Catégorie : Civil Society

Linked to our presentation of Moses Zulu – Zambia.

Also linked to our presentation of The International HUMANA PEOPLE TO PEOPLE Movement.

The Children’s Town is a school project designed to address the plight of street children and other vulnerable children in giving them a chance to get off the streets, to get an education and turn their lives around into productive citizens.

The project provides a supportive environment and basic education to former street children and orphans from major cities and towns in Zambia and the surrounding villages.

The project was established in 1990 with only 2 children. As the number of children grew the physical structures of the project also grew from living in tents to building 4 residential homes. Now the centre serves as a school, a home and sound environment for 300 former street children and orphans.

The children are organised into family units, which provide them with a home environment. Discussing their character and behaviour and offering counselling regularly addresses the rehabilitation of children. All conflicts are followed up and appropriate authorities involved if necessary. A Social Worker conducts home visits to evaluate the situation in guardian’s houses as the project strives to reunite the children with their families in circumstances that are favourable. Files on the social background of the children are regularly updated. The statistics, current accommodation and occupation of those who have graduated are kept to establish the impact of the project.

The children at the project receive primary education, vocational training and learn to be responsible and productive. The Ministry of Education recognised Children’ Town as a community school. The school follows the ministry’s curriculum. The school facilitates a community based initiative of 5000 orphans in an outreach program for orphans in 240 villages around the school in trying to address the education, shelter, nutrition, clothing needs. The school also undertakes HIV/AIDS awareness programs.

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Linked with Rozlana Taukina – Kazakhstan, with Reporters without borders and with Institute of war and peace …

Rozlana Taukina writes about her association: ANESMI (Association for Independent Electronic Mass Media – see Refworld) was formed in 1993 at a meeting of ten television and radio stations in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Today, it is an association of 83 broadcasting television and radio stations representing four of the five Central Asian Republics. (See Association of Independent Electronic Mass Media of the Countries of Central Asia – ANESMI).

The association seeks to develop television and radio business in Central Asia, foster good relations between the media and government, influence legislation on regulation of the mass media, and enhance information exchange among television and radio stations in Central Asia. It has advocated laws on author’s rights and advertising, and issued challenges to the state on the criteria selected for the redistribution of television and radio channels.

ANESMI plans to intensify their lobbying efforts by learning about methods used by the mass media in other countries to influence public policy. It has also organized periods of silence on radio and television to mark the deaths and persecution of prominent journalists and professionals in the media sphere.

The association has branches in Dushanbe, Tajikistan; Qoqand, Uzbekistan; and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

E-mail:

rozlana@anesmi.almaty.kz, and

muhtar@anesmi.almaty.kz.

links:

IWPR’S CENTRAL ASIA REPORT, No. 130

NIS Media Orgs by countries;

Eurasianet.org;

Analyst;

UNESCO Media Resource Center.

linked with our presentation of Rozlana Taukina – Kazakhstan.

Reporters without borders in different languages, and here the english edition.

They say about themselves: Reporters Without Borders is an association officially recognised as serving the public interest

More than a third of the world’s people live in countries where there is no press freedom. Reporters Without Borders works constantly to restore their right to be informed. Fourty-two media professionals lost their lives in 2003 for doing what they were paid to do — keeping us informed. Today, more than 130 journalists around the world are in prison simply for doing their job. In Nepal, Eritrea and China, they can spend years in jail just for using the « wrong » word or photo. Reporters Without Borders believes imprisoning or killing a journalist is like eliminating a key witness and threatens everyone’s right to be informed. It has been fighting such practices for more than 18 years.

Defending press freedom… every day

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Linked with our presentation of Rozlana Taukina – Kazakhstan.

Sorry, there is no ‘the Institute for War and Peace Problems‘ found by search tools, but ‘The Institute for War and Peace Reporting‘. An interesting site worth to be visited, with actual news about the public life in Central Asia.

Their Central Asian Blog shows actual reports on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. These countries are seen by themselves as the real Central Asian States. (Some Wessies often mix into this Central Asian groupe States going from Mongolie to the Balkans. This has the same logic, as if we would say, America extend from Fireland to Groenland, what the peoples of these countries would not confirm, as we understand as ‘Americans’ the USA).

Reports on Afghanistan are to be found on this separate blog.

links:

hyperlinks for Balkanpeace;

wikipedia;

worldpress.org.

Linked with our presentation of Kailash Satyarthi – India

Also linked with our presentation of 6th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates

South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS), works to end forced child labor in South Asia.

Kailash Satyarthi, After successfully freeing and rehabilitating thousands of children, went on to build up a global movement against child labor. Today Kailash heads up the Global March Against Child Labor, a conglomeration of 2000 social-purpose organizations and trade unions in 140 countries.

What Does SACCS Do? Since its inception in 1989, SACCS and its partners have liberated nearly 40,000 bonded laborers, many of them bonded, working in various industries, including rug manufacturing. But to free such children without offering new opportunities would, in Kailash’s view, be meaningless.

Bal Ashram in Rajasthan, India is a transition center where newly-freed slaves are taught basic skills. Kailash describes the arrival of a girl recently freed from a stone quarry: « It’s a joyous experience to watch the changing emotions flit across this beautiful girl’s face. She’s like an open book, and her varying expressions tell us a story: the story of transition from slavery to a new life of freedom. When her face lights up, it is clear she is taking her first steps toward freedom and belief in others. »

Since the Ashram can only serve 100 children at a time, Kailash has begun a program called « Bal Mitra Gram » to encourage Indian villages to abolish child labor. In order to be a part of the program, an entire community must agree that no child will be put to work and every child will be sent to school.

While changing India village by village is a worthwhile pursuit, such a strategy could take centuries to achieve Kailash’s goal, and he is not prepared to wait that long. So he has begun attacking the problem by harnessing the immense power of market forces.

Many rugs from South Asia are manufactured using child labor. Kailash believes that if consumers around the world knew how their expensive and colorful Indian rugs were made, they would no longer think they were so beautiful. He started « Rugmark, » a program in which rugs are labeled and certified to be child-labor-free by factories who that agree to be regularly inspected. Kailash plans to extend the labeling program to other products such as soccer balls, another popular product that is commonly made by children. (Read more on The new Heroes).

reported during an Interview given by Kailash Satyarthi to Speak Truth to Power.

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