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NIMD


Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

NIMD Vacancies
26 06 2008 NIMD is looking for a Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, a Knowledge and Communication Officer and a Web Journalist/Content Manager.

NIMD Annual report 2007
26 06 2008 An overview of NIMD's activities, results and lessons learned in 2007.

Neighbours raise pressure on Mugabe
26 06 2008 On June 25, leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) called on the Zimbabwe government to postpone the presidential elections run-off scheduled for the 27th and hold talks with the opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai.

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NDI


National Democratic Institute

Macedonia: Parliamentarians Forego Partisanship in Public Hearing Simulation
21 02 2008 Legislators and staff of the National Assembly of Macedonia recently shed their party affiliations and positions to engage in a three-day NDI-sponsored public hearing simulation exercise. The simulation demonstrated how public hearings can further the efficiency of committee work within their parliament.

Iraq: Forum Advances Political Process In Kirkuk
14 02 2008 Adversarial parties in Iraq recently negotiated an end to the year-long Sunni bloc boycott of the Kirkuk Council. The development followed a two-day NDI-sponsored forum in Erbil that brought together Iraqi representatives from eight political parties and 20 civil society organizations from Kirkuk for a first-of-its-kind event.

Jordan: Middle East Civic Leaders Confer on Technology and Elections
05 02 2008 A two-day regional conference in Jordan, hosted by NDI, brought together 22 civic leaders from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, West Bank/Gaza and Yemen to discuss innovative uses of information technology in election monitoring.

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International IDEA


International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance

Argentine women evaluate progress and obstacles in political participation
03 12 2007 Women’s participation in politics remains an ongoing challenge for Latin American countries and a constant concern of International IDEA. Argentina, one of the countries that has made the greatest progress in women’s parliamentary representation, was the venue for a seminar on progress and challenges in governance and gender on 26 September 2007.

IDEA Secretary-General meets the Presidents of Mexico and Colombia
03 12 2007 The Secretary General of International IDEA, Vidar Helgesen, met with Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon on 10 October 2007 to discuss current and future collaboration on the series of state reforms underway in that country, as well as preparations for Mexico’s chairmanship of International IDEA’s Council 2008-2009.

Premiere of documentary People’s Constitution in Kathmandu
03 12 2007 People’s Constitution is a documentary about the Nepali people’s expectations of the current constitution-making process.During the premiere of the documentary, 11 October 2007 in Kathamndu, Leena Rikkilä of International IDEA said that the film shows the high hopes that ordinary people have for the constitution-building process and all that the Constituent Assembly has come to symbolize.

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Democracy Headlines

The Internet as a Tool For Democracy? A Survey of Non-Profit Internet Decision-Makers and Web Users
Nonprofit Online News 09 07 2008 First Monday is out and I'll resist linking to every article in this edition. Today, I'll just point to this one, by Linda Jean Kenix: The Internet as a Tool For Democracy? A Survey of Non-Profit Internet Decision-Makers and Web Users. The author asked a number of interesting questions about both behavior and opinion of nearly 700 people from mostly small nonprofit organizations. In particular, she focused on the creators of online content for the organizations, with an interest in six practices: promoting a cause, interacting with members, reaching potential donors, providing information, gathering information, and general interconnectedness. Definitely worth exploring.

Zimbabwe crisis poses challenge not just to Africa but to the world - Migiro
UN | News Centre | Headlines 09 07 2008 The crisis in Zimbabwe, which has been beset by months of deadly violence and witnessed the recent holding of tarnished elections, not only represents a "moment of truth" for democracy on the continent but also poses a "challenge to the world," Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today.

African cotton farmers work harder for less pay
African Agriculture | Web log 09 07 2008 François Tani -- a cotton grower in Koumbia, western Burkina Faso -- has cleared extra land this year for cultivation, bringing the total number of hectares he is farming to 28. But, he's under no illusion that a larger harvest will bring him more money.

Instead, the hope is that it will simply keep him from earning a lot less. While Burkinabé cotton farmers sold their raw cotton for 42 cents a kilogramme two years ago, they earned 35 cents per kilo in 2005. This year, the price has fallen still further, to 33 cents.

"Last year, I obtained 47 tonnes (of cotton); but in spite of (harvesting) 50 tonnes this year, I will earn less," Tani said. With up to six million Burkinabé depending on the cotton trade in one way or another, this steady depletion of income has grave consequences for the country -- as well as for other producers in the West African region.

While farmers in Mali have obtained about 34 cents for a kilogramme of cotton this year, those in Chad, Benin and C- te d'Ivoire received a little less than 33 cents. In all, some 20 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live off cotton.

Much of the blame for this state of affairs is laid at the door of the United States, which stands accused of driving down prices through the subsidies it provides to its 25,000 cotton farmers.

"Cotton production is not profitable for the Americans. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund would have already stopped such production in African countries if it was the same case (there)," said François Traoré, president of the African Association of Cotton Producers. "But they (the Americans) are strong and rich, and can therefore continue to produce cotton."

Some had hoped that World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks conducted under the auspices of the Doha Development Agenda would bring a respite. The Doha round, named after the Qatari capital where it was launched in 2001, is aimed at giving developing nations a proper share of international trade -- in part by cutting agricultural subsidies.

However, the collapse of negotiations last month in the Swiss city of Geneva means that farmers like Tani face a bleak future. The Doha round has now been suspended indefinitely.

Matters could become even worse when the U.S. Farm Bill is revised in 2007. Subsidies are determined by this bill, which comes up for discussion every five years. Reports indicate that in the absence of new WTO subsidy agreements which would need to be incorporated in the bill -- and with Congressional and presidential elections looming in November and 2008 respectively -- legislators will be in no frame of mind to move ahead with cuts that could undermine voter support.

A more positive note was struck earlier this year, when the WTO Appellate Body upheld an earlier ruling by the organisation that certain U.S. cotton subsidies were illegal in terms of WTO agreements already in place. The ruling followed a complaint by Brazil, in 2005.

The U.S. House of Representatives has responded by voting in favour of a progressive elimination of subsidies representing about 10 percent of those paid annually to American cotton farmers, starting this month.

But the effects of existing market distortion will be hard to erase. According to global aid agency Oxfam, American cotton farmers have received about a billion dollars in assistance between 2004 and 2005 -- while producers in sub-Saharan Africa lost 450 million dollars.

Ultimately, decreasing cotton revenues may also affect the quality of crops produced in Africa.

Although Burkina Faso's government has kept the price of 50 kilogrammes of chemical fertilizer at about 25 dollars, this is still beyond the reach of certain farmers -- who are now using two sacks of fertilizer for a hectare of land instead of the four normally required. Others have resorted to organic fertilizers.

And, changing crops seems to hold out little hope of improvement.

"We cannot find something else to replace the cotton, or else we would have done so. We have tried sesame, cereals -- it didn't work...As many have turned to cereals, the price of these products have fallen as well," said Lamoussa Ouattara, a cotton farmer from the province of Leraba in western Burkina Faso.

"I do not know how long we can hold on for, if nothing changes."

IPS

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MobileActive.org / News


A resource for activists using mobile technology worldwide

Register Now for MobileActive08!
04 07 2008 SANGONeT and MobileActive.org invite you to register now for MobileActive08. MobileActive08 is the only global gathering that is connecting leaders who are working at the convergence of civil society, mobile technology and social change. If you:

have expertise in the field of mobile technology for social development,
are a researcher working on mobile technology for social impact, or
are a mobile service provider with interest in the social market,

MobileActive08 is for you. Register now! MobileActive08 is the largest event to date focused on mobile technology for social development. This global gathering brings together people like you - practitioners, researchers, technologists and donors experienced and interested in the use and application of mobile technology for social impact. Register now! At MobileActive08 you will explore how mobile phones are effectively used to advance civil society work, assess the current state of knowledge in the use of mobile technology to advance social development, and investigate trends, needs and investment opportunities. We will cap attendance at 350 people and we expect to fill up quickly, so please register now to ensure your participation. Our partners at SANGONet and we at MobileActive.og look forward to welcoming you to South Africa! Read More>> read more

The DOs and DON’Ts of Mobile Advocacy
30 06 2008

Mobile social marketing works in increasing awareness and moving people to actions. It is also becoming an effective way to engage users and constituents. Throughout our experience with mobile campaigns, we've run into the some great campaigns and some failures as well. Read More>> read more

Txt4Choice: NARAL's Experiences with Mobile Advocacy
27 06 2008 Curious how your state ranks on reproductive choice? NARAL Pro-Choice America makes it easy to find out. By texting the word "grade" and the abbreviation of your state to a short code, you get an almost-instantaneous text response with your state's grade and opportunities for more information. "One of the reasons we decided to invest in mobile technology is we want to diversify how we're communicating with people," said Kristin Koch, Deputy Director of Communications at NARAL. NARAL recently began a mobile program -- they're calling it Txt4Choice -- and has been exploring how to use mobile in ways that compliment and integrate into their already developed communications strategy. Read More>> read more

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