Follow the frog
In our ongoing quest to find good and exciting advocacy videos, I found this one from the RainForest Alliance.
HT to Susan for the tip!
Showing posts with label activism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label activism. Show all posts
See Rio+20 and die...
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| João Luiz Telles Penetra, one of the two murdered activists |
Almir Nogueira de Amorim and João Luiz Telles “Pituca” Penetra were both leaders of the Associação Homens do Mar. AHOMAR (Association of Sea Men) is an organisation set up in 2009 to defend the rights of the fisher-folk working in Rio de Janeiro, and particularly those affected by the construction of a gas pipeline for Petrobras.
On June 19, both fishermen attended a meeting at Peoples' Summit, a RIO+20 side event in Rio de Janeiro, to discuss the impacts of big projects in the country. Three days later they disappeared.
On June 22, at approximately 4:00pm, Almir Nogueira de Amorim went to João Luiz Telles Penetra’s home in Ilha de Paquetá, a neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, to collect him to go fishing. When they did not return the following day, local fishermen and fire fighters began a search of the Guanabara Bay.
On June 24th, the body of Almir Nogueira de Amorim was found. he was tied to his boat. He had bruises on his neck and the boat had several holes in the hull.
The following day, João Luiz Telles Penetra’s body was found on the banks of Guanabara Bay. Both his hands and feet were tied with a rope.
Almir Nogueira de Amorim was a founding member and vocal activist of AHOMAR. João Luiz Telles Penetra was the leader of the association in Ilha de Paquetá and had been a key figure in a new campaign launched by the organisation. He led the struggle against Petrobras’ construction plans in Guaxindiba river, located within the Área de Proteção Ambiental Guapimirim (Environmental Protected Area of Guapimirim). The oil company wants to deepen the river to create a waterway, which would eliminate any possibility of fishing in these waters.
Since the founding of AHOMAR, the organisation its members have reported being subjected to death threats, physical attacks and killings. According to AHOMAR’s members, the attacks are perpetrated by people linked to death squads, security guards hired by the companies in charge of building pipelines and militias operating in the region.
Almir Nogueira de Amorim and João Luiz Telles Penetra are not the first members of AHOMAR to be murdered. On 19 January 2010, fisherman and human rights defender Marcio Amaro was assassinated one day after a demonstration, organised by AHOMAR, took place in front of the Petrobras headquarters in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Prior to his killing Marcio Amaro had filed a formal complaint concerning the presence of unlawfully armed men in Petrobras construction sites in Guanabara Bay.
On 22 May 2009 Paulo César dos Santos Souza, former treasurer of the association, was killed in front of his wife and children after being shot in the head five times. The crime occurred six hours after a government inspection decided to stop the pipeline construction due to irregularities.
To date no one has been brought to justice for these killings. Even with the high rate of violence in the region of Mauá and all the threats faced by human rights defenders, the only police station covering the region was shut down on 13 February 2012.
Source: CounterCurrents.org Read the full post...
The Red Cross is 150 years young.
A counselor listens to a rape victim at an ICRC-supported "listening house" one of numerous such sanctuaries near the fighting in the DRC where victims can receive medical support and emotional support.
On 24 June 1859, during the War of Italian Unification, Franco-Sardinian forces clashed with Austrian troops near the small town of Solferino in northern Italy. More than nine thousand wounded took refuge in the village of Castiglione, lying dispersed and unattended.
On that day, a gentleman by the name of Henry Dunant, a citizen of Geneva, Switzerland, was travelling in the area. He was shaken by the human suffering, resulting from the war. He mobilized a small army himself. An army of local volunteers, mostly women to care for the wounded, wash and dress their wounds, and to provide shelter and basic food.
In 1862 he published a book entitled "A Memory of Solferino", in which he described the battle and the wounded of the Chiesa Maggiore, concluding with a question:
"Would it not be possible, in time of peace and quiet, to form relief societies for the purpose of having care given to the wounded in wartime by zealous, devoted and thoroughly qualified volunteers?"
That question would set the basic principle of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, which is now to the largest humanitarian network in the world.
Dunant also asked the military authorities of various countries another basic question:
..whether they could formulate "(...) some international principle, sanctioned by a convention and inviolate in character, which, once agreed upon and ratified, might constitute the basis for societies for the relief of the wounded in the different European countries?".
This second question was the basis for The Geneva Conventions.
2009 marks 150th anniversary of the battle of Solferino and the 60th anniversary of the four Geneva Conventions. To put these anniversaries into the spotlight, the Red Cross Movement has launched a campaign, Our World. Your Move, to remind everyone of our individual responsibility to lessen human suffering.
The photography exhibition "Our World at War," scheduled to tour 41 countries, is one of the events of this campaign. Life magazine features several of the pictures.
Picture courtesy Ron Haviv (ICRC - VII) Read the full post...
Happy Mother's Day !
A post dedicated to my wife Tine, knowing it is much easier to be a nutcase (me) than to live with one...
Flowers would have lasted a week. Instead, thought of a present that will last. This picture from our girls is uploaded to WFP's Wall against Hunger.
Happy mother's day, honey!
Mother's Day: A day to honour ALL mums
May 10 is Mother's Day in many parts of the world. A day we give our mum some special attention, often in a way as a "thank you" for what they have passed on to us.
But let's think a bit wider. Mother's Day is an opportunity to honour all mums in the world. And the role of mothers in the world is nowhere as critical as in the developing countries. Let's think of those mothers also, on Mother's day. Think about some of the hard reality they are facing (Source):
- More than 60 percent of chronically hungry people in the world – around 580 million people – are women. (Source: FAO)
- Around 50% of pregnant women in developing countries are anaemic. Lack of iron increases the risk of death of the mother at delivery, accounting for at least 20% of maternal mortality. (Source: Kraemer, K. and Zimmermann, M.B. Nutritional Anaemia, Sight and Life, 2007)
- Women are the world’s primary food producers, yet cultural traditions and social structures often mean women are much more affected by hunger and poverty than men.
- In most developing countries women produce between 60 and 80% of food, but own less than 2% of the world’s titled land. (Source: Rural Development Institute)
- A mother will often be the last to eat – instead saving food for her children and other family members.
This is what I am doing:
- I am putting my mum's picture on WFP's Wall Against Hunger. (update: Here is my mum on The Wall! )
- I am mobilizing my fellow bloggers to put one of these banners on their blog, and to join the viral rally on Bloggers Unite.
- And.. I am putting the word out on my Twitter account
Read the full post...
How green is your Nintendo?
Greenpeace first released their 'Guide to Greener Electronics' in August 2006 and it was recently updated. The guide ranks the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TV's and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change.
Nokia, Sony/Ericsson, Samsung and Toshiba ended on the green top, leaving Nintendo and Microsoft dangling at the lower end of the 'Green Scale'. (Full)
Tony Benn: "People in Gaza would die because of the BBC"
The row over the BBC's decision not broadcasting the aid appeal for Gaza (see my earlier post) is not over yet. Tony Benn takes on the BBC in this video:
Tony Benn is not just anyone: as a former UK Minister of Technology and Secretary of State for Energy, he is the second longest serving member of parliament.
Picks of the week: Microfinancing, monitoring aid and file sharing.
Here are the interesting links I harvested this week:
- Third Sector is a new discovery. A UK on-line publication for everyone who needs to know what’s going on in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector.
- Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a nonprofit organization that creates and evaluates approaches to solving development problems, and disseminates information about what works and what does not to policymakers, practitioners, investors and donors around the world.
- Marginal Revolution goes under the banner "Small steps toward a much better world". It is witty, it is informative, and fun to read.
- AidWatch is a new blog keeping a critical eye on the efficiency of aid.-- Added to the list of "Aid Resources" in the side column.
- For the nerds amongst you: drop.io allows you to share any file, for free. I use it to share .pdf files.
- Wokai is a new startup microfinancing platform where you can fund entrepreneurs in China. An alternative to Kiva?
- Africa Can End Poverty is the blog of Shanta Devarajan, the Chief Economist of the Africa Region at the World Bank. Sounds very formal, but his blog is not. Recommended!!
More Picks of the Week on The Road. Read the full post...
Picks of the week: DoSomething, volunteering and DoodleBuzz.
Here are the interesting links I harvested this week:
- DoSomething.org believes you have the power to make a difference. They want to inspire, support and celebrate a generation of doers: people who see the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action. DoSomething.org lists plenty of projects you can contribute to.
- FeedANeed.org is social media giant Reddit's exploit matching volunteers with non-for-profit organisations in need of volunteering time. Instead of asking for monetary donations, they ask people to donate a few hours of their skills & energy. So if you are a programmer, designer, artist, lawyer, geology professor, bacon cooker, or anyone else with a few hours to spend for a good cause participate in this year's Feed a Need charity drive.
- OnlineVolunteering is the online brokerage by the UN Volunteers. They feature a massive database of specific volunteering jobs anywhere in the world, from online to onsite, from a few hours per month to a few months per year. I did several online volunteering jobs through them.
- If you are interested in volunteering work abroad, then also check NaBuur: an online volunteering platform linking Neighbours with Villages (local communities) in Africa, Asia and Latin America. I integrated this site into my post "So You Want To Be An Aidworker, hey?".
- WikiSky is a wiki for astronomy bluffs. Remember that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy
- Then there is this site which encourages you to send your shoes to Bush "to show what you think of the war mongering administration."
- One Million Acts of Green is a social network with the ambitious goal of getting people to take 1,000,000 acts to make the world a greener planet.
- And last but not least... Have you tried reading the news using DoodleBuzz (see picture above)? Go to their site, click on 'Open DoodleBuzz', in the new window, type in a News search item. And then draw a line by click-dragging anywhere on the screen. Along that line, a number of articles will pop up.
Click and drag on any of the articles, and a summary will appear at the end of the line. With a number of new search items. Click and drag on those, and a new set of articles will appear... Each time you see an article summary, clicking on it, opens up the original news source... This should keep you entertained for a while.
More Picks of the Week on The Road. Read the full post...
Click and make a difference!
Here is a list of sites with causes I care about, where your click can make a difference...
Rumble: Ideas for change in America
You can vote what the next US President should tackle On Day One
Change.org also has a mass initiative where thousands are voting for "Ideas for Change in America". The "Top 10 Ideas for America" will be presented to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day.
Rumble: Gifts with a difference for the Xmas season
Here are some ideas:
The Wall Against Hunger let's you put up a picture of those you love for a donation used to feed a child.
Kiva is no stranger for those who read this blog regularly. They sponsor micro financing projects in developing countries. You can buy a gift certificate online, as a present. Or join our Kiva team and give a donation online!
How about giving a goat to make a difference? Or a water buffalo? Or a lama for those who need it? Heifer let's you do just that.
Social Markets lets you comment and invest in social projects.
Through Plan Canada you can contribute to many different things for the benefit of children in developing countries. From bees in Egypt to goats in Mozambique, school supplies in Sierra Leone to moskito nets in Uganda.
Orphan Lyrics creates and sells licensed, designer apparel featuring song lyrics and donates 100 percent of the profits to children’s charities.
Via the HeroRAT website, you can adopt a rat. Choose between Allan, Chosen One, Kim and Ziko. Not just any rats, as they are all trained for mine detection.
Tip from Betty: Through Haiti Community Support, an NGO based in the US Virgin islands, you can sponsor a child to attend the Renaissance Elementary School in Au Centre (Haiti) for US$1 a day.
Or send a Save Darfur Coalition holiday card to your loved ones, and contribute $25?
Oxfam Unwrapped lets you donate a wide range of xmas gifts for a good cause. From a donkey to books for schoolchildren in Malawi.
Via Julia, we discovered Education Generation. As education is a fundamental right, a powerful force to break the cycle of poverty, and key to building a future of hope and understanding, they allow you to sponsor a child to go school.
Sarah forwarded me the link to Stop Poverty Now, where for $10, you can buy one pixel on a picture, dedicate it to your loved ones, and support the Grameen Foundation, one of the first organisations, proving the effectiveness of micro-financing. Their site also features a section where you can give a meaningful gift for Christmas.
Since in 2000, Room To Read has established over 5,600 libraries in the developing world. During the holiday season, sponsors double your donation.
The Amber Chand Collection features "Global Gifts for Peace and Understanding" supporting women in regions of conflict. They feature baskets made in Darfur and Nepal, bracelets from Afghanistan and Guatemala, bags from Vietnam,...
Ashoka envisions a world where everyone is a Changemaker: a world that responds quickly and effectively to social challenges, and where each individual has the freedom, confidence and societal support to address any social problem and drive change. Through you membership, you will "Be the Change" by joining a network of like-minded individuals, leading social entrepreneurs, and partner organizations that are leading change in the world. How about that for a New Year's resolution, hey?
Christmas Future allows you to choose from many projects to assist, under the form of a christmas gift. (Thanks Johnny - via our discussion forum)
How about starting your own fundraising page, this Christmas, and ask your friends to donate on it? Change.org gives you the social media platform to start raising funds for one of the causes they support. Here is one example. (tip received from Johnny on our discussion forum)
JustGive offers "The GiveNow Card," and Network for Good sells "Good Cards" fueling donations to more than 1 million charities.
One of the oldest sources for "charity Xmas cards" is Charity Gift Certificates, operated by The Special Kids Fund, a US nonprofit that started selling them in 2004. Daniel B. Goodman, president of the fund, hopes to triple last year's $400,000 sales this season.
About 10,000 'Tis Best charity gift cards were sold in 2007, the first year the charity site existed, raising about $380,000 through their website, which enables donations to about 250 nonprofits.
Do you have more ideas? Leave a comment and put the link in. I will update it in this post.
Last update: December 24 2008.
Pictures courtesy Sabrina Quezada (WFP) and the different websites mentioned. Read the full post...
Rumble: Web 2.0 and the choice of aid.
Tomorrow, December 11, is the last day of voting, so hurry!
Rumble: Play to Help
70% of a human being is made up of water. Water is the second most essential element for survival, after oxygen.
Over one billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water; hence, causing them to develop deadly diseases.
One cup of water can make a difference. Free Poverty allows you to donate as many cups of water as you can through an online game. Answer correctly to a question on geography and you donate the cost of "10 cups of water". I donated 347 cups in less than 5 minutes. And you?
PS: Have you tried FreeRice? How many cups of rice did you donate today? Read the full post...
News: On World AIDS Day, 8,000 will die.
While the global percentage of adults living with HIV has leveled off since 2000, 33 million people are still living with the virus.
Every day, 8,000 people die of AIDS, and 7,500 more get infectioned.
End it is not just a medical issue, AIDS is also the cause of a larger and longer term social problem. Just as an example, by 2010, 18 million children will be orphans due to AIDS. (Full)
This post is part of the Bloggers Unit Against AIDS Campaign.
Rumble: The Wall Against Hunger
My girls are part of the Wall Against Hunger. Are your loved ones too?
Rumble: Change Starts Here - The Score Card
Our project score card moved to this post on our Have Impact! blog.
Read the full post...Rumble: Today, Bloggers Unite for Refugees
Kosovo, June 1999.
Richard, Alf and I are standing on a mountain pass, at the border crossing between Albania and Kosovo. The view is breathtaking. It is part of a movie, projected in 360 degrees around us. Better than a movie.
A massive flow of people. Each with their own horror story to tell, moving steadily back to their homes. Homes they fled a couple of months ago after Serb militia and special forces wrecked their lives, burnt their crops, raped their mothers and daughters, killed their brothers, sons and fathers. As the stream of people comes the mountain pass, they see the same scenery as I do. I wonder what goes on inside them.
(Passage from Scene of War, a chapter from my Ebook)
More on The Road about refugees, activism and Kosovo
Change Starts Here - The Road's Social Project
I am an aid worker. Like many of my colleagues, I often feel inadequate, unfulfilled as I don't "do enough". Enough to make a difference. Enough to make a real change in the world.
And yet, I do believe that the world can be made a better place. While I strongly believe change is a social movement, creating a social conscience, I am also convinced the change starts from within. Within each individual.
I want to start with me. And those around me: my friends, my colleagues, my family and those of you who read "The Road to the Horizon" regularly.
This is one of the reasons I started this blog, The Road. Not only to share my experiences, but also to make people aware of social issues. And to make people aware of "the work in progress", the work to "make this world a better place".
But talk is not enough. Now is the time to start doing something. And what better time than now, at the start of the "Season of Giving". Would we not want to do away with the unwanted presents this year, and use that money for a good cause?
So here's the background of my plan:
1/ "Change" starts within the individual, both in those that give and those being assisted. I want to concentrate the assistance on the individual, not on an organisation or institution.
2/ I truly believe in the power of micro-financing, a "poverty relief mechanism" which came into the spotlight when Bangladeshi economist Professor Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his micro-credit pioneer work.
3/ It is a fact that when women and girls earn an income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man. (Source: The Girl Effect, quoting Woman Empowered: Inspiring Change in the Emerging World. See also this FAO report)
4/ Thus, combining the above, I want to "invest" money, on a strictly not-for-profit basis, in individual initiatives by women in the developing world, through a controlled micro financing scheme.
5/ I am intrigued by the work of Kiva, a not-for-profit organisation, the world's first person-to-person micro-lending organisation. Through their website, Kiva enables individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. Anyone can look up a person in the developing world who needs some start-up or investment funds (screened by local micro-financing organisations), and give them an interest-free loan.
Once the loan is paid back, the lender can redraw his/her money, or re-invest it in another individual. There is no overhead, all funds go directly to the person requesting for the loan.
Here is what we will do:
1/ I have set up a lending team on Kiva, through which I will encourage people to contribute to several projects. You can track the loans here.
2/ To kick things off, I made a loan of US$100 (80 Euro) to "Danaya", a group of seven women in the Hamdallaye district in the city of Koutiala, Mali. (check this post for details).
3/ With a group of colleagues, we will arrange for a series of small local social events in which each of us, in turn, will cook a dinner. Each participant will pay 20 Euros (about US$25), which we will invest through The Road's lending team in some of Kiva's selected micro-businesses set up by women.
Update Nov 4th: Collected US$150 on the first one! Check this post.
4/ From November 1 until December 31 2008, I contributed US$1 for every comment left on this blog post. Each dollar was invested as a loan in a Kiva project through The Road's lending team.
Update: US$67 was collected by Dec 31.
5/ I will actively make publicity for this project on "The Road to The Horizon" and regularly report on its status. You can follow the progress of our project via our score card.
6/ You can also contribute through my PayPal account (to get the details send me an email via peter (a) theroadtothehorizon (dot) org), or register with Kiva, and contribute directly. Attribute your donation to the lending team "The Road". Drop me an Email when you contribute, so I can track the total donations.
Be the change you want to see, starting now!
Picture courtesy WFP (M.Sayagues) Read the full post...
News: Non-profit organisations listed on the stock market: IPOs for charity
These days, stockmarkets stand out in only one thing: they crash like there is no tomorrow.
However, here is something different. In many ways.
The Canadian Women's Foundation (CWF), a national public foundation dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls, took its shares to the stockmarket. They are now offering an Immediate Public Opportunity (IPO) to take stock in the future of girls.
CWF will use the capital to make a three-year investment in 15 Canadian programs for disadvantaged girls. There is no financial but rather an "ethical" return for the investors. (article in the press)
What do you think? Is this the way charity should go to raise funds for their cause? Or is this a mere publicity stunt? Should the UN put out an IPO on the stock market to be able to reach the Millenium Development goals?
Your views in comments are welcome!
More on The Road about fundraising and activism.
Story discovered via Change! and For Those Who Want to Know
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Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order.
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