World Alliance for Citizen Participation

A Free Weekly Newsletter Promoting Civic Existence, Expression & Engagement Please send contributions, comments and questions to editor@civicus.org.

24 April 2008 ISSUE No. 385 PUBLISHER CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kumi Naidoo COPY EDITOR Laureen Bertin MANAGING EDITOR Eric Muragana OCCASIONAL CONTRIBUTORS Alex Kent Carol Baloyi Henri Valot Julia Sestier Natalia Kiryttopoulou Mulugojjam Denekew Katsuji Imata Raya Ubenova Tracy September Lars Koch Olivia McDonald Werani Zabula Vicente García-Delgado, Esq ABOUT e-CIVICUS  The CIVICUS weekly electronic publication is keeping tens of thousands of people informed of the developments taking place in civil society, the factors that are affecting them and the impact they are having on creating an informed and knowledgeable civil society.  e-CIVICUS WELCOMES CONTRIBUTIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY NEWS e-CIVICUS offers a useful channel through which you and your organisation can share your news, publicise your events and articulate the issues you face. Please send us your contributions no later than Tuesday for publication in the coming week to editor@civicus.org. All contributions must focus on civil society issues or have a civil society angle. To read the contribution guidelines, please visit www.civicus.org/new/media/ e-civicuseditorialguidelines-finalDraft.doc REPRODUCTION OF e-CIVICUS Readers are welcome to reproduce, in part or in full, all sections of this newsletter, however please request permission to do so first. When reproducing or retransmitting content, please credit sources and authors. The content of this newsletter can be translated into another language and reproduced in other publications, as long as due acknowledgment is made to CIVICUS.  e-CIVICUS DISCLAIMER Although CIVICUS makes all reasonable efforts to obtain prima-facie reliable content for e-CIVICUS , CIVICUS cannot guarantee the accuracy of the reports, views or opinions of third-party content providers, nor does CIVICUS necessarily endorse the views reflected therein. Similarly, links provided in e-CIVICUS may point to Internet sites that may be of interest to our readers; however CIVICUS does not take responsibility for, nor necessarily endorse their content. Stories are provided for information purposes only, and readers who intend to rely on information provided through such stories are strongly recommended to double-check its accuracy by reference to other sources first. Opinions expressed by contributors to e-CIVICUS are solely those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CIVICUS, its Board of Directors, managers or staff, or any CIVICUS members or partners. Please do send your comments and suggestions to editor@civicus.org.  CONTACT US P.O. Box 933 Southdale, 2135  South Africa  Tel: +27 11 833 5959 Fax:+27 11 833 7997 1112 16th Street NW, Suite 540  Washington D.C.  20036 USA Tel: +202 331-8518 Fax: +202 331-8774 Websites: www.civicus.org www.civilsocietywatch.org www.civicusassembly.org To subscribe or unsubscribe: email subscriptions@civicus.org TELL A FRIEND Do you have a friend who works for a more just world? Would you like to share this newsletter with them? Please forward their e-mail address to subscriptions@civicus.org We value your comments, suggestions and contributions. Speak to us at editor@civicus.org Support CIVICUS You can make an on-line donation at www.civicus.org/new/donatev2.html Join CIVICUS Join or renew your CIVICUS Membership on-line now at www.civicus.org/new/joinv2.html 2008 CIVICUS World Assembly  The World Assembly will take place between 18-21 June 2008, Glasgow , Scotland . Building on and continuing the success of past World Assemblies, the overall theme for this event is Acting Together for a Just World. This overall theme will be explored through the focus theme of People, Participation and Power. Civil Society Watch Monthly Bulletin The CIVICUS e-newsletter Civil Society Watch Monthly Bulletin  is an action-oriented newsletter distributed to over 7,400 people around the world, featuring insightful interviews, updates on threats to civil society, and analyses of current situations. Read more at www.civilsocietywatch.org CIVICUS blog What do you think? Have your say on the CIVICUS Blog! CIVICUS seeks to amplify the voices and opinions of ordinary people and give expression to the enormous creative energy within civil society. Our recently launched blog gives you the opportunity to use your voice and engage with the rest of civil society. Have your say by visiting http://civicus.civiblog.org

FROM THE DESK OF CIVICUS' SECRETARY-GENERAL Send your comments and contributions to editor@civicus.org. Civil society participation in the Global Campaign for Education’s Action Week By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General Dear Friends and Colleagues, For several months now education campaigners around the world have been busy preparing for the Global Campaign for Education’s Action Week, which takes place every year in April, at the same time of year since the ‘Education for All’ goals were agreed at a major UN conference in Dakar, Senegal back in 2000. So what progress has been made since then? Where we’ve seen investment we’ve seen real progress. Millions have flocked to school in countries that have dropped school fees, the numbers of out-of-school children have dropped from 100 million to 72 million. So it’s clear what needs to be done to make a difference with education. But we can’t be complacent - the investment has been too little, too late and unreliable. It’s also clear that much more needs to be done. Millions of children who make it to school now sit in classes with 70 or more other students; they struggle to learn from often poorly trained teachers; and share a handful of textbooks. As for the adults, the world’s got an extra long journey to take before we educate the 774 million women and men who still can’t read and write. To read more in this week's column, click here. Join the Global Campaign for Education The campaign is driven by the conviction that quality education for all is achievable, and by the concern for the immense costs of failure. The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) believes that in an increasingly knowledge-based economy, exclusion from education will translate into growing poverty, inequality and deprivation. The Global Campaign for Education promotes education as a basic human right, and mobilises public pressure on governments and the international community to fulfill their promises to provide free, compulsory public basic education for all people; in particular for children, women and all disadvantaged, deprived sections of society. Education is a basic human right and fundamental to the fight for human dignity and freedom. For 72 million children and 774 million adults, that right is violated every day. For more information, click here. Global Action Week 2008: Quality Education to End Exclusion Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Global Action Week is taking place from 21-27 April 2008 on the theme of "Quality Education to End Exclusion", a top Education for All (EFA) priority. UNESCO is organising activities world-wide to highlight the issues of quality and inclusion, and remind governments of their promise to achieve Education for All by 2015. UNESCO partners include ministries, sister agencies, the media, schools and civil society as well as the organisers of the event, the Global Campaign for Education. For more information, click here. CIVICUS Poll Question This week’s question: Are governments and other international organisations providing an enabling environment of education for all as a matter of human rights?   To answer the question, click here. Previous question: Should civil society organisations concentrate more on pushing governments and international organisations to meet national Millennium Development Goals targets? Results: Yes - 93%, No - 6%, Don’t Know - 1% TELL A FRIEND ABOUT e-CIVICUS The e-CIVICUS newsletter keeps tens of thousands of people and organisations informed of the many developments taking place in civil society around the world. As a subscriber you know the value e-CIVICUS can bring to your work. So why keep it to yourself? Do you have a friend who works for a more just world? Would you like to share this newsletter with them? Why don’t you suggest they register for a free subscription? They can send us an e-mail to subscriptions@civicus.org or fill out the subscription form here. Alternatively, please forward their e-mail address to KumiNaidoo.e-civicus@civicus.org and we’ll contact them on your behalf. Please send us your contributions no later than Monday every week to editor@civicus.org. All contributions must be focused on civil society issues or have a civil society angle. COUNTDOWN TO THE 2008 CIVICUS WORLD ASSEMBLY CIVICUS looks forward to your participation in the World Assembly. Let’s Act Together for a Just World!!! Register now for the CIVICUS World Assembly The 8th CIVICUS World Assembly will take place from 18-21 June in Glasgow, Scotland. This year, the World Assembly will focus on the theme of People, Power and Participation, looking at how civil society accesses, engages with and participates in all forms and spheres of governance at the local, national and international levels. Register online now to participate! The World Assembly will bring together members of civil society, government, donors, business and media who will explore “Acting together for a just world” through the focus theme of “People, Participation and Power”. For additional information on the programme and what to expect, browse through our e-flyer available in English, Spanish and French. To register, please click here. Submit your topic suggestion for the 'BBC World Have Your Say' at the CIVICUS World Assembly World Have Your Say, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 's global interactive programme, is broadcasting live from the CIVICUS World Assembly in Glasgow. You get to decide the agenda by posting on their blog, e-mailing them or attending their open editorial meetings during the World Assembly. There will be four broadcasts on the World Assembly. Two will be live and the other two recorded. The programme will broadcast live from the conference on Wednesday 18 June (for Youth Assembly delegates only!) and Friday 20 June, and from BBC Radio Scotland's foyer just across the river from the conference centre on Thursday 19 June - from 6-8 in the evening to an audience of 45 million around the world. For more information, clik here. CIVICUS Legitimacy, Transparency and Accountability Programme at the World Assembly The CIVICUS Legitimacy and Transparency (LTA) programme is having a consultative meeting at the World Assembly on 19 June with interested stakeholders including academics, civil society organisations (CSOs) and practitioners on the new phase of the LTA programme at CIVICUS. This is a three year project aimed at creating a community of best practices by enhancing CSO LTA structures through the instruments of advocacy, knowledge dissemination and, to a certain extent, capacity building. The project is aimed at providing regional groups which have wide membership with the necessary tools for assisting their constituencies on LTA. This project has been a direct response to requests by CIVICUS’ members to develop a project that would assist them in strengthening their LTA structures made in the previous phase. For more information, click here. e-CIVICUS DIALOGUES Rebuttal to "Climate change is not as big a problem" on a report appearing on last week's e-CIVICUS 384 By Vicente García-Delgado, CIVICUS’ UN Representative To still maintain that Climate Change is not “as big a problem” flies in the face of the unequivocal scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), based on years of scientific observations carried out by hundreds of accredited scientists under strict peer review procedures. At a time when thousands in Bangladesh must move their homes away from the encroaching sea as they watch their community assets and livelihoods disappear under water; when the Inuit peoples of the Arctic regions helplessly watch their communities, their ancestral knowledge and their culture literally being washed away by the melting ice; when the Carteret Islands, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, are drowning as a result of sea level rise, their peoples forced to abandon their homeland - to mention but a few examples of climate change impact already affecting our most vulnerable and poor communities - such a cavalier dismissal of the extremely serious climate challenges confronting humanity suggests, at best, an irresponsible level of ignorance or gullibility and, at worst, a wilful intent to mislead and generate confusion. For the complete rebuttal, click here. Can democracy save the planet? By John Elkington and John Lotherington for openDemocracy Is democracy necessary for sustainable development - or does it get in the way? The political world is full of evidence that can be used to argue for either view. The lengthy and lively US presidential competition between Senators Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama has, for example, engaged an unusually high proportion of citizens in debating some of the great issues of the day; it also offers the unprecedented and hopeful spectacle of all three candidates for the presidency acknowledging the vital importance of global climate change. At the same time, the character of much of the campaign has so far been conducted - the huge amounts of money involved, the point-scoring, the attack ads, the media concentration on stray remarks and surface details - highlights the way that modern democratic conduct can ignore environmental issues at the very moment when they should be central to the debate. For more information, click here. Climate deniers report: a response Ms Farah Abdullah, Programme Manager, Centre for Social Markets (CSM) At an event hosted on 2 April by the Delhi-based Liberty Institute, and the London-based Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change, CSM witness the launch of the "Civil Society Report on Climate Change". The Coalition was formed in February 2007 by the International Policy Network (IPN), a well-known ExxonMobil-backed organisation based in London . The event featured a range of neo-liberal grandees with associations with free-market think tanks such as the US-based Cato Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, known for their rubbishing of climate science and the international consensus represented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Civil Society Report on Climate Change itself was released, surprisingly, by Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of India 's Planning Commission and one of the country's leading political lights. It concludes that cutting greenhouse gas emissions is not a cost-effective way to address climate change. For more information, click here. Anti-Americanism abroad is often anti-liberalism Former deputy assistant to President Bush, Don Eberly and founder of The Civil Society Project Don Eberly says while there's indeed a great deal of anti-Americanism around the world, much of it is directed at the U.S. government and the liberal culture. Eberly is the founder of The Civil Society Project and author of the book The Rise of Global Civil Society: Building Communities and Nations from the Bottom Up. He contends that anti-Americanism is rampant in Europe because the people there cannot understand why the U.S. does not buy more into its social welfare mentality. He also notes that anti-Americanism is rabid in the Middle East because of the demagoguery of radical Islamic regimes, although it is largely not directed at the American people. For more information, click here. CIVIL SOCIETY NEWS Civil society launches UN Extra-Terrestrial Initiative Four non-governmental organisations have launched a joint initiative to urge the implementation of a historic UN General Assembly Decision concerning extra-terrestrial life and UFOs, adopted on December 18, 1978. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the UN General Assembly Decision 33/426 that invited "Member States to take appropriate steps to coordinate on a national level scientific research and investigation into extraterrestrial life, including unidentified flying objects." The Decision further invited Member States to "inform the Secretary-General of the observations, research and evaluation of such activities." The four NGOs have sent letters to the governments of France, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Brazil requesting each to forward to the UN Secretary General details of documents concerning UFOs each country has publicly released in the last several years. For more information, click here. Civil society to submit accounting records in Russia By Anna Malpas The Federal Registration Service has extended the deadline for non-governmental organisations to submit their accounting records, after numerous NGOs struggled with submitting their documents on time, the agency said Friday. NGOs and rights groups have complained that a 2006 law on NGOs that tightens the requirements to remain registered is too strict and requires an unnecessary amount of paperwork. For more information, click here. Values or skills - which would shape a university of civil society? By Stephen Cook, Third Sector The idea of establishing a university of the third sector, or of civil society, appears to be gaining ground after a series of debates organised by PrimeTimers, a social enterprise that uses business methods to increase the capacity of the sector. The notion did not receive unquestioning support at the final debate at the London School of Economics last week, but there were strong voices in favour and a consensus that it merited further investigation. PrimeTimers is now seeking funds to employ a researcher who would map existing university provision. For more information, click here. Zimbabwe's church leaders warn the world: intervene to avert genocide By Raymond Whitaker in Harare Zimbabwe is a deeply religious country. Daily discussions of the country's crisis end with Zimbabweans, black and white, saying: "We can only pray." So when the leaders of Zimbabwe's churches unanimously warn that the country faces "genocide" unless the international community intervenes, it is an important moment. The clerics were speaking more than three weeks after a presidential election whose result President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party refuse to disclose, almost certainly because he was decisively defeated by Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). A recount of 23 parliamentary seats is under way in an apparent attempt to restore Zanu-PF's lost majority, and a wave of violence and intimidation has swept the country ahead of any possible presidential run-off. For more information, click here. NGOs: the self-appointed witnesses, judges, jury and executioners in Thailand By Shenali Waduge World politics is certainly not how it used to be. We have witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union , the rise of fundamentalism and the topic of discussion being the rise of the non-governmental organisations or “private voluntary organisations", "civil society organisations" or "non-profit organisations." While initially these civil society organisations (CSOs) remained in the background of world politics they are today seen everywhere and exert power in every aspect of policy-making at national and international levels. From being self-appointed witnesses, NGOs have today become influential players in the global political arena. For more information, click here. Civil society grouping task government on education in Nigeria By Bukola Olatunji As part of the Global Action Week (GAW), a worldwide education campaign, Nigerian civil society has appealed to the 19 governors in the northern states of the country to allocate adequate resources, at least 26 per cent of their total budget, to education. In an open letter to the governors, no fewer than 400 civil society groups under the auspices of the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), urged the governors to "give consideration to the passage of the Child Rights Act within the existing religion and cultural context" in their states. For more information, click here. Philippines model for government-civil society partnership By Nora O. Gamolo, Senior Desk Editor, www.manilatimes.net Government and civil society partnership in providing economic relief to the marginalised and poor who make up the informal sector while tapping their hidden potential was once more demonstrated by 99 groups that participated in the development fair held in April in the Philippines, which focused on “Building Partnerships for Effective Local Governance.” For more information, click here. Civil society needs public support in Kenya By Job O. Nyangenya, University of Nairobi Members of civil society in Kenya have made it clear that the Cabinet of the grand coalition will be a big burden to the taxpayers. According to civil society, the Cabinet did not meet the expectations of Kenyans, and is neither lean nor clean. The former UN secretary- general, Mr Kofi Annan, who presided over the reconciliation talks, said that the most important thing is the sustainability of the coalition. However, civil society asserts that the Cabinet is a burden on the taxpayer. For more information, click here.  ACCOUNTABILITY AccountAbility launches new landmark report - Governing Collaboration: Making Partnerships Accountable for Delivering Development Source: AccountAbility, www.accountability21.net On 16 April at the World Bank Poverty Reduction and Environmental Management (PREM) conference in Washington D.C. Steve Rochlin, Head of AccountAbility North America, launched AccountAbility’s landmark report Governing Collaboration: Making Partnerships Accountable for Delivering Development. The report explores the factors causing partnerships to fail in delivering their ambitious goals and provides a deceptively easy solution to this crucial issue: to make development partnerships work, we need to make their governance work first. The findings of the report are relevant to those concerned with development, particularly founders, managers, participants and public and private investors. For more information, click here. Delivering impact as a private funder Source: www.KeystoneAccountability.org  Private funders are increasingly concerned with the impact of their social investments. They are exploring ways to best address issues such as their own accountability, transparency and broader aid effectiveness. Keystone was invited at this year's 'Partnerships for Development' Forum at Wilton Park to present its Constituency Voice approach to improving the effectiveness of social investments as an alternative to the approaches currently used by private funders. For more information, click here. GET INVOLVED! Every Human Has Rights - Children's Right to Health campaign Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) affirms that "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 25 states that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family". In 2000 world governments committed themselves to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are 8 targets aimed at poverty reduction and development. MDG 4 is specifically focused on child survival and calls for a two-thirds reduction in the under-five mortality rate between 1990 and 2015. Only a small number of countries are on track to reach this target, and at current rates of progress MDG 4 will not be achieved globally until 2045. To read more on the campaign, click here.  Take action on behalf of Uzbekistan's human rights defender, Yusuf Juma Source: FrontLine, protection of human rights defenders Front Line is deeply concerned following the sentencing of human rights defender Yusuf Juma to five years' imprisonment on 15 April 2008. Yusuf Juma is a prominent writer and pro-democracy activist in Uzbekistan. He was arrested along with his sons, Bobur and Mashrab, in the Tashkent region in mid-December 2007 and has been detained in the Otbozor Prison in the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan. For more information, click here. Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan Source: Feminist Majority Foundation In 1997, The Feminist Majority launched the Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan to urge the US government and the U.N. to do everything in their power to restore the human rights of Afghan women and girls and to put pressure on the US and UN to end gender apartheid in Afghanistan. The Campaign has been successful in increasing public awareness about the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan, preventing US and UN recognition of the Taliban, increasing the admission of Afghan women and girls as refugees, increasing humanitarian aid to the region and pressuring US oil companies to abandon plans for an Afghan oil and gas pipeline which would have produced over $100 million in royalties for the Taliban. For more information, click here. MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS & GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY GCAP, CIVICUS, ATD Fourth World address UN meeting on the MDGs By Vicente García-Delgado, CIVICUS UN Representative (New York) The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), CIVICUS and ATD Fourth World Movement (ATD) were recognised as representatives of global civil society to address the UN General Assembly Thematic Debate on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) held in New York on 1-2 April 2008. The three civil society interventions complemented one another by expressing concerns related to the attainment of the MDGs from diverse civil society perspectives. Speaking for GCAP, Dennis Howlett, co-ordinator of the Canadian “Make Poverty History” campaign and a member of GCAP’s International Facilitation Group, referred to GCAP’s 2007 mobilisation of 43 million people in 127 countries. For more information, click here. Promotion of Social Inclusion of Women and Gender Equality in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) By Gladys Mutangadura The aim of this Community of Practice is threefold. First, it aims to stimulate discussion and generation of knowledge on the importance of gender equality to national development by identifying the gaps in reflecting gender equality in the existing MDGs and indicators in African countries. Second, it will be an arena for sharing knowledge on how the MDGs can be reinforced to address gender equality. Third, it will help identify supplementary targets or indicators in the MDGs that can enable more effective measurement of social inclusion of women and gender equality in Africa. For more information, click here.  Civil society says privatisation of water, health renders MDGs unattainable By Ebenezer Hanson Civil Society groups participating in the ongoing UNCTAD XII conference in Accra have opposed the privatisation of water and health services. In their view, privatising water and health will make the attainment of the much-touted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by developing countries a remote possibility. Speaking at a public forum organised by the Coalition of NGOs in Accra last Friday, the Africa Water Network and the Coalition of NGOs in Health pointed out that with only seven years left to meet the MDGs deadline of 2015, access to potable water and health delivery by the poor is progressively becoming grim. For more information, click here. Learning alliances for poverty reduction Author: C. Shambu Prasad Agriculture is back on the international agenda. The most recent World Development Report looks at learning for farmers but largely ignores the need for learning in institutions, including agricultural research centres. Most agricultural research and development (R&D) institutions have been shaped by traditional approaches to technology transfer, in which farmers, extension agencies and civil society organisations passively accept the technologies delivered by researchers. These linear approaches of the ‘Green Revolution’ were based on the objective of increasing food supplies in resource-rich regions, using improved crop varieties that require increased external inputs. For more information, click here. CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVISM AND GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS Civil society groups call for Commission on Globalisation at the UNCTAD conference Civil society groups have called for the establishment of a new commission on Globalisation and Development Strategies within the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In a declaration presented at the opening plenary of the Committee of the Whole, civil society groups also asked that the policy space mandate of UNCTAD be expanded. "We believe UNCTAD has a unique role, especially in these uncertain times. Its role as a support to developing countries in development issues and processes must be expanded," the declaration presented by Jane Nalunga, a member of Africa Trade Network, on behalf of the civil society groups, said. For more information, click here. Annan calls for climate justice Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has outlined plans for a global meeting on the humanitarian impact of climate change Addressing journalists in Geneva on Tuesday, Annan, president of the new Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum, demanded united action to support the world's poorest in adapting to climate change. The issue will be the focus of the forum's first meeting to be held in Geneva on June 24-25, 2008. The two-day conference and workshops will bring together 200 leaders and experts from governments, civil society and the business sector to "think solutions" and build partnerships to better meet the needs of those at risk. It hopes to focus attention on the more vulnerable communities of the world ahead of the post-Kyoto climate change meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. For more information, click here. Pope stresses Human Rights, Ethical Science By Michelle Boorstein and Colum Lynch Pope Benedict XVI, using the stage provided by the United Nations, gently but forcefully warned against the perils of the modern world technology and science that violate "the order of creation," environmental degradation, the abuse of human rights and the unwillingness of many nations to embrace multilateralism at a time when the world's problems "call for interventions in the form of collective action." "What is needed is a deeper search for ways of preempting and managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic avenue and giving attention and encouragement to even the faintest sign of dialogue or desire for reconciliation," the Pope said, in what could be interpreted as a subtle swipe at the Bush administration. For more information, click here. Changing IMF Policies To get more Doctors, Nurses and Teachers hired in Developing Countries Source: ActionAid International Mounting evidence in recent years suggests that the economic policies promoted and enforced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may be preventing developing countries from spending more in their national budgets, with important consequences for health and education budgets being constrained at unnecessarily low levels at a time when major increases are needed. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 57 countries, most of them in Africa and Asia, face a severe health workforce crisis. WHO estimates that at least 2.4 million health professionals and 1.9 million health workers, or a total of 4.3 million health workers, are needed to fill the gap. For more information, click here.  China's human rights position, in and on its own terms Speaking about and speaking up for China's human rights record: Luo Haocai, President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies Luo Haocai, the director of the China Society for Human Rights Studies stated at the conference in Beijing that "This year marks the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. China has made remarkable achievements in economic construction and great progress in human rights construction....Chinese people civil rights and political rights have been protected properly, but there are still some problems....China's political and economic systems are not perfect; the democracy and the legal system are not complete, and urban and rural developments are imbalanced....There are still problems in employment, education, medical care, housing, social welfare, income distribution, production safety and environmental protection." To read further, click here. Rising food prices to top UN agenda at Swiss meeting Source: Reuters The rising cost of providing food aid to poor countries will top the agenda when U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon meets U.N. agency heads in Switzerland later this month, a spokeswoman said on Friday (18 April). Secretary-General Ban will host a semi-annual meeting of U.N. agency heads in the Swiss capital of Berne on April 28-29, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Heuze said. "The main subjects on the agenda will be the food crisis and climate change. They will look at means of co-ordination," Heuze told Reuters. For more information, click here. Farm talks negotiators ask chair for more time Source: World Trade Organisation News World Trade Organisation (WTO) agriculture negotiators have asked their chairperson for at least a week more to build on the progress they have been making in their recent consultations on sensitive products, tropical products and long-standing preferences. At the end of a meeting that began on Tuesday 15 April 2008 and ended three days later, chairperson Crawford Falconer tentatively proposed 30 April as the date for hearing the results of their consultations. For more information, click here. CAPACITY BUILDING Toolkit: Relocating NGOs from the Global North to the Global South During 2006/7 the Ford Foundation commissioned a team to look into some of the issues pertaining to the relocation of international organisations which had previously had their central functioning in the global north to the global south. This is a “how to” type of manual which should be of help to an organisation thinking of relocating or re-establishing the central management of its organisation in the next few years. It should be noted, however, that this type of relocation is only one of the options organisations are considering and that the rapidly developing technological environment has opened up other options for new organisational formats that are truly global in their ability to function in cyberspace, irrespective of their actual geographical location. The research that led to the production of the manual was done at the end of 2006 and in the first half of 2007. For more information, click here. Tools and Methods: Collective learning for advocacy Authors: Julián Portilla and Sylvia Aguilera In 2006, following the elections in Mexico, 14 sexual and reproductive rights organisations met to develop strategies for an advocacy campaign. The tool used for context analysis was a ‘political map’ setting out the positions of relevant officials in the various branches of government with regard to sexual and reproductive rights. Prior to the workshop, the facilitators interviewed representatives of the 14 organisations, and identified the groups to be targeted in the campaign. The Centro de Colaboración Cívica (Centre for Civil Collaboration) is an NGO working to reinforce democratic change in Mexico through dialogue, collaboration and conflict management. To read more, click here. PROFILES DONOR: Evkaf Foundation The Evkaf Foundation is a Turkish foundation which allocates its resources for the public benefit, for the social, economic and cultural needs of society and to serve the underprivileged and deprived sections of society. The philosophy of Evkaf originates from the Vakf principle which is defined as … the ad infinitum dedication of property for public benefit. Evkaf Foundation allocates its resources internationally and operates in the following areas: Education, Historic and Cultural preservation, Economic and social development and Faith-based activities. For more information, click here. MEMBER: The Economic Research Centre The Economic Research Centre is a policy-research oriented non-profit think-tank whose goal is to facilitate sustainable economic development and good governance in the New Public Management system of Azerbaijan. ERC’s mission is to nurture economic growth and improve administration practices throughout the country, especially in areas of participatory democracy in order to amplify the voices and opinions of lower government tiers and ordinary people. The Center’s major research dimensions cover the following issues: popularising the economic and business knowledge in society, enhancing transparency and accountability, and public participation and decentralised governance. For more information, click here. BOOKS, REPORTS & RESOURCES New CSO research report on Democratic Ownership and Aid Effectiveness Alliance2015 contribution on Aid Effectiveness and civil society debate This report “Fostering Democratic Ownership - Towards Greater Impact on Poverty” has been commissioned by Alliance2015, a grouping of six European NGOs committed to working toward more effective aid and full achievement of the MDGs by 2015, as a contribution to preparatory discussions in advance of the third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to be held in Accra in September 2008.The report is building on country studies in Mozambique, Ghana, Nicaragua and Bolivia. It focuses on the extent to which the Paris Declaration, the subject of that High Level Forum promotes “democratic ownership” in specific country contexts. Its point of departure is the absolute necessity for such ownership, which enables participation of civil society and parliaments in defining, implementing and monitoring development policies and strategies at local and national levels. The importance of linking aid effectiveness to actual impact on intended beneficiaries is a second point of departure reflected in the title itself. For more information, click here. Publication: Index of state weakness in the developing countries Since 11 September 2001, the United States and other governments have frequently asserted that threats to international peace and security often come from the world’s weakest states. Such countries can fall prey to and spawn a host of trans-national security threats, including terrorism, weapons proliferation, organised crime, infectious disease, environmental degradation, and civil conflicts that spill over borders. Accordingly, the 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States maintains that weak and failing states “pose as great a danger to our national interest as strong states.” The Index of State Weakness in the Developing World was designed to provide policy-makers and researchers with a credible tool for analysing and understanding the world's most vulnerable countries. For more information, click here. What is Global Justice? Youth & Student Action on Aids, Trade & Child Survival Young people have the unique capacity to reach across false boundaries of nationality, race and economic status to affirm a common humanity and work toward a shared vision. By uniting the creative energy and courage of young people with the knowledge and expertise of academia and professionals, Global Justice empowers youth and students to be informed activists. Today there are greater linkages between nations and across continents than our planet has ever known and a truly global exchange of people, of ideas, of goods and services. Yet we live in a world that faces an ever-increasing divide between rich and poor. As the face of communications, business, and international relations changes, so must the commitment to ending this disparity. Making globalisation work for all, particularly the poor, represents the greatest challenge of our generation. For more information, click here. Aid, governance and public procurement Source: Olivia McDonald, Senior Governance Advisor, Christian Aid Strong rules for the contracting of goods, works and services are a cornerstone of a robust and accountable public budgeting system. It is important for donors to not only support the development of those systems but also to use them; this has been shown to be a more effective use of aid resources. Government procurement is also big business. It is worth about US$2,000 billion each year which explains why rich countries have been keen to put the subject of access to these lucrative markets on the agenda at the World Trade Organisation and pursue it bilaterally through regional trade agreements. In this report Christian Aid assesses donor support for procurement reform and finds it is reliant on imposing a standard procurement model that emphasises market opening over increasing accountability to poor men and women. For more information, click here. CONFERENCES & EVENTS Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and Governance 19-22 October 2008, Manila, Philippines The theme of the congress is “Gender and Climate Change”. Women and environment experts have raised concerns over the absence of women in the discourse and debate on climate change, a global mainstream issue that is currently impacting the entire world. The involvement of women in areas of environmental management and governance should not be perceived as an afterthought. Women's roles are of considerable importance in the promotion of environmental ethics. The current imperative is for women to understand the phenomenon of climate change and its impacts and implications at the individual, household, community and national levels. Studies show that women have a definite information deficit on climate politics and climate protection. Only with this information can women take their proper, significant and strategic role in the issue of climate change. For more information, click here. 48th session of the International Conference on Education 25-28 November 2008, Geneva, Switzerland The 48th session of the International Conference on Education (ICE) is expected to discuss the topic of inclusive education. Education systems must be inclusive, actively seeking out children who are not enrolled, and responding flexibly to the circumstances and needs of all learners. The key challenge is to ensure that inclusion is a concept reflected in national government and funding agency policies. Education for All must take account of the needs of the poor and the most disadvantaged, including working children, remote rural dwellers and nomads, and ethnic and linguistic minorities, children, young people and adults affected by conflict and natural disasters, HIV and AIDS, hunger and poor health; and those with special learning needs. For more information, click here. FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 2008 John Humphrey Freedom Award Application Deadline: 30 April 2008 Rights & Democracy is currently accepting nominations for the John Humphrey Freedom Award, which is presented every year to an organisation or person who has made an outstanding contribution to the promotion of human rights and democratic development. The award consists of a grant of $30,000 as well as a speaking tour of Canadian cities to help increase awareness of the recipient’s human rights work. For more information, click here. MISA Press Freedom Award Application Deadline: 12 August 2008 The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Press Freedom Award is co-sponsored in conjunction with the Southern Africa Trust. The award, with a cash prize of US$2,500, is given to honour excellence in journalism, described as the upholding of ethics of the profession at all costs and the relentless pursuit of the truth behind the bare facts. The award is also in recognition of the work of an individual or institution where this is considered to have made a significant contribution to the promotion of media freedom in the region. The excellence which the award acknowledges can be achieved either through reportage or in other ways such as media reform, lobbying or training. The Award is open to all forms of media such as photography, print, video, internet, or media associations and institutions. Eligible individuals or institutions should be based in the Southern African region. For more information, click here. COURSES AND WORKSHOPS NGOs and Civil Society: Promoters of Democracy and Active Citizenship 25-26 April 2008, Bratislava, Slovakia A seminar on "NGOs and Civil Society: Promoters of Democracy and Active Citizenship" will be organised by the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe in partnership with the Center for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture (CVEK) and in co-operation with the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the Council of Europe. The event is organised within the framework of the Slovak Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. One of the three priorities of the Slovak Chairmanship is "promoting a citizens' Europe " and "strengthening the participation of civil society in the decision-making process at national and multinational levels". For more information, click here. Managing and Transforming Global Conflicts in the 21st Century 22-23 May 2008, Ottawa, Canada This is a two-day experts level seminar arranged for government and political leadership, diplomats, representatives of national and international organisations, and experienced practitioners, mediators and field workers for the UN and other international agencies. The seminar will provide a hands-on global overview of experiences in peacebuilding, peacemaking and managing peace processes. Special focus will be placed on current situations and conflicts internationally and effective tools and methods for governments and national and international organisations for preventing crises, transforming conflicts, and enabling sustainable peace. For more information, click here. CALL FOR PAPERS, SUBMISSIONS & NOMINATIONS Call for Statements of Interest - Partner organisations for the implementation of the CIVICUS Civil Society Index Reminder - Deadline Extended: 30 April 2008 Due to the strong interest in participation from civil society organisations around the world, the application deadline for statements of interest to partner with CIVICUS on the Civil Society Index has been extended. The CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI) team is pleased to announce its open call for statements of interest to implement the CSI around the world. If your organisation's work focuses on strengthening civil society in your country and is interested in implementing the CSI, please complete the full application form in English, French or Spanish, or write to us at index@civicus.org. The project implementation starts in June 2008 and spans 2008 and part of 2009. The call for statements of interest is available in English, French and Spanish. Call for Applications - Research project on Sexualities and Modernities in North Africa , the Middle East , and Central Asia Application Deadline: 1 May 2008 From 2008 to 2010 the SEPHIS programme will run a research project on ‘Sexualities and Modernities’ sponsored by the Ford Foundation. The objective of this programme is to allow researchers to gain a deeper historical and comparative understanding of the complex interplay between cultural contexts and the politics of sex- and gender-based claims of identity. Dissemination to advocacy groups and into the public sphere is an essential part of this endeavour. SEPHIS is making one fellowship available to candidates at the post-doctoral, PhD and MA level to research any area to do with the history of sexualities in North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. For more information, click here. APPOINTMENTS This week 26 new civil society job openings have been added to the CIVICUS website. Please click here. JOBS OF THE WEEK Outreach and Mobilisation Coordinator Application Deadline: 25 April 2008 CIVICUS/Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) Location: Johannesburg, South Africa For more information, click here. Programme Officer (2 posts) Application Deadline: 30 April 2008 CIVICUS Civil Society Index Programme Location: Johannesburg, South Africa For more information, click here. CONTACT e-CIVICUS  e-CIVICUS is a free weekly online publication keeping tens of thousands of people, organisations and programmes informed of the many developments that are taking place in civil society organisations around the world, the many factors that are affecting the impact of civil society on creating a more just world. We value your comments and suggestions. Please send these to the Editorial Team at editor@civicus.org. Unsubscribe: To unsubscribe from e-CIVICUS, get a password reminder, or change your subscription options by entering your subscription email address: Click here.