Communiqué de presse 30 décembre 2010, Centre Jeunes Kamenge

Et nous voici à la fin de cette année, une année vécue au nom de la paix au Burundi, dans les Quartiers Nord et cela parmi les jeunes et les adultes à travers un projet soutenu par beaucoup de gens ; le Centre Jeunes Kamenge.

Et nous terminons avec un événement populaire ; deux courses à vélo, l’une pour les filles avec 35 inscrites et l’autre pour les garçons avec 167 personnes sur la liste. Cette course avait un parcours de 13 kilomètres de route goudronnée en passant dans les Quartiers de Kamenge, Kinama, Cibitoke, Ngagara. Entre deux ailes d'une foule joyeuse, les partisans de l'une ou l’autre participant. Le départ au a été effectué au Marché de Kamenge tandis que l’arrivée avait comme lieu le Centre Jeunes Kamenge, avec beaucoup de simplicité pour le dépouillement, la remise des prix, le chronométrage ainsi que tous les aspects techniques. Pour le groupe des filles les gagnantes pour la première et la deuxième place étaient Mpawenimana Francine et Butoyi Josélyne, toutes les deux de la Commune Kinama. Pour les garçons, les deux gagnants étaient Niyomana Jean et Manirakiza Bonaventure en provenance respective de Buterere et Kinama.

Ces derniers jours, de nombreux autres activités et événements ont eu lieu ; des spectacles, le boum sèche, le concert de fin d’année auquel ont pris part tous les artistes du Centre, trois orchestres, deux groupes de théâtre, le groupe d'acrobates et les 3 groupes de rap, parmi les dix existants. Nous avons terminé le tournoi de football des écoles primaires dont les trois premières équipes étaient de la Commune Kinama, et maintenant nous sommes en train de terminer les préparatifs afin de commencer les tournois de football et de basket-ball filles qui verront 36 écoles participantes pour le premier et 19 pour le second. Ces effectifs étant fixés sur un total de 51 écoles secondaires qui collaborent avec le Centre Jeunes Kamenge.

Sur le plan du futur et plus précisément au début du second trimestre de l’année scolaire, il y aura aussi le début de la distribution des paquets scolaires et le paiement des frais pour les bénéficiaires du programme AGSP financé par l’AED, une organisation américaine. Avec le soutien de la FAO, nous continuons aussi la distribution des semences de riz, des légumes et de papayers pour les Associations pratiquant l’agriculture. Il y a néanmoins d’autres aspects qui ne marchent pas trop: par exemple le départ de la Communauté des Sœurs qui était déjà réduite à trois personnes seulement, la maladie de Dona (la responsable du projet des Associations), le manque chronique des fonds pour couvrir les temps morts des nos différents projets avec les bailleurs internationaux, la rupture des machines et des structures entraînée par leur âge ou des coupures répétitives d’électricité.

Mais quand même nous sommes à la fin de l’année. Nous voudrions exprimer notre gratitude à tous ceux qui nous ont aidés. Misereor, Développement et Paix, Manos Unidas, la Fondation Vismara, la Caritas Italienne, la Conférence Episcopale Italienne, l’AED, Ifa-Zivik, la Coopération Française, l’Ambassade d’Allemagne, la Coopération Suisse, les 4 groupes italiennes et suisses qui nous suivent de près, Parma et Piacenza pour les Jeunes Kamenge Centre, Tessin pour le Burundi et Chei de Meanarul et beaucoup d'autres amis qui s’autofinancent pour nous aider à poursuivre notre travail. A tous un grand merci, et on vous tend encore la main. Aidez-nous encore. Que l’an 2011 soit pour tous une année de paix et d'espoir.

Centre Jeunes Kamenge

Bujumbura, Burundi, 30/12/2010

Claudette Werleigh, Envoy of Peace

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for – the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11)

Pax Christi International is exceedingly grateful to Claudette Werleigh for her generous service to our movement as Secretary General. Claudette’s deep faith in the possibility of a peaceful world; her support for member organizations around the world, her sensitive approach to complex political situations and her commitment to nurturing the spirituality and theology of peace have blessed our movement and given Pax Christi an important legacy. Her conviction that peace is rooted in social justice has strengthened our efforts on behalf of human dignity.

We are very pleased that Claudette has agreed to serve as Pax Christi International Peace Envoy, bringing her ample diplomatic skills and experience to our common work for peace and reconciliation.

Pax Christi has been enriched in these years by Claudette’s spirit and many gifts. We wish her Godspeed in the next steps on her journey.

Mons. Kevin Dowling and Marie Dennis, Pax Christi International co-Presidents

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“La Foi est l’assurance des choses espérées – la conviction des choses non-vues.” (Hébreux 11)

Pax Christi International est extrêmement reconnaissante à Claudette Werleigh pour son service généreux au sein du mouvement comme Secrétaire Générale. La foi profonde de Claudette en un monde de Paix, son soutien aux organisations membres du monde entier, son approche sensible de la complexité des situations politiques et son engagement à sustenter la spiritualité et la théologie de la Paix ont béni notre mouvement et laissé à Pax Christi un héritage conséquent. Sa conviction est que la Paix enracinée dans la justice sociale a renforcé nos efforts pour la dignité humaine.

Nous sommes heureux que Claudette ai accepté de servir comme ambassadrice de Paix pour Pax Christi International, et ai ainsi mis son expérience et ses multiples talents de diplomate au service de notre travail pour la Paix et la réconciliation.

Pax Christi ressort, après ces années, enrichi de l’esprit et de l’habileté de Claudette. Nous lui souhaitons une bonne continuation entre les mains de Dieu pour les années à venir.

Monseigneur Kevin Dowling et Marie Dennis, co-présidents de Pax Christi International

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“La Fe es como aferrarse a lo que se espera, es la certeza de cosas que no se pueden ver.” (Hebreos 11)

Pax Christi International está extremadamente agradecido con Claudette Werleigh por su inmenso y generoso servicio a nuestro movimiento, como Secretaria General. La profunda fe de Claudette en la posibilidad de un mundo en paz, su apoyo a organizaciones miembro alrededor del mundo, su enfoque sensible a las situaciones políticas complejas y su compromiso por promover una espiritualidad y una teología de paz ha bendecido nuestro movimiento y ha dejado a Pax Christi un importante legado. Su convicción de que la paz radica en la justicia social ha fortalecido nuestros esfuerzos por la dignidad humana.

Nosotros/as estamos muy complacidos de que Claudette haya aceptado servir a Pax Christi como su Enviada de Paz, brindando sus habilidades en el campo de la diplomacia y su experiencia a nuestro trabajo común por la paz y la reconciliación.

Pax Christi se ha enriquecido estos tres años con el espíritu y muchos dones de Claudette. Le deseamos la mejor de las suertes en los próximos pasos de su caminar.

Mons. Kevin Dowling y Marie Dennis, Pax Christi International co-Presidentes

Pax Christi's Contribution to European Youth Forum's Latest Edition of "Development Needs Youth"

Open publication - Free publishing - More development

Link to PCI Youth's Year End Newsletter

CLICK HERE to read the latest newsletter!

Communiqué de presse - Centre Jeunes Kamenge

Encore un dimanche après-midi de musique : c’est le concours de Rap des Quartiers Nord 2010, sur le thème de la liberté d’expression et d’opinion. 20 groupes inscrits, 15 sélectionnés.

Avec une foule de 3000 spectateurs, au Centre Jeunes Kamenge nous avons pu nous amuser et aussi réfléchir grâce aux textes proposés. Les événements qui se passent dans le monde nous poussent à être actifs sur ces thèmes. Malheureusement la pluie est arrivée juste quelques minutes avant la fin de la remise des prix. Voilà les trois premiers groupes : New Buja Boys, The Little Gangsters of ACNV, The Light Stone. La Télévision Nationale et la Télé Renaissance étaient avec nous. Les prix donnés étaient constitués de radios, de baffles, du matériel scolaire,… C’était un très bon spectacle. Demain il y aura la finale du Tournoi de Football des Ecoles Primaires. Un tour de force pas très simple : 38 équipes, 3 semaines, 41 matchs, 8 terrains, 30 arbitres, 20.000 spectateurs…Les quatre équipes finalistes sont l’Ecole Primaire de Kinama I, l’Ecole Primaire Kinama II, l’Ecole Primaire Kinama IV et l’Ecole Primaire Sainte Famille, toutes de Kinama. Les équipes disqualifiées pour n’avoir pas suivi le règlement sont au nombre de 6. Cette finale nous amènera au commencement de toute une série d’activités pour les fêtes proches : concert de fin d’année, courses en vélo pour les filles et les garçons sur 10 kilomètres de route dans les Quartiers Nord (Kamenge, Kinama, Cibitoke, Ngagara), le boum sèche, 3 jours de projection de documentaires sur le Centre et sur le Burundi,…

Dans cette période proche de Noël, là où on est plus ouverts, là où on pense beaucoup aux autres peut être que certains penserons à nous. On ne sait jamais, au cas où vous voudriez nous faire des cadeaux, vous pouvez nous contacter afin de vous passer nos coordonnées.

Bujumbura-Burundi, 12/12/2010

Pax Christ MO Youth in Burundi - Centre Jeunes Kamenge

PRESS RELEASE FOR YEAR'S END AT CENTRE JEUNES KAMENGE
TO TRANSLATE CLICK THE TRANSLATE TOOL BAR ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THIS BLOG; OR CLICK HERE TO PASTE THE TEXT

FOCUS

Encore une fois le Centre est un lieu où on dédie notre attention pour un problème très grave : le SIDA. Le 1 décembre est une journée de réflexion sur ce thème, au niveau international.

Au Centre, nous avons décidé de fêter cette journée aujourd’hui, le 28 novembre afin de pouvoir se rencontrer et passer quelques moments en pensant aux malades du SIDA du monde entier. Pour cette occasion, nous avons organisé un grand concert avec Steven Sogo et son orchestre ainsi que quelques Clubs Stop Sida des Quartiers Nord. Devant un public de 3000 spectateurs, nous avons assisté à des performances de théâtre, musique, poèmes, messages, danses… Grâce à l’aide de la télévision et des journalistes, le message sera répandu aussi ailleurs.

En plus de ça, nous avons des activités que nous sommes en train d’effectuer pour continuer à mettre ensemble les jeunes de Bujumbura et les jeunes des Quartiers Nord. Nous sommes en train de faire un tournoi de foot avec 38 équipes sur les 51 écoles Primaires des Quartiers Nord. Le tournoi qui est suivi avec beaucoup d’enthousiasme par les enfants des écoles prendra fin le 13 décembre. Un concours de chansons « live » est prévu le 5 décembre avec la participation de 8 groupes et orchestres. Ce portera le thème « la paix et réconciliation ». Le 12 décembre sera réservé aux 15 groupes Rap qui se retrouveront dans un concours avec comme pour thème « la liberté d’expression ».

Au cours de cette période, nous mettrons fin à une phase d’un projet de Misereor en mettant à la disposition de toutes les écoles primaires et secondaires des Quartiers Nord 3 ballons. Un autre projet qui tend vers sa fin est celui que nous avons mis en place pour les 16 Communautés Religieuses (catholiques, protestantes et musulmanes) en collaboration avec la Coopération Suisse à travers le don matériel et la possibilité pour les animateurs de ces communautés d’œuvrer sur plusieurs sujets dont théâtre, l’écriture, le civisme, la musique, la coupe couture,… Nous venons de terminer aussi une deuxième partie d’un projet d’informatique 2010, cette fois-ci avec l’appui de Spagnolli de Trento (Italie) pour remettre en marche plusieurs ordinateurs pour l’apprentissage, le cyber, les bureaux du Centre. Un documentaire qui nous concerne, « Kamenge Northern Quarters », réalisé par Manu Gerosa et Salva Munoz a gagné le deuxième prix du festival du documentaire de Vancouver. C’est un documentaire qui parle des Quartiers Nord, des politiciens et du Centre Jeunes Kamenge. Un groupe d’amis canadiens de Développement et Paix a vécu durant deux semaines au Burundi pour visiter leurs partenaires de cette organisation (y compris le Centre) et leurs projets. Ils ont logé au Centre et la logistique a été mise en marche avec succès.

Voilà un petit aperçu de la vie au Centre dans cette période de fin d’année. Toujours en marche pour préparer les futures générations pour le pays.

Centre Jeunes Kamenge
Bujumbura-Burundi, 28/11/2010

Pax Christi Youth in the Phillipines - Global Report

Pax Christi-Miriam College is active in education and advocacy work. In the Year 2010, it put up exhibits and organized forums during the Global Week of Action against Gun Violence, International Humanitarian Law Day, International Day of Peace , the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the Mindanao Week of Peace.

This week, which is the Mindanao Week of Peace, the group is spearheading the selling of rice porridge for a cause. They were able to sell approximately two thousand tickets for this purpose. They dubbed this activity “Rice Porridge for Peace”. Proceeds of the project will go to Miriam College’s twin school in Pikit Cotabato-the Rajah Muda High School - a public school attended by Muslims. Miriam College is a Catholic school for girls. The purpose of the twinning is to help build bridges of understanding between peoples of different faiths and culture.

Read more about the group on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

Pax Christi: Give gift of prayer for peaceful Bethlehem Christmas!

This Advent, we remember Bethlehem, where Christians have revered the place of the Christ Child's birth for the last two thousand years. They are the so-called living stones of the Church in the Holy Land. They are the men and women native to this land who have faithfully carried on Christ’s mission and witness through conflict and strife through so many ages.

In a sign of solidarity and encouragement to our fellow Christians in the land of Jesus’ birth, the international Catholic peace organization, Pax Christi, has organized a “prayer and good wishes” campaign to celebrate Advent and Christmas with the Christian community in Bethlehem. Anyone can be a part of it! All you need is a computer and the internet and you can give the gift of prayer and hope to someone who needs it most…

Tracey McClure spoke to the Senior Policy Advisor for the international Catholic peace organization Pax Christi, Fr. Paul Lansu about the initiative, on its 11th year. He explains how you can send your prayer of peace to the Holy Land's Christians!

CLICK HERE

SHARE THE STORY: Volunteering for the MDGs

Dear volunteers, colleagues, friends, and partners,

Today we are starting a global discussion (www.facebook.com/unvolunteers) to Share the Story about volunteering to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We can meet the Goals, but only if we complement essential government action with the engagement of millions of people through volunteer action. Already, individuals are contributing their expertise; communities are taking steps to improve their lives; and decision makers are increasingly realizing the value of volunteerism. These stories don’t make the news, but they are changing the world. We invite you to join volunteers and others in the volunteer movement as they share their experiences and challenges in tackling some of the world’s big issues related to environment, hunger, education, maternal health and HIV/AIDs.

The discussion we start today on www.facebook.com/unvolunteers will culminate in a 24-hour, online film festival (4 December) that will showcase the best video stories we have received from volunteers, communities, civil society, non-governmental organizations and United Nations partners. We are extremely grateful to the UNV volunteers filming in around 30 countries who have volunteered to be a part of this initiative. Their diverse stories will give us a unique insight into the daily realities of volunteering. To enable a truly inclusive discussion, along with their stories, we also invite other colleagues and partners to share stories of their own. We welcome these contributions, both as final video pieces and as part of the online discussion.

The festival will run for 24 hours, so that no matter where you are in the world you can participate. To celebrate International Volunteer Day (IVD), on 5 December 2010, a number of UNV field colleagues will also showcase the films and the discussion as part of their events.

But the story does not stop with the last film of the festival. As with all the best stories, it will inspire debate and dialogue next year when we mark the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10) and continue all the way to 2015, the globally-agreed deadline for achieving the MDGs. It is your collective contribution to this global initiative that we start today which will enable substantive dialogue on how volunteering is changing our world, for the MDGs, for each other and for our future.

It's your story, it's our story, so let's share it.

Join the discussion and Share the Story today.

Flavia Pansieri
Executive Coordinator
United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme


Campaign Contacts:

About the campaign: sharethestory@unvolunteers.org
About the videos: video@unvolunteers.org

Share the Story
Visit www.facebook.com/unvolunteers

Phone: +49(0)2288152220

Pax Christi International Youth attends historic conference on cluster munitions in Laos

The "First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention of Cluster Munitions" will be held in Vientiane, Laos PDR from 9-12 November. Pax Christi International Youth will be represented by Pax Christi’s International disarmament Officer Stijn Van Bever, who will participate in the Youth Leaders Forum of Mines Action Canada.

On August 1 the ban on cluster munitions entered into force. The convention on cluster munitions defends countries that ratified the convention to use cluster munitions, to manufacture or to invest in the production of these weapons and obliges them to destroy the remaining stock. The ban on cluster munitions is regarded as a historical moment of the year long campaign by the Cluster Munitions Coalition, an international coalition of actors from the civil society. Pax Christi International was a founding member of the Cluster Munitions Coalition.

The ban on cluster munitions is an historical step in the campaign against this terrible weapon. While this restriction is not globally applicable, it will make countries that would use the weapon more reluctant. The actual situation is not an ending point: large countries and major arms producers like the U.S., Russia or China have not yet signed the convention. Many countries that signed the convention have not yet ratified it. Moreover, there are still funds and commercial entities that are investing in companies that manufacture these weapons.

This meeting will lay the foundation for future engagement on the Convention by bringing together for the first time States Parties to the treaty, UN agencies, international organizations, civil society, and cluster bomb survivors. States will share progress and plans for implementation, with the aim of drawing up a blueprint to translate the treaty into action and meet the lifesaving obligations they have consented to be bound by.

Pax Christi will have several representatives in Vientiane. One of them is Stijn Van Bever, youth representative and Pax Christi International disarmament officer. He is selected by Mines Action Canada, to participate in their 2010 Youth Leaders Forum. Stijn will as well take part in the skills building sessions and real-time practice opportunities for topics such as lobbying and advocacy strategies; fundraising and grant management; media relations; volunteer management provided by Mines Action Canada, as he plans to attend sessions of the State Meeting and the conference organized by the Cluster Munitions Coalition. He hopes that Pax Christi and all presented youth campaign leaders can contribute to a global ban on these weapons by developing new initiatives in the campaign against cluster munitions so that a global ban may soon be realized.

UN summit confident of achieving MDGs on time if world delivers

While expressing deep concern that progress has fallen far short of what is needed, the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) held in New York from 20-22 September ended with confidence that with renewed global commitment the targets to slash hunger, poverty, disease and a host of other social ills can still be achieved by 2015.

“This Summit has laid a solid foundation for the progress we need in our quest to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the internationally agreed deadline of 2015,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the closing session of the MDG Summit. “The Summit outcome document sends a clear sign that you remain committed to the goals even in a difficult international environment,” he added.

Video:

http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2010/09/secretary-general-ban-ki-moon-closing-statement-mdg-debate.html (5:48 minutes)

Statement: http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=4798

Website: http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/index.shtml

Outcome document: http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/pdf/mdg%20outcome%20document.pdf

Get the Inside Story on the MDG Summit

Dear Friend,

Nearly 140 world leaders joined President Obama in New York yesterday to discuss progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). While much of the talks took place behind closed doors, you can get the inside story on what happened by joining our global briefing call this Thursday:

http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/MDGBriefing

This summit in New York may have taken place 4,000 miles from Africa, but it's a watershed moment for the continent.

The last time these leaders gathered, in 2000, they made eight landmark promises to the world's people - the Millennium Development Goals.

In the 10 years since, governments have made progress towards those goals - but not nearly enough. Some of the promises of the MDGs are in danger of being broken.

The MDG summit is an opportunity for all of us to re-affirm our commitments to the world's poorest people - and for our leaders to agree to a concrete plan to fulfill the promises of the MDGs.

Our call will be an opportunity for you to find out what you can do in your own faith community to help. Charles Abugre Akelyira, Deputy Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign in Africa, will fill us in on outcomes from the summit and what our next steps should be.

Also joining the call will be Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur of Malaria No More, who serves as the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria. She'll discuss how faith communities and African government leaders are halting deaths from malaria - one of the MDGs.

Don't miss our briefing on Thursday:

http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/MDGBriefing

Susie McShane
Tony Blair Faith Foundation

P.S. Have you seen this video? President Jimmy Carter speaks with feeling about why we as people of faith must draw attention to extreme poverty. Watch it now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwwlbBNY3I8

Tony Blair Faith Foundation - MDG Call on Africa

Dear Friend,

Next week marks a historic moment in the fight against extreme poverty.

World leaders are gathering in New York to discuss progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. It's a golden opportunity for us to urge our leaders to do more to honour their promises to the world's poorest people.

Learn more about what took place at the summit, and what you can do to make noise to end extreme poverty.

Join us Thursday, 23 September, for our next free Faiths Act Global Briefing call: Voices from Africa on the MDGs.

RSVP here:

http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/MDGCall

The call will take place at 13:00 EDT, 18:00 BST, 20:00 UTC.

Our speakers are uniquely equipped to speak to ways we can all help fulfill our promise to the world's most vulnerable people.

The call will feature a dialogue between Faiths Act Fellow Alum Pritpal Kaur Riat and Charles Abugre Akelyira, the United Nations Development Programme's African Director on outcomes from the UN MDG Summit.

Pritpal will also speak to an advocate for interfaith cooperation to fight malaria as well as a Faiths Act supporter from Uganda.

Hear how communities on the ground in Africa are experiencing the impact of the MDGs - and don't miss the online webcast accompanying the call!

http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/MDGCall

By learning about the issues and making a noise in your community, you will join people around the world in directing the international community's attention to the plight of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people.

Hope you can join us.

Best

Kate

Kate Millar
Tony Blair Faith Foundation

A Million Minutes for Peace

21 September 2010 - A Million Minutes for Peace

Each year Pax Christi International Member Organisations join thousands of other organizations worldwide to mark the UN International Day of Peace on 21st September. The day is also observed as an International Day of Prayer for Peace. This day offers opportunities for (faith) communities to hold events, worship and prayer vigils, and forum on peace-related themes in your area or country. All Member Organisations of Pax Christi International are invited to focus on this International Day. More information is available in 2010-0467-en-gl-PE.

Odyssey Networks invites us all to join them on this day in their campaign ‘A Million Minutes of Peace’. They call on all people around the world to stop at noon and pray for peace for one minute- in their own way. No matter what your religious affiliation is, make a pledge to join in on this initiative. It only takes a minute.

For more information and to sign up for the campaign CLICK HERE.

More information on the International Day of Peace CLICK HERE.

Pax Christi Youth - Millennium Development Goals Summit Videos!

Peace = Future, the math is easy

Youth for Peace and Development

In commemoration of 2010 as the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding

This year, the International Day of Peace (21 September) falls within the same time period as a major summit on the UN Millennium Development Goals, the world’s largest anti-poverty campaign. The Summit brings world leaders together at the United Nations in New York from 20 - 22 September.

The United Nations is looking for stories from young people around the world who are working for peace.

Send your stories to Anna Fritzsche at ousg-dpi@un.org and Eleonore Kopera at kopera@un.org.

Youth, peace and development are closely interlinked:

·Peace enables development, which is critical in providing opportunities for young people, particularly those in countries emerging from conflict.

·Healthy, educated youth are in turn crucial to sustainable development and peace.

·Peace, stability and security are essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at slashing poverty, hunger, disease, and maternal and child death by 2015.

Apply to be a Faiths Act Fellow: MDGs

Apply now to join the 2011 Faiths Act Fellowship

The Faiths Act Fellowship is a year long paid opportunity for young leaders to work towards the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to end the scandal of extreme poverty.

After one month of training in London, Faiths Act Fellows are placed into pairs and matched with development organisations and NGOs in local communities. There, they work for the rest of their Fellowship year to build partnerships across faiths and mobilise communities in support of the MDGs whilst developing their own interfaith leadership skills.

Faiths Act Fellows can demonstrate how faith can play a hugely positive force in the world through an exciting, motivating, demanding and moving experience.

Applicants must be between the ages of 20 and 27 and citizens or legal residents of Canada, India, the United Kingdom, or the United States.

We're looking forward to another amazing year of the Faiths Act Fellowship. I hope you'll be a part of it - either by applying yourself or by spreading word of this amazing opportunity to an extraordinary young leader you know.

Thank you,

Hannah Wallace
Faiths Act Programme Manager

World Council of Churches Stewards Programme 2011

Apply now: Stewards Programme 2011

Young Christians from around the world are invited to apply to the World Council of Churches (WCC) stewards programme for one of two hands-on learning experiences at major ecumenical meetings in 2011, the WCC Central Committee meeting, 8-24 February, and the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, 12-26 May. Applicants must be between the age of 18-30 years.

During the meetings stewards will work in the areas of worship, conference room, documentation, press office, sound, and other administrative and support tasks.

The WCC Central Committee meets every 18 months in Geneva, Switzerland to monitor and set directions to the Council's work. The meeting brings together about 150 church representatives, advisers and observers from WCC member churches and associated organizations worldwide. Twenty stewards will help to make this event happen.

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) will gather some 1000 participants from all over the world in Kingston, Jamaica. Participants of many different backgrounds will witness to the peace of God as both gift and responsibility of the entire human family. The IEPC stewards programme will have 45 participants, with one third of them coming from Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Before the meetings, stewards follow an ecumenical learning programme which exposes them to the key issues of the ecumenical movement worldwide. The last phase of the stewards programme, following the meeting, focuses on designing ecumenical projects which stewards will implement back home.

Being a steward means hard work, but it is also a unique ecumenical experience of togetherness with young people from different churches, countries and cultures.

Applicants are invited to send in the application form:

· by 30 September 2010 for the Central Committee

· by 30 November 2010 for the IEPC

Download the application form HERE.

Violent Actors, Peaceful Alternatives: A Faith-Sensitive Training Toolkit for Youth

Open publication - Free publishing - More youth

International Year of Youth: their year, their voice

From the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs:

The International Year of Youth, commencing on the United Nations annual Day of Youth, 12 August 2010, celebrates and focuses on the importance of youth around the world. The contributions of youth to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are fundamental for success and Youth Conferences with the United Nations reflect the role youth play in achieving development. Youth are the future of the UN, and the future of all development. Events surrounding this year aim to make young people more visible in the international development agenda.

To read more click HERE.

Youth Forum Representative Stijn Van Bever on Vatican Radio

A step forward in the fight against the global arms race has occurred, with the Oslo treaty banning cluster munitions or submunitions entering into force on Sunday 1st August.

Cluster munitions contain hundreds of bomblets, can be dropped over a large surface area, and not all explode on impact. This poses a major threat to civilians long after conflicts have ended. Today, the global stockpile of these bombs has risen to more than one billion according to the Coalition Against Weapons Munitions. The Oslo treaty has so far been signed by 107 countries but only 37, including France, have ratified.

What does this entry into force mean and what will be the outcome? Stijn Van Bever, working on the issue of disarmament at Pax Christi International, speaks to Vatican Radio on this issue.

The interview is in French but you can access it by clicking HERE. You will need Real Media Player to access the recording.

Take Action: Sign Up for Arms Down! via @constantcontact

Take Action: Sign Up for Arms Down! via @constantcontact

Check out my @constantcontact newsletter

Check out my @constantcontact newsletter

European Youth Forum - Statement on MDG Review Summit

Ahead of the high level summit which will take place in September in New York, and in this year of 10th anniversary and review of the MDGs, the YFJ Board adopted a position paper which we encourage you to disseminate and to use in your MDG advocacy. The main messages relate to the need to step up efforts in order to achieve the MDGs by 2015, but also to involve youth and look beyond 2015.

Please find the paper attached.

Blogging from the Religions for Peace European Inter-religious Youth Network (EIYN) Regional Summit 2010

Disarmament for Development
Paris, France
25-27 June, 2010

Visiting our friends Taoufik and Lama as they forward their Arms Down! campaign - disarmament for Development.

I will be uploading videos for all of you to see.

Get excited!

- Jess

Our Blog Experts Carry On...

Hey guys! 'Working' photos for those of you who haven't seen my facebook album.
xox - your fearless leader jess

EU countries have cut their development aid

EU countries have cut their development aid

The Propositions of Team Romania for Follow-up

Soon to be Pax Christi Romania! :-)

Team Romania agrees with all mentioned in the statement, and we are glad to have this Statement which we will translate in to Hungarian and Romanian.

Given the "off the record" presence of Team Romania, we think that to achive the MDG goals we have to build a network with other organizations. For this we want to establish connections with Christian youth and peace organizations from Romanian and from the region of Transylvania. Secondly we want to discuss the main topics pointed out in Strasbourg with other student organizations from Cluj Napoca and from the country. Of course we don't want just to talk about this, we want to act, within our possibilities, to achieve these goals. Thirdly we would like to send our plan and a brief review about the PCIYS to Sógor Csaba, with the Statement in English, Romanian and Hungarian attached.

The Propositions of PC Portugal for Follow-up

Here in Portugal i'm planing on a seminar in my University, with the name "Youth, We Care", i will try to send the sketch with the objectives and subjects to you on the plan date (monday)

Here it is, hope you can help me with some more ideas or suggestions you may have.

Sorry for the delay Jessica :P

Objectives

The objectives of Youth action in Portugal are these:

Create a the a awareness why should the youth care about the “Global Problems”,

How NGO’s work and what is their part on changing the world,

The work made in the Council of Europe,

What was the PaxChristi World Assembly Youth Seminar,

What are the MDG’s and our part on ti.

Goals

In our current situation (in Portugal). Civil associations are in decline due to the general public disinterested in civil matters such as poverty, war, starvation. The main Goals of this project its to raise the awareness in Universities how the youth can make a difference on these matters, and how it can act and enforce the policy makers to agree and act in the light of the MDG’s and all the topics from, Gender Equality to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; and finally how european policies organizations and civil structure can help the Youth to be heard.

Solution

Create a seminar in Universities, (First my own) respecting the objectives of “Youth We Care”,

The seminar will take two hours with then minute break, I will use ice breakers we learned on Strasbourg and some other techniques on Online communication the “spread the word” about the seminar.

Topics of the seminar

These are thematic groups I will divide the seminar:

Global Problems, why should we care.

NGO’s

European institutional role on solving world’s problems with the help of NGO’s

PaxChristi World Assembly Youth Seminar,

MDG’s what can the youth do.

The Propositions of PC Flanders for Follow-up

1/ Spreading it through our channel : visibilitiy through website & member magazine
2/ Spreading the statement one week before the actual conference in september
3/ workshop on how to use new media to do advocacy/campaigning somewhere in november (6 or 13 November) possibly in cooperation with Pax W-B.

The Propositions of PC France for Follow-up

They still have some changes they will make to this report, but I'm going to publish it for some of the other sections to get "inspiration" -

Planning d’activités - Pax Christi France

Sujet : La suite du Séminaire Jeunes : identifier les actions à entreprendre par Pax Christi Jeunes

Informations:

* Le Sommet International du Millénaire des Nations Unies pour évaluer les OMD se tiendra à New York du 20 au 22 septembre 2010.

Piste de réflexion sur ce que l'on pourrait faire:

* Sensibilisation (qui, comment ?)
* Lobbying (si oui auprès de qui... ?)
* Actions concrètes sous forme de projet: quels types de projets (partenariats ?)

Actions à court terme: Juin 2010

1. Traduction de la Déclaration de Jeunes en français et espagnol [Adriana]

2. Diffusion de la Déclaration :

1. Sur les sites Internet de : [Adriana]

* Pax Christi France

* cherchonslapaix.fr

2. Dans le Paxinfo (newsletter) du mois de juin [Adriana]

3. Dans la Revue Paix en Marche du mois de septembre [Adriana]
4. Auprès des organisations partenaires : [Adriana]

* Organisations et réseaux œcuméniques (Secours Catholique, CCFD, Chrétiens de la Méditerranée, Coexistir, la CJP, la JOC, etc.)

* Organisation non-catholiques (Oxfam, Agir Ici, Handicap International, Coordination Sud, Action mondiale contre la pauvreté, etc.)

5. Auprès des pouvoirs publics [Adriana, Eric]

* Au niveau national :
* aux présidents des partis politiques (PS, UMP, PC)
* au Secrétariat de la Commission de l'économie, du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire du Sénat
* au Secrétariat de la Commission des affaires étrangères, de la défense et des forces armées du Sénat.
* Au niveau régional : Députés
* Au niveau municipal : Maries et Conseillers (par le biais des délégués diocésains de PX)

6. Communiqué de presse (presse catholique et nationale) [Adriana]

* AFP, [Eric] a un contact

Questionnements :

* Faut-il juste envoyer cette déclaration?
* Ne peut-on pas proposer des axes de partenariats? si possible avec la municipalité: organisation d'évènements autour de OMDs? (à définir)
* Après le Sommet du Millénaire de septembre qu’est-ce que l’on pourrait proposer ?

Actions à moyen-terme: Septembre – décembre 2010

1. Elaboration d’un kit pédagogique sur les OMD disponible pour la rentrée scolaire de septembre [Eric, Adriana]

* Quelles cibles à qui envoyer? Professeurs et responsables en pastorale des Lycées et Collèges catholiques, associations partenaires.

* Pour quel public à animer? : Public jeune et adulte
* 1ère version du kit pour le 15 juillet.

2. 7ème Concours Lycéen Européen 2011 sur les OMD : [Adrianna]

* Quelle action à choisir?

* Faire une petite enquête auprès des professeurs et des responsables en pastorale pour mieux choisir l’action concernant les OMD.

Questionnements :

* Comment cibler les paroissiens pour leur faire découvrir et bénéficier de cet outil pédagogique ? Proposer cet outil au CCFD pour leurs formations « l'Education au Développent ?
* Comment impliquer les évêques et les prêtres pour qu’ils deviennent des vecteurs de sensibilisation?

Autres:

1. Il est important pour nous – Jean-Elie Houdry, Simon David, Eric Pattianadane, Adriana Eslava (Fleur Brochard) de définir notre investissement à court et moyen terme en termes de quantités de travail et de la forme d'engagement.

* Eric : pas de déplacements possibles, investissement sur l'établissement d'un kit pédagogique.

* Adriana : investissement total, diffusion de la déclaration et du kit pédagogique et sensibilisation du public.
* Jean-Elie ? à définir à la fin du mois de juin
* Simon ? à définir

New Figures for Military Expenditure 2009

Global military expenditure: 2009 figures now available

9 June 2010

Below are some extracts from the advance publicity material for the SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) Yearbook 2010, released last week, with links to more information. A summary of the chapters in the 2010 Yearbook is included at the end, together with information about how to obtain a copy of the Yearbook when it is published in July.

Please note: all $ figures below are US dollars.

World military expenditure increases despite financial crisis

Launch of the SIPRI Yearbook 2010

(Stockholm, 2 June 2010). Worldwide military expenditure in 2009 totalled an estimated $1,531 billion, according to new figures released today by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). This represents an increase of 5.9% in real terms compared to 2008 and an increase of 49% since 2000. SIPRI today launches the 2010 edition of its Yearbook on Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. In addition to the release of its much anticipated military expenditure figures, Yearbook 2010 offers an authoritative account and analysis of recent developments in a number of security-related fields. The global financial crisis, the conflict in Afghanistan, and nuclear weapons and disarmament are among some of this year’s cross-cutting security themes.

Strategic military choices in hard economic times

The far-reaching effects of the global financial crisis and economic recession appear to have had little impact on world military expenditure. The USA, with a real-terms increase of $47 billion, accounted for 54% of the world increase in military expenditure. Although the USA led the rise, it was not alone (see figure 1). Of those countries for which data was available, 65% increased their military spending in real terms in 2009. In an analysis by region, Asia and Oceania showed the fastest real-terms increase with 8.9%.

‘Many countries were increasing public spending generally in 2009, as a way of boosting demand to combat the recession. Although military spending wasn’t usually a major part of the economic stimulus packages, it wasn’t cut either’, explains Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, Head of the Military Expenditure Project at SIPRI. ‘The figures also demonstrate that for major or intermediate powers such as the USA, China, Russia, India and Brazil military spending represents a long-term strategic choice which they are willing to make even in hard economic times.’

* The 2010 Yearbook chapter on military expenditure is available at http://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2010/files/SIPRIYB201005-AB.pdf

Taking stock in Afghanistan

There were a total of 54 peace operations in 2009, and the known cost of peace operations reached a new high of $9.1 billion. The number of personnel deployed to such operations also reached a record 219 278 (89% military personnel, 11% civilian)­a jump of 16% over 2008. The increase was due to troop reinforcement for existing peace operations, most signi cantly for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

In 2009 the USA more than doubled its troop levels in Afghanistan and annual US spending in Afghanistan now exceeds that in Iraq­$65 billion was proposed for Afghanistan, compared with $61 billion for Iraq in the nancial year 2010 budget request. Strategic efforts focused on counterterrorism, counternarcotics and the strengthening of the Afghan security forces. Nevertheless, the prospects for a decisive military victory for either the insurgency or the Afghan Government and its international backers were bleak in 2009.

Efforts to enable a political dialogue with the Taliban continued to gain momentum within the international community and the Afghan Government, but ‘Unless the Taliban judge their position is weakening, they are unlikely to fully commit to any form of political settlement’, states SIPRI Researcher Tim Foxley ‘and the international community is clearly weary of the struggle: two NATO members have already unilaterally decided to pull out. There is a tangible and growing sense of “end game” in and around Afghanistan that is likely to intensify over the next 12 months’.

Nuclear weapon arsenals in 2009

SIPRI estimates that there were around 7500 operational nuclear warheads in the arsenals of the eight nuclear-armed states (the USA, Russia, China, the UK, France, India, Pakistan and Israel). Of these, almost 2000 were kept on high alert and capable of being launched in minutes. Global efforts to reduce or eliminate these weapons moved forward despite a number of setbacks. -

Weapons production: summary

In 2008 the world’s 100 largest arms-producing companies (outside China) maintained the upward trend in their arms sales, which increased by $39 billion to reach $385 billion. While companies headquartered in the United States again dominated the SIPRI Top 100, for the first time a non-US headquartered company registered the highest level of arms sales­BAE Systems of the United Kingdom.

Thirteen companies increased their arms sales by more than $1 billion in 2008, and 23 increased their arms sales by more than 30 per cent. In contrast, only six companies in the SIPRI Top 100 had decreased arms sales in 2008. Two of these companies­SAFRAN of France and Boeing of the USA­experienced decreases of more than $1 billion.

The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq continued to heavily influence sales of military equipment such as armoured vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and helicopters. At the same time, sales registered by military services companies continued to grow, as did the arms sales of Russian companies to both domestic and foreign customers.

Following peak levels earlier in the decade, the number of large transnational mergers and acquisitions fell again in 2009. The acquisition of US companies by British companies slowed. There was, however, more consolidation in the Israeli, Russian and US industries as well as a continued pattern of arms-producing companies diversifying into the security industry.

Even though more than a year has passed since the onset of the global financial crisis and economic recession, an initial assessment shows that many arms-producing companies continued to increase arms sales in 2009. Sustained high levels of military expenditure (especially in the USA­the largest military spender and arms procurer) and the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq partly explain the continuing increase. However, the monopsonistic structure of the arms industry, the consequent strong relationship between arms producers and governments and the industry’s perceived importance to national security also shield it from the immediate impact of severe economic downturns. This status is reflected in the continued high levels of arms sales, high profits, large backlogs and strong cash flows generated by arms production. - http://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2010/06

Finally! The Video of Adriana and Josseline

Adriana Sur la Radio!

Listen HERE as Adriana discusses what brought her to the peace movement, her experiences in Colombia, the spirit and resolve of the people still working for peace inside and outside the region, and her work at Pax Christi International and Pax Christi France!

Congratulations to our French section!

Hello everyone. Here is the translation of a little article Christiaan and I wrote for the IKV Pax Christi newsletter (sorry we flatter ourselves so much with the development aid role of the Netherlands, this is just to please the chaps at IKV Pax Christi ;)):

The Netherlands as the goodietwoshoes of the world community


Last week, Christiaan Heijting and Milan Slezák visited the youth-conference op Pax Christi in Strasbourg. The theme of the conference: The Millenium Development Goals and the meaning of military spending versus spending on development aid. "During this conference we didn't only meet with great people; we could also speak very openly about the themes presented with people all over the world"

In the entire world 1464 billion dollars a year is spent on the military, which is about 21000 dollars every second. This is hard to justify considering the fact that only five countries (among which the Netherlands) spend 0,8% of their GDP on development aid. This is only a tiny amount compared to the military spending in a lot of countries. While the relationship between both is not a direct one, this fact seems hard to justify morally.

We came to the conclusion that the army can, on the one hand, be an important means to secure the infrastructure of development aid. On the other hand, armament is one of the most important destabilising factors in todays world. Therefore, we cannot judge all military spending in the same way. What we should do is once again critically analyse what military spending is really necessary and what is not.

Development aid is subject to a lot of criticism in our time as well. We have been giving development aid to developing countries for decades now, often with very little results. While the millenium goals are mainly expressed in terms of money, it is at least as important to also look at what this money achieves in practice. Does it really bring development? Are local economic structures and the equality of men and women not also disturbed sometimes by bad development aid? We will have to take a good look at the nature of development aid to reduce the criticism on development aid.

It was a pleasant suprise to see how enthousiastic many people were about the Dutch development aid system. We are one of the five countries in the world that have reached the Millenium-goals until now (spending 0.8% of the GDP on development aid each year). We also spend relatively little money on our military (about 1,6% of our GDP). In a way, the Netherlands is therefore the goodietwoshoes of the global community and luckily the theme of the conference was not very relevant for the Netherlands on this matter. The Netherlands can be prooud to play such an important role in this matter and we should do everyting to keep playing this role in the future.

(Is goodietwoshoes really a correct English expression? A friend of mine who is studying the English language says it is, but I have never heard it before :p)

Rose!!!
Porrais-tu mettre la vidéo de Josseline?
Merci ;-)

Adriana

Interesting Article from the EP

Let's streamline development policies, eh..

Reading our statement at the Council of Europe

Thanks to Rose, here is the video of Adrienne and me reading the statement at the Council of Europe. I think the video pretty much speaks for itself...

Some thoughts for follow-up

Hey everyone! Thanks very much for all your great comments yesterday in our wrap up session and thanks also to Matt for his comments - we touched upon them in our session as well

Keep in touch everyone xoxo jess

Group 1 : NEXT STEPS
30 mai : liste. Se mettre en contact avec les politiciens que l’on connait. La qualité prime sur la quantité. Envoi à Jessica ?
Conserver la déclaration actuelle.
Chaque pays peut insister sur les sujets qui leur paraissent importants. Traduire les déclarations, se les envoyer.
Partager les activités qui se font dans les différents pays.

Group 2 : STATEMENT REVIEW + NEXT STEPS
Audience = policymakers, national and international level
Strike paragraph 1 – not necessary
Keep paragraph 2 and 3 as is
Add instead pax Christi int’l + partner orgs and allies
Change age of young people to 16
Switch order of next 2 paragraphs make stronger statement this way
Wordsmith – later
Really emphasize theres a meeting in oct. – our statement leading up to = time sensitive!!
Copy and paste email list of parliamentarians for your country – rose can show you if questions
Eric – what our country has done so far, what goals and then concrete actions – VERY specific asks! /goals
-opening paragraph could be modified for each country
-customize statement

Group 3 - STATEMENT REVIEW + NEXT STEPS
statement can be translated into own language
-give specific recommendations for own country
-media training – start with most important info and then move to least
easy to write emails to politicians, attach statement
concrete action – Belgium
peace week in September we are planning diff activities, same week there will be a military summit in ghent (European military summit)
Jessica can go to parl with stijn vb
-also contact local newspapers – la croix (france), using rue 89
-INTEGRAL in front of human development (catholic social teaching)
Statement – 4th paragraph – first thing you mention is financial – it’s an economic crisis
HIV and AIDS

Belated Climate Change Presentation of Jef Felix

Climate Change - Challenges for Development, Ethical Considerations...

View more presentations from guest0647b9f.

Andre Bader on Grassroot and Small Group Community Organizing

Beamer présentation définitive

View more presentations from guest0647b9f.

Breakout Groups for Post-Seminar

some thoughts...

Group 1: IMPACT

Group 2: MULTIPLYING EFFECTS

Group 3: FOLLOW-UP

Some suggestions for concrete follow-up activities:

Night of Peace - Amsterdam

For Climate Refugees

World Conference of Religions for Peace, ARMS DOWN!

World Youth Conference on MDGs, Mexico City

Armed Violence and the MDG Review Process, Briefing Note

For your edits...

Pax Christi International Youth Statement
May 2010 – Triennial World Assembly Youth Seminar

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were developed following the adoption of the Millennium Declaration in 2000, which pledged UN member state support—financial and structural—for the developing world, in an effort to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat malaria and HIV/AIDS, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for international development.

As we reflect on the benchmarks committed to by our governments ten years ago, we as young people (aged 18-30) urge our elected officials, appointed leaders, and national, regional and international policymakers to recommit themselves and to reprioritize these development targets. With only five years remaining until the goals are set to expire, we gather this week in Strasbourg, France—a capital of European policymaking—as diverse people of faith and commitment, as leaders in our communities and as those affected by a future of world inequity, to ask ourselves:

What world will we inherit?

Representing the international peace and human rights movement Pax Christi International, we believe firmly in a world where sustainable human security for all is a concrete reality. We believe that the only way to achieve peace and full human flourishing in our globally interconnected community is through the promotion of human rights and human achievement, regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, or any other factor of social, cultural, or national differentiation. We believe that if we have been entrusted with the future of our planet and her limited resources, we must morally obligate ourselves to champion social and environmental justice.

As such, we believe that the Millennium Development Goals are not merely aspirational benchmarks but standards of human achievement which should be championed in the face of many crises currently affecting our world—financial, environmental, and human-security related.

We believe that the Millennium Development Goals are a path toward promoting sustainable human security and peace, and should be adequately funded according to 0.7% of the Gross National Income (GNI) – committed to by the most developed countries in 1970 and reiterated in 2002 at the Monterrey Consensus (the outcome of the first International Conference on Financing for Development in 2002).

We call into question the increase in military spending since the outbreak of the global war on terror. We urge our national governments to heed our call for a renewed focus on sustainable development and sustained human security in the face of growing threats to vulnerable populations around the world. We believe that the united voice of morally committed, passionately engaged, politically empowered young people has the power to change our world.

Religions for Peace

The fourth morning started with the presentation of Religions for Peace, the largest global religious coalition standing for peace. Lama Azab and Taoufik Hartit explained one of the main campaigns of the coalition: Arms down. The three goals of this year-long campaign launched in November 2009 are the abolition of nuclear weapons, the end of the proliferation and misuse of conventional weapons and most of all the redirection of 10% of military expenditure to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015. This last information actually shocked me knowing that in 2008, the military spending was up to 1464 billion $! So if you also think that this money could be better used, just follow the link and sign the petition… http://religionsforpeace.org/initiatives/global-youth-network/campaign-for-shared-security/

Olivia Tiffoche

Presentations on Media, outreach, advocacy and online tools

Media, outreach, advocacy

View more presentations from Marius Ulozas.

Social Media As Tools For Policy Dialogue

View more presentations from Marius Ulozas.

Can a revolution be twittered?

Marius Uzolas, European Youth Foundation Media Traning Representative, is now with us to guide a session. This session will be interactive because the field is very broad, and may differ from country to country.
Media these days are an important tool to get your message spread, more than shouting on the street.
Let's try to summarize Marius' presentation a bit. Communication and desicions about communication should be based on four principles.
1. Whom i want to inform? What change you want to bring and on which level. Institutional level, political level, personal level. Define your target groups. Who is relied to the topic? (Members/participants, partners, opinion leaders, interest groups, community, society, institutions). Some target groups you have to make aware, some you have to ask for change, some you have to ask for money.
2. Message content. What will I say. What/where/when? Explain why it is important, crucial at this point. What will (it) change? Make the before and after picture. Who's benefiting from that? How will it happen?
3. Channel. Where/ via what will I inform. You want a petition to be signed? Do you put posters on walls then? No. You can't click on it. Choose the right channel. If you want efficiency, you must know what media your target group is using to get information. (Printed media, TV, Web audience, social networks).
4. Means. How will I do it. Verbal? (Maybe it's enough to go talk with someone). Text information (announce of events, post fact pres release, iformation for media) Static visual (poster, photos, sculpture). Visual-sound (videa footage, coverage). Direct interaction/action (event).

After the break we try to applicate these knowledge to a concrete thing: our youth statement.
Let's talk about the news value criteria. Everyone has it's own interest and if you can play with it, it will help you. It's about exploiting the system. What will be covered? Novelty, personalities (contact them and mobilize them), importance/scale, conflict/drama, rare/extraordinarity, negativity. Be aware or the context: is your project/cause different, and how?

Nine rules for press release.

1. Clear Message: Be able to say it in one sentence and attract interest.
2. Pay attention to the title: short, catchy, informative and active.
N.B. Mentioning your organization not necessarily strengthens the title ('Pax Christi youth call for change' vs 'European youth call for change').
3. Inverted pyramid: Be clear with when, where and what is happening, then go to the why and how, and end by giving the context. The most important information has to be on top of the article.
4. Logic: Do not repeat the same information. Clear emphasis/stress (ex. 100 people protested at the ministery, at the ministery 100 people protested, at the ministery there was a protest of 100 people)
5. Facts vs judgements: Judgements are NOT facts, subjective judgements can be introduced by quotes. Facts shouldn't be quoted.
6. Expressing: Instead of adjectives you can use illustrative arguments. Naked numbers are not understandable. (ex.20.000 people have migrated, it's the size of this or that city)
7. Positioning: Why are you the best. Have you won the Noble peace price allready. Are you the oldest, the biggest,...
8. Simplicity: Round of numbers. Avoid bureaucratic expressions, stereotypes and cliche, international words, technical terms. Make it as simple that everyone would understand. We got used to short information and are not really anymore into reading big texts.
9. Details: date, title, no longer than 1 page, not more than 2-3 quoted persons, contacts.

People, create a twitter account !
Enables you to send short messages to an extended audience, fast and effective.
Twitter is personel, skills you to formulate titles 'cause you have to be clear and short, you can attach links, it is a great tool for networking your organisation.

I thank Marius for his presentation and concrete interaction which can help anyone of us.

Pensée du moment...

"Vision without Action is a Daydream, Action without Vision is a Nightmare." -- Japanese Proverb

Jeff Felix doing what he does best...

Climate Change

The monday afternoon session was starred by Jef Felix, who talked to us on Climate Change, in relationship with the MDG's and social justice. It is undoubtful that climate change may be the major challenge for the future and could impede the realisation of the MDG's. Jef's presentation was followed by an animated debate where we discussed the effects of climate change in Africa, how (over)population effects on climate change and many other interesting points of view.

Germany‘s commitment on achieving the Millennium Development Goals

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Despite significant and laudable increases in development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 and 2008, Germany remains off track to meet its 2010 target. It has budgeted for further significant increases in 2009.

Attaining the 2010 target is not out of reach, but will require even more rapid progress in the one remaining budget cycle.

Within the G7, Germany is an average performer on effectiveness of development assistance. It has spent more on water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa than any other G8 country and is a clear leader in this sector. It also continues to be a leader in generating funding from innovative financing mechanisms, including being the first G8 country to direct financing from the sales of CO2 emissions certificates to development. However, Germany, along with other members of the EU, has failed to deliver pro-development trade reforms.

LOOKING AHEAD

Germany's ODA to sub-Saharan Africa increased substantially in 2007 and 2008, but decreased slightly in 2009, mostly due to a reduction of debt relief. German political leaders have pointed out that despite - and because of - the financial crisis, development assistance remains important. This was underscored when Germany allocated $144 million from its national stimulus package for infrastructure projects in developing countries. It is critical that Germany continues to significantly increase its budget for development assistance and that most of these increases are channelled to sub-Saharan Africa. The positive trend established over the past three years needs to be continued by whatever coalition forms the government after the elections in September 2009. It is encouraging that cabinet members of both coalition parties have indicated substantial ODA increases for 2010. These ODA increases have to come in a genuinely concessional form so that sub-Saharan African countries stand to benefit from them without jeopardising their debt sustainability. By doing this, Germany can further build on its international credibility as a responsible partner for developing countries.

DATA

Source: http://www.one.org/international/datareport2009/germany.html

“NGO Advocacy in European Political Institutions – a Practitioner’s Perspective”

On Wednesday our first presenter Emmanouil Athanasiou, Head of Asia Desk, FIDH, told us about the advocacy and lobbying in the European Union. Emmanouil is a lawyer specialized in international and European human rights law. He was still a student, when he joined to a European program that trained young expert in foreign affairs. In charge of human rights in UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, he worked in Eritrea, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Currently he leads the Asia Desk programs of the International Federation for Human Rights.

The FIDH is the oldest organization that deals with human rights; it was founded by twenty national organizations on the initiative of French and German member organizations in 1922. The FIDH is a federation -as Emmanouil said - 164 human rights organizations throughout the world contribute to the prevention of human rights violations, to the protection of victims of such violations, as well as to the promotion of human rights.

The presentation was very useful and interesting; we learnt some tricks how to influence policymakers in favor of specific causes using personal contacts, sometimes public pressure, or political action to persuade legislators to vote in a particular manner. Emmanouil explained the process of lobby in the EU, and who do they lobby:

• European Commission – for the role in policy formulation and drafting legislation.
• European Parliament – because is accessible and after the Lisbon Treaty the Parliament has become a more important factor in the distribution of the money than before that.
• European Council – for the high policy and position tracking in Brussels.

After the presentation about the advocacy process, Emmanouil gave us documentation about the situation in Burma/Myanmar under the current military rule, one of the most repressive regimes in the world. The paper gives concrete dates about the electoral process in Burma. It explains how to the regime is preparing itself for the day after the elections which are organized with only one am: to ensure that the country will remain still hostage of the military.

Our team really liked this subject, it was clear and realistic about how we can advocate in European political institutions for achieving our goal.

“Team Romania”

Ctrl-Alt-Shift...

Here are a couple of short films from the "Ctrl-Alt-Shift Film competition" that could be used to sensibilize people and take action to. The following films were made to raise awareness of issues.

About War & Child soldiers: "War School" by Ben Newman.
"Opting for a short based around war + peace, Ben Newman came up with one of the most popular entries, gaining praise across the board by re-creating a military training camp for child soldiers in a British school. It was described by Riz Ahmed as a great idea, simple, communicating a direct message"

About gender: Man Made by Fern Berresford
"This two-minute short, based around gender + power, tackles the treatment of women as property and the lack of self worth and identity women feel due to the gender inequalities prevalent in many societies."

Session on media and outreach is soon to start

HEY (virtual) people ;)

the session on media, outreach and advocacy is soon to start. see you 11AM @ the plenary.
shall you have some time - join PCI Youth @ Twitter - http://twitter.com/PCI_Youth

Marius

Denmark's Development aid and Military Expenditures

Denmark is one of the 5 european countries that have managed to give an Official Development Assistance GNI of over the UN set target of 0.7%. In 2009, they managed to get to 0.83, which is the same as € 2,208 million.

Denmark has many humanitarian NGO's, one of the biggest being DanChurchAid, which is funded through private donations, foundations, DANIDA ( Danish International Development Assistance), the UN and the EU. In 2009, DanChurchAid raised 66 million euros, where it spent 52% in Africa, 23% in Asia, 6% in the middle east, 5% in central europe, 8% in eastern europe and central asia, and 6% globally.

The Military is the 5th largest single economy in the Danish Government (the largest being the ministry of social affairs). Its expenditure in 2009 was approx. 2,687 million €.

Olivia Shaw

Conference Call with Vaiba Flomo

Tuesday 11th, we all gathered in the conference room at 10 a.m (slightly later than monday, so we all got a bit of a lie in). We started by watching a film, called "Pray the devil back to hell". The film was made in 2008, and it was a documentary about a group of women who wanted peace in the second Liberian civil war. This group was called "Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace", organized by a woman named Leymah Roberta Gbowee. She managed to gather christian and muslim women of Monrovia to protest in a nonviolent way.

One of the women who was greatly involved in this group was Vaiba Flomo, a Liberian woman who was sick of all the pain and grief that the war had brought upon them.

After we had had lunch, we came back to the conference room to call Vaiba Flomo. We managed to get through to her, and even though it was slightly difficult to understand what she was saying (Thanks to the crackling noises of the phone) we all listened intently to what she had to say.

We asked her all sorts of questions, from personal questions about why she joined the movement, questions on the child soldiers, to her thoughts on the election of the first female president of an African nation; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She was very happy to answer them, and we learnt a lot more about her from the "interview".

Olivia Shaw