Voice Newsletter

February 2006 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, the focus of IYP Voice will be on Turning Challenges into Successes. The challenges which are faced by IYP Action Partners in their work are at times huge, but it is important to recognise that these challenges can be turned into major successes in the process of bringing about positive change.

We have stories from varios Action Partners this month, all of whom have faced – and overcome - significant obstacles in very different areas. Mabel Toribo has overcome the hostile attitudes towards her project of schools and universities in Peru; Liana Mikayelyan has convinced sceptical teachers and parents that it is necessary to educate children about Peace and Conflict Resolution in Armenia; and Zuhra Bahman overcame the problem of providing funding to schools in Afganistan by having particular schools ‘adopted’ by international organisations and agencies.

We hope that these stories of successes developing from challenges inspire all Action Partners to overcome the obstacles that you face with creativity and with a view to the long-term goals which you have set yourselves.

In 2006 we have begun an exciting new initiative with IYP Voice – having it guest edited by Action Partners! We would like to invite Action Partners to apply to guest edit editions of the newsletter, in this way making IYP Voice truly the voice of the network. Guest editing an edition of IYP Voice would involve collaborating with the volunteer editor to source Action Partner updates, generating stories on a defined theme, communicating with members of the network and co-ordinating sharing of knowledge and reflections on experiences.

If guest editing sounds like an exciting challenge which you would like to take on, please send an email to: iypvoice@oxfam.org.au

Next month, IYP Voice will focus on Intergenerational Dialogue and methods of developing intergenerational approaches to development. Many Action Partners have undertaken projects which involve or require the support of an entire community. Gaining such support can be difficult, due to a lack of understanding of development issues across the generations. How do you suddenly start talking about topics, such as HIV/AIDS, that have always been considered private or taboo, to people you have always been taught to respect? How do you ask members of your grandparents’ generation to support a project which involves discussion of such taboo topics? These and many other questions will be discussed in the March edition of IYP Voice. If you have any stories or experiences to share of Intergenerational Dialogue in your own project or community, please email iypvoice@oxfam.org.au

We hope you enjoy reading about turning challenges into successes this month!

The OIYP Voice Team

Editor: Catherine Loy

Action Partner News

If you have an update please send it to iypvoice@oxfam.org.au. .

Zuhra Bahman,

OIYP 2004 Action Partner, Afghanistan / UK

Zuhra currently lives in London where she is taking a gap year, before going back to studying law and anthropology at the London School of Economics. During this year she has taken time to concentrate on her work in human rights and education issues in Afghanistan. After moving from Afghanistan to the UK in 2000, Zuhra set up the Afghan Youth Fund (AYF), a voluntary organization that gives opportunities to youth to become involved in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. During her breaks Zuhra goes back to her country and works to help improve access to education.

“Our plan is to create libraries in schools in Afghanistan, and make the students responsible for the creation and management of their library. This project aims to address the problem of lack of books at schools and lack of decision making power among youth in Afghanistan.”

Zuhra’s vision is to improve the prospects of students and of a society ravaged by war. The situation in Afghanistan is still very fragile. Keeping general contact is hard as postal, email and telecommunication problems are huge in Afghanistan.

However, through her organization AYF, Zuhra raised funds to provide books for a girl’s school in Kabul and she has successfully established a small library. She fervently believes that “education is the solution to many problems”.

A 2^nd library was established in January 2006 in Amina Fedawi High School. Zuhra raised funds for this library through selling Afghan food, holding talks on Afghanistan, writing endless funding proposals and setting up partnerships with other organizations. The library, which already had chairs and tables, was equipped with over 700 books, a computer, curtains and bookcases. Students at the school took charge and managed all aspects of creation of the library while developing their confidence and skills!

Amnesty International in Italy has adopted one school. Zuhra plans to apply for further funding from corporations and agencies. She is looking into getting private schools in the UK to adopt schools in Afghanistan.

AYF has already raised further funding to create another library in Kabul by April 2006 and Zuhra is in process of raising funds for a fourth one.

In 2006 Zuhra will work on another project focused on the provision of scholarships for Afghan students such as doctors, engineers etc. and to give the opportunity to study abroad. She is also coordinating a pilot project of establishment of a faire trade link between a Kabul based small NGO and an Italian fair trade shop.

Zuhra stresses that her project is not just about setting up a library but about getting young people involved in the process of decision-making. Her aim is to give them pride and ownership and let them decide what to do with the money.

After spending two wonderful years working at British Red Cross, Zuhra is now working with STAR Student Action for refugees, a UK wide youth and student run and refugee focused campaigning organization.

Afghan Youth Fund can be found at www.afghanyouthfund.org

Liana Mikayelyan

OIYP 2004 Action Partner, Armenia

After regaining independence in 1991 Armenia is in a socio-economic transition period. In the mid-1990s the government embarked on an economic reform program which brought the country greater stability and some growth. However, unemployment and poverty remain widespread. The country has had a trade blockade imposed by its neighbours Turkey and Azerbaijan since the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian-populated region in Azerbaijan. A ceasefire which has been in place since 1994 has failed to deliver a lasting solution. Moreover, towns like Gyumry still bear the scars of the earthquake in 1988 which killed more than 25 000 people and left many families incomplete and homeless. Life in temporary houses, poverty and the absence of skills for peace-building have resulted in a deep psychological depression.

Liana believes that the lack of mediation and negotiation techniques is the basis for children’s aggression and conflict. “My project is the formation of a peace centre in Northern Armenia, where children (7-13 years) will have the opportunity to learn about Peace Building and conflict resolution. The NGO Women for Development and its staff fully support my work. Conflict resolution teaching will help to stop conflicts among school children, their violations and illegal actions and will promote positive changes in their behaviour and character.”

“Peace and conflict resolution techniques are taught using materials provided by UNICEF, as well as obtained from other international conferences and training programs, which the members of "Women for Development" NGO (including myself) attended during the past several years. More specifically, a special training agenda or program was developed by the staff. In addition to theoretical knowledge, children attend meetings, visit the UNICEF office in Armenia, organize exhibitions and round tables and participate in different international contests with their essays and drawings, dedicated to peace building.”

A difficulty Liana came across was convincing others of the necessity of peace building. It was sometimes not easy to convince principals and teachers that conflict resolution skills should be developed from an early age. This problem was overcome through a series of meetings with target groups, where staff members delivered presentations which were aimed at awareness-raising of peace-building and the importance of learning about it from early childhood.

Liana’s plan is to build a peace centre for children where they can develop skills and knowledge in Peace Building. She wants to train educators and aims to create a database with new lecture and dialectic materials for education.

Liana plans to evaluate her work by conducting a survey among children and their parents, showing how the work of the centre and its activities affects children’s behaviour.

To discuss Liana’s work with her, email:

lianageo@yahoo.com

STORy OF THE MONTH

In theme with challenges and successes this month, Mabel Toribo outlines the problems involved in setting up a project and the elation which can follow when those problems are overcome.

The last 9 months of my life have been full of teaching, but above all, full of learning experiences. Setting up the Sustainable Development Project* was a great challenge, but despite this, we are now starting the evaluation process. I know and the team knows it’s just the beginning. One of the main challenges faced was to provide credibility to the schools and universities we approached. And this is a challenge that goes on even after they have agreed to ‘give us chance’. Today we can say that this was managed thanks to the project presentation we provided to the school students’ parents. Here we explain to them about the project goals and show them what their children have been learning. The other very important thing was to present results and let them (the parents) see that what we started reached a result. About the universities, at the end we just worked with one, but the credibility wasn’t that difficult later as I was invited to work in the Direction of Social Projection after I presented the project proposal.

The other thing I feel I must share now is that, when this Project started I was on my own. I didn’t have an organisation to do the Project with and didn’t have volunteers to support me; it was a big deal. I admit it was risky, but quite worthy because today I can say we have set a huge precedent here and are ready for the second year. Yes, now we are going to work again with 4 of the six schools we worked with last year. Also, I can securely say that we have had a positive impact upon the lives of 12 university students and 50 secondary students approx., plus 60 people involved in the activities the students did until now.

Quickly, I’d like to mention some challenges we have overcome: we lost along the way an Ambassador (facilitator) and got another person to replace her; we had to ‘save’ the project in Trujillo, which it seemed was going to abort and we had to re-structure the programme for this city in one week, so we could see concrete results in a month and a half. The result was a great activity: training 24 kids under 10 in making handicrafts with corn skin.

Our team is small now but has the experience of the past year. First I was alone, after a couple of months and for the rest of the project there were two people supporting me (one in each city), now after the implementation is finished we are 6. So, imagine the impact we’ll have in the next year!!!

The different challenges were overcome with the support of some friends I’ll always be thankful to, also getting the institutional support from the university where I studied and where as I said before I worked now, as Social Development Projects’ Assistant. Also, I got an alliance with two youth organisations. That’s how the project is not just a story but a present and a future.

If you are interested in knowing more about the project and feel strongly enough to take the challenge to reply it in your country, drop me a line and let’s have a talk. Remember, when you are doing the right thing, there will always appear the help to continue, so just believe!

Mabel Toribio mabelxxi@yahoo.com

* The main goal of the SD Project is to teach SD skills to young people in a way that they learnt to contribute to their communities’ development through small projects.

resources

Online Learning Resources

www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1112_mdg/index.shtml

The website of the BBC World Service on the Millenium Development Goals, focusing on challenge/success case studies which demonstrate progress in the different areas of the MDGs campaign.

http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=190470&ct=855627

The UN website of the Millenium Campaign, currently featuring a story on the challenge of ensuring that MDGs are making genuine progress in Uganda.

www.carnegie.org/sub/program/foundationdocs/StoriesOfChange.pdf

A document examining the ways in which Universities in seven African nations have contributed to overcoming some of the many challenges faced by Africa, turning these challenges into successes.

www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/about/director/pubs/062.pdf

A document by Nirupam Bajpai and Jeffrey Sachs, special advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, outlining the challenges and successes which have been met in the process of the social and economic development of India.

News, Events and opportunities

News, upcoming events and involvement opportunities for OIYP Stakeholders.

Skills Program

Gender Resources

A collection of resources have been put together by action partners in the Gender Learning Group. Over the last few months many people have sent in their contributions to share with the group to create the first edition of the Gender Learning Group Resource Booklet.

This is a group of people involved with OIYP sharing their skills, knowledge and questions on gender with the acknowledgement that there are many different ways to ensure good gender practice in different cultures & communities.

If you would like to know more about the Gender Learning Group or contribute to the 2^nd edition of the resource booklet – please email Anna (annap@oxfam.org.au).

HIV/AIDS Research

Today, there are a growing number of young people across the world working within their communities to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS.

A group of young people from Oxfam International Youth Parliament and the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS are currently conducting a research on youth driven initiatives in the area of HIV/AIDS.

This youth-led research aims at understanding the contribution of youth-led work in the area of HIV/AIDS worldwide and represents a great opportunity for sharing experience, knowledge and lessons learnt among young people working in this area. It will result in an advocacy document with evidence around the contribution that youth-led projects and programs make to be shared at the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto, as part of the Toronto Youth Force process.

Get Involved!

You can get involved by submitting a case study of your work by March 10, 2006. To receive a survey to fill out email iypaction@oxfam.org.au, or for further information go to:

www.iyp.oxfam.org/news/HIVresearch.asp

Later in the year you can be involved in a discussion of these case studies in order to share experience and learning between young people working on HIV/AIDS.

Some case studies will be selected by regional research teams of young people for interview and publication. These will be selected on the basis of best or most interesting practices as well as diversity criteria (regional spread, gender, strategy).

Projects selected for the publications will be awarded $100 USD each to further their initiatives. 10-20 projects will be selected.

Endnote

A closing thought to inspire you this month.

”Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”

Joshua J. Marine