Voice Newsletter
November 2005 Edition
Oxfam's International Youth Parliament (OIYP) Voice Newsletter showcases the positive social change accomplished by Action Partners worldwide. Distributed to over 4500 OIYP Network members in 150 countries, Voice also features relevant news from external partners and organizations for the benefit of our readership. Also Published at www.iyp.oxfam.org/news/
Email us at: iypvoice@oxfam.org.au
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Focus
This month's focus will be on the ways that we work to achieve change including how and why we form partnerships. What are the benefits of forming partnerships? How can the work that we do as Action Partners be improved or expanded through collaboration with others? And what do we need to understand about the ways we work as well as the priorities of potential partners to form an effective partnership? We have included, in this months’ newsletter, a number of stories from Action Partners who have experience about working in diverse ways and through diverse partnerships. May Miller-Dawkins, OIYP Program Coordinator, examines in our November Feature the importance of identifying ways of working in the process of forming partnerships. We have also included, in the Resources section, some websites through which partnerships may be researched and formed. Positive change is brought about through individuals and groups working together and the formation of partnerships is one of the most effective ways of achieving change.
Next month, OIYP Voice will focus on Trade Justice. In September of this year, OIYP held a Trade Justice workshop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as part of a long process of working with action partners to link their existing work to trade justice campaigning in their own countries. The story of the month in this edition comes from the participants in the training on their experiences. In December 2005, the WTO ministerial will be held in Hong Kong, making these extremely relevant issues.
Please email any of your ideas and experiences to iypvoice@oxfam.org.au.
See December’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
Our Action Partner updates this month catch up with three action partners from 2000 – who have stories on how their lives as activists and their projects are going. If you have an update please send it to iypvoice@oxfam.org.au. .
Rene Constanza - Belize
It has been a while since I have been M.I.A.(Missing in Action) from the OIYP network. I guess I owe some, especially my action partners: Piyoo, Imane, Joya, Duncan, Lebo, and Tamara, an apology for being a bit selfish in not sharing with you the various developments that my action plan has had. Rest assure, that I have been reading, learning and enjoying your e-mails. Now that I have 24 hour internet access at my finger tip, I guess you will be hearing from me often.
My action plan has taken a major twist as what I was enthused with in Sydney turned out to be an ambitious feat. I initiated the peer counseling plan here in my hometown but found a lot of obstacles as many youths, the more vulnerable ones, did not want to partake in it due to the rampant stigmatization that exists here in Belize. Even my peer leaders experienced it. So, the action plan changed gradually to address this area. Therefore, with the help of the Belize Red Cross youth program, I am working on providing a youth friendly clinic at the local headquarters. The survey will be going out this month to all upper primary schools and high schools in my district.
Rene is one of the action partners developing a plan for research into youth-led initiatives on HIV/AIDS. To contact Rene email him at bmhsprincipal@yahoo.com.
Miali-Elise Coley – Canada
Circumpolar Youth between the ages of 18-30 make up more than half the population of the 155,000 people represented by Inuit Circumpolar Conference. Among the 4 countries represented are Greenland, Alaska, Canada and Chukotka (Russia). Inuit youth have had little or no opportunities to part in some of the most important decisions affecting them today and in the future. Young people are eager to be in the process of decision making and want to be treated fairly and equally as a member of the circumpolar world. In 1994, the Inuit Circumpolar Youth Council was set up to work with young Inuit people in the circumpolar.
I am currently the Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Youth Council, which has representatives from each country in the Circumpolar. From the 15th -19th of August 2005 we held the 1st Inuit Circumpolar Youth Symposium on the Inuit Language, in Iqaluit Nunavut. The forum brought together 15 diverse delegates from Canada, Alaska and Greenland who discussed the language issues concerning Inuit youth. (Russian youth are currently being consulted for their input by email.)
At the end of the three days, the initial objectives had been achieved. Participants had acquired new understandings, not just of the language concerns faced by youth across the circumpolar North, but also of their inter-related social, economic, cultural, historical and political issues. Such matters were discussed in light of their role in favouring or hindering perpetuation of the Inuit language. Youth challenged each other to focus on present and future possibilities, and to work together for shared goals. The understandings reached, the vision cast, and the strategy developed to realize the goals.
The Symposium produced a draft document on the Hipification of Inuit languages – to make Inuit Languages ‘hip’ or ‘ignite the light within Inuit languages’. We will be sending out this document to circumpolar communities and young people for them to comment before January 25, 2006. The plan is to release the final Hipification Strategy Report in February. We hope that the document will be used to support Inuit language preservation programs across the circumpolar.
Within this forum a day and a half was spent with elders from around the circumpolar. A key moment in the Symposium occurred in the meeting with the elders. We said to the elders – ‘We as Inuit youth step forward to assume ownership of the Inuit language, a language that some had considered as belonging to elder. We wanted to meet half way or do whatever it takes to make sure that our language and history does not die out with our Elders’. One elder woman replied that it was amazing that the young people were willing to make such an important commitment. She said that, in her view, the elders had been waiting for the young people to come to them to learn the language. One participant from Greenland said at the end of the Symposium that "I came here believing I was part of a community of 50,000 Inuit, now I know I am part of 155,000."
Miali-Elise would like to hear from anyone else working on language preservation. She can be contacted at (icyc.ec@gmail.com). You can read more about the Symposium at http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/index.php?ID=310&Lang=En.
Hazem Abuhusain
IYP Action Partner 2004, Ireland.
White Ribbon Day
On February 3rd, Health Professional Students form from RCSI, TCD, UCD, UCC and NUIG worked together for the first time to play their part in raising money to rebuild broken lives. The students who were seen around the cities of Dublin, Cork and Galway wearing white coats and selling white ribbons, were able to raise around 20,000 euros for the tsunami cause. The project originated in RCSI where the disaster was particularly shocking given that many of the college’s students come from the region struck by the wave. This amount of money was matched by RCSI where about 43,500 euros were collected. All proceeds from the effort went to the Irish Red Cross (45%), UNICEF (45%) IFMSA, Ireland (10%), who have been supporting a group of orphanages in Sri Lanka for the past year under a project called ETHOS (Envisioning the Hindrance of Orphan Suffering).
White Ribbon Day Aftermath
As a conclusion to the White Ribbon Campaign, UNICEF-Ireland and the International Federation of
Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) in Ireland received their share of the campaign’s donations in a humble ceremony on the 19th of May at RCSI. Ms. Anne Marie Foran UNICEF Ireland fund raising coordinator, and Miss Crisanjali Rajaratnam, IFMSA Ireland ETHOS project coordinator, received the donations on behalf of their respective organizations.
Regarding the specific achievement of White Ribbon Day, I would summarize it as follows:
The project (White Ribbon Day) brought all medical students in the Republic of Ireland to work under one banner "to help rebuild broken lives". We raised money that will directly be used to contribute towards the Tsunami affected areas. The project will continue annually, as the damage created by the Tsunami is a long-term issue that will take years to resolve. For more information on the White Ribbon Campaign, see www.ifmsa.ie
STORY OF THE MONTH
This month’s story of the month was written collaboratively by the partners of the Trade Justice Project. It is the story of the month because it presents new ways of working and the forming of new partnerships within people’s work and across the OIYP network. Within this program, action partners and others have extended their existing work in agriculture and HIV/AIDS into the new area of trade justice. In doing so they have had to build new partnerships and alliances in their own communities and countries. They have also formed a network within the OIYP network to draw support, learning and collaboration. This is not a network that agrees on everything, including how things need to change. Like OIYP, it is a diverse network where the partnerships are built on strong discussion - agreement and disagreement. At the same time, this tells the story of a training that was only possible through OIYP’s partnerships with action partners but also with other organizations – the Diplomacy Training Programme, Womyn’s Agenda for Change and others.
In April 2005 the Oxfam International Youth Parliament (OIYP) initiated the Trade Justice Project which provides targeted training in trade campaigning and human rights advocacy, and supports participants to implement action plans on trade issues relevant to their home countries. The face-to-face training component of the Project was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from the 14th to the 22nd of September. The workshop focused on building theoretical and practical knowledge of the international human rights framework and the international trading system. The content aimed to balance knowledge of relevant international standards, processes and institutions with skill development in advocacy, lobbying and media work. An OIYP team, drawn from this group, will be involved in a lobbying and networking mission to Hong Kong for the 6th Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in December.
The next edition of OIYP Voice will feature some examples of the trade action plans currently being implemented by participants. For more information about the OIYP Trade Justice Project please contact the project coordinator, Sanushka Mudaliar, at sanushkam@gmail.com
This workshop report was written by Vikram Aditya with the input and advice of workshopparticipants.
OIYP Action Partners Trade Justice Workshop – A Report
The shared concern for universal and collective human rights, and the significance of the global trade regime in their work, saw the involvement of 25 young activists around the world, belonging to the OIYP family and otherwise, in the Human Rights Can’t be Traded: Human Rights, Trade and the World Trade Organization workshop. Conducted from 14-22nd September in Phnom Penh, Cambodia as part of the OIYP World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Justice Project, the event was organized by OIYP and the Diplomacy Training Programme. The project is aimed at practically strengthening and supporting the work of these youth towards the achievement of trade justice and the fulfillment of human rights (HR) in their communities. The workshop was hosted by Womyn’s Agenda for Change (WAC), a local Non Government Organization working towards the empowerment of garment workers, sex workers and women in agricultural communities. Participants selected for the project hailed from Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America, and were involved in trade related work in two broad streams, sustainable agriculture and HIV/AIDS. Several of the sessions dealt specifically with agriculture in WTO, or the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and subsidies, and with HIV/AIDS and WTO, or Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and patenting.
Resource persons included Andre Frakovitis, a Hong Kong based HR activist working with the Human Rights Council of Australia. Andre delivered excellently while introducing the entire concept of HR as a foundation to the participants, and his sessions mainly focused on the principles of strategic campaigning and the international HR framework. This included the International Bill of Rights which incorporated the Universal Declaration on HR, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Civil Rights. Andre introduced the participants to the HR accountability and practical aspects of HR through the Complaints mechanisms included in the Framework. The key human rights principles of Universality, Accountability, Non-discrimination and equality, Indivisibility and participation, and the obligations of states parties to these agreements, to respect, protect and fulfill them, were also highlighted by Andre. In addition to HR complaints mechanisms, the concept of country mandates and special rapporteurs on HR to the UN HR Commission were also dealt with.
Participants were initiated to the four A’s of HR with respect to the Right to Food and Health, Availability, Accessibility, Affordability and Accountability. Andre also discussed the importance of a reasonable and coherent national strategy for realization of the right to food and health by formulation and implementation of effective national policies. As a practical exercise in HR training, Andre provided the participants with a scenario of a fictitious country with a hegemonic government, Cyrenia, where there were several HR abuses. Participants divided themselves into working groups through the course of the workshop, frequently looking at Cyrenia as a convenient example to examine its HR abuses, tools that could be used to address them, the duty bearers, claim holders and possible agents of influence.
Mary Lou Malig, from Focus on the Global South in Thailand, illustrated (literally and figuratively) to the participants the Ministerial experience at Cancun and the preparations within the WTO in the lead up to Hong Kong. She also shed light upon the history of the WTO from its conception to its deception, resulting in today’s power centers. Mary Lou further discussed Investment, regional agreements and bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTA’s) and their mechanisms, such as banning of National Treatment and Performance Requirements for TNC's and Capital Control by countries. She also gave an insight into the available dispute settlement mechanisms such as International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes and United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and exemplified the case of NAFTA.
Apart from the in-house facilitators, participants also had several visiting speakers, e.g. Ros Harvey, working with the International Labour Organization on a project monitoring garment factories in Cambodia, from whom participants appreciated the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility with respect to labour standards, especially within the context of the Garment Manufacturing Sector of Cambodia. Media training for practical lobbying was also given to the participants by a guest speaker from PACT-Cambodia. Another speaker was Ama Marston, a fellow at Womyn’s Agenda for Change from the United States, who facilitated a session on women and trade.
Field trips to visit sex and garment workers in Phnom Penh and farmers in Takeo province were organized on 17th to provide a glimpse of field conditions in Cambodia. Participants visiting the farmers were especially shocked when they learnt from the farmers about the unavailability of water, low yields, holdings not above1 acre, pest resistance due to uncontrolled usage of fertilizers, non availability of farm equipment, non inclination of market to procure local produce, mounting debt, lack of crop diversity etc. Field visits were facilitated by WAC staff, who accompanied and assisted participants mainly with translation. Another unique feature of the training was the visits of participants to the embassies of Australia, Canada, European Commission and Great Britain. This required extensive preparation from participants in the form of deliberation of issues to be raised at each embassy, preparation of aide memoirs and practical exercises facilitated by Andre.
Participants were given the opportunity to share their experiences by interacting with other NGOs in Cambodia, including Oxfam Great Britain, Oxfam Australia, Oxfam America and Action Aid, Cambodia on the 21st about their work in relation to agriculture and water, preparation of reports and policies in relation to achievement of food security in Cambodia. Participants generally experienced satisfaction at what they had learnt at the workshop. Some like Erkulanu Desousa from Timor-Leste, experienced a changed perspective with regard to HR in sustainable development issues that he worked on, while others like Sajin Prachason from Thailand, felt that more efforts should be have been put into integrating HR with trade and on changing people’s overall opinion on trade. Others including Vorsak Bau from Cambodia said that they felt increasing concerned over the possible catastrophe that the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) would bring to Cambodian farmers’ rights. Faith Cheruiyot from Kenya describes the workshop as having been an eye opener and says she has appreciated the fact that HR and trade are very interrelated in spite of being distinct. She says that the workshop formed a very good background for her awareness building plans.
In conclusion to the workshop, participants discussed strategy for the completion of their trade action plans and possible future collaboration and assistance with others within their stream. Sanushka Mudaliar, the co-ordinator of the Project, stressed upon the participants the need for a holistic and focused approach encompassing all human rights in their Trade Action Plans. Participants would also like to acknowledge the efforts contributed by Brett Solomon in preparing the online training material and for contributing to and raising points of discussion during the workshop.
november FEATURE
Our November Feature is by May Miller-Dawkins, OIYP’s Program Coordinator. It shares some reflections from looking at how people work within the OIYP network. This is the beginning of a process of sharing about how we work and how we form partnerships that will take place into 2006. To be involved contact May by email, fax or post (see details below).
OIYP’s network has always, since 2000, included young people working for change in a variety of ways. The network reflects a broad diversity of approaches to working in communities, organizations, networks and informal groups, often using multiple approaches at the one time. The network also includes young people establishing new organizations and initiatives to respond to particular needs within their communities and the gaps in existing programs and organisations. By being part of OIYP, you are part of a diverse international network. The benefit of the OIYP network is always different for different people. For some, it is the inspiration and increased motivation, commitment and ideas from meeting everyone at the OIYP event. For others, it is the ongoing collaboration and support for their work for change by action partners over the years to come. For others, the access to training and funding is an important element. I think that for myself, the constant learning and challenge from the work and ideas of the network is a large part of what I value from being part of this community.
Why is it important to reflect on how we work?
For some of us, how we work is so much a part of who or where we are that it is difficult to think about it. For others, how we work is a decision that is made to suit political climates. For others, it is something that can be continually changed or re-evaluated to make our work more effective. But it can be important for all of us to reflect on how we work because it allows us to see what helps us to achieve change and to understand some of the blockages to achieving change that may exist in our own work. In OIYP, for example, we reflect on the limitations of working internationally– that we cannot be in contact with everyone all the time and everyone does not have equitable access to communication, such as the internet. As well, we are unable to provide local forms of support to your work. On the other hand, being part of an international network can provide access to other action partners across the dynamism and diversity of the network! And we think that this has value. As well, the OIYP secretariat provide certain kinds of support that you tell us are needed or that we can see are unavailable, such as certain skills training or small scale funding, or can facilitate sharing, learning and collaboration that action partners create – such as the gender learning group or HIV/AIDS research group. Reflecting on how we work, is not only about improving our work, it is also about how we can then form partnerships. Partnerships have many different definitions but they are about a relationship between two or more individuals or groups, mostly for some kind of common purpose. When we are forming partnerships it is important to find out about our potential partners and understand their motivations, as well as know who else they work with. It is always useful to know how they work – what do they value, why would they want to form a partnership? It is also important to know your own organization and understand your own strengths and weaknesses. You can then make sure that you build on your strengths and communicate clearly in order avoid problems within the partnership in the future.
Partnerships are built for a range of reasons – to mobilize for a particular campaign, in order to achieve a certain type of change, as part of existing relationships within a community, to share learning and innovation as well as relationships that include funding. Key elements of helping partnerships to function successfully are to set expectations clearly in the beginning and communicate clearly throughout the relationship. A good understanding of what is and isn’t possible for you, working in the way that you do, means that you are clear on your capacity and are able to commit to what is possible and strategic for achieving your desired change.
Ways of working within the OIYP Network
There is no one best way of working to achieve change. Instead, ways of working are deeply contextual – to your community, your country, your political, social and economic context as well as the change that you are working to bring about. To say that ways of working are contextual is not to say that they are right because that’s the way they are. We can always learn from challenging ourselves and examining our assumptions. Part of striving to achieve an equitable world is to be able to change things that are prevent us from being effective within our own work. I think that we can learn from others and their own experiences as well.
This edition of Voice has updates above from Rene and Miali-Elise. As you would have seen from the updates they have worked in different communities and in different ways to achieve change. I think that we can learn a lot from the experiences of others in reflecting on how we work and how we work with others.
For Rene, his initial plan (for peer education on HIV/AIDS) did not anticipate the level of stigma in his community about discussing HIV/AIDS directly. As Rene works as a Principal of a high school and has strong links with the Red Cross his plans have both changed and been strengthened and limited through those networks in new forms of the partnership. Rene wants to address the issue of HIV/AIDS in schools. His new goal is to establish a clinic and provide different types of services. There will be three different goals: to have a place where people can actually go to for treatment, to have private one-on-one contact and to set up workshops. When Rene faced the stigma and discrimination which was preventing his plan from working, he turned to his existing networks. He has been involved for many years with the Belize Red Cross and is able to draw on their resources. He is also the principal of a school and a member of the Belize Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (BAPSS).
The advantages of working with the Red Cross are that they are providing access to building and facilities, as well as some legitimacy. This partnership now has some very concrete elements to it. He is involved in a dialogue with the BAPSS about finding ways of addressing the issue and is starting by a survey in schools. This is a way of starting slowly with schools and other principals. He has also started working with other organizations like the Rotary Club and the Belize Family Life Association who focus on reproductive health and family planning. Working in the HIV/AIDS area when it is stigmatized can make partnership difficult and subject to compromise around political issues – such as the position of all parties on condom use. Rene has noted that the obstacle he faces is that each organization has its own mission and they propagate certain goals and can deny others, such as condom use. This example illustrates the importance of being clear about how you work and what you value when determining whether or not to form a partnership.
For Miali-Elise, a lot of the focus of her work with the Inuit Circumpolar Youth Council has been making the Council a functioning body with good systems and a good understanding of its aims and values. The council is made up of two people from each country: Alaska, Greenland, Canada and Chukotka Russia. The council started in 1994 and there has never been a Council that was able to finish its term. Communicating nationally is hard enough but it is even more difficult on a regional level. The current council is trying to strengthen its systems so that the next council can be very action focused. One of the strategies is to ensure that the ICYC has representatives on each national board so that there are stronger and more formal partnerships with the national youth councils, many of whom are members and are implementing a lot of the action in communities. Just two weeks ago ICYC was at the National Inuit Youth Council of Canada and presented on representation on the board.
Other strategies include ensuring that the council is clear about what it stands for. Miali-Elise says that this process of strengthening systems is teaching all of them what is it to have a strong institution and what details stand behind the councils and organising. She feels a confidence in it because she knows all the details. At the same time it is challenging – it is a long and slow process to determine what the council stands for and how it should work. And this process doesn’t always seem relevant to the needs that the Council exists to address. Miali-Elise is confident that a functioning council can better achieve its ends in the future. At the same time, for events like the Symposium, Miali-Elise relies on her community for support. The symposium was supported in all ways by the local community – they all volunteered to billet participants, make food and take notes. It would not have been possible within the community coming together to support the symposium. Equally, for all members, they are working within their own Inuit community and relying upon the support of that community.
Questions to think about:
- How do you work? (for example, do you work in an organisation, are existing community links the most important element of your work, do you work within networks, have you initiated projects with small groups of friends or allies?)
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in the way you currently work?
- Who do you work with? How do those relationships help you achieve change? Are they part of the change that you want to see? Are there any obstacles in the relationship?
You are welcome to reflect on these questions and we invite you to share reflections, experiences, challenges (including to these ideas) and questions across the network. This is a great opportunity for us to learn from each other experiences!
Do you want to talk to other action partners about these issues? If so, register for a research discussion into 2006 and email, fax or post your ideas to May.
Post: May Miller-Dawkins,
OIYP
PO Box 1711
Strawberry Hills
NSW, Australia, 2012
Email: maymd@oxfam.org.au
Fax: +61 2 9280 3426
resources
Online Partnership Resources.
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/partnerships/partnership/htm
The UN Commission on Sustainable Development’s webpage for Partnerships in Sustainable Development. There’s an online database of over 300 existing Partnerships, the opportunity to network for partnerships (through the CSD Partnerships Fair) and the opportunity to register new Partnerships. There are also helpful Partnership publications.
The website of Global Partnerships, an organisation working to eradicate poverty through business and financial partnerships, specialising in Microlending. To share skills and work with other organisations through Global Partnerships, follow the “Partner with Us” link.
http://www.partnerships.org.uk
This website contains information on how to creat online partnerships and communities. There is a step-by-step guide to creating a successful partnership.
http://www.sdp.gov
This is the US government’s Sustainable Partnerships website. It lists a number of initiatives and partnership opportunities from around the world.
Letters to Voice
Dear Voice,
Partnerships and Ways of working
The first thing is - what do we mean by partnership? In my view it means to have a person or organisation who will be with us in our positive thinking and action. Nowadays it is very difficult to develop such a partnership, because of degradation in moral values and lack of proper social teachings.
So I always take myself as my partner. For every cause/reason I take sufficient time to think and uptodate myself, before an action. I take all as my partner and request their honour to help me for a noble cause. I try to explore them, share thoughts on a particular issue and decide up to what time/extend he/she can be a partner to me. Everybody has their individuality. We cannot simply discard one's wishes/imaginations. Rather we should try to change them taking to a brighter field, light of knowledge. For that we must train ourself well. There will be a time when all may discard you. But I am sure that a time will come when others will automatically bend themselves and seek your partnership. An individual always seeks partners for his own interest, not for the society. If he realises that his seeking is similar with any other body, then he extends his hand for co-operation. Otherwise it is rare to have a partner with diamond heart. Social activists should be particular in their aim and projects. They should be flexible and have tremondous capacity.
I would like to have mails with free comments to : santiram@sancharnet.in on my expressions.
Kranti Kumar Saxena
Andolana VPM (A foundation of progressive writers, journalists & social activists)
Dear Voice,
In last month’s Voice newsletter I read about a project I loved, an arts/theater project in Guatemala, and since I run an arts coalition whose members use the arts to address HIV/AIDS, will be in touch with that person! I would like to talk about linkages, ie some kind of partnership!
Janet Feldman, kaippg@earthlink.net
Hi guys,
The world AIDS day is approaching….. Do you have any plans to take part in this event….
Well my volunteers and I have hand woven red ribbons which is on sale for K2.00 local currency. Approximately.. $1.00
The funds received from these sales will assist my volunteer with their bus fare and other support they need.
Ruby, Papua New Guinea
rkenny@savethechildren.org.pg
Ed’s Note: Write to us with plans of what you are doing for World AIDS Day and we will share the information in December Voice. Email to iypvoice@oxfam.org.au
News, Events and opportunities
News, upcoming events and involvement opportunities for OIYP Stakeholders.
Recruitment of Grants Program Selectors.
The Grants Program is currently recruiting selectors to appraise applications for the 2006 grants program. If you are interested in helping OIYP select proposals for funding and have knowledge and experience of Action Partners regions and action areas, please contact robynh@oxfam.org.au. French and Spanish speakers are particularly welcome, as are 2000 Action Partners.
Round 3 Grants Program
Round 3 of the Grants Program is closed and selectors comprising of Action Partner grantees from 2000, OIYP network advisors and Oxfam staff are reviewing the applications. The final results will be announced at the end of November.
OIYP congratulates all the applicants. The quality of the proposals submitted is a testament to the passion, creativity and intelligence of the Action Partner Network. We wish them all the best of luck with their applications!
Round 1 and Round 2 Grantees
The Round 1 grantees have come to the end of their activities and their community’s extraordinary efforts to effect change have produced some amazing results!
Congratulations to - Peter, Mihaela and Ioana, Roman, Einav, Ida, Duncan, Leonard, Emma, Chukwumuanya, Elisha, Tania, Nose, Andy, Bertha, Edson, Jesualdo, Jose, Natalie and Orlando, Jen Nie, Patrick, Socheata, Jeny, Monisha, the SLYP gang, Nadia and Shafiq!
All the best to them as they continue their work!
Round 2 Grantees are well under way with their projects and we are now receiving updates on their projects which are both inspiring in what they have already achieved and full of great potential for the coming months!
OIYP Gender Learning Group
This is a letter from Sharon, an action partner from Papua New Guinea:
' Dear action partners, my name is Sharon Diave of Papua New Guinea. I work with a local Non- Government organisation as a co-ordinator of the Gender & Development Program. The program aims at raising awareness to women and men on the changes that are taking place. Promoting gender balance in a changing society is one of the main objectives in the awareness raising. This has been a great challenge especially for a society that has people speaking several languages and performing different cultures and traditions. All these has been a contributing factor to the lives of the people and therefore it has been very challenging for us as well. We wish to consider how people from other cultures address similar issues so that we can be able to adapt those ways into our ways in addressing the issue.
For that matter, I am hereby seeking your assistance and support in sharing your experiences on how you are addressing the issue in your communities so that we could learn from and be able to apply it in our communities as well. Thank you in sharing your experiences and ideas with us.'
Sharon and Janice Badui have suggested that the Skills program facilites sharing of resources between action partners to address these needs within the network. There have already been many action partners contributing their resources and stories through this process.
Before the end of 2005 the Skills Program will collate all the materials contributed by the network. These materials will then be posted out in a pack to everyone in the Gender Learning Group to be applied in their own contexts. This will be an ongoing process of material development within the group, combined with online forum discussions.
Your contributions are strongly welcomed! If you have any resources or stories you would like to share with this group – please contact Anna Powell (annap@oxfam.org.au).
Endnote
A closing thought to inspire you this month.
"I came here believing I was part of a community of 50,000 Inuit, now I know I am part of 155,000."Participant at the 1
st Inuit Circumpolar Youth Symposium on the Inuit Language, in Iqaluit Nunavut in August 2005.
The contents of this newsletter do not reflect the views of its subscribers or Oxfam Australia.
