Romania

Miscellaneous finances, small gifts, craft paper, clay and paints, small stationery and office supplies.
paint brushes etc

UK National Commission for UNESCO

UK National Commission for UNESCO Inaugural Annual Conference, 16-17 June 2006 East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham

 

The UK National Commission's inaugural Annual Conference successfully concluded on 17 June 2006. Over 200 attended the first Annual Conference since 1985 and took part in the presentations, discussion and consideration of the challenges and opportunities for the UK, UNESCO and the National Commission in the coming decade.

The Rt Hon. Hilary Benn was the after-dinner speaker in the pre-conference reception on 16 June and spoke passionately about his optimism in the achievement and future of the UK National Commission.

 

A conference report is in the process of being prepared and will be available on this website in due course.

 

More information and photographs.

 

http://www.unesco.8m.com/Conference/conference_gallery.htm

http://www.unesco.org.uk/Annual_Conference.htm

Baladna, Israel

From: YAP Long-term volunteering [mailto:ltv@yap.org]
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 5:51 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS - EVS ISRAEL 2006

 

Dear all,

We are happy to send you the call for volunteers for the next EVS project in Israel 2006!

The whole project will gather 17 European volunteers in 16 different hosting organizations in Israel; the projects will start on mid August 2006 – Mid February 2007 for a duration of 6 months.

The pre-departure training will take place in Brussels around the mid/end of august 2006 (dates to be finalized as soon as the team is selected). The project is an EVS project under the Euro-Med YOUTH programme, meaning that ONLY EU countries are entitled to send volunteers to the Middle East.

Attached you will find the project description (as detailed as possible), as well as the application form. The application must be filled by the applicant him/herself, BUT part 10 must be filled by the sending organization.

The deadline for the International Secretariat to receive applications is 19th of JULY 2006 by 18.00 at the latest! You will get an answer by 24th of JULY 2006 on the selection.

Please send applications ONLY by e-mail.

So.... you have about one month from now to think about it. We are looking forward to receiving your applications and GOOD LUCK!

Should you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us!

Have a nice day,

Maram

Project Coordinator
YAP IS

***************************************************
Youth Action for Peace
3 avenue du Parc Royal
B - 1020 Brussels
Phone: +32 2 478 94 10
Fax: +32 2 478 94 32
General info: info@yap.org
General administration: administration@yap.org
Youth exchanges, training and seminars: exchange-training@yap.org
Long-term Volunteering: ltv@yap.org
Publication: publications@yap.org
Website: www.yap.org

Public Meeting. 17th July, 2006 (3)

Public Meeting. 17th July, 2006

 

The United Nations and Its Future in the 21st Century

Editor

Vijay Mehta

In 2005, the United Nations celebrated its sixtieth anniversary. It was   an historic opportunity to take stock of the past and see what lies in the future. This collection of essays assesses aspects of the Organisation’s history, and what might lie ahead for it.

 

The United Nations is at once the symbol of humanity’s collective aspirations for a better life in a safer world for all, and a forum for negotiating the terms of converting these collective aspirations into a common program of action. Realising these goals is ever more significant at a time when the UN is facing pressures to reorganise itself.

The book discusses the far-reaching reforms the UN needs to continue to play a central role in international peace and security. Its contributors emphasise that the UN is the only body through which respect for the rule of law and adherence to multilateral treaties can be achieved.

 

The book includes important UN documents and the recommendations of the UN High Level Panel Report on Threats, Challenges and Change in relation to poverty, environmental degradation, terrorism, civil war, conflict between states, weapons of mass destruction, and organized crime. 

 

The chapters in the book were originally given as lectures in honour of the UN’s free-thinker, critic and constructive analysts’, Erskine Childers. The contributors include:

 

Margaret Anstee * Jayantha Dhanapala * Denis Halliday * Rosalyn Higgins * Razali Ismali *Richard Jolly * Caroline Lucas MEP * Patricia McKenna * Paul Rogers * Ramesh Thakur * Jenny Tonge

Vijay Mehta is a writer,peace and development activist. He is president, VM Centre for Peace, chair of Arms Reduction Coalition (ARC) and  World Disarmament Campaign (WDC), and vice-chairman, Action for UN Renewal.

This book can be purchased from the following:

Action for UN Renewal                                                                           VM Centre for Peace

www.action-for-un-renewal.org.uk                                            www.vmpeace.org 

 

Amazon website:                                                                                               The Spokesman
www.amazon.co.uk                                                                        www.spokesmanbooks.com  

U.N. Bookshop, United Nations Building, Room GA-32, New York 10017, USA

Paperback (274 pages)          £10.00 (plus £2 postage)      ISBN 0 85124 707 5

 

Public Meeting. 17th July, 2006 (2)

Action for UN Renewal                     Public Meeting to support

Jayantha Dhanapala

Candidate for post of UN Secretary-General

 

‘Challenges, Opportunities and Limitations of the Role of the Secretary-General’

   Monday 17 July 2006, 6.30 - 8.00 pm

Committee Room 10 (booked in the name of Frank Cook MP), House of Commons

Chair: Lord Peter Archer of Sandwell

 

Ambassador Dhanapala is Sri Lanka’s officially declared candidate for the top UN job of Secretary-General of the United Nations. The first secretary-general Trygve Lie described it as the most impossible job on earth. After the war on Iraq and the oil for food scandal, and recent capping of its funds, the UN is in need of urgent and radical reforms for its survival. Dhanapala has what it takes to bring lasting reforms to the world body in the 21st century.

 

Jayantha Dhanapala is a former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and a former Ambassador of Sri Lanka. He is currently the Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka and a member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Governing Board. He is an international expert on arms control, recipient of various peace awards. One of his greatest diplomatic victories was securing an indefinite extension of the Nuclear-non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He is honorary President of the International Peace Bureau. Please visit his website at www.jayanthadhanapala.com We endorse Jhayantha Dhanapala’s as the most suitable candidate to fulfil this top job of the United Nations.
Please join us in supporting him.

Supported by World Disarmament Campaign, Arms Reduction Coalition and International Peace Bureau

                               For further information contact:
             Vijay Mehta                                 Jim Addington
          0207 377 2111                               0208 399 2547

Public Meeting. 17th July, 2006

House of Commons, London

 

Action for UN Renewal                     Public Meeting to support

Jayantha Dhanapala

Candidate for post of UN Secretary-General

 

‘Challenges, Opportunities and Limitations of the Role of the Secretary-General’

   Monday 17 July 2006, 6.30 - 8.00 pm

Committee Room 10 (booked in the name of Frank Cook MP), House of Commons

Chair: Lord Peter Archer of Sandwell

 

Ambassador Dhanapala is Sri Lanka’s officially declared candidate for the top UN job of Secretary-General of the United Nations. The first secretary-general Trygve Lie described it as the most impossible job on earth. After the war on Iraq and the oil for food scandal, and recent capping of its funds, the UN is in need of urgent and radical reforms for its survival. Dhanapala has what it takes to bring lasting reforms to the world body in the 21st century.

 

Jayantha Dhanapala is a former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and a former Ambassador of Sri Lanka. He is currently the Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka and a member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Governing Board. He is an international expert on arms control, recipient of various peace awards. One of his greatest diplomatic victories was securing an indefinite extension of the Nuclear-non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He is honorary President of the International Peace Bureau. Please visit his website at www.jayanthadhanapala.com We endorse Jhayantha Dhanapala’s as the most suitable candidate to fulfil this top job of the United Nations.
Please join us in supporting him.

Supported by World Disarmament Campaign, Arms Reduction Coalition and International Peace Bureau

                               For further information contact:
             Vijay Mehta                                 Jim Addington
          0207 377 2111                               0208 399 2547

Baladna: Association For Arab Youth

2006 Work camps Descriptions

 

 

 

                                               Contact Details:

 

Tel:  972-4-8523035 Fax: 972-4-8523427 Mobile: 972-52-4403634

E-mail: info@baladnayouth.org Web site: www.baladnayouth.org

Address: P.O. BOX 99604, Haifa 31996 Israel

I.                    Organization and Workcamp descriptions (english)

 

A.     Introduction

 

Baladna - Association for Arab Youth is a developmental and capacity building agency for Arab-Palestinian youth in Israel. It was established in 2000, and officially registered in 2001. Baladna works with Arab-Palestinian youth to work towards not being institutionally marginalized and to gain more equality with the Jewish majority in Israel.  Resistance to official discrimination aims to deepen connections to Palestinian identity and encourage community development.

 

The association encourages Arab-Palestinian youth to address discrimination by Israel’s educational and governing institutions. Baladna directly mobilizes young people through educational programs and cultural activities. The association also collaborates with agencies promoting Arab-Palestinian youth and helps build their leadership capabilities.

 

B.      Baladna’s International Activities

 

Baladna has strong relationships with partners in Israel, Palestine and abroad. Baladna has hosted volunteers through the European Commission’s European Voluntary Service (EVS) in 2002 and 2003 and in 2002, facilitated international exchanges on human rights issues that effect Palestinians in Israel and in Palestine. This enabled intercultural exchange between European and Palestinian youth.

 

In August 2002, Baladna organized the first two-week workcamp at Halleessa, the most underprivileged Arab-Palestinian neighbourhood in Haifa. This work camp aimed at renovating the neighbourhood’s houses, cleaning streets, planting trees and energizing the local community. Arab-Palestinian and Jewish volunteers, as well as volunteers from Japan, the US, Canada, Spain and France, took part in activities such as painting, reading and writing, teaching English, sports, and theatre performances.

 

For more info about Baladna please visit our Web site : www.baladnayouth.org

 

All Inscriptions should be sent to:  volunteer@baladnayouth.org

 

Or fax number

Fax: 972-4-8523427 

 

 

1) Sakhnen work camp

 

Dates :                             1-14\7\2006

Place:                              Sakhnen, Heart of the Galilee / Israel

Hosting Organization:   Baladna and Sakhnen Municipality

Work Type:                     Environmental & Gardening & Painting

Number of Volunteers:  20 International

Participation Fee:         150 Euros

Accommodation:          In municipal social centre.

 

 

 

Local Community and Project Description

Sakhnin is a very old town, which dates back 3,500 years. The town is situated in the heart of the Galilee and has holy sites for Muslims, Christians and Jews.
The town is built over three hills. It is 200-250 meters above sea level, and it is located in a valley surrounded by mountains, the highest of them is 602 meters high.
Today there are over 20,000 inhabitants in Sakhnin and most of them make a living from businesses, light industry, and construction work within the neighboring cities.

Baladna, Israel

Dear Friends & Partners,

There are still available places for volunteers  in Baladna work camps for this summer.

For more information see the descriptions in the next entry..

For any questions or inquiries please send emails to:

volunteer@baladnayouth.org

 

 

 

 

 

From Our Princesses, Nepal

From Hungary

From Kofi Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations

Sigh! If only world was like football

By Kofi A. Annan:

Asian Age, 

6 June 2006

You may wonder what a Secretary-General of the United Nations is doing writing about football. But in fact, the World Cup makes us in the UN green with envy. As the pinnacle of the only truly global game, played in every country by every race and religion, it is one of the few phenomena as universal as the United Nations.

You could even say it’s more universal. FIFA has 207 members; we have only 191.

But there are far better reasons to be envious. First, the World Cup is an event in which everybody knows where their team stands, and what it did to get there. They know who scored and how and in what minute of the game; they know who missed the open goal; they know who saved the penalty. I wish we had more of that sort of competition in the family of nations. Countries openly vying for the best standing in the table of respect for human rights, and trying to outdo one another in child survival rates or enrolment in secondary education.

States parading their performance for all the world to see. Governments being held accountable for what actions led them to that result. Second, the World Cup is an event which everybody on the planet loves talking about. Dissecting what their team did right, and what it could have done differently — not to mention the other side’s team. People sitting in cafés anywhere from Buenos Aires to Beijing, debating the finer points of games endlessly, revealing an intimate knowledge not only of their own national teams but of many of the others too, and expressing themselves on the subject with as much clarity as passion.

Normally tongue-tied teenagers suddenly becoming eloquent, confident, and dazzlingly analytical experts. I wish we had more of that sort of conversation in the world at large. Citizens consumed by the topic of how their country could do better on the Human Development Index, or in reducing the number of carbon emissions or new HIV infections. Third, the World Cup is an event which takes place on a level playing field, where every country has a chance to participate on equal terms.

Only two commodities matter in this game: talent and team work. I wish we had more levellers like that in the global arena. Free and fair exchanges without the interference of subsidies, barriers or tariffs. Every country getting a real chance to field its stren-gths on the world stage. Fourth, the World Cup is an event which illustrates the benefits of cross-pollination between peoples and countries. More and more national teams now welcome coaches from other countries, who bring new ways of thinking and playing.

The same goes for the increasing number of players who between World Cups represent clubs away from home. They inject new qualities into their new team, grow from the experience, and are able to contribute even more to their home side when they return. In the process, they often become heroes in their adopted countries — helping to open hearts and broaden minds. I wish it were equally plain for all tosee that human migration in general can create triple wins — for migrants, for their countries of origin, and for the societies that receive them.

That migrants not only build better lives for themselves and their families, but are also agents of development — economic, social, and cultural — in the countries they go and work in, and in the homelands they inspire through new-won ideas and know-how when they return. For any country, playing in the World Cup is a matter of profound national pride. For countries qualifying for the first time, such as my native Ghana, it is a badge of honour. For those who are doing so after years of adversity, such as Angola, it provides a sense of national renewal. And for those who are currently driven by conflict, like Côte d’Ivoire, but whose World Cup team is a unique and powerful symbol of national unity, it inspires nothing less than the hope of national rebirth.

Which brings me to what is perhaps most enviable of all for us in the United Nations: the World Cup is an event in which we actually see goals being reached. I’m not talking only about the goals a country scores; I also mean the most important goal of all — being there, part of the family of nations and peoples, celebrating our common humanity. I’ll try to remember that when Ghana plays Italy in Hanover on 12 June.

Of course, I can’t promise I’ll succeed.

Belarus

Dear Colleague,

 

I hope the events you organised around 26th April went off well. By working together we certainly raised awareness of the twentieth anniversary and of the fact that people in Belarus, Ukraine and parts of Russia still suffer the consequences and will continue to do so for many, many years. 

 

I am writing to let you know that the Belarusian Children’s Folk Dance Group Ternichka is touring the country from 16th to 25th June. Please check the web page http://www.rememberchernobyl.org/ternichka.htm to see if they are performing near you. If they are please publicise the event to your members and in your local community. A flyer is attached. 

 

Feedback on Remember Chernobyl from charities attending recent conferences was positive and everyone agreed that:

• it was good that our charities are working together
• the website should be kept up to date
• the Working Party should meet every 3 months and try to organise an event such as a conference annually 

It was also suggested that the website could have a section for charities to offer and ask for goods and services. What do you think about this?

 

We would like to keep the Events section up to date and will replace details after an event has happened with a report on how it went. Please send us a brief report of your event and how much it raised for the Children's Hospice.

 

The Working Party meets again in June and we'd welcome your comments on the above ideas and your suggestions by 15th June.  

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Best wishes,

 

Claire Chettoe

on behalf of the Working Party

Zanzibar

Dear Don

Thanks alot for your valuable ideas. The whole thing came about after my discussions with officials from the Charity "Computers for African Schools" which has supplied a lot of refurbished second hand computers to Zambia, Malawi and few in Tanzania. They are ready to support Zanzibar but the issue of shipping costs came. In most cases they do find sponsors to ship them but I also wanted to explore as well possibilities of getting financial partners who can work with "computers for African schools" to support Zanzibar. In Zanzibar, we recently passed a new education policy which make secondary education (Form i-iv) universal and compulsory and the use of ICT across the curriculum is one of the key components of the new policy.  Therefore all our secondary schools which will reach about 300 when the policy is fully operational will be in desperate need of computers, laboratory equipments and science textbooks.  As a former British colony, our science curricula is not very different from the one in UK and most science textbooks are quite relevant.

Since I will be here for some time up February 2008, I am trying to look for networks that could support education in Zanzibar in any area.  I definitely welcome your ideas and let us discuss further to see how your organisation could be of help.  Also I will appreciate if you could let me know of any institutions which might have interest in supporting education In Zanzibar.

As islands we do not have many resources to attract big companies, although tourism is becoming very significant. But also because of our smallness, very little can have a very big impact on the well being of our people. 

Let us continue to share ideas and hopefully something of mutual benefit might

 

Abdul

New Zealand

Hi Don

I am looking for ways in which my media production company can help

support, document and promote greater understanding, awareness and

knowledge of one another, our differences and similarities through the

use of and production of quality media based presentations.

With extensive experience in documenting and creating multimedia

productions in aid and development, community projects and relief

programmes, we are wanting to continue to be involved and are looking

for worthwhile projects and organisations to partner in the production

of media based promotional material.

If you have media projects that are stalled because of a lack of funds

or experienced personal to undertake the project then feel free to

contact me.

Regards

Mark Jackson

--

Mark Jackson

Managing Director

Joshua Corporation Limited

PO Box 13019

Mahora, Hastings

New Zealand