Our goal is that of a unification of the people of Africa outside of Africa in union with all within Africa. This towards unity of the African Community and with all friends of all Nations and towards the agenda of the African Kingdoms Federation – Arc of Nubia programs.

This agenda is as followed:

-To establish the Arc of Nubia Chapters worldwide to promote the African Kingdoms Federation and Federation Imperial House Foundation – Development agenda by the Kingdoms for within Africa, the Caricom, Americas’, USA, Europe, Middle-East and Asia, and, within all African Descendents Nations and Communities.

-To establish with the African Kingdoms all needed for all Africans that desire to have direct and far closer contacts with their ancestral roots and Kingdoms Heritage, and all friends of Africa towards a better knowledge and closer relationship and understanding of the African People and our Culture.

-To establish the needed avenues through the African Kingdoms, by the African Kingdoms and within the African Kingdoms to all wishing to re-locate or return to Africa as self or with their families. Through step by step integration and/or re-integration into the Tribes and African Kingdoms Communities. It is of critical importance this orientation process through the Arc of Nubia. This to understand and become better acquainted and orientated with the traditions and culture, equally as well as, possibility to maintain self and family, in terms of possibility of employment, and relocation to Africa.

-To open all avenue for ALL willing to participate actively in the Federations Primary Development Agenda Program: PROJECT VII PHOENIX

-To establish this Royal Community the Arc of Nubia, which is unique as your direct portal within Africa and from Africa through as a part of the African Kingdom Community.

-To establish and facilitate better support to any and all wanting to work and establish NGOs, or Commercial, Industrial or other such within the African Kingdoms Regions.

Visite the different page links given in this post to better acquaint with the African Kingdoms and Federation your host of the Arc of Nubia.

Join our Social Network and feel at home in the Arc of Nubia Community, get to know the other family members of our Community on the Arc, so we can expand to better facilitate and support the Arc of Nubia global presence.

www.arclud.ning.com

PRESS RELEASE

6th edition of the Women’s Forum Global Meeting
« Change: Make it happen »
14 – 16 October 2010
Deauville, France

Paris, 25 May 2010– The Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society will hold its 6th annual Global Meeting on October 14-16, 2010 in Deauville, France under the theme “Change: Make it happen”.

“At a time when economies and models of society are questioned by an uncertain and fragile global situation, only diversity, confidence and solidarity between women, in an exchange with men, can make change happen to restore hope in a disrupted world”, declared Women’s Forum CEO and Founder, Aude de Thuin. “The Women’s Forum annual Global Meeting is a major event of expression and mobilization of women in order to spark audacious and innovative policies of change.”

The Women’s Forum Global Meeting will focus on new forms of actions and on actors of needed change. It will immerse about 1,200 participants from over 80 countries in a powerful and interactive experience with CEOs, business leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, thinkers, artists, politicians, and policymakers, all of them opinion leaders and influential in their areas of expertise. Among them, many women from emerging countries invited to join the Forum’s network will give a testimony of their exemplary actions to develop their countries.

These major issues will be debated through five “pillars of change”:
- Change in politics: How to think and act collectively in a world of mistrust?
- Change in the economy: What do we need now for true innovation?
- Change in the environment: How to make the green economy a killer app for business and a reality for all?
- Change in global health: How to build a healthier and more equitable food chain for the planet?
- Change through the woman factor: Pushing the boundaries, yet how far?

This year, among many international delegations, the Forum will host a delegation of men and women from Nordic countries where voluntary measures, as in Sweden, or political ones, as in Norway, allowed them to attain the highest rates of parity in the world. Other countries such as South Africa, United States and Russia will be largely represented.

To the plenary sessions will be added the Discovery Program, a unique place in the Forum for its design, its interactive format to facilitate exchanges, conviviality and many innovative experiences this year around three main axes:
-Performance with corners like the Diversity Club, Women on Boards, Women’s Network,
-Commitment with corners of NGOs, the Sustainability in Action Club, and “Women For Education” and “Cartier Women’s Initiative  Awards”.
- Discovery with the “Rising Talents” project, the Writer’s Corner and the Health and Nutrition Corner.

About the Women’s Forum
Founded in 2005 by Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society is an independent global forum of feminine inspiration, recognized among the top 5 global forums worldwide, dedicated to building and implementing a more balanced world for all.

The Forum is a platform of debate, sharing, brainstorming and action where women are given pride of place for speaking out on all major societal issues that count today and will count tomorrow. 2010 will be a year of a reinforced international visibility, a program anchored in major issues that cannot be ignored, fed by a global vision and messages that will be addressed at the Forum’s closing, on October 16th.

In September 2009, Publicis Groupe acquired a majority stake in the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society.

Press Contacts

Women’s Forum
Claudine Ripert-Landler
+33 (0)6 73 45 18 43
claudine.ripert@womens-forum.com

Joanna Spiette
+33(0)1 58 18 62 09
joanna.spiette@womens-forum.com

Publicis Consultants
Vilizara Lazarova
+33 (0)1 57 32 86 46
vilizara.lazarova@consultants.publicis.fr

Isabelle Rivière
+33 (0)1 57 32 86 99
isabelle.riviere@consultants.publicis.fr

On Monday 2 August 2010 a press conference and prelaunch of the ACP Observatory on Migration took place in the ACP House in Brussels, with statements from the ACP Assistant Secretary General, Ms. Michèle Dominique Raymond; Head of Governance and Operational Support Section EuropeAid Cooperation Office (AIDCO) European Commission, Ms. Kirsi Pekuri; and Director of the ACP Observatory on Migration, Mr. Laurent de Boeck.

The objective of the Observatory is to produce data on South-South ACP migration flows. There are 12 pilot ACP countries selected, but the research will concern all ACP countries and all ACP regions. The Observatory cooperates with universities in Africa, Caribbean, Pacific and EU. One of the main pillars of the Observatory’s activities is Capacity Building for civil society. They wish to integrate civil society actors in the dialogue concerning policy-making on migration, and give NGO’s, local organizations and individual actors from civil society their say in the process of improving migration policies in ACP countries. Furthermore, these contacts will help to increase the visibility of the Observatory amongst civil-society based organizations.

The Observatory is an institution designed to produce data on South-South ACP migration flows for migrants, civil society and policy-makers and enhance research capacities in ACP countries for the improvement of the migrants’ situation and the strengthening of the migration-development nexus. The total budget for the project is 9 404 776 €. The European Union contributes with 7 994 060 € .

The Observatory will create a network of research centres and private researchers to provide policy-makers, the civil society and the public at large with reliable and harmonized data on ACP migration. It will focus its attention on the migrants’ situation and will foster the inclusion of migration into pilot countries’ development strategies. The Observatory will be officially launched in October 2010. While currently based in Brussels (Belgium), the Observatory will move to one of the 79 ACP countries. The Observatory is open to the participation of Universities, research centres, government agencies, consultants, experts and general public interested in producing or using comprehensive data on ACP migration. Joining institutions will be part of a high-level research network including research facilities from around the world focusing on migration data and migration management policies. The Observatory will function as an exchange platform for migration research papers and expertise. Through its website, the Observatory will publish research studies and papers which will contribute to a better understanding of ACP migration flows and migration and development issues for policy-makers, government officials and general public.

The ACP observatory works with :

- A Research Consortium with 15 partners, among which National University of Lesotho, Roma, Lesotho, University of Cape Town (UCT) , Cape Town, South Africa, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), Dakar, Senegal; Université Gaston Berger, Saint-Louis, Senegal; Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; MOI University, Eldoret, Kenya; Centre for the Study of Forced Migration of the University ofDar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Université de Goma, Goma, DRC; University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji; University of the West Indies, Bridgetown, Barbados.

Associated Partners are: The International Migration Institute, Oxford, United Kingdom; The Commonwealth Secretariat, London, United Kingdom; Université de Yaoundé II, Yaoundé, Cameroon; The Economic and Social Research Foundation, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The 12 Pilot Countries are: in West Africa: Senegal and Nigeria; in East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania; in Central Africa: Cameroon and DRC; Southern Africa: Lesotho and Angola; Caribbean: Haiti and Trinidad&Tobago; Pacific: Timor-Leste and Papua-New-Guinea.

PRESS RELEASE: 02/08/2010 – For immediate release

The ACP Observatory on Migration: improving migration research in ACP countries for better policy making
The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States Observatory on Migration is a new institution created to provide reliable data and information on migration flows in ACP countries. The objective is to design better policies to enhance the migration contribution to development. The Observatory will be officially launched in a ceremony foreseen for 25-27 October 2010 which will gather relevant figures from the political, economic and cultural fields both in the EU and the ACP countries.

The European Commission and the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States have partnered in the establishment of an intra-ACP Migration Facility aimed at fostering institutional capacity in the ACP countries and strengthen the civil society with the ultimate aim to include migration issues into national and regional development policies and strategies.
Available data on ACP migration is scarce and often unreliable. In many countries, the lack of relevant information has serious political consequences, since migrants’ need cannot be taken into account by policy makers. Migration is widely considered to present one of the factors influencing development but in many cases it has not been included in development strategies because of the lack of reliable data. According to Laurent de Boeck, Director of the ACP Observatory on Migration, “unlike South-North movements, South-South migration flows have received very limited attention in the past years.

Yet contrary to public perceptions, South-South migration is highly important in many regions and often takes place between neighbouring countries and those with small wage differentials. Drive factors include labour migration, family reunification, forced migration, traditional cross border flows and the effects of climate change”.
The ACP Observatory on Migration will tackle existing data and information gaps by improving policy-oriented knowledge on migration flows between ACP countries. Under the Secretariat of ACP States and funded by the EDF and Switzerland, the Observatory will introduce an innovative approach to enhance research capacities in ACP countries and provide policy makers the tools to improve their action. Information will be provided to general public to improve knowledge on migration issues. Research will focus on the protection of migrants’ rights through several research topics including forced migration, labour migration, migration and health, remittances and migration and climate change. The Observatory will foster networking and cooperation between research institutions, private researchers and government agencies through a website and will conduct research to obtain currently inexistent information. The total budget for the project is 9 404 776 €. The European Union contributes with 7 994 060 €.

An official ceremony will be organized in Brussels on 25-27 October 2010 to launch the Observatory. High representatives from EU and ACP institutions will be present to support the initiative, which strengthens the cooperation between European and ACP countries on migration and development. The launching ceremony will include working session and an artistic event foreseen for the 26th October 2010 where cultural and artistic creations from the ACP countries will be presented to the public.
END

Contact:mrfbrusselsacp@iom.int

An ACP Initiative, Empowered by IOM, Funded by the European Union (European contribution: 7 994 060 €) and with the financial support of Switzerland.

IPI Interim Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. Photo: IPI

The International Press Institute (IPI) Executive Board announced on Monday that it was appointing IPI Deputy Director Alison Bethel McKenzie as Interim Director following the decision by Director David Dadge to pursue new opportunities after overseeing two successful IPI World Congresses and strong development of the organisation’s press freedom activities.

Chairman of the IPI Board Janne Virkkunen said: “David has done an excellent job during his relatively short term as the Director of IPI, under the difficult circumstances created among other things by the global financial crisis. I have known David for many years and I know that he has been and will always be a true fighter for press freedom and freedom of expression. David is now, of his own will, stepping down from his post as the Director of IPI and it is time to thank him for his tremendous efforts to fulfil our mission as an important global press freedom organisation. On behalf of the IPI I wish David good luck in the future, whatever his coming challenges will be. Our new Interim Director, Alison Bethel McKenzie, starts her job only a month and a half before our next World Congress and 60th year anniversary celebrations, to be held in Vienna and Bratislava in September. I know that Alison will do an excellent job in leading the IPI secretariat and preparations for the next congress.”

Ms. Bethel McKenzie, who joined IPI in 2009, has over 25 years of experience in journalism, as a reporter, bureau chief, editor and media trainer. From 1995-2000 she was senior assistant city editor at The Boston Globe, supervising a reporting staff that covered City Hall, urban affairs and transportation. In 2000, she joined The Detroit News as features editor, and then became the paper’s Washington, D.C. bureau chief from 2001 to 2006, overseeing coverage of the White House. She joined the Legal Times in Washington, D.C. in 2006 as executive editor, moving on in 2007 to the Nassau Guardian, in the Bahamas, as managing editor.

Before joining IPI, she spent a year in Accra, Ghana, for the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Journalists, as a Knight International Journalism Fellow, helping Ghanaian journalists improve their reporting skills in the run-up to the country’s 2008 presidential election.

Web: www.freemedia.at

IPI World Congress
Vienna & Bratislava
11 – 14 September 2010
www.ipiworldcongress.com

Hundreds of Afrikan people are expected to join in the celebrations on Saturday 21st August 2010 to mark the life and achievements of one of Afrika’s most celebrated sons and the 1st national hero of Jamaica. Billed as the Marcus Garvey Afrikan Family Day, this year’s theme is focuses on the plight of our children through recent experiences in Haiti, deaths in custody and gun and knife attacks.

The event will be held at Max Roach Park, Brixton, 319-335 Brixton Road, London SW9 7ND. It will feature a programme of activities for children and youth including Afrikan drumming. A plethora of progressive cultural artists will be performing. Speakers on the day include veteran community activist and leading scholar on the life and times of Marcus Garvey: Cecil Gutzmore of the University of the West Indies; youth speakers will share their perspective on the relevance of Garvey’s ideas and how they relate to young people in Britain today.

A broad range of grass roots Afrikan community organisations will also be giving messages of solidarity including representatives from the ‘Free Mumia Abu Jamal Campaign’. The day will also feature a 7 mile walk from the former home of Amy Ashwood Garvey in West London to the main event in Brixton, an Afrikan market and cultural Afrikan and Caribbean food. Entry is free and the event is open to all.

The Chair of this year’s organising committee, Minkah Adofo. said:
“Last year’s event was a tremendous success and we are expecting a spectacular commemoration this year. We are calling on young people and adults alike to come along and bring their friends. We want everybody to enjoy themselves whilst reflecting on the unity in the community that Marcus Garvey represented so well. Attending this celebration may be your first fun filled step to organising yourself and your community towards finding solutions to our problems and building a better future for all of us.”

For further information contact: Afryea on 07940 005 907 or omowalerpt@yahoo.co.uk

Editor’s Notes:
1. The Marcus Garvey Afrikan Family Day 2010: London will be held on Saturday, 21st August 12noon – 7pm, at:
Max Roach Park, Brixton Road, London SW9 7ND
Entry is free and all ages are welcome (a youth programme will be available).

2. As part of the build up to the main event, there will be a series of pre-Garvey family day workshops where his ideas will be shared and discussed. These will take place at:
Starlight Music Academy, 44-46 Offley Road, London SW9 0LS, at:
6.30pm on Friday 6th, 13th & 20th August 2010

The KARS Women’s Empowerment Tour is going to 26 cities across the country and will be giving away $5,000 Empowerment Grants to women who want to start or expand their small business, nonprofit or community organization.

Through sessions of The Tour, participants learn the ins and outs of creating effective proposals along with strategies for acquiring volunteers, donations, sponsors, fundraising and developing support for their organization–or how to start an organization. An inaugural Chapter of our support group–The KARS Groupies–is formed to provide on-going follow-up and resources in each Tour community.

Limited to 60 women per day in each city. Registration is open now at http://www.karsconsultinggroup.com.

The Black Women’s Intellectual and Cultural History Collective (BWICH) is seeking paper submissions for a broad-ranging conference on black women’s contributions to black thought, political mobilization, creative work and gender theory. We are interested in work on any time period that explores black women as intellectuals across a broad geography including Africa, the Caribbean, North and South America, and Europe. BWICH aims to piece together a history of black women’s thought and culture that maps the distinctive concerns and historical forces that have shaped black women’s ideas and intellectual activities. To this end, we are interested in paper exploring subjects including, but not limited to, the genealogy of black feminism, the patterns of women’s leadership and ideas about religious culture and politics, the scientific work of black women, the economic ideas of black women, the politics of black women’s literature, and the history of black women’s racial, sexual or social thought. We encourage submissions from scholars of all ranks, and any relevant discipline.

Accepted papers will be featured at a conference on the Intellectual History of Black Women in New York City on April 28-30. The conference is sponsored by Columbia University’s Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference, which will also cover the participants’ travel and lodging expenses. Submissions are due no later than October 15th, 2010, and should include a one-page abstract of the projected paper, as well as short C.V. Paper proposals and C.V.s should be submitted by email to: bwhichconference@gmail.com.

About BWHICH
BWICH is an interdisciplinary, collaborative effort dedicated to recovering the history of black women as active intellectual subjects. We aim to encourage scholarship on black women’s intellectual activities among a diverse and enduring community of senior and junior scholars, whose intellectual exchanges will cross generations and foster a scholarly tradition that outlives this particular project.

PROJECT DIRECTORS

Mia Bay, Rutgers University
Farah Jasmine Griffin, Columbia University
Martha S. Jones, University of Michigan
Barbara D. Savage, University of Pennsylvania

Read about Sia Karoma’s background, WISH and FLAXIS initiatives, speeches, and
news of her work and travels.

Read the latest news on her work and travels, as well as her background and ambitions.

View videos of her on YouTube, read her speeches and about the work she is doing on the White House website, and read about her from a wide selection of books and magazine listed below. You can also find your own keepsake to have, including musical tributes and more.

Heads of State and First Ladies!

Here we will highlight the black women around the world who are who are leading their countries as Heads of State, and who are serving their countries in the role of First Lady.

You are encouraged to add the names of the ladies you know who fit these categories via a comment here to make sure that we include all of these extraordinary ladies who once lived seemingly ordinary lives.

4th International Congress of Black Women
11-13 November 2010
Lusaka, Republic of Zambia

Under the High patronage of the First Lady of the Republic of Zambia, Mrs. Thandiwe Banda

The International Congress of Black Women is the First International Congress intended to promote and develop black women entrepreneurship worldwide. Our mission is to collect black talented women who participate actively in the emergence of a new Africa. What constitutes progress? Where are we headed? At a time of major world changes, what forms of progress do black women most need and want? What are our hopes for our future? How to build a real community of black business women worldwide?

Get the following information:

Why attend?
The Program
Logistics and additional activities

FIVE YEARS AGO…

…I traded in my corner office for a room with a view. 

In 2005 I left my job as Head of Human Resources Development in a major ad agency to establish my own training and coaching company – Creating Tomorrow: The Leadership Consultancy.

“Creating Tomorrow” – the name itself reflects the enormous Leap of Faith this step represents in my life!

As you can imagine, the road has often been rocky – filled with its fair share of both joy and frustration. To commemorate the challenges I’ve faced on my journey thus far, today – 1 June 2010 – I am launching a project that is very near and dear to my heart: Uncaged Birds™.

 Why “Uncaged Birds”?

Inspired by Maya Angelou’s seminal autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Uncaged Birds™ honors the realization that simply opening the door to our proverbial cage isn’t enough. Each of us must make the decision to step through the door take flight. This confidence- and skill-building program is designed to reflect the specific needs, heritage and history of women of African descent living in Europe. It is also a vehicle to foster intensified dialogue between women of African descent in the Americas and in other parts of the world; esp. Europe. 

“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

Maya Angelou

With Uncaged Birds™ I provide support for women of African descent as they more effectively tap into their innate individual and cultural strength, and utilize that strength as a powerful springboard to personal and professional success – in a safe, stress-free environment that respects our heritage and history.

Let’s be our own rôle models!

Uncaged Birds™ addresses the specific needs of women of African descent committed to succeeding both personally and professionally, despite the added challenge of living and doing business in cultures that are still not used to seeing people of color in a positive, non-stereotypical light. After having lived and worked for more than 30 years in Europe, I designed the program I would have personally wanted and needed for support and motivation as a young expat and woman of color making her way in Europe.

“Nothing will work unless you do.”

Maya Angelou

The launch portfolio will expand throughout the year offering a variety of individual and group coaching, training and communications platforms.

Let’s Get Started! 

Are you a woman of African descent living in Europe? If so: be a part of TableTalk: The Virtual Round Table!

This Year’s TableTalk  will be a 3-part series of 90-minute interviews taking place in July!

“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.”

Maya Angelou

15 July 2010

The Expat Talks or “What’s a nice (Black) American girl like you doing in a place like this?” – A group of five Black American expats share stories and experiences about living and working in Europe, and tell how leaving America has affected the way they see their country – and themselves.

22 July 2010

Europe in Black, Brown and Beige or “No, where do you really come from?” Five Afro-European women come together to discuss issues of national and cultural identity, and compare and contrast how those issues are viewed differently from country to country.

29 July 2010

What We (All) Know or “The free bird thinks of another breeze.” A mixed group of African-American expats and Afro-European women come together to combine their insights about living, loving and working in Europe.

I will act as moderator/facilitator for this series, motivated by my own personal expat experience after living in Germany for more than 30 years. 

What’s Left?

Visit the site and let me know what you think!

• What do you think of the launch portfolio?
• Are you interested in being a part of TableTalk?
• What do you think would be a relevant topic for the upcoming CoachingHives™?

 Uncaged Birds™…

…was created to support you when and as you need it, so you can more confidently wing towards – then embrace – your own brand of personal and professional freedom!

(Joyce van Genderen-Naar)

The EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) is a trade arrangement through which the EU provides preferential access to the EU market to 176 developing countries and territories, in the form of reduced tariffs for their goods when entering the EU market. The GSP scheme is an important element in the EU’s active support for the sustainable development of developing countries.

The present GSP Regulation expires on 31 December 2011. The purpose of the present consultation exercise is to seek comments from interested parties as inputs to the Commission’s work to prepare a future proposal to the Council and Parliament on a successor Regulation. The consultation is aimed at all parties with an interest in the EU GSP scheme, including stakeholders within the EU and in third countries, including beneficiaries.

The report on the Consultation which will be published by the Commission on the Trade website.

View the consultation document

The Commission also organizes specific meetings with interested parties, such as the DG Trade Civil Society Meeting organised on 26 May 2010 in Brussels to discuss the Public consultation on the next GSP regulation with the participants. EU importers need a simple, stable and predictable GSP regulation, was the message of EuroCommerce (the EU retail, wholesail and international trade representation to the EU). In its position paper EuroCommerce says that the companies attracted by the GSP are importers and retailers in the EU, who operate in a highly competitive business environment and will base their planning on the GSP only if the system meets their specific expectations, i.e. simple rules, one year predictability, legal certainty, significant product coverage, a GSP Plus that acts as a true incentive, proper & early stakeholder consultation, preferential rules of origin that work in practice. See: Click Here

ACP exporters who export their products to the EU market under the GSP and EBA stress that the complexity of the Rules of origin, non trade barriers, non tariff barriers and high EU standards make it difficult to enter the EU Market and are the main problem that preferential trade arrangements did not work and will not work. The Rules of Origin should be made more user friendly and adapt to the needs of the ACP countries.

However the Rules of origin are not addressed by the GSP Public Consultation, because there was already a Public Consultation on the Rules of Origin in 2006 and the reform is on its way according to the EC DG Trade.

What ACP (Africa, Carribean, Pacific) countries really need is the processing and distribution of their commodities and raw materials, product diversification, marketing, efficient distribution networks, transport and infrastructure.

Another concern is the artificial line between LDCs and non-LDCs. The suggestion is to add some of the LDCs to the EBA list and to apply it to custom unions in Africa. There should be one scheme (not GSP, GSP+ and EBA) with graduations according to the economic situation of the countries or objective development criteria such as the GDP per capita should be applied. In case of import share as criterion it should be a high percentage for all products.

CARIS (Centre for the Analysis of Regional Integration, University of Sussex) presented its Mid Term Evaluation of the EU’s GSP, a report commissioned and financed by the European Commission. In the executive Summary CARIS says in point 15. that ‘there is little evidence that the EU’s preference regimes have led to a diversification of exports into new products’. Furthermore in point 26. ‘While there are some significant trade and output effects for a sub-set of agricultural commodities and regions (notably fruits and vegetables in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Argentina, sugar products in the Caribbean, North Africa and Sub-Sahara African EBA beneficiaries, oils and fats in North Africa), the substantial expansionary impacts of the EU GSP occur in the textile, apparel and leather goods industries within Southern and Eastern Europe, North Africa, Cambodia and Pakistan.’

‘ Among the EBA regions in the model, Cambodia and Bangladesh benefit most from the EU scheme, while the EBA Sub-Saharan Africa composite region gains very little overall. ‘ (point 25).

‘The bilateral gravity modeling exercise identified some evidence that preferences arising from the EU’s free trade arrangements as well as those applied to the Cotonou countries had a positive impact on trade with the EU, rather than EBA, GSP, or GSP+ arrangements, ‘ according to CARIS in point 23 of the Executive Summary.

Joyce van Genderen-Naar
Brussels
vangenderen@unicall.be

I’m so proud to announce the appointment of my friend Sandra Rafaela as H.M Senior Commissioner EU / Africa at the African Kingdoms Federation.

This is an unique opportunity to discover talented women in Europe who masters her destiny and affirm herself as a leader of the African diaspora living in Europe. She kindly accepted to give us an outlook of her vision of black women empowerment.

Sandrine Joseph (SJ) : You are a European Black Woman Leader, co-founder of Women of the African Diaspora – WAD. Could you tell us more about how you have created it? What were the best moments you live by meeting other Black Women.

Sandra Rafaela (SR): End 2005 I discovered that there were almost no websites for black women created by black European women. And if there were any, than it was only for professionals and was only for business. This made me create a website and network (AESN) with information by and for black women. In 2007 I met Adrianne George (Sweden), who had/ has a very successful blog “Black Women in Europe”, and asked if she wanted to work together with me. She agreed and together we created the Women of the African Diaspora website and social network which was launched in 2008. Important was and still is the visibility of black women on the internet. The website features black female authors/ business owners/ artists/ musicians and provides news about or for black women. The different social networks are a platform for black women to network.

SJ : What are the best moments by meeting other Black Women.
SR : Best moment was to be able to co-organize an International Black Women Conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. This conference was about black business women and about women living in Europe and their experiences. There were also black female business owners who could showcase their business during this conference.

SJ : You have been appointed as H.M. Senior Commissioner EU/ Africa on Women Development and Empowerment within the African Kingdoms Federation? I’ve never heard about this organization. Could you tell us more about it? What are your plan for the 2 next years?
SR : The African Kingdoms Federation (AKF) is a union, consisting of all of Africa’s states ancient Royal Kingdoms referred to as the Traditional Kingdoms and Traditional Rulers, forming a Royal Monarchical Federation. The union form by the Sheba Kingdoms ancestors at its earliest period hundreds years ago, was referred to as the Maa-Confederation, later in the period of its colonial history, with its nations broken and in torment, it was referred to within inner Africa, as the Mother Nation, later referred to as Mother Africa by the slaves taken from the Kingdoms out of Africa, and in particular their African-Americans and African-Caribbean descendants of the Diaspora in the later generations as Mother Africa and the Motherland.

The Federation addresses its responsibilities to the Kingdoms and Tribal Nations, through the Federation over 25 years ago initiated Trans-African Nations Rural and Urban Regions Development Agenda Program Protocols activated by the Matriarchal Decree of March 10th 2006, is under the responsibility of the Federation Imperial House Foundations NGOs; Imperial House Foundations in Africa and the USA, and Imperial House – CI Africa.

The Federation has one purpose, one goal, which is working directly with the Kingdoms and Tribal Nations and as well in collaboration with the Trans-African Nations; African Union and ECOWAS Governments as a unified People towards the Development and Empowerment of the African Continent Nations for the Social and Economical empowerment of the African Tribes, African Nations and African Governments. Initiated after the Federation and Matriarchs over 25 years of preparation within the Kingdoms and sealed through the Federation Matriarchal March 10th 2006 Decree.

As being H.M. Senior Commissioner EU/ Africa on Women Development and Empowerment within the African Kingdoms Federation I want to improve the visibility of black women Worldwide and work and work toward an union between all women.

This through strategic Development of the Internal Infra-structure, of these said Nations, Countries and Continent; of the referenced termed 3rd World Nations.

SJ : What are your plans for the 2 next years?
SR : The coming two year I plan to create more visibility for black women globally but also create a bridge to women in general.

SJ : If you wanted to share you knowledge on Black Women, what could be the best source of information you would provide, and why?
SR: There are different sources on the internet where information about Black Women can be found: Afro European Sisters Network Blog/ Black Female Authors Blog/ Women of the African Diaspora website/ Black Women Unite Social Network/ Black Women in Europe Blog/ Black History Heroes Blog. All pages can also be found on Facebook.

SJ :Regarding Black History, do you think that Black Women have the right place in our memories?
SR: In Europe black women are not really visible. As long we cant mention 10 Black European women who were part of the European history, we still got a lot of work to do. Cause I’ am convinced that they are out there, but that we never heard of them.

Her web presence :
www.womenoftheafricandiaspora.com
www.afroeuropeansistersnetwork.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/aesn
www.blackwomenunite.ning.com
www.facebook.com/sandra.rafaela

28-year-old Zimbabwean Vimbayi Kajese first came to China for a visit in 2004, then moved to Beijing in 2006. She now works as the early morning news presenter at CCTV-9, the English Channel of China Central Television.

Read the full story.

By Joyce van Genderen-Naar

The ACP and EU views expressed April 29, 2010 at the International EPA Seminar in Brussels, “EPAs in (times of) crisis” (state of play of the EPA negotiations and implementation and the EPAs in the light of the global crises), made very clear that :

1. 8 years of EPA negotiations (2002-2010) were a disaster.

2. there is a ‘fatigue’ in ACP countries and in EU Members States: the majority is tired of or not interested in EPAs.

3. main reason of the failure is that the European Commission has never listened and never taken serious the concerns and needs of ACP countries and has forced the ACP countries and their governments to conclude the EPAs.

4. ACP representatives spoke about unethical and unrespectful negotiations practices of EU representatives in their countries, putting pressure on ACP exporters to influence their governments to conclude the EPAs.

5. the impact of the global crises (food, financial, economic, climat change) on ACP countries makes it necessary and urgent to rethink the EPAs, and in case of the Caribbean to review and not to ratify the CF-EC-EPA.

7. Calls were made to suspend or block the EPA negotiations.

8. The way forward and other issues were discussed at the International EPA Seminar in Brussels.

9. The presentations will be made available at www.epawatch.eu

What I noticed is that ACP state actors (representatives of Governments and embassies) and non state actors (NGOs, civil society) are together opposing the inflexibility, deadlines etc. of these negotiations. Before only NGOs were against EPAs, now ACP state and non state are in this together, trying to safeguard their economies and future.

The regional EPA negotiations were dividing ACP: Africa (4 regions), Caribbean and Pacific. But what brings them together is the need to defend their common interests: poverty eradication, sustainable development and globalisation, which are not guaranteed by the EPA and the negotiations with the EC. Due to the inflexible EPA negotiations the EC is alienating the ACP countries. ACP countries need their experts not only for EPA negotiations with the EC but also for economic cooperation with Asia and America. That was also an important message of the ACP representatives at the International EPA Seminar in Brussels.

Civil organisations contributing to the organisation of the seminar were: ActionAid, African Trade Network, APRODEV, Africa Groups Sweden, Caribbean Policy Development Centre, ENDA, Forum Syd, ICCO, Oxfam International, Pacific Network on Globalisation, Partnership for Change, SOS Faim, Third World Network Africa, Transnational Institute, Traidcraft, and 11.11.11.(Marc Maes).

The Key note address was made by Martin Khor, Director South Centre: EPAs in times of crises

Civil society perspectives on the state of the play by:

* Maureen Penjueli (Pacific Network on Globalisation): Pacific perspectives
* Cheikh Tidiane Dieye (ENDA) : African perspectives
* Shantal Munro (Caribbean Policy Development Centre) : Caribbean perspectives

The global Food crisis and EPAs :

* Jean-Jacques Grodent (SOS Faim) : The global food crisis and the right to food.
* NN, Réseau des organisations paysannes et de producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (ROPPA): Food crisis, EPAs and

African small holders

* Karin Ulmer (APRODEV) : Can better Safeguards help?

Rethinking EPAs:

* Emily Jones (Oxford University): Updating the EPAs in light of the crises
* Sanya Reid-Smith (Third World Network): Services, investments and trade-related issues
* Viviana Munoz (South Centre): Intellectual property rights

Why is there still only one “full” EPA (and should there be more)?

* Debate among representatives of Civil Society, the EU Commission and the ACP

www.epawatch.eu

“Yvette Ala Grecque” bonus tracks some of your favorite hot cover songs!

Buy Mp3s @:
www.moikorecords

Time: April 24, 2010 from 5pm to 8pm
Location: “Moiko Records Music Showcase” – Blog Talk Radio
Organized By: Crystal Cartier – Word Man – Moiko

Event Description:

This Saturday evening (17:00 EST), we will be interviewing Moiko Recording Artist, “Yvette Jarvis” and debuting her album, “Yvette … a La Grecque”!

Besides her “Greek” album debut, we will also be playing several of her “HOT” cover songs and discussing various international issues.

See more details and RSVP on MOIKO RECORDS!

http://moikonetwork.ning.com/events/event/show?id=984361%3AEvent%3A132513&xgi=39bwb5IYtEEVLi&xg_source=msg_invite_event

Last week on South Africa’s ETV an unexpected national moment occurred, a phrase was coined and a YouTube global discourse erupted. A discussion between myself and Andrie Visagie of the AWB (Afrikaner Resistance Movement) brought into sharp focus a whole host of tensions, contradictions and implications of what it means to be a South African in 2010 from two very divergent perspectives.

The last few days have been an opportunity of reflection and stillness through the tumult.

I am deeply moved by countless messages of support, strength and courage from across the country and beyond. I stand in gratitude to the many people who are lifting up prayers and sending love. As I traversed the digital highway a number of nuances lit my consciousness. The thirty-minute programme comes at a moment when race relations seem to have been exposed in all their fragility. As one of the gracious messages conveyed, ‘I am forever changed by what I witnessed’.

It is very difficult to express the moment when Andrie Visagie charged towards me in the studio and then pointed at me saying ‘I am not through with you’. It happened fast and quickly entered the popular lexicon of talked about events. This has not afforded me much space to revisit the moment. However watching it again has been alarming, offensive and contemptuous in the extreme. Having seen Mr Visagie’s response to the question about whether he cares about farm workers in this country, one wonders at the sort of intimidation they are subjected to in remote parts of this country by people like him. The interviewer rightly stepped between us and responses to this intervention form part of my concern. Having read a sampling of the copious commentaries and blogs that sprung up like mushrooms – most of which express concern and indignation at what I experienced – there are some disturbing tendencies being circulated.

I am amused by some of the comments that note that my well-manicured nails show no evidence of suffering. Other bloggers remarked that if I were their wife, they too would have been angry since I talked until Visagie was backed into a corner of impotent rage. Another said that the manicured nails of this independent, opinionated woman in Visagie’s face were nearly enough to provoke a beating. It seems that in some people’s minds the brutal verbal onslaught upon an African woman by a thickset white man was not only acceptable but somehow deserved. These men effectively stood back and allowed their sister to be assaulted by white supremacy while they watched in amusement and even sympathy with the very supremacy which has also brutalised them.

This suggests a psychosis of self-hate, coupled with centuries of a mental onslaught which now accepts very bizarre, perverse and brutal behaviour as normative. As Fanon articulates, ‘the development of violence among colonised people will be disproportionate to the violence exercised by the threatened colonial regime … violence is in action all-inclusive and national’. None of us have been spared the repeated citations that natives are untrustworthy, lazy and blood-thirsty. Accusations that black people want handouts, free houses and jobs they do not deserve at the expense of white people are the latest incarnation in what is effectively part of the same narrative. The narrative suggests that Africans do not deserve anything beyond the discretion of white largesse and that those who dare for more self determined lives are ‘cheeky kaffirs’ who pose a threat to the long-standing status quo.

The blogs by some of the white Visagie sympathisers do not bear repetition but remind us that our national identity is fractured and contested. They help us recall that the phenomenon called liberation is far removed from the miraculous melding of rainbow diversity. Several of these bloggers have been given the entry point to enunciate the sort of rage that Visagie usefully brought into the national domain. We are presented with an interesting collision of race, gender and class prejudices. Of the many calls I have received in recent days, none have been from the Human Rights Commission, the Commission of Gender Equality or the Equality Court. I am not aware of anything that these institutions have said in the media that they may not have had the opportunity to communicate to me.

Perhaps they are also grappling with how to reach out to an African woman who inadvertently found herself in the midst of combustible race and gender hostility on live television. It is admittedly complex to examine the gender, race and class intersections then frame an appropriate or adequate response. Even my multiracial church has not managed to frame a concerted response to what many saw on TV screens. It is profoundly uncomfortable. Where the blood of Jesus should be the lowest common denominator, Kingdom citizenship seems to be obscured by very earthly but pervasive discomforts about race, racism and the ugliest facets of discrimination.

One wonders what the response would have been if an African leader perhaps a Vavi, a Mantashe or Julius had castigated and threatened a white woman panellist in the same manner. I have no doubt that the furore would have gone beyond YouTube amusement and entered the realms of the criminal justice system. One can already imagine the likes of Afri-forum demanding an apology, submitting a complaint to the BCCSA and beating a determined track towards the Equality Court before the weekend was up.

At the time of writing the programme has been removed from broadcast because of complaints from viewers who assert that it has created race tension. I am of the opinion that it has merely reminded us of long standing division thus presents an excellent opportunity to have overdue conversations about things we rarely speak of outside confined spaces.

If this incident had occurred to the sister, mother, daughter, wife or neighbour of any right minded man of any race in this country I would like to believe that the blogs which are absorbed by my glossy finger nails would contain far more thoughtful reflection and appropriate outrage. Questions about what was allegedly said to provoke Visagie’s outburst have much in common with the rape survivor being asked what she was wearing at the time of the crime. It is the same rationale that which men use to terrorise their partners within the confines of the home because of spurious infractions. It is also the same rationale that asks women whose toddlers have been raped why they left their diaper-clad children in the care of others.

As a young woman in the 1990s I was concerned that the popular call to arms ‘wa thinta bafazi wa thinta mbokodo’ would eventually narrow the space for women to express pain. It denies us the right to articulate deep hurt, whether physical, emotional or spiritual, and does not permit African women the inherent right to experience the necessity of vulnerability. It presumes that we are rocks to be raped, assaulted, abused, humiliated by employers, traumatised in the home, objectified in popular culture and held ransom to the grossest abuses in the name of culture – all to be borne with stoic dignity. The alibis under banners like ‘so strong, black woman, survivor, resourceful’ absolve us all from taking corrective action. It is a perverse logic, which must be questioned and challenged.

We have become so accustomed to centuries of being dehumanised, humiliated and subjected to the most violent assault on our personhood as Africans and women that incidents such as this elicit little more than passing outrage. The assault on our personhood extends to the man who was fed to lions, the person who was shot because a farmer thought they were a baboon, the workers dragged by bakkies, the women who were fed urine-laced food at the University of the Free State and whose humiliation was compounded by the inexplicable invitation that these young men return to complete their studies. Some of these would almost seem like urban legends if they were not such atrocious and absolutely indescribable acts of racially charged aggression and hatred.

Reconciliation sixteen years on has not at all resolved the structural deficits nor begun to address economic sovereignty. I beg to differ with the hypothesis that white minority rule is gone and that it is gone forever. It is pervasive in economic power, corporate capital and visible in the GINI coefficient. South Africa’s is the highest in the world along with Brazil, higher than India and China. Allocation of resources and opportunity is still skewed along racial lines. The fault lines are evidenced by the still appalling living conditions of most Africans in this country, and the implicit acceptance of this situation. It is the same deficit of values and appreciation of our personhood that allows this to continue almost unchallenged by the new government. They are in effect gate, keeping and perpetuating the years of social apartheid. Having decreed that we stop talking and forgive without any restorative processes, we are ransomed by silent dismay. By our silence we are mocked and in our darkness we are further tormented.

‘We want to be free. We are not interested in being a part of this failure of South Africa,’ says Andrie Visagie. And yet statistics show the contrary to be true. They show in fact the African majority has yet to receive the benefits of citizenship sixteen years into the new dispensation, and that in fact Mr Visagie and the majority of white citizens have not experienced any recession of their privileges. They are still the winners.

Several people have asked me if Mr Visagie apologised to me once emotions had subsided, even as a public relations exercise. It occurred to me then that the extent sense of censure was a mooted statement issued by the AWB, which received little media attention. It iterated the constitution’s principles of freedom of expression, adding that the secretary general’s behaviour on ETV contradicted this. No mention was made about the verbal onslaught and the pending publicly-made threat that Mr Visagie made to me. Nor was he asked to explain his remarks. I am owed at least an apology and that apology is also owed to the millions of people in this country who have been subjected to the brutality, dehumanisation, legislated discrimination and systematic removal of land, resources and collective attack on our self-esteem. It has been an attempt to totally annihilate Africans’ sense of being and entitlement to self-determined lives in their own country.

Beyond that sense of shame, a sincere recognition of Africans’ humanity would act as a useful platform to acknowledge centuries of white privilege, begin the corrective actions that the government has, in sixteen years, done with little or uneven effect.
No one begrudges the nation some much-needed comic relief during these recessed times. It should however not negate a moment to examine the implications of this action and our attendant inaction. This liberation of ours is hotly contested, differentially experienced and highly compromised; the majority are yet to fully move into an encompassing expression of this citizenship and liberation at all levels and spheres of life.

People like Andre Visagie are merely emblems of deeply rooted resentment, unresolved battles and fraught and fractured national identities. And the matter of white entitlement has never been more clearly elucidated. Centuries of unmerited gain and head starts do not seem to form part of their reflection.

Perhaps this is the beginning a process of reconfiguring an authentic sense of our nation. Claudia Von Werlhof expresses it thus: ‘One cannot be with the people who are below, without telling the dominant people very clearly, that they have to come down … The mighty have to get down from their throne, and the powerless have to raise themselves’. Who then will help the powerless to raise themselves and who will climb down from the throne of social and economic privilege?

Liepollo Lebohang Pheko is policy and advocacy director of The Trade Collective and director responsible for social accounting, institutional transformation, social and development policy, Four Rivers.

The Declaration on Bananas the ACP-EU Joint Assembly adopted on 1 April 2010 in Tenerife last week, is the result of an unique solidarity between the EU outermost and ACP banana producing and exporting countries, among which the Caribbean.

In the joint declaration both EU Outermost regions and ACP countries critizised the EU policy and the EC agreement with the Latin Americans, closed by the EC at the expense of EU Outermost regions and ACP countries. The banana producers from Tenerife/Las Canarias, Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific expressed their common concerns. Tenerife and Las Canarias being part of Spain, said how disappointed they are in Spain were the agreement with the Latin Americans will be signed in May 2010.

They called upon the EU to stop this, or else the economies of the Canarias, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Caribbean, Africa and Pacific banana producing and exporting countries will be destroyed. No one understands why the EU is doing this. The Caribbean representatives said that not only bananas, but also rum and sugar, and everything else that is functioning well in the Caribbean is in danger because of EU measures.

As said in the Declaration:
“The European Parliament seriously considers the impact of the issues raised in this declaration before giving its consent to the bananas agreement.”

The role of the European Parliament is strengthened by the Lisbon Treaty, which means that the role of civil society (CS) is strengthened too. The Eur. Parl. consults the CS before agreeing on Trade Agreements and EU policy with regard to trade relations, economic and other commercial EU interests. Which means that representatives of interest groups and organizations have to discuss their interests and concerns with the Members of European Parliament if they want them to support their case. So we have to lobby more in Brussels. That is what the Latin Americans have been doing and their strong voices are heard.

The EC defends its policy by saying that the Latin American countries are so poor, more than the Caribbean, and that they depend on the banana export. A very weak argument, because the profits of the multinationals, Chiquita etc., are not for the benefit of the poor people of Latin America who are exploited by these multinationals, that are not respecting labour standards. In a EC meeting on 16 March 2010 in Brussels the International Trade Unions asked the EC not to close Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, because it is the most dangerous place in the world for trade unionists: over 60% of all trade unionists killed in the world are Colombian, 128 Colombian Trade Unionists were assassinated between 2007-2009. That should also be brought forward with regard to the banana agreement between the EC and Colombia.

So what we could and should do is defend our countries’ and populations’ interest through debates in parliaments (national and on EU-ACP level), with members of Parliaments (national and EU-ACP), in the media, newspapers, at Universities, etc. We have to lobby more.

DECLARATION on the EU-Latin America Bananas Agreement and its impact on ACP and EU banana producers(ES)

01.04.2010

The EU-Latin America bananas agreement and its impact on ACP and EU banana producers

The deal

A. In December 2009 the EU came to an agreement within the WTO with the US and Latin American producers to put an end to the long-running dispute on bananas.

B. The deal will mean significant tariff cuts (35% between 2010 and 2017 at the earliest) for non-ACP imports and, as a result, it will harm the
competitiveness of  ACP and EU producers.

C. Moreover, the EU is currently holding bilateral talks with certain Latin American countries, with a view to signing free-trade agreements, which may lead to significant further tariff reductions and considerably reduce any supposed benefits to ACP banana producers derived from EPAs.

D. Bananas are the world’s fourth biggest agricultural export. The EU market accounts for over a third of all imports.

E. Multinationals operating in Latin America control over 80% of the global market.

F. In 2008, 72% of the bananas sold in Europe were already from Latin America,whereas bananas from ACP countries and the EU only represented 17% and 10.5% respectively. Virtually all ACP banana exports go to the EU, while Latin American countries also export to North and South America and Russia.

G. Banana production has a major impact on local communities, not only in economic terms, but also as regards the environment, migration, gender and labour standards.

H. In some Latin American countries banana production by multinationals has been linked to a high level of human rights violations.

I. The agreement will enter into force if and when the European Parliament gives its consent and the Council authorises its conclusion.

The impact

J. The effects of the agreement, which is an attempt to match sustainable development objectives with WTO obligations, are already starting to be
felt.

K. ACP producers will be hit hard as they lose a significant part of their tariff protection. Some ACP countries, which depend heavily on banana exports, may see their export industries disappear altogether with dire social and economic consequences.

L. Without proper accompanying measures, European banana producing regions, some of which are among the poorest in the EU and already face high unemployment, will also pay a hefty socioeconomic price.

M. The multinationals will benefit enormously at the expense of EU/ACP small-scale farming communities.

N. ACP and European banana producing regions will need more financial support to maintain this key economic activity in order to compete with bananas from regions with very low levels of salaries, social conditions and  environmental rules.

O. The move towards ever-cheaper bananas is likely to lead to a race to the bottom in terms of labour standards, including child labour, environmental protection, corruption and tax evasion in the banana sector.

P. The European Commission has put together a support package for ACP producers (banana accompanying measures), worth ?190 million over four years, with an extra ?10 million depending on certain conditions. This support does not take into account further tariff cuts resulting from bilateral trade agreements with Latin American countries.

Q. The new concessions made to Colombia and Peru and already requested by Central American countries go much further than those included in the recent agreement and may destabilise other countries in the region, as well as the economies of other banana producers in ACP countries and in the EU.

R. No additional support is foreseen for EU producers, particularly from the outermost regions.

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, recalling that policy coherence for development is now enshrined in the Lisbon treaty, demands that:

1. The Commission conducts an economic, social and environmental impact assessment of the EU-Latin America bananas agreement for ACP and EU banana
producers, as provided for in Declaration XXIII of the Cotonou Agreement;

2. The Commission fairly considers increasing the financial package to help ACP and European producers adjust to the new regime and speeds up disbursement
of these funds;

3. The Commission considers specific additional financial and technical assistance to ACP countries to address social and environmental effects, supply-side constraints and promoting diversification beyond 2013;

4. The EU brings forward measures to help heavily banana-dependent states to diversify their economies, including more aid-for-trade, fulfilling EC and Member States’ aid-for-trade pledges of ?1 billion each (with 50% available for ACP countries);

5. The Commission provides support to offset losses incurred by EU producers,gradually puts in place measures to encourage sustainable banana production
in the EU and ensures the effective application of the banana safeguard clause in bilateral and multilateral trade agreements;

6. Any new tariff cuts under bilateral trade agreements with Latin American nations over and above the WTO agreement possibly give rise to adequate compensatory measures;

7. The Commission provides ACP and EU producers with genuine legal certainty on the future of the banana trade regime and that the EP and ACP national parliaments continue to monitor this issue closely;

8. EU and ACP authorities step up their efforts to ensure that all banana producing nations effectively apply all aspects of the ILO’s decent labour agenda;

9. The Commission raises awareness on ethical trading to discourage European retailers from importing bananas from producers with inadequate policies on
tax evasion, corruption, labour standards and human rights violations;

10. The European Parliament seriously considers the impact of the issues raised in this declaration before giving its consent to the bananas agreement.

www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/acp/60_19/default_en.htm

Tuesday 20 April 2010, Panel 5pm for 5.30pm start/ Reception 7.15pm-9pm
House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW

If Women Business Owners were their own country, they would be the 5th largest GDP in the world.* Most of their businesses are small and medium sized enterprises (SME) which find it difficult to access public sector contracts.

Part of the problem in the UK is the simplification of the procurement process following on from the Gershon Review of 2004/05. The big companies (Tier One) win the contracts and subcontract some of the work to smaller companies (Tier Two). But all too often, this leads to an unfair relationship and the smaller businesses effectively carry the risk – and debts – for the larger contractor. The burden can cause SMEs to go out of business altogether. What should the UK Government do about it?

WiPP in the US successfully lobbied their Government for legislative changes resulting in a better deal for SMEs. Now, at least 23% of Government procurement must go to SMEs and at least 5% must go to women owned businesses. Should the UK do the same?

Is there a private sector solution? For example, WEConnect is already connecting women owned companies with large corporations. They seek to create sustainable economic growth by increasing the opportunities for women-owned businesses to succeed in the global value chain.

And what about Directives and Laws from Europe? Should the discussion be taking place there rather than in Britain? The Genesis Initiative believes so and is working to achieve reform of all EU Government SME Procurement Law.

Chaired by:

Rt Hon Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
WiPP Co-chairman

Discussion Panel:

Jennifer Biscegli
WiPP (US) Board Director, President of InTEROS Solutions Inc

Joy Nichols MBE
CEO, GMB2 Group and Member of the Genesis Initiative

Nieves Childerley
Senior Procurement Manager, London Development Agency

Virginia Littlejohn
CEO of Quantum Leaps, and Chairman of TradeBuilders Inc

Elizabeth Vazquez
Executive Director WEConnect International, and President of TradeBuilders Inc

Sue Lawton
CEO, WEConnect Europe

Marie-Christine Oghly
President and European Commissioner FCEM (World Association of Women Entrepreneurs), & President of EnginSoft, France

Dagmar Steinmetz
Assistant Secretary General FCEM, and Managing Director DDS Consult GmbH, Germany

Register online at www.womeninpublicpolicy.org

(Nika C. Beamon)

It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention; that’s certainly true when it comes to women in this country redefining the structure the American workforce and institution of marriage to meet their changing lifestyles.

It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention; that’s certainly true when it comes to women in this country redefining the structure the American workforce and institution of marriage to meet their changing lifestyles. The advancements women have made in terms of education and income have forced numerous adjustments to be made, arguably assisting America, as a whole, to be more competitive in the global community.

According to in the Pew Research Center, single women with college degrees have higher incomes now then their counterparts in 1970 while the wages of unmarried men haven’t faired as well. Overall, the earnings of all women with a college education have skyrocketed by 44 percent between 1970 and 2007 whereas there’s been a mere 6 percent growth for men. Consequently, there are an increasing number of women in the workforce.

In fact, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly half of all those people employed, or 47.4 percent of those employed in December 2009 were women. As a result, women who are also mothers are requiring employers to make significant strides to change the workplace to meet their needs. These adjustments i.e. flex time, compressed workweeks, paid maternity leave, on-site child-care and nursing facilities; job sharing, nursing mother rooms, etc… benefit all of society.

Of course, financial independence all means women have more options in terms of when or if she wants to get married, thereby changing the picture this institution in America. According to the US Census Bureau, just 55% of males ages 18 and older and 50% of women are married. I look at the rise of singles in this county in my book I Didn’t Work This Hard Just to Get Married: Successful, Single Black Women Speak Out. What I found is that while most people want someone to share their life with being about to fulfill your own dreams as an individual has gives women the opportunity get married for the right reasons and therefore have a healthier, better functioning, long lasting union.

While some may see the adjustments in society by women as a downside, it’s clear that women view them as growth; a chance to make their mark on the world in a way that will ultimately make it better for the American family and for them as individuals. After all, it’s also said that there’s no growth without change and we can all agree that the US need to continue to progress.

I Didn’t Work This Hard Just to Get Married
ISBN: 978-1-55652-819-4
To read an excerpt: www.mcbeamon.com
Available @ Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com
To watch a video trailer: log on to Youtube.com

Single, Women, Dating, Relationships, Valentine, s Day, African American, Marriage

For more information:
Contact: Nika C. Beamon
P: 973-230-0923
E: Denali17@optonline.net

No Submission Fee If Postmarked by May 17, 2010

The festival accepts all categories, including, shorts, features, documentaries, experimental, music video,
digital media, online films and animation. All genres are accepted, except for explicit adult film/video.

Registration is available online or offline, but we are strongly encouraging online submissions.

You can find more information and get registration a application online at: www.ibwff2010.com

(*You can also register via Facebook Connect. Download areas require Registration.)

Click for More Information:
Submission Requirements
Registration Information
Frequently Asked Questions
Advertising/Sponsorship Opportunities: sponsorships [at] ibwff [dot] com

More Questions?
Please send an email to director [at] ibwff [dot] com

Today I saw an advertisement for the Pimp Lord game on our social network. Ning, the platform for our social network, reserves the right to run advertising on our social network because I do not pay the $19.95 a month premium fee to remove those ads. This Pimp ad comes from an advertising service for online games called Ad4Game. They say,

“Ad4Game is the Internet’s Game Ad Network. We are partnered with the key players in the gaming industry. The company is focused on gamers ONLY. We want to make sure our advertisers can reach a highly targeted gaming audience. Ads we place on our publishers’ websites are relevant and interesting to their visitors”.

Sandra Rafaela, the co-founder of the Women of the African Diaspora website and social network, and I say that this Pimp ad is NOT relevant and interesting to us and you, our website visitors. So we are taking a two pronged strategy against being held hostage by whatever ads the Ning network chooses to serve up. Does particular ad and others bother you as well?

1. If you find this ad, and other ads like “Meet sexy African women for dating” etc. out of place for the Women of the African Diaspora Social Network are you willing and able to contribute $1 to pay the premium service to remove these ads? The fee is $19.95 a month or $239.40 a year. To date we are exactly 600 members. $600 is enough to pay for 2 and a half years of Ning advertising removed. Our social network is strong and growing and will be here for us as long as we want it for years to come.

To contribute you dollar please click on the Chip In widget below or follow this link:

http://agcommunicationsgroup.chipin.com/removing-ads-from-wad

I made the first contribution:

And Sandra’s contribution was a close second:

2. I will contact Ning and provide a picture of the Pimp ads and explain that they are not serving us with advertising that matches out interests. Here is the contact information for Marc Andreesen, Co-Chair & Founder of Ning (pmarcablog@gmail.com) for your to do the same. For example you can say:

“I am a proud member of the Women of the African Diaspora Social Network on the Ning platform (http://blackwomenunite.ning.com) and I find certain advertising that you serve us, including the Pimp game ad from Ad4Game offensive. It not relevant nor is it interesting. I do not feel that these type of ads should appear on any network on the Ning platform that was set up for black women. How will you handle this error in judgement”? Signed (Your name), a disappointed Ning user.

Depending on how responsive Ning I would be willing to take this campaign to the public, starting with contacting all of my fellow moderators on Ning, at least those who are members of the moderator’s group Ning has set up.

The goal of the research is to suggest ways that financial services, particularly money transfer services, could be made easier and cheaper to access for Africans living in the EU. The study’s results will also be used to guide Oxfam Novib in fostering partnerships with African organizations in the EU and microcredit organizations in select African countries.

Survey Link: Click Here

The Strong Life Test presents you with a number of scenarios and then challenges you to identify which decision you would make. Be sure to go with your top-of-mind response; your immediate, unfiltered reaction is always the most revealing.

Of course, your test results will not define you completely–there’s a good deal more fine-tuning you’ll want to do on your own to add detail and specificity. But what the test will do is show you where to start your search for a strong life.

I think the test is a good starting point. If you want to buy the book please follow for this link to Amazon.com for Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently, or Abe Books or Barnes & Noble, and your purchase will help support the Women of the African Diaspora website.

Now Maishagalan is finally back!

Date: 24 March

Time: kl. 20:00

Location: Southern Theater

www.sodrateatern.com

Maishagalan with performances by various artists are organized for the third consecutive year and held this year at the Southern Theater in Stockholm. During this year’s gala there will be awards in four categories for Swedish-African women (Sweden African Women of the Year Awards).

The purpose of the event is to highlight women who are role models and those who are making significant efforts in areas related to Africa.

Maishagalan will also make a special tribute to “Mama Africa” Miriam Makeba.

Marika Carlsson is the mistress of ceremonies for Maishagalan 2010. She is a well-known comedian who in 2006 was named best female comedienne in the Swedish Stand-Up awards show. Marika Carlsson has also appeared in TV programs including 100% of TV4, Stockholm Live, and grilled.

The Gala

The gala event offers entertainment with guest appearance by Baba Sissoko GRIOT (storyteller) from Mali, who now lives in Paris, and Sanjally Jobarteh GRIOT from Gambia, now living in Oslo. Baba Sissoko plays talking drums and ngoni, he has played with artists such as Amadou & Mariam, Mory Kant and Youssou N’Dour.

Sanjally Jobarteh plays a unique kora repertoire based on traditional classical style. These two are involved with Fanta Yayo who also belong to a griots group from Guinea Conakry, with music on the theme of “West African Manding Classic Inspirations”.

Other participants at the gala include: Mia Elb dance solo, for the year 2009 Maisha Artist Fanny Granström, together with their group Street Conakry Others.

Nominess

Caroline Cowan, Fanny Granström, Jaqee, Anna-Lena Tell, Marie-Louise Jatta, Stina Schroeder, Awa Ndao, Maria Llerena and Hannah Akuffo.

Contact:

Madeleine Opira 073-563 16 29

Ababacarr Jammeh: 070-5544347
E-mail: maishagalan2009@gmail.com

Maishagalan is on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/maisha_missafricaswe

About Maishagalan

The event is linked from the beginning to the International Women’s Day and is a tribute to the dedicated Swedish-African women. The Maisha gala and the Sweden African Women of the Year Awards is also about honouring the women who have inspired very many people through their achievements and those who are good-will ambassadors for Africa. A further aim of the gala is to improve the image of Africa.

“Maisha” means life on the Swahili language, the main language spoken in East Africa.

NOTE:

I’ve met Caroline and think she’s great! Good luck!

Caroline Cowan

            ACP28/020/09 Rev.1                           Brussels, 11 December 2009

            PAHD Dept

Brussels, Belgium

(ACP – EU Partnership)

3^rd ACP Civil Society Forum

Declaration 2009

Brussels, Belgium

(ACP – EU Partnership) 

We, the Representatives of Civil Society Organizations of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP), meeting in Brussels on the 10^th and 11^th of December 2009, within the framework of the Cotonou Agreement and subsequent to the mandate of the adopted Plan of Action of the Civil Society meeting held in Entebbe, Uganda in October, 1997, with the precise intention of fulfilling the objectives of the ACP Civil Society Forum to promote, facilitate and enhance the vital contributions of regional and national grassroots, community based and other civil society organizations, who work for the benefit of the people of the ACP Regions[1],

1.      Noting that the ACP – EU Partnership Agreement signed the Cotonou Agreement on the 23^rd of  June 2000;

2.      Acknowledging the justified place, role and the right of Non State Actors (NSAs) to be involved in all phases of the cooperation process, as legally enshrined in the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement;

3.      Relying on the ACP Civil Society Plan of Action dated July, 2001 that was subsequently endorsed by the 27^th ACP – EU Council of Ministers Meeting in Punta Cana on the 27^th of June 2002 as the basis for its actions;

4.      Recognizing, assessing, and acting upon the established objectives of the said ACP Civil Society Plan of Action;

5.      Assessing the work of the delegates as presented by the Chairpersons and the Rapporteurs at the two previous statutory meetings held in 2001 and 2006 of the ACP Civil Society Forum and their respective Plan of Actions;

6.      Embracing the legitimacy and legality of all the foregoing;

7.      Considering the passage of time since the 1997    Meeting, the limited capacity of Civil Society Organisations, their limited access to information and subsequent low involvement in ACP-EU processes;

8.       Noting the due expiration of the current Cotonou Agreement in the year 2020;  

 9.  Hereby declare the urgency of taking ownership of the ACP Civil Society Forum and to formulate guidelines and procedures, relating to:

i.             Management and Organisation of the ACP Civil Society Forum

Declare that:

1.      The Civil Society Forum shall meet every two years at the headquarters of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Grouping in Brussels;

2.      There shall be regional meetings of Civil Society  on an annual basis to facilitate and promote regional dialogue and consensus – these meetings shall therefore be convened in the respective regions;

3.      The ACP Civil Society Forum, taking into consideration, the provision of gender equality, shall adopt the following operational structure in order to provide a channel for information flow from bottom up; create a network for coordinating actions; sharing, gathering and disseminating information:

a. The Chairperson of the ACP Civil Society Forum shall lead and oversee the process;

b. One National Focal Point from each of the seventy-nine member states, and one Regional Focal Point (Vice Chairperson) from each of the Six ACP sub-regions shall be installed to manage the flow of information and communications with Civil Society Organisations in the said six sub-regions;

ii.             Operations of the Civil Society Forum

Communication and interchange:

1.      The ACP Civil Society Forum shall effect communications by means of an inclusive CSO social network via the internet and by any other media that is practical for that purpose in order to fill gaps in the communication flows essentially as a central pillar to fulfilling the functions of the Civil Society Forum at all levels.

2.      Acknowledging the recognition accorded to the work of Civil Society by the Cotonou Agreement, the ACP Civil Society Forum shall develop positions and advocacy based on the principles and precepts of Evidence Based Knowledge Sharing and Policy Making relying on the wealth of ACP Civil Society expertise and sensitivity for that which concerns the strategic interests and the practical needs of populations they represent and advocate for.

iii.            Commitments:

1.      Acknowledging the established guidelines for Civil Society Capacity Building support mechanisms at the national level requiring a civil society organization to contribute up to 25% of the resources required to access European Union funding, we hereby declare that the Forum will advocate for the reduction of this stipulation and mechanism review (to no more than 10%).  In that, in general, development funding mechanisms require co-payments or contributions from beneficiary populations;

2.      At the next mid-term review of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, and at the all-ACP level, we advocate that EDF Intra-ACP financial resources are committed to fund the ACP Civil Society Forum, in order to facilitate the implementation of the objectives of this and all prior Meetings of the ACP Civil Society Forum, as outlined in the ACP Civil Society Forum Declarations and the Plans of Actions. 

We do hereby declare that Civil Society, at the national, regional and all-ACP levels shall stand ready to:

 i.            Participate in the negotiation, implementation and monitoring of the Economic Partnership Agreement ;

 ii.            Participate in the discussions and actions addressing Natural Disasters the Environment and Climate Change;

 iii.            Participate in the monitoring and evaluation of attempts to accomplish national indicators;

 iv.            Participate in the promotion of the use of Culture as a means of National, Regional and Human Development;

 v.            Participate in the discussions and actions addressing the present global economic and financial crisis;

 vi.            Participate in fostering sustainable youth development;

  vii.            Participate in policy dialogue and programmes that promote transparency and  good governance at all national, regional and all-ACP levels of development;

  viii.            Participate in the promotion of food security and sovereignty;

   ix.            Participate in the monitoring and evaluation of progress on the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals;

   x.            Participate in the promotion of gender equality, human rights, good governance and democratic processes;

   xi.            Participate in the policy dialogue and programmes on Sexual and Reproductive Health and in the fight against HIV and AIDS;

   xii.            Participate in the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, ACP Parliamentary Assembly, ACP Council of Ministers, ACP Committee of Ambassadors;

   xiii.            Participate in the creation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Civil Society and public policy at all levels.

iv.   Final Provisions:

i. Undertake to promote, distribute and implement this Brussels Declaration and Plan of Action on the aforementioned issues;

ii.  Request the ACP Ministers of Finance,  ACP and EU Councils of Ministers to reaffirm a commitment to provide access up to 15% of EDF resources for Civil Society Orgnisations, which will contribute to the disbursement of funds in a timely manner;

iii. Appeal to ACP States, EU and the joint ACP-EU institutions, in collaboration with our partners and financial institutions for development at national, regional, all-ACP and international level, to support, follow-up and participate in the implementation of the Brussels   Declaration of the 3^rd ACP Civil Society Forum; and

iv. Request the Chairperson of the Meeting of the 3^rd  ACP Civil Society Forum, in collaboration with the Chairperson of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors and the Secretary-General of the ACP Group, to forward this Declaration to the Chairperson of the next Meeting of ACP Ministers of Finance, Presidents of the ACP Council of Ministers, EU Council of Ministers, and European Commission, Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Heads of the ACP Regional Integration Organisations, ACP Media and relevant bi- and multilateral partners.

Brussels, 11 December 2009

For the 3^rd ACP Civil Society Forum

Mr. Lawman Layon Lynch

Chairperson

[1] Annex VII, The Cotonou Agreement; A User’s Guide for Non State Actors; Douala Declaration, 1999; ACP Civil Society Organization Forum, Final Report Outcome of the Meetings of the ACP and ACP-EU Civil Society Forum from 2^nd – 5^th July 2001;  ACP Civil Society Plan of Action adopted in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, 27 June 2002; Declaration of the 2^nd ACP Civil Society Forum, 21 April 2006.

On 16 March 2010, I attended the EU Trade Conference in Brussels, the “EU Trade Policy towards Developing Countries: Challenges and opportunities for the next years” in Brussels. There were many EU Civil Society Organizations, EU officials, Asian representatives and only a few ACP representatives.

ACP and EPA were mentioned all the time, meaning Africa, not Caribbean and Pacific. Caribbean was only mentioned when the EC spoke about the only full signed EPA, the CF-EC-EPA, and the control mechanism through the new EPA Parliamentary institution. The implementation and ratification problems of the CF-EC-EPA were not discussed and there was no presenter from the Caribbean or the Pacific. There was a presenter descending from Italy for Latin America and Caribbean, who only spoke about EU Trade with Latin America. The Asian presenter from India spoke about the EU Trade with China, India, Korea etc. Not Pacific.

Prof. Festus Fajana, African Union was one of the presenters. He said that the EPA has been forced upon the ACP. The EC said to be optimistic and will go on with the EPAs for Africa. (Note: On 29 April 2010 the Civil Society Organisaties are organizing a big International EPA Seminar in Brussels to deal with these issues).

There were also presentations about EU Trade with Asia and Latin America. We were informed that the EC has only Free Trade Arrangements with Korea, to be followed by Singapore and Japan perhaps. With regard to Latin America only with Mexico and some two other South American countries. Asian and Latin American countries are sceptic and don’t want certain EU rules and standards imposed upon them by the EC.

The Trade Unions presenter asked EC not to close Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, because it is the most dangerous place in the world for trade unionists: over 60% of all trade unionists killed in the world are Colombian, between 2007-2009 128 Colombian Trade Unionists were assassinated. That should also be brought forward with regard to the banana agreement between the EC and Colombia.

Other most important news was that the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GPS) will end in December 2011 and will be replaced by a new system, and that their will be public consultations online in April and May 2010, for stakeholders, civil society, private sector etc. to give their views. The EC Public Consultation will be on the website in a few days. ACP stakeholders could and should participate in these Public Consultations.

The EU GPS system is the system of preferential trading arrangements through which the EU gives preferential access to its markets to developing countries, in the form of a reduction or elimination of the custom duties on goods originating from developing countries.

Many countries are depending on this GSP system, existing of- a general agreement, which provides autonomous preferences to 176 developing countries and territories;
- the Special Incentive Arrangement for Sustainable Development and Good Governance (GSP +), which offers additional preferences to support vulnerable developing countries in their ratification and implementation of relevant international conventions in this fields; and
- the Everything But Arms arrangement , which provides duty-free, quota-free access for all Least – Developed Countries (LDCs).

The conference programme and more information are available from the conference website:

http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=512

If you’re not familiar with the situation or just need more details please visit Mrs Rasco’s site: http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com.

For Immediate Release

Afrosphere Action Coalition – March 18, 2010
Contact: Marpessa Kupendua The of Committee to Free the Scott Sisters at nattyreb@gmail.com

Wrongly Convicted In Dire Health Situation
DAY OF BLOGGING FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS

Jamie Scott, who was convicted with her sister Gladys Scott and given double-life sentences each for an $11.00 robbery of which there was no credible evidence presented at trial. The prison is aware of Jamie’s current condition yet Jamie remains in the prison infirmary.

Mrs. Rasco and Afrosphere Bloggers are calling on the public to request that elected and prison officials in Mississippi immediately move Jamie to qualified medical facilities where she can receive proper medical care forthwith. We also ask that the media do investigative inquiry about this tragic situation.

CONTACT GOV. BARBOUR’S OFFICE
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

CONTACT CHRISTOPHER EPPS
Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Congressman Bennie Thompson
3607 Medgar Evers Blvd.
Jackson, MS 39213
601-946-9003(ph)
601-982-5337 (fx)
Benniethompson@mail.house.gov

Congressman John Conyers
2426 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
Ph: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072

On 12/24/93, the Scott County Sheriff’s Department arrested Jamie and Gladys Scott for armed robbery even though three young males, ranging from ages 14 to 18, confessed to committing the crime and the women have unwaveringly maintained their complete innocence. Despite this, the corrupt Mississippi sheriff used coercion, threats, and harassment to compel the young men to turn state’s evidence against the Scott Sisters due to a long-standing vendetta against a family member. In 10/94 the Scott Sisters were sentenced to extraordinary double-life terms each, despite the facts that no one was harmed, neither sister had prior convictions, no weapon was ever recovered, and the amount alleged to have been taken was approximately $11.00. Even if they were guilty as charged, this sentence is completely outrageous and cruel.

The Scott Sisters are now in their 15th year of incarceration and their five children and grandchildren are being raised by their now ailing mother. The defendants and their family are wholly dependent on support from the press, organizations, and all those dedicated to justice in making this debacle as public as possible.

Their Story has had some success in getting media of late, the most notable being a very brief mention on HLN’s “Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell”, a clip of which is available to view here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO_p3tbjy5E

Ashoka and the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) present the first annual Young Champions of Maternal Health Program. The nine month professional development opportunity will be launched at a global Maternal Health Change Summit, to be held from August 30 – September 1, 2010 in India.

About The Young Champions Program

Strong mothers enable children, families, communities and economies to grow and thrive. Yet there are over 500,000 maternal deaths every year, and millions more suffer from preventable disabilities. The causes of these tragedies are many, but most causes are rooted in the unequal social and economic status of women.

Ashoka and the Maternal Health Task Force are partnering to create an innovative new program that transforms the field of maternal health globally. The Young Champions of Maternal Health Program will use the Changemakers online platform to identify 16 young leaders – called Young Champions – from around the world that will spend nine months working abroad on a maternal health project while being mentored by a seasoned Ashoka Fellow in the field of maternal health.

2010 Young Champions of Maternal Health Program Structure

Sixteen Young Champions will be chosen to spend a nine (9) months abroad working on a maternal health project, each mentored by an established Ashoka Fellow and his or her organization working in the field of maternal health. The Ashoka Fellows and their staff will design projects for the Young Champions that complement and build upon the proposed project of their application. Young Champions will assist and work under the tutelage of the Ashoka Fellow as they apply their new skills to developing their own project.

The nine month mentorship will take place in a different country from the Young Champion’s country of residence. All living accommodations, transport, visas, insurance and other incidentals will be covered by the program. A monthly stipend will also be provided in accordance to the prevailing wage rates of the country in which the Young Champion will reside.

Eligibility

Successful completion of at least a B.A. (or equivalent degree)
A track record of involvement in public health, as indicated by professional and/or academic experiences.
A clear commitment to and professional interest in the improvement of maternal health, especially in developing countries.
Demonstrated leadership qualities and potential as evidenced by community and organizational activities reflected within the application.
Preparedness and enthusiasm to participate in a nine month mentorship experience with an Ashoka Fellow who may live in a country that is of a different cultural context.
Please read through the Young Champions Guidelines and Criteria at www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth located under “Competition Information”. All young professionals are welcome to apply, whether they have an existing maternal health project or a new project proposal that is still in the idea stage.

For more information, please visit www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth. Should you have further questions, please contact us at connect@changemakers.com with “maternal health” included in your subject line.

To apply, please visit: www.changemakers.com/en-us/node/add/competition-entry/65090 – you will be prompted to register for Changemakers to obtain access to the entry form.

Application Deadline;

March 17, 2010

About Ashoka’s Changemakers

Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding, and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. It is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an “Everyone a Changemaker” world through networking, relationship-building, and the sourcing of funding opportunities.

Through its collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers has created one of the world’s most robust laboratories for launching, refining, and scaling ideas for solving the world’s most pressing social problems.

About The Maternal Health Task Force

The Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth brings together existing maternal health networks and engages new organizations to facilitate global coordination of maternal health programs. Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Maternal Health Task Force convenes stakeholders and creates an inclusive setting to engage in dialogue, build consensus,

Would you take part in a survey? The survey is in English and French.

The article and programme is on Black women and how they see themselves in the media and particularly, how Black women get their information on cosmetics, hair and fashion.

Where do you get your information on the latest products, styles, trends for women of African descent and how do you decide how you purchase these products? In your opinion, are there enough current TV/print/ advertising targeting you specially and your beauty needs? Is the media reflecting your beauty and how you see yourself as beautiful? Are commercial cosmetic, hair and fashion products targeting you?

How do you make your purchasing decisions?

I would appreciate very much in you taking part. I would value your comments and contribution.

The target of women for the article is

Black and mixed heritage women 21 – 55 years of Age who are fashion, make up, beauty conscious.

You must reside in Europe, Africa or United States. Contact Shaheera Asante, acacmembers@gmail.com.

Souhaitez-vous participer à un sondage pour moi, je fais un article pour la BBC sur la Black Beauty (sur les produits cosmétiques des femmes noires, des cheveux et de la mode), où les femmes noires ne reçoivent leurs informations sur les derniers produits, les styles, les tendances et comment pensez-vous décider comment vous procurer ces produits … est-il assez de publicité actuel de ciblage de vous spécialement et vos besoins de beauté, etc. Seriez-vous intéressé à participer? Je donnerais de la valeur de vos commentaires et contributions.

Serait un questionnaire simplement je email.

Meilleurs voeux et passez une bonne soirée!

Shaheera Asante
acacmembers@gmail.com

She joins Hattie McDaniel, Whoopi Goldberg, Halle Berry, and Jennifer Hudson as the only black women to win Oscars for acting.

Irene Cara is the first black woman to win a non-acting Oscar in 1983 in the Best Original Song category. Cara is credited as the lyricist.

In a 2004 interview in the July issue of Interview Magazine Carly Simon revealed her full ancestry as being Jewish, Black, Cuban and French, noting that her Spanish mother was of German, Cuban and Black ancestry. Carly Simon also won an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1989.

In collaboration with Mariposa Import and Màrshé Breda, the Afro European Sisters Network and Women of the African Diaspora organize the workshop Awaken the Goddess Within.

Awakening the Goddess Within is an invitation to awaken your feminine source of power. It is about nourishing a woman from the roots of her being and empowering her from the inside out. Acknowledging your value, beauty and self-worth as a woman is essential to awakening the Goddess within you. Are ready to awaken your goddess within? If so, then this workshop is the space and place for you to meet with your Goddess and other Goddess’s a like.

Program Saturday 24 april 2010:

- 09.30 – 10.00 Arrival

- 10.00 – 12.00 Workshop Jurne Azubiah (UK)

- 12.00 – 13.00 Lunch

- 13.00 – 15.00 Workshop Jurne Azubiah (UK)

- 15.00 – 15.30 Koffie pauze

- 15.30 – 16.30 Workshop Lori van Echtelt (NL/US)

- 16.30 – 17.30 Màrshé Breda

- 17.30 – 18.00 Socialize

Workshop Awaken the Goddess Within by Jurne Azubiah.

Workshop Hair and Self by Lori van Echtelt

Workshop Food/ Culture and Enterperneurship by Màrshé Breda

Where: Oneness Africa
             Chr. Huygensstraat 44
             4816 BK Breda (The Netherlands)

Price: 25,= euro

Reservations via: database-xena@aesn.eu

More info soon!

Due to international participants/ speakers the workshops will be in English.

Get updates in English and Dutch.

OTHER TONGUES: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out

Co-editors Adebe D.A. and Andrea Thompson are seeking submissions for an anthology of writing by and about mixed-race women, intended for publication in Fall 2010 by Inanna Publications.

The purpose of this anthology is to explore the question of how mixed-race women in North America identify in the 21st Century. The anthology will also serve as a place to learn about the social experiences, attitudes, and feelings of others, and what racial identity has come to mean today. We are inviting previously unpublished submissions that engage, document, and/or explore the experiences of being mixed-race, by placing interraciality as the center, rather than periphery, of analysis.

Please send one (1) submission of up to 2500 words of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, or spoken word as a SINGLE attachment to othertonguesanthology@gmail.com

Black and white images and artwork should be 300 dpi and sent as attachments in jpg. of tiff. format. Artwork and photography limited to three (3) per applicant.

Please include your contact information, including your name, address, phone number, e-mail, title(s) of work submitted, type of submission, and a short artist bio (50 words max) in the body of the email, with your name and the type of submission in the subject line (e.g. “Jazmine – Poetry Submission”). All submissions are due April 15, 2010. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

If you prefer that your contribution remain anonymous, please include this preference at the top of your submission. All personal information you provide will be kept strictly confidential.

For the story behind this project, detailed submission guidelines, and the Editors’ bios, please refer to the document that is attached to this email.

If you have any questions about this project, please contact the Editors, Adebe DeRango-Adem and Andrea Thompson, at othertonguesanthology@gmail.com

For more information: www.adebe.wordpress.com www.andreathompson.ca or visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=276479812662

As the saying goes “Health first …and all other things shall be added onto you”. You are invited by the Gesundheitsbehörde Hamburg, MIMI Project Hamburg and The EuroAfricaCentral Network to the Joint Health Seminar/Workshop for Africans in Germany coming up on the 6th of March, 2010.

Entry is FREE and strictly on registration + invitation!

Registration:
http://www.interculturalmedicine.com/index.php/seminars.html
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=266556161331&ref=m
Survey:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cnR5ZHFHRUxnVkpGRXdfOHVRWU1TbEE6MA
Poster:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=266556161331&ref=m

Vanessa James is a French-British figure skater who has competed internationally as both a single skater and pair skater. She has competed internationally for Great Britain as a single skater and for France as a pair skater.

James originally competed domestically in the United States and internationally for Great Britain as a single skater. She is the 2006 British national champion and 2007 national silver medalist. She switched to pair skating in 2007 and teamed up with Yannick Bonheur to compete for France. They are the 2010 French national champions.

James was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. She lived in Bermuda until age 10 when her family moved to Virginia. Her father is from Bermuda, which enabled James to hold British citizenship and to compete for Britain. While competing in singles, she lived and trained in the United States. She moved to France in 2007 to train with Bonheur.

James teamed up with French skater Yannick Bonheur and began competing internationally with him in 2008. They made their Grand Prix debut at the 2008 Trophee Eric Bompard, where they placed 7th. They placed 10th at the 2009 European Figure Skating Championships and 12th at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships. In the 2009-2010 season, they placed 6th at the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy, 8th at the 2009 Cup of China, and 8th at the 2009 Trophee Eric Bompard. At the 2010 French Figure Skating Championships, they placed second in the short program and won the free skating to win the title overall.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_James

The 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games were declared open on Friday by Canadian governor general Michaelle Jean.

“I declare open the Games of Vancouver, celebrating the 21st Winter Olympic Games,” said Jean to a packed crowd of 60,000 people in the domed BC Place stadium after a colourful ceremony.

Jean’s Haitian connection (taken from: http://www.pressrepublican.com/0218_black/local_story_042222703.html):

In the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, there was a certain voice Canadians waited to hear. Michaelle Jean is Canada’s governor-general, and she was born in Port au Prince and spent her early years in Haiti before her family fled to Canada. Her father, a philosopher, was tortured and imprisoned under the Papa Doc Duvalier regime. The 52-year-old Jean and her husband, a Quebec film-maker, have one child, an adopted Haitian orphan, Marie-Eden. Her mother and family come from Jacmel, near the epicenter of the deadly tremor.

So, when the earthquake happened, Canadians knew full well the woman at the symbolic helm of the country had been touched deeply and personally by the disaster. When she did speak the day after, it was with the type of emotion and pain that public figures are rarely called upon to express. One almost could feel the nation’s heart go out to Jean and the country of her birth. She spoke of having visited Haiti only a year ago and witnessing “a glimmer of hope” for the rebuilding of the country in the wake of hurricane Gustav’s devastation.

Canadians have joined the world in sending money to help with the relief efforts in Haiti even selling Olympic banners in an effort to raise $400,000 for UNICEF Canada. Jean says:

“The dust has settled on the island, and now there’s a need to comfort, to feed, to heal and to build,” said Jean, who lost family and friends in the earthquake, including the godmother of her daughter, Marie-Eden.

“My daughter has been making necklaces and bracelets for the Red Cross, to help with Haitian relief — that is her way of grieving”.

Source: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Vancouver+will+donate+banner+sales+Haiti/2549430/story.html

Measha Brueggergosman sang the Olympic song as the Olympic flag was raised.

http://www.measha.com/

AFAB as a new ITC and internet magazine programme, will focus on the Black Beauty, Fashion, Hair and Design industry world-wide.

For this exciting new project, we are looking for experienced Sub Editors and Journalist who are proficient and knowledgeable – on the Black Beauty and Hair market. We cover Africa, Europe and the United States in our coverage and demographic and as with the beauty of the internet; you can reside anywhere, but must have reliable and regular internet access and be familiar with Internet communication tools such as Email, FB and Twitter.

You must be able to write articles and features which cover new products for African, African American, Caribbean or Multi-Ethnic females aged 20 to 50 years of age.

You must have either a background in Journalism or have experience of working within these industries and have excellent written and oral communication skills in either English, French or Spainish. All three would be an excellent bonus!!

You must be organised, flexible and energetic!!!!

I am happy to hear also from individuals/students who wishes to gain valuable on-line journalism experience as a Beauty, Fashion or African Art Intern Sub Editors. Our office is based in London. You can be based anywhere!

PLEASE EMAIL YOUR CV, DOB, AND COVERING LETTER TO Shaheera Asante. Include a photo if you can, but this is not a criteria.

Send to Email: yesproduk@gmail.com

PLEASE NOTE: ‘I’d like to find out more’ emails will not be answered, unless they pertain to sponsorship or advertising enquiries ONLY.

Renumeration and further details will only be discussed with applicants we contact.

(Sandrine Joseph)

The Presidents and leaders of the 17 City European Professional Women’s Network (EuropeanPWN) elected a new Board on Jan 22, 2010. The two day General Meeting was hosted in Barcelona, part of the federation since 2008. In addition to formal elections, the leaders exchanged ideas and insights on EuropeanPWN’s evolving vision, strategy and priorities for 2010 and beyond in response to significant growth in the number of networks, activities and strategic partners across Europe.

The assembly elected Marijo Bos and Rieke Smakman as Presidents along with Susanne Forsman-Hey, as Treasurer of the Federation and Sandrine Joseph as, Secretary General. Marijo, Rieke and Susanne served as Presidents of Madrid, Amsterdam and Nice respectively. Furthermore, Monica Pesce will continue in a Federation leadership role as a VP now focusing on Women on Boards, Karine Heckmann as VP New Networks and Ana Baranda and Malika Mir sharing the VP Technology role. Strategic Partnerships will be led by Marijo Bos and Marketing, Public Relations and other appointed leaders will be announced shortly.

More information

(Flavia Cherry,  Chair Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action)

It is good to see that some efforts are being made to reach women in desperate need, but those of us on the ground are yet to see this happen in many of the areas where there is desperate need for food and relief. AID agencies MUST find a more humane way to reach out to the women and children who are most vulnerable and desperate. I know that the need is great, there is no excuse for what is the reality on the ground here in Haiti as Caribbean citizens offered help and mmany have even been denied entry. It is obvious that the aid agencies, (well intentioned as they may be) are unable to handle the scale of the problem here in Haiti. So why are they not being inclusive and involving more Haitian and Caribbean institutions in the relief and recovery efforts? Something is very wrong about the picture here in Haiti because while international agencies are dropping the ball in an attempt to monopolize aid efforts, Haitians are dying. Apart from lines for women, there is an urgent need for volunteers to go into the camps to reach women, children, disabled and elderly people who are unable to move.

It is a disgrace for so much money to be circling around to all kinds of aid groups and every single day I see so many people hungry, desperate. This situation is simply not acceptable. There are women in camps who have not had anything to eat for days. There are many available Hatians who are willing to assist as volunteers to get the aid to those who need it and CARICOM was willing to send help, but something seems to be really wrong. Why are Caribbean Goernments not allowed to play a more pivotal role, especially as there are many CARICOM citizens and regional security officers who speak creole and would be able to communicate better with the people of Haiti.

What I see on the ground is lots of big fancy air conditioned vehicles moving up and down with foreigners, creating more dust and pollution on the roads. Thousands of millitary officers everywhere, heavily armed like they are in some kind of battle zone. The girl guides and boy scouts of Haiti are also out in their uniforms, but unlike the army of troops, they are up and about, assisting in many ways. I saw of group of the boy scouts and girl guides directing traffic today, Sunday!

From the very beginning, I have been asking why aid agencies did not arrange separate lines for women, children and disabled people. It is obvious that if you leave people hungry for 5 to 8 days without food, they will be desperate and when food finally arrives, it will be survival of the fittest. The international agencies allowed confusion to reign supreme for more than two weeks while sensational and racist media people were merrily portraying images of hungry people fighting for food. At least now that they have suddenly realized the need for separate lines, I hope that this happens at every single distribution point, because as I am writing this email, that certainly is NOT the case.

I would like to share two separate events which I witnessed yesterday.

The first one is what I call a miracle birth. A young lay who had both legs amputated delivered a healthy baby on the ground, under a bed sheet. Not only were both legs amputated, but she had bandages all over her hips. Because of her condition, this expectant mother should never have been left out there on the streets at that advanced stage of her pregnancy because the chances of having a normal delivery in her physical coniditon were very slim. At the time of the delivery, people were everywhere, men, women, children, all huddled together under those sheets, for shelter from the sun. If there were complications, both mother and baby could very easily have passed, as no one in the camp had any transport or means of getting the mother to a medical facility. Other mothers were there with their newborns. This poor mother had nothing, no milk, no clothing for the baby, nothing! A doctor eventually came, but the mother was left there, with her baby, so we brought milk and supplies, including a sleeping bag. I know these are not normal times, but it is exactly for this reason, international aid agencies should be more inclusive and engage all those who are willing and capable of providing support.

The second incident happend in the heart of Port Au Prince yesterday where the largest number of people are living under the most inhumane conditions. I was taking pictures, when suddenly everyone started to run towards the Palace gates. I stood on top of a vehicle and realized that it was President Preval who had ventured onto the lawn and people starting shouting out to him, saying that they were hungry. President Preval came to the fence and hundreds of people kept running towards the fence. Many of them were shouting ¨Lavalas, Aristide, Lavalas, Aristide¨. Several others were asking President Preval why he had not addressed his people and told them what was happening. One woman put it this way: (I have not had anything to eat for four days and no one is hearing anything from the President, we have no idea what our Government is doing). I am using brackets because I cannot find quotation marks on this french keyboard.

President Preval spoke to those who were closest to the fence, but the large number of people who were pushing and shoving to get a glimpse of him, obviously heard nothing. At least I got a picture of the whole scene, including President Preval behind the fence with hundreds of people right next to him on the other side. Something about that scene convinced me even more, that there is really no need for such a heavy millitary presence in Haiti. What Haiti needs is an army of medical, civilian and specialist voluneers who will work with the people of Haiti to rebuild their nation – not a heavily armed millitary of more than 50,000 standing guard over them.

Regards,

Flavia

PS: I must express appreciation for the many volunteers from various countries who are giving very genuine assistance to the people of Haiti, but my comments remain relevant because of the reality on the ground

It is heartbreaking to see how disabled people are living on the sidewalks, with no shelter. Women and children are hungry in camps – no bathing, sanitary facilities. Girls are the biggest victims – being sexually abused and raped in the so-called camps, covered by bed sheets and no privacy. Some calling for Aristide! It is a human disaster.

Februari 2nd

Message from Flavia Cherry,
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 4:06 PM
Haiti – From the front lines

Hi friends:

We have organized an international solidarity camp through which all our supplies are being sent to the DR and then to Haiti, directly to the women and the women´s organizations. I would love very much if Andaiye could join us on our team visit, which is currently being planned. For now, our strategy is to reach out as best as we can with supplies being sent from our members everywhere, including the diaspora. It is not nearly enough, but at least we are not helpless when we come accross some dire situations. Our strategy is also to hold aid/international agencies accountable, even if we have to shame them in the process. My efforts are not in vain because I now have an interview with a major canadian television station, so we are getting the news out there.

It is very rough here in Haiti, so I plan to go home for a few days and then return for another week. I am hoping that when our team visits, they will not have to sleep in tents and sleeping bags or wrapped up in sheets, like I am doing now. So I am organizing better accommodation with the help of some of the women´s organizations as well as our members in Haiti. There are some hotels operating but with such a huge millitary presence, they are absorbing almost every decent living space – not to mention the food etc, to keep them there. When I get back to St. Lucia, I am hoping to organize for some Caribbean media people to join our team when it goes to Haiti. So if any of you have any ideas on how to do that, please advise.

What is most urgently needed is feminine hygiene supplies, including napkins for women who have just given birth, pampers for newborns, baby wipes, rubbing alcohol, bras and panties, including clothes for women who have lost everything. Older men are also desperates in need, so we need underwares for them also. I never thought of some basic things like combs, but some of our youth members have lost everything and are living under tents. One comb was being passed around from person to person. So we need to include stuff like combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste etc. Also it is cold here at nights, so we need little booties for the baby´s feet as well as hats and wraps to keep them warm, pampers and baby wipes. Of course, there is a desperate need for food, so as much as we can get would be welcome, but what I have listed is most urgent. Oh, there are no bathing facilities, no privacy in most of the camps, so we urgently need some feminine wipes. It is heartbreaking to see young girls looking for a place to clean themselves and having to settle for right there in the open – men, boys, everyone in full view.

Please send all supples addressed as follows:

URGENT HUMANITARIAN RELIEF FOR HAITI

Ms. Sergia Galvan and Mayra Tavarez
Colectiva Mujeres Y Salud/CAFRA
Calle Socomo Sanchez, No 64
Gazcue, Santo Domingo, DR

Tel: 1-809-315-0571 or 809-682-3128

I know many people have collected stuff but they have not found a way to get them here in Haiti, so ask them to send it to us and we will get them in, to the people who need it most.

Regards,

Flavia

SOS: Urgent Call For Relief to get to Haiti

The Civil Society Forum of the ACP States is totally disturbed about the slowness with which needed aid is getting to the Haitian people. We are well aware that tremendous financial aid is presently being committed to the cause, with the EU contributing approximately three million Euros to the relief efforts.

There is clearly a problem with coordination, and frankly, the United States of America have taken control of the airport and borders, thus having under its management all ports of entry into Haiti. This has been apparently accepted by CARICOM, but Jamaica has been designated and confirmed the hub of all relief efforts heading to Haiti, as such, it is our firm belief that the ACP Civil Society prepares itself to offer meaningful and organized aid for the Haitian people.

There is another crisis on hand : in a couple of days many Haitians will flood the borders of Jamaica and other Caribbean countries in boats. The Caribbean countries, already facing serious economic crises, will shelter the refugees.

It is imperative that we are funded to carry out a strategic and proactive response programme that will see to the sustained development of the State in crisis. ACP Civil Society Forum is therefore proposing:

1. Since there seems to be a problem with logistics, we need to partner with agencies such as the Salvation Army and the Red Cross to transport resources that have already been collected across the Caribbean region, so that shipment can be arranged and delivered in an orderly and timely manner.
2. ACP Civil Society must ensure that there is a team dispatched to Haiti, to assist with recovery, but most importantly, rebuilding. We are not interested in being put up in hotels etc, the main interest is to get there and help, this is pivotal.
3. We have identified a Salvation Army owned property in Port-au-Prince that could house volunteers; as such we need help with securing tents for volunteers.
4. Of greater importance is the sustainable rebuilding and development exercise. The ACP Civil Society Forum therefore needs to meet and implement an extensive youth and community development exercise that would incorporate issues relating to the affective.

We are therefore appealing for donations which will be spent on the most immediate need which is Transportation to get the relief there and medical and sanitary supplies. Apart from getting relief in, there is the problem of getting people with severe injuries out of Haiti where they could get special medical attention.

Barbados is setting up a portable medical facility in Haiti which will be fully outfitted with operating theatres, and medical personnel. This facility will need to be constantly supplied with large amounts of medical and sanitary supplies.

Here is a list coming out of Haiti of those needs which we are told are urgently needed for at least 100,000 people:

1. Ace bandages, gauze pads, bandage & tape
2. Water purification tablets & Rehydration salts
3. antibiotic and antifungal (Mycology) creams
4. anti-allergy medication (i.e. Benadryl)
5. anti-parasite medication
6. Tylenol; children’s tylenol
7. cold and cough medicine
8. diarrhea medication
9. eye drops
10. insect repellent
11. hydrogen peroxide
12. skin disinfectant spray

Account information is as follows:
Account: BANGO (Barbados Association of NGOs)
RBC Royal Bank of Canada, Hastings, Christ Church, Barbados, Caribbean:
Swift Code: ROYCBBBB
Transit No: 09545
Acc#: 31018001

Further information will be forwarded as we get more information to make it easier for you to donate to Haiti.

January 17, 2010

Lawman Lynch
Chairman
ACP Civil Society Forum
Jamaica
lawmanlynch@yahoo.com

Roosevelt O King
Secretary General
Barbados Association of Non Governmental Organisations
rok@caribsurf.com

Flavia Cherry
Chair of CAFRA (Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action)
St. Lucia
cafraslu@hotmail.com

Reports indicate that there has been extensive damage to Port-au-Prince and causalities may be in excess of 100,000 and hence an urgent need for search and rescue support. It is estimated that approximately three (3) million people have been affected.

CDEMA has initiated a level three (3) response based on preliminary reports on the extent of devastation in Haiti. This level of activation is initiated in cases where disasters overwhelm the capacity of the affected state(s) to respond. It is the highest level of activation by CDEMA and triggers the Regional Response Mechanism.

PROGNOSIS:
There remains a continuing threat from aftershocks resulting in collapse of damaged structures and the possibility of landslides.

THE SITUATION:
Current preliminary information indicates that there has been wide spread damage in Port Au Prince. Hospitals, government agencies and international organizations buildings are among the buildings that have been damaged or destroyed.

Communication:
CDEMA has established contact with the Department of Civil Protection in Haiti who are regrouping and mobilising resources. HAM Radio communication with Haiti has been achieved with some success though limited and is being monitored.

Utilities:
Utilities including water, electricity and telephone services have been disrupted and communication remains a challenge.

Health:
Hospitals and health facilities have been severely affected. The main hospital in Port-au-Prince has collapsed and two (2) hospitals have been destroyed. PAHO has indicated that immediate health priorities include: search and rescue of survivors trapped underneath rubble; treatment of people with major trauma injuries; preventing the infection of wounds; provision of clean water; sanitation; and ensuring breast-feeding is continued.

Accessibility:
The airport is open to day time flights only. Both sea ports have been damaged. There have been reports of extensive damage to roads

Regional Response Actions:

1. Departing from Barbados today is a regional high powered delegation including the CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington; Chairman of CARICOM, Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica; Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable David Thompson; Mr. Jeremy Collymore, Executive Director, CDEMA; Mr. Grantley Watson, the Regional Security Coordinator, RSS, and the Vice President Operations Caribbean Development Bank, Mr. P. Desmond Brunton departed Barbados this evening to meet with Hon. Bruce Golding in Jamaica on Thursday January 14. The delegation will travel to Haiti tomorrow Friday January 15, 2010 to gather data to further inform the nature and scope of the region’s assistance.

2. The Regional Security System and Search and Rescue teams remain on standby.

3. A technical team comprising representatives from the CARICOM Secretariat, CDEMA, UWI, IMPACS (the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security) and the Regional Security System (RSS) will be deployed to Haiti on Friday January 15, 2010 to support the political team and carry out the initial assessment. The team will seek :
- To express solidarity with the Government and people of Haiti at this time of need.
- To assure the Government and people of Haiti of the region’s commitment to support the Haiti response efforts in a tangible and effective manner.
- To establish an initial picture of the Government of Haiti’s priority response and recovery needs.
- To conduct an initial assessment of the earthquake impact and identify priority needs.
- To initially define how the CARICOM region’s response can be best articulated for a tangible and effective response from the region.
-To identify logistical arrangements such as transportation, accommodation and other arrangements for receiving incoming humanitarian supplies and personnel, being deployed from the region.
-To determine the way forward for CARICOM support especially in the area of law enforcement and maintenance of public order.

4. CDEMA is working with international and regional carriers to coordinate the securing of pledges and aid distribution to Haiti.

5. CDEMA has also defined operational scenarios to inform the scope and framework of the CARICOM interventions.

6. CDEMA continues to receive pledges from donors and partners.

7. Suriname has pledges to provide military and police personnel for Haiti. They are currently filling a four (4) feet container with drinking water, blankets and rice to provide assistance in the initial stages.

8.The CDEMA Coordinating Unit also met with the British High Commission in Barbados to discuss the situation in Haiti and to examine issues surrounding the response efforts. The Department for International Development deployed a five (5) member technical team which is expected to arrive in Haiti today. The team includes four (4) technical experts from the United Kingdom and Mr. Roger Bellers previously deployed on Tuesday. DFID and CDEMA have agreed to liaise on the ground in Haiti for a coordinated response.

9. Today the CDEMA Coordinating Unit discussed the response efforts for Haiti with the Australian High Commission. The Government of Australia has pledged AUS$10 million for the Haitian Response AUS$1 million of which will be chandelled through CDEMA. CDEMA has already initiated arrangements to access these funds.

10.The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) will deploy Mr. Phillip Cross, the Caribbean Representative of the ITU who will deliver satellite phones to various organizations to assist in addressing some of the communication challenges being experienced.Action by Partners and CDEMA Non Participating States:

The International Federation of Red Cross has launched an appeal for US $10 million in cash, kind, or services to support the Haitian National Red Cross Society to assist 20, 000 families (100,000 beneficiaries) for nine months.

CONTACT DETAILS: The CDEMA CU 24-hour contact number is (246) 425 0386

Ps: Joyce van Genderen-Naar Thanks for sharing the info!

Join TV Host, Victoria Gaither, as she talks with staff writer from the Miami Times, Sandra Jean Charite, about what you can do to help the haitian people during this devastating time. Reports are hundreds of thousands of people have died in the earthquake.

Tuesday’s earthquake knocked down powerlines and knocked down buildings. Join us and hear how you can help through the american red cross. We’ll also take your calls. We look forward to your support.

See details: www.blogtalkradio.com/victoria-gaither/2010/01/16/haiti-how-you-can-help-with-relief-efforts

Date: Saturday 16-01-2010
Time: 4 PM

“CARIBBEAN PEOPLE, SEIZE THE TIME!” Now that the fraudulence of the international oligarchy and its inhuman system of subordinating people and nations to the narrow interests of financiers and elites has become manifestly clear, the time has come for the Caribbean people to assert themselves and to boldly step forward and take firm control of the future agenda of our Caribbean region!

We, the ‘Regional Executive Committee’ of the Fifth Assembly of Caribbean Peoples are therefore issuing a CALL to the Caribbean’s social movements of farmers, workers, women, artistes, students, intellectuals and youth, and to the people centred political parties, trade unions, non-governmental organisations, cooperatives, credit unions and community based institutions of our region to SEIZE THE MOMENT and come together in a mighty PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY dedicated to the singular purpose of clarifying and agreeing upon an immediate, concrete and practical programme of action for solving the many critical existential and developmental problems of the Caribbean people.

Against the background of four previous Assemblies of Caribbean Peoples -Trinidad (1994; Dominican Republic (2001); Haiti (2003); Cuba (2008) – in which considerable intellectual work was done in analysing the predicament and development challenges of the Caribbean, we now take great pride and pleasure in sending out an INVITATION to all authentic Caribbean organisations and to the patriotic sons and daughters of our region to attend and participate in the historic FIFTH ASSEMBLY OF CARIBBEAN PEOPLES, which will be held in the Island of BARBADOS between the 3rd and the 8th of August 2010.

The Fifth Assembly Of Caribbean Peoples will constitute a coming together of activists and popular organisations from across the Spanish, English, French and Dutch speaking regions of the Caribbean focussed on designing Caribbean solutions to such challenges as:
-the international financial, economic and debt crisis that is threatening to devastate the Caribbean;
-the prevailing balkanisation, fragmentation and colonial domination in the Caribbean;
-our persistent failure to harness the resources of the Caribbean for our own collective industrialisation and development;
-the many severe environmental challenges that threaten the long term survival of the Caribbean and its people;
-our lack of food security and the manifestly unsustainable food import burden that the region is bearing;
-the terrible scourges of crime, illegal drugs and racial disharmony that bedevil several Caribbean countries;
-the many cultural and political factors that continue to retard the development of our identity as a Caribbean people belonging to a unique Caribbean Civilization.

The historic FIFTH ASSEMBLY OF CARIBBEAN PEOPLES will consciously and deliberately endeavour to include in our convocation specialists who have carried out relevant research into the targeted subject areas, as well as regional policy-makers who, now more than ever, need to sit down and reason with popular and grass-roots activists. There will also be caucuses of what are perhaps the three most important segments of the population of the Caribbean – our women-folk, our youth and our farmers. Indeed, we, the Regional Executive Committee, have determined that the unique ideas and perspectives of these three critical, but often marginalized, segments of our population, must be accorded a place of pre-eminence in the several deeply considered solutions that will emerge from our Fifth Assembly.

Fifth Assembly Of Caribbean Peoples, Barbados, August 3-8, 2010

Call To The Assembly

Thematic Agenda

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Carolyn Malachi Monday, January, 11, 2010
CMalachi@SmartChicksInc.org

MEDIA ADVISORY

BLOOMBARS AND SMART CHICKS, INC. TEAM-UP FOR A DAY OF SERVICE ON MLK DAY

Artists Take The Lead: Winter Clothing Drive, Letter Writing Campaign, And Music Video Shoot

WASHINGTON, DC – When the nation celebrates the birthday Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, on January 18th, musicians, poets, actors, photographers, and artists of all stripes will lead a community call to action as a part of the “Live. Give. Bloom.” day of service at BloomBars, a Washington DC-based non-profit organization that works to inspire and unite communities through the arts while nurturing artists committed to serving the community.

The effort is being led by Carolyn Malachi, Artist-in-Bloom Resident Fellow, and founder of Smart Chicks, Inc., a national non-profit arts organization with a mission to advance visibility and leadership for women in the arts.

What: Artists rally for day of service to bring winter clothes to needy families and a wheel chair ramp to BloomBars. The efforts of artists and community members will be documented in a music video shoot for ‘Orion’, the first single from her CD, Revenge of the Smart Chicks III: Eclectic Company, coming in July. The video will chronicle the activities taking place during “Live. Give. Bloom.” All are invited to bring warm clothes to donate and a pen or a laptop for a letter writing campaign to bring a wheel chair ramp to BloomBars.

When: Monday, January 18th, 2010. 12:00pm to 4:00pm.

Where: BloomBars, 3222 11th Street, N,W. Washington, D.C. (Columbia Heights Metro)

Carolyn Malachi (A Brief Bio)
Hailing from Washington, DC, Carolyn Malachi, great-granddaughter of jazz pianist John Malachi, has created a modern infectious gumbo of jazz, hip-hop, and spoken word music. Revenge of the Smart Chicks III: Eclectic Company (July 2010) is third in a series of stirring, genre-bending CDs, the first of which spawned the Revenge of the Smart Chicks movement and non-profit called Smart Chicks Inc. The organization is dedicated to developing visibility and leadership opportunities for women in the arts. Click HERE to view Carolyn’s press kit.

By Joyce van Genderen-Naar
 
On 10 and 11 December 2009 the 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum was held at the ACP House in Brussels. Representatives from Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Civil Society came together to discuss how to move forward after many years of silence and inactivity. In 1997 the Forum was established by ACP Civil Society organizations from the ACP regions  in Entebbe, Uganda with the aim to provide a platform for civil society actors in the ACP countries, where they could articulate views and concerns, share information and facilitate dialogue with official ACP-EU institutions in order to support and strengthen the participation of ACP Civil Society in the ACP-EU development cooperation. The follow up was an impressive and unique Conference on the Participation of Civil Society in the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement, organised in July 2001 by the Belgian EU Presidency and the ACP Secretariat in Brussels. For almost a week, from July 2nd – 7th   2001, more than 150 representatives of ACP civil society came together in Brussels to discuss their role in the ACP-EC cooperation and the ACP-EC-Agreement, signed by the EC and the ACP countries a year before in Cotonou on 23 June 2000.
 
This first ACP Civil Society Forum adopted a Plan of Action.
However, between 2001 and 2006 there was no follow up and no implementation. Only in 2006 the 2nd  ACP Civil Society Forum was organised. During a 4-day meeting in April 2006 at the ACP Secretariat in Brussels a Declaration and Plan of Action was adopted, and never implemented during the years to follow. 
 
The participants of the 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum, a two day meeting in Brussels, organised in December 2009, three years later after the second one, concluded that the remaining 10 years should not be wasted, being aware that the Cotonou Agreement will expire in 2020. They decided to create a network for the exchange and sharing of information and dialogue through internet and any other appropriate media, connecting Civil Society organizations and their focal points in 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. They agreed upon a coordinator for each of the six ACP regions: four in Africa, one in the Caribbean and one in the Pacific. According to the ACP rotation system the Caribbean chaired the 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum and appointed Mr. Lawman Lynch (Jamaica). In 2006 the Chair of the 2nd ACP Civil Society Forum came from Africa (Cote d’Ivoire) and the next Chair will be from the Pacific.  
 

ACP Secretary-General, Sir John Kaputin, at the opening of the 3rd ACP Civil Society Meeting in Brussels, urged the participants to make the most of this all-ACP platform of stock-taking, policy dialogue and planning. He said that a high priority for Civil Society at the national, regional and all-ACP levels, is the aspiration to be involved in the consultation in the Programming, Implementation of National and Regional Indicative Programmes and all-ACP Programmes, consultation in the Mid-Term Review process of the Country Strategy Papers  and the National and Regional Indicative Programmes;  consultation in the review of the Cotonou Agreement (which is taking place now); the negotiation  and Follow- Up of the Economic Partnership Agreements and the impact of the current Financial Crisis.

He encouraged the participants to exchange views evaluating the types of consultations that target the existing wide range of Non-State Actor Organisations, and to discuss and agree amongst themselves on the most appropriate working mechanisms for future cooperation at the national, regional and all-ACP levels.

As said before the participants of the 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum agreed upon a virtual network as the most appropriate working mechanisms for future cooperation at the national, regional and all-ACP levels.
Through internet discussions they will deal with the questions raised by the ACP Secretary General Sir John Kaputin, such as: How satisfied are we with our Governments approach to active policy dialogue with the wide range of Civil Society actors? Has significant progress been made, since our last all-ACP discourse, to greater include Civil Society in the consultation processes on Capacity Building needs? Have Civil Society Capacity Building requirement been addressed to facilitate greater involvement in the policy dialogue on issues highlighted in the thematic areas discussed at the last meeting? Are Civil Society stakeholders present at the negotiating table on Economic Partnership Agreements?

Mrs. Dominique DELICOUR of the EuropeAid cooperation office (AIDCO) of the European Commission made a presentation on the participation of ACP Civil Society in the 9th and 10th European Development Fund (EDF). She gave an overview of the ACP programmes adopted, approved and the budget foreseen (191,6 million Euro for the 10th EDF). She said that there is a strong appeal and push for better and more involvement and engagement of Civil Society and that it is important for Civil Society to seize this momentum and to participate in the regional seminar, planned by AIDCO.F1 in Mali, Africa, in 2010 in the framework of structured dialogue. She also informed the participants about the EC study on Civil Society participation and urged them to read this. The study is available on the site: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/civil-society/index_en.htm

All ACP participants stressed the complexity and bureaucratic procedures of the EC procedures, the problems they experience in dealing with the European Commission, the National and Regional Authorizing Officers. They asked why the EC sees capacity building as the solution of all ACP problems. They even suggested that the EC in its turn needs capacity building too in order to deal with the ACP countries and their population. They made an urgent appeal upon the EC to involve ACP experts, ACP Universities and ACP research institutions for the design, implementation and monitoring of studies, research and capacity building programmes in the ACP countries. The practice followed by the EC to send EU consultants to the ACP countries has not resulted in capacity building nor exchange and transfer of knowledge, in contrary the many reports they wrote are not used and are a waste of time and money.

The second presentation was made by Dr. Stephanie Diakité, International Expert, on the Evidence Based Knowledge Sharing (EBKS) as a tool for Civil Society to influence ACP-EU policy. Once again the ACP participants of the Forum noted that there is enough expertise and experience in ACP countries and that nothing new was placed on the table.  

Brussels, December 14, 2009
Joyce van Genderen-Naar,  Lawyer/journalist
Email: vangenderen@unicall.be

World Diversity Leadership Summit Europe March 11-12, 2010
Hosted by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance and the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and Industry

JOSEF PRÖLL, born 1968 in Stockerau/Lower Austria, graduated from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna. In 1993 Josef Pröll started his career as official at the Chamber of Agriculture of the Federal Province of Lower Austria. In 1998 he moved to the Austrian Farmers’ Federation as advisor on economic policy and assistant to Agnes Schierhuber, Member of the European Parliament. One year later Josef Pröll became Director of the Vienna Farmers’ Federation. In 2000 Federal Minister of Agriculture and Environment. Josef Pröll later became the Head of Cabinet of the then Minister of Economic and Labour. From 2001 to 2003 he held the position of Director of the Austrian Farmers’ Federation. Josef Pröll served as Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management from 2003 to 2008, until he assumed the position of Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Finance of the Republic of Austria on 2 December 2008. Mr Pröll is Chairman of the Austrian People’s Party since 2008.

We are proud to announce that the opening minister and CEO reception of the WDLS-EU (March 11th) 2010 will be hosted by Minister Pröll in the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance
(Hintere Zollamtsstraße 2b, A-1030 Vienna/Austria.)

Veronica’s 20 year IT career came to an end when her inner writer and entrepreneur inexplicably besieged her to give it all up. In her dreams, she is an international best-seller, penning her masterpieces from the shores of Africa. But in the meantime, she now spends her days writing, managing her websites and polishing up her rusty programming skills. In 2007, she traced her African ancestry to Sierra Leone and launched www.myafricandiaspora.com – a news and information website aimed at reconnecting the African diaspora. Born in Brooklyn, NY, she now calls Las Vegas, NV home. Visit Veronica at www.veronicawrites.com.

After Veronica and her partner traced their African ancestry and began researching West African culture, they ran across the Ghanian Adinkra symbols, which was the first product launched under their Kindred Gear line: www.zazzle.com/kindredgear – Afrocentric tshirts

Veronica’s short story “My Soul to free” was inspired by a trip to the Bunce Island slave castle in Sierra Leone. It was published by Expanded Horizons: http://expandedhorizons.net/magazine/?page_id=820

Two recent conferences held on the African continent reaffirmed the determination of women to achieve genuine equality and political empowerment. The Eighth Africa Regional Conference on Women (Beijing+15) took place in Banjul, Gambia, in West Africa, Nov. 16-20. It featured reports on progress made towards achieving the goals adopted during the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995.

The Pan-African Women Conference 2009 was held in Sandton, South Africa, October 21-23. This yearly gathering is sponsored by Pan-African Women Projects and a network of women’s groups and organizations from around the continent.

Every year, women from the 54 African nations as well as the Diaspora participate in the PAWC. The theme of this year’s conference was “African Women Marching against Poverty.”

A statement by the event’s organizers declares, “African women have decided to fight poverty both in homes and in the continent as from the previous conferences, it was clearly understood and unanimously agreed that the primary cause of all the problems facing the African woman and Africa in general is this ugly cankerworm called POVERTY.” (panafricanwomenconference.org)

The statement points out: “Poverty has caused coups and wars in the nations of Africa. It has given birth to numerous ills including deaths, crime, prostitution and human trafficking, forced and early marriages, illiteracy, child labour and slavery, recruitment of child soldiers, etc.”

The conference was attended by more than 3,000 women from various regions. Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and chairperson of the Association of Wives of Heads of States/Presidents of Africa, delivered the opening address.

The keynote address was delivered by Graca Machel-Mandela, spouse of former South African President Nelson Mandela and a major figure in conflict mediation and child welfare on the continent. Eighteen presentations were delivered at the PAWC, including ministers representing women’s affairs and social development from various African states.

One of the PAWC’s highlights was the formal launching of the blueprint for a Pan-African Women’s Bank that would provide credit for development projects benefiting women and girls on the continent. In addition, the architectural design for the Pan-African Women Projects’ headquarters was unveiled by the president of the Republic of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Women meet in Banjul

The Eighth Africa Regional Conference on Women (Beijing+15) met to assess progress in the ongoing struggle for gender equality and empowerment on the continent. Prior to the conference, experts met November 13-14 to discuss and prepare recommendations for the ministerial gathering that was held Nov. 16-19.

On Nov. 21, ministers of Women and Gender Affairs convened to consider numerous African Union documents related to women and gender issues, including the Women’s Trust Fund feasibility study, the African Union Commission Gender Action Plan and the Roadmap for the African Women’s Decade, slated for 2010-2020. The meeting also provided reports on the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa.

In the opening ceremony of the ministerial meeting, the director of Women, Gender and Development Directorate, Litha Musyimi-Ogana, reiterated the political commitment of the AU to gender equality and empowerment for women.

So far 27 AU member states have ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women and 30 have addressed the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa. Musyimi-Ogana, speaking on behalf of AU Commission chairperson, Jean Ping, reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to develop an African Women Trust Fund, stating that “this move will pave the way for the realization of the objectives presented in the Road Map for the African Women’s Decade and in the Decade Action Plan.” (AU press release, Nov. 21)

Julia Dolly Joiner, political affairs commissioner of the AU Commission, placed the conference within the context of the global economic crisis, saying, “We gather at a time when the financial, economic and environmental crises that the world faces together represent no other than a human rights crisis and increasingly pose a challenge to the 12-point women’s empowerment and gender equality agenda that we had set for ourselves in Beijing in 1995.” (Foroyaa Online, Nov. 24)

Joiner emphasized: “This reality is more apparent for Africa than any other part of the globe. The consequence for us is clear—we must respond to the voices of the marginalized who call on us to act in a situation where their human rights took a backseat to a globalization that swept the world into a frenzy of growth and environmental degradation. At this time of crisis, we are all called upon to be bold in thought and action, as we strive to move towards a system that is inclusive, sustainable and respectful of universal rights.”

In a major address, Monique Rakotomalala, director of the African Centre for Gender and Social Development of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, indicated that after the Beijing+15 conference several major objectives had been identified for action. One major area was maternal health and mortality, noting that women should not die anymore while giving birth.

Rakotomalala emphasized: “In the context of high food prices due to the impact of global warming, the meeting must act to ensure food security as a right for women. Action applies also to employment as it paves the way to empowerment.” She ended her address by pledging UNECA’s commitment to work with the AU in implementing the outcomes of the conference and to develop young women leaders. (AU press release, Nov. 21)

Dr. Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, vice-president of the host nation, the Republic of Gambia, said in her conference address that participants must “review progress, analyze current challenges and plan the way forward for ensuring the advancement and empowerment of women and girls, the poor and the most marginalized members of our society.” (AU press release, Nov. 21)

Njie-Saidy stated that the African Women’s Decade 2010-2020 will provide “impetus for African women as it will provide them with the opportunity to consolidate gains made in the quest to attain gender equality and to close existing gaps that serve as barriers to the attainment of these laudable goals.” She said that the AU Fund for Women “will provide the much needed resources that women need to concretize their dreams and ambitions. Africa is on the move and the trend is irreversible.”

The resolutions from the Banjul conference will be presented to the upcoming U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, to be held in New York in March.

Two panels were convened at the Banjul conference by Women in Law and Development in Africa. One panel entitled “Women’s rights implementation in Africa: what has been achieved so far” was held on Nov. 17.

A Nov. 18 panel focused on “Women’s access to land: issues, challenges and expectations of West Africa rural women.” The panel examined issues involving women farmers and their access to land in West Africa and the need to advocate for national and local authorities to develop policies geared toward women’s sustainable access to land.

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Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World.

Work and Wages: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-n-cohen/what-ails-black-women-par_b_357846.html
Health and Life: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-n-cohen/what-ails-black-women-par_b_360620.html
Discrimination and Repercussions: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-n-cohen/what-ails-black-women-par_b_373574.html

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Cadre supérieur, Sandrine Joseph, 37 ans, se nourrit de défis, de convictions et de son engagement au sein de différents réseaux européens.

Il est difficile de résumer le parcours de Sandrine Joseph tant il est riche et varié ! Une chose est sûre : elle s’est toujours donné les moyens de sa réussite et de ses ambitions.

Dès 20 ans, elle commence à travailler pour financer ses études (Maîtrise de finances et DEA de stratégie industrielle à la Sorbonne) et fait ses premières armes au sein de la fonction publique : ministère des finances et l’ENA. Mais plutôt que de tenter d’intégrer un grand corps de l’Etat, Sandrine Joseph préfère se tourner vers un cabinet de conseil en stratégie spécialisé dans Internet, un secteur alors naissant.

Repérée et embauchée par France Télécom – Orange en 1998, elle occupe successivement des postes à dominante marketing, finance et technique. « Ce qui me guide et me motive, c’est l’innovation, l’accompagnement du changement et le relationnel. Je recherche les défis et apprécie d’avoir une vision stratégique des choses ». En 2007, elle devient marketing manager au sein de l’incubateur d’Orange (Orange Labs) où elle travaille sur des projets innovants, utilisant à la fois ses compétences en finances et marketing

Read on at the original source and if you can’t read French plug the URL into Google translate!
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Read on at the original source and if you can’t read French plug the URL into Google translate!
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Aliesh worked as a makeup artist in Europe between Zurich and Milan. She went on to work in New York City and is now based in Los Angeles working with clients who have included The Obamas.

Learn more about Aliesh on her website.

By Joyce van Genderen-Naar

The Second International Decade of Decolonization is ending soon in 2010. The main conclusion is that two decades were not enough to resolve all decolonization issues, in contrary the process of self-determination leading to decolonization has become increasingly complex. Third and even more International Decades will be needed before all Non-Self-Governing Territories have attained self-determination. The international mandate for decolonisation is a function of the UN Charter and UN resolutions on decolonisation are supported by all of the nations of the world, with regard to the international obligation to develop self-government and to take due account of the political aspirations of the people of their territories (article 73 of the United Nations Charter). But the implementation is politically sensitive and information has been scarce. Decolonization issues stay unnoticed.

The stocktaking took place during the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization, organized on 12, 13 and 14 May in St. Kitts and Nevis (Caribbean) by the UN Special Committee of 24 on Decolonization (Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples). Recommendations were made to establish a mechanism for dialogue between local authorities in the Territories, administering Powers and the international community to facilitate the decolonization process. There has to be more interaction and cooperation between the Special Committee and the administering Powers, by creating frameworks for dialogue between the Territories, the administering Powers and the Special Committee. The international community needs to work together and to remain engaged, guided by the political options available to the Non-Self-Governing Territories: free association with other independent States, full integration with political rights, or independence. It is important to focus more on the specific needs of each Territory in terms of their political and economic needs and assistance by the United Nations system. Education and public outreach are crucial for decolonization, to enable the people concerned to make informed decisions regarding their future political status, to promote maturity and movement towards “appropriation of the own destiny”: “You cannot insist on your rights, unless you understand them.” Decisions on self-determination must be based on full information and education.

In a message to the Seminar UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had urged the administering Powers, Non-Self-Governing Territories and the United Nations to continue working together to accelerate the process of eradicating colonialism. He said that progress in this area will require close cooperation between all three actors. He noted that the right to self-determination must be taken into proper account in exploring how to accelerate the decolonization process for the remaining 16 UN listed non self-governing territories, namely the 10 Overseas Countries and Territories of the UK (Anquilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean Sea; Falklands Islands (Malvinas) and St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean; Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific; Gibraltar in Europe); New Caledonia, Overseas Country and Territory of France in the Pacific; 3 territories of the USA: Virgin Island in the Caribbean, American Samoa and Guam in the Pacific; Tokelau, a self-governing dependency of New Zealand in the Pacific; Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco, in Africa.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was counting on the administering Powers in particular to discharge their obligations in a manner that promotes the well-being of the inhabitants of the territories within their responsibility. The interests of the peoples of the Territories have to be at the heart of all efforts. The UN system will continue to assist the Non-Self-Governing Territories, in areas such as economic and social development, environmental sustainability, healthcare and good governance.

Emerging challenges for the Non-Self-Governing Territories on their path towards decolonisation are the impact of climate change, the global economic and financial crisis, the role of regional cooperation, education and public awareness, the role of women, the empowerment of vulnerable people and the capacity for full self-government towards self-determination. Key elements in responding to the challenges of today are political maturity, economic sustainability, enhanced administrative capacity and strengthened regional cooperation.
Regional cooperation and regional arrangements offered important opportunities for many Non-Self-Governing Territories and contributed to the development of a strong regional identity and strengthened concrete functional cooperation in various areas of mutual interest. Important were the role of the United Nations regional commissions, such as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and bodies like the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), as well as various United Nations specialized agencies. In response to climate change, which had exposed the vulnerability of many Non-Self-Governing Territories, regional cooperation could play a crucial role in the field of disaster preparedness. The global economic crisis had further highlighted the importance of economic sustainability and diversification of the economic base in the Non-Self-Governing Territories through community-based development, the development of small and medium enterprises, promotion of micro-financing and employment-generating activities, and the empowerment of vulnerable groups.

In his closing statement on behalf of the host country, Delano Frank Bart, Permanent Representative of Saint Kitts and Nevis to the United Nations, characterized the seminar as “the penultimate event” in the course of the Decade. He said that with regard to the energy, food and financial crises, the Territories had been hit as hard as most countries, if not more, but that their concerns were often marginalized. “Our role is to ensure that all needs are met, especially the needs of those of us who are not governing themselves.” Highlighting the impact of climate change, he said that, of the 16 Territories under the Special Committee’s mandate, the majority were islands. Therefore, the concerns of small island developing States within the United Nations system were also the concerns of those Territories. They were among the most vulnerable and needed to be aware of the commitment of the international community to stand by them and “weather the storm together”. Recalling that his country had recently celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary of independence, he said Saint Kitts and Nevis remembered the concerns of the pre-independence period. One needed the goodwill of all parties to resolve such issues, and the participants should, therefore, take away with them a determination to ensure that the day would come in the not-too-distant future, when the Special Committee’s work would bear fruit, and that the solutions found would be in the best interests of all concerned.

The recommendations of the St. Kitts Seminar have become the most recent chapter of the ever growing legislative authority on the self-determination of the territories. Some of the recommendations were included in the decolonisation resolutions adopted by the UN Fourth Committee in November 2009, and are expected to be approved by the General Assembly in December 2009. Implementation is an entirely separate matter, according to International Advisor on Democratic Governance Dr. Carlyle Corbin

GUAM’s self-determination bill
How important information and education are to the people of the Non-self Governing Territories and how essential to the expression of their political aspirations and self-determination, was shown on November 5, 2009, when the delegate of Guam Hon. Madeleine Z. Bordallo, in the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife Legislative hearing on H.R. 3940, introduced a self-determination bill to support a public education program for the people of Guam regarding various political status options to express their desired political status. Guam is a territory of the USA in the Pacific, that has been under the United States Flag as an unincorporated territory for over 111 years. Guam, like her sister territory Puerto Rico, was ceded to the United States from Spain upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris settling the Spanish-American War in 1898. Guam is listed by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory. Despites all efforts towards defining a new political relationship between Guam and the United States, the political aspirations of the people of Guam for such status were never realized. A referendum affording the people of Guam an opportunity to express their views on status was authorized by local law but remains unscheduled.

In November the US Congressional Committee approved the self-determination bill and assistance to the territories. Dr. Corbin explained that there are two separate pieces of legislation – one bill for American Samoa, Guam and the US Virgin Islands, and a second different bill for Puerto Rico, which is essentially a referendum bill which had been adopted by the same Committee earlier this year. The Puerto Rico measure does not address public education since they already have a very sophisticated process in place via their political parties. Both bills have been adopted by the substantive committee in one House of the US Congress so far. It still has to be adopted by the full House of Representatives, then by the US Senate and signed by the President. He anticipated that this would happen without too much difficulty since there is no new financial resources associated with either measure.

Dr. Corbin also made clear that the issue is not only between independence or not, but rather to chose one of the three political status option which provides for a full measure of self-government, namely independence, free association and integration. These are so recognised by the UN. Some member states which administer territories, such as the UK, have told its territories that offers neither integration nor free association to them, and the choice is either independence or remaining in a dependency status. This is unlike the Dutch Antilles which had achieved sufficient autonomy to be regarded as fully self-governing. This might change as the dismantling of the five islands will now yield a new less autonomous model for the two islands which have chosen in referendum to become separate countries within the Dutch Kingdom.

Brussels, November 2009
Joyce van Genderen-Naar
Email: vangenderen@unicall.be

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BANANAS: will the european union confirm that the fight against poverty is no longer a priority in its “global europe” strategy?

COMMUNIQUE

At a time when European leaders are gathering to welcome the dawn of a new era with the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty, this change may well prove to be more extensive than anticipated. The coming days could spell the end of the era when Europe considered the fight against poverty a priority.

In the ongoing discussions on the Banana Dossier, the ACP States have made numerous concessions in an effort towards finding a definitive and balanced solution.

In fact, analysis of the European banana market has shown that the customs tariff of €176/t that has been applied to banana imports from Central and South American countries (MFN countries) since January 2006, has sharply increased their presence on the EU market. There is no risk whatsoever, not now nor in the future, given the limited production capacity of the ACP countries that the European market will be “flooded” with ACP bananas. Just one MFN country, like Ecuador for example, could, single-handedly, if it so desired, supply the entire 27-country EU market which, let us not forget, is the only possible trade opening for ACP products.

As a result, it is difficult, at first glance, to understand what is at stake for the European Union when, to the detriment of its commitments to the ACP banana-producing countries, it has proposed that the MFN countries engage in even more extensive liberalization at a faster rate, and suddenly announced an imminent agreement with them.

The ACP countries have repeatedly demonstrated that they fully understand the current trade policy trend which is liberalization. They are therefore in no doubt whatsoever that the trade preferences they currently enjoy will continue to be eroded until they most likely disappear. However, in highlighting the development programme included in the WTO Doha Round negotiations they have merely called for WTO Members to honour their commitments, stressing the need that for any agreement to be balanced, it must necessarily include a transition period with a moratorium, so as to enable the ACP banana-producing countries to adapt to the new market conditions.

In the same context, they recalled the undertaking of the same WTO Member States whereby those among them who granted longstanding preferences must provide financial and additional capacity-building assistance to help remedy supply-side constraints and promote diversification of existing production in the territories of the preference-recipient Members.

In their most recent submission, a pale reflection of their initial demands, the ACP States:

(a) an initial reduction, as “full and final settlement”, from €176/t to €148/t during 2010;

(b) call for the level of 148/t to be maintained, in the event that no agreement is reached on the agriculture modalities of the Doha Round;

(c) accept, in the event of an agreement on the agriculture modalities of the Doha round, a gradual reduction of the customs tariff over ten (10) years, including a 3-year moratorium following application of the first tariff reduction from €176/t to €148/t;

(d) call for financial aid in the sum of 250 million euros, the minimum amount required to meet the needs of ACP banana-supplying countries for the 2010-2013 period; and

(e) an undertaking on the part of the EC to participate in a joint review mechanism designed to assess the situation of the ACP banana suppliers after 2013, and to provide additional resources, as necessary.

In a letter addressed to the heads of several European institutions, including the President of the European Commission, President of the European Council and the President of the European Parliament, Mrs. Eunice Kazembe, incumbent President of the ACP Council of Ministers and Minister of Industry and Trade of Malawi, recalled the fears aroused by the disappearance of the reference to the ACP countries from the Lisbon Treaty. This marks a departure from the texts currently in force, whereas the ACP Group remains the largest grouping of the poorest countries in the developing world, with a longstanding historical relationship with the European Union.

The President of the ACP Council has clearly indicated that Europe has a unique opportunity to allay these fears or to confirm them, depending on the response that the European Commission will give to the ACP demands. This would demonstrate if Europe is definitively adopting an aggressive trade strategy based on its “Global Europe” policy at the expense of a frontline role in the fight against poverty.

For press details contact: iroga@acp.int

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The history of the disappearance of the reference to the ACP countries from the Lisbon Treaty

Below: An article by Joyce van Genderen-Naar

DRAFT EU-CONSTITUTION LEAVES OUT ACP-EC-COOPERATION
Joyce van Genderen-Naar
Lawyer
Brussels, 16th March 2004.

In the Draft Constitution for Europe, which shall replace the present EC/EU-Treaties, the article on the ACP-EC-Agreement (art. 179. par.3 EC-Treaty) has been left out.
Art. 179 par. 3 EC-treaty decides:
‘ The provisions of this Article shall not affect cooperation with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in the framework of the ACP-EC Convention. ‘
Art. 179 par. 3 is a part of the current provisions on Development Cooperation in the EC-Treaty (Title XX) and a part of art. 179 :
Article 179
1. Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Treaty, the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251, shall adopt the measures necessary to further the objectives referred to in Article 177. Such measures may take the form of multiannual programmes.
2. The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.
3. The provisions of this Article shall not affect cooperation with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in the framework of the ACP-EC Convention.

There is no such article in the Draft Constitution. Title V of the Draft deals with the External Policy of the Union; Chapter IV deals with the cooperation with Third Countries and humanitarian aid. Section 1 concerns Development Cooperation and Article III – 219 par. 1 – 3 will replace the current Article 179 EC-Treaty.
Article III – 219 par 2 inserts the current Article 181 EC-Treaty, ends in par. 3 with what is now Article 179 par. 2: ‘The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.’ and leaves out the current Article 179 par. 3 concerning the ACP-EC-cooperation.

Draft EU-Constitution Article III – 219
1. European laws or framework laws shall establish the measures necessary for the implementation of development cooperation policy, which may relate to multiannual cooperation programmes with developing countries or programmes with a thematic approach.

2. The Union may conclude with third countries and competent international organisations any agreement helping to achieve the objectives referred to in Article III – 93. Such agreements shall be negotiated and conluded in accordance with Article III-227.
The first subparagraph shall be without prejudice to Member States’ competence to negotiate in international bodies and to conclude international agreements.

3. The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.

Article179 par. 3 EC-Treaty (‘the provisions of article 179 shall not affect cooperation with the ACP-countries in the framework of the ACP-EC Convention’) referes to the special relationship between the EC/EU and the ACP-countries, which is the oldest and largest form of cooperation between Europe and countries from the South (ACP) and stood model for later cooperation with other countries. Historical bounds between Europe and the ACP-countries give Europe a special responsability for these countries, which should not be forgotten and should be a part of the next Constitution for Europe. This responsability stays and is even more urgent, because after 37 years of cooperation 40 of the 79 ACP-countries still belong to the poorest countries in the world. Out of the 48 poorest countries in the world 40 are ACP-countries!! By the Cotonou Agreement signed the 23d of June 2000 the ACP-EC-cooperation has been extended until 2020 with the objectives of poverty eradication, sustainable development and the integration in the world economy of the ACP-countries.

What is the reason for the delete of the current article 179 par.3 EC-Treaty? The following reasons were given by a representative of the European Commission:
Today article 179 par. 3 EC provides for a special form of cooperation with the ACP-countries, which makes it possible to finance the European Development Fund outside the framework of the EU-budget. The EDF is composed by national contributions of the EC-member states. In a first version of the Draft the Presidium of the Convention took over current Article 179 par. 3, but emphasized that the Convention should examine whether this provision should be deleted, because a specific policy or different financing is no longer needed. The final report of the Working Group VII of the Convention, dealing with the external policy of the Union, stated: “there is large support for making EDF part of the general EU-budget, that is why for the EDF the same procedures will be applied as for other areas where financial support wil be given”. The final report made also clear that this should mean an improvement of the efficiency and more focus on poverty eradication of the EU-development programmes in general, and in no way should it lead to the reduction of the support of the ACP-countries.

A majority of the Convention has supported this approach and Article 179 par. 3 EC was left out of the Draft European Constitution.

Other arguments were: the integration of Cotonou in the normal communautarian framework makes it possible to adjust the support in a better way to the real needs, performance and receive capacity of the ACP-countries, while the process of multiannual programmes will stay in tact. It also helps the European Parliament to fully fulfill its budget tasks conform the general line of the Convention. Further details should be provided for in the institutional agreement concerning the financial perspectives post-2006.

My advice to the ACP is to make an official request to the European Commission and Members of the Convention (representatives of the European Parliament and Member States) to insert a provision concerning the ACP-EC-Cooperation in the Draft/New Constitution in view of the special relationship between the EU and the ACP, historical bounds, responsabilities and mutual interest, as agreed by EC and ACP in Article 55 of the Cotonou Agreement: The objectives of development finance cooperation shall be, through the provision of adequate financial resources and appropriate technical assistance, to support and promote the efforts of the ACP States to achieve the objectives set out in this Agreement on the basis of mutual interest and in a spirit of interdependence”.

In principle it is possible that the IGC still decide to insert article 179 par. 3 EC in the future European Constitution. As long as the Constitution is not formal accepted it is legally possible. In contrast with the future Convention in the current IGC only the Governments of the Member States have the power to decide. So they have to be approached in order to save article 179 par. 3 EC. However with regard to the political point of view it will not be easy to insert article 179 par. 3 EC in the New Constitution, because almost every delegation in the IGC has stated that they wish to maintain the draft text of the Constitution with as less as possible adjustments, especially for non-institutional issues. Nor in the IGC at political level nor in the group of legal experts of the IGC the proposition has been made to integrate the ACP-EC-cooperation in the European Constitution. EU-Commisisoner Nielson said during an intervention of the Working Group VII on the External EU-Policy that the cooperation modalities between the EC and the ACP-countries should be revised.

The Convention probably did not consult the ACP. Consultation between the EC and the ACP-states should take place according to Article 12 of the ACP-EC-Agreement in view of the Coherence of Community policies and their impact on the inplementation of the Agreement. Article 12 decides that where the Community intends, in the exercise of its powers, to take a measure which might affect the interests of the ACP states, as fas ar this Agreement’s objectives are concerned, it shall inform in good time the said States of its intentions. Towards this end, the Commission shall communicate simultaneously to the Secretariat of the ACP states its proposal for such measures. Where necessary, a request for information may also take place on the initiative of the ACP states. At their request, consultations shall be held promptly so that account may be taken of their concerns as to the impact of those measures before any final decision is made.

EC-TREATY
TITLE XX
DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

Article 177

1. Community policy in the sphere of development cooperation, which shall be complementary to the policies pursued by the Member States, shall foster:
-
The sustainable economic and social development of the developing countries, and more particularly the most disadvantaged among them,

-
The smooth and gradual integration of the developing countries into the world economy,

-
The campaign against poverty in the developing countries.
2. Community policy in this area shall contribute to the general objective of developing and consolidating democracy and the rule of law, and to that of respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.
3. The Community and the Member States shall comply with the commitments and take account of the objectives they have approved in the context of the United Nations and other competent international organisations.

Article 178

The Community shall take account of the objectives referred to in Article 177 in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries.

Article 179

1. Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Treaty, the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251, shall adopt the measures necessary to further the objectives referred to in Article 177. Such measures may take the form of multiannual programmes.
2. The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.
3. The provisions of this Article shall not affect cooperation with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in the framework of the ACP-EC Convention.

Article 181

Within their respective spheres of competence, the Community and the Member States shall cooperate with third countries and with the competent international organisations. The arrangements for Community cooperation may be the subject of agreements between the Community and the third parties concerned, which shall be negotiated and concluded in accordance with Article 300.
The previous paragraph shall be without prejudice to Member States’ competence to negotiate in international bodies and to conclude international agreements.

DRAFT EU-CONSTITUTION
Chapter IV: Cooperation with Third Countries and Humanitarian Aid.
Section 1: Development Cooperation.

Article III – 219
1. European laws or framework laws shall establish the measures necessary for the implementation of development cooperation policy, which may relate to multiannual cooperation programmes with developing countries or programmes with a thematic approach.

2. The Union may conclude with third countries and competent international organisations any agreement helping to achieve the objectives referred to in Article III – 93. Such agreements shall be negotiated and conluded in accordance with Article 111 – 227.
The first subparagraph shall be without prejudice to Member States’ competence to negotiate in international bodies and to conclude international agreements.

3. The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.

Joyce van Genderen-Naar
Lawyer Brussels Bar
Email: vangenderen@unicall.be

Here is the audio from the workshop Media futures – the equality challenge in focus moderated by Aidan White.

The panelists were:

Dorothy Byrnem Head of News and Current Affairs, Channel 4 Television (Inspirational message), UK, Ms. Lena Calvert, National Union of Journalists, Diversity Officer, UK (Presentation of best practices of promoting equality), Ralf Nehmzow, Axel Spring, Redakteur/Leser-Botschafter, Germany (How diversity is approached in press companies), Allan Jones, European Broadcasting Union presented the Diversity Toolkit, Robin Elias, Managing Editor, ITV News, UK (Diversity pledge), Fifi Schwarz, Newspapers in Education, The Netherlands (New forms of engagement with civil society and minority groups), Rosario Ali Taikon, E Romani Glinda, Sweden (Support for developing new media initiatives and business models with a focus on equality issues), and Milica Pesic, Coordinator of the European Survey on Media and Diversity (Innovative practices in European Media).

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 1

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 2

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 3

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 4

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 4

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 5

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 6

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 7

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 8

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 10

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 11

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 12

Being a Black Woman in Europe

The third Equality Summit will be held in Stockholm on 16–17 November.

This is an annual event for ministers, chairs of national equality bodies, chairs of NGOs at EU level, EU social partners and representatives of international organisations.

The purpose is to share knowledge and experience so as to develop stronger and more effective ways of working against all forms of discrimination, and to promote equal rights and opportunities for all in the EU. Get full details, get the program and external resources form the summit website.

If there is a problem viewing the live blog here you can click here instead.

I have uploaded videos of Ted Childs of Ted Childs, LLC (global strategic diversity advisor) who was a key note speaker on Diversity & Inclusion: A Global Perspective. For optimal enjoyment use headphones when viewing.

UPDATE 3:

I have added an EU video on the puzzle that is Europe’s diversity. For optimal enjoyment use headphones when viewing.

UPDATE 2:

I have added video of Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe’s keynote address. For optimal enjoyment use headphones when viewing.

UPDATE 1:

I have added videos of Minister Nyamko Sabuni’s from Sweden’s, opening address. Please scroll down below the live covereage box. For optimal enjoyment use headphones when viewing.

The third Equality Summit will be held in Stockholm on 16–17 November. This is an annual event for ministers, chairs of national equality bodies, chairs of NGOs at EU level, EU social partners and representatives of international organisations. The purpose is to share knowledge and experience so as to develop stronger and more effective ways of working against all forms of discrimination, and to promote equal rights and opportunities for all in the EU.

Get full details, get the program and external resources form the summit website.

If there is a problem viewing the live blog here you can click here instead.

Get more information at MOCADA: http://www.mocada.org/

Renegotiate EPA: a very optimistic approach

To be clear, EPA is not called Economic Partnership Agreement for nothing. It is a not a Development Aid package but rather a trade agreement, one of many, such as its predecessor the Cotonou Agreement signed in 2000. EPA seeks to realign the business/trade relationships which were granted to ACP countries under a preferential agreement, reached at time of the signing of the entry of the UK to the European Union in 1972. In time, there has been a gradual change of these preferential trade relations between the Caribbean, African and Pacific regions and the EU. This is evident, amongst others, from the downturn in the regions’ sugar and banana industries.

The concerns voiced by the academics is typical of a “reactive approach” taken by peoples of our region. The academics claimed that representatives have made the deal of EPA with their eyes wide shut. The truth is, it is not for the representatives to make deals. They are channels of information. It is for the elected Caribbean leaders to make sensible decisions on our behalf. At this point, leaders are aware, or at least should have been aware, of the consequences of the UK’s membership of the EU. There was time enough, more than 30 years, in which our leaders should have created a strategic plan in which Jamaica, after almost 46 years of independence, would have been able to step up to the challenges of playing ball on an unlevel international field.

I do not wish to call the lobbying efforts by the academics, in order to “renegotiate the trade deal”, a useless attempt. But I do think that this would cause our representatives in Brussels to become beggars without a cause. Our region has no cohesive plan of getting us out of a peripheral position of merely surviving as “Third World countries”. The effort put in by the Caribbean representatives is ineffective at changing the underlying economical intentions of the EU. EPA has been discussed in all the regions of ACP. The African (French and English-speaking) and Pacific regions are nowhere near signing any documents relating to EPA.

It has been hinted that, under EPA, it will be easier for professionals from the Caribbean region entering the European Union. To me, this is saying that our governments ought to be aware of the next great brain drain from the region. What is our contingency plan? Most of our teachers, doctors, and much-needed personnel have already migrated to the UK, US and Canada. The EU needs workers and is seeking a way of finding people to shore up its economy so as to keep its stronghold on the international stage. Therefore, is this really a negotiation victory we get from EPA?

It is my greatest wish to see our people wake up from the colonial slumber and take a “proactive approach” in the building of our country and regions. One concrete plan would be to see the representatives bodies, such as CRNM, become fully staffed. Brussels, like Washington, is the centre of world politics, and it is highly unprofessional to see the few good civil servants being ostracised when they do what they can when attending meetings on our behalf.

In our region we need a proactive civil society which simulates discussions on international issues affecting our daily lives. Also, we should take a more proactive, pre-emptive approach in countering the moves of the EU or any other country for that matter. Let the truth be known, decisions in Brussels are the outcome of long, internal EU debates and discussions involving local and national stakeholders right from the formative stages. To think that we could renegotiate EPA at this stage is very optimistic. We are simply not prepared.

Elaine Campbell is a legal researcher in The Netherlands.
emcampbell11@hotmail.com

Nominees must be a woman of color ages 12 and up living in the US or abroad. Nominees must be living their lives on purpose – as a business owner and/or making significant contributions in the communities.

Please email the following information about your nominee to editor@alivemagonline.com.

Name
Email Address
URL
200 words or less explaining why this woman should be a 2010 ALIVE Woman of the Year

Also, please include your contact information in the event our review committee has further questions.

The announcement will be made in March 2010 at the One Life To Live From Dreams to Reality National Tour when its hosted in Broward County, Florida.

Joyce van Genderen-Naar

The landscape of international development cooperation is coloured by many actors and organisations. Among them are doctors, engineers, architects, lawyers, economists, sociologist, and journalists, crossing borders and frontiers all over the world. They established international non-governmental organisations on the basis of their profession to work in countries which are at war or in conflict situations. Their work brings along risks, dangers and although characterised by impartiality, neutrality and independence, it is sometimes controversial and criticised as partial and interfering in state affairs. One of the reasons could be the lack of information and understanding about their objectives and their working-method as well as the cooperation and communication with national governments and local experts.

View on Nyanzale Refugees Camp (North Kivu, DRC).© Cédric Gerbehaye/Agence VU (www.etat-critique.org)
Well known are the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organisation created in 1971 by doctors and journalists in France. MSF provides aid/medical care in nearly 60 countries to people in crisis regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation, on the basis of need and independent access to victims of conflict as required under international humanitarian law. Medical teams conduct evaluations on the ground to determine the medical needs and care for people who suffer from violence, neglect, or catastrophe, due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care or natural disasters. MSF says that the key to act independently in response to a crisis is its independent funding. Eighty-nine percent of MSF’s overall funding comes from private sources, not governments. Website: www.msf.org

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) are formed by several non-governmental organisations in several countries, focused on engineering and construction in international development work and strongly linked to academia and students. Engineers without Borders/Ingénieurs sans frontières (ISF)-France was founded in the 1980s, followed by ISF-Spain and ISF-Italy in the 1990s and EWB-Canada, one of the largest of the EWB organisations, in the late 1990s and many other EWB/ISF groups around the world. Website: www.ewb-international.org

Architects Without Borders is a non-governmental not-for-profit volunteer humanitarian relief organisation, providing technical assistance and support for recovery and reconstruction programs in countries that suffer from economic crisis, human conflict and natural disaster, such as the Tsunami in Asia. Website: www.awb.iohome.net

Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF) was founded in 1992 in Belgium, sending lawyers without borders, lawyers for lawyers, abroad to take part in sensitive trials and to assist or represent human rights lawyers and human rights activists persecuted for exercising their profession. Lawyers without borders defended the accused and represented the victims in Rwandan courts and between 1995 and 1998 lawyers were trained in Arusha, Tanzania, for appearance before the International Court (ICC) in Rwanda. Website: www.asf.be/index.php?module=home&lang=en

International Lawyers and Economists against Poverty (ILEAP)/Juristes et Economistes Internationaux contre la Pauvrete (JEICP), is an independent non-profit organisation, launched in Nairobi in May 2002 and established as a non-profit organisation in Canada. The work of ILEAP is focused on increasing the capacity and participation of development countries in international negotiations. African and Caribbean experts are trained by ILEAP for the negotiations of the economic partnership agreements (EPA) with the European Community. Capacity building is provided by trade professionals from several countries. Website:www.ileap-jeicp.org/

Association Studies Without Borders/Études sans frontières is a more recent nonprofit association, founded in Paris in March 2003 by young French citizens with the support of international personalities, such as Vaclav Havel, former president of Czechoslovakia, who considers education as a guarantee for peace promotion, solidarity and sustainable development. Through Studies Without Borders young people, who are not able to study in their own country due to crisis, can continue and resume their studies in Europe and North America, and go back to their country when the situation permits. A total of 190 students from Chechnya, Congo, Rwanda and Western Sahara benefited from the programs of Studies Without Borders. Website:www.etudessansfrontieres.org

Reporters without Borders/Reporters sans frontières (RSF), is a Paris-based international non-governmental organisation, founded in 1985, to advocate freedom of the press, the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas regardless of frontiers, in accordance with Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. RWB compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organisation’s assessment of their press freedom records. The impartiality of Reporters Without Borders is not universally accepted. Criticisms concern RWB’s funding (a significant amount of funding, 19% of total, comes from certain western governments and organisations), its anti-Castro and anti-Chavez reporting, its methodology in ranking press freedom and the lack of direct understanding of existing laws in ranked countries. Website: www.rsf.org

Sociologists Without Borders was founded in Spain in 2001, as a non-governmental organisation, and has established chapters in Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia, USA, Brazil, and Italy, and others are in formation. Sociologists Without Borders became visible as first professional group that made a critical statement against the United States government unilateral intervention in Iraq. In 2004 and 2005, young sociologists joined the Kibera project, an international effort in support of the welfare and development of a poor slum quarter of Nairobi. Sociologists Without Borders work together with journalists to collect and analyse relevant information for the public. Website: www.sociologistswithoutborders.org

Social Network Boasts Over 600 Members Around the World.

Rotterdam, NL/Stockholm, SWE November 3, 2009 – Women of the African Diaspora website (http://www.WomenOfTheAfricanDiaspora.com) and social network (http://www.BlackWomenUnite.ning.com) is having a birthday complete with gifts for its readers and members.  The website and social network, which celebrates Black women, has visitors and members from across the globe.

“Women of the African Diaspora website and social network continue to grow,” says Sandra Rafaela, Women of the African Diaspora’s co-founder and co-editor. “We are constantly working very hard to improve our website to provide information, inspiration and more for Black women around the world.” Women of the African Diaspora website leverages the global reach of the Internet, social media and widgets to share relevant news, event notices and showcase a wide range of talented Black women including authors, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, and others. And with Black women living on virtually every continent, it certainly has a large and influential market.

“Women of the African Diaspora’s website content strives to be very compelling and shine a positive spotlight on Black women that main stream media far too often ignores,” says Adrianne George, Women of the African Diaspora‘s co-founder and co-editor.  “The number of visitors to the site continues to increase each month, and social networks like Facebook give us a platform to network we didn’t have when starting out. We continue to be the perfect choice for advertisers who want to reach the important market of Black women consumers.”

The year has again been marked with highlights for the Women of the African Diaspora co-editors, with Ms. George’s Black Women in Europe blog (http://blog.blackwomenineurope.com) being a finalist for a 2009 Black Weblog Award for Best International blog as well as being a featured blog on Ebonyjet.com.  “We’ve come so far in just two years,” explains George. “Our social network has over 600 members in North America, Europe, Africa and beyond“. Rafaela explains, “We really enjoy meeting accomplished and positive Black women while providing them with a unique platform for exposure. We’re ready to take on year three.”

Let Adrianne and Sandra know what the Women of the African Diaspora and Social network mean to you to get prizes from their sponsors:https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform formkey=dGhSaFZQOFNRYjUwSERtUDBqTEFLckE6MA

Visit our sponsors! Anniversary gifts are provided by Sheabutter Cottage, Greatness By Design™, Sisay International, Author M.H.A. Menondji, Northwest Scents Natural Black Hair Care, Creating Tomorrow, Simplicity Mastered™, and Donna Elmore’s Send Out Cards. Businesses with products or services for Black women can participate in the anniversary celebrations by purchasing an advertising package for the website and social network at a 20% savings. More information is available at http://womenoftheafricandiaspora.com.

Contact:
Sandra Rafaela sandra@womenoftheafricandiaspora.com
Adrianne George adrianne@womenoftheafricandiaspora.com

Under the High patronage of the First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ms Olive Lembe Kabila.

Continental Women will welcome women from African descent and women from the Diasporas. Theme: The integration of Black Women Resources in the process of economic development and worldwide cooperation.

This historical meeting will provide the opportunity to women of Excellency in all sector of activity, to mentor and inspire young women to fulfil their potential and make impact in nations; to find out about new projects and how to get involved with African and Diasporan.

General presentation

Established in 2003, by Patricia Tseli Faraut, a Cameroonian lady settled in France for 17 years, Africa Femmes Performantes, an African organization is responsible for promoting black women entrepreneurship worldwide by valuing and developing their talents. Africa Femmes Performantes’ responsibility is to associate the voices of African-American women to the construction of specifics bounds between America, Africa and European Diasporas.

“The International Congress of black Women is the First International Congress intended to promote and develop black women entrepreneurship worldwide. Our mission is to collect black talented women who participate actively in the emergence of a new Africa. What constitutes progress? Where are we headed? At a time of major world changes, what forms of progress do black women most need and want? What are our hopes for our future?

How to build a real community of black business women worldwide? This network collects hundreds women from Africa, Caribbean islands, America, Europe, and Asia who lead concrete projects and opportunities in areas such as food-processing industries, Health and Healthiness, Environment, fashion…

This global meeting is an invitation to each of us to discover, celebrate and commit to a more positive Africa through its achievements and potential. Each of us can and must be an actor of this first historical meeting.

ON THE AGENDA!

The Congress will be the moment to challenge conventional thinking, at both a collective and individual level to build specifics bounds between Africa and the Diasporas.

“Africa Femmes Performances’ responsibility to associate the voices of African-American women to the construction of specifics bounds between America, Africa and the Diasporas.

Contribute to modify the negative perception of Africa by Africans, African Americans and neo-diasporan, by emphasizing on the positive achievements in various sectors. To create a global campaign for Africa and the diasporas aimed at mobilizing individuals, sportswomen, artists, institutions, corporations and government in favor of black community.

Get the full dretails on the International Congress of Black Women.

The Black Women in Europe™ Blog is proud to announce that we are a media partner of the World Diversity Leadership Summit Europe taking place in Vienna Friday, March 12, 2010

The World Diversity Leadership Summit-WDLS brings together global diversity CEOs, policy and decision makers, corporate practitioners, academics, media, etc. to share their experiences, research findings, strategies and best practices on global diversity and inclusion.

Founded in 2004 in Prague, Czech Republic, the WDLS has grown to be one of the top annual global diversity conferences in the USA (www.wdlsummit.com). Past speakers have included global CEO’s, authors, educators, journalists, global maestro, lawyers, consultants, government leaders, diversity executives, business executives, and non-profit leaders.

The WDLS–EU summit is designed to provide powerful information and trends on business, research, education, media etc., which relate directly to market trends, global competition, sales and marketing. This conference also provides a forum for face-to-face networking between diversity thought leaders, potential strategic partners, prospects and customers.

The WDLS-EU is taking place from Thursday11th – Friday 12th March 2010 in Vienna, Austria.

WDLS-EU Panels

O Recruiting and Managing Diverse Talent by 2020
O Leveraging diversity in a demographically changing environment
O The hidden power of global supplier and marketplace diversity
O Comparative advantages of changing affinity groups
O Leveraging of European and Global Diversity and Inclusion by 2020
O The power of social networks in corporate recruitment and Retention by 2020

WDLS-EU 2010

WDLS-EU is focusing on regional and global strategies aiming at integrating diversity and inclusion to combat poverty and social exclusion in the “EU year of the eradication of poverty and social exclusion 2010″. Managing an ever aging population and a growing number of ethnic minorities is no doubt one of fhe greatest challenges of the European Union, its institutions and business in the 21. century. What strategies and tools are CEOs, management and the European Union envisaging at regional and global level to ensure equal opportunities through recruiting, managing and retaining diverse talents by 2020?

Sponsorship Opportunities

WDLS- EU provides conference sponsorship opportunities as well as conference event sponsorships. Within the conference, companies can sponsor specific events such as cocktail parties, luncheons, and other social activities – and utilize their own marketing strategies to make them a success and to maximize the sponsor’s recognition. The WDLS –EU conference provides powerful business research, education, and information, which relate directly to market trends, global competition, sales and marketing. This conference also provides a forum for face-to-face networking between leaders, potential strategic partners, prospects and customers. For information on sponsorship and other marketing opportunities, please contact:
Beatrice Achaleke, WDLS Conference Manager, +43 1 9660 425 or diversitysummit@wdls.eu

Call for Speakers

Speakers are still being accepted for review. WDLS-EU-international-call-for-speakers.doc.
Please send your request, along with your press kit, to:
AFRA, Event Office for WDLS-EU,
Pelzgasse 7/1-2, A-1150 Wien

Registration

Registration fee includes participation in the conference sessions, split up sessions, conference materials, meals and both opening and closing receptions. Please make your payments by credit cards! Electronic receipts for registration fee are sent before the conference. For registration fee paid at the conference, receipts will be available at the conference registration desk.

WDLSE registration link

By Joyce van Genderen-Naar
 
On 23, 24 and 25 September 2009 a Thematic Workshop on Gender, Peace, Security and Development ‘, What Can the EU do?, was organised by EuropeAid cooperation office (AIDCO) in cooperation with DG Development and DG External relations in Brussels.

The training was attended by participants from the EU, Kenya, Angola, Botswana, DR of Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Colombia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Kosovo and Ukraine.
 
The main issues discussed were: understanding the impact of conflict on gender roles and relations,  understanding the different ways men and women experience and influence conflict dynamics and peace building, the EU Legal framework and Comprehensive Approach, the United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1325 and 1820 on Women, Peace and Security , EU policies and instruments on women, peace, security and development, EU guidelines on violence against women and girls and combating all forms of discrimination against them, gender dimensions of conflict, Gender and DDR (Demilitarisation, Demobilisation and Reintegration with Liberia as good example), Security Sector Reform (SSR), Justice Sector,  Crisis Management and Gender Based Violence.
 
Violence against women, gender-based violence, is a global problem. At least 1 out of  every 3 women in the world has been beaten, raped, abused etc.  
 
The participants shared and acquired relevant knowledge and skills on gender policies and practices with the aim to incorporate in their work what they learned, linking theory to practice. They discussed the obstacles they encounter working with gender issues. The name and notion of ‘gender’ is an obstacle itself, not understood or wrongly interpreted by many men and women. Gender has to do with equality and equal representation of men and women at all kinds of level in politics, economics, in work and life. Because women are underrepresented at all levels, most attention in gender is given to women, especially to defend women’s rights when they are at stake, in war and conflict situations. The UN Security Resolutions are so important because for the first time in history it is legally recognized that violence against women in war (rape, torture and killing) is a war crime, to be prosecuted in court. That was not possible before. 
 
One of the important recommendations of the Workshop in Brussels was to involve more men  in Gender issues to bring about changes, because “Men listen more to men”. 
 
Gender is a cross cutting issues, that means that in every project and programme of the EC the equal representation has to be addressed. In practice, sanctions stay out, when not addressed.
         
What Gender means in practice was explained during the Workshop by the following true story: Gender perspective on building a bridge.
“A group of men were to be sent to Sri Lanka in order to build a bridge. During one of the Swedish Rescue Service Agency’s pre-operations briefings, gender equality was on the agenda. However, the operation officer did not think that was necessary: “Our task is to build a bridge, we do not need to worry about gender issues”, he said.
The instructor then started to ask questions: “Who is going to use this bridge? “Well, the locals,” the officer answered. “You mean men, women and children?”, the instructor asked. “Well, yes.”
“OK, how do they travel?” “By car mostly”, the officer answered.
“The women too?,” the instructor asked
“No they’ll probably walk,” the officer answered.
“Then maybe you want to consider building a pedestrian zone on the bridge?” the instructor asked. The operation officer could only agree.
“Now, gentlemen, we have just used a gender perspective on building a bridge,” the instructor added.

Liberia: Pray the Devil Back to HellMost impressing was the presentation of Dr. Ruth Caesar from Liberia, who spoke about the role of the Liberian women during and after the war in Liberia, showed by the Film ‘Pray the Devil Back to Hell’ 2008. From 1989 to 1996 one of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars took place in Liberia, claiming the lives of more than 200,000 Liberians and displacing a million others into refugee camps in neighboring countries. Christian and Muslim women in Liberia united to end the war and to bring peace in their country, fed up with 15 years of war and bloodshed. They engaged themselves in the peace negotiations, which resulted in democratic elections and the democratic election of the first female President of Liberia and of Africa: Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. They also engaged in rebuilding of the country through the Demilitarisation, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme in Liberia and the applying of the UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 in a comprehensive way.

Dr. Ruth Caesar is the Deputy Executive Director of this programme in Liberia. She was one of the courageous Liberian women who united to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country. Thousands of women, ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters,  Christians and Muslims, came together every day during many years to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and courage, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Determined to bring dignity and peace back to their country they stood up to Charles Taylor and the warlords. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks.

Their story is a true story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, so impressing, touching and inspiring, that it has been filmed with the help of these courageous women. The film/documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, has won an award and it is an honour for the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations (Fork Films email: info@praythedevilbacktohell.com; website www.PrayTheDevilBackToHell.com )

In order to maintain stability through the post-conflict period, Liberia’s security sector reform efforts have led to the disarmament of more than 100,000 ex-combatants, reconstruction of the Armed Forces of Liberia, and a UN-led effort to overhaul the Liberian National Police. The mandate of UNMIL was extended to September 2009, and a gradual drawdown for several years starting 2008. During this period the Government of Liberia and its development partners will focus on creating jobs, attracting investment, and providing education and other essential services to Liberia’s communities. The Government of Liberia won substantial donor support for its new Poverty Reduction Strategy at the June 2008 Liberia Poverty Reduction Forum in Berlin, Germany. At the Workshop in Brussels Dr. Ruth Caesar made clear that genderbased violence has increased in Liberia the last 10 years. So the work goes on to educate men and women.
 
The Special Court for Sierra Leone was established on January 16, 2002, under an agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone. It was established to try “those who bear the greatest responsibility” for war crimes, crimes against humanity, other serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since November 30, 1996. The Special Court for Sierra Leone is trying Charles Taylor. The trial is taking place on the premises of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Charles Taylor is charged with 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Sierra Leone from November 30, 1996, to January 18, 2002. The Prosecutor alleges that Mr. Taylor is responsible for crimes which include murdering and mutilating civilians, including cutting off their limbs; using women and girls as sex slaves; and abducting children adults and forcing them to perform forced labor or become fighters during the conflict in Sierra Leone.

Brussels, October 2009
Joyce van Genderen-Naar
vangenderen@unicall.be

What does control mean for women?
Who controls you?
What controls you?
When does control happen?
Can you handle any form of control?
Where does control fit in the lives of female professionals?
What keeps you from controlling your own life?
Why control or be controlled?

A conference on control in the lives of women and how women are programmed to deal with control.
This conference aims to help women to focus on different aspects of control in their lives. A team of speakers will provide viewpoints on Women and Control. Each participant will have the opportunity to draw upon the expertise of the speakers through their presentations, question and answer sessions and personal contact.

Keynote speaker on Friday March 5, 2010 - 19.30 – 22.30
Continuing on Saturday March 6, 2010 - 09.00 – 17.00
After Conference Event Sunday March 7, 2010 – 16.00 – 18.00 in Bright World Park, Curaçao

There will as always be informal opportunities to connect with the diversity of experiences of the presenters and participants.

Conference advisor: Norma Angel MM
More info: www.aboutwomenconference.com

MyAfricanDiaspora.com is looking for fiction that is unique, stories with characters they’ll remember, plots that leave them thinking. The contest is open to anyone, any race, any country, any continent. The only caveat? The main character must be of African descent.

Rules
The contest runs from October 1 – December 31, 2009, winner announced February 1, 2010
Entries must be 1500 words or less;
The entry fee is $10 (via paypal or money order payable to DreamDeep LLC.)
Address:
DreamDeep LLC
9360 W. Flamingo Rd.
#110-117
Las Vegas, NV 89147;
Main character must be of African descent;
Story must be previously unpublished.

Submit entries to info @ myafricandiaspora.com, with the words “Short Story Contest: (input genre and name of your short story)” in the subject line. Ex. Short Story Contest: Mystery My Story. Copy & Paste into the body of the email. No attachments.

Be sure to include your contact information and word count with submissions.

There will be one overall winner and one winner from each of the following genres: Literary, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery, Romance (we prefer stories without gratuitous sex or violence)

Prizes
First Place: $500 Genre Winners: $25 Borders Gift Card

Each winner will have their story and a feature article published on myafricandiaspora.com.

The winners and top three entries in each genre will have their short stories published in a short story collection (with royalties) at the end of the year.

For 5 years Sisay Internationals have been active in the natural haircare business. Hair treatments with herbs, oils and clays for healthy strong growing hair. In March of this year Sisay Internationals introduces the concept of “Hairwellness” a concept in which everything that could be damaging for the hair is seen as a taboe.

`I have experienced how treating your hair with natural products and products on natural basis can benefit the health of your hair” says Janine van Throo, founder and owner of Sisay International natural. In the Sisay Wellness Boutique opened earlier this year, woman of color have finally found a place where they can get unique hair treatments with pure, natural herbs, clays and oils.

The clientel of Sisay International is constantly expanding, according to Janine, this is because the wellness boutique offers services that  a lot of people have been looking and waiting for. A place where they can be treated with natural products and a place where people have knowledge of natural / black hair that has not been chemically altered. In the Range of the herbs Sisay carries the recently added ayurvedic herbs and oils such as Amla, Shikakai, Hibiscus, rose and Neem. Ayurveda oils and herbs are being used for centuries now for treating and preventing hair issues such as hairloss, alopeicia, gray hair. But these herbs are also absolutely suitable for one who wants to get healthy strong growing hair.

According to Janine people are getting aware of the damage chemicals can do, so they search for natural alternatives. With these treatments Janine knows for sure she offers something unique that people truly need. She also hopes that this is something more hairdressers would want to offer to their clients. Although we are specialists on treating natural black hair, we do treat other types of hair since the herbs are suitable for all hairtypes, says Janine.

Sisay International – Almere
Janine van Throo
Sisay wellness Boutique
Reguliersdwarsstraat 49-2
1017 BK Amsterdam- Netherlands
Tel:+31 6 29384659
info@sisay.eu
www.sisay.eu

More about Chimamanda Adichie: Click Here

On January the 12th 2004 the business club Black Business Women in the Netherlands (ZZVN), was established to give the entrepreneurship of black women a new impulse. The establishment had a reliable preparation, because of the continually increasing demand of entrepreneur to a congenial platform The ZZVN is already active for more than 9 years in the Netherlands, as a part of the European Federation Black Business Owners (EFBWBO). The election of the Dutch Black Business Woman is one of its highlights. As from 1997 a Dutch Black Business Woman has been appointed. With a network database of more than 5,000 members, both the ZZVN and EFBWBO try to meet up with the European developments, with the objective to organise the black business women, to realise knowledge exchange and economical growth in the Netherlands.

Their next awards dinner is on 10 October 2009.

Black History Month has been celebrated across the UK every October for over 30 years, each year growing from strength to strength. Black History Month is a time when we highlight and celebrate the achievements of the black community and uncover hidden history about our communities.

The BHM site will provide you with a comprehensive guide to all the activities which are taking place throughout Black History Month and keep you updated throughout the year with information relating to Black History, Education, Arts and Culture.
You can visit them through this link: http://www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk/
Highlights of Black History Month 2009 for London, England:

•Black History: Green History Series, British Museum, 17 Oct (free)
Short films, documentaries and talks on climate change, poverty and sustainability in Africa and the Caribbean, plus sustainability awareness in the UK
•Family Day: Black History Month, Sutton House, 25 Oct (free)
Black music, art, food and dance for all the family
•Black History Month Trail, Sutton House, 1 Oct-31 Nov
Follow the trail to learn about the lives of influential black Londoners
•Black History Month – Struggles for Black Community, Rich Mix, 24 Oct
Colin Prescod, Chair of the Institute of Race Relations, presents two seminal documentaries on contemporary Black history plus a Q&A session
•In Conversation with… Diane Abbott, Museum of London, 21 Oct (free)
MP Diane Abbott, the first black woman elected to Parliament, shares her defining memories of London
•The Price of Sweetness, Museum of London, 24 & 27 Oct (free)
Interactive workshop of poetry, rap and sugar bowl-making with rap artist BREIS
•Black History Month – Family Workshops, Imperial War Museum London, 26-30 Oct (free)
Hands-on, drop-in session where you can learn about African, Asian and Caribbean servicemen and women in the Second World War
•Writing Africa: Marking 10 Years of the Caine Prize, British Library, 10 Oct
Celebrate 10 years of Africa’s highest literary award with Booker Prize Winner Ben Okri Brian Chikwava, Chika Unigwe and Binyavanga Wainaina.
•”Here’s One”: Roland Hayes, British Library, 27 Oct
Remembering Roland Hayes: son of former slaves and the first African-American man to gain fame as a classical singer throughout the world, with Michael Harper
•Football Workshop, Westminster Academy, 7 Oct
Talk to professional players and try out your skills, with Paul Canoville, Chelsea Football Club’s first black player, and London Tigers
•Historical Boat Trips, departing from Tate Pier, 13 & 20 Oct
Learn about life in London during slavery on a guided Thames boat tour
•Mary Seacole Play, Beethoven Community Centre, 14 Oct
Cleo Sylvestre performs a play about the life of Mary Seacole, followed by a chance to meet Mary in full costume and ask questions

Get more information from the Visit London website: http://www.visitlondon.com/events/detail/4733701

Contact ZZVN for more information on this year’s October Gala.

African Odysseys Screenings: Playing Away + Introduction by Horace Ové (TBC)

When: Sat 10 October 2009, 14:00
Where: BFI Southbank, SE1, NFT 1
Adm: Matinee tickets £5 (free for seniors)

Inspiring films from the hip-hop youth of Dakar to the cinematic infuence of Spike Lee.

UK 1986. Dir Horace Ové. With Norman Beaton, Robert Urquhart. 100min

In this funny and poignant drama, a West Indian cricket team from Brixton plays an away match against a local team in a suffolk village.

Tickets 020 7928 3232 / www.bfi.org.uk

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An open debate on the Black Arts: “There is a thin line between love and the BLACK ARTS”

When: Thursday 15th October 2009, 7 – 9PM
Where: Original Gallery, Hornsey Library, Crouch End, London N8 9JA
Adm: Free

Artists and creative people from the community are invited to an event presenting solutions to the issues that are facing young and up-and-coming artists who choose a career in the fine arts.

The evening will include a presentation of selective artwork.

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Black British Perspectives: Music

Date: Tuesday 20 October
Time: 2-4pm
Venue: The Venue, Leeds College of Music, 3 Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7PD
Tel:0113 222 3400

http://www.lcm.ac.uk/info/maps.htm

Music and arts critic Kevin Le Gendre asks guests, singer Sheila Chandra and music manager, Kwame Kwaten (formely of D’Influence), how hard have black and other multi-ethnic British artists had to struggle to be recognised over the years, in order to break through in the mainstream on their own terms? Are there still enough Black powerbrokers in the music industry and media to ensure that original Black voices are given a platform to do what they feel is progressive without pandering to expectations from ‘inside’ and outside their own community?

Rsvp by 16 Oct
kadijageorge(at)gmail.com
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Word Power: International Black Literature Festival & Book Fair – Voices of the Diaspora

When: 24th – 25th October 2009
Time: 3-6pm
Where: Ocean, 270 Mare Street, Hackney London E8
Adm: Free

Dozens of Authors, hundreds of readers, thousands of Books. All under one roof.

Featuring leading writers, historians, poets, publishers, distributors, book sellers dealing with African Caribbean literature from all over the world.

Bonnie Greer, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing (author of The Isis Papers), Dr Haki R. Madhubuti (Founder and editor of Third World Press), Nia Reynolds, Paul Ifayomi Grant, Wayne B. Chandler, Dr Marimba Ani, Anthony T. Browder, Sister Nzingha Assata, Jacob Ross, Dr Robinson Millwood, Onyeka, Paul Simons, Nathaniel Agbahowe, Debii Mckoy, Charles Emeka, Anton Marks, Dan Obachike, Dr William ‘Lez’ Henry plus many more.

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Lecture: Dr Frances Cress Welsing

When: 31st October 2009
Time: 6.30 – 10pm
Where: Centreprise, 136 Kingsland High Street, London E8, 2NS
Adm: Tickets £12 adv – £15 on the door

A lecture by Dr Frances Cress Welsing, author of The Isis Papers, the Keys to the Colors

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Not to be outdone by London, Liverpool offers a full schedule of Black History Month events. Here are just two:

Destination freedom

Based upon the true story of William and Ellen Craft, this performance follows their personal journey from enslavement to freedom.

Suitable for all visitors

Dates
Next date : 2pm and 3pm – Sunday 11 October 2009

International Slavery Museum
International Slavery Museum visitor information

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Great African women
The second in a series of three informal Sunday School lectures by Dr Mark Ledwidge, dealing with different aspects of Black heritage, politics and culture.

You do not need to attend all three sessions but places are limited and open to 16s and over. Please email Sam Turner to book a place.

Suitable for adults / seniors

Dates
Next date : 1-3.30pm – Sunday 11 October 2009

International Slavery Museum
Lecture theatre, 4th floor
International Slavery Museum visitor information

View the full schedule for events in Liverpool: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatsonnet/eventseries.aspx?sid=7

Call for sponsors
Adrianne George and Sandra Rafaela, founders of the Women of the African Diaspora website and social network are requesting businesses and individuals who provide products or services of interest to black women to sponsor our 2nd anniversary.
http://www.womenoftheafricandiaspora.com
http://blackwomenunite.ning.com

Benefits to sponsors
During the period 3 September 2008 to 3 October 2009 the WAD website had over 6,000 unique visitors from the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Ireland, Nigeria, India, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, the Philippines, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, China, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Portugal, Greece, Ghana, Brazil, Slovenia, Denmark, Japan, Poland, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Finland, Russia, Romania, Jamaica, Ivory Coast, Suriname, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Sudan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Israel, U.S. Virgin Islands, Malaysia, Lebanon, Senegal, Egypt, Bermuda, Barbados, Uganda, Hungary, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Mexico, Benin, Guadeloupe, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Iran, Bahamas, Colombia, Morocco, the Czech Republic, Bahrain, Vietnam, Oman, French Guiana, Rwanda, Kuwait, Chile, Singapore, Cameroon, Saint Lucia, Ukraine, Mozambique, Venezuela, Argentina, Malta, Peru, Qatar, the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Togo, Antigua and Barbuda, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Croatia, Tunisia, Ecuador, Martinique, Algeria, Malawi, Guyana, Tanzania, Myanmar [Burma], Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Latvia, Nepal, Georgia, Bangladesh, Mayotte, Angola, Jordan, Serbia, Sri Lanka, São Tomé and Príncipe, Zambia, Aruba, Jersey, Cyprus, Cape Verde, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Réunion, Iceland, Uruguay, Gambia, Dominican Republic, Niger, Slovakia and Liberia.

Your business will be advertised in the press release announcing our anniversary, on the WAD website and social network and listed on our partners’ page http://womenoftheafricandiaspora.com/partners/ with your logo linking to your website. As a WAD partner you are encouraged to periodically share information with us to be included on our website.

Deadline and contact information
Please contact us by 2 November 2009 to secure your sponsorship. Email Adrianne with any questions and your offer on adrianne@womenoftheafricandiaspora.com. Include your logo and website address.

The exposition was opened on Friday October 2, 2009 at the Kas di Kultura (Culture House) in Curaçao by Reyna Joe who spoke about the family influence that shaped Gala Lewis Martinus into the artist that she is. Gala is number 6 in a family of 11 children and her parents stimulated her to continue on her artistic path.

This exposition of dolls made from newspapers is the result of Gala Lewis Martinus’ effort to show what can be done with trash. ‘From Newspaper to Elegance’ is her third art exposition. Her first exposition was in 2005 and named ‘Family Connection’. This was an exposition where she and her siblings presented the result of their artistic skills.

In 2008 she and her brother, painter Rudsel held an exposition at the Curaçao Museum with different pieces of themselves and of their students. This third exposition shows a collection of elegant dolls made completely from old newspapers and (to hold them up) seed sticks of the Royal Poinciana.

Gala Lewis Martinus also paints, is specialized in ceramic pieces and prefers to work with recycled materials.
Contact Gala Lewis Martinus at: galamartinus@hotmail.com

Beatrice Acheleke, founder and leader of the Black European Women’s Council was honored at the 2009 World Diversity Leadership Summit this month in Washington, DC. Ms. Acheleke is a mother, executive director of AFRA, a non-profit, non governmental self-organisation and NGO of Black Women with headquarters in Vienna, Austria, and an inspiration to Black women everywhere.

Previous honorees include Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic and leader of the Czech Velvet Revolution against Communist Rule.

The World Diversity Leadership Summit conference is the world’s leading gathering of senior corporate executives, leading experts and policymakers focused on global and local diversity best practices. Conference partners included some of the largest and most respected companies and media outlets n the world.

The Black Women in Europe Blog and Social Network, and Women of the African Diaspora website and social network is proud to know Beatrice and have her as a member of our community! We salute you and congratulate you!

Wanted:
Follow up letters to the book Go, Tell Michelle, African American Women Write to the New First Lady. New submissions are requested from Black women living in Africa, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin American, the Middle East, and South America addressed to Mrs. Michelle Obama.
We are especially interested in your reactions to this historic event in African American history; the public response to Michelle in your community; your perception of how Michelle has changed the image of Black Women around the world; public reaction when she visited your part of the world; your hopes and dreams for the First Lady; treatment of Michelle by the American and foreign press and your fears, cautions and hopes.

Why: Published in the upcoming book Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women in the Global Diaspora.

What: Submissions can be poems, letters, and other prose and should be between 350 -800 words.

When: Your deadline for submission is October 1, 2009. Submit to: uqi@buffalo.edu (Uncrowned Queens Institute). Send questions to pbertram@gmail.com and bnevergo@buffalo.edu

Visit: Go, Tell Michelle Sisterhood Network at GTMsisterhoodnetwork.blogspot.com on http://gtmsisterhoodnetwork.blogspot.com/

The Kings and Queens from Ghana visited the Surinam community in Amsterdam The Netherlands. Surinam is a former colony of the Netherlands. Since 1975 Surinam is independent.

Roots of former Surinam slaves can be found in Ghana.