Catégorie : Civil Society

AINA = Education, training and information for the development of independent media and cultural expression in Afghanistan.

AINAworld.org was founded on August 2, 2001 by renowned photojournalist Reza. The non-governmental organization Aïna is working to build and develop a thriving civil society through independent media and culture projects.

Over the last three years, within the emerging democratic process and the reconstruction of a national identity in Afghanistan, Aïna has developed far-reaching projects throughout the country: 8 media and culture centers in eight provinces that provide support for the leading news publications of the country as well as video production and training; the first educational mobile cinema; the first Afghan school of photojournalism, Afghanistan’s first women’s radio station; and the first Afghan advertising and communications agency.

To reach our objectives, Aïna brings together a dedicated team of volunteers, media professionals and Afghans, of whom one third are women and a large number are experienced journalists. The training offered by Aïna has thus far benefited nearly 1000 journalists and students. Through our supported publications, over 400 000 readers have been exposed to Aina’s work. Close to one million spectators have taken part in Aïna’s film screenings, and over 3 million listeners have tuned in to Aïna’s radio programs.

Aïna offers specialized audiovisual training to women in Afghanistan (filming, photography, journalism, etc.), encouraging women to speak out, and keeping them informed through national information campaigns about important issues such as health, labour rights and the democratic process to name a few.

Aïna also places an emphasis on children’s education through its bi-monthly magazine Parvaz. This publication acts as a window to the world for Afghan children, teaching diversity and cooperation to those who will become the next generation of Afghan leaders.

Aina is providing the tools of freedom through a Multimedia Training Institute, and offering Afghans access to the latest in technology and multimedia equipment.

The Communication Initiative – Experiences – Aïna – Afghanistan – Summary:

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Linked with our presentation of One of many Muslim Voices.

First of all: I do not agree with all the speaches shown on MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project website. More, there are presentations for me out of any understanding. During the Middle Age we Christians believed that Jewish are eating our babies, today’s Muslim beliefs of our western world are not so hard, but still strange in some way.

But here you have a good place to follow Muslim Voices speaking out what they really think. Some are progressist, even very courageous, many others are not. For any possible dialogue we could have, let’s read and listen to what our Muslim Fellows are telling … speaches coming out of a strange world I was not able to imagine before I had listened to it (Heidi).

The peoples of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) write about themselves: we explore the Middle East through the region’s media. MEMRI bridges the language gap which exists between the West and the Middle East, providing timely translations of Arabic and Farsi media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East. Founded in February 1998 to inform the debate over U.S. policy in the Middle East, MEMRI is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501 (c)3 organization. MEMRI’s headquarters is located in Washington, DC with branch offices in Berlin, London, Jerusalem, and Baghdad, and has a project active in Sweden. MEMRI research is translated to English, German, Hebrew, Italian, French, Spanish, and occasionally Turkish and Russian.

The MEMRI TV Monitor Project: MEMRI’s TV monitoring center operates 16 hours per day, overseeing every major Arab channel. The center has the in-house capability to translate, subtitle and distribute the segments from Arab TV in real time to Western news channels across the world, effectively « Bridging the Language Gap Between the Middle East and the West. »

MEMRI’s TV monitoring center focuses on political, cultural, religious, and other developments and debates in the Arab and Muslim world and in Iran.

To search any text or speach, go to http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S2.

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They say about themselves: The Development Gateway puts the Internet to work for developing countries. We provide innovative Internet solutions for effective aid and e-government – increasing access to critical information, building local capacity and bringing partners together for positive change.

More than one billion people worldwide now use the Internet. Half of these people are in developing countries and we expect their number to triple in the next five years. So the Internet is no longer just a tool for the rich. It is enabling unprecedented interaction within and across borders in developing regions, unleashing productivity and facilitating new solutions to old problems. The Development Gateway is helping capture this momentum to ensure that the benefits extend to as many people as possible.

They started a discussion about ‘What Events Will Make the Most Difference in Changing the Aid Industry?’ – Almost everyone–from aid donors to recipients–seems to agree that changes are needed in delivering overseas development assistance to make it more effective in reducing poverty. What events of the next year might make the most difference in making the system more effective? Please add your comments in the box on the right. Thanks for participating in this important discussion.

Linked with our presentation of Sompop Jantraka – Thailand.

Project: Development and Education Program for Daughters & Community Center DEPDC.

Location: Mae Sai,Thailand and Mekong sub-region (including Laos, Burma and the Yunnan Province of China). Across Asia, tens of thousands of children are being sold into prostitution or hard labor.

Sompop Jantraka has put his life on the line to save young women sold into prostitution by poor farming families. He is also proving that these women can be far more valuable to Thailand as educated members of the work force than as sex slaves.

Jantraka offers the poor families of young women between the ages of 8 and 18 (who are often desperate for income and easily deceived by brothel owners) an alternative to sending their daughters into prostitution by providing the girls with education, job training and employment assistance. Eight different projects focus on children at risk, children’s rights, child sexual abuse and forced labor.

Since 1989 when he founded the Daughters Education Program, Jantraka’s work has directly affected more than 1,000 children. Starting with an initial group of 19 students, the program is now supporting more than 360 girls and boys.

Jantraka considers education and training the keys to allow these girls to find alternative employment, improve their communities and reach their full potential.

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Linked with our presentatio of Irene Fernandez – Malaysia.

Linked also with our presentation of Petition of Complaint to the National Human Rights Commission SUHAKAM.

The Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development APWLD is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization. It is committed to enabling women to use law as an instrument of social change for equality, justice and development. It has a consultative status at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).

Objectives: To enable women in the region to use law as an instrument of change for the empowerment of women in their struggle for justice, peace, equality and development. To promote basic concepts of human rights in the region as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discriminations Against Women (CEDAW) and other relevant international human rights instruments.

We of APWLD believe that the concept of law includes the legal system as well as the customary practices. Law plays a critical role as it can promote or inhibit women’s access to resources as well as their participation in development processes. Legally sanctioned hierarchical gender structures, production modes and socio-cultural relations need to be seriously addressed by all stakeholders. New social structures require new legal instruments. Knowledge of the law, legal processes and one’s rights is a process of empowerment. (Read more on this page).

See also Network & Links.