Gender and Development e -Brief

Violence against children: what do NGOs know, what do NGOs say?: an analysis of information relating to violence available in NGO reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from 1990 to 2005

RESOURCES

Eldis Finance Policy Resource Guide

RAINBO Small Grants Project

Development e-Brief receives and comprises of material from various sources for its publication. Should you wish to refer to these sources/ sites directly, the list includes publications from: AVIVA, www.aviva.org, AWID: www.awid.org, Democracy Digest: www.freedomhouse.org, Development Gateway: www.developmentgatway.org, Dignity: www.dignity.org, e-Civicus: www.civicus.org, Eldis: www.eldis.org, ESCWA: www.escwa.org.lb, GDB: www.developmentex.com, Global Knowledge Partnership: www.globalknowledge.org, IGTN: www.IGTN.org, ILO: www.ilo.org One World: www.oneworld.net, Siyanda: www.siyanda.org, The Daily Star: www.dailystar.com.lb, The Drum Beat: www.comminit.com, The Soul Beat: www.comminit.com, The World Bank: www.worldbank.org, UNDP: www.undp.org, Wicejilist: www.wicej.addr.com, WLP: www.learningpartnership.org

EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

HUMAN RIGHTS

The Challenge of Democracy in the Muslim World: CSID Annual Conference

Centre for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) - 5-6 May 2006, Washington D.C

This programme includes over 40 speakers and panelists (from many countries), who will address some of the most pressing issues and questions of our time, related to the challenge of democracy and democratisation in the Muslim world. For more information, visit http://csidonline.org

Pour une paix juste en Palestine et en Israёl: Application du droit international

(For a just peace in Palestine and Israel: Applying international law)

26-28 May 2006, Geneva, Switzerland

This international conference aims to reinforce the campaigns to increase political and economical pressure on Israel and the international community to fulfil their obligations under international law. For more information, visit www.urgencepalestine.ch/Activites/conference2006.html

VACANCY

Position Opening - Deputy Field Director, Cairo, Egypt

Deputy Field Director

Coptic Orphans is a growing Christian international nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting vulnerable children in Egypt through education and direct services. This position is located in Cairo, Egypt, requires extensive travels ... http://topics.developmentgateway.org/poverty/rc/ItemDetail.do~1059670?intcmp=700

YOUTH

International conference on "Youth in the Middle East and North Africa", Rabat, Morocco, December 2006

The Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI); the World Bank, the National School for Architectural Engineering, and Rabat Municipality, Morocco; in collaboration ... for more info:

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/youth/rc/ItemDetail.do~1060488?intcmp=700

NEWS

CULTURE

Map of World Heritage Sites

This large format full-color map features the 812 World Heritage sites and brief explanations of the World Heritage Convention and the World Heritage conservation programmes, as well as superb photos of World Heritages sites with explanatory captions. http://topics.developmentgateway.org/culture/rc/ItemDetail.do~1060090?intcmp=700

ENVIRONMENT

Environmental Assessment of the Areas Disengaged by Israel in the Gaza Strip

"From 1970, Israel established a number of settlements in the Gaza Strip. These settlements, from which Israel disengaged in September 2005, are located throughout the Gaza Strip, from its southern border with Egypt to the northern border with Israel. For more info:

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/environment/rc/ItemDetail.do~1059824?intcmp=700

Lebanese farmers now able to certify as 'organic'

With the worldwide expansion of organic agriculture, Lebanese farmers have growing opportunities to find a niche in the international organic market, according to speakers at a conference held on Thursday for the launching of LibanCert, a Lebanese organic certification company.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=23436

Lebanese poultry farmers see huge losses in wake of bird flu

Local poultry farmers and shop owners say they are experiencing major drops in sales due to a lack of public awareness on how bird flu is contracted, despite the fact that no cases of the H5N1 virus have been confirmed in the country. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=23436

EDUCATION

South Sudan declares war against illiteracy

"This is war too," murmurs an ex-child soldier in Southern Sudan, stone-faced and staring blankly at a placard reading: "Let all children go to school ... Leave no child behind." A year after the end of two decades of fighting with regimes in Khartoum in a conflict that claimed 1.5 million lives and displaced 4 million people, South Sudan has declared war on illiteracy.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23543

Universal coverage no guarantee of equity, says World Education Forum participants
The goal of truly universal education is far from a reality around the world, because government policies do not take all social sectors into consideration, according to the educators, students and activists who met in Nova Iguaçu, Brazil for the World Education Forum. The Forum brought together 20,000 participants from 25 countries under the central theme of ‘Citizens' Education for an Educating City.’ The overwhelming consensus among the participants was that discouraging inequities continue to persist despite the ever-growing awareness that the right to education is one of the most basic human rights. For further details, see

www.ipsterraviva.net/Europe/article.aspx?id=3154

FOREIGN AID

Beirut begins implementation of EU Association Agreement

The implementation of the Association Agreement-signed four years ago by the European Union and Lebanon-was announced Monday, and is expected to boost bilateral trade, increase the access of Lebanese exports to Europe, and strengthen institutional and political ties between the two sides.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23499

Lebanon is living on borrowed funds and borrowed time

It's great to be with you and the American-Lebanese Chamber of Commerce, and to see so many good friends. I'm pleased also that I can introduce to you Amer Kayani, our regional commercial counselor. Amer is based at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, however, his responsibility includes Lebanon.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23498

GENDER

A stadium without room for women

The times they are a-changing. As the world's eyes widen with ever-increasing alarm at the bellicose statements of hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, talk is rife of an imminent state-to-state conflict. Jafar Panahi's new film "Offside" also concerns itself with two nations going to war, although the prize here is not about geopolitics but sports.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=23445

Beauty queen campaigns to save Iranian teenager's life

A Canadian beauty queen's campaign to save the life of an Iranian teenager is drawing worldwide interest, with more than 7,000 people signing a petition. The petition, addressed to the UN and the Islamic Republic of Iran, asks that the death sentence of a young woman named Nazanin be commuted.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23638

Egypt: Women still marginalized from judiciary

"When I was appointed by the Constitutional Court in 2003, I felt Egypt had taken a very important step towards building a freer, more equal merit-based society," said Tehany al-Gebaly, Egypt's only female judge. "Three years on, I am saddened to see that the obstacles to women joining the judiciary remain firmly in place."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23379

Genital mutilation scars lives of Sudanese women

Ilham could not hold back the tears as she recounted how her 6-year-old sister Eglal bled to death under the knife of a traditional midwife circumcising her, even though it happened way back in 1980. Twenty-six years later, young girls in the poverty-stricken African country are still subjected to this ancient tradition.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23509

Kuwaiti women vote for first time

Kuwaiti women cast votes for the first time Tuesday in a by-election for a municipal council seat, less than a year after winning full political rights in the country. Two women are among eight candidates running for the seat in the district of Salmiyya, about 15 kilometers southeast of the capital.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23531

Two projects aid women, children in refugee camp

World Vision Lebanon in collaboration with St. Vincent de Paul of Chahwan hosted the opening ceremony of Kowatouna Mina w Fina (our power from and within us), two community projects in the Dbayyeh Palestinian refugee camp on Friday.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23435

Women, Islam, and the New Iraq

Although questions of implementation remain, the new Iraqi constitution makes Islam the law of the land. This need not mean trouble for Iraq's women, however. Sharia is open to a wide range of interpretations, some quite egalitarian. If Washington still...

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/population/rc/ItemDetail.do~1060523?intcmp=700

Why Near East Foundation (NEF) Engages Women in Development

The Near East Foundation (NEF) has learned first-hand from its long experience working at the grassroots that countries that promote women's rights and increase their access to resources and schooling have lower poverty rates, faster economic growth, and less corruption ...

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/culture/rc/ItemDetail.do~1059083?intcmp=700

HEALTH

Iraqi school strives to meet needs of kids traumatized by war

For 12-year-old Iraqi Sarah al-Jamal, the world as she knew it ended the day her father was shot dead in front of her eyes. Once bright, talkative and a top student, Sarah is now one of the growing number of Iraq children traumatized by the conflict, who can no longer deal with the daily reality of life in Iraq's battered capital.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23381

Mental health is latest casualty of war in Iraq

During the U.S.-led invasion of Baghdad, looters laid waste to Iraq's largest mental health facility, causing nearly all 800 patients to flee into the anarchy and chaos that gripped the capital. Three years of violence, insecurity and unrest later, nearly all of them have returned to the Al-Rashad mental institute.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23507

Patients pay heavy price as war guts healthcare system

Patient care in Iraq has been the main casualty of an exodus of experienced doctors caused by rising levels of crime and violence. Those who leave are replaced by younger doctors with more limited experience - a problem in Iraq, where many people suffer from chronic complaints including heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23541

HURRIYAT

Arabs wary of ‘Western’ democracy

In the evolving debate on reforms, Arab intellectuals and common people continue to emphasise the need for culture and region-specific democratic reforms in the Middle East, and strongly oppose the imposition of Western models. Highlighting the difficulty of implementing a Western tailor-made process without heeding local and regional circumstances, Omro Hamzawi, senior fellow at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said 'the availability of a democratic model that can be exported everywhere is nonsense and has no moral credibility because of the U.S. tragedies and disasters in Iraq.' For more information, visit

www.ipsterraviva.net/Europe/article.aspx?id=3161

Arabs evicted from Jerusalem

Three Palestinian families were evicted from their homes in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem Wednesday after a court ordered the 29 individuals removed after four decades living there. The houses in the Silwan neighborhood had been acquired by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in 1923 but passed under Jordanian control after Israeli.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23345

Feeding on a passion for love and language

A gay man stumbles through wartime Beirut, mourning the loss of a lover. He loses his bearings, both mental and physical, and is briefly, abruptly transformed from a peaceful, listless noncombatant into a violent, aggressive militiaman. Another young man wanders disastrously into the no man's land of the city center.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=23409

Fatwa against statues triggers uproar in Egypt

A fatwa issued by Egypt's top religious authority which forbids the display of statues has art-lovers fearing it could be used by Islamic extremists as an excuse to destroy Egypt's historical heritage. Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, the country's top Islamic jurist, issued the religious edict, which declared as un-Islamic the exhibition.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=23538

Half a century of misery for Palestinian refugees

In 1949, the number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon was 100,000. They had fled or were expelled from their homes and lands in 1948 during the creation of the state of Israel; 58 years later, they are still unable to return to their homes. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23351

Iraq Humanitarian Assistance Report-Latest of April 6 ,2006

This report is the latest report prepared by Pacific Disaster Management Information Network(PDMIN),which has the detailed overview and the explanation of humanitarian situation and access to Iraq, political dilemma, internally displaced persons, civil societies, natural ...

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/environment/rc/ItemDetail.do~1060208?intcmp=700

Moving beyond: Transformation Training in non-violent Communication in Lebanon

Lebanese Center for Conflict Resolution and Peace Building CPR in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung FES and Goethe Institute organized a training workshop titled: “Moving beyond: transformation training in non-violent communication”. This workshop was held in April 2006, in Goethe Institute. For more information: www.feslb.org

Media Role in constructing Citizenship attitudes

The Lebanese Center for Civil Education – Maharat in collaboration with Frederich Ebert Stiftung and the Lebanese University – faculty of Media jointly organized the first session in a series of training workshops titled: “role of media in constructing citizenship attitudes”. These sessions come in the framework of a three-month program that aims at enhancing future media people’s awareness and deepening their knowledge on their roles as citizens. For more information: www.feslb.org

Organ traders target impoverished Egyptians

On the back of dire poverty, legal shortcomings and religious conservatism, a new mafia is prospering in Egypt and turning the country into the regional hub for the human organs trade, experts say. The large scars slicing the sides of many Egyptians in impoverished Cairo neighborhoods most probably testify.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23530

Rights group accuses Egypt of slur campaign

Human Rights Watch accused the Egyptian government Monday of seeking to discredit it and prevent it from meeting the country's judges. "We regret the unfair campaign launched against Human Rights Watch, which is an international organization," said HRW's regional spokesman Fadi al-Qadi.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23488

Rights group urges release of 9,300 detainees in Israel

A rights organization called attention on Tuesday to the plight of some 9,300 Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Jordanian and Egyptian detainees held in Israeli prisons in violation of international law. "These detainees include 117 women, 315 children, more than 1,000 sick inmates, 182 detainees who died under torture.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23520

U.A.E. dismisses reports of worker abuse

The U.A.E. has rejected as "insane and illogical" a human rights report that described abuse of mainly foreign migrant laborers, thousands of whom have protested their conditions. "To link what happened [protests] to the construction boom in the country - this represents a sign of progress in the region - or to negotiations.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=23406

ICT

From the Ground up - Evolution of the Telecentres Movement

Edited by Andy Carvin and Mark Surman of Telecentre.org and published by IDRC. The book explores the diversity of public computing initiatives around the world, examining the common visions and goals that unite them. It is intended to inspire technology activists ...

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/ItemDetail.do~1060284?intcmp=700

HERP _ Iraq Health Enterprise Planning: Information Technology for the MOH for the Year 2005 and Beyond

A useful report prepared by Herbert Koudry, Ph.D, which consists of a review of the Vision Statements of the Health Information Systems and Information Technology Working Group, and the defined Areas of Responsibilities and Tenets, supports the conclusion that

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/population/rc/ItemDetail.do~1060396?intcmp=700

UNESCO and Microsoft Inaugurate Community Technology Learning Centre in Lebanon

UNESCO, Microsoft and the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) announced on 16 March 2006 the establishment of a Community Technology Learning Centre at St. John's Monastery during a special ceremony held at the monastery premises in ...

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/ItemDetail.do~1059939?intcmp=700

NGOs

Iraqi Service Foundation: Khawla Muzahin Alkareem

We are a cultural and community service foundation. Our mission is to develop the Iraqi society at all levels (education, child care, women rights, etc). We also seek to make Iraqi Universities cope and develop to be equal to other international universities.

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/population/rc/ItemDetail.do~1060256?intcmp=700

POLITICS & ECONOMY

Gulf money pours into Downtown Beirut

Privately-Owned Abu Dhabi Investment House announced Friday the launching of a $600 million project involving residential and business facilities in Beirut Central District, the biggest venture in Solidere. The project will cover an area of 178,000 square meters, encompassing seven deluxe residential buildings and business centers. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23422

General Labor Confederation: Increase minimum wage

The General Labor Confederation reiterated Wednesday calls to increase the minimum wage to LL600,000 from LL300,000, stressing that any political solutions will not be decisive unless coupled with radical solutions to deal with the deteriorating economic conditions. The GLC also called on the national dialogue to discuss social issues and act in coordination with the GLC.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23366

Lebanese banks profiting from debt

The President of the state-owned Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) accused Lebanese banks of making huge profits from the high interest rates on the public debt. "Local banks have made a $26 billion profit as a result of the interest rates slapped on the public debt," Fadel Shalak said during a lecture in Akkar, north of Lebanon http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23457

Property demand boosts Solidere's net profit to $108.5 million for 2005
The giant Lebanese real estate company Solidere reported an impressive net profit of $108.5 million at the end of 2005, almost double the figure of 2004. Solidere, which rebuilt and developed Beirut Central District (BCD) following the end of the Civil War, also disclosed that land sales in the first quarter of 2006 had reached $1.1 billion compared.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=23515

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Aid Agencies unable to enter Samarra of Iraq

Aid agencies say they have been prevented from entering the city of Samarra, in central Iraq, where a major US and Iraqi military operation is underway. Our convoys sent on Sunday and Monday have been prevented from entering the city by US troops and our information ...

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/aideffectiveness/rc/ItemDetail.do~1059668?intcmp=700

Household Income Structure and Determinants in Rural Egypt

Egypt is on track to achieve its long-term goal of reducing the poverty rate to 6 percent by 2022. Continued progress towards this goal will require rapid employment growth for which agriculture growth, through its impact on demand for goods and services in the ...

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/poverty/rc/ItemDetail.do~1059432?intcmp=700

Iraqis struggle to cope with lower food rations

A government decision to cut food rations has hurt poor Iraqis who cannot afford high prices on the open market, say economists and Baghdad residents. Despite rising poverty in Iraq, the government has decided to cut the food ration budget from $4 billion to $3 billion in 2006, as the country shifts from a socialist to a free market economy. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=23540

Lebanese Ministers voice support for increasing decentralization, boosting municipalities

A group of Lebanese ministers voiced their support for stronger and more independent municipalities that acknowledge their role in promoting sustainable local economic development, during the Municipal Convention for Local Economic Development Tuesday.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=23519

MDG indicators need to be rethought

Although he believes the MDGs are worthy goals, Muna Lakhani, a member of the South-African based environmental action group, Earthlife Africa, argues that the indicators used to measure progress towards these goals need to be rethought. ‘When it comes to the MDG relating to environmental sustainability, one of the indicators is the proportion of land area covered by forest’. He says, however ’A forest can be alien, mono-crop, (planted with) commercial trees: you can just suck the environment dry if it is not mixed, indigenous forest.’ To read more, visit www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=14&art_id=qw1142675643259B251

YOUTH & CHILDREN

Young Lebanese have their say

Genetic research, online universities, homosexuality and national unity: Those were some of the topics as students from Lebanese universities shared their thoughts on the global future in Saturday's Sixth Public Speaking Competition.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=23458

REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES

GENDER

Equality between women and men in the European Union

This brochure first explains the tools Europe uses to promote equality between women and men, and then goes on to look at the gender dimension in a number of key policy sectors, including examples of what the European Commission is doing in each area. Finally, it looks to the future and the way forward for European gender equality policy, including initiatives like the European Institute for Gender Equality. The publication is available in English, French and German.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/gender_equality/index_en.html

IRAQ: Saddam Better for Women

Women were far better off under former Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein, a women's group has found after an extensive survey in Iraq.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32693

The World's Women 2005: Progress in Statistics

1) An Unfinished Job: Tracking Vital Statistics Disaggregated by Sex

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/indwm/ww2005_pub/English/vital.pdf also available in Arabic and French

2) What Part Do Women Play in World Economic Activity? Their Contribution Still Not Fully Captured By Official Statistics

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/indwm/ww2005_pub/English/Work_English.pdf

Also available in Arabic

The Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base

The Gender, Institutions, and Development Data Base (GID) represents a new tool for researchers and policy makers to determine and analyze obstacles to women?s economic development. It covers a total of 162 countries and comprises an array of 50 indicators on gender discrimination.

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~1058262?intcmp=911

The EU's responsibility at the WTO: environment, gender and development

This WIDE publication aims to contribute to a constructive dialogue between civil society representatives from the North and the South and representatives from the EU that could feed into an EU trade policy consistent with social and gender justice and environmental sustainability.

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC21385

UNGEI - United Nations Girls' Education Initiative - UK Government announces $15 billion to deliver education for all

MAPUTO, Mozambique, 10 April 2006 - Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn, committed today that the UK Government would spend at least $15 billion (US), or £8.5 billion, on aid for education over the next ten years.

www.ungei.org/infobycountry/247_643.html

Women's Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap

This study by the World Economic Forum to assess the current size of the gender gap by measuring the extent to which women in 58 countries have achieved equality with men in 5 critical areas : economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and well being.

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~1052680?intcmp=911

Women’s livelihoods under the new trade agreements - By Zohra Khan

Negotiations are in progress between the European Union and the regional groupings of countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) to establish Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). EPAs are proposed new trade agreements under negotiation between the EU and six regional groupings from the ACP. The objectives of the EPAs are to strengthen integration of trade between ACP and the EU; to promote economic liberalisation of ACP economies; to deepen ACP countries’ regional integration process; and to increase access for the EU companies to their markets. For more information on EPAs, go to EPA Watch at http://www.epawatch.net

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

This report aims to coallate and analyse the information relating to violence against children that has been reported in NGO documents over the last 15 years. It aims to analyse it to contribute to the global findings and recommendations of the UN Study on Violence against Children.

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC21343

RESOURCES

Eldis Finance Policy Resource Guide

The Eldis Finance Policy Resource Guide has recently been updated. The guide includes information and resources from around the world on finance policy. Recently added titles include: economic prospects for the world, 2006; a review of recent trends in theories of international trade and foreign directed investment; and guidelines for assessing potential impacts of increased aid flows to Africa. For more information, visit www.eldis.org/finance/index.htm

RAINBO Small Grants Project

The Research Action and Information Network for Bodily Integrity of Women (RAINBO)
These grants provide modest funds and technical assistance to African non-governmental organisations that might not otherwise have access to mainstream sources of funding. The main objectives of the project are: to support effective and innovative projects that combat Female Circumcision (FC)/Female Genital Mutilation (FGM); to strengthen the institutional capacity of African NGOs working on the FC/FGM issue as part of advancing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls; and to expand collaborative relationships among NGOs, activists, academics and researchers in Africa. For more information, visit www.rainbo.org/smallgrants/smallgrantsnew.html

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