GEO/ICAE


REGISTER NOW FOR ICAE SEVENTH WORLD ASSEMBLY

www.icae.org.uy


VOICES RISING
YEAR IV - Nº201
October, 25, 2006


 ICAE SEVENTH WORLD ASSEMBLY COUNTDOWN:   83 DAYS LEFT
…………………………………

Content
 1.-  COMMISSION – ADULT EDUCATION: ORGANISATION AND FINANCING

2.- CONTROVERSY TABLES. DEMOCRACY AND INEQUALITY

3.- ADULT EDUCATION FOR LEARNING SOCIETIES – ASIAN AND EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES FOR A GLOBALIZED WORLD
4.- GCAP G8 Meeting
5.- EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS RESOLUTION ON IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE ON WOMEN

 

 


1.-  COMMISSION – ADULT EDUCATION: ORGANISATION AND FINANCING

ICAE 7th World Assembly
ADULTS` RIGHT TO LEARN: CONVERGENCE, SOLIDARITY AND ACTION
Nairobi, Kenya, January 17-19, 2007

Commission – Adult education: Organisation and financing

 

Contact: Heribert Hinzen, IIZ/DVV 

www.iiz-dvv.de  and  hinzen@iiz-dvv.de

 

 

Rationale and background

 

The Delors Report to UNESCO in 1995 claimed that „learning throughout life“is the key to a better future. Educationists should do all what is possible to create opportunities to fulfill the individuals learning needs and related capacities. Learning must be associated with all dimensions of life, expressed in the terms of long, wide and deep. And it could happen at all times, levels, and forms, be they formal, nonformal and informal.

 

There is no longer any doubt that adult education within lifelong learning is a key factor for economic and social development, on top of having the dimension of being a human right. New policies for adult education must result in coherent forms of laws and legislation, which in turn clearly spell out ways and means for financing adult education, involving the public and the private sector, the social partners as well as the individual. But it is still quite apparent from comparative studies that changes in most countries are too slow and not far reaching, especially as they continue suffering from too low investment in their human resources. There is an urgent need to reverse this trend.

 

As soon as we accept that adults are interested in and need lifelong learning opportunities then we are suddenly confronted with a simple reality: if the highest number of the population are adults, younger and older included, then adult learning becomes the largest part of the education sector, and why should it not receive as much, or according to size even more attention and support than any of the others?

 

There are strong arguments for a four pillar approach to a concept and system of lifelong learning, and there should be no doubt that schools, vocational training, universities and adult education are of equal importance for the individual and society.

 

When talking of schools then this includes all kinds of schools, from pre-schools or kindergarten to schools for the handicapped, from the comprehensive to the gymnasium type. And when looking at vocational training, one should do so again in its broadest sense, from the pre-qualification to in-service, from re-training of the unemployed to the up-grading of skills for those in senior management. And when talking of universities one thinks of the whole sector of tertiary education, including the college level as well as forms of academic further education. And therefore when turning to adult education we should take an all inclusive perspective from the younger adults to the elderly, and their respective learning needs, from the different forms of self-directed instruction to this huge variety of providing institutions and learning arrangements.

 

Adult education provision in most countries is neither sufficient in quantity, nor in quality. Related statistics are limited in scope and often outdated. However, there are often only limited statistics, which in turn still give room to plausible arguments that participation lags much behind against what is needed in respect to employability, and an active citizenship. The challenges for all countries are: how to increase and sustain participation rates, how to stimulate the motivation of prospective learners, and how to shape a system of education and training for youth and adults which is ensuring higher levels of participation. As a general growth in adult education participation is necessary for more and better human potential, special attention is on those who normally do not take part: those who were not successful in school and vocational education and lack motivation; women who due to double stress as workers and caretakers for family and children affairs lack sufficient time; households who because of low income level lack the financial resources.

Adult learning as the leading concept should foster active citizenship, strengthen personal growth and secure social inclusion, thus going far beyond employability – all of which are including education and training in a lifelong perspective. How to improve employability of the workforce without providing good quality in general and vocational training for youth and adults continuously? How to strengthen mobility without training languages and intercultural skills for younger and older adults?

 

Policy, organisation and financing

 

In almost no country Governments find it difficult to have a policy for schools or higher education, usually there is legislation for both of them, and there is financial provision, though often not high enough. It is very often different for adult education where most Governments find it difficult to do the necessary. There may be even more countries in the world without adult education policies, or without legislation, and even more so often only meager finances are available.

 

Why is that so? What could be possible reasons? We hear of the complexity of what is then described as the adult education and training market where there are so many players and where nobody wants to be regulated and controlled by others. And then there is not enough money for teachers and schools anyway. But why should youth and adults and their education and training suffer?

 

Some of the research data available on participation rates in adult education programmes suggest that the better you are qualified via schooling and university training the more likely it is that you continue to upgrade your knowledge and skills via adult continuing education for a lifelong, at least during working life, perspective. Therefore within policy and legislation, organisation and finances we need measures that counteract this situation and support a trend where less successful and non-participants in adult training who are more likely to be the un- or underemployed should get special attention. The commission shall seek for solutions in some of these areas.

 

Lifelong learning – including all sorts of training and re-training on all levels – has a key role to play in all matters related to employability and active citizenship. Bridges are needed between formal and non-formal educational institutions, and each provider has to play his or her respective role: schools and universities, companies and VET-institutions. On a policy level the debate should center much more around investing in people and their education by governments, employers and the learners themselves. Innovative mechanisms for learner’s accounts, educational lending and savings have to be analysed and valued.

 

A few more aspects on financing of adult education. If we take it serious then we should not expect that any institution could do this alone. We have been living with a mixed reality where we have contributions from different sources. It may be correct to expect a substantial proportion by Government from public sources, not only because most of the tax payers are adults. But if we argue for equality in a four pillars approach to the education sector than adult education becomes a public responsibility to support adults learning.

 

Adults share in the costs and contribute as individuals via the participants fees. Not all courses must cost the same, some should be free, or subsidized for certain groups.

 

The private sector and many companies see further education and training of their employees as an investment into their human resources, sometimes even balanced as human capital. Here again, this investment may not be high enough, and it may be more often seen in larger companies. But we should clearly state that the privatization of adult education financing has reached a certain limit, and through the individuals and companies contribution it has always been a significant share.

 

We have seen a quite interesting diversity of models in financing adult education coming up recently in different countries. When looking at the demand and supply side many of the professionals still claim a basic (at least) institutional funding as a prerequisite for quality provision. Others prefer to support the individual more directly through grant schemes and learning accounts.

 

In the past we often enjoyed to insist on a dichotomy between general and vocational adult continuing education, as if they were completely separate. Today we prefer to see the interrelationships in a stronger way: much of the general has often immediate impact for the vocational. The whole debate on key competencies and core qualifications point out that the general is important for the vocational – and vice versa.

 

When discussing literacy skills, we used to think of reading, writing and numeracy. Today we have to add all that is associated to different levels of what the information technology requires. Competence in computer skills have almost become a prerequisite for our daily life, and which office and even the smallest company can do without them? They are becoming a general basic skill, including for vocational purposes.

 

This leads to an understanding where not the dichotomy between the general and the vocational is of interest, but to look out for the continuum in the advancement of both, and the bridges between the two.

 

Adult education has to build on what was achieved in the periods of childhood and youth, and nurture the desire to be an active citizen as well as provide the skills to do so competently through civic adult education.  

 

What kind of implications have these insights for policy, organisation and financing adult education and training? What sort of structural support do we need? More financial input for the providing institutions, or more incentives for the individuals, or a mix of both?

 

Participants, programmes and providers

 

We have compulsory schooling; we do not have compulsory adult education. And we may not aspire to have it as the freedom of choice to participate or not, and if, what, when and where has been one of the most important advantages of adult education. But again and again, there is a new myth lurking around the corner. Is in its consequence the concept of lifelong learning creating a sort of must for lifelong schooling? Should we in adult education not turn this fear around and enrich the lifetime cycle of learning with all our experiences from outside the classroom, from nonformal or informal, from self-organized and self-directed forms of education and training?

 

Who is preparing what kind of learning agenda in adult education in the nearer future? Where are our societies moving in this era of globalization? We need qualified manpower, but what are the qualifications for the future labour market. Often and again we have re-trained our unemployed adults for jobs who were gone already when the training ended. Who knows more and better about the kind of good and prospective adult education and training programmes, which are not only following market forces and the further advancement of mastering the information technologies successfully?

 

There is no need to repeat that we need Government input into adult education as much as we do for the other pillars of the education system. And this goes beyond policy, legislation and financing, covering areas of training or accreditation.

 

However, we need much more acceptance of Governments role in supporting in many ways non-governmental (NGO) providers in adult education and other community based organisations (CBO). They cover a whole world of variations, from civic and environmental concerns to the training provision for profit, the courses run by churches or trade unions, from farmers associations to workshops on gender mainstreaming. All in all there seems to be no doubt that this important, and in sum it is much more than Government does or could do. But do these NGOs receive the much needed recognition, respect and even support?

 

The role of universities is changing, and parts are transformed into institutions of lifelong learning. Past students come for all types of post graduate university degrees. There will be a new balance for the old extra-mural type and the many new academic studies for adult students. The universities role for adult education continues to become wider. We need as well their leading support for research into our field, help us to develop adult education as a strong academic discipline. And their role as a training institution for the future generation of adult education professionals, and in up-grading our staff they are indispensable.

 

Looking at benchmarks for participation rates in different countries, then formerly the numbers of pupils in secondary schools or students in higher education were looked at predominantly. Today, there are benchmarks for participation rates in adult education coming up. This is difficult especially the more we go beyond the formal and highly institutionalized adult education providers. But it seems to be important enough to start the preparation of a system to collect relevant statistics on a global level.

 

 

Objectives, activities and outputs

 

The findings of the commission are important for all areas of adult education, be they more nonformal, formal or informal, with a more general or vocational education or re-training perspective. Attention may as well be given to new forms of e- and blended learning. The different dimensions and responsibilities of governments, stakeholders, providers, and learners shall be equally looked into. Therefore, the commission may want to represent a wide geographical and political variety, the governmental, NGO and private sectors, the national and the local level, and professional service institutions.

 

There is a concern that despite on policy, legislative and financial level to ensure equal opportunities for women and men as well as for disabled persons, there is in reality still inequality. There is a need to document this reality, analyse the reasons and suggest possible changes, including special financial support.

 

The commission aims at collecting information on policies and legislation, structures of organizing and financing adult education. Interesting models have been developed by Governments, by NGOs and CBOs, and all sorts of providers.  There are frameworks for smaller and larger companies, for successful learners as well as returning dropouts, creating funds or saving accounts for financing education, installing schemes on tax reduction for investments in education, relating different legislative requirements closer to what a system of lifelong learning requires. There is a growing concern to view adult education financing as investment. However, knowledge of the resources needed and how they are provided, how the adult education sector in all member countries, and of what works best under which conditions is still limited for many interested parties. Here is an interest of the commission to collect relevant information and materials.

 

Case studies may look deeper into the situation of some countries in respect to policies and realities. A diversity of strategies for financing adult education within lifelong learning may  be analysed in respect to economic and social demand, labor market requirements, whether they increase participation, especially for so far non-participants. Results shall be documented and made available. Recommendations from different experiences shall be drawn. Models for adult education policies and legislation could be constructed.

 

For those interested in the historical dimension may want to look at what ICAE had in its “Adult learning: A design for action” which was presented and agreed upon by the ICAE world assembly participants in Dar es Salaam 1976, or may even want to compare it with the recommendations on adult education that came up by UNESCO`s general conference in the same year in Nairobi.

 

Special attention shall have the need to understand better the ways and means for better financing adult education in the North-South funding streams. Development aid is increasing on a global scale. But whether it is available for adult learning is still to be seen. If possible, recommendations to international agencies shall be developed.

 

Invitation

Colleagues who are interested to work in and for the commission are invited to get into contact with the convenor. Please send us your ideas, suggestions, opinions, research results, materials and documents. Depending on the feed-back we shall decide how we should organize the communication and divide the work between us.

 

Most of the work will be based on ICT, especially e-mail, maybe using websites for extended information, documentation and communication possibilities.

 

Later we shall decide how we can share the findings during the ICAE world assembly, as information beforehand, during a plenary, or within a workshop.

 

 

References

 

Delors, J. (Ed.): Learning: The treasure within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century. Paris: UNESCO 1996

 

EAEA: Adult education trends and issues in Europe. Brussels: EAEA 2006

 

Hall, B.L, Roby Kidd (eds.): Adult learning: A design for action. Action. Oxford: Pergamon Press 1978

 

ICAE: Adenda for the future six years later. Montevideo: ICAE 2003

 

OECD: Beyond rhetoric. Adult learning policies and practices. Paris: OECD 2003

 

www.eaea.org

www.icae.org.uy

www.oecd.org/edu/adult/learning

www.unesco.org/education/uie

 


 2.- CONTROVERSY TABLES. DEMOCRACY AND INEQUALITY

 

30, 31 October 2006

Hotel NH Colombia, Rbla. Gran Bretana 473

Tel. 598 2 916 0001 916 0192

Montevideo, Uruguay

 

The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) -Latin American and the Caribbean Chapter-, the GCAP Feminist Task Force, the networks REPEM, ICAE, Social Watch and the “Articulacion Feminista Marcosur”, invite you to a preparatory activity in relation to the XVI Iberoamerican Summit of Presidents and Heads of State.

 

The Iberoamerican Summit will take place in Montevideo on 4 and 5 November 2006. The dynamics to influence on the agendas and results of the Presidential Summits vary according to the different spaces and they can take the form of official events organized by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs or informal participation spaces of social organizations. The Controversy Tables are being organized by regional networks and coalitions of civil society ant they aim at bringing together citizens interested in sharing their visions and proposals from the different countries of the region

The methodology of the meeting has been thought so as not to reproduce the traditional logic of conferences but to favor a broad spectrum of visions and the elaboration of common proposals through the Controversy Tables. All participants at the meeting form part of the tables that will be coordinated by moderators and where a group of initial provocative thoughts will be shared by few presenters. A second group of presenters will react to these provocative ideas and of course all participants will then have the floor to be able to elaborate concrete proposals to present to the Iberoamerican Summit.

 

Monday 30 October:

Controversy Tables

Morning, 08:30 – 13:00 hs.

Controversy Table I: Poverty, Production and re-Distribution of Wealth

First Part

Presenters with provocative ideas:

Paola Azar (International Network, Gender and Trade/Uruguay)

Jorge Lerenas (GCAP LAC, Accion/Chile)

Iara Pietricovsky (GCAP LAC, Inesc/Brazil)

Marcelo Paixao (LAESER, Initiative: Dialogues Against Racism/ Brazil)

 

Moderator: Ana Agostino
(GCAP Feminist Task Force, ICAE, Uruguay)

 

Second Part

Presenters with provocative ideas:

Diego Sempol (Ovejas Negras – Black Sheep/ Uruguay)

Ximena Machicao (GCAP LAC, REPEM/Bolivia)

Mario Paniagua (GCAP LAC/El Salvador)

Line Bareiro (AFM, CDE/Paraguay)



 Moderador: Cecilia Alemany
(Social Watch, Uruguay)

 

Afternoon, 15:00 – 18:30

Controversy Table II: Political Bodies, Policies of the Body

 

First Part

Presenters with provocative ideas:

Roberto Bissio (Social Watch/Uruguay)

Magaly Pineda

(GCAP LAC, CIPAF/ Dominican Republic)

Lucy Garrido (AFM, Cotidiano Mujer/Uruguay)

Ruben Campero (CEGDS, SEXUR A/Uruguay)

 

Moderator: Luisa Cruz
(GCAP LAC, FTF, Forum Solidaridad/ Perú)

 

 

Second Part

Presenters with provocative ideas:

Aucan Huilcaman

(GCAP LAC, Aukin Wallmapu/Chile)

Chavela Camusso (UAFRO/Uruguay)

Julio de los Santos (La Diaria/Uruguay)

Maria Jose Cabrera (GCAP LAC/ Bolivia)

 

Moderador: Fernanda Carvalho
(GCAP LAC, IBASE/Brazil)

Tuesday 31 October

Presentation of the Declaration

Morning, 09:00 – 10:30
Working group for the systematization of contributions to the declaration

 

12:00 - Press Conference

Presentation of the Declaration by social organizations and networks to the Heads of State participants at the Iberoamerican Summit

Hotel NH Columbia

 

For media information or dissemination of the declaration, please contact Lucy Garrido, Cotidiano Mujer 00598 2 9018782 cotidian@cotidianomujer.org.uy
For further information contact REPEM, 00598 2 4080089

secretaria@repem.org.uy      oficina@repem.org.uy

 

 

3.- ADULT EDUCATION FOR LEARNING SOCIETIES – ASIAN AND EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES FOR A GLOBALIZED WORLD

International Conference and Study Tour, Beijing, China 28.10.-4.11.2006

organized by

Chinese Adult Education Association – CAEA

Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education – ASPBAE
 European Association for the Education of Adults – EAEA
German Adult Education Association – DVV

 

in cooperation with

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning – UIL

International Council for Adult Education – ICAE

and

China National Institute for Educational Research – CNIER

Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences - BAES

sponsored by

TELC/WBT
ASPBAE – IIZ/DVV – BMZ
BAES

 

Xindadu Hotel

No.21 Che Gong Zhuang Road

Beijing, 100044, China

Tel: +86 10 6831 9988

Fax: +86 10 6833 8296 、+86 10 6833 8507 

www.xindadu-hotel.com.cn

www.xindadu-hotel.com

 

To see the programme, please download it from our website: www.icae.org.uy

 

 

4.- GCAP G8 Meeting

Berlin Communiqué

October 4-6, 2006

 

gcap-women-bounces@apcwomen.org

 

PREAMBLE

 

GCAP working group met in Berlin from October 4 to 6, 2006 to review revious collaborative activities and plans for 2007. Participants included representatives from national and regional platforms from Canada, US, UK, Italy, Japan, Germany, Russia, EU, International organisations and Africa. The objectives of the meeting were:

 

  • Review actions and progress since 2005
  • Discuss Campaign Tools and Tactics
  • Discuss timeline and lobbying processes

 

The meeting featured wide ranging and vigorous discussions on ways of working, tools and strategies, as well as concrete actions to take forward in the lead up to the Summit in 2007. We learned from the German and Japanese coalitions their plans for advocacy around their respective summits. The main outcomes of the meeting were:

 

  • Reaffirmed the importance of timely information sharing on lobbying and intelligence around the G8 processes
  • The value of coordinating activities in G8 countries to maintain pressure on delivering and exceeding commitments made in previous summits
  • Reaffirmed the critical role of Southern participation in G8 advocacy processes and committed to take action to include Southern participation In upcoming activities
  • Agreed to build on and increase the effectiveness of the ways of working as a group
  • Identified effective tools for G8 advocacy and the need to support capacity building for G8 national platforms, including interactive websites, sign on letters, petitions, supporter databases, advertising, video footage, coordinated lobbying, rallies, and media stunts, among others
  • Identified priority activities and developed an agreed timeline for coordinated actions from October 2006 through to the summit in June 2007

 

The meeting has produced this communiqué to aid in the sharing of information both within G8 countries and with all other regions and constituencies of GCAP working on G8 advocacy. The meeting agreed to work within the Beirut advocacy platform. When plans for the GCAP month of action for 2007 are developed, G8 country coalitions will use this as a basis for 2007 planning and action.

 

COUNTRY UPDATE

We received a welcome address from Juergen Lieser, vice chair of VENRO, who welcome representatives from country platforms to Berlin. There was a round up of the political context and coalition news from each country platform and Africa region. See meeting notes for details.

 

REVIEW OF 2005 AND 2006

 

The group reviewed the past activities of the GCAP G8 Working Group over the past two years. These included joint-lobbying, lobbying letters, media events like the Post-it Note action in June 2006.  The group broke down the review into policy and lobbying, media, and campaigning and gave recommendations to help us in our planning in 2007 by improving on coordination and communication.

 

Main points included:

 

  • Capacity is a major issue
  • Intelligence sharing is very good but needs greater clarity on decision-making on lobbying tactics.
  • Measuring impact and follow-up to the actions needs more attention.
  • Organising the information and sharing plans for others to use is critical.
  • Joint lobbying messages and press releases have been useful.

·         There has been a real value to the decentralised approach and country coalition decision making on messages.

  • We need to tailor our messages to our target audiences.

 

See the main notes for the full list of points.

 

STRATEGIES AND TOOLS

 

We discussed presentations from four country coalitions on strategies and tools utilized in past campaigns: Canada (website), UK (paid and earned media), USA (email lists and databases), Japan (white bands). See meeting notes for more details.

 

LOBBYING

 

We had a discussion on lobbying techniques and lessons learned, and exchanged best practices on lobbying G8 sherpa offices and related ministries. Please see meetings notes for details. We discussed some of the possible calendar dates for joint action on lobbying and advocacy on policy. This fed into the calendar agreed in a later session.

 

JOINT ACTIONS FOR 2007

 

During the period from October to June, we plan the following activities in order to:

 

  • Influence the summit agenda & our national politicians
  • Make southern voices prominent
  • Make sure politicians feel the pressure coming from the public
  • Keep the public engaged & connected to each other - sense of global movement

 

We will continue to undertake several activities on an ongoing basis including intelligence sharing, using template lobby letters to finance ministers, G8 sherpas & heads of state, shaping messages/key policy demands (based on Beirut demands).

 

Building Momentum

 

Online Petition

The German coalition is already collecting online petition Voices against Poverty to the Chancellor, which will be launched on Oct 17th (tbc). This meeting asks GCAP to support this idea and make it a global action, with an optional mechanism where we can contact those that take part with further communications. We need to develop a technical understanding of how the data collecting will be both owned by and passed to the relevant national coalitions before National Coalitions can decide if they want to support this. This should be clarified by the end of October.

 

In November Deine Stimme gegen Armut will be launching an attempt to create the longest ever click ad so that it can be shown throughout the 3 days of the G8 summit. This meeting is asking GCAP to make  recording messages for this Click Ad an International action, technical suggestions should be sent to Uli and the Action Group will take this up.

 

Official Civil Society Process

Deine Stimme gegen Armut will circulate information on the official civil society process once it is confirmed including the meeting in Bonn at the end of April.

 

National Calendars

Astrid will develop a global schedule of key policy moments for G8, each member country, key bilateral (such as Putin visiting Germany), UN, AU etc. events.

 

White Bands

Mass distribution of white bands (and alternatives such as mobile phone tags) will vary from country to country, but to do it properly we need a long lead in time so countries need to determine what they want to do by the end of October and notify CIVICUS.

 

Website/Short Films

It was agreed as important to have updated country websites in place before the start of 2007, so for countries that are having a website should be updated by the end of November. It was agreed that we should have several short films nationally adaptable by name, language, policy demands, celebrities (where used) and website address. We will try and make several different films staggered over the next nine months and Japan plans to work on a film for 2008 (historical timeline and footage of G8 – e.g. from Gleneagles-St Petersburg-Heiligendamm-Kyoto?).

 

Outreach

We agreed to encourage GCAP to do some outreach work to similar international coalitions on issues such as Climate Change so that we can mutually support each other for 2007 and 2008. National coalitions are encouraged to approach relevant national groups.

 

 

Campaign Calendar

The following calendar was agreed dependent on resources and discussion within countries.

 

October: German cabinet meeting

 

We will:

 

  • Release a statement/press release giving GCAP response (following GCAP teleconference with small task force), with in particular strong German and African perspectives – Oct 18th. More considered piece within a week with reactions on the decision.
  • Launch 'Your Voices' petition in Germany
  • Decide whether to request Finance Ministers/ Celebrities visit Africa
  • Decide whether to request Merkel to visit Africa

 

January: New Year

  • Stunt with 'New Year's Resolution' theme, (suggest it as a theme for WSF launch?)
  • Paid adverts using same creative idea
  • Open letter signed by famous economists: "the sums will work if you want them to" (maybe with a link to Davos?)

 

February: Finance Ministers meeting

  • Webcast debate between finance ministers & activists (from North and South)
  • Asks ACP council of Ministers and other similar meetings to produce a declaration to the G7 Finance Ministers Group on Poverty and Inequality

 

May: Finance Ministers meeting; EU Council meeting; G8 Sherpas meeting

  • Publish peoples' advert (an advert listing the names of who signed the petition)
  • Lobby tours by southern activists to lobbying before all 3 political opportunities. The Action group will develop a plan for discussion with other GCAP regions.

 

June: G8 summit

 

There is a key moment before the actual summit - 5/6 June before leaders head off to Germany. G8 leaders need to be influenced through and by their own constituencies before they leave for the summit. Decentralized joint action is needed as a reminder that constituencies have expectations for G8 leaders to deliver at the summit.

 

 

Final Push

Objectives:

·         Leaders feel pressure of their constituencies to deliver

·         Activists get engaged - north & south come together

 

Messaging:

Need to take into account state of agenda by this time.

 

Actions (done within a theme : 'Global phone call' - this is the most important call you'll ever make - speak directly to your leaders; leave them a message - tell them what you want from the summit.):

·         Send-off actions in national capitals is key around 5th June

·         Some activity - maybe virtual - where activists in G8 countries & beyond can feel part of what's going to happen in Germany

·         'Longest click film'

 

WAYS OF WORKING

After some discussion it was agreed for the main group to meet every two weeks for one hour.

We need to have a timetable of the meetings

We will invite colleagues from other regions of GCAP to join the working group.

We have a sub-group to develop actions that should focus on developing the actions agreed by the main group.

 

There should be a task group to do the immediate response and more considered analysis for the statement for Oct 18th.  GCAP International Facilitation Team and Africa Facilitation Team will be asked to suggest people for this group and we will mention the importance of this. The group will be led by Deine Stimme gegen Armut and will include Astrid, Luca, Birte and Kirsty, Dennis. They will:

·         Prepare a factual statement followed by some quotes from different GCAP constituencies and countries.

·         They will do a longer internal lobbying analysis of the response for consideration by the main group within a week.

 

The activities should be reported in the GCAP International Facilitation Team by someone who is on both groups.

 

A webpage for GCAP G8 coalition work shall be set up on www.whiteband.org A mailing list should be set up for the G8 coalitions list of e-mail addresses and we should look at online groups.

 

We should translate key documents into all of the languages for the GCAP G8 coalitions where possible this should be done by professional translators and reviewed by media leads in the relevant country.

JAPAN 2008

Hottenkenai gave a presentation to the meeting to up-date the GCAP G8 Working Group on the plans and activities in Japan in preparation for the 2008 G8 Summit.

 

The main aims of the work for the G8 are to:

 

  • Ensure that poverty related issues on 2008 Summit, produce a ‘Real MDG8’ – shadow Report. Establish functional participation with Japanese Government.
  • Increase public awareness on poverty in Japan, which is relatively low.
  • To have a historic civil society movement.

 

Hottenkenai have created a new organizational structure with missions statement, strategy and plans of actions. 2006 is a key year to lay the foundation of campaign to allow 2007 for scaling up the activities for 2008.  The NGO community is already active in the G8 preparations and GCAP people have participated in a planning meeting already.

 

The meeting discussed how the GCAP G8 Working Group can assist the Japanese coalitions in preparing for 2008 including organizing a ‘hand-over’ event of the G8 Presidency from Germany to Japan at the beginning of 2008.  The meeting agreed to share information on the Japanese G8 plans and to organize a face-to-face meeting of the GCAP G8 Working Group in Japan July 2007 to strategise for the Japanese G8 meeting

 

DEINE STEIME GEGEN ARMUT

Many thanks for the Deine Steime gegen Armut coalition for hosting the meeting.

 

 

 
 5.- EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS RESOLUTION ON IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE ON WOMEN


 WUNRN
 http://www.wunrn.com
 
 Website Reference:
 http://www.eepa.be/wcm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=1
 
 Full Resolution Text:
 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2006-0389+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN
 
 Brussels, 2 October 2006 – At its meeting on Thursday 28 September in Strasbourg, the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality adopted resolution on perspectives of women in international trade.

Little is known of the impact of trade and economic globalisation on women. This is partly due to a lack of disaggregated data, and partly because there is a lack of gender awareness in economic analysis and models.
The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality is in its report ‘On perspectives of women in international trade’ looking at both positive and negative effects of trade and economic globalisation on women.

The report finds that women are sometimes regarded as winners of global trade since more and more women are able to obtain employment. Furthermore, trade liberalisation has opened up new opportunities for especially educated and younger women. However, at the same time millions of women workers, small-holder farmers and petty traders are losing access to productive resources and are not improved by trade liberalisation. On the contrary; social and economic rights of women spelled out in the Beijing Platform for Action is even defined as trade barriers subject to deregulation.

Some highlights of the resolution include:

  • The importance to stress that trade liberalisation has a differential effect on women and men and the need for coherence between the objectives of the European policy for gender and equality and the objectives of trade, development and aid policy.
  • Urging the Commission to put in place an action plan for gender mainstreaming in international trade policies, including clear monitoring and evaluating mechanisms.
  • Asking the commission to operate a gender impact assessment before concluding any trade agreements with third countries.
  • Pointing out the importance of gender budgeting in European trade policy as a strategy for contributing to gender equality.

Click here to read the whole resolution on perspectives of women in international trade.
***************************************

PLEASE TAKE NOTE
One of the objectives of Voices Rising, the on line magazine from ICAE (International Council for Adult Education) is to democratize the access to information.
Although Voices Rising believes that the information it receives is of trustable sources and before publishing it measures are taken to ensure that it is reliable, the possibility is always there that we can make a mistake or that wecan besurprised by ill intentions.
Therefore, and with the aim of protecting the interests of all our subscribers and readers, VOICES RISING recommends that you take all necessary precautions before taking significant decision in relation to the published information.