April 2005 Edition
FOCUS
This month’s focus will be on sustainable development and the environment, issues which have been in the media focus recently due to the Kyoto protocol coming into force on February 16 this year. Environmental concerns are gradually forcing the international community to come to terms with the real need to develop sustainable livelihoods and, as you will see from the stories in this month’s Voice, IYP Action Partners are among those leading the movement towards a greener, heathier world.
Next month’s issue will focus on Youth Empowerment and the many different ways that the youth of today are making a difference in the world. The impact of youth action is significant and highly effective and this will be celebrated in the May edition of IYP Voice. Youth Empowerment is a theme relevant to every OIYP Action Partner, not just those working specifically in this area, so we would love to hear your stories and updates on your projects so that we can publicise all the fantastic achievements of OIYP action partners!
See May’s Voice to read more about the great work of OIYP Action Partners in this area!
We hope you enjoy this issue.
The OIYP Voice Team
Editor: Catherine Loy
ACTION PARTNER NEWS
Ida Tolefac Ngufor,
OIYP 2004 Action Partner, Republic of Cameroon.
The title of my project isPoverty Reduction among Youths and Underprivileged People in Lebialem Community.
In order to fulfil the objectives of the above project, my organisation, BERDSCO (Benevolent Community Education and Rural Development Society) and I have been targeting youths and underprivileged people in Lebialem community. People interested in my project, which is giving out credit on a short-term basis for income generating activities, immediately started giving me their names and by 14 December 2004 I had 72 people in my list. I then scheduled a date for a meeting with these people. On 18 December 2004 I advised them to put themselves into groups, since we only finance groups not individuals.
Loan applications come in by January 7 2005 and they were studied and approved for two groups on January 11. With the grant of 859 113[1]FCFA received from Oxfam International Youth Parliament on December 28 2004 and with additional finance from my organisation, a loan of 1 700 000frs was disbursed on January 13. I went out with another staff member from my organisation, Christina Ajong Fonge, to inspect the activities of the beneficiaries on 2 and 3 March 2005. The following is the story of one of the women who has benefited from a loan.
Mrs Ebal Nicoline Nchong is married with three children. Her education ended in primary school because her parents were poor and she was immediately married. She had been struggling with the business of selling Eru, a vegetable widely eaten in Cameroon. The capital of the business was too small (12 000frs) and the profit could not help her meet with basic needs (clothing, food etc). She first heard about BERDSCO and its activities on the radio and she joined a group following my activities in the community. Through the group, she received 50 000frs with the aim of increasing the capital of her small Eru business. She is still doing the business but purchase had increased and she also reaps more profits than before, she sells four days per week and the other days are used to go for purchase. Each purchase can be about 25 000frs. Part of the profit is used for group savings and part for household consumption. She will need something above 50 000frs for the next loan as she envisages expanding her business by buying dry fish, water fufu and water leaves for retail.
For more information about Ida’s project, email: berdsco_65@yahoo.com
James Hallowell,
OIYP 2004 Action Partner, Sierra Leone.
In August 2004, James Hallowell was involved in organising and running a youth camp held in Freetown, with the aim of assisting young victims of war in Sierra Leone to reconcile their differences. Fifty young people aged 11-19, from different groups, attended peace-building, human rights and advocacy presentations. Funds for ongoing projects with these camp delegates have been secured and it is hoped that further funding will be found for a similar camp next year.
The camp was run by Peacelinks, in collaboration with the Grassroots Empowerment Movement for Self-Reliance (GEMS). Support and funding was provided by the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Trust Fund.
James was one of the nine IYP Action Partners who attended the International Youth Leadership Event run by the UN in Adelaide, Australia in March this year. He gave a presentation on Peace and Conflict which had such an impact upon the audience members that an e-group will be set up among delegates as a result.
On March 10, James spoke about the impact of his Action Plan in Sierra Leone and his involvement with IYP at the IYP Taste of the Nation fundraiser in Sydney.
If you would like to discuss any of James’ activities with him, email:
ConstanceGeorgina Walyroo
OIYP Action Partner, Kenya.
Editor’s Note: Following up on her update in last month’s Voice, we have published below an excerpt from Constance’s report written for Youth Aids Day on behalf of her organization, the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA).
GYCA recognizes that while there are a lot of organizations and networks dealing with the many facets of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and working with young people across the globe, there has been no global coalition that draws together a diversity of youth affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. Such a coalition would, and that facilitates collaboration between youth groups doing similar work within the regions, as well as linking these organizations to others that can provide them with the necessary technological and organizational capacity at the local, national, regional, and international levels.
GYCA does not seek to duplicate existing efforts, but rather to enhance the efficacy of these ongoing effortsso as to solidify the common cause.
We seeks to create an alliance that will not only fill the void, but also serve as a central clearinghouse of consistent, reliable and free information that’s accessible to all young people.
February 26th was set aside as the Global Day of Youth Action to End HIV/AIDS. One this day across the region and around the globe, thousands of young people raised their voices together, presenting themselves as a unified front and the generation that will see an end to HIV/AIDS. This day was set aside because it represents a key strategic moment before international gatherings that will take place, including the World Bank/ IMF Spring Annual Meetings, Global Fund Board meeting and the G8 meeting in July.
GYCA East Africa region organized events in Mbarara (Uganda), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Mombasa, Mvita , and in Nairobi (Kenya) a discussion forum ‘HIV/AIDS and our Generation, with the purpose of assessing how Kenya’s policies and programs are affecting young people, and to what degree meeting their needs. The event brought together a youthful audience, AYP and OIYP action partners, youth groups,academia, and dignitaries.
To discuss Constance’s activities with her, email connilia55@yahoo.com
Ghitta Khamphoumy.
OIYP2004 Action Partner, Laos.
In our community it is really difficult to raise funds for our project, the Animal Breeding Centre (ABC), which needs further support for development. So far, the Animal Breeding Centre has been supported by money we have collected from our friends, mainly youths who have the same ideals for development and from other community members. We have no sponsors to support us yet. We still lack an animal food machine, material for animal breeding, some animals like pigs, ducks and chickens and a computer on which we would be able to report our workwrite reports on our work.
This project is very important because it could feed 200 families in a month.
This project could breed 100 pigs, 100 chickens and 100 ducks in the community in one year’s time. The animals will be sole at the market price, which will be yield a good profit.
Editor’s Note: On March 18 Ghitta was involved in a joint temple ceremony and festival to raise money for the Animal Breeding Centre. The festival included traditional dance, music, food, drink, dance and dress.
To discuss Ghitta’s project with her, email: ghittafriendship@yahoo.com
STORY OF THE MONTH
In our story of the month, Vikram Aditya looks at the environmental impact of the December 26 tsunami on affected areas of South India. His story highlights the fact that there is even more to this disaster than the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, homes, possessions and livelihoods. The impact of this disaster upon the environment is an element of the rebuilding process which will have to be carefully considered if people’s lives are not to be further affected.
Through my work with the WWF (India), I have recently completed a study of the ecology of tsunami struck regions of coastal Andhra Pradesh, one of the affected states in south India. This study was done from January 11 to January 17 2005.
WWF is working on containing the effects of such disasters in future on coastal, estuarine and shoreline ecology by working on aspects such as resilience and survivability of species, ecosystem response to sudden shifts, shift in soil and topography etc. This will be done with the aid of local conservation and monitoring NGOs, village fishing committees and Forest Department. The aim will be to minimize the effects of such calamities both on the fragile coastal ecology as well as coastal communities.
WWF is not directly participating in rebuilding but trying to develop natural agents in coastal ecosystems which can protect coastal villages from such hazards
in the future.
I recently completed a study in three of the tsunami affected districts in my
state - Nellore, Prakasam and Krishna. The survey was conducted by WWF-India in the affected states of India, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands for WWF International to assess the impacts on local ecology from the tsunami.
First, I am happy to state that the Neelapattu Bird Sanctuary, famous for Pelicans and Lesser Floricans, and the Pulicat Brackish water lake (461 sq.kms), famous for Flamingoes, have both been saved. Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary has also been saved. However, the destruction of boats and nets has been enormous in several of the villages which depend upon fishing alone as their primary occupation. There have been 20 deaths in Nellore, 26 in Prakasam and more than 200 in Krishna. Many of these villages were saved because of the presence of Mangroves in and around creeks near the coast. However, there was some damage to the mangroves themselves with common species like Avecennnia marina, A. officinalis, Rhizophora mucronata, R. apiculata, Ceriops decandra and Brugeraria gymnorhyzza taking the brunt of the damage. Exoxoeria agallocha, another common mangrove species, has been damaged in some regions because of salt stagnation and deoxygenation of soil, mainly in Machilipatnam mangroves in Krishna district.
Associated mangrove species have taken a beating, especially creeping vines including the species Ipomea tuba and Caesalpinea crista, which have completely dried up because of over saturation of the sand with salt. Casuarina plantations along the coast have also taken a beating and much of the land has encrusted salt on top because of tsunami water stagnation. Full grown casuarinas are typically 15-25 feet in height and are raised traditionally by villages along the coast of Andhra Pradesh, usually starting at a distance of 100 mts. from the water line. They are not an indigenous or a water loving species but grow excellently in loose soils like sand. These plantations have had boats tossed on top of them with the wave hieght and have saved several lives. Fishermen have reported that the retreating waves were even stronger than the actual tsunami and the only way they saved their lives was by holding on to the casuarinas.
A canal which runs parrallel to the sea southwards along the coast from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai in Tamil Nadu has saved many lives and property damage. This canal was used for transportation of materials from Kakinada port to Chennai port earlier. The canal runs at a distance of 150 to 500 mts from the sea and all villages visited were lying inland from the canal. This canal serves as an effective buffer against storm surges and freak waves, forcing the water and waves coming inland to travel laterally in the canal instead of headwards into the villages.
Property damage in visited villages is 8.2 crore rupees[or approximately $1 700 000 US.
APRIL FEATURE
A Story on April’s Theme, Sustainable Development and the Environment.
In our April feature, Erkulanu de Sousa looks at the various environmental problems that East Timor is faced with, many of which are the result of attempts to implement agricultural systems which it is hoped will alleviate hunger. His organisation, Youth in Action Towards Sustainability (Y-ACTS), is aiming to alleviate some of the pressures both on the land and on the food supply through a system of campaigning, community awareness-raising and creative action for change.
Most of the population of East Timor (86%) are working in the agriculture sector including forestry and fishery and 74% of these people live in rural areas.
In their agricultural practices, the people of East Timor still use traditional knowledge, which is damaging to the environment. The farmers do not realise this.
A concrete example is that farmers change their cultivation area every year, without re-planting in the old location. On the other hand, at the moment there is no significant action yet from the government and from NGOs to overcome this issue.
These issues have become national issues, but at the moment there is very limited action on the ground in terms of how to change people’s thoughts and behaviors.
Oecusse is an enclave district, (50 km apart from the other part of East Timor). Oecusse has 50 000 people and most of them are farmers. At the moment, there is no organization focussing on environmental issues in Oecusse, while farmers have limited knowledge and are exercising destructive practices upon their environment.
As the result, there has been significant impact upon the environment, as follows:
*Uncontrolled deforestation activities in rural areas
*Limited clean water sources
*Poor sanitation conditions for community members
*Low agricultural production, which leads to starvation, food security and malnutrition issues
*Destroyed ecology and nature habitats
*High risk of landslides
*Drought and high temperatures
Recently, the government has done "Tarabandu" (traditional warning system to avoid illegal deforestation) at a community level. However, that effort seems not to be effective - people are still using the same practices. This is because there is little awareness or sense of ownership among communities.
In order to respond to this issue, the Y-ACTS wants to:
*Raise community awareness on the importance of environment management in a sustainable way.
*Reactivate and empowering local structure for environmental aspects.
*Carry out conservation and reforestation in high-risk areas in collaboration with targeted community members, especially youths.
*Forming “friend of the earth” groups at local level, which involve community leaders and young people as motivation for other community members.
*Network and co-ordinate with other NGOs, CBOs and government bodies at both national and local level for further support.
All these needs are implemented using participatory and community approach. In other words, communities will be involved actively in every stage of the project.
On September 2004, the Y-ACTS implemented a week-long camp for students. During that time, there were several discussion sessions with community members on environmental issues. Before that, Y-ACTS facilitated one community to make a pilot project for reforestation. Young people were the main actors and motivators.
That project was the result of community mobilization and participation; Y-ACTS was just facilitating the process. This approach will be used during and after this project. This is to build and enhance the community’s understanding, awareness and ownership of the issues so that they will be able to do the work by themselves after the end of this project.
In the stage of implementing this project, there might be some significant challenges, such as:
*It takes time to change people’s attitudes. Therefore, Y-ACTS will put more resources on community education to increase their awareness.
*Y-ACTS is a new organization with very limited capacity. Therefore, cooperating with other stakeholders will be the main alternatives in order to achieve the goals of this project.
*It will be difficult for Y-ACTS to find more funding after this project. To cope with this, Y-ACTS needs to find their way on fundraising activities.
*The staff of Y-ACTS do not have the adequate capacity and skills to properly implement this project. Therefore, more training is required and also networking with other stakeholders needs to be strengthened.
Y-ACTS strongly believes that this project will bring about positive change within targeted communities, including:
*Maintainence of natural resources for long term use, including forest and water sources.
*Reduced risk of natural disasters (e.g. landslides).
*Improved water supply.
*Increased soil fertility as well as agriculture productivity in order to help to solve food security and malnutrition problem that have become major concerns for the East Timorese people.
*There is an active committee and vocal point group at a community level to manage natural resources use.
One of the activities of this project is to form “Friends of the Earth” groups at a local level/ targeted communities. These groups will take over the key roles while Y-ACTS will try to provide further support for them such as monitoring and evaluation for their activities, seeking for capacity building opportunities, information sharing and more.
Community leaders including the village council and environmental committee will also play a very important role to make sure ongoing activities based on this action plan will be successful.
LETTERS TO THE VOICE
Dear Voice,
The Oxfam/GDP project team was glad when they received a call from a government representative that we should carry out our activities under security observation from the coalition forces. It was all clear in the area, but 25 days ago, there was a perception that Osama bin Laden and other miscreants from the Taliban regime escaped to the Tribal areas from Afghanistan, and it is the area in which we are operating. There is extreme tension and uncertainty. In January, we were about to be attacked by some Taliban regime activists accusing us that we were providing intelligence services to the coalition forces. However, one of our supporting Tribal leaders intervened in the matter and eased the situation. There is also a strong perception is that Osama Bin Laden has dressed up as a women and is living in a veil. The perception includes that Osama Bin Laden has deployed 2 members team to investigate what is Oxfam and GDP and the project they are conducting. Now at one side, we are happy that the project is getting an increasing profile, so that Osama Bin Laden wants to know about Oxfam and GDP, while at other side, it might be dangerous as well.
I am pleased to say that the core and primary objectives of my project have been achieved. Because all of the Tribal Chiefs have allowed their women to be a part of the nomination process for membership of Agency Councils, it means that we have achieved a milestone. The project placed new history in Pakistan that women of these Tribal areas will make decisions and exercise their rights given by state and our religion Islam.
Once women are selected to the Agency Councils, they will need training in terms of planning, awareness about their rights, responsibilities and financial management, because they come from mountains, far-flung areas and caves. I want them to be capable of influencing decisions and building a stronger consistency of women working for social justice and political change by building networks and alliances. We want to get women’s issues on the agenda and into the spotlight. We want to enable women to have access to decision-making, which affects them directly or indirectly.
Best regards,
Shafiq-ur-Rehman Mian,
OIYP 2004 Action Partner, Pakistan.
Dear Voice,
Greetings (Jambo, in Swahili) from Tanzania. I’ve been travelling a lot within this country making a video documentary on HIV/AIDS and its impact on Tanzanian Young People. I’ve been in the Mbeya region for over a week, this area having more HIV/AIDS cases than any other region of Tanzania. The situation is really terrible, especially for married young people.
The Global Youth Day was great in Bagamoyo as well as in Dar Es Salaam. Young people were so happy exchanging ideas and initiatives from the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, skills sourced from the Bangkok AIDS Conference 2004 and Oxfam-International Youth Parliament 2004. Many media stations covered the press release story on Youth AIDS Day, which I distributed in all media.
I have already recorded my MDGs song and hopeful soon will launch it in Dar Es Salaam and maybe it will be the famous one during World Youth Congress this summer in Scotland.
Check out my project website in Tanzania at www.teenagelife.4t.com
Regards,
Leonard Boniface, IYP Action Partner/Activist on HIV/AIDS. bonnylenny@yahoo.com
+255 744 805226
To view an article reporting on Leonard’s activities, see: http://www.takingitglobal.org/panorama/article.html?ContentID=5318&start=0
ENDNOTE
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. ~Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
