CLIMATE CHANGE SURVIVAL STRATEGIES SHARED THROUGH FILM

8 September 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Four indigenous Madagascan farmers are turning their struggles with climate change into film, with the hope that their stories will aid others facing similar challenges. Recurrent droughts have left the land of southern Madagascar parched and barren, and the Antandroy, the region’s indigenous population who are largely dependent on the land for their livelihoods, have been impacted most drastically. Vola, a widowed farmer with nine children, says in Our Fight Against the Dunes, “At this time, I don’t know how to talk about [the lack of rain], but sit and wait on God alone. In the field we don’t do much but weed and keep it up in case it rains, then if it does we’ll try to buy some kapoake of seed to plant…if the rains come we’ll put in sweet potatoes, but if there’s no rain then we’ll just sit around.” The four films grew out of a project instituted by Panos, a nonprofit organization dedicated to using media to channel the voices of marginalized communities. Members of the Antandroy community took part in a six-day workshop where they honed life story interviewing skills and then set out to document the struggles of their communities. Valentina Bau, spokesperson for Panos, told MediaGlobal that the films are just the beginning of the project. “We will have more life stories from Madagascar and Mozambique in the coming months,” she said. Radio programmes of participant testimonies will also be broadcast for Madagascar audiences. Participants named the project “Hepa”, from an acronym of a Malagasy saying, “Proclaim what is in your heart.”

WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME INCREASES AID IN THE PHILIPPINES

7 September 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: In response to a request from the Philippine Government, The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced late last week it would provide increased food aid to individuals displaced by fighting in southern Mindanao. Overall, the WFP is delivering about 1,000 metric tons of rice to more than 220,000 civilians displaced by the ongoing fighting between Philippine Government troops and forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. WFP Philippines Country Director Stephen Anderson told MediaGlobal, “WFP, through its ongoing Emergency Operation ‘Immediate Support to Conflict-affected Populations in Mindanao,’ which will be active until June 2009, will continue to provide life-saving food support to the internally displaced as well as targeted food support to other conflict-affected communities through food-for-education, food-for-work and food-for-training, and mother and child health interventions to help restore community assets, infrastructure and livelihoods.” The WFP was quick to respond to the request for increased aid because it has approximately 40 staff in the immediate vicinity of the conflict zone in Mindanao, who have been able to assess the most affected areas with help from the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, provincial authorities, the Bansamoro Development Agency and NGOs. In terms of long-term support, the WFP is working to more carefully assess the future needs of displaced populations, such as help rebuilding their livelihoods, and is a member of the Mindanao working group, a multi-donor working group that is working with the Mindanao Economic Development Council to discuss long-term relief and rehabilitation. “However,” Anderson said, “this support is contingent upon resources being available.”

NEW VACCINE AGAINST MENINGITIS INTRODUCED IN AFRICA’S “MENINGITIS BELT”

7 September 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The introduction of a new meningitis vaccine was announced Thursday aimed at protecting more than 250 people in the “meningitis belt” in sub-Saharan Africa by 2015. Health ministers from 25 countries, from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, that make up the “meningitis belt” met at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 58th Regional Committee for Africa, held from 1-5 September, and adopted the Yaoundé Declaration, in which they agreed to introduce the new vaccine when it becomes available. Meningitis Vaccine Project Director Dr. Marc LaForce told MediaGlobal, “In terms of the organism that this vaccine is directed against, it should be completely preventative for this disease,” but the vaccine must still be accompanied by surveillance measures to ensure it is doing its job. The Yaoundé Declaration not only calls for the new meningococcal A conjugate vaccine to be administered to roughly 250 1 to 29 year-olds and 23 infants in the countries of the “meningitis belt,” but it also holds countries responsible for making adequate amounts of the current meningococcal polysaccharide vaccines available to respond to the epidemic, according to a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) press release. The availability of the current vaccines is important because the new vaccine only prevents people from group A meningococcus meningitis outbreaks, which are responsible for the majority of the deadly outbreaks, but it does not protect individuals from group C or W135 strains of the disease. The vaccine, which costs 40 cents per dose, “will be provided free of charge for everybody,” said LaForce.

PECDAR’S BUILDING SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN BENEFITS PALESTINE’S OVERCROWDED CLASSROOMS

5 September 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The Palestinian Economic Council for Development Reconstruction (PECDAR), an independent organization dedicated to strengthening institutional structure and human resource capacity through economic and social plans in Palestine, is concentrating its efforts and interests on a Palestine’s Crowded Desks Building Schools Campaign. “The biggest problem that is facing the Palestinian school system is that there are not sufficient classrooms to accommodate the yearly growth of the new students. There is no problem with having enough staff or qualified teachers, or classroom furniture or equipment. The problem is that there are not enough classrooms,” Dr. Hisham Shkoukani, Assistant Deputy Minister at PECDAR, told MediaGlobal. Palestinian society is characterized by high population growth. More than half of the population is under 15 years old with an urgent need for schools with increased capacity. Schools in the West Bank and Gaza Strip run two to three shifts per day to accommodate the overflow of students. Data shows that there are currently 37 children per elementary school class and 30 per secondary school class. In the camp areas, these numbers invariably double up. PECDAR is creating initiatives aimed at mending this problem forcing the Palestinian school system into crisis. “These initiatives construct new school buildings and additional classrooms onto existing schools all over the West Bank, Gaza, villages, and also in refugee camps,” said Dr. Shkoukani. Approximately 90 percent of this construction is financed from donor countries such as Germany, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.

UNEP AND GOOGLE BRING CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT TO YOUR LIVING ROOM

4 September 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Beginning this week, people anywhere can virtually visit the world’s most dramatic and changing climates all over the world just by clicking a button. Thanks to a new program from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Google Earth viewers can log-on to see remarkable before-and-after photos of changing climates. Additionally, they can explore the development of cities and regions through 3-D satellite images. “The Google Earth platform provides an excellent outreach to the UNEP content to global audiences with over 300 million worldwide users,” Regional Coordinator for UNEP Division of Early Warning and Assessment-North America, Dr. Ashbindu Singh told MediaGlobal. This is just the beginning for UNEP’s “Atlas of Our Changing Environment.” “As a part of UNEP mandate to keep the state of world environment situation under review, we have a programme in place for continuous monitoring and look for new environmental hotspots and also update old hotspots with new data sets as and when they become available,” according to Dr. Singh. “UNEP has immediate plans to develop a National Atlas for Kenya and Regional Atlases for Latin America and Caribbean region and West Asia.” And that’s not all. UNEP’s program has been designed in a way that is conducive for educational use in a classroom or boardroom: “All the materials, including Powerpoints, are made available, free of charge, through our website,” Dr. Singh said.

LIFE EXPECTANCY DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU LIVE

4 September 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: A girl living in Japan can expect to live 42 years more than a girl living in the African country of Lesotho. “Our children have dramatically different life chances depending on where they were born,” state the authors of a new report released by the World Health Organization (WHO). But this sad tale also exists within countries – not just between them. “Within countries, the differences in life expectancy are dramatic and are seen in all countries – even the richest. The balance of poverty and affluence may be different in low-income countries, but it is still true that the more affluent flourish and the less affluent do not,” the authors explained. But why is it that a girl in Japan will live for many more years than a girl in Lesotho? One problem is the lack of access to health care, which continues to plague African society. “In the typical African country, the government spends $10 per capita per year on health care,” John Bongaarts, Vice President of the Population Council, told MediaGlobal. But the lack of access to health care is only a small part of the puzzle. Where a person is born, lives, works and ages is a factor that contributes heavily to the loss of life. According to the authors, the reasons for this gross disparity in life expectancy within and between countries are, in short: bad policies, economics and politics.

TEACHERS KEY TO EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS IN AFGHANISTAN

2 September 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The return of girls’ to the classroom has been long overdue in Afghanistan. Now it’s happening. Since the fall of the Taliban, educational access for all is becoming a reality. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), by the end of 2002, the number of children attending school stood at three million. In April of this year, it was more than double that. “We are glad to have witnessed over 6.2 million children returning to school a month ago, some of them for the first time, a joy for the families and also for us,” said Catherine Mbengue, UNICEF Country Representative in Afghanistan. And yet, more of such victories desperately need to be won. “We still have 1.2 million girls of school age who do not have access to schools,” Mbengue maintains. One reason why many children do not go to school is the lack of teachers. Effective teacher training is an essential key to the problem, and Aid Afghanistan for Education (AAE) has been emphasizing it. In July 2005, the non-profit organization launched a teacher-training program, where teachers are given academic and theoretical training. Under the supervision of Nebraska University and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education, 116 teachers have passed the program so far. “Most students want to become teachers so there is no need for additional encouragement,” Hassina Sherjan, founder of AAE, told MediaGlobal.

UN-APCICT TO CLOSE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN AFGHANISTAN

29 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The Afghan Government and the United Nations signed an agreement promoting the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to bridge the digital divide between those who benefit from technology and those who are without access. The Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communications Technology for Development (UN-APCICT), a subsidiary body of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), will partner with the Afghan government to strengthen national ICT capacities and provide necessary information and skills. This will be carried out by the UN-APCICT’s Academy Programme. “The Academy Programme is targeted at policy makers and government officials in developing and implementing ICT-based applications at the national level. The 8 modules of Academy will be used to provide training for policy makers and parliamentary members in Afghanistan. We have specific requests from Afghanistan to provide training covering all 8 modules which include: Linkage between ICT Applications and Development, ICT for Development Policy, Process and Governance, e-Government Applications, ICT Trends for Government Leaders, Internet Governance, Network and Information Security and Privacy, ICT Project Management in Theory and Practice, and Public-Private Partnerships in ICT for Development,” Hyeun-Suk Rhee, Director of the UN-APCICT, told MediaGlobal. This marks the Academy’s first application at the national level. It is expected to begin in early 2009.