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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 10th, 2008 SOUTH AFRICA – Musical Stars to Stage Concert Against Human Trafficking - South African musical stars will be taking to the stage in Newtown, Johannesburg to play their part in raising awareness of human trafficking on Saturday 11 October 2008. The Human Trafficking Awareness Concert will be a free open-air event rounding up a series of activities as part of the country’s annual Human Trafficking Awareness Week, which kicked off on 5 October. Thrilling performances are expected from artists such as MXO, Peggy, Sliq Angel, Wax and Ras, while top DJs such as Naked and Hudson will spin the decks for the audience. “Human trafficking is a problem that cannot be looked at in isolation. This week demonstrates what can be achieved when government, civil society, international organizations and the commercial sector work together towards the achievement of a common goal,” explains Malebo Kotu-Rammopo, of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), one of the key contributors to the Week. “By continuing to raise awareness of human trafficking through events such as these, we hope that other sectors of the South African community will come forward to lend their support. The more involvement there is in countering human trafficking, the more we are likely to succeed,” says IOM’s Regional Representative for Southern Africa, Hans-Petter Boe. In June 2007, South Africa’s Human Trafficking Awareness Week was named a “BEST GLOBAL PRACTICE TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING” by the US Department of State in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. For more information: Contact Nde Ndifonka at IOM Pretoria on nndifonka at iom.int or +27 71 689 9966 METRO FM: matona at metrofm.co.za, 011 714 3485 NPA - tip-pcu at npa.gov.za, 012 8456153 Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 25th, 2008 Jens Stoltenberg, Gordon Brown, Bill Gates, Robert Zoellick, Margaret Chan and other speakers will launch an initiative to save 10 Million mothers and newborns by 2015 - at a press conference at 10.30am on 25 September at the UN Headquarters. This from the Norwegian Mission: Siri Gjortz (+1 646 642 9910) UK Mission: Heather Pillans (+44 7795 656487) or Justin McKenzie Smith (917 282 0128) World Bank: Phil Hay (+1 202 409 2909) WORLD LEADERS LAUNCH A PLAN FOR SAVING 10 MILLION MOTHERS AND NEWBORNS BY 2015. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway launched the first year Progress Report on the Global Campaign for Health. The Report demonstrates that increased investments in health - a doubling of health aid since 2000 - are having results. More than 2 million people are now receiving AIDS treatment, the rapid scale-up of effective malaria programmes is leading to dramatic reductions in child mortality and measles deaths have fallen by 68% since 1999. But the Report also calls for urgent, effective international action to accelerate progress towards the UN goals of reducing maternal and child deaths by 2015. To save 3m mothers and 7m newborns - and meet these goals - an extra $2.4bn in 2009 rising to $7bn in 2015 will be needed. Responding to this call, Heads of Governments and Health Agencies committed to mobilise international support for stronger health systems, including the training and recruitment of over 1 million health workers. Specific pledges included an announcement by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown of nearly $1bn over the next 3 years to support national health plans in 8 countries, and a commitment from Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, to base teams of new, expert staff in Africa over the coming months to help some of the poorest countries to strengthen their health systems for better maternal, newborn and child health. And, while these traditional investments in the health of the poor remain vital to tackling disease, helping developing countries to recruit and retain health workers, and build and develop their own health systems will require a new long-term approach to health financing. So today world leaders announced the establishment of a high-level Taskforce on Innovative Financing for Health Systems, to make recommendations to the Italian G8 Summit in 2009 on how innovative aid mechanisms can complement other sources of finance to deliver the extra resources that are needed. An unprecedented coalition of partners has gathered in New York to support the Global Campaign’s call for urgent action. Summarising the range of events taking place, Margaret Chan pledged to keep the cause of mothers and children firmly at the top of the international development agenda and with development and civil society partners, rapidly scale up support for countries through the International Health Partnership to develop and finance comprehensive national health plans. 1) Those at the press conference will incluse Prime Minister Stoltenberg (Norway), Prime Minister Brown (UK), Margaret Chan (Director-General, World Health Organisation), Robert Zoellick (President, World Bank), Bill Gates, Phillipe Douste-Blazy (UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Innovative Financing) and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (Germany, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on the review conference on Financing for Development). 2) On 26 September 2007, in New York a group of world leaders will meet to launch the Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Global Campaign aims to give renewed impetus to MDGs 4, 5 and 6. These MDGs focus on the urgent need to improve maternal, newborn and child health and to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. 3) The first year report of the Global Campaign includes individual and collective contributions from 14 heads of State/Government and 18 international leaders. The report provides an update of major activities during the last year, and highlights concrete actions that are required to accelerate the necessary progress if we are to reach the health related MDGs by 2015. 4) The report demonstrates that investments in health are yielding results in terms of lives saved: · More than 2 million people are now receiving AIDS treatment. And, for the first time since the AIDS epidemic began, the number of people newly infected in a year has declined. · Malaria nets are being distributed much more rapidly leading to dramatic reductions in child mortality. 5) But much more must be done. The Global Campaign is calling for an extra $2.4bn in 2009 rising to $7bn in 2015 to save 3m mothers and 7m newborns by 2015. This money will support stronger health systems, including over 1 million extra health workers, and the additional costs needed to ensure 400m extra births take place in a quality assured clinics. If delivered it will represent a 70% reduction in the death rate for mothers and babies and would ensure the achievement of both MDG4 and 5 for the majority of the poorest countries. 6) These health systems are critical to ensuring that pregnant mothers and their newborn infants get the care they need, especially during complications in pregnancy. As part of the Global Campaign, the International Health Partnership (IHP) was launched to help improve the way donors support national health plans for health systems. 14 developing countries are members of the IHP and related initiatives (IHP+): Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Zambia. These countries are preparing national plans (IHP Compacts) to build stronger health systems, including providing more health workers. 7) The Taskforce for Innovative International Finance for Health Systems will help to mobilise the extra money that is needed to finance plans such as these. For example, Germany has supported a mechanism which offers debt cancellation linked to investments in the health sector. Other existing instruments include the French-led UNITAID, the results based financing trust fund and the international finance facility for immunisation. 8) The Taskforce will be co-Chaired by Gordon Brown and Robert Zoellick and comprises 8 additional members: · President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia) Phillipe Douste-Blazy, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Innovative Financing will serve as a Special Adviser to the Taskforce. 9) The Taskforce will convene up to 4 times over the next 12 months, with its first meeting at the Financing for Development Conference in Doha in November, and will report to the Italian G8 Summit in 2009. It will be supported by a Secretariat hosted by the World Bank and the WHO. Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 27th, 2008 From: Jeremy.Houssin at erm.com ERM and UNEP organise a training workshop in Dakar, Senegal, from the 8th to 12th of September 2008, to help African project sponsors. You will find below and attached to the mail a call for CDM projects and projects in the Voluntary Market.
A Call for CDM projects and projects in the Voluntary Carbon Market for project sponsors in Senegal who want to participate in a Capacity Building workshop. Types of projects eligible: Workshop financing: For the project sponsors who are already registered by the UNEP for the Africa Carbon Forum, please indicate your UNEP registration number. Pilot projects and case studies in asset classes such as plantation forestry, agro forestry, and bio fuels will open up opportunities for African participation in the CDM and the voluntary carbon markets. In addition, the project will facilitate the establishment of a stakeholder network for technical cooperation and linkages between carbon buyers and sellers. The programme’s findings will also serve to contribute to the policy debate towards a post-2012 climate regime, casting light on key issues such as eligibility of avoided deforestation and land degradation projects in CDM-type initiatives. CASCADe Project in Senegal and Benin: For more information : Houssin Jérémy Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 20th, 2008 From www.FT.com Africa mourns loss of a leader unafraid to speak his mind One Sunday in late June, Levy Mwanawasa, the Zambian president who died yesterday aged 59, was on the eve of the most momentous day of his career.He had been the first… Levy Mwanawasa, the Zambian president who was laid low by a stroke hours before he was…would like to inform the nation that our president, his Excellency Dr Levy Mwanawasa, died this morning at 10.30am at Percy Military Hospital,” Rupiah Banda… The health of Levy Mwanawasa, the ailing Zambian president who has been a sharp critic of Robert Mugabe, his Zimbabwean counterpart, has deteriorated, his deputy… The fate of Levy Mwanawasa, Zambia’s president, was last night shrouded in confusion amid reports that he had died in a Paris hospital after suffering a stroke… Zambia on Thursday moved to end the confusion surrounding the fate of Levy Mwanawasa, dismissing reports that the president had died in a Paris hospital after suffering a stroke.”These are false and malicious rumours… …Mugabe if he claims victory in Friday’s poll.In some of the toughest words on Zimbabwe yet from an African leader, Levy Mwanawasa, the Zambian president and current chairman of the Southern African Development Community, described the situation… …Mugabe if he claims victory in Friday’s poll.In some of the toughest words on Zimbabwe yet from an African leader, Levy Mwanawasa, the Zambian president and current chairman of the Southern African Development Community, described the situation… …Mugabe if he claims victory in Friday’s poll. In some of the toughest words on Zimbabwe yet from an African leader, Levy Mwanawasa, the Zambian president and current chairman of the Southern African Development Community, described the situation… …President Paul Kagame is among the first to raise his head above the parapet, joining Botswana’s Ian Khama and Zambia’s Levy Mwanawasa in a growing band of African leaders who are prepared to condemn a tyrant. Not only has Robert Mugabe put southern… …sea-change in the thinking of the 14- nation Southern African Development Community.Regional diplomats indicate that Levy Mwanawasa, Zambia’s president, and Ian Khama, Botswana’s new leader, are impatient with the region’s traditional reverence for… *** Africa mourns loss of a leader unafraid to speak his mind. By Tom Burgis Published: August 20 2008 03:00 | Last updated: August 20 2008 03:00 One Sunday in late June, Levy Mwanawasa, the Zambian president who died yesterday aged 59, was on the eve of the most momentous day of his career. He had been the first to break the longstanding deference of African rulers towards Robert Mugabe, condemning the abuses that had culminated in the Zimbabwean autocrat claiming victory in a discredited election. As early as March last year, Mwanawasa had referred to the “sinking Ti-tanic” that was Zimbabwe’s inflation-battered economy. Now, as the serving chair of the southern African bloc, the retiring former lawyer would carry the hopes of many Zimbabweans into an African Union summit in Egypt at which Mr Mugabe would try to stare down his counterparts into legitimising his flawed triumph. For a man most at ease in small gatherings, assiduously reading his briefing papers or escaping to the family farm for the planting season, the ordeal ahead was immense. Alphabetical seating by country was to have put him next to Mr Mugabe. It proved too much. Always in poor health since the car crash 17 years earlier that left him with slurred speech, Mwanawasa suffered a stroke. Even as he was flown to the Paris hospital where he would die seven weeks later, the summit was welcoming Mr Mugabe back to the fold, thwarting the efforts of a handful of Mwanawasa’s like-minded peers. The second son of 10 siblings, Mwanawasa was born in Mufulira, near the Congolese border, in 1948, 16 years before Zambia’s independence from Britain. A crusading legal career established his public profile. When the one-party state of Kenneth Kaunda unravelled into elections in 1991, Frederick Chiluba, the victorious leader of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, appointed Mwanawasa as vice-president. In 2001, disillusioned with the pervasive corruption of the Chiluba regime, Mwanawasa turned on - and ousted - his mentor. Within weeks he had stripped his predecessor of immunity from prosecution. A London court later found that Mr Chiluba had salted away $46m (€31m, £25m) of public funds. Mwanawasa’s anti-graft offensive won him the allegiance of international donors who flooded state coffers with aid. China came calling too, tempted by some of the world’s richest copper deposits. Economic growth rose from just over 3 per cent a year when he took office to 6 per cent last year. Yet, as his critics point out, about seven in every 10 Zambians still live on less than $2 a day. “Wealth has trickled downwards but it has not trickled outwards to the rural areas,” said a European diplomat in Lusaka. “That challenge is only just beginning.” It is not clear who will take up that challenge. Mwanawasa avoided anointing an heir. His death has thrown his party into turmoil as cabinet ministers who thought they had three more years to jockey for position face an election within three months. The discord may open a window for Michael Sata, the opposition leader who came second when Mwanawasa won a second term in 2006 and who has lambasted the government’s fiscal orthodoxy. Those who knew Mwanawasa, who had six children with his wife Maureen and two from a previous marriage, describe a man whose unspectacular oratory masked a deep conviction. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition, yesterday lamented the death of “a good friend and comrade”. He added: “Sadly, he has left us at this most trying time.”
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 14th, 2008 Ethiopia powers up with solar energy. August 8, 2008 - By David Ehrlich, Cleantech Group. http://media.cleantech.com/3213/ethiopia… Germany’s Solar Energy Foundation aims to improve living conditions and foster a solar industry in Ethiopia. The rural village of Rema in Ethiopia could become a cleantech boom-town if the work of Germany’s Solar Energy Foundation continues its success in the region. The charity is led by Harald Schutzeichel, the founder and former head of Freiburg, Germany’s S.A.G. Solarstrom, with the Good Energies Foundation on board as a major backer. The Good Energies Foundation is an affiliate of New York-based renewable energy investor Good Energies. Schutzeichel, who left S.A.G. Solarstrom in 2003, said he isn’t interested in just installing solar systems in Ethiopia. His group is training the villagers to install and maintain the systems, and he says there is growing interest from the solar industry to set up shop in the country. “Until now we import all the materials from China,” Schutzeichel told the Cleantech Group. “It’s not necessary to do this if there’s a market in Ethiopia.” “We have two interested companies. They want to invest in Ethiopia because they see this big market.” The foundation is aiming to have 50 solar training centers across the country, incorporating classroom for solar energy training, workshops for the assembly of the solar systems, and accommodations for around 30 students and solar technicians at each center. The first International Solar Energy School opened its doors in Rema last year, with more set to be built this year. The schools will be powered by solar energy, with a photovoltaic system providing electricity and a solar thermal system providing warm water. The initial solar installations were provided by the charity, with the residents paying only for maintenance and service. Installations in other areas will use microfinancing to enable residents to pay for the solar systems over a three year period. The solar panels are used to power lighting, refrigeration for medicine, water pumps, and water disinfection. The Good Energies Foundation committed $2.7 million to the Ethiopian solar project in 2006 at the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual philanthropic meeting headed up by former President Bill Clinton. The former president took a tour of the facilities in Rema on his recent tour of Clinton Foundation projects in Africa. Take a look at Bill, Harald and Chelsea here >> “There’s already a market there because people are already paying for their energy needs, even if they’re paying for the kerosene on a monthly basis and dry cell batteries,” said Richenda Van Leeuwen, senior adviser at Good Energies. “This is just bringing it onto a more environmentally sustainable and viable platform.” In addition to Good Energies, Germany’s Conrad Electronic and Switzerland’s Industrielle Werke Basel are providing base financing for the Solar Energy Foundation’s projects. German solar cell maker Q-Cells, which is a Good Energies portfolio company, is also a partner in the project, supporting the solar training school. Energiebau Solarstromsysteme and Phocos, both based in Germany, are also project partners. The standard system being installed by the Solar Energy Foundation is a 10 watt system, along with four LED lights and a radio, with a pricetag of about €180. “It’s not the cheapest one, but I think in this area we shouldn’t use the cheapest material,” said Schutzeichel. “We have very good modules, because they should work for 25 years. We have UV-resistant cable, because they have a lot of sun, and if you use cheap cable it will be damaged after two years.” The foundation already has plans to offer a double-size unit for families who can afford it, as well as a smaller system with just one high-power LED lamp. The smaller system will sell for €30. “Thus far it’s been proof of concept,” said Van Leeuwen. She said the organization now has the capacity to do 4,000 installations per year. “We’re looking at the way to move from being a philanthropic model to being an at least partially microfinance-driven model in order to bring both scale and also to ensure the sustainability, building a sustainable solar sector in Ethiopia.” Schutzeichel said the foundation is currently operating on €1 million per year and has successfully completed the biggest solar power project in East Africa with that budget. But in a country with 60 million people without power, he said it’s time to move to the next level. “We have to scale up, and one day, one year, we should have 50,000 per year installed.” He said one solar company is deciding on whether to set up operations in Tanzania or Ethiopia, and could make a decision by the end of this month. “They say in Tanzania are the better conditions, but in Ethiopia is the bigger market,” said Schutzeichel. “Now they have to decide. If they decide against Ethiopia,” he said, “we will find another.” Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 11th, 2008 From: cseipt at agu.org La version française de ce message est disponible en bas. _____________________ Dear Colleagues and Friends, Applications are invited for the inaugural round of African Climate Change Fellowships. The African Climate Change Fellowship Program (ACCFP) aims to support African professionals, researchers and graduate students to undertake activities that will enhance their capacities for advancing and applying knowledge for climate change adaptation in Africa. The program is jointly administered by the global change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (START), the Institute of Resource Assessment (IRA) of the University of Dar es Salaam and the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), with financial support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. This Call for Applications is extended to researchers, scientists, and academics working in fields related to climate change and climate change adaptation as well as professionals and practitioners with experience and responsibilities related to policy, planning or management of climate sensitive resources, sectors, systems or livelihoods. A variety of Fellowship types are offered to support projects, research, and other activities that advance adaptation in Africa. The Fellowships range in duration from 2-18 months, and award amounts range from USD $5,000 - $36,000, depending on Fellowship type. Eligibility is limited to citizens of member states of the African Union who are 40 years of age or younger. All application materials must be received no later than 17 September 2008. Applications that are incomplete or received after the deadline will not be reviewed. If you have questions about the ACCFP and this Call for Applications or if you have trouble accessing the ACCFP website and application materials, please contact the Pan-African START Secretariat at pass at ira.udsm.ac.tz. We ask that you please help us spread the word about this exciting opportunity to other colleagues and friends. Forward this email to qualified individuals that might be interested to apply! Best Regards, Clark Seipt On behalf of START, IRA, and AAS ____________________________________________ Cher collègues et amis, Cet appel à candidatures s’étend aux chercheurs, scientifiques et académiciens travaillant dans des domaines liés au changement climatique et à l’adaptation au changement climatique et aussi aux professionnels et spécialistes qui ont de l’expérience et des responsabilités liés à la politique, la planification ou la gestion des ressources, secteurs, systèmes ou moyens de subsistance vulnérables au climat. Une variété de types de bourses de recherche est offerte dans le but de soutenir les projets, la recherche et les autres activités qui permettent des avancées sur l’adaptation en Afrique. Les bourses de recherche ont une durée variant de 2 à 18 mois, et le montant accordé varie de 5 000 à 36 000 dollars, selon le type de bourse. L’éligibilité est restreinte aux citoyens des pays membres de l’Union Africain âgés de 40 ans ou moins. Une description de chaque type de bourse de rechercher ainsi que les instructions et directives pour la préparation et le dépôt d’une candidature pour être boursier ACCFP sont disponibles dans l’appel à candidatures 2008. L’appel à candidatures 2008 ainsi que les documents nécessaires au dépôt d’une candidature sont disponibles sur le site Internet du Secrétariat Panafricain START à l’adresse suivante: http://accfp.pass-africa.org. Les documents nécessaires au dépôt d’une candidature doivent être soumis au plus tard le 17 septembre 2008. Les candidatures incomplètes ou reçues après la date limite ne seront pas étudiées. Si vous avez des questions à propos d’ACCFP et de cet appel à candidatures, ou si vous avez des problèmes pour accéder au site Internet et au documents de candidature d’ACCFP, merci de contacter le Secrétariat panafricain START à l’adresse suivante: pass at ira.udsm.ac.tz. Nous vous remercions de bien vouloir faire suivre ce message à propos de cette opportunité à vos autres collègues et amis, et aux individus qualifiés susceptibles de postuler! Je vous prie d’agréer, Madame, Monsieur, mes respectueuses salutations, Clark Seipt Au nom de START, de l’IRA, et de l’AAS Clark Seipt Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 8th, 2008 The World Values Survey is available at: www.worldvaluessurvey.org www.happyplanetindex.org
See the Global HPI map: http://www.happyplanetindex.org/map.htm Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 5th, 2008
Man who would be President in Bid to Quash Corruption Charges: Jacob Zuma Charged with Soliciting and Receiving Bribes. We, at www.SustainabiliTank.info, were given all sorts of information from South Africa a year ago. The idea was - don’t have high hopes for the immediate replacement for Mbeki - there is not yet in the cards a new generation that can pick up the Mandela mantle - the future is bleak.
State prosecutors scored a major victory against Mr Zuma last week when the Constitutional Court ruled that they could use evidence seized during raids on Mr Zuma and his lawyers in 2006 in any trial of the ANC leader. But Mr Zuma was back in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province yesterday, seeking an order scrapping all the charges against him on the ground that prosecutors failed to follow due process when they charged him. Outside, some 3,000 supporters demonstrated, singing, chanting and waving placards to denounce the charges as trumped up. Many burst into song as Mr Zuma made his way into court. Although Mr Mbeki is reviled over his controversial foreign policy, which has seen him supporting dictators in Zimbabwe and Burma, he is hailed for his stewardship of the South African economy which has experienced sustained growth during his tenure. “Long live Jacob Zuma” and “viva the president in waiting”, supporters sang as the hearing was adjourned until this morning.
The Independent understands that, after a 15-year sentence was handed down on Mr Zuma’s financial adviser Schabir Shaik over the same charges, raising the possibility that Mr Zuma himself might also be convicted, his strategy is to delay his prosecution as long as possible until he becomes president next year. The ANC, which is assured of a two-thirds majority because of the continued non-existence of a viable opposition party, would then change the constitution to give immunity from prosecution for any sitting president.
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