Catégorie : Civil Society

University of Notre Dame

Our Research: Social Change & Social Movements, New democratic movements and nonviolent approaches to social change are sweeping the globe. Kroc Institute scholars are exploring these experiments in global democracy. (Homepage).

Research; Degree Programs;
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Address: Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, 100 Hesburgh Center for International Studies, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556-5677, USA;
Contact.

About: Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute is one of the world’s principal centers for the study of the causes of violent conflict and strategies for sustainable peace. Faculty conduct research and generate knowledge about war, genocide, terrorism, ethnic and religious conflict, and violation of human rights. The results of this research enrich scholarship and teaching while strengthening peacebuilding worldwide.

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for transparency in microfinance

MFTransparency is a global initiative for fair and transparent pricing in the Microfinance industry. Our desire is to be the venue for the Microfinance industry to publicly demonstrate its commitment to pricing transparency, integrity and poverty alleviation. Our vision is a Microfinance industry operating with healthy free market conditions where consumers and other stakeholders can make informed decisions. (Homepage).

News; Press release;
Sample Country;
Endorsement; MFT brochure;
Calculation of APR, based on Loan Conditions and Pricing (with Excel);
Why We Need Transparent Pricing;
Address: MicroFinance Transparency, 325 N West End Ave, Lancaster, PA 17603, USA;
Contact (scroll down): Phone: (USA) +1 717-475-6733; Fax: (USA) +1 866-285-8363; e-mail.

Commentary: Microfinance has grown from $100,000 in 1989 to $30 million this year in « Sample Country ». One of the the largest factors influencing interest rates is inflation of 24%. This means that an interest rate of 35% is equivalent to a rate of 14% in a country where inflation is only 3% per year. Additionally 68% of the population lives in rural areas, making it more expensive to serve than neighboring Countries Y and Z.

Source X estimates that the microfinance industry will grow from $30 million this year to $90 million in 2010. It is projected that existing institutions will expand their client base by 60% in the next 5 years and that the number of MicroFinance Institutions will grow by 35%. (find this down of  Sample Country).

Linked with Landon Pearson – Canada.

Canada’s most visited website supporting Canadian children’s rights and responsibilities. The Canadian Children’s Rights Council, is a non-profit, non-governmental educational and advocacy organization concerned with Canadian children’s human rights and responsibilities. Since the beginning of 2004, over 10,940,000 unique Internet visitors from 160 countries have visited this site to learn about child rights in Canada … (full text Homepage /Wellcome).

Hundreds of Links; Hundreds of Newspaper Articles; Media Requests;
Parental Alienation;
Canadian Family Law History; Corporal Punishment of Children – Supreme Court of Canada;
Child Identity Rights; The Senate of Canada – Child Rights Hearings;
NON-Invasive DNA Paternity Testing in Canada and the USA (NO-RISK);
Female Sex Offenders;
Contact.

About: The Canadian Children’s Rights Council Inc. – Conseil canadien des droits des enfants inc. was formed in the early 1990’s to monitor compliance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Canada.

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Doing the right project – doing the projects right – (also in espanol)

PM4DEV was created to provide with expert project management consulting and training services based on a methodology customized to the challenges of development projects. Our objective is to serve the needs of the global development community by providing the tools and processes to plan, implement, and monitor projects in a more consistent, reliable and predictable manner. Our methodology is based on a project management cycle that incorporates all the processes, tools and practices to effectively manage projects of all sizes … (full long text homepage).

Services: consulting, training, systems, coaching;
Download a brochure detailing our services: in english, in espanol;
Resources: bookstore, articles, e-books, e-learning;
Newsletter;
Links;
Address: PM4DEV, Paola Diaz, Director, P.O Box 1064, Norcross, Georgia 30091, USA;
Contact: online, by e-mail.

Our Mission (left column):

• PM4DEV mission is to provide our clients with the best resources, tools, methods and processes available. As a valued partner we will perform at the highest level on every assignment to ensure successful outcomes that meet or exceed our client’s expectations;
• We will assist our clients, to the extend of our capabilities, implement and use effectively project management methodology in all development projects.

Development Projects Challenges: … (full text right column).

Our Vision (left column):

• Relief and development organizations adopt and value project management, as a key competence of their work and they attribute the use of project management methodologies as part of their success to reduce poverty and increase the social well being communities worldwide;
• Our Project Management Methodology helps development organizations meet their strategic goals by standardizing processes, reducing risks, and avoiding duplication of efforts;

Complex Problems: … (full text right column).

Our Values: … (full text left column).

Benefits of PM: … (full text left column).

Linked with Fethullah Güllen – Turkey, and with Islamic Revivalism in Muslim World.

I found no website (in english), but the movement is named in many articles:

• … We take a look at the Gulen movement, a loose coalition of public institutions and media organisations inspired by the charismatic preacher Fetullah Gulen … (full text);
• … This movement is one of the eight major groups derived from the work of the reformer Said Nursi (1873–1960), author of several volumes of Qur’anic exegesis known as Risale-I Nur. Nursi made an attempt to respond to the debates of his time (emergence of the new republic and Kemalist secularization efforts): he became the source of a powerful movement active in Turkey … (on religion.info);
• … I’m prompted by several developments, past and present, in exploring this. Around this time last year the Australian Intercultural Society (AIS) launched the Fethullah Gulen Chair in the Study of Islam and Muslim-Catholic relations at the Australian Catholic University (ACU). The chair is one of the first of its kind and was set up with the express intent of promoting perspectives on Islam that were non-Arab of origin … (full text);
• An international conference entitled « Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice » was held at The Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at Rice University of Houston on 12-13 November 2005.  Download the conference papers in pdf … (full text);
• Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., has continued a series of conferences organized on the themes of Islam and the Gülen movement … (full text);
• FETHULLAH GULEN AND HIS LIBERAL TURKISH ISLAM MOVEMENT;
• Professors and students from all over have gathered for a conference on the gulen movement … (full text);
• The Muslim world has been undergoing radical social, economic, political and intellectual change since its encounter with the West. How Muslims cope with the challenges they face necessarily impacts on the wider, non-Muslim world. The underlying aim of this conference is to examine the impact of the Gülen movement on the contemporary Muslim world in transition and the relations between the West and Islam in general … (full text);
• The Google download book: Turkish Islam and the Secular State, By M. Hakan Yavuz, John L. Esposito, 2003, 280 pages;
• This study is an effort to understand how the Gülen movement, named after the prominent Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen, has a sphere of influence on the global scale. Active in more than a hundred countries with schools and intercultural centers, the Gülen movement is considered to be one of the most significant social movements that arose from the Muslim world … (full text);

… and many more on Google-web search for Gülen Movement.