were turned loose. Al-Azhari made his way to Mogadishu to find his wife and family. They had been told that he had died within a week of his arrest. In the six years that had passed they had adjusted to life without him. When he arrived on their doorstep, emaciated and with a beard that fell to his knees, his wife believed she was seeing a ghost and fainted. It took her a week to recover.

By this time, the Soviet Union had begun to support the Mengistu regime in neighbouring Ethiopia. General Barre felt betrayed, as the two nations had been at war over their claims to the Ogaden region, and he switched his allegiance to America. He offered Al-Azhari any place he wanted in the government. Al-Azhari replied, `I will not oppose you, but I will do nothing to support you.' Soon afterwards Barre fled the country and was eventually given asylum in Nigeria. Two years after his release, Al-Azhari was taking tea in a Mogadishu restaurant when a thought `dropped into my mind': `Why don't you forgive that man?' He struggled with the thought for weeks. `It tore me into pieces. How will he react if he has not asked for forgiveness?' Moreover, Al-Azhari had no money to pay for a flight to Nigeria. Barre had confiscated all his wealth while he was in prison. It seemed like a divine sign when the UN delegated him to take part in an OAU conference in Dakar, Senegal.

He found Barre in a small apartment in Lagos. Tears of remorse flowed down Barre's face when Al-Azhari expressed his forgiveness. After half an hour, Barre composed himself: `You have cured me. I can sleep tonight knowing that there are people like you in Somalia.' Barre died two years later. Today, Al-Azhari's wife and children live in Canada. They urge him to join them. But he fears that if he goes he will not want to return to Somalia. He has also been offered a position at the United Nations in New York. But when he weighs $10,000 a month and a big office against 10,000 children who stand to die of war and starvation, he knows where his first allegiance lies. The `good purpose' for which he prayed to God in his prison cell is to remain with his people, and to help them restore peace.

]]> Tue, 07 Nov 2006 07:01:00 EST http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/63255 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/61509
Khalid Adem, 30, was found guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children. Prosecutors said he used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in his family's Atlanta-area apartment in 2001. The child's mother, Fortunate Adem, A South African, said she did not discover it until more than a year later.

read on, with vdeo of trial
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/01/female.circumcision.ap/index.html]]> Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:41:00 EST http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/61509 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/61063
The message is ready to be views with the following link

http://www.whenweruled.com/plugins/iconeframe/frame0.php?lng=en
]]> Thu, 02 Nov 2006 09:23:00 EST http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/61063 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/44979
In honor of Global Love Day May 1, 2007

Children of all ages (anyone young at heart) are invited to share their original creative expression of self acceptance, unity, tolerance, diversity and global love.

Each submission shall be based on the theme: “Love Begins With Me”

We are one humanity on this planet. All life is interconnected and interdependent.
All share in the Universal bond of love. Love begins with self acceptance and forgiveness.

With tolerance and compassion we embrace diversity.

All entries must be postmarked by March 31, 2007

Please also share this announcement with Students, Family, Friends, Teachers, Clubs and Schools.
For more information, previous awards, printable flyers and guidelines visit:
www.thelovefoundation.com
Or email:
globalloveday@thelovefoundation.com
The Love Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 10114, Tampa, FL 33679-0114 USA
a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization

Think: Global Love Day
Feel: Love Begins With Me
Remember: May 1, 2007
]]> Sun, 01 Oct 2006 17:27:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/44979 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/44947
It was on Dutch TV recently....this Gutenberg man is offering thousands of books for free online to all !!!!

I found many educational books there eg on critical thinking, literature, fiction, africa, poetry, etc
My fav is the destiny of the soul....must read!!

go for it!
Sah]]> Sun, 01 Oct 2006 10:43:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/44947 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/43789 It was a day to remember and it is forever engraved in my conscience.
Yesterday was a manifestation of a life-long dream, the unfolding of the ups and downs i endured in obtaining an academic position in a foreign country, with a foreign language, setbacks, norms and values, culture and a totally different academic mindset.

Yesterday i graduated with a Masters degree in Cultural Anthropology/Development Sociology!!

So many friends and family joined me in the collective sharing of the sounds of laughter and the cries of joy. So many others could not join us but their spirits, love and praise were deeply felt.

At exactly, 14:45 I was seated in front of the exam-commission as they debated on the social and academic relevance of my thesis (for more info on my fieldwork visit www.sahro.waarbenjij.nu). As well as my general behaviour and progress in the university domain and own contributions to the faculty. I had graduated with a distinction and i was overcome with joy and shed a tear or two.

I just sat there and stared....and hoped they wouldn't ask me anything.....i prayed ...please just don't ask me anything..... i wasn't thinking straight...and i knew i wouldn't say anything sensible!. They didnt.

Behind me sat my invited guests all, beaming with gifts, flowers and excitement...all proud and beautiful. I felt more of a bride than a graduate..loool !!!!

After 5 or so minutes they called me to the front and i walked towards them....shaking and thinking oooh why am i so nervous.

I stood there facing the audience and the commission to my left as my own supervisor's speech was read out (he couldn't be there, so he had written a long letter). The letter was heart-warming and i am glad to know that I am Prof.Dr. Peter Pels' "favourite Somali Anthropologist" !!

The essence of yesterday, has many dimensions. The Historical dimension involves my own childhood . As a child i dreamed alot, or rather day-dreamed alot. I mastered the art of day-dreaming. Often i got slaps on my head because i didn't hear the adults calling me.

I built castles in the air, i envisioned and constructed my future life. I dreamed about sitting in class among other kids and having many books and pens, i dreamed about learning how to read and write, about being an independent, educated, career-minded and human-potential conscience woman. Most importantly i wanted to prove to my family and relatives that yes, despite all the socio-cultural obstacles that are unique to Somali women, i can be anything i want to be. I come from a traditional nomadic culture and women have a fixed place in society...

Growing up and years later, after realising that this daydreaming was causing me much dismay, i confided in my favourite friend; my grandmother! I asked her for advice as to how i could stop the daydreaming, to which she replied "ooh dear child, it is only after we have dreamt that dreams become goals and goals become realities".

I am happy to announce that i am today joyfully living that dream.

Sincerely, Sahro]]> Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:16:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/43789 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/43287 Small Scale grants for Youth-led Projects


Peace Child International has created the “Be the
Change!” Programme (BTC!) to support young people to
get involved in local community action and development
projects. Peace Child encourages young people to BE
THE CHANGE they want to see in their communities and
to make it possible we created a small scale grant
programme for youth-led projects.

If you are below 25 years old and have a project that
concentrates on the development of your community at a
local level, take a deep look in the requirements for
the grant programme and submit your proposal to Peace
Child International.

The Be the Change! desk officers will guide and advise
you to identify your own local issues, priorities and
problems and also help you to provide your own
solutions.

So, what kind of projects are we looking for?

- Projects that are genuinely youth-led: it cannot be
a bunch of adults getting some young people to front
their project so they can get money for it.
- It must benefit the community rather than an
individual need: we do not accept applications for
school fees or personal trips!
- Projects costing $500 - $1,000 with a detailed
budget.
- Have two experienced and committed adults to mentor
the project: following the principles of the
co-management.
- Have measures of achievement (indicators) by which
projects may be evaluated.
- It can be either income-generating (funds to start
up a small business and creating jobs) or it can be
non-income generating (for health, education,
environmental clean-up or community improvement)
social programmes which are of genuine and lasting
community value.

If you fulfil these requisites make sure to download
the application form on our website and send your
proposals to the appropriate desk officer at Peace
Child International before the deadline.

The deadline for applications to the Be the Change!
Grants is on Tuesday 31st October
You will receive a confirmation when your proposal has
been received.
We look forward to hearing from you!

Please submit photographs, preferably in digital
format to
Or send it by mail to: BTC COORDINATOR
AFRICA: Africa@peacechild.org
ASIA: asia@peacechild.org
EUROPE: Europe@peacechild.org
LATINOAMERICA:latina@peacechild.org

Nadia Ramos Serrano
Coordinadora del Programa de Donaciones BE THE CHANGE
*********************************************
Peace Child International
The White House, 46 High Street,
Buntingford, SG9 9AH Herts,
United Kingdom
Tel: 00 44 (0) 1763 274459
Fax:00 44 (0) 1763 274460
www.peacechild.org
www.bethechange.info
*********************************************



NADIA RAMOS SERRANO
Miembro de la
Red de Jóvenes Líderes
BIDJUVENTUD



If there are images in this attachment, they will not be displayed. Download the original attachment







PROJECT PROPOSAL


Be the Change! Programme

Small Scale grants for Youth-led Projects


Peace Child International has created the “Be the Change!” Programme (BTC!) to support young people to get involved in local community action and development projects. Peace Child encourages young people to BE THE CHANGE they want to see in their communities and to make it possible we created a small scale grant programme for youth-led projects.


If you are below 25 years old and have a project that concentrates on the development of your community at a local level, take a deep look in the requirements for the grant programme and submit your proposal to Peace Child International.


The Be the Change! desk officers will guide and advise you to identify your own local issues, priorities and problems and also help you to provide your own solutions.


So, what kind of projects are we looking for?


Projects that are genuinely youth-led: it cannot be a bunch of adults getting some young people to front their project so they can get money for it.
It must benefit the community rather than an individual need: we do not accept applications for school fees or personal trips!
Projects costing $500 - $1,000 with a detailed budget.
Have two experienced and committed adults to mentor the project: following the principles of the co-management.
Have measures of achievement (indicators) by which projects may be evaluated.
It can be either income-generating (funds to start up a small business and creating jobs) or it can be non-income generating (for health, education, environmental clean-up or community improvement) social programmes which are of genuine and lasting community value.


If you fulfil these requisites make sure to download the application form on our website and send your proposals to the appropriate desk officer at Peace Child International before the deadline.


The deadline for applications to the Be the Change! Grants is on Tuesday 31st October

You will receive a confirmation when your proposal has been received.

We look forward to hearing from you!


Please submit photographs, preferably in digital format to

Or send it by mail to: BTC COORDINATOR

AFRICA: Africa@peacechild.org

ASIA: asia@peacechild.org

EUROPE: Europe@peacechild.org

LATIN AMERICA: Latina@peacechild.org

NORTH AMERICA: n_america@peacechild.org

SMALL ISLAND STATES: sis@peacechild.org

UNITED KINGDOM: uk@peacechild.org


Or send the via - mail

Peace Child International, BTC! Programme

The White House – Buntingford, Herts.

United Kingdom, SG9 9AH

Fax: Int + (44) 176 327 4460

Tel: Int + (44) 176 327 4459





Date of proposal :


1. Name of Young proposer (your name)
Your Contact details e-mail:
Phone:
Address:

How many people will be involved in the project? Give names ages:






2 - Organisation: If you are a member of an organisation, give its name
If yes, please give us a brief history of your organisation and what it does?










3. Project Title: Find a catchy title that sums up what you want to do:


4. Background: Rural / Urban(circle one); Town: Country:
Project Context: Please give us a sense of where you live - your community, your situation:






NEED: Describe the major community need your project is addressing:










5. Project Summary - (Give us a general explanation of the activities you will undertake in this project.)














6. Action Plan - Schedule of the activities

How Long will it take? (approx.):
Activity schedule















7. Beneficiaries: - Who will benefit? How many of each age, gender, background and how were they involved in planning the project?










8. Project Mentor(s): an adult with experience in the field your project address has a very valuable role in supporting and advising projects- Please state who you will have as your mentor

Name(s):
Contact details for the lead mentor: e-mail :
Phone:
Address:
Occupation(s)/Experience:




9. Evaluator – All sponsors require an independent, objective evaluation of your project. Find some one to do this for you(not a family member! Ask a teacher, religious leader or best, a journalist.
Name:
Contact details: e-mail :
Phone:
Address:
Occupation/Experience:




10. Budget – What is your local currency? exchange rate: = £/$
Items/Expenditures required Quantity Price per Unit Total Cost in your local currency Total Cost
£ or $













TOTALS:




11. Handling Money – very important: most sponsors will not give money to individual young people. So each young project manager has to find a registered NGO, school, youth group or religious body to receive the funds into their bank account. Often, they order the materials for your project, and prepare the financial report so young people never have the risk of handling cash. Please explain your relationship with the organisation that you will be using to handle money.
Name of the Organisation:


Name of your Main Contact Person:


His/her Title or Role within the organisation:


Organisation’s address:



Organisation’s Phone: Fax No.


Organisation’s e-mail: Website


Date when the organisation was founded:


What is your relationship with the organisation?



Have they agreed to sign a letter of agreement to allow funds for it to be passed through the Organisation for your project? YES / NO






12. Sustainability: How will the project continue when you have spent the funds we send you?














Be the Change!

Notes on filling in the Project Proposal form


1) Your Name Contact Details – in particular an e-mail address. If you don’t have one, get one!


2) Your Organisation: if you have one! If not – skip this part, but note in Part 11 you will need one to handle your money for your project;


3) Project Title - The words you use in your title should paint a picture in the reader's mind. Be precise, concise and not ambiguous." Sum up the aim and focus of the proposal. "


4) Background - Project Context: We need to get a sense of your community - what goes on there, what type of place it is.

Need -
What are the pressing community problems that your project address? (When thinking about the needs it is a good idea to conduct a survey/ interview or hold a meeting first,to find out what other people think, get their ideas and prove that these needs are real and are shared by others. You should draw up a needs summary.)


5) Project Summary: Here you give us a brief descriptive story of what you plan to do.

If you have prepared a needs summary - show us how your project will address each need.


6) Action Plan: We need a simple step-by-step time-table for your action plan.

In the ‘Time-table’ Column, write “Day ONE, Day TWO…” - “Week ONE, Week TWO” or “Month ONE, Month TWO…”etc. – depending on how long your project is going to take. Time the project from start to finish so that the funder knows what will be done by when.


7) Beneficiaries: Explain exactly who this project is aimed at.

Show us how and when you have consulted the beneficiaries and if they have been involved in the planning and design of this project.
Sometimes proposers dream up ideas without consulting the people they are aiming to help. We need to know that the beneficiaries have been involved and want this project to happen.


8) Mentors: Experience proves that youth-led development works 100% better when you have a good mentors. Chose your mentor carefully and tell us briefly what experience they have in the field.


9) Evaluators: Again chose your evaluator carefully. Make sure it is someone whom we can contact. It would be useful if they spoke English, French or Spanish so that they can send their report directly to PCI Headquarters.


10) Budget: We want to know what your local currency is and what the current exchange rate is;

Please state the amount in the local currency, as well as in £ sterling or US$ (Rates of exchange vary from day to day)
Please be realistic as you prepare your budget: find lowest cost for materials, see what "in kind" donations you can get (thee include donated materials, work space, donated labour donated etc.) Check all prices at 2-3 locations. Don’t just guess!


11) Handling Money: Most funding organisations do not send money to individual young people. If you need money for your project, each young project manager, must find a registered organisation to receive the money. It could be a registered NGO that you have set up yourself, or it could be a friendly neighbourhood NGO, or your school or youth club. In this box, all you need to demonstrate is that you have thought about this issue, found an organisation that is prepared to receive the money, and to give us their name and address. Before we release the money to you, you will have to sign a short Letter of Understanding with the organisation, a copy of which we shall forward to you if your project gets accepted.


12) Sustainability: The best projects generally continue after the funding is over but funders are often ready to fund one-off projects and events. Let us know what you plan to do once the funding is finished? Are you planning to collaborate with other local organisations to keep it going?




www.iadb.org/bidjuventud
]]> Thu, 14 Sep 2006 12:59:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/43287 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/43039
The German Women Security Council proposes a conference to coordinate our efforts on the implementation of UN Sec Council Res. 1325. please read our proposal, transmit it to all those who might be interested and react.

Let us build a European Women’s Security Council!

A Survey is in preparation of a European conference as a starting point of a „European relay race“ for demilitarisation and equal rights especially in the European Security and Defence Policy.

Dear friends and interested people, The European Union has been built out of the ruins of Europe. It was designed as an alliance for peace after the defeat of Nazi-Germany. „The ruins are the unsightly but nevertheless indispensable fundament“of a united Europe, said the Swiss writer Adolf Muschg. This history obliges us, and especially all European politicians, to be strongly engaged in peace politics. Anything else would be a moral betrayal of the vision and reality of the already united continent and the ongoing unification.

Unfortunately, some of the political decision-makers and economic forces see the unification process only as a profane opportunity for market enlargement. For them, economic interests and investments must be secured – if necessary also by military means. This attitude had a considerable influence on the European Security Strategy which was passed in 2003. This concept for the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union strongly relies on military rather than on civilian conflict management. This is to be realised through the establishment of a European armament agency and the establishment of European intervention forces acting worldwide which are, for example, able to occupy the oil fields in the Middle East together with the US army in order to defend European interests – as documented in the „European Defence Paper“ of 2004. These interests can be threatened by a “massive increase of energy costs or the disruption of commercial flows of goods”.

A small circle of mainly male security politicians who are lacking any democratic legitimacy have decided on these plans. Neither the Parliament of the EU nor any national parliaments have ever approved this security strategy. This policy is against the declared will of many men and women in Europe working in lots of different ways to overcome conflicts and crisis by civilian means. Further, this policy is contradicting the EU as an alliance for peace and is also against the fundamental principle of equal rights for men and women. Especially women are excluded from the decision-making. In times of crisis or peace negotiations they are not able to fully participate in the fields of security politics which are dominated by men – as we can witness at present in Kosovo. This means excluding them twice and in an undemocratic manner from an existential part of European politics.

The multiple instruments of civilian conflict management are not promoted enough and due to that they are also not applied. Also, in the EU and its member states the budgets for military and armament expenditure are at least a thousand times higher than those for civilian conflict management.

However, we invest all our energy in making Europe become a global player in the field of civilian alternatives. We that stands for the “German Women’s Security Council”, a voluntary network founded during the last war against Iraq consisting of women peace researchers and activists. Some of the members are representing organisations such as amnesty international, medica mondiale, WILPF, or the Heinrich Boell Foundation.

We call upon the women of Europe, to get powerfully involved in all spheres of security politics! We further request the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 is implemented consistently all over Europe and in all national and supranational institutions such as the EU, the OSCE or the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. As the Resolution 1325 of the 31st October 2000 states: women shall be part of all peace processes at all levels, locally, regionally and nationally, during conflict prevention, peace missions, national reconstruction, in parliaments, governments, justice, police and in all other state institutions. Women are half of Europe – half of European politics, European ideas, projects and visions for the future.

Against this background we are planning a European networking conference. A possible date is the 5th May 2007 in Berlin since Germany is holding the EU presidency in the first six months of 2007. The aim of this conference is to discuss these issues with the responsible political authorities and transmit the results to EU institutions. We would like to focus on the following issues:

Do we need a Europewide network of women experts and activists for the implementation of Resolution 1325, similar to the German Women’s Security Council? If yes, how could this be realised?

Switzerland, UK, Sweden, Denmark and Norway are until now the only countries whose governments have presented national action plans for the implementation of Resolution 1325 as has been expressly requested by UN Secretay-General Kofi Annan. What is the content of these action plans? How can we pressure other European countries and also Europe as a whole to establish such national action plans? And how can we pressure multilateral bodies and organisations such as the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe to establishe such action plans? How can we influence decisions concerning peace and security issues of the institutions of the European Union such as the Council and the Commission or NATO?

What is the situation like in the countries targeted by European interventions? How do men and women living in these countries experience these European interventions? What would be necessary for a civilian conflict management? For example, in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
What can we do to de-militarise Europe and to strengthen civilian conflict management instead of military intervention?

In order to make the results of such a conference more sustainable we aim to start a “relay race”. Therefore, we would appreciate to give the relay to our portuguese and slovenian friends whose countries will hold the Presidency of the EU for another six months each after the conference. It is then up to them to take up the race and pressure for the implementation of Resolution 1325 all over Europe. And, of course, every one has a responsibility to take up the appropriate actions.

We would like to know the following from you:

Are you interested in such a conference and would you participate?
0 no

0 yes with probably …..participants

Which other groups/institutions/associations you know are working on the issue?
........................................................................................................................
What are the main issues of interestfor you?
........................................................................................................................
Who are the NGOs in your country working directly or indirectly on the implementation of Resolution 1325? If possible, please state names and contact details below!
........................................................................................................................
Which official institutions in your country are working towards the objectives of Resolution 1325? If possible, please state names and contact details below!
........................................................................................................................

Thank you very much for your interest and cooperation!
The German Women’s Security Council

Please mail back as soon as possible to:

meinzolt-depner@t-online.de
]]> Sat, 09 Sep 2006 07:09:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/43039 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/42842
What do YOU think are the most important 'Management Tools and Skills' Young Professionals, who are working or intending to work in International Co-operation (development work), must have..?

Sahro]]> Mon, 04 Sep 2006 12:10:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/42842 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/42841 Announcing the 8th Annual African Students Conference

The Impact of Religion
Saturday, 14th October 2006

09.30-18.00
Institute of Social Studies
Kortenaerkade 12
The Hague, the Netherlands

The ASC for African students has been organized annually since 1999 at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague. These conferences under the title Building Peace in Africa address critical issues of major concern in the field of advancing peace, justice and sustainable development.

The overall topic 2006 will be the Impact of Religion. The conference is primarily intended for African students studying in the Netherlands and young African Diaspora. But other students or academics with an interest in the subject, representatives of NGOs, officials, and other concerned persons/ organizations are very welcome.

Participation will be free of charge!
Date: 14.10.2006, 9.30-18.00
Where: ISS Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague
Info: unoy@unoy.org (Vera Silva)

Download the Application from www.unoy.org and send it to Vera Silva unoy@unoy.org

Keep visiting our homepage for updates and other news.
]]> Mon, 04 Sep 2006 11:49:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/42841 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/42839 ORGANIZATION: Human Rights Watch
DEADLINE: 6 Oct 2006

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DETAILS:

2007-2008 Fellowships in International Human Rights

For recent graduates of law schools or graduate programs in journalism,international relations, area studies, or other relevant disciplines from any university worldwide.

Human Rights Watch, the international human rights monitoring and advocacy organization, invites applications for its fellowship program.
Human Rights Watch is known for its impartial and reliable human rights reporting on over 70 countries worldwide, its innovative and high-profile advocacy campaigns, and its success in affecting the
policy of the U.S. and other influential governments toward human rights abusers.

Unrestricted Fellowships

Alan R. and Barbara D. Finberg Fellowship - Established in memory of Alan R. and Barbara D. Finberg, early supporters of Human Rights Watch.

Restricted Fellowships

Arthur Helton Fellowship - established in memory of Arthur C. Helton, a 1976 New York University Law graduate who dedicated his professional life to refugee and humanitarian issues, open to J.D. graduates of New York University School of Law.

Leonard H. Sandler Fellowship - established in memory of Judge Leonard H. Sandler, a 1950 Columbia Law graduate with a lifelong commitment to civil rights and liberties, open to J.D. graduates of Columbia Law
School.

JOB DESCRIPTION: Fellows work full-time for one year with Human Rights Watch in New York or Washington, D.C. Fellows monitor human rights developments in various countries, conduct on-site investigations, draft reports on human rights conditions, and engage in advocacy aimed
at
publicizing and curtailing human rights violations. Past fellows have conducted fact-finding missions to, among other places, Albania, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Kenya,
Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda, the U.S.-Mexican border, and
Venezuela.

QUALIFICATIONS: Applicants must have exceptional analytic skills, an ability to write and speak clearly, and a commitment to work in the human rights field in the future. Proficiency in one language in addition to English is strongly desired. Familiarity with countries or regions
where serious human rights violations occur is also valued. Fellows must be law, journalism, international relations, or area studies graduates with degrees received after January 2004 and before August 2007, or must provide evidence of significant, comparable, relevant work experience.
Fellowships begin in September 2007.

SALARY AND BENEFITS: The salary for 2006-2007 fellows is $43,000, plus excellent employer-paid benefits. The salary for 2007-2008 is
currently
under review.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: OCTOBER 6, 2006

Applicants are responsible for compiling complete application packets
which must include the following:

-- cover letter
-- resume
-- two letters of recommendation
-- at least one unedited, unpublished writing sample
-- an official law or graduate school transcript (applicants in
one-year graduate programs should supply an undergraduate transcript
with
a list of their graduate school courses)

Complete applications (including transcripts and recommedations) for
2007-2008 fellowships must be received no later than October 6, 2006.
Complete applications should be sent to:

Human Rights Watch
Attn: Fellowship Committee
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299

Applicants must be available for interviews in New York from early
November to mid-December 2006. Inquiries may be directed to the Fellowships hotline at (212) 290-4700 x312, or to fellowship@hrw.org.
Please see http://www.hrw.org/about/info/fellows.html for more
information.

Human Rights Watch is an equal opportunity employer.
]]> Mon, 04 Sep 2006 11:45:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/42839 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/42165 Sahro


Single mothers in Morocco suffer severe legal and social stigma. To offset those disadvantages, a longtime advocate is pushing to use the country's new DNA paternity law to help women identify the fathers.


CASABLANCA, Morocco (WOMENSENEWS)--When she was working as a health educator 25 years ago, Aicha Ech-Chenna happened to witness a young woman abandon her child to a nurse at a hospital when she hadn't even finished breastfeeding.

"The milk squirted on the baby's face when she gave it to the nurse. That night I didn't sleep. I had to do something," she remembers.

The woman, Ech-Chenna says, was unmarried and couldn't face the future she saw ahead of her in Morocco, a country where single mothers are considered the legal equivalents of prostitutes and subject to harsh forms of social exclusion.

Under existing Morrocan law, sexual relations outside marriage are a crime subject to imprisonment. Ech-Chenna says that society is improving, however, and no single mother has been prosecuted under the law for over 10 years. "The jails would explode if the law were applied," she said.

In 1985 Ech-Chenna launched Feminine Solidarity in Casablanca. The group offers single mothers a three-year program, which provides them an income and training along with three day care centers so they can keep their children while preparing for a job. The group also runs a support center, which gets about 600 visits per year and provides medical care.

"If a woman can earn her life in dignity, then she is saved," says Ech-Chenna.

Limits of Legal Rights
One 20-year-old single mother in the program, whose name has been changed to Fatima, has experienced the limits of her legal rights. When she was 17, she met a man who proposed to her and took her to visit an apartment where they would settle after their marriage. But he offered her a drink and she woke up hours later and realized she had been drugged and raped, she says.

Fatima says he then lured her into a relationship by promising to marry her; eventually she wound up pregnant. "I filed a complaint against him but while at the police station, I saw the police captain releasing him and telling him, 'Go, don't worry,'" Fatima says. "Then my dossier disappeared. Later I found out he had drugged another girl."

Feminine Solidarity offers a place for women like Fatima to adjust to life as a single mother. Program participants, who currently number 58, split their days between training programs and paid employment. They work in two restaurants, a new beauty center and four kiosks selling takeout food. They also attend training classes in couture or cooking.

Since a progressive package of legal reforms was passed two years ago, Ech-Chenna and her staff have also begun helping women identify the fathers of their children.

Morocco's new family status law that was enacted in 2004 provides women with a package of important rights and benefits, including the right to marry without the assent of a male "tutor" (customarily a father or brother) and to initiate divorce. The new "mudawana" law also abolishes "repudiation," the practice by which a man could annul his marriage by a simple declaration of his will to do so.

Judges Can Order DNA Tests
One provision of the law says a judge can order a man to undergo DNA testing if a woman can prove she was engaged to him.

DNA paternity tests are a potentially potent aid for single mothers, says Ech-Chenna, because once a father is identified he faces legal obligations to recognize the child and provide financial support. And when a man recognizes a child, a woman also stands a better chance of being accepted back into her family, even if she doesn't get married.

But various problems establishing a formal engagement mean that judges have applied the law only rarely.

Amid widespread economic hardship in Morocco, few families are putting on large engagement ceremonies, making videotapes, photographs, witnesses and other proof of an engagement scarce. Meanwhile, religious ceremonies that mark an engagement and provide social sanction for sex are not considered legal proof of an engagement if they are not followed by a formal wedding.

"What is an official engagement?" Ech-Chenna demands. "How can we justify this? It is the judge who decides."

The DNA paternity provision also requires the woman to pay for the test, which costs about $350 and is too costly for many of the single women Ech-Chenna encounters.

Mediating Between Fathers and Mothers
Given the difficulties of applying the DNA testing, Ech-Chenna and her staff began to simply reach out to the men, offer mediation sessions between him and the mother and simply do whatever they can to persuade the father to either admit paternity or agree to take a DNA test.

"We go to see the father and we convince him," Ech-Chenna says. "It is better than a judge who forces the father to recognize his child."

Feminine Solidarity says it persuaded 60 men to take the test between August 2005 and August 2006 while only two DNA paternity tests were imposed by judges in an application of the new law.

"We are currently dealing with a man who has doubts," says Ech-Chenna. "Sometimes he thinks the child is his, sometimes he doesn't. Our social assistant recently took him to the family tribunal. But the mother still has to pay for the DNA test if he ends up agreeing."

The 2004 reforms offered single mothers no other legal help and Mohamed Benyahia, a Socialist deputy, says it's unlikely the parliament will address their needs anytime soon. "It is a real taboo. No one will speak about that."

But Ech-Chenna says that doesn't dim the significance of the 2004 reform package.

"Morocco is the first Arab country who dared impose DNA tests," she says. "We're revolutionizing the Arab-Muslim society and it's not nothing."

Ilhem Rachidi is a freelance writer in Morocco who has written for Asia Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Middle East Times and Reuters.

Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.


For more information:
"Moroccan Women Put Pressure on Nationality Reform":
http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2561/

International Women's Rights Action Watch, Morocco:
http://iwraw.igc.org/publications/countries/morocco.htm

]]> Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:30:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/42165 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41643
We are delighted to announce the launch of Prevention Now!, a global campaign to increase access to female condoms throughout the world. As of the launch, Prevention Now! has more than 56 founding organizational supporters in the United States and 55 more organizational supporters worldwide. Our website, www.preventionnow.net is now live. On the site, you will find basic facts on female condoms, research, case studies, and a range of other resources.

Please join us! If you have not yet signed up as an organizational or individual supporter of this effort, please do so now by clicking here. We will keep you updated as we post new information, links to country campaigns, and updates on progress toward achieving universal access to this method.

Help us profile your work! Please let us know about your work on female condoms. If you are running a campaign to expand access to female condoms in your country, are interested in establishing a campaign, and/or are doing work to promote and provide female condoms in your own work, please let us know. We want to profile your work on the site. Send an email to change@genderhealth.org.

Over the next few months, we will be moving forward on our efforts to secure increased U.S. international funding for the purchase, distribution, and program support needed to ensure effective use of female condoms. We will simultaneously be working together with those in the international community and with national organizations seeking to ensure support for female condoms in their own countries. We’ll keep you posted on progress on all these areas and seek to foster links between one campaign and another.

With all best wishes,


Jodi Jacobson


Jodi Jacobson, Executive Director
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 910
Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
Phone (301) 270-1182
Fax: (301) 270-2052


The Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) is a US-based non-governmental organization focused on the effects of US international policies on the health and rights of women, girls and other vulnerable populations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

If you have difficulties viewing this message or wish to unsubscribe, please e-mail change@genderhealth.org.

www.genderhealth.org

www.preventionnow.net

www.pepfarwatch.org




]]> Mon, 07 Aug 2006 11:01:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41643 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41460
Sahro Ahmed
Holland Coordinator
The Love Foundation
www.thelovefoundation.com


Dear Friends,

I come to you today with a reflection and reminder of how special, important and loved you are. I also come with encouragement and knowing that one by one and day by day we are building a new world together based on peace and love. Despite all outer appearances to the contrary, each of us is steadily remembering how to come from our heart with unconditional love which is altering the very course of humanity.

Funny thing about appearances, they are rarely what they appear to be. Our hearts and minds are opening and we are beginning to see beyond the immediate physical reality and world of effects only. We are realizing the causal nature of our thoughts and feelings as a manifestation of a long curious journey based on separation, lack, fear and doubt. Each limited personal thought and feeling we held in the past has added to the present conditions surrounding us. This also means that for each thought and feeling we presently hold in peace and unconditional love, we are creating a new journey and future filled with these qualities.

Amidst the seeming chaos, strife, arrogance and ignorance being played out locally and globally, we are coming face to face with perhaps the greatest opportunity ever presented to choose unconditional love as our personal and collective view and to finally recognize the entire human earth family as one. Never before have so many beings resided at one time on this planet with such diverse personal and cultural beliefs, understandings, conditioning, heritage, and.... potential.

Some 15 years ago I developed a rather different and perhaps unconventional definition for unconditional love and shared it in my first book, Internal Power - Seven Doorways to Self Discovery. Seeking a practical definition, I chose to understand and evolve each of the two words "unconditional" and "love" to their core essence of meaning. Then combining them into one idea I realized a useful insight for applying this profound perspective found in this unique combination of two words. My definition simply stated - "unconditional love is an unlimited way of being".

This definition doesn't necessarily speak to the typical expected response or popular collective understanding of most cultures. Instead it reveals something more important - the individual potential that resides within each of us every moment. It merely asks that we approach each moment with clarity and right perspective and recognize the vast unlimited possibilities to choose a new way of thinking and feeling.

Such a sense of profound love comes when we first forgive and accept ourselves for all our limiting beliefs, mistakes, judgments and misunderstandings and apply the “unconditional” to us personally. We recognize our self worth, value our talents, and allow our selves to be who we are rather than what we think others wish us to be. In turn, we naturally understand those around us and extend our helping hand without condition, judgment or expectation. We see ourselves in the reflection of another and know that everyone deserves to love and be loved without condition.

By embracing the present moment with openness we realize and know we have the solutions and answers already within us. We begin building a reality that is based on love, wisdom and power in perfect balance. For each step we take personally, we impact the world with this amazing energy of love.

Unconditional love turns hope into knowing in a collective reality that is often seen as hopeless or seemingly impossible to overcome. When you know something is possible you empower this to manifest with your very being. So know from now on that you are loved and loving and see how the world responds to your light and knowing. Watch how your peace and strength is sought out by others and how the limitless love you have to share is the love you receive in return.

You are all so amazing... thank you for your compassion, courage and vision to make this a better world for all of us.

Love, light and peace,
Harold W. Becker
President and Founder
The Love Foundation, Inc.
www.thelovefoundation.com

Think: Global Love Day
Feel: Love Begins With Me
Remember: May 1, 2007
]]> Tue, 01 Aug 2006 17:34:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41460 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41409
A special issue of Agenda will be come out in August/September 2006 to mark the Nairobi+21 project. As the first international women's conference on African soil, the Nairobi Conference in 1985 discussed ways to fend for women's rights and gender equality that would, for the first time, be informed by the agendas of women from the South.

We are particularly seeking poets from Senegal, Morocco, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, DRC, South Africa but also from other parts of Africa and the world to submit their poetry.

We are welcoming contributions from poets who have attended the Nairobi conference and are able to comment on its successes and failures, as well as from young poets who can talk about women's rights today with view on how women's circumstances have changed since the mid 80s.

Suggested topics of the poems are:
. Poverty
. Education
. Health
. Violence against women
. Media
. Environment
. Human rights
. Political power and decision-making

Contributions need to be written in English language, and need to fit onto one page of the journal (usually 40 lines)

The contributions need to be the poets own work. All poems not published in the journal will be automatically published onto the Agenda website unless authors request that they are only published into the journal.

All poems must come with a picture and Bio of the author and must be submitted to Christine Davis editorial@agenda.org.za


Deadline: 3 August 2006

This is the final call for poetry.

-------------
Background on the Nairobi Conference

This UN-sponsored conference adopted the Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, which were intended to be a practical and effective guide for global action to promote greater equality and opportunity for women. The parallel NGO Forum generated new strategies, organisations and coalitions worldwide for addressing the needs of women at all levels of society.

What was learnt, understood and shared about women's common experience at this conference would mark the beginning of an expanded international women's movement and provided much impetus for the Beijing Platform and processes which later followed.

Much has changed in 20 years.

The number of women parliamentarians has increased substantially. Women have been actively involved in the devising of new constitutions, enabling women's issues to be prioritised and incorporated into gender responsive governance.

Women's civil society organisations have grown, expanding democratic spaces for women to strive for equality and safeguard gains for women.

Women have made contributions to democratic processes, thus adapting democracy to reflect women's rights.

African nation states have begun to respond to the demands to make laws responsive to women and to prohibit violence against women.

Women now network globally to reshape processes.
There are many challenges. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has emerged and spread, exacerbated by violence against women.

Insecurity and armed conflicts in many African countries has increased violent crimes against women and caused mass population displacements with gendered consequences.

Women's work burdens have increased as they have increasingly taken on responsibilities that their states have failed to assume as they deal with

structural adjustment and privatisation policies that constrain the affordability, availability and safe access to basic social services for many women and their dependents.

Much has remained the same.

Women have not attained equality with men. They disproportionately continue to perform most of the essential tasks of caring, nurturing, domestic work
and holding their communities together.

Christine Davis, Webeditor
Agenda Feminist Media Project
tel: 031 304 7001, fax: 031 304 7018
editorial@agenda.org.za
www.agenda.org.za

]]> Mon, 31 Jul 2006 10:27:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41409 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41408 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ActALIVE (http://www.actalive.org), the Standing Committee on Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS-International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA-SCORA, at www.ifmsa.org), and Development Partnership International (DPI)(http://www.developmentpartnership.org) are pleased to invite you to the formal launch of the first edition of the African Youth HIV/AIDS Best Practices Handbook.

The session is scheduled as follows:

Venue: Global Village Youth Pavilion, International AIDS Conference, Toronto
Date: Tuesday August 15, 2006
Time: 12.45- 2.15pm

The African Youth HIV/AIDS Best Practices Handbook is a compendium of 95 youth-led and youth-focused HIV/AIDS projects from 25 countries in Africa. It is intended to showcase the outstanding work of African youth to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to provide best-practices examples which can be replicated locally in Africa, and hopefully globally. This should help to encourage further education and prevention efforts, promote African youth leadership to curb the pandemic, and create as well as sustain opportunities for the participation of African youth in local, national, regional, and international efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. Use of the arts, media, and ICTs are all featured in the Handbook, as are some practices created and implemented with adult allies.


Kindly contact Adebayo Samuel adebayo@developmentpartnership.org or Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima dabesaki@developmentpartnership.org or call +234 84 751 002 for more information. We look forward to welcoming you at the launch.


Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima
Director,Development Partnership International
4 Eleme/Onne Road off Eleme Junction,
Port Harcourt 500001 NIGERIA

http://www.developmentpartnership.org
mailto:dabesaki@developmentpartnership.org
Phone: +234 84 751 002
Fax: +234 84 751 002
Mobile: +234 805 518 2526

]]> Mon, 31 Jul 2006 10:14:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41408 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41405 Submissions are welcome for the Global Development Network’s annual competition for the Most Innovative Development Project, which carries prizes in cash and travel of over US $70,000! The finalists will present their proposals at GDN’s Annual Global Development Conference in Beijing, China in January 2007. Submissions are being accepted for an ongoing development project implemented in a developing or transition country. Criteria include the degree of innovation and the potential for broad application of the project in other countries.

Deadline for submission: August 21, 2006

Please disseminate this information amongst your colleagues. For more information on the competition visit our website at www.gdnet.org

]]> Mon, 31 Jul 2006 09:05:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41405 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5 http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41398 Who do we unite Somalia the country that is so divided, or its people, the Somalis that seem even more divided today than ever before in Somali history?

War and displacement not only devastate infrastructures of nations; they also break down the lives of people and families across the world. Inherent to this and characteristic of the plight of Somalia is its lost generation; its youth and children. Like many other refugees, Somalia's young are traumatized for life, born of conflict, a civil war which led to the massive human displacement of their own families and relatives.

Without a doupt young people in Somalia will grow up with a war mentality and ethnic prejudice against other ethnic groups. It is all they have ever known.

In other words the future of Somalia and any hope of reconstruction, is being destroyed right now.

]]> Mon, 31 Jul 2006 06:33:00 EDT http://Sahro.tigblog.org/post/41398 52.15 4.5 52.15 4.5