Journalists for training on Millennium Development Goals

Twenty junior radio and print journalists from twelve Caribbean Commonwealth countries and two non-Commonwealth countries will be in Jamaica from September 12-16 for a training workshop on Reporting the Millennium Development Goals”.

The workshop which will be held in Mandeville, Manchester is being organized by Panos Caribbean and is funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.

During the workshop, local and rural issues in addition to national and regional issues will be highlighted.

A press release from Panos Caribbean quoted Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, Dr. Mark Collins as saying that “at this half-way stage towards the MDG target date of 2015 it is vital that Caribbean governments keep up the momentum. Journalists play a key role as opinion-formers who can ensure that citizens and politicians alike recognize that there is no room for complacency in tackling these goals. They must be achieved and this workshop will help to ensure that the issues are kept alive and kicking.”

Jan Voordouw, Executive Director of Panos Caribbean stressed that MDGs are of prime importance to Caribbean societies, especially the vulnerable ones.

“However, often people do not easily see how to translate such global goals to local realities. During the workshop we will explore how media can assist in evaluating progress on the goals in our specific islands, to see how far we have come whether it is nationally or in marginal areas,” Voordouw said.

The release said also that the training during the workshop will focus particularly on HIV/AIDS, climate change, education, and debt relief.

“We expect that after the workshop, more radio and print stories will come out on the MDGs in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The workshop will also provide an opportunity for networking and joint investigation among journalists across the region,” Voordouw said.

The participants are drawn from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Haiti and Suriname.

Presenters will include Dr. Maureen Samms-Vaugh from the Early Childhood Commission, Canute James, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communications, Dale Rankine from the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme in Jamaica, and Peter Espeut from the Caribbean Costal Area Management Foundat-ion, the release added.

In 2007 a large UN Conference agreed on eight MDGs, setting targets for the substantial reduction of poverty by 2015. Nearly all the countries of the world have signed up to them.

The eight MDGs are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development.

Ireland on the way toward “0,7 percent” taget

Ireland spent some €814 million last year on overseas development aid to support projects in more than 90 countries, a report published today said.

Minister of State for Overseas Development Michael Kitt published the Irish Aid annual report for 2006, which also reveals that the State gave €100 million to 40 countries to assist them after natural disasters or humanitarian crises.

Mr Kitt said that spending more than 0.5 per cent of GNP on overseas aid last year places Ireland on course to reach the UN target of spending 0.7 per cent of GNP on overseas aid by 2012.

World Bank Approves US$30 Million in aid to Colombia

The World Bank’s Board of Directors today approved a US$30 million loan to support Colombia’s efforts to increase rural competitiveness and build up entrepreneurship in poor rural communities through partnership schemes with the commercial private sector.

 

“About 68 percent of the people living in Colombia’s rural areas are poor, most of them small farm families,” said Miguel Lopez-Bakovic, World Bank Country Manager for Colombia. “This project will help reduce rural poverty by enabling small producers to compete successfully in the national and global marketplace.”

 

Under the Second Rural Productive Partnerships Project, small farmers’ producer organizations will gain access to relevant markets by entering into a productive partnership with private sector companies, with the support of financial institutions, government and civil society. At the same time, agribusiness firms will be able to expand food processing activities by securing supplies from small producers.

 

The project builds upon the success of the ongoing Productive Partnerships Support Project which has allowed the creation of 117 partnership schemes with the commercial private sector, benefiting 10,400 rural families.  These include partnerships to improve farm infrastructure, such as irrigation canals, aquaculture facilities, greenhouses, machinery, equipment and special studies.   These schemes have generated additional income and employment, stimulated social cohesion in rural areas, spread entrepreneurial culture, and generated local capacity to implement rural partnerships.

 

The new project aims to finance at least 300 additional partnerships and reach 25,300 small and medium-sized farm families.  The project activities will have national coverage but focus on the departments that have potential for development through agriculture.

 

This US$30 million, fixed-spread loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is repayable in 17.5 years, and includes a grace period of 5.5 years.

Venezuela becomes a major development donor

Venezuela has made pledges of more than $8.8 billion in assistance to other Latin American countries this year, nearly triple the $3 billion the U.S. gave the region in 2005.

The oil exporting Venezuela, with their own 38 percent poverty are choosing to give close to 5 percent of their GDP in development aid. Makes them the country in the world with the highest level of aid per capita.

If the money is well spended, this could give South America a boost to build infrastructure and new initiatives in many countries in the region.

More information at Washington Post.

UN seeks support for Peru program

Margareta Wahlström

An appeal seeking approximately $37 million to assist victims of the Peru earthquake would be officially launched early next week, Margareta Wahlström, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, said at Headquarters this morning.

At a press conference where she briefed correspondents on United Nations relief efforts in response to natural disasters, she said $9.6 million from the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) had already been allocated to ensure the availability of resources.  The Prime Minister of Peru had made the announcement at a press conference yesterday afternoon.

There had been an enormous outpouring of assistance from countries in the subregion, regional banks and non-governmental organizations, she said.  Relief efforts were proceeding well, despite some organizational issues in terms of distribution and access to people in need, and problems of hygiene and sanitation.  In the next few weeks, however, there would be efforts to clear the rubble from the widespread destruction of churches, public buildings and homes and to establish emergency employment schemes.  With 514 people dead so far and 1,000 injured, United Nations assessments were reaching out to rural areas and the Government was conducting a local census to establish the correct numbers of people in need.

Turning to Hurricane Dean, she said the category 5 storm had now been downgraded, although a hurricane warning remained in effect for the Gulf of Mexico coastline.  While only a relatively limited number of people had been killed, the hurricane had caused huge economic damage to power networks, as well as the agriculture and fisheries of many Caribbean islands.  Those left homeless in Haiti and Jamaica were being supported by the authorities, the United Nations system and voluntary organizations.  Hopefully, the disaster relief operation would be relatively short, with the focus on recovery.

She then turned to the floods in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, where a week of torrential rains had dumped up to 850 millimetres of rain — at least half of the country’s annual rainfall.  Momentum was building for an appeal to be launched early next week.  It had been agreed that about 400,000 people had been affected in 92 counties, with 221 dead.  Agriculture had been seriously hit, but the floodwaters were now receding.  The United Nations appeal would focus on providing food and emergency medical, water and sanitation needs.

She noted that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies had launched an appeal on 20 August for $5.5 million.  There was a lot of interest by the donors, who were waiting for the United Nations to determine the first priorities, which would be available next week.  All the relevant United Nations agencies had staff in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, many of them having worked there for 10 years or more.  They knew the environment well and had actively led the needs assessments in all the affected areas.

Emphasizing the vulnerability of all countries to the increasing number of weather-related disasters, she noted the mid-western United States had also just suffered severe flooding.  There was a need for preparedness, early warning systems and consistent collaboration in reducing the human and economic impact of disasters.

In response to a question, she said the appeal for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was estimated at “somewhere between $15 million and $20 million”.

She told another correspondent that, while there were sufficient supplies of water, food, plastic sheeting, blankets and other needs in Peru, there was a need to improve coordination.

Asked whether there had been access problems in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, she said all the affected areas had been assessed.  Where areas had been difficult to reach, that had been the result of physical obstacles like collapsed bridges.  Those problems were mainly in the eastern and south-eastern parts of the country.

In response to a question about the Government of Somalia directing who should receive assistance, she said she was unaware of any efforts to prevent assistance reaching those in need.  However, many people had left the capital, Mogadishu, and a growing number needed assistance.