2.- Global Campaign for Education's 3rd World Assembly comes to a close.

Alex Kent
alex@campaignforeducation.org

Global Campaign for Education's 3rd World Assembly comes to a close.
Sao Paulo (22nd - 24th January)

The Global Campaign for Education's (GCE) Third World Assembly united
civil society and campaigners from 85 countries, and 31 international organisations, to reflect on the progress made by the campaign and to determine the campaigns future direction. GCE was set up in 1999 ahead of the Dakar World Education Forum, to ensure civil society input and pressure on all government commitments and progress towards Education for All. Mandated to campaign until the Education for All deadline in 2015, this World Assembly take place at the campaigns mid-way point.
The meeting took place at Novotel Jaragua, in Central Sao Paulo from the 22 nd- 24th January, and was attended by 180 campaigners, with close to 300 attending the opening ceremony that was addressed by Luiz Dulci, Brazil's Minister for General Secretary of the Presidency.

The busy three days included workshops on the progress on each of the
individual EFA goals, side-meetings on the work of regions, FTI, and a new initiative to work in the Arab states, and workshops on campaigning such as pressuring governments, growing coalitions and media strategies.

Key sessions of the World Assembly noted the work of GCE since the last World Assembly in Johannesburg in 2004, especially in the strengthening of the institutional capacity of the GCE, enabling more and better mobilisations on the demand for the right to Education for All. Since 2004
GCE's membership has more than doubled, with a growing number of campaigners taking part as with publications, working groups and communications.

There is no doubt that the growth and strengthening of a civil society movement - has contributed to progress in some aspects of the EFA goals, although much more progress is still needed as demonstrated by the Global School Report, published by GCE in December 2007. The number of out of school children fell from 100 million in 2000 to 72 million in 2007. Yet progress on the remaining goals has been drastically slow, and at a rate in which EFA will not be achieved within a generation's lifetime.

A dozen new motions on education issues were submitted, debated, amended and finally agreed upon by the members as priority areas of GCE's work until the next World Assembly in 2011. The member organisations also voted in GCE's new board that would lead activities to achieve the mandate as decided by the World Assembly.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Education Rights, Vernor Muñoz attended on the final day, and inspired campaigners with the need to fight more for the most marginalised from education, before launching GCE's Global School Report to the Latin American press.

The three days finished with a closing ceremony, a thanks and farewell to the leaving board members, including Rasheda Choudhury, of CAMPE, who has become the Minister of Education, and Women and Children's Affairs in Bangladesh, as well as Solly Mabusela from SADTU, Cleophas Mally from Global March against Child Labour, Nelida Cespedes from CEAAL.

The new GCE Board was elected: Kailash Satyarthi (GCE President & Global March Against Chlid Labour), Assibi Napoe (GCE Chair & Education International), Camilla Crosso (GCE Vice President & CLADE), Maria Kahn (GCE Vice Chair & ASPBAE), Matar Baldeh (Gambia EFA Net), Edicio dela Torre (Philippines ENET), Elie Jouen (Global March Against Child Labour), Daniel Cara (Brazilian CDE), Gaston De La Haye (Education International), David Archer (Action Aid International), Imad Sabi (Oxfam International), Gorgui Sow (ANCEFA), Helga Hjetland (Norway's Union of Education).

The meeting concluded with a renewed call to action by all members in the struggle to achieve Education for All.

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3.- INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ZERO TOLERANCE FOR FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING


WUNRN
http://www.wunrn.com

FEBRUARY 6, 2008
______

UNIFEM UK
http://www.unifemuk.org/news-international-day-against-female-genital-mutilation.php
International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation-February 6

6 February is International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation. The day has been designated by the United Nations to raise awareness amongst the general public about this traditional practice which severely violates the human rights of women and girls. In the 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East where female genital mutilation/cutting is performed, some 130 million women and girls have been affected. In addition to causing severe pain, FGM can result in prolonged bleeding, infection, infertility and death. The practice is still widespread in spite of a global commitment following the 2002 UN Special Session on Children to end FGM by 2010.


POPULATION COUNCIL
http://www.popcouncil.org/rh/fgc.html
http://www.popcouncil.org/rh/thecut.html


Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting

The Cut - Poem

—Maryam Sheikh Abdi

I was only six years old
when they led me to the bush.
Too young to know what it all entailed,
I walked lazily towards the waiting women.

Deep within me was the desire to be cut,
as pain was my destiny:
it is the burden of femininity,
so I was told.
Still, I was scared to death . . .
but I was not to raise an alarm.

The women talked in low tones,
each trying to do her tasks the best.
There was the torso holder
she had to be strong to hold you down.
Legs and hands each had their woman,
who needed to know her task
lest you free yourself and flee for life.

The cutting began with the eldest girl
and on went the list.
Known to be timid, I was the last among the six.
I shivered and shook all over;
butterflies beat madly in my stomach.
I wanted to vomit, the waiting was long,
the expectation of pain too sharp,
but I had to wait my turn.
My heart pounded, my ears blocked;
the only sound I understood
was the wails from the girls,
for that was my destiny as well.

Finally it was my turn, and one of the women
winked at me:
Come here, girl, she said, smiling unkindly.
You won’t be the first nor the last,
but you have only this once to prove you are brave!
She stripped me naked. I got goose pimples.
A cold wind blew, and it sent warning signs
all over me. I choked, and my head
went round in circles as I was led.

Obediently, I sat between the legs of the woman
who would hold my upper abdomen,
and each of the other four women grasped my legs and hands.
I was stretched apart and each limb firmly held.
And under the shade of a tree . . .
The cutter begun her work . . .
the pain . . . is so vivid to this day,
decades after it was done.
God, it was awful!

I cried and wailed until I could cry no more.
My voice grew hoarse, the cries could not come out,
I wriggled as the excruciating pain ate into my tender flesh.
Hold her down! cried the cursed cutter,
and the biggest female jumbo sat on my chest.
I could not breathe, but there was nobody
to listen to me.
Then my cries died down, and everything was dark.
As I drifted, I could hear the women laughing,
joking at my cowardice.

It must have been hours later when I woke up
to the most horrendous reality.
The agonizing pain was unbearable!
It was eating into me, every inch of my girlish body was aching.
The women kept exchanging glances
and talked loudly of how I would go down in history,
to be such a coward, until I fainted in the process.
Allahu Akbar! they exclaimed as they criticized me.

I looked down at my self and got a slap across my face.
Don’t look, you coward, came the cutter’s words;
then she ordered the women to pour hot sand on my cut genitals.
My precious blood gushed out and foamed.
Open up, snarled the jumbo woman, as she poured the sand on me.
Nothing they did eased the pain.

Ha! How will you give birth? taunted the one with the smile.
I was shaking and biting my lower lip.
I kept moving front, back and sideways as I writhed in pain.
This one will just shame me! cried the cutter.
Look how far she has moved, how will she heal?
My sister was embarrassed, but I could see pain in her eyes . . .
maybe she was recalling her own ordeal.
She pulled me quickly back to the shed.

The blood oozed and flowed. Scavenger birds
were moving in circles and perching on nearby trees.
Ish ish, the women shooed the birds.
All this time the pain kept coming in waves,
each wave more pronounced than the one before it.

The women stood us up but warned us not to move our legs apart.
They scrubbed the bloody sand off our thighs and small buttocks,
then sat us back down.
A hole was dug,
malmal, the stick herb, was pounded;
The ropes for tying our legs were ready.
Charcoal was brought and put in the hole,
where there was dried donkey waste and many herbs—these were the cutter’s paraphernalia.

The herbs were placed on the charcoal and
we were ordered to sit on the hole.
As I sat with smoke rising around me,
I could hear the blood dropping on the charcoal,
and more smoke rose.
The pain was somehow dwindling but I felt weak
and nauseated.
Maybe she is losing blood? my sister asked worriedly.
No, no. It will stop once I place the herbs, cried the cutter impatiently.

The malmal was pasted where my severed vaginal lips had been,
and then I was tied from my thighs to my toes
with very strong ropes from camel hide.
A long stick was brought and the women took turns
showing us how to walk, sit and stand up.
They told us not to bend or move apart our legs—
This will make you heal faster, they said,
but it was meant to seal up that place.

The drop of the first urine,
more burning than the aftermath of the razor,
passed slowly, bit by bit,
one drop after another drop,
while I lay on my side.
There was no washing, no drying,
and the burning kept on for hours later.
But there was no stool . . .
at least, I don’t remember.

For the next month this was my routine.
There was no feeding on anything with oil,
or anything with vegetables or meat.
Only milk and ugali formed my daily ration.
I was given only sips of water:
This avoids "wetting" the wound and delaying healing, they said.

We would stay in the bush the whole day.
The journey from the bush back home began around four and ended sometimes at seven.
All this time we had to face the heat
and bare-footedly slide towards home . . .
with no water, of course.
We were not to bend if a thorn stuck us,
never to call for help loudly
as this would "open" us up and the cutter
would be called again.
Everything was about scary do’s and don’ts.

I stayed on with the other five
for the next four weeks. None of us bathed;
lice developed between the ropes and our skin,
biting and itching the whole day and night.
There was no way to remove them,
at least not until we healed.

The river was only a kilometer away.
Every morning the breeze carried the sweet scent of its waters to us,
making our thirst more real.

The day the cutter was called back
each of us shivered and prayed silently,
each hoping we had healed and there would be no cutting again.
Thank God we were all done
except one unlucky girl
who had to undergo it all again,
and took months to heal.

Our heads were shaved clean.
The ropes untied, lice dropped at last.
We were showered and oiled,
but most important was the drinking of water.
I drank until my stomach was full,
but the mouth and throat yearned for more.

It was over.
All over my thighs were marks from the ropes,
dotted with patches from the lice wounds.
Now I was to look after myself,
to ensure that everything remained intact
until the day I married

—Maryam Sheikh Abdi

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4.- Kenya - Little Refuge from Rape in Internally Displaced Persons Camps of Kenya

WUNRN
wunrn@WHATHELPS.COM

Many camps provide little protection against attacks from outsiders.

NAKURU, 28 January 2008 (PlusNews) - At least 250,000 Kenyans have sought refuge in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) since violence broke out after a controversial national poll in December 2007, but many women find the risk of sexual attack in the camps just as great as outside.

"Last night, when violence broke out in town, we had only six policemen to guard more than 5,000 IDPs here," said Jesse Njoroge, coordinator of the largest IDP camp in Nakuru, a town about 120km northwest of the capital, Nairobi, where more than 60 people have been killed in violence over the past few days.

IDPs are housed in huge marquees set up on the Nakuru showground, where fairs and other events are held. "We have had threats from local youths, who come armed with bows and arrows, so we have organised 400 camp youths to surround the showground's fence to protect residents."

Police reinforcements over the weekend failed to stop hundreds of youths from invading the camp on Saturday morning; the group was held off by the local sentries, but the attack only highlighted the need for greater protection for IDPs. As young men rushed to fight the invaders, children, women and girls were left on the premises without any protection.

Similar attacks have been reported in North Narok, in the southern Rift Valley, where at least one IDP was killed by a bow and arrow during an attack by local warriors on a camp situated in the district commissioner's compound, right next to the local police station.

Njoroge said at least four women had reported being raped in the Nakuru camp since it was set up on 30 December. "One of the young women was working in my information office and was being extremely uncooperative and uncommunicative. I was becoming very irritated with her until one of her friends revealed that she had actually been raped a few days earlier; obviously she was deeply traumatised."

Despite the fact that the women could remember and even identify their attackers, none of them had sought medical attention or legal redress for the crimes against them. "The women all missed the 72-hour window during which they could receive medical protection from HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, and have medical evidence gathered for legal prosecution of rapists," Njoroge said.

Camp volunteers said the number of women who had suffered sexual assaults was likely to be higher than reported because there was a very poor culture of reporting rapes, even in peaceful times.

"Women generally do not come forward to report rape because they are often victimised and treated as criminals themselves," said Kefa Magenyi, an IDP coordinator for the National Council of Churches of Kenya, based in Nakuru. "They may be disowned by their families and husbands and wind up destitute if they do."

Staff at Nakuru Provincial General Hospital said they had not treated a single case of sexual assault or rape since the violence broke out.

Although women with infants are housed separately at the Nakuru showground, a loose arrangement intended to segregate male and female IDPs is not strictly followed. A similar arrangement exists for the toilets, but a visit to the grounds revealed that men and women were sharing these facilities as well.

This is the first time Kenya has seen this volume of IDPs in camps, so it may take time to put all these measures in place
"A lot of sensitisation is needed so people setting up camps can understand that safe areas need to be created for girls and women to sleep, and reporting mechanisms for sex attacks need to be put in place and publicised," said Florence Gachanja, national programme officer for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Kenya.

Learning on the job

"The trouble is that this is the first time Kenya has seen this volume of IDPs in camps, so it may take time to put all these measures in place," Gachanja commented. "Also, there is a lot of suspicion and mistrust in the camps, so reporting may also be difficult." She said the camps needed to be well-lit, and women needed to be protected when they went to fetch firewood and water.

Njoroge said at least one of the four rapes reported at the Nakuru showground had been perpetrated by an NGO staff member. "In the emergency situation we are dealing with it is proving difficult to vet all the staff, and we also have such a high number of volunteers."

Another worrying development was the tendency for IDP women to engage in transactional sex. "We have noticed that some girls are having sex in exchange for money and unga [maize flour] or other products," Njoroge said. "We are trying to screen people entering the camp; many are genuine well-wishers bringing donations, but others have different motives."

The Ministry of Health supplies free condoms at the camp and has also set up a clinic equipped with post-exposure prophylactics, but he noted that the disposal of condoms was poor, and people left them lying around the grounds rather than throwing them into latrines or dust-bins.

The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) has several counsellors on hand to provide psychosocial support to survivors of sexual assault, and has begun teaching 'life-skills' that discouraged transactional sex and promoted safe sex in healthy relationships.

The UN, the KRCS and other agencies involved in protection are encouraging the use of guidelines for appropriate interventions to prevent and handle gender-based violence laid out by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, a mechanism for coordinating humanitarian assistance by key UN and non-UN partners.
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5.- Tell and show to the world how was your Global Day of Action!

WSF Bulletin
January 28th 2008
BOLETIM FSM
gerente@forumsocialmundial.org.br

1) Upload multimedia coverage of your action
To tell the story of this diverse and decentralized World Social Forum 2008, we invite you to build the memory of actions in your city, country or region with texts, images and sounds.

Using WSF tools and websites, you can publish pictures, videos, pamphlets or audio files.
- If you are a registered user of www.wsf2008.net , use the WSF Blog to publish news and pictures about your action, telling the story of the GDA in a collective space. To post new content on the WSF Blog, first make sure you're logged in and then visit http://wsf2008.net/eng/node/add/blog
- Use www.wsftv.net to upload videos recorded during your action. You can request FTP address to upload high resolution videos: write to video@wsf2008.net
- Use your Action Space to create news, pictures, media clipping or to upload audio files and pamphlets related to your action. Just login to the website, visit your Action Space and use the right side menu to create content.
- Send reports about your action or media clipping to media@wsf2008.net .

2) Update information and pictures of your action
You or some other participant of your action might have taken pictures during January 26th. Besides publishing the pictures on Action Spaces or on the blog, you can use one of these pictures as your action's image.
- Login to the www.wsf2008.net
- Go to your action page
- Click on “Edit” tab and upload a new picture

In order to have an estimated number of how many people have participated on the Global Day of Action, we ask every person that has presented an action on the website to edit the "expected turnout" of their action, placing the amount of people that took part in your action.

- Login to the www.wsf2008.net
- Go to your action's page and click in the tab "Edit"
- Go to the "Expected turnout" space and replace the number of people expected for the number of people that actually participated in your action.



3) Invite people to join www.wsf2008.net

As the website www.wsf2008.net is the main source of information about World Social Forum 2008, we suggest you to invite your friends to join it, so they can contribute on this collective memory building.
To invite a friend, go to you action page and locate the "ivite a friend" field on the right sidebar. Insert his/her email and click on "send invite".
Registering on the website and joining an Action Space allows anyone to publicize pictures, videos, news and audio files about a specific action that happened in January 26th.

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6.- AWID Jobs


Membership Program Coordinator
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)
Toronto, Mexico City, or Cape Town
Closing date: February 08, 2008.

THE ORGANIZATION:

The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international feminist organization working to strengthen the voice, impact and influence of women's rights advocates, organizations and movements internationally

POSITION DESCRIPTION:
Under the supervision of the Executive Director and the Communications Manager, the Membership Program Coordinator will design and implement the new membership strategy of AWID. The goal of
this program is to contribute to building diverse constituencies to increase our collective power and promote feminist movement building in order to advance women's rights internationally. AWID is in the process of redefining the relationship between its membership and the organization from the more traditional service-delivery model to a relationship of shared values where AWID members understand themselves to be part of the process of implementing the organizations' mission and vision in effecting change for women's rights organizations and movements.
AWID is looking for a motivated self-starter, a strategic thinker who has a keen sense of the complexities of the international women's movements; she will be sensitive to the regional dynamics of the movement and be a constituency builder. This person has a good overview of the challenges and issues facing women's movements internationally, both organizationally and with regards to the various issues. She will be a good networker who understands the "big picture" in terms of the landscape of movements and issues that face AWID's members, be politically experienced in working with different constituencies.

The successful candidate will work out of one of AWID offices (Toronto, Mexico City or Cape Town) and be responsible for developing and implementing AWID's new membership strategy.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Her/his responsibilities will include but not be limited to:

-- Develop and operationalize a new membership strategy that reflects the new relationship that AWID wants to forge with its members.
-- Provide the leadership and strategic vision necessary to enable AWID to build a strong and diverse constituency for women's rights through our membership programme.
-- Managing and keeping updated AWID's Membership Database, ensuring the quality of membership renewal systems. This includes ensuring a strategic and up- to-date and diverse database of AWID members and constituents.
-- Producing AWID's quarterly e-newsletters and other relevant membership-related materials.
-- Designing and implementing AWID's Annual Membership Survey in conjunction with the Evaluation and Monitoring Coordinator.
-- Collaborate with other AWID managers and coordinators to develop more clarity around constituency, membership and appropriate mechanisms to outreach and influence strategic organizations and individuals.
-- Communicating on an ongoing basis with AWID members and fielding general requests and inquiries about the organization.
-- Supporting advocacy actions, attending meetings, preparing agendas and meeting reports as necessary.
-- Implementing a specific membership outreach strategy for the 2008 International AWID Forum.

NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, & EXPERIENCE:

-- At least three years experience working with organizations and movements, preferably with women or feminist's movements, in constituency building work at the international level.
-- She will be a good communicator and public speaker.
-- A university degree, preferably at the graduate level or equivalent experience, in social sciences.
-- Excellent administration, communication and writing skills.
-- Must be bilingual with excellent written and verbal skills in English, as well as in French and/or Spanish.
-- Must have a keen attention to detail and quality control.
-- Strong administrative and computer skills, including word-processing, database management (File Maker Pro and other Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) software), presentation packages (Power Point), Internet, and email.
-- Ability to multi-task, and willingness to perform other tasks as needed in a timely manner.
-- Experience in constituency building with Web 2.0 technologies an asset.
-- Able to work in a diverse, fast-paced environment, exhibiting flexibility.
-- Proactive, able to work independently and effectively in a small team.
-- Committed to the principles and values of feminism and anti-racism.
-- Able to work under pressure and to produce results quickly, as part of a diverse virtual team.
-- Able to travel internationally.

SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION:

To apply for this position, please submit a cover letter and a copy of your CV to the attention of Allison Jack at: (ajack@awid.org ) and include 'Membership Coordinator' in the subject line.

CLOSING DATE: FEBRUARY 08, 2008.
We thank all those who apply, but only short-listed candidates will be contacted. No phone calls please. AWID encourages, promotes, and supports diversity in all aspects of its work.
For further information about AWID please visit our website at: http://www.awid.org
____________

2) Request for Proposal (RFP): Translators and Editors
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)
Closing date: February 08, 2008.

BACKGROUND:
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international feminist organization working to strengthen the voice, impact and influence of women's rights advocates, organizations and movements internationally.
In doing so, we communicate with various organizations and individuals across the world and disseminate our publications and other information in different languages, mainly English, French,
Spanish and to a lesser extent, in Arabic. We are looking to build a roster of translators and editors (individuals or organizations).

Translators are required for the following languages:
* English – Spanish
* English – French
* English – Arabic
* Spanish – English
* French – English
* Arabic – English

Editors are required for Spanish, French and to a lesser extent for Arabic. The work should meet high quality standards and the material should be kept confidential.

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES:
-- Translator/editor must have at least two years experience in providing services.
-- Some experience with publications of other international NGOs is preferable.
-- Some experience with feminist publications and knowledge of women's rights and gender equality terminology is preferable.
-- Ability to work in a deadline-oriented environment.

PROPOSALS:
Proposals should contain:
-- A bio/profile detailing relevant experience of the organization or individual;
-- A list of at least two clients and their contacts to serve as recommendations;
-- At least one publication translated/edited within the last 6 months (both the original and the translated/edited version);
-- Information about training/certificates etc.
-- Must specify amount of experience with different communications vehicles (web, printed publications etc.);

Financial proposal, which should contain:
-- Price per page single spacing (Times New Roman, Font size 11) or price per word;
-- Price for larger documents and discounts provided based on volume of work;
-- Price for copy editing services;
-- Average turnaround time.

TO APPLY:
To apply for this position, please submit your proposal to the attention of Allison Jack at:
(ajack@awid.org ) and include 'Translators' in the subject line.

CLOSING DATE: FEBRUARY 08, 2008.
We thank all those who apply, but only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Please note that there will be a short document that you will be asked to translate/edit should you be short listed. No phone calls please. AWID encourages, promotes, and supports diversity in all aspects of its work.

For further information about AWID please visit our website at: http://www.awid.org

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7.- New Vacancy Oxfam - Global Programme Adviser (Education)

The Global Programme Adviser is responsible for education, and will provide support for the recently launched campaign for quality basic social services for all as well as the combined support of the organisation and 13 different Oxfam affiliates. To find out more or apply visit www.oxfam.org.uk/jobs quoting ref: C&P343.