1.- International Conference “The Right to Education in the Context of Migration and Integration"

15/16.11.2007 in Bonn
Germany

http://www.iiz-dvv.de/englisch/default.htm 


Partnership
Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. (DVV), International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA), The European Language Certificates (telc GmbH), Deutsche Welle (DW)

Implemented by
dvv international

Conference Languages:
English and German

Introduction
The report of the Global Commission on International Migration (2006) (http://www.un-ngls.org/international_migration.htm) has highlighted that migration is a transnational phenomenon and that migration and integration must be regarded as two sides of the same coin.

Although the history of mankind is obviously a migration history and about 200 million people can be defined as migrants with growing tendency , the actual European migration policy seems to be dominated more by fear and a political strategy of defence reaction than by a necessary paradigm change to see the chances for defeating poverty through migration.

The structures of the education systems, formal and non-formal, carry the weight of inventing concepts of integration and find themselves in a difficult situation of needing to find the right balance. This is especially the case in countries where migrants are objects of a nationalistically oriented policy of interior affairs, which splits them into different categories of benefit receivers. Depending on their civic status migrants have different chances of access to programmes and benefits or even of political participation. Some of them, if they are ‘illegal’, do not have any access neither to formal structures nor to political participation.

Goals of the Conference
The main goal of the conference is to offer a forum for exchange of opinions and experiences about the challenges of migration processes for European and International cooperation in the field of education and concerning integration processes in the countries of immigration. The key question about the role of education and, more specifically, what adult education can and must contribute to the fulfilment of the right to education, shall be discussed in an international, a European and a national perspective.
The presentation of different concepts of education in international cooperation seeks to contribute to a change in perspective to view migration more as a chance than a threat.
The organizers strive to achieve an exchange of information about the relationship between migration, development cooperation and adult education based on the experiences of the international partners of dvv international and adult education institutions in Germany and Europe.
The conference also offers the opportunity of discussing the recommendations of the International Commission on Migration and evaluates its relevance for the field of international cooperation in education.
Additionally, different methods, instruments and concepts of adult education for securing the right to education of migrants shall be presented and discussed.
The conference organizers wish to initiate a discussion process for the formation of opinions on this important issue, to give space for mutual understanding and to define the role and tasks of adult education in the complex process of migration.

Target Group of the Conference
Adult Educators, Trainers and Directors of Adult Education Institutions, administration and politicians involved in educational issues, members of integration networks, all people with an interest in the issue
 

2.- World Education Forum Alto Tietê 2007

13/16.09.2007 in Mogi das Cruzes Sao Paulo Brazil

For further information: http://altotiete.forummundialeducacao.org 


 

3.- Countries of East Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific pledge support for Literacy at Beijing conference

“We cannot in all conscience abandon millions of adults and young people to a fate of lifelong illiteracy. This is unacceptable in the 21st century,” declared the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, at the opening of the sub-regional conference addressing Literacy Challenges in East Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific: Building Partnerships and Promoting Innovative Approaches, organized by UNESCO in Beijing (China) 31 July to 1 August.

UNESCO / Ariane Bailey
Curso de alfabetización en China
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38973&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html 

The Conference was opened in the presence of Chinese State Councillor, Chen Zhili; China’s Education Minister, Zhou Ji; and Education Vice Minister, Zhang Xinsheng, who is also the Chairman of UNESCO’s Executive Board. The first ladies of Indonesia, Ani Bambang Yudhoyono, and of Mongolia, Onon Enkhbayar Tsolmon, also took the floor during the event. In a video address, U.S. First Lady Laura Bush, Honorary Ambassador for the United Nations Decade of Literacy, highlighted the importance of women’s literacy: “Women who can read are more likely to be advocates for their own children’s education,” she pointed out.

While more than one in five adults worldwide i.e; more than 774 million people can neither read nor write, the overall rate of literacy in the sub-region is high (91.7%). Countries, such as China and Indonesia, have achieved considerable progress in recent decades, but there is still a great disparity between nations. In the Pacific, for example, the rate of literacy is at 60%, for Papua New Guinea, compared to 98% in Tonga and Samoa. The sub-region still numbers close to 125 million adults with poor reading and writing skills. Gender inequality persists in the sub-region as women, many of them living in rural areas, account for 70% of illiterates.

Over two days, participants first ladies, education ministers, policy-makers, civil society representatives, education professionals, members of bilateral and international organizations examined subjects such as family literacy, intergenerational teaching, literacy for health and for economic self-sufficiency. More specifically regional issues, such as literacy in a multilingual environment or literacy and rural development, were also on the agenda.

At the close of the conference, participants recommended that follow up actions in favour of literacy be carried out at different levels in the sub-region. They emphasized the need for a strong political commitment at the highest level and close cooperation between governments and civil society organizations. The need to start teaching lieracy in people’s mother tongue before moving on to literacy in the national language was emphasized during the conference, which also stressed the importance of teaching migrants to read and write.

Mr Matsuura invited the international community and donors active in the sub-region to increase their support for literacy. “External aid remains insufficient to meeting the Education For All goals,” he argued. In 2005, only US$2.4 billion were channelled to Education For All (EFA), while yearly needs are estimated to be at US$11 billion if EFA goals are to be met. The part of overseas assistance devoted to literacy is, furthermore, very weak.

The Beijing Conference was held in the framework of a series of six regional conferences to fight illiteracy worldwide. The first took place in Doha (Qatar), in March 2007. Four other conferences on the subject are scheduled by the end of 2008, in Mali, in India, Costa Rica and Azerbaijan.

These initiatives follow the Global Literacy Conference organized by the White House in New York on 18 September 2006, under the auspices of Mrs Bush. The conference marked the launch of a major international literacy campaign within the framework of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012).

 

4.- AWID Survey: Religious Fundamentalisms and Women's Rights

AWID
survey@awid.org

Fill out this survey by September 9th for TWO chances to win full funding to participate in the next AWID International Forum, Cape Town, South Africa!

Dear colleague,

We are writing to invite you to participate in a new study on the global impact of religious fundamentalisms on women's rights. To start the survey now, simply click here.

Working with partners in the women's movements and other social justice movements, the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is engaged in a multi-year advocacy and research initiative to create a better understanding of religious fundamentalisms and women's human rights. This initiative aims to produce broad, cross-comparative and substantive feminist research on the issue across religions and regions, in ways that can be widely accessed and shared. Our goal is to create new resources to build the capacity of women's rights organizations to implement successful strategies for resisting and challenging fundamentalisms.

To further this important work, we are conducting this survey, which explores some key questions and broad trends related to religious fundamentalisms and women's rights. AWID is particularly interested in your insights, in the context of your work on women's rights. We ask you to PLEASE take 25 minutes to complete this survey.

We are aware that the information that will be received through this questionnaire may be sensitive in nature and will be treated accordingly. Whereas, AWID will do its best to ensure that the general findings of this questionnaire are shared and accessible, any information received through specific questionnaires will be kept confidential and treated in an anonymous and generic fashion, unless you give us special permission to do otherwise.

In recognition for your time and contribution, AWID will also put your name into a draw for two chances to attend, fully funded, AWID's upcoming International Forum on Women's Rights and Development, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa in November 14-17, 2008. Be sure to complete, in FULL, a questionnaire by September 9th to be entered in the draw. We'll announce the winners by the end of September 2007.

Only people who receive this invitation are asked to complete this survey.

We look forward to sharing the results of this survey and our on-going research with you in the coming months. In the meantime, our web resource called "Challenging Fundamentalisms"shares cross-regional information on this issue. And additional information on this project, can be found at http://www.awid.org or by contacting us at survey@awid.org.

Your time is truly appreciated and we very much look forward to your response.

Thank You!

 

5.- Specification for GCAP Africa WEB SITE

Proposed domain name: www.gcapafrica.org 

OVERVIEW OF WEB SITE REQUIREMENT

The challenge for GCAP Africa is to use the website to communicate more effectively with its stakeholders/partners and interested individuals around the world; and to publish documents, press releases, news announcements and other needed information. The system needs to be accessed easily by a variety of stakeholders in a user friendly way.
The main objective of the project, therefore, is to create a flexible, user-friendly, easy- downloadable, easy to maintain, informative web site. GCAP Africa needs an easily navigable website that can deliver reasonable amounts of constantly changing information to our key audiences. The new website is expected to be used as a public relations tool. There is need to develop a web-based, database-driven administration tool that allows GCAP Africa secretariat personnel to easily update content without directly accessing source code.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
The website should be accessible to search engine spiders and be coded with good on-page search engine optimization.

FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS
Home Page
The home page will give visitors an overview of the campaign in Africa.
Country list/map
This page will give an overview of countries were national coalitions are active.
Country pages
 

For each country there will be one page. The page will provide contact details and a summary of key activities since January 2007.
On Line Calendar
This page will have links to key GCAP and related events in Africa and worldwide.
News room
Noteworthy information, back issues of newsletters and press room.

Resources
Publications and campaign materials, interactive user groups, archiving Frequently Asked Questions, building awareness around an issue.
Links
List of partner organizations and other agencies working in similar areas.
About Us
Details about GCAP Africa mission, aims, structure and staff.
Contact Us
Full contact details.
Site Map
A site map should be provided showing the structure of the site and linking to every page on the site.
Search button
Navigation
A common navigation bar should be included on all pages. The navigation bar will include links to the home page, country list, about us, and contact details, etc.
STYLE AND LAYOUT
Overall Style
One of the main objectives of this project is to give the website a very high end look and feel. The site style should incorporate our corporate colours and logo. Once the web site has been completed and accepted by GCAP Africa, the web site design and all of its contents, software and architecture become property of GCAP Africa.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Accessibility
Our audience is a broad user audience, with representatives from many groups. The web site must not require plug-ins as a default. In order to keep bandwidth issues to a minimum for modem users, graphics must be optimized and page size should allow fast download.
Browser/Platform
Because of our wide audience, the site must be compatible with the following: Windows and Macintosh platforms; versions 4.X and above for Netscape and IE browsers, and current versions of AOL and MSN browsers.
Technology
As the hosting is outsourced, it is not anticipated to acquire any software apart from the update interface to be developed as explained earlier on.
MAINTENANCE
Depending on costs, some of the maintenance activities we would like to outsource include: Submit pages on a daily basis to search engines, Optimize the GCAP Africa site for search engines, and refine the text. Others include Set up external e-mail addresses for GCAP Africa staff and maintain the web hosting. GCAP Africa will enter into a maintenance agreement with the developer or a recommended partner to maintain the web site.
DELIVERABLES
The Website Developer will deliver:
• A fully tested, cross-browser/platform compatible, search engine optimized, installed and tested on a suitable web server
• All associated images, scripts and other files required for the operation of the web site
• A Cascading Style Sheet and accompanying class definition explanation
• Training of key staff on how to update and work with the website and associated online administrative areas
• Support, maintenance and promotion of the website
• Suitable Web hosting, including a control panel, web based email access, and mechanisms to track website traffic on the site.
• Web-based administration tools.

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
This is a competitive process, based on both technical and financial proposals.
• The web site designed by the successful candidate must meet the following criteria:
• Create a content management system that will permit key staff to update web site content on specific pages.
• Easily Updated and maintained once design completed
• Visually appealing The site must have an attractive mix of text and simple easy-to-load graphics.
• Common Theme Each section of the site should have a common look and feel. GCAP logo and corporate colours should be prominently displayed on every page as a common header.
• Consistent Design The use of photographs, fonts and layouts should be consistent throughout the site.
• Easy to Navigate The site should be easy to navigate. Information should be grouped and presented in a logical manner and require no more than three levels of “drill down” for the user to find the desired information.
• Development of web pages to accommodate the proposed navigation scheme.
• Fast Loading Pages The web site must be designed with a balance of text and graphics such that each page loads in 8 seconds or less on the average computer.
• Listserv capabilities.
• Provide search capabilities using key words or phrasing that will identify content from throughout the site.
• Provide training and all necessary support to permit easy use by selected GCAP Africa staff.

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL
• In the technical proposal, the following items should be included among others:
• List at least 3 web sites you have produced that best reflect your work and relevancy to this project. The URL should be submitted. Only sites that are live will qualify during evaluation.
• Describe your experience in producing sites for NGOs, development and/or community-focused projects.
• Briefly describe your project management process you intend to use on this project.
• Time frame for completion. The time frame for completion of the project will be evaluated.
• In addition, time frames will be part of the contractual agreement; therefore, a realistic time frame for completion is requested.
• Please state how you intend to communicate to gather all of the required information.
BUDGET
Please provide cost proposals to accomplish the scope outlined below. The budget must encompass all design and production. Maintenance of the web site will be budgeted separately. The price you quote should be inclusive. If the price excludes certain fees or charges, a detailed list of excluded fees with a complete explanation of the nature of those fees must be provided.

EVALUATION CRITERIA
The following criteria will form the basis upon which GCAP Africa will evaluate proposals. The mandatory criteria must be met and include:
• Proposals should be sent electronically, including technical and financial proposals.
• Proposals that meet the mandatory requirements, as stated above, will be evaluated with the following criteria:
• Suitability of the Proposal the proposed solution meets the needs and criteria set forth in the website specification.
• Expertise in recommending and communicating appropriate technical and aesthetic solutions as
evidenced by the proposal.
• Aesthetic Capabilities Prior work demonstrates artistic and innovative, user friendly interfaces that engage users and viewers.
• Candidate Experience Candidate has successfully completed similar projects and has the qualifications necessary to undertake this project.
• Depth and Breadth of Staff The candidate has appropriate staff to develop the site in the time frame needed.
• Proposal Presentation The information is presented in a clear, logical manner and is well organized.


 

6.- Call for Applications: Training of Trainers in Africa - Africa Regional Women Peacemakers Program

WUNRN
http://www.wunrn.com

Website Link:
http://www.ifor.org/WPP/


The Africa Regional Women Peacemakers Program (ARWPP), a Program of International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) is committed to projecting Africa as a beacon for peaceful co-existence by enhancing the capacities of Africa women peace makers to promote gender sensitive active non-violence.
The Africa Desk of WPP intends to hold a Training of Trainers (ToT) to enhance participants’ skills in gender and nonviolence approaches and to expand the work of WPP in communities throughout Africa.

REQUIREMENTS:
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
· Come from an environment of violent conflict is or an environment prone to violent conflict in the Central African region
· Have previous experience in training using gender and non-violence tools
· Be willing to replicate the training in their organization and with other women groups
· Have good command of participatory methodologies
· Have strong communication and inter-cultural skills
· Make a commitment to replicate the training within six months upon their return home with the support of a mentor and their organization
· Fluency in English is required

If you satisfy these requirements, please proceed to answer the questions on the next page and return your application to the address below by September 1, 2007.

For more information and application form, please contact:

Africa Regional Coordinator
Women Peacemakers Program
West Africa Network for Peace building (WANEP)
P. O. Box CT 4434
Cantonments,
Accra Ghana
Tel. +233-21-221318
Fax +233-21-221735
Email: edzathor@wanep.org
 

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