--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- *APCNews, the monthly newsletter of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)* - September 2001 No. 22 - --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NEWS FROM APC -- -- NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS -- -- APC ACTION AREA: INTERNET RIGHTS -- -- APC ACTION AREA: BUILDING INFORMATION COMMUNITIES -- -- APC ACTION AREA: MOBILISING PARTICIPATION -- -- ONLINE EVENTS -- -- SITES OF INTEREST -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NEWS FROM APC -- 2001 APC BETINHO COMMUNICATIONS PRIZE: Closing date for the $7,500 USD prize - to recognize the use of the Internet for social justice - is September 24 The $7,500 USD APC Betinho Prize is offered to non-profit organisations, community-based groups, coalitions, working groups or social movements anywhere in the world that have successfully used information and communication technologies (ICTs) as an essential ingredient in their development work. Last year, over 160 inspiring projects were nominated for the prize including a Website recruiting and orienting volunteers to participate in the reconstruction of ex-Yugoslavia; an information network connecting indigenous communities in Mexico; and a child's rights data gathering initiative in Mozambique. The inaugural winner, the Max Foundation, is a life-saving online support network functioning in English, Spanish and Portuguese for the families of children suffering from leukaemia and host of Latin America's first online bone marrow tissue registry. Nominations for the Prize will be accepted until September 24, 2001. Detailed eligibility criteria and a nomination form are available from: http://www.apc.org/english/betinho 2001 APC AFRICA HAFKIN PRIZE: Prize winning community learning centre plans to use the prize to finance IT scholarships for girls in rural Nigeria "I never dreamt that what we were doing at Bayanloco would get heard even in Nigeria's capital city, and now we are getting solidarity greetings from all over the world. Your thoughtful consideration and recognition have strengthened my knees, and especially coming from fellow women," the project founder and inspiration - Kazanka Comfort - wrote to APC following the news of the award. "The issue of techno-phobia is one which has been very close to my heart and I was planning to start a new initiative which we have called 'Catch them Young' in which I will be addressing female students in secondary schools and instituting an essay competition. Winners and runners-up will be given scholarships for IT training at Bayanloco. The Hafkin Prize has come at an opportune time as part of it will be used for the scholarships. We would like to have your permission to call these the 'Hafkin Scholarship for Women's IT Training at Bayanloco'. The rest of the Hafkin Prize will go towards providing email access for us at Bayanloco - the prize has made a distant dream almost a reality." The 2001 APC Africa Hafkin Prize winning initiative - the Bayanloco Community Learning Centre - trains women in rural Nigeria to use information technology for peace and poverty alleviation. The Prize Winner: http://www.apc.org/english/hafkin/haf_winner.htm The Prize Finalists: http://www.apc.org/english/hafkin/haf_finalists.htm APC WELCOMES TWO NEW MEMBERS: Improving women's access to ICTs in Nigeria and the UK In August, APC welcomed two new members working primarily to improve women's access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) but in very different circumstances and in very different parts of the world. Fantsuam Foundation, founded in 1996, is the only NGO attempting to provide ICT services in rural communities in its native Nigeria. Crucially, seventy percent of Nigeria's 120 million people live in rural communities. "It is a daunting task," said project director, John Dada, "and membership of APC will be an invaluable resource for networking and learning for us". Fantsuam's mission is to alleviate poverty through a multi-sectoral approach with an innovative approach to ICTs integration. Their packet of integrated projects starts with the provision of micro-credits to organised women's groups in rural communities. From this basis, the Foundation moves into health promotion, the integration of indigenous knowledge and skills, and the establishment of community-initiated learning centres, to build a comprehensive rural primary healthcare system. "They [Fantsuam] are very aggressively incorporating IT into their strategies for serving rural populations in Nigeria and for building IT capacity within the communities they serve," said Rebecca Riccio of HealthNet, an organisation advising the Foundation in their technology implementation. "We are working with them to design and implement their first Mobile Community Telecentre. This will be a van that extends the work of the Community Learning Centre into even more remote areas." The van will travel a circuit between rural health clinics and health training institutes, offering a variety of IT services, training, and distance education. Fantsuam's goal is to provide clinic managers, almost exclusively women, with the ability to communicate, update their skills, and receive current public health and medical information, and to enhance the offerings of local health training institutes. "I have been impressed with the level to which they are engaged with a wide variety of public institutions and with their commitment to IT capacity building," adds Riccio. One of the Fantsuam Foundation initiatives - the Bayanloco Community Learning Centre - was the winner of the APC Africa Hafkin Prize in 2001. The prize was awarded to women-inspired, women-run projects. "We work mainly with women to seek answers to the problem of poverty through empowerment and status-improving projects," explained Dada, "because women are the catalysts and most reliable agents of sustainable development in Nigerian rural communities." BRIDGE (Briefings on Development and Gender), founded in 1992, is committed to making gender information available in friendly, accessible online spaces to promote gender equality in on- and offline spaces. "Despite the ostensible access to and availability of technology in the UK, it is not being embraced or utilised to a large extent in development organisations," notes BRIDGE information and network coordinator, Sonja Boezak. "Regional and national networks on gender in particular seem to have made little use of the Internet as a tool for collating and disseminating information. There is a present move toward creating more online spaces for gender and development by using ICTs, though it is a slow one. Discussions and activities tend to be focused solely on the issues, and time is not taken out to consider how tools might help our community in their work". The present BRIDGE programme is focused on utilising the tools of ICTs to further development, in addition to making available and accessible the information to support gender mainstreaming. Currently, BRIDGE is developing a three-year Gender Knowledge Programme. It involves the development of two web resources - a gender mainstreaming gateway named Siyanda, and a resource of gender materials generated and financed by development funding agencies. "We believe that we will be able to learn from the participatory practices, capacity building, experience sharing and networking that APC is known for," said Boezak. "BRIDGE membership in APC will help us further our mission to form part of, as well as build, sustainable partnerships, and to embed lessons learned through these experiences in our work outputs." BRIDGE is based at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, in the UK. Find out more about APC members around the world: If your organization is actively involved in using or promoting ICTs for civil society work, think about becoming a member. Visit: http://www.apc.org/english/about/members/member_pack.htm Fantsuam Foundation: http://www.kabissa.org/fantsuam BRIDGE: http://www.ids.ac.uk/bridge The Build-up to the World Social Forum 2002: Diverse groups meet in Mexico Mexico City, Mexico, 15 August -- APC was part of the first meeting of social movements that gathered together men and women from organisations, networks and social movements from thirty nine different countries representing every continent. Activists analysed the course of the globalisation of capital and power and exchanged experiences on the diverse resistances taking place around the world, report APC representatives, Olinca Marino and Jacques Lefevre (of APC member, LaNeta). An agenda for international action was outlined covering: - The World Conference against Racism (WCAR) - 31 August to 7 September in South Africa - The World Forum on Food Sovereignty in Havana, Cuba - 3-7 September - Fora and demonstrations against the World Bank and the IMF in Washington DC - 28-29 September - Fora and demonstrations against the World Trade Organisation in Qatar - 8-11 November - Participation in demonstrations organised by Grito de los Excluidos/as - 12 October in all countries of the Americas - Forum and demonstrations at the World Conference for Food Security - Rome 9-11 November - Organising for the European Union Summit in Brussels - December - To carry out a World Ethical Tribunal of the Debt as part of the World Social Forum - February 2002 - Fora and demonstrations at the UN International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico - March 2001 - During 2002: the organising of popular referenda in every country of the Americas to determine each country's commitment to or rejection of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The next Meeting of Social Movements will take place at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, at the end of January 2002. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS -- CHANGENET, Slovakia: Internet-savvy Slovakian APC partner mentors Russian eco-NGO on how to build their reputation as a reliable news source and raise public awareness of ecological issues The Socio-Ecological Union (SEU) is visiting Slovakia to learn from APC partner, ChangeNet, how to harness the information services of Russian eco-NGOs in order to provide national, international and regional mass media and the general public with regular access to information coming from NGOs. In a country where the system of environment management and control has been almost entirely destroyed, non-governmental organizations are now the only watchdogs for the right to a healthy and safe environment for people and wildlife. So it is crucial that they get their message out to a wide audience. However, green campaigners have faced systematic attack in the traditional Russian press, which is making the fight to get that information out, even more complex. http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=3cf8abddeef6698a0572e4e28ce63122 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- APC ACTION AREA: INTERNET RIGHTS-- LATIN AMERICA and THE CARIBBEAN: Activists, networkers and academics begin exchanges on the state of the protection of the Internet for social justice and development work in the region Following an online consultation with more than 120 participants from all over Latin America in April-May, and presentations of the project in Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Cuba, APC's Latin America ICT Policy Monitor project is now hosting working groups focusing on key civil society Internet policy issues in the region. The goal of APC's initiative is to monitor ICT policy developments that are taking place, and then to demystify them in terms of how they impact the day-to-day work of civil society organisations. In November 2001, APC is convening an international Latin American and Caribbean Internet Rights workshop in Montevideo, Uruguay that will bring together activists, lawyers, computer and Internet specialists, and NGOs. In preparation, some of the issues that are currently being discussed online are: virtual communities, e-commerce, gender issues, telecentres and Open Source software. http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=adb358464786ce3d3af174c2d0d05ea7 AFRICA: South African Bill on Interception of communications is slammed by Privacy International as leading inevitably to abuses In a letter to the South African Committee on Justice & Constitutional Development on the Interception and Monitoring Bill currently being reviewed by the Committee, Privacy International wrote: "we find the bill lacking many basic safeguards found in other countries' laws …. On the basis of international experiences, we believe that the lack of safeguards will inevitably lead to abuses." http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=47ec608b82cec0b2c6db8d5d1f3e87a9 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- APC ACTION AREA: BUILDING INFORMATION COMMUNITIES -- APC-Africa-Women: Regional women's networks provide global coverage at the World Conference Against Racism NGO Forum Women'sNet as part of the continental network, APC-Africa-Women, are running a Cyber cafe at the NGO Forum meeting preceding the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. Together with community radio broadcasting network, AMARC, and Costa Rican feminist media activists, FIRE, who will be sending out broadcasts online from the Cyber Cafe, every evening, Women'sNet and APC-Africa-Women are putting out "Intersections", a bi-daily bulletin (on and off-line) and Website covering events, featuring interviews with women participants, and articles on central issues at the conference, from a gender perspective. http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=addf85b6979e965135f1a06367f4335c Net Gains: African Women Take Stock of Information and Communication Technologies "There are wide gaps between research and action. There is insufficient research, but a lot of discourse about women, ICTs and communication. African women have their own special needs regarding technology and communication, because they are women in the developing world, and in Africa specifically. So specific and endogenous research on African women and ICTs must be carried out." -- Awatef Ketiti, Tunisia, in the Flamme electronic discussion on African women and ICTs (from "Net Gains") APC-Africa-Women and FEMNET commissioned this research, and working with organisations like the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), have played a key role in ensuring that the gender dimensions of ICTs on the continent are brought to the fore. "Net Gains" is the product of participatory research. Forty-two women from sixteen countries in east, west, north and southern Africa participated to inform a holistic APC-Africa-Women and FEMNET programme of activities related to the Beijing+5 process in Africa and internationally. The Africa regional programme of APC's Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) APC-Africa-Women gathers and works together with women and women's organisations in Africa and all over the world, focusing on African women's empowerment through information facilitation, regional support, policy and advocacy, training and research in the field of ICTs. Download Net Gains free of charge: http://www2.womensnet.org.za/beijing5/news2/show.cfm?news2_id=120 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- APC ACTION AREA: MOBILISING PARTICIPATION -- Women In Sync: A three-part publication from the Women's Programme APC WNSP (Women's Networking Support Programme) began in the early 1990s and continues to be one of the strongest Internet-based women's networks in the world. After eight years of incubating women's networking projects and working together online, in February 2001, APC WNSP published "Women in Sync", a collection of stories and experiences of the women and organisations who have become a part of the APC WNSP network. Funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada), this three-part series is a reflection of the lessons APC WNSP has learned as an active network of women, groups and organisations working in the field of gender and ICT and women's networking support, and an acknowledgement of the challenges faced in a world increasingly transformed by information and communication technologies. "Women in Sync" is designed to be a resource to encourage and support women's electronic networking. http://www.apc.org/english/news/fulltext.shtml?sh_itm=401e4f74c88df14f8e686852dc0998e2 -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- ONLINE EVENTS -- UNED Forum/TVE/One World/Panos: Earth Summit 2002 Online 3-30 September 2001 Bangladesh Friendship Education Society (BFES) Conference: Towards Building a Knowledge Society - The Role of NGOs Dhaka, Bangladesh 16-18 January 2002 II International Conference on Date Transmission CITEL 2002(II Congreso Internacional de Telemática CITEL 2002) Havana Cuba 25-29 November 2002 APC Online Events: http://www.apc.org/english/ngos/calendar/ --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- SITES OF INTEREST -- PORTO ALEGRE 2002.NET www.portoalegre2002.net is an Internet gateway devoted to those who understand the role of communication in the battle for a new world and are working to make the second World Social Forum set for January 31st to February, 5, 2002 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, a success. The leitmotif of the portal is: "We are convinced that the new meeting at Porto Alegre cannot limit itself to repeating that a new world is possible. It is time to seek the avenues to building it." Proposed by the Brazilian edition of Le Monde Diplomatique - responsible last year for all the electronic communication of the WSF I - the gateway was immediately supported by the LMD's French editors, and joined from the outset by Inter Press Service (IPS). In recent years, Le Monde Diplomatique has taken up the role among the international press as the most important locus of criticism of neo-liberalism and debate over the alternatives. IPS, a long-term APC colleague organization, was set up in the '60s as the first international initiative to question, in practice, the monopoly of the major information bureaux, and today is known for the breadth and depth of its coverage of globalisation and development. Porto Alegre 2002.net: http://www.portoalegre2002.net [in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese] ECO-INDEX An Internet-based conservation initiative that includes a searchable library of current and past conservation projects in Mexico and Central America. Eco-Index: http://www.eco-index.org [in English and Spanish] --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- APCNews, in English, and APCNoticias, in Spanish, are distributed the first week of every month by APC, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the international Internet community for peace, human rights, development and the environment. APCNews Archive: http://www.apc.org/english/news/apcnews/ Copyright. 2001 Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Permission is granted to use this document for personal use, for training and educational publications, and activities by peace, environmental, human rights or development organisations. Please provide an acknowledgement to APC. =========================================================== GreenNet Limited/GreenNet Educational Trust 4th Floor, 74-77 White Lion Street, London, N1 9PF, England e-mail: karenb@gn.apc.org tel: +44/207-713-1941 fax: +44/207-837-5551 ===========================================================