Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 136 - June 28, 2013

This report tracks the extent to which Zambia is making progress towards achieving the MDGs focuses on Goals 1 to 7 and assesses Zambia’s national development plans, the main tools for achieving economic and human development, particularly the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP).

It also analyses problems in the way the MDGs are formulated, arguing that unless these are taken care of, the human development conditions of countries such as Zambia will remain poor for a long time. Finally, it makes proposals for post 2015 reform.

Clearly, post 2015 development goals and targets must be less minimalist and quantitative. Human development also requires looking beyond economic growth to the nature and impact of that growth especially on the poor.

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“The worst thing about living in extreme poverty is the contempt - that they treat you like you are worthless, that they look at you with disgust and fear and that they even treat you like an enemy.”

“We experience the violence of being discriminated against, of not existing, not being part of the same world, not being treated like other human beings.”

Time and again, poverty is associated with violence against the people that suffer it. Poverty is frequently a consequence of human rights violations and also a symptom of them. The first quote is from a person living in poverty in Peru. The second from a person in France. The feelings expressed are essentially the same, even when the countries in which they live may be officially classified under very different economic standards.

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The Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) and Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) express their serious concern over ongoing campaign of judicial harassments against human rights defenders in Bahrain, that includes the very recent trial of defender Mohamed Al-Maskati on freedom of assembly related charges.

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ICAE is glad to announce the call for applications of the seventh edition of the  ICAE Academy of Lifelong Learning Advocacy (IALLA), that will be held for the first time in the Arab Region, from  September 1 to 14, 2013 in Madaba, Jordan.

The ICAE Academy of Lifelong Learning Advocacy is the main international training programme that the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) has created with the aim of broadening the vision on adult learning and  helping new leaders acquire advocacy skills through a participatory methodology that includes an interlinkage analysis within and beyond the field of adult learning and education, and promoting networking as an effective mechanism for collective learning.

We would like to call on our partners and friends to help us spread the word so as to ensure a wide and diverse participation, with gender and regional balance and giving equal access opportunities to all young men and women, from north and south.

Please note that the working language is English and the  deadline to apply is June 30, 2013. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at: icaeialla@gmail.com