 |
|
GEO/ICAE REGISTER NOW FOR ICAE SEVENTH WORLD ASSEMBLY www.icae.org.uy VOICES RISING YEAR IV - Nº204 November, 17, 2006 ICAE SEVENTH WORLD ASSEMBLY COUNTDOWN: 61 DAYS LEFT ………………………………… Content 1.- ICAE World Assembly News: Adult Literacy for Empowerment + The Commission on ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY AND EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT+ HIV/AIDS, Health and Poverty+ TRANSPORTATION 2.- NIGERIA NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR ADULT EDUCATION (NNCAE) 3.- STATEMENT: CREATION OF A NEW INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FOR WOMEN 4.- GENDER EQUALITY TO END POVERTY 5.- REGISTRATION FOR WSF 2007 IS OPEN! 6.- HIV/AIDS Manager ********************************************************** 1.- ICAE World Assembly News: Adult Literacy for Empowerment: Defining the policy agenda for ICAE Draft as of 17 November 2006 Today, close to one billion adults — nearly double the total population of Europe – are denied their right to literacy. One in five adults globally are unable to participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their lives, are severely ill-equipped to combat poverty, discrimination, HIV/AIDs and other diseases, and are curtailed in their exercise of other rights and freedoms because they continue to be denied access to literacy skills. One in 4 adults, or 64 % of the 781 million adults who cannot read or write are women – the proportion virtually unchanged from 1990, when the international community promised to eradicate illiteracy in a decade. Although governments worldwide signed up to a UN goal promising 50% reduction in illiteracy by 2015, investments on this goal remain paltry. Literacy programmes receive a mere 1% of education budgets in many developing countries and equally suffers very low priority in aid budgets. Governments in the North and South continue to view adult illiteracy as a residual “problem”, one that will be addressed solely by the expansion of primary education systems - ignoring evidence that even in better performing systems, thousands of children – largely, poor girls - drop out of school before acquiring literacy skills because of poverty. Governments choose to ignore the profound impact of adult literacy – especially mother’s literacy – in school retention and learning achievements especially of girls. This continued disregard for adult literacy denies hundreds of millions of men and women, the much needed means to beat poverty, ill-health, exclusion and discrimination. Civil society organizations and movements should persist in holding governments accountable to the international community’s collective commitment to advance the right of all citizens to education and literacy of good quality. The EFA Midterm review in 2007/8, the MDG review in 2007/8 and CONFINTEA 6 in 2009 present important spaces and platforms for citizens and their movements to pressure governments to accord adult literacy the priority deserved, manifested in requisite financial allocations, political and infrastructural backing and support. In its World Assembly, January 17-19, 2007, the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) will deliberate on the global adult literacy challenge, review the work of different civil society groups, advocates and movements advancing adult literacy, brainstorm on the strategic course for adult literacy advocacy and ICAE’s role within this. The Commission on Adult Literacy will be designed around the above discussion objectives, combining inputs from resource persons, interactive sessions drawing on the diverse global and regional perspectives on adult literacy, and open discussions and debates. Provisional Schedule: Jan 17 14:00-17:00 14:00-15:00 Welcome and Description of Session – led by ASPBAE Introductions among participants of Commission with interactive session on “quality adult literacy” 15-00-15:45 ‘What Quality Adult Literacy means in different contexts’ Inputs from: (15 min each) Asia: Kazi Rafiqul Alam, Executive Director, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Bangladesh Africa: Gorgui Sow, Coordinator, African Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA) Arab: Ghada Al Jabi, Vice President for the Arab region, ICAE 15:45-16:00 Tea Break 16:00-16:15 Open discussions 16:15-17:00 “Quality Adult Literacy…” ..A gendered perspective – Malini Ghose, Co-Founder Nirantar, India (15 min) ..An indigenous perspective – Eileen Antone, Aboriginal Professor, University of Toronto, Canada (15 min) Open Discussions Jan. 18. 14:00-17:00 14:00-14:15 Recap of previous day’s discussions 14:15-15:00 International Benchmarks on Adult Literacy: Demanding Quality Adult Literacy by: David Archer, Head, Education, Action Aid International (20 min) Open Discussions 15:00-15:45 The International Policy Environment for Adult Literacy: breaks and hurdles by: Carol Anonuevo, Deputy Director, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong learning (20 min) Open Discussions 15:45- 16:00 Tea Break 16:00-17:00 Planning for the Future: focus on recommendations to ICAE: Open Discussion/Debate ………………………………………………… THE COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY AND EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The Commission on ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY AND EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT will deal with issues such as ECOLITERACY, ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL ACTORS, "LEARNING FROM GAIA" with the remarkable participation of panelists from all regions. The following speakers have confirmed their participation: Yvonne Underhill-Sem (South Pacific), has been part of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) for six years, most of the time in her capacity as Coordinator of the Pacific Region and at present, she is collaborating with the Fiji Women's Rights Movement with headquarters in Suva, Fiji. She has taught at the University of Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia, and she has also been an independent academic in Samoa and in Germany before working with the Secretariat of the Africa, Caribbean, Pacific Group of States (ACP) in Brussels. As feminist geographer, at present she teaches Gender and Development, Critical Studies on Pacific Population and Geography at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Miriam Duabilibi (Latin America). General Coordinator of Ecoar. She is one of the most important Brazilian environmental activists, author of different books, articles and texts, well-known at international level for her innovative socio-environmental projects. She is an expert in Environmental Literacy and Ecologic Projects and is responsible of developing different projects with the Ministry of Environment and with the National Fund for Environment. Omar Ovalles (Venezuela) PhD in Development Science, Center of Postdoc Research of the Faculty of Economy and Social Sciences (FACES) of the University of Venezuela and Professor of the Postdoc on Environmental Education -Brazil. He has a Masters Degree in Regional Urban Planning. He has worked professionally in the following areas: geography, regional urban planning, environmental sciences and tourism, and at present he is counselor of the Latin American Parliament. Darlene E. Clover (North America) is professor in the Faculty of Education in the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Her areas of academic interest and teaching include environmental adult education, participatory democracy and citizenship, community and cultural leadership, feminist adult education and aesthetic theory, arts-based learning and inquiry. Her activist-research and community work revolves around women using the arts for socio-political learning/change and more recently, street-involved women in Victoria using the arts to explore issues of violence and health. Rosemary Olive Mbone Enie (Africa), a Cameroonian Geologist and Gender Ambassador with the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) of the Netherlands. She was the General Secretary of Women International Coalition Organization (WICO), The President of WICO Africa and the Executive Director of Cameroon Vision Trust, a Cameroon based NGO. For over 15 years she has been actively working in the field of sustainable development and environmental management at grassroots levels in Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and beyond. ……………………………………… HIV/AIDS, HEALTH AND POVERTY The Commission on HIV/AIDS, Health and Poverty is preparing the proposal for the workshop to be held during the Assembly. Some of the members are: Margaret Wambete, (Africa) Co-Founder and Chairperson of the Kenyan Network of Positive Teachers (KENEPOTE). KENEPOTE was formed in 2003 as a network to unite HIV-positive teachers in their fight against HIV and AIDS and their negative impacts. It also promotes positive living with the virus in order to ensure continued productivity and prolonged life. Carol Medel-Añonuevo, (Philippines), Senior Research Specialist - UNESCO Institute for Education y Carol Medel Añonuevo, with an ample experience of investigation and work in the area of gender equality. Alejandra Scampini (Latin America), Women’s Rights Regional Coordinator Actionaid International Americas. Chola Mtonga (Africa) Zambia, Bachelor of Education (Adult Education), graduate in the 2nd ICAE Academy of Lifelong Learning Advocacy (IALLA). Prakash Bhattarai, (Nepal, Asia) graduate in the 2nd ICAE Academy of Lifelong Learning Advocacy (IALLA), Chairperson Youth Action Nepal (YOAC-Nepal). Youth Action Nepal was established in 2003 in order to address peace & conflict, human rights, democracy and reproductive rights issues. ……………………………… TRANSPORTATION Transportation from the airport to hotel where you will be staying is at the expenses of each participant. For those who want to organize it previously, we strongly recommend the services of Marble Travel (they have an office at the airport). They can be reached through the phones or email below. For booking transportation, send them complete name, arrival date and flight number. Jomo Kenyatta Int' Airport Office Tel:+254-2-827664 cell:+254-722-307975-Marion Gachie Email: marbletravel@yahoo.com ICAE will provide transportation from Jacaranda and AACC Guesthouse to the Panafric Hotel (venue of the Assembly) and vice versa every morning and every evening during the 3 days of the Assembly (Jan 17, 18 and 19) FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.icae.org.uy secretariat@icae.org.uy 2.- NIGERIA NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR ADULT EDUCATION (NNCAE) 2006 ANNUAL CONFERENCE- CALABAR 2006. PRESSS RELEASE The Nigeria National Council for Adult Education is holding its 2006 National conference from November 20- 22 at the Conference Centre, University of Calabar. The theme of the conference is Adult Education and therealization of the Millennium Development Goals The essence is to articulate how Adult and Non Formal Education can be used to realize the MDGs in Nigeria. This is informed by the current intervention of the dynamic Minister of Education, who for the first time made Adult and Non Formal Education one of the Six pillars of the Education Sector. Scholars from all tertiary institutions in Nigeria have been identified as lead presenters while the Honourable Minister of Education is expected to declare the conference open. The Executive Governor of Cross River State is the Chief Host while the Vice Chancellor of the University will give a key note address and the National President of the Association Professor, Thomas Fasokun will facilitate the process. Others expected at the Conference are Professor Gidado Tahir, ES UBEC, Professor Olugbenro Jegede, Vice Chancellor National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Dr Ahmed Oyinlola, Executive Secretary NMEC and Special Adviser to the President on Millennium Development Hajia Aminat Ibrahim and all Directors of Adult and Non Formal Education Agencies /Mass Education Agencies among others. A representative of the International Council for Adult Education is also expected to grace the occasion The Nigerian Ambassador to UNESCO Professor Michael Omolewa (OON) will present a good will message while the UNESCO Director and Country Representative in Nigeria is expected to address the conference. We seize this opportunity to wish all a safe trip to and from Calabar, the cleanliest city capital in Nigeria. Dr Rashid Aderinoye National Secretary rasrade@yahoo.com, 08033492011 3.- STATEMENT: CREATION OF A NEW INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FOR WOMEN 9 November 2006 Office of the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa A giant step towards equality for women was taken today at the United Nations when a High-Level Panel on UN reform recommended to the Secretary-General the creation of the world body's first full-fledged agency for women. We are heartened that the panel, appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this year, has reached the conclusion that women's rights and development have always received substandard treatment in the United Nations system. Its recommendation of "an enhanced and independent" policy, advocacy and operational agency for women's empowerment and gender equality, to be headed by an Under Secretary-General, is an inspired and entirely welcome remedy. If implemented and funded as recommended, the new organization will begin to correct over six decades of UN neglect and indifference toward women. The High-Level Panel's recommendation goes next to the General Assembly. Member States' decisions on three critical elements will determine whether today's announcement will be recorded as a turning point in the life of the UN and the lives of women. First, understanding that women's empowerment and equal rights are central to development and peace, the panel recommended that the new women's entity must be "fully and ambitiously funded". We agree whole-heartedly; to make up for lost time and turn rhetoric into reality, the new organization will need a budget of $1 billion. To quote a recent joint statement by Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; Graça Machel, President of Mozambique's Foundation for Community Development; and the Ministers of Health of Botswana and Kenya, Hon. Sheila Tlou and Hon. Charity Ngilu: "Let's put that in perspective: last year, UNICEF had a budget of over $2 billion for children. Surely half of that would not be excessive for the world's women. Surely ameliorating the lives of half the global population is worth $1 billion a year, for a start." Second, success hinges on approval of the plan to replace the UN's weak women's machinery with "sharply focused operations on gender equality and women's empowerment issues, equipped with high-quality technical and substantive expertise, to provide leadership in regions and countries". A destructive pattern has taken hold of landmark agreements on women's rights: gender equality advocates work tirelessly to gain international consensus, only to see their hard-won declarations and resolutions reach dead ends for lack of expertise and operational capacity at country level. The women's organizations and advocates who have pressed the case for a UN women's agency know that targeted programmes and experts will be needed in every country to end that pattern forever. We have great hopes for what the new women's agency can accomplish through targeted programmes in developing countries. At long last, the UN is poised to act on behalf of more than 17 million women living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and the additional 225 young women between 15 and 24 who will become infected every hour today. It can now begin to reverse injustices that have forever been tolerated: the fact that one in three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime; that women produce most of the world's food but own just one per cent of its deeded land; and that they make up the majority of the poor and illiterate. Finally, the new agency for women will need a leader with vision, expertise, authority, empathy and devotion unparalleled in the history of multilateralism. Let the global and transparent selection process begin. For information, please contact Paula Donovan Senior Advisor in the office of the UN Special Envoy, HIV/AIDS in Africa TEL: +1-978-283-2311 pauladonovan@gmail.com or Christina Magill Executive Assistant to Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy, HIV/AIDS in Africa TEL: +1-416-657-4458 clmagill@shaw.ca 4.- GENDER EQUALITY TO END POVERTY Poverty will be history only if gender justice is achieved FEMINIST TASK FORCE Gender Equality to end Poverty www.whiteband.org WOMEN´S HUMAN RIGHTS ARE KEY TO END POVERTY Global Call to Action Against Poverty; together for equality At the start of the 21st century more than a billion people are trapped in a situation of abject poverty and gross inequality, 70% of them are women. International Human Rights instruments protect the rights of all people to and adequate standard of living and well-being, including food, clothing, housing, clean water and medical care. Unjust governance, debt and aid conditionality and trade practices are undermining these rights. To date the pledges to meet the Millennium Declaration efforts to tackle poverty, inequality, injustice and deliver sustainable development have been grossly inadequate. Governments too often fail to address the needs of the people within their territory, aid from rich countries is inadequate in both quality, and quantity, and promises of debt cancellation have not materialized. Rich countries have yet to act on their repeated pledges to tackle unfair trade rules and practices. We have the means to turn this situation around. It is high time governments took action. Galvanized by this imperative, a group of civil society actors including NGOs, international networks, social movements, trade unions, women’s organizations, faith based groups and other civil society actors met in Johannesburg in September 2004. They launched the Global Call to Action Against Poverty that has the following demands: - Public accountability, just governance and the fulfillment of human rights - Trade justice - A major increase in the quantity and quality of aid and financing for development - Debt cancellation - Gender equality to be recognized as a central issue for poverty eradication. IF GENDER EQUALITY IS NOT THERE, ERADICATION OF POVERTY IS NO WHERE! Gender equality is crucial to addressing the inequalities of trade, debt and aid. THERE ARE MORE POOR WOMEN; Women make up nearly 70 percent of the world’s poor and 65 percent of the world’s illiterate. The ILO report, More &Better Jobs for Women An Action Guide, finds that more than 45 percent of all the world’s women (aged 15 to 64) are now economically active. Some of the main findings of the report include: ”The majority of women earn on average about three-fourths of the male wage for the same work, outside the agricultural sector, in both developed and developing countries; the gap is not decreasing; “Women’s unemployment rates run from 50 to 100 percent greater than for men in many industrialized countries; “Women hold less than 6 percent of senior management jobs in the world. Discrimination starts early/Discrimination in education constitute one of the main causes of female poverty and underemployment. Women account for more than two-thirds of the nearly 1 billon adult illiterates. In Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, and Togo in Africa, and Afghanistan and Nepal in Asia, more than 90 percent of women aged 25 and up have never been to school. Of the approximately 100 million children in the world without any access to primary education, 60 percent are girls. Even where education and vocational training are available, many institutions “continue to offer stereotyped “feminine” skills for girls, “such as typing, nursing, sewing, catering and waitressing as opposed to scientific or technical knowledge, the report says. In poorer countries, girls are much more likely than boys to interrupt or halt their schooling in order to tend to domestic tasks, in spite of the obvious benefits of increased education to the workplace. Among the most glaring forms of discrimination in job markets: “unequal hiring and promotion standards, unequal access to training and retraining, unequal access to credit and other productive resources, unequal pay for equal work, occupational segregation and unequal participation in economic decision making”. WITHOUT GENDER EQUALITY IT WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE TO PUT AN END TO POVERTY FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY IS A REALITY. ADDRESS IT! GENDER JUSTICE FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY 5.- REGISTRATION FOR WSF 2007 IS OPEN! Registration for organizations, self-organized activities and individual participants is already available for the WSF 2007, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from January 20 to 25, 2007. Attention: the deadline to register activities is November 30th, 2006. Don’t leave it for the last minute! Self-organized activities are those organized by groups registered for the WSF 2007, and that agree with the WSF Charter of Principles. The proposing organizations should create a title for the activity, define the activity type (e.g., seminar, workshop, conference, etc), choose the speakers, as well as be in charge of invite the speakers. Therefore they must provide everything that is needed so that the activity can successfully take place, like audio-video equipment, power point software, etc. The local organizing committee will only offer the space where these activities happen and announcement of the activities (title, time, location) in the official program publication. See below for the steps to register activities: a) First, register as a user at the site http://www.wsfprocess.net (in this site, click in “New user”, at the left menu of the screen) b) With the login name you chose and the password that is automatically sent to your email, login to the site and register your organization or group c) After logging in, click on the menu at the right side of the screen that says “Register activities”. Select the name of the organization or group that you have registered. Then, fill in the activity form. On the first step, general data will be requested (title, partners, goals, etc.). For second step, you will be asked about specific information for Nairobi logistical planning. d) If your organization or group does not have all the required information about the activity(ies) to be carried out in WSF 2007, you may return to the form later and update it. In order to do this, after you login to the site and select the name of the organization or group registered (at right), you must click on the title of the activity to be modified and, then click “edit” (right above the title). Make all the modifications and then click in “Save”, at the bottom of the page. In order to delete an activity, instead of edit, click in “action” and then “delete”. Most of the content of the registration site is available only in English. Soon, it will be translated to other languages. See the complete registration announcement on the WSF 2007 event site (www.wsf2007.org), with information about individual and organizational registration as well at http://wsf2007.org/registrations. Other information about registration can also be obtained on section “How to take part” of this site. On the WSF 2007 site, check also the first edition of the WSF 2007 newsletter (only in English) 6.- HIV/AIDS Manager // The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) // Location: International // Closing date: November 20, 2006. DESCRIPTION: The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), an international feminist organization, works to strengthen the voice, impact and influence of women's rights advocates, organizations and movements worldwide. As part of an ambitious new strategic plan, AWID is hiring a manager to lead AWID's new HIV/AIDS strategic initiative with the working name, "Feminist Responses to HIV/AIDS." The aim of this initiative is to support women's rights advocates and movements to address the challenges of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The new HIV/AIDS Manager is a content expert who will l ead the initiative and successfully coordinate efforts with other AWID staff, members and partner organizations around the world. The new Manager brings extensive knowledge of the current situation of HIV/AIDS for women and girls worldwide, as well as an understanding of the most effective responses to the pandemic. KEY TASKS OF THE NEW MANAGER WILL INCLUDE: - Supporting current feminist approaches and work done in the Field of HIV/AIDS, - Facilitating dialogue between key players, - Building capacity, - Developing feminist strategies and monitoring them, - Generating relevant information for a wide range of actors, - Convening opportunities for debate and discussion, and - Evaluating outcomes. AWID encourages applications from the Global South, Central and Eastern Europe. AWID encourages applications from HIV+ applicants. The Manager should be able to travel and will ideally lead this initiative from Africa. NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE: - Depth and breadth of knowledge of HIV/AIDS and women's human rights and/or gender and development; - At least five years experience in HIV/AIDS advocacy and/or research; - Experience with women's organizations and movements globally and/or regionally in the HIV/AIDS area; - Demonstrated experience in building and sustaining networks or movements; - At least five years experience in action research (led at least one major project from start to completion, with minimal supervision); - University degree or related experience with a focus on women's rights and/or gender and development and/or HIV/AIDS; - Proven writing and editing skills in English; - Strong organizational skills, effective leadership, ability to work in teams with tight deadlines and pressure; - Written and spoken fluency in English is required; another language preferred and a trilingual candidate in English, Spanish and French a definite asset. TO APPLY: Please send a cover letter, latest CV and a written response in English to the following questions (not to exceed 4 written pages, doubled spaced Times Roman 12 font): 1. In your region or part of the world, what are the challenges faced by women's rights advocates, organizations and movements in addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic? 2. The debates about and programs regarding the global HIV/AIDS pandemic do not provide a strong gender analysis nor focus on the rights of women and girls. What are some key strategies you envision to change this? 3. Who do you think are some of current key actors from women's rights movements who are working on HIV/AIDS? TO APPLY: Please send all documents to Sarah Rosenhek at: (srosenhek@awid.org) BY NOVEMBER 20, 2006. No calls please. We thank all those who apply, but only those candidates who are short listed will be contacted. For more information please visit www.awid.org *************************************** 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. If you wish to subscribe to VOICES RISING please write to: voicesrising@icae.org.uy
|