VOICES RISING
YEAR III - VOL 3. Nº133
April 1, 2005
CONTENT
1.- FEMINIST TASK FORCE (GCAP) RESPONSE TO SECRETARY GENERAL'S REPORT
2.- GLOBAL ACTION WEEK - APRIL 24 - 30, 2005
3.- GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY - EMBASSY ACTION DAY - APRIL 1ST, 2005
4.- EUROPEAN REGIONAL MEETING ON LITERACY
5.- AN EDUCATORS’ FORUM ON EDUCATION, DEMOCRACY, IDENTITY, AND CONFLICT
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1.- FEMINIST TASK FORCE (GCAP) RESPONSE TO SECRETARY GENERAL'S REPORT
Cecilia Fernandez from GEO-ICAE
GEO is working in the Feminist Task Force of the Global Call for Action against Poverty (GCAP), facilitated by REPEM which also forms part of the facilitating group of the GCAP.
At the GCAP launch in NY (during the 49th. CSW) it was agreed that the Feminist Task force will participate with the GCAP in the response to the Secretary General's Report, released on March 21, 2005 ensuring that any official GCAP response to the report includes a gender perspective, and at the same time will be trying to attend the Interactive Hearing and respond on its own.
Since the process of the MDGs has been rather reluctant to NGOs interventions and influence opportunities, the hearing has gained a lot of relevance and it is a must for us to participate. We invite you to read and to make your comments and suggestions regarding this report: "In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all" which is available, with some additional information, in the UN official languages at http://www.un.org/largerfreedom/ and to forward your inputs to the Gcap-women list. To subscribe to the Gcap-women list, please click on:
http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gcap-women
This list is to be used to exchange information, updates and strategies related to women's organizing around the Global Call to
Action Against Poverty both at the local level and international levels. It is open to any interested parties.
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2.- GLOBAL ACTION WEEK - APRIL 24 - 30, 2005
CHANGING THE WORLD STARTS WITH THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION
Five years ago, 189 world governments signed up to a bold vision to change the world. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set out eight priority actions to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. The first action was to get as many girls as boys into classrooms by 2005 because
educating girls and women brings higher incomes, more equal societies and better health for everyone.
But they have broken their promise. Over 500 million women and girls are still illiterate. This year alone, one million additional children will die unnecessarily, because governments failed to meet the 2005 target for girls education.
Governments also promised to ensure that every child can finish primary school by 2015. On current trends they will miss this goal too. Over 100 countries are still charging fees for primary education, and rich countries give only 20% of the funds needed to send every child to school.
This year of all years, GCE wants every politician in the world to feel the pressure to keep their promises. Thats why were asking everyone to make a paper friend to show solidarity with those denied an education. At key moments in 2005, millions of these friends will be literally staring world
leaders in the face, including during two historic meetings:
In July, the Group of Eight most powerful nations could act to double aid, make trade fair and cancel debt.
In September, all heads of state will gather at the UN to review progress on the MDGs. They could pledge to abolish school fees, and give special priority to educating girls and women.
EDUCATION TO END POVERTY
Education, especially for girls and women, is the best way to break the cycle of ill health, hunger and poverty. Without it we cant achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
* Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
A single year of schooling can increase womens wages by 10- 20%, and can increase a farmers output by up to 20%. Improving education levels among women is the single most powerful way to reduce malnutrition.
* Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Women with some education are more likely to send their own children to school.
* Goal 3: Empower women
Educated women are more likely to resist female genital cutting and early marriage for themselves and their daughters.
* Goals 4 and 5: Reduce child and maternal deaths
Mothers are less likely to die in childbirth if they have been to school, and their children are 40% more likely to survive past the age of 5. A shocking 1 million child deaths would be prevented this year alone, if governments met the 2005 girls education goal.
* Goal 6: Combat HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Education helps people stay healthy. Seven million HIV/ AIDS infections would be prevented
in the next decade if every child received a complete primary education.
GLOBAL ACTION WEEK 2005 - SEND MY FRIEND TO SCHOOL
http://www.campaignforeducation.org
During the 2005 GCE Action Week, from April 24-30, millions of children and adults in over 100 countries will deliver an urgent message to world governments - education is the key to end poverty. Join us by taking part in the Send My Friend to School global action.
You can be part of the Send my Friend to School action by making a cut-out friend (Click here to find out more about making a cut-out friend http://www.campaignforeducation.org/action/action_involved.html ) Each one of these Friends will represent one of the 100 million out-of-school children and 860 million illiterate adults.
Armed with these friends, campaigners will be taking to the streets and marching to their parliament buildings, holding face-to-face meetings with their Heads of State, and inviting their local politicians Back to School to meet with their friends (find out more about taking action' http://www.campaignforeducation.org/action/action_involved.html )
We will be calling on governments to live up to their promises made on education five years ago when they signed up to the Millennium Development Goals for ending world poverty. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set out eight priority actions to halve world poverty by 2015. This year, they will break the first of their promises - to get as many girls as boys into classrooms by 2005. And their failure will cost lives: this year alone, one million children will die, who would have lived if governments had kept their 2005 promise on girls' education.
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3.- GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY - EMBASSY ACTION DAY - APRIL 1ST, 2005
Barbara Kwateng
info@whiteband.org
Dear all,
Below is a press release on today's embassy action day. It is intended for national campaigns and is for 1st April and beyond! National campaign media officers - please disseminate as you see fit. The embassy action day is an important step in the build-up to the upcoming white band days.
Please attach your organisation's contact details at the end of the release itself (marked in bold). Equally, feel free to change any sums into your home currency. In the spirit of togetherness, we're encouraging national campaigns to use the following sentence at the bottom all campaign releases:
Campaign name is part of the Global Call to Action against Poverty. Launched in January 2005, the Global Call to Action against Poverty is an alliance of charities, non-governmental organisations, trade unions, women's organisations and faith groups spanning over 50 countries. At white band days this year, the campaign will be calling on governments to redress the poverty imbalance in today's world and to honour their promises on aid, debt and trade and accountable anti-poverty policies.
Do not hesitate to contact me for any further info.
All the very best,
Barbara Kwateng
GCAP DRAFT EMBASSY DAY MEDIA RELEASE
For use on Friday 1st April 2005
Campaigners march on G7 embassies across the globe to demand debt cancellation
In a worldwide initiative today (1 April 2005), people are mobilising at French, German, Japanese and other G7 country embassies in several countries across the world to demand debt cancellation for the worlds poorest countries.
Campaigners are urging G7 finance ministers from the worlds richest nations - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US - to use the upcoming World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meetings (on 15-17 April) as a moment for historic change. Anti-poverty campaigners are calling for rich nations to cancel 100% of poor countries debts and to use IMF gold reserves to fund cancellation.
Todays embassy action is organised by the Global Call to Action against Poverty, a worldwide alliance of hundreds of organisations calling on world leaders to fulfill their commitments on trade justice, more and better aid, full debt cancellation and accountable anti-poverty policies.
"Without urgent action from rich nations on debt cancellation, the obscene poverty that kills 50,000 people every day will continue," said Kumi Naidoo, spokesperson for the Global Call to Action against Poverty. "We strongly believe that now is the time for G7 governments to truly act against poverty before it scars several future generations and condemns millions more to a hopeless and miserable form of poverty".
"Leaders around the world have made countless promises to end poverty and time and again they have failed to deliver. People are dying while leaders debate debt relief before the cameras and ignore the issue when the media has gone."
Poverty kills more people every week than the total death count in the Asian tsunami, thereby proving to be this generations silent tsunami. A child dies every three seconds from a preventable disease, and yet the worlds poorest countries spend more on debt repayments - USD$100 million a day than they do on health.
Todays embassy action follows the successful launch of the click-ad in the
The embassy action day comes ahead of the Global Call to Action against Povertys white band days, when hundreds of thousands of people across the world will join massive demonstrations in July, September and December 2005 to voice their demands on governments to honour promises on poverty. The white band days will coincide with the G8 meeting in July, the Millennium Development Goals +5 summit in September and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial in December.
Cancelling 100% of the multilateral debt of 32 of the worlds poorest countries would annually cost just over USD$3 per person in the
For more information contact national campaign contact details.
Visit www.whiteband.org or email info@whiteband.org
ENDS
Notes for editors:
* The Global Call to Action against Poverty (www. whiteband.org) is a world-wide alliance committed to pushing world leaders to live up to their promises, and to make a breakthrough on poverty in 2005. The campaign is calling on world leaders to fulfill their commitments on trade justice, more and better aid and full debt cancellation. It is also demanding transparency and accountability from all governments in their plans to eliminate poverty and reach the Millennium Development Goals.
* The alliance includes charities, trade unions, faith groups, grassroots movements active in over 50 countries in every continent. Together Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) members represent over 150 million people. Well-known supporters of the Global Call to Action against Poverty include Desmond Tutu, Bono, Scarlett Johanson.
* The embassy action day follows a similar day of action on Tuesday 18 January 2005, ahead of the G7 finance ministers' meeting in London. On that day, debt campaigners mobilised in over 20 countries worldwide, as far apart as Finland, Tajikstan and Uganda and staged protests, marches and media stunts and meet with embassy representatives. In Zambia, campaigners from around the country held a protest march targeting Canadian and Japanese embassies; while in Tanzania, delegations from citizens groups met with the German and Canadian ambassadors to urge them to go further with debt cancellation; and in Tajikstan, non-governmental organizations held a debt conference and produced a petition.
* The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief initiative has only brought the debts of seven countries to "sustainable" levels, even by its own narrow criteria. Those countries that have qualified for debt relief are still paying USD$2.8 billion a year or 15% of their revenues and in many cases more than they spend on education or health.
* Debt relief works: in Tanzania for example, it allowed the government to scrap primary school fees in 2001 enabling more than two million children to attend school.
* UK action: in recent months the UK has moved to cancel its share of World Bank and IMF debt owed by the poorest countries, and has challenged the rest of the G7 to do the same. Doing this would provide vital resources to tackle the desperate poverty that kills the equivalent of the recent tsunami every week. The UK has also called on the G7 to sell or revalue a portion of IMF gold reserves to partially fund debt cancellation. The IMF has gold reserves that are currently undervalued by a staggering USD$40 billion.
* Japan has historically been against debt cancellation for the poorest countries and only gives 0.2% of its national income as aid.
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4.- EUROPEAN REGIONAL MEETING ON LITERACY
April 2 - 5, 2005, Lyon,
http://www.unesco.org/education/uie/news/lyon.shtml
The establishment of a European area of lifelong learning is expected to empower citizens to meet the challenges of the knowledge-based society at the same time that it contributes to meeting the goals and ambitions of the European Union and the accession countries to be more prosperous, inclusive, tolerant and democratic. An underlying assumption in the provision of lifelong learning opportunities is that the citizens have the basic literacy skills to build on so that they continue on learning.
The need for a more articulated policy agenda on literacy in the context of lifelong learning is also echoed at the global level with the DAKAR Education for All (EFA) goals and more recently, with the launching of the UN Literacy Decade (UNLD). It is often assumed that Europe has achieved basic education for all hence there is no need to join in the discussions related to EFA . Recent statistics (e.g. PISA results) and national studies however point to the decline in standards as well as uneven access to basic skills opportunities especially to a number of disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, the launching of the UNLD (2003-2012) is an excellent opportunity to review the policies and practices in the region not only to cull lessons and improve practices in the region, but also to share with other regions in the world.
It is in this context that the UNESCO Institute of Education (UIE), the UNESCO French National Commission, the Agence Nationale de Lutte Contre L´Illetrisme (ANCLI) and the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) are organizing this first ever regional meeting on literacy in Europe. With support from the European Union (EU), this meeting will bring together policy makers, research institutes, universities, public and private providers of literacy and other stakeholders to discuss main issues and trends in literacy in the region. It is expected that such discussion will contribute to improved policy implementation and innovative literacy practices.
The objectives of the regional meeting are:
1) to present and analyze trends on literacy in the region;
2) to examine the status of countries vis-à-vis EFA goals on literacy;
3) to highlight good practices that could be used to improve literacy programmes; and
4) to develop possible areas of collaboration and corresponding action plans.
Contact:
Carolyn-Medel-Añonuevo
Senior Research Specialist
UNESCO Institute for Education
Feldbrunnenstr. 58
20148 Hamburg
tel. +49-40-448041-25
fax +49-40-4107723
c.medel-anonuevo@unesco.org
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5.- AN EDUCATORS’ FORUM ON EDUCATION, DEMOCRACY, IDENTITY, AND CONFLICT
Invitation to Participate & Dialogue
Location: Bethlehem University, Bethlehem, Palestinian National Authority
Date: July 4 - 15, 2005
This summer at Bethlehem University, international educators and community activists will join their Palestinian counterparts to explore how all forms of education affect socialization processes within a society and between societies: before, during, and after conflict. How does education polarize identities under conditions of stability/peace or war/conflict? Education can be a way towards liberation, human rights, and democracy building or a means for subjugation and oppression.[i]
You are invited to Bethlehem to join this gathering of educators and activists from many disciplines and places to discuss educational policies, curricula, textbooks, critical pedagogies and practices of teaching/learning. The role of non-formal education, gender, NGOs, and oral history will be explored with Palestinian educators able to describe experiences.
Before the gathering, you will work collectively with other participants to create alternative ways to engage in dialogue and identify topics and projects for eleven intensive days. Throughout the gathering we hope to build a network of policy makers and practitioners who will challenge the status quo by creating pedagogies that work towards a world that protects human rights and fosters dynamic identities and cultures.
Who should participate?
We encourage a diversity of perspectives, disciplines, and experiences. The terms education, educator, and community activists are by no means distinct categories. The list of participants already includes Middle East specialists, a geographer, adult educators, legal educator, environmentalist, and teachers. Because we will discuss the multiple meanings of peace, conflict, imperialism, multiculturalism, globalism, dissent, and democratic governance (e.g., what does 'peace education,' 'global education,' 'multiculturalism education,' and 'citizenship education' mean in the context of the Middle East), individuals working critically in a wide range of fields as community-activists and educators are welcome to apply.
For an effective gathering the number of participants must be limited. Send to the contact below an email or call indicating your interest to attend.
Lead instructor
Sami Adwan, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, Bethlehem University is a consultant to many Palestinian schools, member of the Palestinian UNESCO Commission, co-director of the Peace Research Institute in the Middle East, and recipient of the 2001 Alexander Langer Foundation Peace Prize for building peace between Israeli and Palestinian educators.
Forum coordinator
Howard S. Davidson, Associate Professor, Continuing Education, University of Manitoba, coordinated a meeting of Palestinian and North American educators at the University of Manitoba Summer Institute on Education and Democracy in a Global Context and is a founding editor of the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons.
Partial list of educators and community activists
Amir Hassanpour, Associate Professor, Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto. His areas of interest are media, conflict and democracy, and critical approaches to nationalism, ethnic conflict, genocide, and social movements.
Bart McGettrick, Professor of Education, Glasgow University. Initially a geography teacher and principle of St Andrew’s College, Glasgow, he is an internationally recognized scholar in teacher education for citizenship, faith-based schools, and leadership in education.
Shahrzad Mojab, Associate Professor, Department of Adult Education and Counseling Psychology, OISE/UT and Director, The Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Studies, University of Toronto. Dr. Mojab is interested in women, war, and learning; feminism, nationalism and internationalism; and research methods for studying education under war conditions. http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/depts/aecdcp/faculty/mojab.html
Thomas M. Ricks, Lecturer, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania, following sixteen years as Villanova University’s Director of International Studies and Associate Professor of History in the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies. He has returned repeatedly to teach and research at Bir Zeit and Bethlehem universities, assisted in establishing US study abroad programs both at Palestinian universities and University of Jordan. He is completing an oral history monograph on Palestinian schools and the political culture of missionary education.
Palestinian educators
Joining the gathering are Palestinian teachers and administrators from public, private, and UNRWA schools, university faculty, and community-based adult educators.
Travel and accommodations
The total cost of airfares, accommodations, and meals is estimated at $2,000.00 US. A variety of accommodations, including meals, are being arranged (e.g., the residence at Bethlehem University, Ibdda Cultural Center, and private homes). Details will be provided soon. You are encouraged to stay in Bethlehem to take full advantage of community activities and to avoid crossing the checkpoint daily between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Participants must cover their own travel and accommodation expenses.
If you wish, you will be greeted upon arrival in Jerusalem and escorted to Bethlehem. You attend the gathering at your own risk and agree to indemnify Bethlehem University and organizers of the forum against any legal responsibilities.
Travel advisory
Access to and from the West Bank is controlled at checkpoints by the Israeli military. Governments have issued advisories against travel in the West Bank; however, internationals enter and work there regularly. You will receive updates regarding access and travel information. Check your visa and travel requirements.
For further information
Howard S. Davidson, Ed.D., University of Manitoba
hdavid@ms.umanitoba.ca or howardsdavidson@yahoo.com
Phone 1-204-474-9388; Fax 1-204-474-7660
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The International Gender and Education Office (GEO) of ICAE creates
VOICES RISING
Email: voicesrising@icae.org.uy
Web: www.icae.org.uy
Tel/fax: 00 5982 401 00 06
Address: Acevedo Diaz 1600 / 1002.
11200 Montevideo,