Reunión Preparatoria Regional camino a CONFITEA VI. México DF.
Septiembre del 2008.

-Información de Interés sobre la Reunión Preparatoria regional a CONFITEA VI
-UNESCO-NNUU- Educación de Jóvenes y adultos/as: México septiembre 2008
Hacia la Cumbre de Belem Do Para : Brasil 2009

Síntesis de las exposiciones de la Mesa sobre Educación Bilingüe (Luis E López, otros/as)

La Mesa preparatoria sobre " Educación Bilingüe”, dio cuenta de que la región esta habitada por 40.000.000 de individuos/as, entre los/as que se destaca es la diversidad. En América Latina y Caribe se hablan de 500 a 700 lenguas distintas, incluidos el castellano y el portugués. La hibridación cultural es la regla regional.

Existen 700 pueblos, de los cuales solo 100 están separados por fronteras nacionales, ya que un territorio americano puede albergar dos o tres pueblos, atravesados por fronteras de países. Estos pueblos comparten distintas formas de vida y cosmovisiones. Asimismo, dentro de las culturas originarias, poseen una matriz civilizatoria basada en el concepto del "buen vivir".

No hablamos solo de territorios aislados, de pueblos indígenas apartados de las ciudades, sino también de gente que reside en urbes. Ej. La comunidad mapuche en Argentina, o la comunidad Maka en Paraguay.

El gran desafío entonces es responder a la pregunta : Como aseguramos la educación en un contexto de tal diversidad?. Como logramos un proceso educativo diferente al proceso formal de educación que conocemos en las escuelas monolingües?

El proceso de aprendizaje para toda la vida de los pueblos originarios, sin duda, merece una atención especial, tanto para el rescate de las lenguas, como para la consideración del proceso de introducción de una segunda lengua dentro de la educación formal

También es importante destacar la diferencia entre el registro simbólico y el ideológico que se produce en cada proceso cultural, por que es distinta la concepción del mundo que posee cada cultura y que se refleja en su lengua.

En nuestras sociedades existen sociedades con conocimientos diferentes. La riqueza sociolingüística de América Latina es especial, y debemos tomar conciencia de que de las lenguas, el castellano, el inglés y el portugués son solo tres.

Las tasas de analfabetismo se ensanchan entre la población de pueblos originarios y hablantes no Standard de la región. La variedad de monolingüismo, bilingüismos y plurilinguismos son apreciables. En realidad existen diversos mosaicos culturales entre monolingüismo, pasos por bilingüismos y plurilinguismos, con distintas apropiaciones de las lenguas por las personas y pueblos.

Estos procesos también tienen relación con la importancia del fortalecimiento de la identidad cultural y la posibilidad o no del ejercicio pleno de la ciudadanía (que requiere, entre otros procesos, conocer las
lenguas necesarias para participar y comunicarse).

Sin dudas, diversidad cultural implica también diversidad de estrategias educativas, procesos con pertinencia lingüística, calidad del aprendizaje.

Presenta retos en la formación de formadores y formadoras.

No se trata, simplemente, de transmitir un código para crear sociedades letradas, significa la transmisión y comprensión de una cosmovisión, de otras lógicas y concepciones del mundo.

Son pocos, lamentablemente, los programas que relevan esta perspectiva integral en la educación de jóvenes y adultos/as en contextos pluriculturales, pocos los programas que favorecen la apropiación por los mismos pueblos e individuos/as de sus procesos de aprendizaje.
En este contexto de reflexión, podemos plantear la duda acerca de si las culturas ágrafas desean ser sociedades letradas o desplegaran distintos caminos culturales.

Hay miradas particulares a esta compleja realidad. Algunos/as consideran que se debe alfabetizar en la lengua dominantes para poder apropiarse de ella. Otros/as entienden que no se debe "gastar" en educación de adultos/as sino en la educación de niños/as. Seria interesante relevar que todas las culturas letradas, en algún momento, fueron culturas ágrafas, que llevaron adelante sus propios caminos de aprendizaje, y que las personas y pueblos deben decidir sus destinos.

Seria virtuoso alfabetizar en lenguas indígenas. La lengua materna es la primera lengua, y tendría que ser priorizada, para luego incorporar otra.

Es importante también conocer por que existen comunidades lingüísticas en distintos espacios, cuales han sido sus historias, sus resistencias culturales, sus procesos. Como llegaron las personas garifonas a distintos países, como a Honduras, por ejemplo. Como sobreviven las culturas guaraníticas en distintos puntos de América. Hay una historia americana que no conocemos, o conocemos a medias.

Es interesante plantear las políticas de alfabetización teniendo en cuenta todos estos problemas, y también relacionarlas con las políticas nacionales, generando la adecuación legislativa que requieran estos procesos. Es importante rescatar otros saberes, que hemos perdido, desde la colonización del saber.

La educación multicultural, intercultural, o como desee llamarse. La educación superior que respeta procesos culturales, una nueva planificación y estrategias diversas son necesarias en América Latina y el Caribe. Pero esto implica participación de la gente, de hombres y mujeres que deben ser escuchados/as, que tienen una propiedad intelectual, que dialogan con otras culturas, por que la mayoría de los/as analfabetos/as de la región pertenecen a los pueblos originarios o a comunidades lingüísticas no hegemónicas. Como se dijo es necesaria una planificación y estrategias distintas en temas de diversidad lingüística, como un nuevo dialogo intercultural, respetuoso de los DDHH, donde los procesos de aprendizaje para toda la vida respeten tiempos, espacios, culturas.

Carmen Colazo

--

Réunion Régionale Préparatoire vers la CONFINTEA VI. Mexico DF.
Septembre 2008.

-Information d’intérêt sur la Réunion Régionale Préparatoire vers la CONFINTEA VI -UNESCO-ONU- Éducation des jeunes et des adultes : Mexico, septembre 2008 vers le Sommet de Belem do Para : Brésil 2009.

Synthèse des exposés de la Table ronde sur l’Éducation bilingue (Luis E. Lopez et d’autres).

La Table ronde préparatoire sur « Éducation bilingue » a fait savoir que la région est habitée par 40 millions de personnes parmi lesquelles règne la diversité. En Amérique Latine et aux Caraïbes on parle entre 500 et 700 langues différentes, y compris le castillan et le portugais. L’hybridation culturelle est la règle de la région.

Il y a 700 peuples dont seulement 100 sont séparés par des frontières nationales, car un territoire américain peut héberger deux ou trois peuples, traversés par des frontières des pays. Ces peuples partagent diverses formes de vie et manières d'interpréter le monde. Egalement, la plupart des cultures originaires ont une civilisation fondée sur le concept du « bon vivre ».

On ne parle pas seulement de territoires isolés, de peuples indigènes éloignés des villes, mais aussi des gens qui habitent des grandes villes, par exemple, la communauté mapuche en Argentine ou la communauté Maka au Paraguay.

Le grand défi, donc, est de répondre à la question : Comment assurer l’éducation dans un contexte d’une telle diversité ? Comment obtenir un processus éducatif différent au processus formel d’éducation connu dans les écoles monolingues ?

Le processus d’apprentissage pour toute la vie des peuples originaires mérite, sans doute, une attention spéciale, tant pour sauver les langues que pour considérer le processus d'introduction d'une deuxième langue dans l'éducation formelle.

Il est également important de souligner la différence entre le registre symbolique et celui idéologique qui se produit dans chaque processus culturel, car la conception du monde de chaque culture, qui est reflétée dans sa langue, est différente.

Nos sociétés ont des connaissances différentes. La richesse sociolinguistique de l’Amérique Latine est spéciale, et nous devons prendre conscience que le castillan, l'anglais et le portugais ne sont que trois langues parmi une grande quantité.

Les taux d’analphabétisme augmentent parmi la population de peuples originaires et les personnes qui parlent une langue non standard de la région. La variété de monolinguismes, de bilinguismes et de plurilinguismes est remarquable. En effet, il existe divers mosaïques culturels entre des monolinguismes, des passages par des bilinguismes et des plurilinguismes, avec des diverses appropriations des langues par les personnes et les peuples.

Ces processus sont aussi en rapport avec l’importance du renforcement de l’identité culturelle et la possibilité ou non de l’exercice plein de la citoyenneté (qui requiert, parmi d'autres processus, une connaissance des langues nécessaires pour y participer et pour communiquer).

Évidemment, la diversité culturelle implique aussi une diversité de stratégies éducatives, de processus avec une pertinence linguistique, une qualité d’apprentissage.

Elle présente des défis pour la formation de formateurs.

Il ne s’agit pas, tout simplement, de transmettre un code pour créer des sociétés lettrées ; ceci entraîne la transmission et la compréhension d’une manière d’interpréter le monde, d’autres logiques et conceptions du monde.

Malheureusement, il y a peu de programmes qui relèvent cette perspective intégrale dans l’éducation des jeunes et des adultes dans des contextes pluriculturels, il y a peu de programmes qui favorisent l'appropriation de ses processus d'apprentissage par les mêmes peuples et les individus. Dans ce contexte de réflexion, nous pouvons poser la question de si les cultures sans écriture veulent devenir des sociétés lettrées ou si elles suivront d’autres chemins culturels.

Il y a des regards particuliers sur cette complexe réalité. Certaines personnes considèrent qu’il faut alphabétiser dans la langue dominante afin de pouvoir s’en approprier. D’autres affirment qu’il ne faut pas « dépenser » dans l’éducation des adultes mais dans l’éducation des enfants. Ce serait intéressant d'étudier si toutes les cultures lettrées ont été, à un moment donné, des cultures sans écriture, qui ont suivi leurs propres chemins d’apprentissage, et si les personnes et les peuples doivent décider sur leurs destins.

Ce serait vertueux d’alphabétiser dans les langues indigènes. La langue maternelle est la première langue, et elle devrait avoir la priorité pour incorporer l’autre ensuite.

Il est important aussi de connaître pourquoi il existe des communautés linguistiques dans des espaces divers, quelles ont été leurs histoires, leurs résistances culturelles et leurs processus. Comment les personnes « garífonas » sont-elles arrivées aux divers pays, comme en Honduras, par exemple. Comment les cultures guaranis survivent dans divers points de l’Amérique. Il y a une histoire américaine que nous ne connaissons pas, ou que nous connaissons à moitié.

Il est intéressant de proposer les politiques d’alphabétisation tenant compte de ces problèmes, ainsi que les mettre en relation avec les politiques nationales, tout en générant l'adéquation législative dont ces processus ont besoin. Il est important aussi de sauver des savoirs que nous avons perdus depuis la colonisation du savoir.

L’éducation multiculturelle, interculturelle, peu importe le nom. L’Amérique Latine et les Caraïbes ont besoin d’une éducation supérieure qui respecte des processus culturels, d’une nouvelle planification et de stratégies diverses. Mais ceci implique la participation des gens, d'hommes et de femmes qui doivent être entendus, qui possèdent une propriété intellectuelle, qui dialoguent avec d’autres cultures, car la plupart des analphabètes de la région appartiennent aux peuples originaires ou à des communautés linguistique non hégémoniques. Comme il a été dit, il faut une planification et des stratégies différentes sur des sujets de diversité linguistique, comme un nouveau dialogue interculturel, respectueux des droits humains, où les processus d’apprentissage pour toute la vie respectent les temps, les espaces, les cultures.

Carmen Colazo



3.- Updated information on the High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals (25 September)

The High-level Event in Brief

The High-level Event (HLE) on the Millennium Development Goals will take place at UN Headquarters on 25 September 2008. It will be jointly convened by the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly to review progress, identify gaps and motivate commitments to bridge the gaps to ensure that the MDGS are achieved by 2015. It will be a special informal event bringing together Heads of State or Government, as well as leaders of the private sector and civil society. The HLE will provide an opportunity for world leaders to announce concrete plans and proposals to translate commitments into action and help accelerate implementation of the MDGs. Moreover, the HLE will send a message to the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development in Doha, Qatar (November) from the highest political level, re-committing all actors to a robust global partnership for development.

While showcasing MDG success stories, the event will also acknowledge the uneven progress so far, the reasons for the uneven track record, the major challenges ahead, and the urgency of stepping up implementation of commitments.

The format of the HLE will be 3 thematic Roundtables:
- Poverty and Hunger
- Education and Health
- Environmental Sustainability.

In addition, there will be two cross-cutting themes: Gender and developing a Global Partnership for Development.

The outcome of the HLE will be a summary from the UN Secretary-General, which will highlight stepped up commitments for the achievement of the MDGs.

The opening and closing of the High-level Event, as well as the three parallel thematic roundtables, will be broadcast on UN TV and on the Internet.

For further information regarding the HLE, including the official programme and the list of partnership events, please click on the following link: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel

Click on the links below for information on:

- Civil Society Participation in the High-level Event

- Civil Society Observers

- Partnership Events

- MDG Blog for the High-level Event

- Information on Security Arrangements

Civil Society Participation in the High-level Event

Considering the fact that the HLE on MDGs will be taking place in conjunction and in parallel with the General Debate of the 63rd Session of the General Assembly, access to the United Nations complex for civil society, the private sector and the media will be restricted.

6 CSO representatives will be invited to participate as speakers in the 3 Roundtables (2 CSOs/Roundtable).

The United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) and the Millennium Campaign have been identified by the United Nations as focal points for civil society engagement in the HLE. A consultation process was set up in June-July 2008 in order to seek a small number of nominations for speakers representing civil society organizations at the Rountables.

6 CSO representatives (3 from the North and 3 from the South) have been invited to participate as speakers in the 3 Roundtables (2 CSOs/Roundtable).

The United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) and the Millennium Campaign have been identified by the United Nations as focal points for civil society engagement in the HLE. A consultation process was set up in June-July 2008 in order to seek a small number of nominations for speakers representing civil society organizations at the Roundtables.

The six speakers are:

- Mr. Ndiogou Fall, President, Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (ROPPA) (Roundtable 1)

- Mr. Ashok Bharti, Convener, National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR) (Roundtable 1)

- Ms. Dorothy Ngoma, Executive Director, National Organization of Nurses and Midwives of Malawi (Roundtable 2)

- Mr. Charles F. MacCormack, Board Chair, InterAction (Roundtable 2)

- Ms. Barbara Stocking, CEO, Oxfam GB (Roundtable 3)

- Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez, President, Caritas International (Roundtable 3)

Civil Society Observers:

A limited number of seats are being made available for NGO/CSO observers during the UN High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals. A specific meeting ticket will be required to be an observer to either the Opening Session (130 seats), one of the three Thematic Roundtables (30 seats/Roundtable) and the Closing Session (30 seats).

These tickets will be limited to one person per organization and are available on a ‘first-come first-served’ basis.

To facilitate this process, NGLS has opened an online registration form at www.un-ngls.org/hle

Please visit this form to register yourself for the Event. The form asks you to provide contact information and select which Session or Roundtable you would like to attend. Please ensure that the contact information that you enter is correct, particularly your e-mail address, as we will use it to contact you.

Please also be advised the funding for civil society observers will not be made available by the UN.

Due to security concerns around the HLE, the registration process will be closed on 7 September. Registrants will be notified by e-mail by 10 September if their registration has been accepted. The e-mail will inform registrants of the Security procedures to gain entry to UN Headquarters for the HLE. You can also read a note on Security arrangements during this period here

Questions about this process can be directed to hle@un-ngls.org

Partnership Events

Partnership events by a variety of constituencies will take place in the margins of the High-level Event. There will be a range of event types, from multi-stakeholder discussions to launches of new initiatives. These events will aim to share success stories and lessons learned, provide opportunities to forge new partnerships and generate commitments to concrete next steps to fill in gaps and scale up efforts. Because of security and space constraints, most of these events will take place outside of the main UN building and will be spread over the week of 22-26 September.

Due to security constraints, it is important that you be in touch with the events organizers in advance of the specific event. For a list of partnership events and a contact focal point, click here (pdf)

MDG blog for the High-Level Event

The MDG blog for the High-Level Event has been set up to reach out a broader audience to participate in discussions on major thematic areas related to the Millennium Development Goals prior to the High-Level Event on MDGs.

The themes covered by this blog are; (1) poverty and hunger; (2) health and education; (3) environmental sustainability; (4) gender equality and empowerment of women; and (5) global partnership for development.

It is intended that the blog will break the barrier of physical distance and hierarchy, accommodating active participation and drawing various insights from all over the world. Your opinions and advice are of valuable importance to enrich the upcoming discussions. Upon the conclusion of the blog, we will put forward a key short summary of the blog, which will be fed into the MDG Summit. This blog will run until the 26 September 2008 and can be accessed here.
http://www.un-ngls.org/site/article.php3?id_article=520

4 .- Women respond to the Food Crisis: We are part of the solution

During the last months, the whole world has been suffering the crisis in food price. According to recent figures today 1.4 billion persons live under the new poverty line of USD 1.25, and the majority of these are women and girls. Some 850 million persons around the world suffer from hunger and 820 of those 850 million live in developing countries, areas that are likely to be more affected by climate change. These figures are linked to the rise in food price because world provision of cereals in 2007 was 420 million tons, a historical minimum since 1983. According to an OECD report, a third of the rise in agriculture prices foreseen for the next nine years is caused by biofuels.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 50 million people still haven’t got access to adequate food. Child malnutrition, with is negative biological, social and economic effects, is currently affecting more than 9 million children and the achievements in the fight against poverty and indigence are in risk due to lack of food. The problem of poverty and hunger in the region is related to worth wealth distribution and land concentration in the world. This results from the neoliberal economic policies of extreme privatization and reduction of national investment imposed by the international financial institutions This situation has had more relevance in Haiti, Argentina, Peru and Mexico and the UN agencies in the region foresee a 5% rise in food prices that will increase indigence in almost one point.
According to FAO, “Latin America and the Caribbean have a 31% surplus in food resources. The region’s problem of hunger is therefore not one of production but, rather, one of access to food” . Beyond economic trends, climatic or protectionist factors that have an important impact on the current crisis, the main problem of this food crisis is the lack of access to land and properties and consequently to food, particularly among rural and indigenous women and household heads.
This situation is worsened when neutral policies are implemented that underestimate and ignore the role and contribution of rural and indigenous women in food production and through development strategies that have no gender perspective, with a negative impact on women’s living conditions and their possibilities of contributing to food production and rural, local and regional development
Food crisis and the rise of prices can bring unpredictable political consequences. If prices continue rising, 10 million more people are in risk of becoming poor and a similar number of poor people could increase.
In view of this situation, we, peasant organizations, and organizations of rural and indigenous women, feminists organizations and other women’s networks concerned with overcoming poverty and reaching gender equality report that the current food crisis is the result of the failure of the structural and macroeconomic policies implemented during the last 30 years under the leadership of the international financial institutions (IMF, WB, IDB and the WTO). In Latin America and the Caribbean these policies have in brief:
- reduced the policy space of developing countries to define their own development and rural strategies;
- Promoted the exportation of national and local agriculture production without considering the need to cover the national demand first.
- Promoted free trade agreements in unequal basis for developing countries, that raised vulnerabilities of several sectors and social groups, with clear negative effects in rural women in several countries.
- Supported financial speculation on food and a state that has no longer the role as controller of imports and exports.
- Have promoted the massive production of agro-fuels.
- Have ignored the role in promoting agricultural adaptation and of land property of the peasant an rural communities where the role of women is key.
- Have prioritized the servicing of the foreign debt in detriment of public domestic investment with a gender perspective in the national agricultural sector.
- Promoted national poverty reduction strategies without considering inequality differences and discriminations.
- Promoted the reduction of the role of the state in all policies, particularly in rural development and market regulation, but also in social policies.
Through the above-mentioned actions they have contributed to worsening the difficult living conditions of millions of peasants, and, particularly, for the most vulnerable groups: women, indigenous women and boys and girls.
The immediate solution to this crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean can be developed through short and medium term actions, we cannot let the solution for the long term because it will be too late.
We call for the following urgent actions in the short term:
- Establishment of national agricultural policies with a gender perspective and with a significant budget as part of a broader programme of national investment, prepared with the participation of all stakeholders.
• Development of policies and strategies with gender perspective that take into consideration the role, responsibilities and rights of men, women, according to age and ethnicity.
• Immediate implementation of support programmes and economic subsidies, in the countries of the region, addressing the poorest sectors of the population, including school lunch programmes, delivery of food packages, particularly for women who are household heads, employment programmes.
• Implementation of the process of land reform and actions to overcome legal and economic obstacles so that women can have access to resources and benefits such as access to land, water, credit and all the inputs for basic production.
• Development of flexible micro-financing programmes that respond to debts contracted by indigenous and rural women.
• Development and support of programmes and actions based on traditional knowledge, particularly in what refers to conservation and exchange of native seeds.
• Developed countries must reach their commitment to allocate 0.7% of their GDP in Official Development Aid (ODA) and make explicit work plans to achieve this commitment; and moreover they should commit to reach 10% of ODA for gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2010 and 20% by 2015, setting out in the action plan of donors, recipient countries and the DAC strategies for reaching the target, monitoring performance and evaluating impact.
• The international community must commit to advance in the gaps of MDG8 and its negative effects in poverty, inequality, and the current financial, food, energetic and climate change crisis that particularly affect women.
We call for the following actions in the medium term:
• Promote studies and analysis to visualize the impact of food crisis and the strategies for sustainable livelihoods for rural, urban poor and indigenous women.
• Support investment in family agriculture and improve markets, promoting the fair trade approach to enable the marketization of women smallholders’ products.
• Eliminate export barriers with the objective of encouraging small farmers to increase their cropping areas.
• Review the criteria for aid allocation and debt relief, including the inequality dimension and considering the particularities of middle income countries, where women confront the multiplier effect of inequalities and discrimination.
Signatures
• Action Aid
• Feminist Task Force, GCAP
• AWID
• Gender and Education Office (GEO) from ICAE
• Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristán, Peru
• World YWCA
• Red Encuentro de Entidades No Gubernamentales para el Desarrollo (Argentina)
GCAP Argentina: Campaña Nacional "Ningún Hogar Pobre en Argentina".
• Le Monde selon les Femmes, Belgium
• Red de Educación Popular Entre Mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe –REPEM
• Development Alternatives with Women for a new Era (DAWN)
• National Alliance of Women (NAWO), India
• Mahila Dakshata Samiti (MDS), India
• Women's Resource and Advocacy Centre, India
• National Alliance of Women (NAWO), India
• Mahila Dakshata Samiti (MDS), Nigeria
• Women's Resource and Advocacy Centre, Nigeria
• The International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation' NY, USA
• ENLACE-Education and Networking for Latina Cooperation and Empowerment, USA
• Center for Women's Global Leadership, USA
• International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN)
• Centro de Formación y Promoción Humana Santa Ángela, Peru
• Nang Lao Liang Won , Shan Women's Action Network ( SWAN) Burma
• Carmen Colazo
• Wahu Kaara, KENYA DEBT RELIEF NETWORK (KENDREN)
• Marta Benavides-- SIGLO XXIII, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR COOPERATION AMONGST PEOPLES -- EL SALVADOR
• Moema L. Viezzer, Lina Grondin, Instituto de Comunicação solidaria
 

5 .- Women's Tribunals / Poverty hearings

Dear friends

In spite of the constant increasing security in the area of the UN and of the difficulties people faced to get to the venue of the poverty hearing and the women's tribunals, the Church Centre was packed and both activities went very well. At the end of the day, once the women's tribunals had finalised, there was a shared feeling that a very important event had taken place, one that had opened many eyes, unveiling the other side of a city that so many people associate with endless possibilities and abundance. The testimonies showed, instead, deprivation, exploitation, marginalisation, lack of access to basic services, and above all, how these conditions are marked by women's origins and belongings. Testimonies were so powerful that one of the judges, Charlotte Bunch, said that the process of the tribunals were very important because "we are renaming our reality", "we are putting an end to silence". That was said after so many women living in New York under conditions of poverty or women working in underprivileged areas of the city gave one after the other personal testimonies and numerous statistics about how women of color are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, domestic violence, lack of access to health services, to education, to security.
The women's tribunals took place in the afternoon, following the poverty hearings in the morning. The two activities were called: A Day of Voices. The first part were the poverty hearings on the MDGs organised by GCAP as a whole that focused on three topics: Poverty and Hunger, Addressing Education and Environmental Sustainability. There were testimonies for each of the topics, one expert witness and then the advocates for each topic made their comments. The judges were: Ela Bhatt (India) for education, Archbishop Ndungane (South Africa) for poverty and hunger and Serigne Mansaour Sy (Senegal) for environmental sustainability. Mary Robinson (Ireland) was also one of the advocates and the chair of the hearing. They were testimonies from all regions of the world, including from children. There were members of the FTF in each of the themes (Lysa John from India in poverty and hunger, Sharmila Karki from Nepal in education and Marta Benavides from El Salvador in environment. Most speakers emphasised the centrality of focusing on women. Mary Robinson highlighted that there was a sense of urgency, that responding to the realities presented at the tribunal required above all power and political will. She added "there is always money to buy arms and to bail financial institutions", so the challenge is to change the power dynamics. She added that our strength are the numbers, the millions of people that more and more are working as networks and are bringing together issues that will necessarily find common solutions: environment, human rights, youth, women, faith based organisations. She also linked these MDG demands with other processes such as the Financing for Development, and the World Social Forum. And she also emphasised the importance that at the hearings many of the witnesses expressed themselves in their own language, highlighting the importance of space, voice, identity and culture all advocates committed themselves to present the testimonies and recommendations to those in positions of power to take decisions around the MDGs.
And then we had the Women's Tribunals on Poverty and the MDGs, focusing on poverty of women in New York city. It was co-organised by the FTF, the Women of Color Policy Network together with the UN-Non Governmental Liaison Service. It was also organised around themes linked to the MDGs: MDG 1, Poverty and Economic Security; MDG 5 and 6, Women and Health; and MDG 3, Women's Empowerment and Human Security and Dignity. The panel of jurists included: Cathy Abisa, Director of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, Dr. Vinu Aram, Director of Shanti Ashram, Charlotte Bunch, Director of the Centre for Women's GLobal Leadership and Taina Bien Amie. Witnesses included women from various backgrounds, latinas, Afro Americans, muslim women, recent immigrants; they all shared experiences that highlighted the disparities in race and class in relation to health, to access to employment, to security. They were very powerful testimonies, some in the form of poems, some shared with difficulty as the situation was sometimes overwhelming, some with the support of translators. They were all testimonies of women that have been failed by those responsible for securing their basic rights. And as the panel of jurist said, were also failed by other women who have found comfort zones in a city (and a country) that denies its own injustices and violations while pretending to impose its lifestyle on humanity as a whole. At the end of the session, Rosa presented the next steps that will be followed which are: Compilation of witness testimony and recommendations by expert witnesses

Recommendations from Jurists
Summary of Women’s Tribunals to the Secretary-General
Outcomes & Commitments
She also presented the following as concrete outcomes:
Shadow report release on NYC and MDGs;
Increased partnership between local and global women’s groups with an aim to foster linkages;
Increased awareness about women and poverty in the north and the localization of MDGs;
Testimony and Documentation (oral histories, written and film) on Women and the MDGs, including the filming of the entire poverty tribunal.
And she finally presented the following commitments: Commit to holding women’s tribunals around the world Commit to NYC tribunals on health and migrant women Commit to linking the HLE on MDGs to the Financing for Development Doha Commit to supporting gender equality architecture reform (GEAR)
As you can see it was a very intensive and moving day, and it announces an intense work ahead.
There is much more to share with you all and we will be doing that in the coming days, but I want to say that I was proud that as FTF we were able to co-organise this activity and that the work done by our colleagues in New York was outstanding.
More soon. And we look forward to your engagement with the tribunals in the coming months.
Greetings,
Ana Agostino
ICAE
..

Announcement
Raquel Castillo was expert witness on Education during the Poverty Hearings. She spoke on behalf of ICAE and ASPBAE.
See the document http://www.icae.org.uy/eng/raquelpovertyhearingsep08.ppt 
Stand Up and Take Action 2008
Video for Stand Up and Take Action 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3tWjeIN4qA&feature=email 

6.- 1st World Forum on Lifelong learning

Paris - Unesco - October 28 & 29 - 2008

This World Forum comes twelve years after the Delors report, Education, there’s hidden treasure inside, was published. Its aim is to cross-examine the systems and latest practices found in different parts of the world regarding education, training and learning: What new territories and new training organizations exist in the world? Who benefits from them? Are ICTs a miracle or a mirage in this sector? What solutions can be found about situations which differ remarkably from one continent to another, indeed, from one town to another? What competitive strategies are international companies developing? More generally speaking, what concepts characterize training in Confucius, Rabelais, Grundtvig or Averroès?

This Forum comes within the framework of CONFINTEA VI, an international UNESCO conference on adult education (Brésil - 2009). It has received assistance from Xavier Darcos, Jacques Delors, Ján Figel’ and Bernard Kouchner, to name but a few. The different speakers are as follows: Jacques Attali, Barbara Ischinger, Director of education at the OCDE, Koïchiro Matsuura, General director of UNESCO, Edgar Morin, Alain Rousset, Laurent Wauquiez, representatives of Danone, Soparind-Bongrain and Véolia environnement.
Programme and registration: www.3lworldforum.org



7.- AONTAS Conference 2008/ CLOSING DATE: Friday, 3rd October 2008

Creating
Intercultural
Communities

Book Now! There is just one week left to book to attend the AONTAS 2008 Conference ‘Creating Intercultural Communities’. Booking closes Friday, 3 October 2008!
CREATING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNITIES
THE ROLE OF ADULT & COMMUNITY EDUCATION

TUESDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2008
GRAND HOTEL MALAHIDE, DUBLIN

BOOKING CLOSING DATE: FRIDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2008
During the past ten years Ireland has experienced a rapid growth in ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, as a consequence of the most significant recent inward migration in its history. The changing demographic in Ireland offers new opportunities to create a richly diverse and multicultural Ireland and it also presents us with new challenges to our own thinking about Irish identity, integrating new ethnic groups and cultures, supporting migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers and creating intercultural communities. Adult and community education has played a key role in meeting the needs of our new communities ranging from the provision of language learning to creating opportunities to share and understand new cultural experiences.
CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES
- To explore the concept of Intercultural Dialogue in the context of a rapidly changing Europe.
- To provide a forum for discussion on the meaning of intercultural dialogue in an Irish context
- To showcase the role of adult and community education in promoting intercultural dialogue through examples of practice.
- To explore ways in which adult and community education can be developed to realise the core principle of Interculturalism as identified in the White Paper
CONFERENCE DETAILS
The conference will provide a rich mix of analysis, dialogue and practice drawing on a diverse range of activities currently taking place within the adult and community education sector. It will provide participants with opportunities to learn from one another, to showcase their work, meet new people and seed new ideas and thinking which will feed into their future work. All are welcome to this exciting event on October 21st and further information will be sent to AONTAS members in the coming months.
IMPORTANT BOOKING INFORMATION
- Please book by Friday, 3rd of October 2008
- Payment for the AONTAS Conference must be received by Wednesday, 15th October 2008
- If you require accommodation, booking should be made directly with The Grand Hotel. Please book early as accommodation is limited.
- Please indicate the workshops you are interested in attending in order of preference (1st choice, 2nd choice etc) as places are limited
AONTAS – The National Adult Learning Organisation
83 – 87 Main Street, Ranelagh, Dublin 6W
Phone: 01 4068220 Fax 01 4068227 E-mail: mail@aontas.com
Company Registration: 80958 Charity Registration: 6719




8.- Social Watch launches 2008 Basic Capabilities Index (BCI)

Complete information available at: www.socialwatch.org/en/avancesyRetrocesos/ICB_2008/index.htm  
PRESS RELEASE

Poverty is not decreasing as the World Bank claims, argues a civil society monitoring organization

New York, September 22 – On the eve of a UN presidential meeting on poverty reduction the mainstream consensus that globalization is reducing poverty around the world was challenged today by Social Watch, a network of 400 civil society organizations in 70 countries. The World Bank latest estimates, announced last August, claim that extreme poverty has been reduced by half in the last 25 years and that therefore the internationally agreed goals for 2015 can be met.

Social Watch published today a Basic Capabilities Index showing that since the UN Millennium Declaration was adopted in the year 2000, the satisfaction of basic social needs that characterize poverty situations is not progressing enough or even regressing in a majority of countries.

In the Millennium Declaration the heads of State and government of the world promised to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected”, and resolved therefore “to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less than one dollar a day”. This commitment is the first of eight Millennium Development Goals.

The Basic Capabilities Index, made public today by Social Watch, provides a consistent general overview of the health status and basic educational performance of each country and is proven to be in close correlation to the measurement of other capabilities related to countries’ social development. Out of 176 countries for which Social Watch computed a BCI figure, only 21 register noticeable progress in relation to how they were in 2000. Other 55 countries show progress that is slight and slow, while 77 countries are stagnant.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has highlighted that “the MDGs set time-bound targets, by which progress can be measured.”

The measurability of the MDGs is key to their success. Same as the Olympic Games base their appeal in the simple notion that all players abide by the same rule and a set of impartial referees and scorekeepers guard the integrity of “fair play”, the MDGs derive their capacity to motivate decision-makers and mobilize public support in their being time-bound and measurable.

In order to monitor progress towards the MDGs at a global level and country by country, the eight goals were subdivided in 48 indicators, ranging from the proportion of the population below USD 1 a day (adjusted by the purchasing power parity of their income) to the percentage of internet users. Since January 15, 2008 the list of indicators has been officially expanded to more than 60, so as to be able to include data on issues like employment that were not counted before.

In real life, though, for most of the developing countries there are no accurate or updated data for many, if not most, of those 60 indicators, and the set is too complicated for non-experts. Thus, the World Bank-defined poverty line of USD 1 a day became the de facto yardstick with which progress was being measured. In 2000 the figure of 1.2 billion people living in poverty was massively circulated and quoted indirectly by the heads of state themselves in the Millennium Declaration: “We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected.”

By October 2007 the number of people living in extreme poverty had been reduced substantially: “Nearly one billion people live on just USD 1 a day” said World Bank President Robert B. Zoelick in his address to the Board of Governors of his institution. By June 2008, the draft Accra Action Agenda on aid, authored mainly by donor governments and the secretariats of the World Bank and the OECD stated that “progress has been made. Fifteen years ago, one of every three people lived on less than one dollar a day; today, that figure has been reduced to one in five. Yet one billion people still live in extreme poverty”.

All of a sudden, in August 26, 2008 the World Bank announced that poverty estimates had been revised and the number of extremely poor people was actually 1.4 billion in 2005. An overnight increase of almost 50%! Yet, according to Martin Ravallion, director of the Bank’s Research Group, “the developing world is poorer than we thought but no less successful in the fight against poverty”. In order to substantiate such an optimistic view, the team led by Ravallion and Shaohua Chen revised the poverty figures all the way back to 1981 and claimed the previous estimates were mistaken. According to their reassessment, the proportion of poor people has been cut to half in the last 25 years and, therefore, it can still be reduced enough to meet the MDG number 1 by 2015.

Social Watch coordinator Roberto Bissio argues that the USD 1 a day indicator is the wrong indicator. But “even if the concept behind that indicator had been right, we know now that the estimates were wrong. And even if the new estimates and their recalculated history are right, the trend of the last years is not a forecast of the future”. The World Bank has indeed recognized that its August estimates “do not yet reflect the potentially large adverse effects on poor people of rising food and fuel prices since 2005”.

Using three simple indicators available for most countries in the world and averaging them in a way that any secondary school student can repeat, the national and international trends in the fight against poverty can easily and convincingly be assessed. The resulting picture is not rosy. “Policy makers need to understand that the credibility of their commitments relies, like in the Olympic Games, in honest scorekeeping, independent referees and rules that do not change in the middle of the game. An adverse half time result might be bad news for the coach, but it allows a change of strategies for the second half”, concludes Bissio.

For more information contact/spokesperson

Roberto Bissio
Social Watch Coordinator
Mobile: +336 219 83661
E-mail: socwatch@socialwatch.org 
www.socialwatch.org