--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- *APCNews, the monthly newsletter of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)* - December 2002 No. 30 - --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS -- -- NEWS FROM APC -- -- APC ACTION AREA: INTERNET RIGHTS -- -- APC ACTION AREA: MOBILISING PARTICIPATION -- -- WOMEN & ICTs -- -- ONLINE TOOLS -- -- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES -- -- IMPORTANT DATES -- -- SITES OF INTEREST -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NEWS FROM THE MEMBERS - Environmental, youth and women's groups in Kosova learn how to use the Internet strategically BlueLink and StrawberryNet, Bulgarian and Romanian APC members, together with the Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) Field Office Kosova, held a second workshop on electronic networking for environmental and other nongovernmental groups in Kosova*. Participants from over twenty different organisations - including representatives from four Serbian-speaking areas - gained better understanding of how to use the Internet as a communication tool and received training in how to exchange and communicate information effectively. http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=8581 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- NEWS FROM APC - Changes at APC: New Programmes and Project Manager/Deputy Executive Director APC is pleased to announce that Sonia Jorge has joined us full- time as our new Programmes and Projects Manager/Deputy Executive Director. Based in Boston, Sonia, who is Portuguese, will be working with APC members, staff, partners and the donor community to mobilise resources for activities that achieve the implementation of APC's mission and vision. Sonia sees her new position at APC as "a wonderful opportunity to develop and contribute to programs and projects focusing on the strategic use of ICT to further development needs and priorities, particularly in developing countries. After working with governments at the policy level for many years, I look forward to working on a more practical level and to be engaged in activities that make a direct impact towards the social, economic and political empowerment of women, men and organisations working for social justice around the world. http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=8585 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- APC ACTION AREA: INTERNET RIGHTS - Helping [mj1]civil society organisations understand how ICT policy decisions affect their work is the focus of a new training course being developed by APC ICT policy decisions affect anyone who wants to take advantage of the opportunities that new technologies can offer. Will the national policy favour technology that is state-of-the art but not affordable in rural areas? Will governments provide service subsidies to poor or disabled people? Will governments encourage the development of software that illiterate people can use? All of these are pressing questions whose answers depend on the ICT policy choices made by governments and other official decision- makers. http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=8587 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- CHAKULA: Africa's ICT policy newsletter focuses on the outcomes and next steps that emerged from last month's Civil Society and ICT Policy Meeting "Viva African civil society building an inclusive Information Society! Viva!" These were the words that began one of the most vibrant and challenging discussions to date about civil society's engagement in ICT policy-making in Africa. Organised by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with the support of Article 19, the workshop on ICT Policy and Civil Society - which took place over three days in November - has sparked the formation of a network of ICT policy mobilisers dedicated to building an inclusive information society in Africa. This month's Chakula will look at the global, regional and national decisions and strategies that came out of the meeting, as well as the formation of OSTA - the "Open Source Task Force for Africa". Over 80 representatives from nongovernmental organisations, human rights organisations, media groups, women's organisations, development groups and researchers from 24 countries throughout Africa gathered to discuss the role of African civil society in ICT policy-making and to outline a plan of action to move forward in mobilising other organisations on these issues. http://africa.rights.apc.org/newsletter.shtml --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- APC ACTION AREA: MOBILISING PARTICIPATION -- Training Website for Civil Society - ItrainOnline - is One Year Old! It is just one year since ItrainOnline was launched by project partners APC, Bellanet, IICD, IISD, INASP and OneWorld. The portal site responds to the need for a single source on the web that contains a selection of the best and most relevant computer and Internet training resources for development and social change. ItrainOnline offers users one-stop access to resources on topics ranging from basic technical skills to online advocacy and multilingual online communication in English, French and Spanish. Highlights from the past year include the launch of a full-scale ItrainOnline site in French and the development of a sub- site[SJY2] on resources for women. Learn more about the project's collaborative approach to portal development from APC's report, "Understanding Civil Society Portals", available from the ItrainOnline "Strategic Internet Use" page: http://www.itrainonline.org/ --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- WOMEN & ICTs -- Expert Group Meeting on Information and Communications Technologies and their Impact as a Tool for Improving Women's Lives The Division for the Advancement of Women, in cooperation with the International Telecommunications Union and the United Nations ICT Task Force Secretariat, organised an expert group meeting (EGM) in November on information and communications technologies (ICTs) and their impact on, and use as an instrument for, the advancement and empowerment of women. Both Chat Garcia Ramilo of the APC Women's Networking Support Programme and Sonia Jorge, APC's new Programmes and Projects Manager, presented papers at the meeting and participated in the week-long discussions. Experts at the meeting, representing a variety of regions and a range of areas of ICT work, agreed that adequate policies and programmes need to be in place if more women are to use ICTs to attain social, economic and political equality. The differences between how men and women are likely to access or use ICTs need to be considered carefully when ICT policies are being formulated, whether nationally, regionally or locally; otherwise, in many societies, it is unlikely that girls and women will reap the benefits of technologies such as the Internet and other communications tools. http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=8595 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- ONLINE TOOLS - International online classroom exchange in eight languages Over 4.5 million students and teachers are building skills and enhancing learning with ePALS. Established in 1996, ePALS lists 74,044 classroom profiles, bringing people in 191 countries together as cross-cultural learning partners and friends. The ePALS web site is an online classroom exchange that allows students and teachers to connect with other classrooms around the world and communicate via email and discussion boards in a safe environment. http://www.epals.org/ [English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese] --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- COLLABORATING OPPORTUNITIES - CIVICUS International Civil Society Assessment & Strengthening Project: Call for statements of interest CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations, invites applications for national partners to participate in its Civil Society Index 2003-04. The Index is an action-research project that assesses the state of civil society in countries around the world with a view to creating a knowledge base and an impetus for civil society strengthening initiatives. The Index has been successfully piloted in 14 countries around the world, and CIVICUS is now launching the first full implementation phase in approximately 25 countries. The Index will be implemented by civil society organisations at the country level, in close partnership with CIVICUS. CIVICUS Index: http://www.civicus.org/cc/portal/index2.cfm?contentid=403&link_url = --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- APRICOT: Fellowships to participate in Asian Internet builders' conference The APRICOT conference, convened annually since 1996, has provided a unique and successful educational forum for Internet builders in the Asia-Pacific region to learn from their peers and from leaders in the Internet community. Applications are now being accepted for fellowship funding to participate in APRICOT2003 in Taipei. The APRICOT Fellowship Programme targets people from developing countries who are actively involved in Internet development - especially Internet engineers, decision makers in the governmental, educational, nongovernmental and private sectors, and educators and trainers. The application form is available from the "Fellowship" section of the APRICOT2003 website: http://www.apricot2003.net --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ATAMIRI: Free simultaneous translation messaging software needs sponsors QOPUCHAWI is a free online messenger service with simultaneous multilingual translation. The software was created to facilitate communication by overcoming language barriers. Currently, QOPUCHAWI has about 5,000 users from 56 countries. The developers believe that the service could be used for medical consultation among healthcare professionals and doctors speaking different languages; they are looking for funding specifically to improve the system's medical and educational terminology and to include "minority" languages. For more information, write to igr@atamiri.cc and visit http://www.atamiri.cc/ --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Fund a school: Reach out to an Education Guarantee Scheme School in Madhya Pradesh, India The Government of Madhya Pradesh has set itself the goal of ensuring the presence of a primary school in every village in the state - the largest in India. The schools are run by the community and supported by the State Government, but they need to be strengthened. That is what Fundaschool is about. Through Fundaschool, you can reach out to a community that is running its school; your financial contribution will strengthen Indian schools. Fund a school: http://www.fundaschool.org/ --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- IMPORTANT DATES -- Online Forum for Civil Society's Preparation of World Summit on the Information Society An online discussion forum for nongovernmental organisations and civil society to discuss their input into the Final Declarations of the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS: Geneva 2003; Tunis 2005) will be held on UNESCO's website at http://wsisforum.unesco.org from 9 December 2002 to 15 January 2003. Discussion will focus on eight themes: 1. General discussion - ethics and principles 2. Access - affordability, public institutions, etc. 3. Development and empowerment 4. Content issues - language, cultural diversity, intellectual property 5. Education, training and research 6. Rights 7. Future developments in information technologies 8. Civil society in WSIS and beyond The outputs will be collated into a short document by 20 January 2003 and submitted to the WSIS secretariat for consideration by PrepCom 2. While the main document for PrepCom 2 will be drafted in mid-December 2002, the results of the online consultation will be incorporated into it. http://wsisforum.unesco.org --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- SITES OF INTEREST -- Idealist.org and idealista.org Idealist - a project of Action Without Borders - lists over 29,000 nonprofit and community organisations in 153 countries, and can be searched or browsed by name, location or mission. Organisations can add themselves to the list at no charge. Idealist publishes thousands of announcements of volunteer opportunities around the world, and has one of the best non-profit career centres online, with hundreds of job and internship listings. Currently, 70,000 subscribers receive daily postings on jobs and volunteer positions. Organisations that don't have their own web page can create their own Internet space easily and at no cost. All they have to do is register their information on the Idealist site and update it occasionally. Idealist: http://www.idealist.org and http://www.idealista.org [Spanish] --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- APCNews, in English, and APCNoticias, in Spanish, are distributed monthly 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/ CopyLeft. 2002 Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Permission is granted to use this document for personal use, for training and educational publications, and for activities by peace, environmental, human rights or development organisations. Please provide an acknowledgment to APC. [mj1]This project is really not focused on citizens so I'm taking out those refs [SJY2]is there a better word than "section" here?