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Gender and Development e -Brief / Issue 34
December, 2005
IN THIS ISSUE EVENTS
EVENTS
DEVELOPMENT
NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq: NGO Workshop and Conference, Amman/Jordan,
2005
Prince Sultan Bin AbdulAziz International Prize for Water; Deadline December 31, 2005
HEALTH
Global forum for health research: Forum 10 – Combating disease and promoting health:
call for abstracts, deadline 31 January 2006
NEWS
ENVIRONMENT
Quarries continue to damage the environment in Lebanon
DEVELOPMENT
Two-thirds of Palestinians living in poverty
EACID Case Study: Eight Years of Lending in Upper Egypt
CULTURE
Dusting off the National Library plan in Lebanon
American University of Beirut AIDS Run in Lebanon seeks to shatter taboos, create
awareness
Rare Islamic Texts To Go Online
GENDER
The hijab is a swastika-type symbol
Gender Issues in E-Society
Egyptian women fear an Islamist come to power
Iraqi Women Seek Rights Pledge from Politicians (IWPR)
ECONOMY & TRADE
USAID pledges support for Lebanon's WTO entry bid
ARAB COUNTRIES: "Corruption costing Arabs $300bn a year"
World Bank prods Lebanon on backlogged loans
Spending surplus oil revenues will boost regional economic growth
IMF warns Lebanon can no longer afford fuel subsidy
ICT
Lebanon to finally enter DSL era
Country Development Gateways showcase local capacity building at WSIS -
Lebanon works with Development Gateway on E-Procurement
Iraq and the internet - appreciating its role
Global civil society refuses to embrace WSIS outcome wholeheartedly
Tunisia to host African online academy
Don't Bomb Us - A blog by Al Jazeera Staffers
HUMAN RIGHTS
'Lebanon must commit to ICC human rights legislation'
Activists draw up rights plan
Despite stereotypes, Armenians are very much Lebanese
IFRC emergency appeal to provide assistance to 60,000 families in Iraq (November 2005)
Egyptian Couple Awarded for Best Free Expression Blog
POLICIES
Lebanese Parliament lacks capable lawmakers
EDUCATION
Canadian university's new Qatar campus to boost quality of education in the region
Arabic Program Accepting Institutional Partners
REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
DEVELOPMENT
Crude designs: the rip off of Iraq's oil wealth
GENDER
Researching women's ICT-Based Enterprise for Development: methods, tools and lessons
from fieldwork
Anatomy of a backlash: sexuality and the cultural war on human rights
Gender Equality and Trade-Related Capacity Building: A Resource Tool for Practitioners
- Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), 2005
Gender equality and empowerment of women through ICT
Maid to Order: Ending Abuses against Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore: Report
by Human Rights Watch.
ICT
An Alternative Measure of the Digital Divide Between Arab Countries
NGO-in-a-box
EDUCATION
The effect of child work on schooling: evidence from Egypt
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:
EVENTS
DEVELOPMENT
NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq: NGO Workshop and
Conference, Amman/Jordan in June, 2005
The NCCI (NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq) organized a
workshop on Amman, Jordan June 6-7 and 9, 2005, culminating in a
conference to which other stakeholders (Iraqi authorities, donors, UN
agencies and Iraqi NGOs) were invited. The objective of the Workshop
was to review the collective NGO actions over the past two years, and
from these to define a way forward to improve delivery of humanitarian
assistance in Iraq. For more information:
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/iraq/rc/ItemDetail.do~1040163?intcmp=918
HEALTH
Global forum for health research: Forum 10 – Combating disease
and promoting health: call for abstracts, deadline 31 January 2006
Produced by: Global Forum for Health Research (2005)
The Global Forum for Health Research is calling for abstracts of
presentations for its 2006 annual meeting, Forum 10, to be held from
29 October to 2 November 2006 in Cairo, Egypt. The theme of Forum
10 is "Combating disease and promoting health". For further details
please see: http://www.globalforumhealth.org/Site/004__Annual%20meeting/002__Forum
%2
NEWS
ENVIRONMENT
Quarries continue to damage the environment in Lebanon
For years, Lebanon has been rebuilding its infrastructure and
reconstructing its buildings with the aid of hundreds of unorganized
rock crushers, stone quarries and sand mines. This has taken a heavy
toll on the environment, leading to the pollution of ground and surface
water resources, destruction of natural habitats and vegetation and a
severe impact on soil stability and water resources; to name but some of
the damage caused.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=20622
DEVELOPMENT
Two-thirds of Palestinians living in poverty
Levels of poverty are steadily rising in the Palestinian territories with
nearly three-quarters of the Gaza Strip's population living below the
poverty line, the United Nations said Thursday. In the five years since
the start of the Palestinian uprising, unemployment in Gaza and the
West Bank has risen from 10 percent to more than 30 percent.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=20622
EACID Case Study: Eight Years of Lending in Upper Egypt
The Egyptian Association for Community Initiatives and Development
(EACID), a non-regulated financial institution in its eighth year of
operation, is one of the larger non-bank organizations delivering
financial services to unserved markets in Egypt.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/rc/ItemDetail.do~1053717
Prince Sultan Bin AbdulAziz International Prize for Water;
Deadline December 31, 2005
The Prize is intended to reward the efforts undertaken by innovative
scholars and scientist as well as applied organizations in the realm of
water resources worldwide. The Prize is established to acknowledge the
special achievements that have contributed to the ...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/water/rc/ItemDetail.do~1053023?intcmp=700
CULTURE
Dusting off the National Library plan in Lebanon
The time has come for Lebanon to rebuild its National Library,
according to Culture Minister Tarek Mitri. "After 20 years of neglect,
it's time for us to rebuild our National Library that once was the
symbol of our cultural heritage," the minister said during the opening
session of a two-day conference at the Rotana Hotel titled "The
National Library: Architecture and Design."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=20460
American University of Beirut AIDS Run in
Lebaonon seeks to shatter taboos, create awareness
"If a guy wants to get condoms, he goes to a
pharmacy far away from home, and even then he
doesn't say the word condoms; he'll say I need
'something.' It's this whole mentality we are trying
to break," explained Kemal Berbari, an AUB senior
and head of the campus Red Cross Club, the group behind Friday's
AIDS Run.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=20493
Rare Islamic Texts To Go Online
A treasure trove of information about life in the early Islamic world is
to go online, enabling Muslims, scholars and others to peer into a
window on the faith's rich history, according to aljazeera.net.
Numbering more than 10,000 texts, Princeton University's
...http://topics.developmentgateway.org/culture/rc/ItemDetail.do~1053470?intcmp=700
GENDER
The hijab is a swastika-type symbol
"I still cannot imagine a black on the German Olympic
team," a German student admitted recently. The
sentiment is widespread as Europe's most populous
nation struggles with the presence of minorities and
its treatment of foreigners - mostly Muslims. The
message to German Muslims, is: Assimilate or suffer the consequences.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=20625
Gender Issues in E-Society
The central focus of this conference is to develop strategies and to
expand outreach activities to enable women at various strata of the
society to participate in the e-society. For more information, visit
Egyptian women fear an Islamist come to power
The spectacular performance of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt's
legislative polls has heightened fears of a clampdown on women's
freedoms should the Islamist group ever come to power. "I am against
all their policies not only the ones related to women," said liberal writer
Nawal Saadawi..
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=20589
Iraqi Women Seek Rights Pledge from Politicians (IWPR)
"A group of prominent women is pressing politicians to swear that they
will support human and women's rights in drafting laws. The Iraqi
Pledge campaign was conceived by 12 women leaders who are
concerned that civil rights should be upheld in future legislation
...http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~1053187?intcmp=700
ECONOMY & TRADE
USAID pledges support for Lebanon's WTO entry bid
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has
pledged technical assistance for Lebanon in support of its accession to
the World Trade Organization (WTO). the Economy and Trade Minister
Sami Haddad and USAID's Lebanon mission director Raouf Youssef
signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=20643
ARAB COUNTRIES: "Corruption costing Arabs $300bn a year"
“The world economy squanders an estimated $1 trillion each year on
bribery with nearly a third of the total, $300 billion (BD113bn), and
changing hands in Arab countries.
Arab MPs and World Bank advisers met to study a regional version of a
handbook on corruption so that Arab parliaments, civil society and
media can play a bigger role in tackling the problem. More information:
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/governance/news/showNewsItemDetails.do~21032~~?&intcmp=913
World Bank prods Lebanon on backlogged loans
A senior World Bank official said Lebanon should
wisely use all the money that was earmarked by
different organizations for development projects
before asking for more. "There is at least $1.5
billion and perhaps more from the World Bank
and other development agencies that was allocated to Lebanon. But
this money is not moving said Joseph Saba, World Bank country
director for Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iran and Iraq.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=20598
Spending surplus oil revenues will boost regional economic growth
The accumulated foreign reserves of the Gulf countries, due to the
surplus oil revenues of the past three years, have reached high levels
estimated at $500 billion. The way that this oil bonanza is spent will
help shape future economic growth, not only in the Gulf countries but
also in the region as a whole. The realization that this boom could be a
prolonged one would encourage the countries of the region to invest for
future growth rather than save the huge surpluses.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=20442
IMF warns Lebanon can no longer afford fuel subsidy
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the Lebanese government
can no longer afford to subsidize prices of fuel oil and proposed higher
taxes on the consumption of gasoline. "The VAT (value-added tax)
system remains the most effective tax instrument available to the
authorities, and the taxation of gasoline could be revisited. For more
information:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=20470
ICT
Lebanon to finally enter DSL era
Lebanon is expected to launch high-speed DSL
Internet in 2006 in an attempt to meet the growing
market demand. This high-speed technology,
bringing high-bandwidth information to homes and
businesses over ordinary telephone lines, will be
launched in January 2006, said Ogero, the
government-owned telecom operator.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=20456
Country Development Gateways showcase local capacity building at WSIS
Representatives from the Country Gateways of Morocco, Nicaragua,
Rwanda and Tanzania showcased their experiences as providers of
web-based services in support of local development at the World
Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. The associated Country
Gateway network today includes 50 locally owned and managed
partnerships; of these, 38 have fully operational web portals thus
far. To visit the Country Gateways:http://www.developmentgateway.org/cg/?intcmp=800
Lebanon works with Development Gateway on E-Procurement
The Government of Lebanon has received a grant from the
Development Gateway, in partnership with the Government of Italy, to
implement an e-government system to streamline and open
government procurement to more competition. The first phase of the
system, to be funded by the grant, includes the installation of network
systems between five ministries, new back-office systems and a public
website for posting tender information. To learn more about this project
and our e-Government Grants Program:
http://egovernment.developmentgateway.org/?intcmp=800&intcmp=914&intcmp=914
Iraq and the internet - appreciating its role
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/iraq/rc/ItemDetail.do~1047922?intcmp=918
Global civil society refuses to embrace WSIS outcome wholeheartedly
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) concluded with
claims of success by the United Nations, governments and the private
sector, but many in civil society have refused to embrace its outcome
wholeheartedly.
For more information, see www.civicus.org/new/content/WSISoutcome.htm
"Tunisia to host African online academy"
Plans for a 'virtual university' that will provide African students with
Internet-based training were unveiled at the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS). The academy is to be a joint initiative of
Tunisia's Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park and
...http://topics.developmentgateway.org/elearning/rc/ItemDetail.do~1053433?intcmp=700
Don't Bomb Us - A blog by Al Jazeera Staffers
The title says it all!
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/ItemDetail.do~1052437?intcmp=700
HUMAN RIGHTS
'Lebanon must commit to ICC human rights legislation'
Lebanon should delay no further its ratification of the Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International said. The
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which advocates the
creation of an international court for war crimes, genocide and crimes
against humanity, was established on July 17, 1998 when 120 states
participating in the "United Nations Diplomatic Conference of
Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal
Court" adopted the statute..
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=20632
Activists draw up rights plan
On the occasion of Human Rights Day, the Khiam
Rehabilitation Center for the Victims of Torture (KRC)
and the Follow-Up Committee in Support of the
Lebanese Detainees in Israeli Prisons drew up a human
rights plan for Lebanon. The plan will be presented at
an upcoming workshop.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=20660
Despite stereotypes, Armenians are very much Lebanese
Many stereotypes have been circulated about the
approximately 150,000 Armenians in Lebanon over
the years: they eat spicy meat, speak poor Arabic
and all live in the ghettos of Beirut's northern
suburbs being just a few. To be more precise: "Armenian by culture,
Lebanese by citizenship," says 32-year-old teacher Zohrab, adding with
a smile that he has never felt an identity crisis. For more information:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=20459
IFRC emergency appeal to provide assistance to 60,000 families in
Iraq (November 2005)
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(Federation) has issued an emergency appeal seeking 16.75 million
Swiss francs to support the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in its
efforts to deliver relief assistance to 60,000 families
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/poverty/rc/ItemDetail.do~1053005?intcmp=700
Egyptian Couple Awarded for Best Free Expression Blog
An Egyptian blog that has become a key information source for the
country's human rights and democratic reform movement has been
given the Special Reporters without Borders Award in an international
"best of blogs" contest.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/ItemDetail.do~1052620?intcmp=700
POLICIES
Lebanese Parliament lacks capable lawmakers
The Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace (LFPCP)
concluded Dec 7th, during a workshop on Monitoring Legislations at the
Meridian-Commodore Hotel in Beirut, that the Lebanese Parliament
lacks members who are experienced in drafting laws and called for
adopting a legislative strategic plan in cooperation with Bar
Associations. For more info:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=20606
EDUCATION
Canadian university's new Qatar campus to boost quality of
education in the region
Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned, wife of the Emir of Qatar
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and chairperson of the Qatar
Foundation, inaugurated on Thursday the new campus of the College of
the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q), located next to the Qatar
University.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=20475
Arabic Program Accepting Institutional Partners
From the DEOS List serve: We would like to share with you an exciting
opportunity to offer Arabic language instruction to your students and
community. The US Arabic Distance Learning Network (USADLN) was
designed to provide high quality and accessible instruction
...http://topics.developmentgateway.org/elearning/rc/ItemDetail.do~1053439?intcmp=700
REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
DEVELOPMENT
Crude designs: the rip off of Iraq's oil wealth
This report reveals how an oil policy with origins in the US State
Department is on course to be adopted in Iraq, which will allocate the
majority of Iraq's oilfields - accounting for at least 64% of the country's
oil reserves - for development by multinational oil companies. Available
online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20182
GENDER
Researching women's ICT-Based Enterprise for Development:
methods, tools and lessons from fieldwork
The paper reports on, and draws lessons from, experiences in
researching a group of ICT-based enterprises (mainly doing data entry,
IT training, and hardware assembly work) run by cooperatives of poor
women in Kerala state, India. The paper presents reflections on the
research and fieldwork process.
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20312
Anatomy of a backlash: sexuality and the cultural war on human
rights
This paper from Human Rights Watch 05 highlights the growing
alliance of conservative forces, or fundamentalists, who are threatening
progress, made over the past decade in linking sexuality, health and
human rights. The paper argues that this attack on sexual rights has
huge public health impacts. Available online at:
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20248
Gender Equality and Trade-Related Capacity Building: A Resource
Tool for Practitioners - Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), 2005
This publication provides a tool to ensure that men and women are able
to benefit equally from the new opportunities created by trade
liberalization. http://www.siyanda.org/static/cida_tradeequality.htm
Gender equality and empowerment of women through ICT
This report provides a summary of critical gender equality issues
related to ICT and development and outlines potential opportunities for
women's economic, social and political empowerment. Key strategies
and tools to address the gender digital divide in national and
international contexts are presented. Available online at:
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20345
Maid to Order: Ending Abuses against Migrant Domestic Workers
in Singapore: Report by Human Rights Watch.
The report, released in Singapore on December 07, 2005 is based on
more than one hundred in-depth interviews with domestic workers,
government officials, and employment agents. It details a range of
abuses endured by domestic workers in Singapore… for more
information:
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do~1053247?intcmp=700
ICT
An Alternative Measure of the Digital Divide Between Arab
Countries
It is proposed in this paper the use of time distance which is the
distance (or proximity) in time between the points when two series
reach a specified level of a particular ICT indicator. The mutual
relationship between alternative measures is ...
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/knowledge/rc/ItemDetail.do~1052144?intcmp=700
NGO-in-a-box
NGO-in-a-box (Security Edition) is a toolkit for human rights
defenders, journalists and anti-corruption activists who need to protect
themselves from e-mail surveillance and online filtering. The kit
contains tools and instructions on how to avoid Internet censors..
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/ItemDetail.do~1052621?intcmp=700
EDUCATION
The effect of child work on schooling: evidence from Egypt
This paper includes causal evidence that lower crude rates of school
attendance for Egyptian children are not due to limited access to
schools but rather to a substantial burden of work. Available online at:
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20380
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