Social Watch news

1.We, representatives of civil society organisations, who have met here in Istanbul on 7-13 May 2011 at the Civil Society Forum of the Fourth United Nations Conference on the LDCs, have very much appreciated the opportunities throughout this process to express our views on the challenges to LDCs and the development of the Istanbul Programme of Action and the Istanbul Political Declaration. 

Source: 
Partnership for Development Center: http://bit.ly/iMfjIX
ENPI Info Centre/EC: http://bit.ly/iB5jIO

The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections and European Exchange gGmbH (Germany) launched last week the project “Domestic Election Monitoring and Voter Education in Moldova – Strengthening of Capacities and International Networking”. 

Sources 
Fighting Hunger with Human Rights: http://bit.ly/mTNB3S 
Fair Flowers for Human Rights: http://bit.ly/l3P7tk
Ecumenical Academy Prague: http://bit.ly/jc6A0D
Link to the online petition: http://bit.ly/ikxayT

The partners of the European-wide campaign “fair flowers – for human rights” demand the respect of internationally acknowledged labour rights for flower workers worldwide, most of them women. One of the participants of the campaign is the Ecumenical Academy Prague (Ekumenicka Akademie Praha), focal point of Social Watch in Czech Republic. 

Source: The Star

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP, a national focal point of Social Watch) revealed that Malaysian households are spending about half of their income to pay off their debts, reported journalist Josephine Jalleh in a report published by The Star daily journal.

Arjun Karki in front of the plenary.
(Photo: LDC Watch)

Source: LDC Watch

The fact “that poor and marginalised people in LDCs have gained little from the past decade” is a “bitter reality” that made the civil society work on its “own programmes for action beyond” the United Nations Fourth Conference on Least Developed Contries (UNLDC-IV), said Arjun Karki, international coordinator of LDC Watch.

Opening of the Civil Society Forum
(Photo: LDC Watch)

Source: Civil Society Forum 

Civil society leaders urged governments to an “urgent and radical shift from the current development paradigm to genuine pro-people development,” and overcome their disagreements to finalise the United Nations Fourth Conference on Least Developed Contries (UNLDC-IV) with a a Programme of Action that can have a real impact on the lives of people. 

Opening of the course in Puntland.
(Photo: NCA)

Sources: SOCDA and allAfrica.com

Fifty “repentant pirates” were trained in building, carpentry and other working skills in the northeastern Somali region of Puntland, one of the more stables of this troubled country, which administration is being supported by the organisation Norwegian Church AID (NCA). The former criminals spent three months in those courses, implemented by the NCA and the local Ministry of Health.

Cecilia Alemany, of BetterAid.
(Photo: TerraViva)

Source: Better Aid

“It is a tragedy that even in the 21st century there are still countries and populations categorized as poor, excluded, vulnerable, east developed, developing and developed,” said the international alliance of civil society organisatiosn Better Aid, in a statement previous to the United Nations Fourth LDCs Conference (UN LDC-IV) that takes place in Istanbul this week. 

Ziad Abdel Samad,
Executive Director of the ANND.
(Photo: NCCAR)

The “least developed countries” (LCDs) of the Arab region “witness the same people’s mobilizations calling for democratic reforms” than the rest, warned the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), in a statement launched to raise its concerns to the United Nations Fourth LDCs Conference (UN LDC-IV) that takes place in Istanbul this week.

workshop of WfC in Zambia (Credit: WfC)
click to enlarge

Source: Women for Change, Zambia

“Funding” of civil society organisations (CSOs) “at times tends to be gender blind since funding bodies’ composition mostly constitutes males, according 23 activists and experts from five countries and 17 institutions convened in Lusaka last month to discuss those issues.

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