Mi taller tuvo lugar en la Universidad Abierta Interamericana (gracias Daniel, Román y área de Extensión!) y participaron jóvenes de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, Cuba, México y Panamá.
Durante más de tres horas charlamos sobre el rol que ocupa internet en la vida diaria de las organizaciones, el ciberactivsimo, blogs, fotologs, social bookmarking, rss, wikis, celulares, mapping, etc, etc... y vimos distintas herramientas online, incluyendo, claro, muchas de las herramientas que brinda TIG para jóvenes y organizaciones.
Como hubo tanta buena onda me quedé el resto del día (y de la noche) con l@s chic@s de TUNZA y GEO Juvenil participando del resto de talleres y charlas del encuentro.
Además, en un momento libre, hice un videíto sobre el taller en el que participaron tres delegados de Paraguay, México y Cuba (gracias Jorge, Paulina y Handy!!!). Cuentan qué hacen y su opinión acerca de las TICs en su participación social. El video lo grabé y lo edité íntegramente en mi celular N95.
Hace unas semanas mi mamá, Adriana Molinuevo, recibió el "Premio Padre Daniel de la Sierra" por su compromiso solidario en la Villa 21-24 del bajo Barracas :D
Mi mamá, que es mucho más participaholic que yo, creó hace siete años un centro comunitario en la villa, conocido como La Casita de los Niños Augusto Conte, en homenaje a ese militante de derechos humanos.
El premio recuerda al fallecido sacerdote Daniel de la Sierra, que se desempeñó en la parroquia de la villa 21-24, entre Barracas, Pompeya y Parque Patricios.
Todos los fines de semana van muchos chicos a La Casita de los Niños para jugar, tomar la leche, comer, hacer los deberes, etc, etc. Mi mamá siempre me pregunta en qué ando para ver si los chicos de La Casita pueden participar en alguno de los proyectos que coordino.
A muchos los conocí chiquitos y ya son adolescentes y siguen yendo a La Casita. El otro día mi mamá me contó que varios están terminando la secundaria y se están anotando en terciarios y en la universidad. Eso no tiene precio...
Como dijo el padre Pepe mientras entregaba el premio: "Chiche Gelblung tendría que venir a mostrar a estas personas solidarias y a estos chicos que están estudiando".
Lo de siempre: lo malo se muestra y lo bueno no. Menos mal que hay blogs para contarlo :)
Wales participó en la Academia de Wikipedia, organizada por sus representantes locales, la Asociación Wikimedia Argentina.
"Jimbo" explicó las razones del éxito de su creación: “La gente participa como un hobby y se divierte haciéndolo”, afirmó. Y destacó: “Que una comunidad se reúna para hacer algo útil es una idea interesante”. También adelantó lo que se viene: la competencia con Google.
Seguí leyendo sobre la visita de Jimmy Wales en el artículo que escribí para ElArgentino.com
Y en exclusiva para el blog, posteo un videíto que grabé y edité íntegramente desde mi N95 :)
Change...
Change...
Change...
That is what happened
That was what Obama preached.
Peace...
Peace...
Peace...
Not heard
Change is coming..
It truly came
Change...
Change...
Obama changed.
That is a new concept in America
Change...
Let's laugh for change.
Change is possible.
Change...
We are all change.
New order in America
Change will change thinks
Change...
Fix America and renew hope
Change is permanent.
Change is Obama...
Celebrate Change first.
Then ask questions
Because Change is change.
Change...
Now that it is on ground.
Change will rebuild America
Change...
In my little opinion.
Change proved me wrong, and...
Change...
Only Change...the real change.
Change is definitely going to change things
Change is as of the beginning.
Change is Obama, the 'change-bearer'
The "Change-maker of America"
Change...
Truly came to America
Like never before...
Change! Change! Change!
That name is good---
So. It’s over. It is really over; and there are no riots in the streets of Chicago and LA, no disappointed citizens packing their belongings together to leave this country for good, no thoughts of anger, of despair. No. Instead there is hope. A light at the end of a long and dark tunnel; after eight years of disappointments, of embarrassments, of failed policies, and of a divided country, there is suddenly a future again that people are willing to fight for, that they are excited to fight for.
It is amazing for me to think about the journey this country has traveled over the past two years. Since I moved to New York, and probably long before, no other topic has been discussed as much as the presidential election. What a long journey it must have been for Barack Obama. From campaigning for the first primaries, to his victory over Hillary Clinton and winning the Democratic Presidential Nomination, to this day of his election and his speech at Grant Park in Chicago tonight.
While I was watching the results come this evening, I couldn’t help but wonder what he must have felt during those last hours of this two year long process. Where was he? What was he doing? New Hampshire. Pennsylvania. Ohio! What went through his head when he saw these election results come in, like we did? Relief? Joy? Pride? Did he possibly even cry when the news channels announced him to be president-elect of the United States of America? All this stress and tension falling off him for a few moments and making room for emotions to take control. Even if just for a split second maybe?
I can only imagine his thoughts and his feelings in those moments. A whole country, the entire world is now looking up to this man. What a responsibility! And how courageous to take on such kind of responsibility, not to shy away from it. What kind of character does it take for someone to endure a two year long campaign, to be scrutinized by the media – every single sentence you say, to be followed wherever you go, and wherever you have gone in your past?
Being an aspiring leader myself, I look up to this man today and bow before him in awe and respect for what he has achieved. For making history. For bringing back hope to this country, and to the world. For standing firm in his beliefs against all odds. For showing strength, courage and fearlessness, when I know that no man or woman, facing the enormous challenges that he will face as the next President of the United States, no man or woman will not also at times feel week, dispirited and fearful during difficult times like these.
But today is not only the day of Barack Obama. Today is the day of the American people. In the past couple of years, Americans I met were embarrassed for their President Bush, for the politics of their country. They apologized for what their country has done to the world. But after eight long years, Americans can finally be proud again; proud to have now an incredibly intelligent, inspiring, and humble man as their leader. I am proud of Obama, and I am happy for all of my American friends who don’t need to feel ashamed anymore, but who can be proud, too. Proud of their new President, and proud of their country, which is no doubt capable of doing much good in this world.
Today, the United States has become a better place. Today, the world has become a better place.
Richard Stallman, fundador del movimiento de software libre, ofreció ayer una conferencia en la Cámara de Diputados de la Nación. Invitado por la Fundación Vía Libre, estuvo acompañado por legisladores que están trabajando en proyectos que regulan el uso de programas informáticos en el Estado.
Lo bueno de ser periodista es que pude estar entre los primeros en ingresar a la sala y acomodarme cerca de Stallman. Saqué un montón de fotos con mi flamante N95 y grabé un videíto que publico más abajo.
El auditorio estuvo compuesto predominantemente por gran cantidad de estudiantes universitarios y jóvenes interesados en la temática.
Stallman, notoriamente cansado, ofreció una disertación de más de dos horas, en un buen castellano y con un sorprendente sentido del humor, especialmente al referirse a Microsoft y al presidente estadounidense George W. Bush. Habló de libertades, desarrollo, economía y voto electrónico, entre otros temas.
Seguir leyendo mi artículo sobre la conferencia de Richard Stallman en ElArgentino.com
Mi videíto en el que Stallman hace una introducción al software libre:
Ethiopia, a country of chronic food shortages and malnutrition, has launched an agriculture commodity exchange in a daring experiment to raise food production by creating a safe, transparent agriculture market.
The idea to create a commodity exchange was hatched by a former senior economist at the World Bank, Eleni Gabre-Madhin, who was born in Ethiopia and educated in the United States. Gabre-Madhin did her doctoral research on the role of markets in developing countries and refined her ideas while at the International Food Policy Research Institute. She now is the chief executive of the exchange.
Gabre-Madhin said the Ethiopian government began to consider a commodity exchange after the food crisis in 2002-2003; a bumper crop and price collapse in 2002 were followed by drought that threatened 14 million people with starvation the next year.
"In the bumper harvest, prices fell so low that farmers could not repay their loans, despite abundant production. The next year, not enough food was produced to feed the population. This led the government to think about the market: 'Why don't people store grain from year to year? Why can't the market deliver in bad times and save in good times?'" she said.
Although Ethiopia is the biggest grain producer in Africa, its traditional markets are small because of narrow networks of trust among buyers and sellers. "Most farmers trade within 12 kilometers of their farms and only with people they know," Gabre-Madhin said. She said more than two-thirds of farmers have faced contract defaults, and only 4 percent have received legal enforcement of contracts.
In the traditional trading system, grain changes hands four to five times between producer and consumer. With each change, the grain is put into new sacks. This system enables buyers to know what they are getting in terms of quality and quantity, as the contents are inspected and weighed, but it is vulnerable to price shocks.
The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange began operating in April, creating transparency and predictability in the national market and connecting Ethiopian commodities to international markets.
The U.S. Agency for International Development provided $1 million to launch the exchange.
The exchange provides warehousing, a reliable payment system, real-time market information, and quality control. Producers sell directly to the exchange, which assures payment within 24 hours.
"In the past, truck drivers took payment in envelopes filled with cash. It was never certain if or how much of the money would make it back into the hands of the seller," Gabre-Madhin said. Buyers in the traditional system do not know the quality of what they get unless they open up the sacks and inspect the contents. The exchange has assumed the grading task and guarantees the quality, so a distant buyer can be confident of what he is purchasing.
The Ethiopian exchange is linked to commodity markets around the world, making it possible for a trader in India, for instance, to buy futures of the prized Ethiopian lentils.
As for Ethiopia's major export, coffee, 461 coffee suppliers have obtained one-year memberships on the new commodity exchange.
"We're going to disseminate New York prices on our trading floor, and we'll feed our prices to the New York market. That means if you are looking at Ethiopian, Colombian or Rwandan coffee, you will have a basis for comparison," Gabre-Madhin said.
Agricultural traders have deluged the exchange with applications for membership, which, in Gabre-Madhin's view, is a sign that market confidence is building. "Worries about getting paid and getting the expected quality are being eliminated," she said.
Gabre-Madhin said she expects the exchange will create incentives for farmers to bring more of their produce to market. In the traditional trading system, about one-fourth of Ethiopia's grain is brought to market. She said the goal of the exchange is to handle 50 percent of Ethiopia's grain production in five years.
She said that nearly half of Ethiopia's rural households are net buyers of food. "Poor people buy food as well as sell food, which means that markets matter a lot, even at this low level of income," she said.
The exchange is not without its critics. Some say it will not work as a market institution because government officials occupy six of the 11 seats of the board. Gabre-Madhin believes that the government's involvement with the exchange will help it learn quickly how markets function.
Another concern has been that the exchange will further increase food prices, which have doubled in the past year. If Ethiopia's food-deficient neighbors can buy Ethiopia's commodities, then there will be less food for the country's already malnourished people, critics say.
Gabre-Madhin counters that the exchange is not the panacea for all of Ethiopia's food problems, but it is an important element for a functioning agriculture-based economy.
Este jueves 30 de octubre comenzamos el ciclo de Talleres de Teatro y Reflexión Creativa del Proyecto Jóvenes Refugiados en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires: Una mirada desde adentro.
Este proyecto, de la Asociación Vientos del Sur, pretende ser un espacio de encuentro e intercambio que permita la autoorganización de jóvenes provenientes de diferentes países para facilitar su integración y el mejoramiento de sus condiciones de vida a través del conocimiento de sus derechos, el desarrollo de iniciativas propias y la valoración positiva de su identidad mediante el dialogo intercultural.
Participaron del encuentro unos 25 jóvenes de Sierra Leona, Costa de Marfil, Cabo Verde, Guinea, Bangladesh, Colombia, Inglaterra, Hungría, Alemania, República Dominicana, Senegal y, por supuesto, Argentina.
Fue un hermoso comienzo, con mucho entusiasmo y mucha entrega por parte de todas y todos.
En la foto, el afiche con el producto de la dinámica "El mar de las expectativas", donde quedó plasmado qué es lo que las y los participantes esperan de este espacio de encuentro, qué es lo que tienen para compartir y qué es lo que les preocupa.
Próximamente.... más novedades.
Un especial y enorme agradecimiento a todas las personas que generosamente están contribuyendo para que este sueño compartido sea una realidad =)
Brazil will host the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meetings in 2008.
What is The G-20?
G-20 is an important forum to promote dialogue between advanced and emerging countries on key issues regarding economic growth and stability of the financial system. Brazil’s chair to this group aim to consolidate previous efforts and to give a stronger impetus towards a more balanced and stable environment for global economic.
Since 1999, the G-20 has contributed to strengthen the international financial architecture and to foster sustainable economic growth and development. In 2004, for instance, members agreed to the G-20 Accord for Sustained Growth and committed to standards of transparency and fiscal governance in order to combat abuse of the financial system, money laundering and terrorism financing. Moreover, the forum has dealt with financial crises, international co-operation policies and reform of international financial institutions.
For 2008, Brazil proposes dialogue on Competition in Financial Markets, Clean Energy and Economic Development and Fiscal Elements of Growth and Development. To follow with the discussions, there will be three technical workshops in the first semester and two Deputies Meetings. The objective of these meetings is to provide an updated view on those themes that will be further discussed on the Ministers' and Governors' Meeting.
As is usual practice, the organization of the G-20 events during the year will be shared between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. This year the G-20 will work closely with South Africa and United Kingdom, and other G-20 members, whose valuable experience will help promote a successful term. South Africa, i believe would promote the African peoples interests.
I am optimistic this forum can make clear its objectives and give young people a space to express, but would the proposed dialogue fail, what is our hope and future? We are expectant that the G-20 would make aFRICAN DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH A PRIORITY IN THE FACE OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS!
Helping to increase the food production of farmers in 25 to 30 of the countries most vulnerable to food shortages is a key aim of the United States' increased focus on agricultural development and food aid, says Josette Lewis, the top agriculture official of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
More than 920 million people worldwide do not get enough to eat. In 2007, the number of undernourished increased by 75 million because of rising food prices, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Addressing the World Food Prize Symposium held in mid-October in Des Moines, Iowa, Lewis said USAID especially wants to help small farms in sub-Saharan Africa double their yields of rice, maize and other staple crops by 2015 and increase farm incomes. The international community agreed in 2000 to a goal of cutting in half the number of people living in poverty and hunger around the world by 2015.
Cutting hunger and poverty in half is "an achievable goal," Lewis said, and one envisioned in proposed legislation now before Congress that would significantly increase U.S. support for agriculture development.
Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana and Robert Casey of Pennsylvania have proposed $10 billion in new funding for international agriculture programs. For the period 2008-2009, the United States has committed $5.5 billion in foreign food and agricultural assistance.
The United States wants to "strengthen every link of the food-value chain," including agricultural research and information sharing, credit programs for small farmers and the use of new high-yield seeds that are resistant to diseases and drought, Lewis said.
Lewis said the United States will support more training programs for farmers in developing countries to help them use modern food-production techniques.
The training will help developing countries reduce by 75 percent their reliance on food aid, she said.
Lewis said USAID also is focusing on improving the nutritional value of the food aid it gives for children under age 5 and is refining its community-based nutrition monitoring programs. In addition, USAID is refining its forecasting tools to obtain better information on where a food emergency is likely to occur.
The United States is already working with other donor nations on the implementation of a strategy presented in June at an international forum in Rome to address the food crisis. That includes providing immediate aid to countries most vulnerable to rising food prices. Between 2007 and 2008, global food prices rose 52 percent, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.
The U.S. strategy also includes encouraging policies that can expand regional trade in farm products and ease infrastructure constraints such as poor roads and border checkpoints that slow trade, Lewis said.
In the long run, USAID plans to form partnerships with private-sector companies, she said.
She said a number of U.S.-based companies such as John Deere, Land O'Lakes Inc. and the Monsanto Company "have made it clear they are ready to step up" and partner with various organizations to help boost agricultural productivity and reduce poverty in developing countries.
"It's time for a second Green Revolution that enlists a broader array of actors," Lewis said, referring to the first Green Revolution in the early 1970s that increased agricultural yields through development of new varieties of grains. New types of disease-resistant wheat created then are credited with saving more than 1 billion people in Asia from starvation.
Also at the forum, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer and World Food Prize President Kenneth Quinn signed an agreement to enhance information sharing between the two entities and to bring more agricultural scientists and farmers from developing countries to the United States to learn about agricultural technology from their U.S. counterparts.
Publico este "paso a paso" de la manera en que publicamos los programas de nuestro programa de radio "Al Fondo Hay Lugar" porque varios amigos con programas quieren también tener algo como lo que tenemos nosotros y no saben bien cómo.
Por supuesto que debe haber maneras mejores... pero esta fue la que me dio mejores resultados. Si conocés otra forma, contalo en los comentarios!
Ir a www.archive.org y registrarse. En este sitio cargaremos el archivo de audio en formato mp3
Una vez registrados, nos logueamos con usuario y contraseña.
Clickeamos en el botón "upload"
Te pide poner un título del material que vas a subir. Poné el que te parezca.
En descripción, ídem anterior.
Cargar el archivo y esperar sin cerrar la ventana/pestaña del navegador.
En ese sitio vamos a referenciar el archivo de audio una vez que esté subido a archive.org y obtendremos dos reproductores: uno que irá conformando el archivo cronológico de programas y otro reproductor individual de cada programa.
Ingresás con tu flamante usuario y contraseña.
Vas a "create a new channel". En la nueva página dejás marcado "standard channel". Ponés la descripción del canal (sería la del programa) y en location elegís un nombre del canal tipo "alfondohaylugar". Marcás "I have read and agree to the terms of service" y le das al botón "create my channel".
clickeas "My channels" en la parte de abajo de la página, bajo el título "Publish"
Clickeas en el canal que acabás de crear
En post title, poné el nombre del programa seguido del número de edición y la fecha de emisión (o lo que quieras como título)
En descripción, ponés lo que quieras sobre ese programa que vas a publicar.
Clickeás: ADD AUDIO y donde dice Audio for iPods, iTunes, Feed
Players, PSP, some phones and more MP3 Url * ponés el link del audio que cargaste en archive.org.
Ojo,Archive te da varios links, tenés que usar el que está bajo el título:VBR MP3 cuyo link termina en .mp3
En is this a song, dejás marcado el NO
En audio title poné: título del programa y opcionalmente fecha y número de programa
En tags: ponés palabras claves relacionadas con tu programa, separadas por comas
En rights: dejás marcado "share it" (o el que quieras)
Le das a "publish".
En ese momento, vas a http://bigcontact.com/reemplazarpornombredetuprograma
Vas a ver el reproductor individual del programa. Clickeá el botón "share" que tiene
el reproductor hacia la punta derecha. Ahí, clickeá COPY TO CLIPBOARD
(clickeás y listo, no esperes que pase nada)
Ahora, tenés que ir al blog de tu programa.
En el blog en Blogger clickeás "nueva entrada"
En título ponés: lo que quieras de título del posteo
En el cuerpo del posteo: lo que quieras poner.
Clickeas la pestaña "Edición de HTML"
Pegás el código que habías copiado del reproductor de BigContact
The $1.2 billion Global Food Response Program (GFRP) - the World Bank's fast-track food crisis initiative - was created in May 2008 to rapidly disburse assistance to countries hardest hit by the food crisis.
"Hunger knows no boundaries," said Africa Region Vice President Obiageli Ezekwesili. "All across the African continent, poor people are bearing the brunt" of soaring food prices.
As of end-September 2008, the World Bank has approved $83 million in GFRP financing to ten Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries: Burundi, Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Somalia. In addition, $100 million in IDA financing has been approved or reallocated for eight countries: Ghana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Malawi, Togo, Eritrea, Cote d'Ivoire, and Madagascar. Through these projects, farmers are receiving seeds, fertilizers, and technical expertise. School feeding programs are also being launched, and food safety nets targeting vulnerable groups are being created. The Bank expects to provide a total of more than $800 million in financing to the GFRP.
The GFRP is based on several dimensions:
across time-thus addressing short-term and medium-term needs;
across sectors-such as agriculture, health, social protection, energy; and
across instruments-budget support to help mitigate short-term financial stresses; safety net programs for the most vulnerable; and investment lending to stimulate an agricultural supply response.
A basic principle of the GFRP is that a country can select from a large comprehensive menu of possible interventions, depending on its specific needs. The Bank provides detailed technical guidance appropriate to these interventions. A sample of interventions in SSA includes:
Food Distribution to School Children and Other Vulnerable Groups
In Liberia ($10 million disbursed), monthly distributions of 300-400 tons of food targeting more than 60,000 school children in five counties started at the beginning of the school year in October, 2008. Distributions of food rations for pregnant and lactating women attending clinics and hospitals have also started.
In Burundi ($10 million disbursed), the WFP has been implementing a school feeding program in six provinces (out of 17) in the country. The GFRP grant makes it possible to provide 120,000 additional students in 60 additional primary schools with hot meals since the beginning of the school year. The Grant has also helped the Government to maintain fiscal stability after the suspension of import duties on 13 basic food items undertaken by the authorities to mitigate the impact of food crisis.
In Sierra Leone ($3 million disbursed), the Bank is providing budget support to partly compensate for lost revenues resulting from reduced tariffs on food and fuel imports. The budget support is creating fiscal space for the Government to provide food to more than 21,000 people, including school children and patients (lactating mothers and children under the age of five) in district hospitals and community health centers. In addition, 78 food-for-work projects will begin shortly; and preparations are underway to distribute 300 to 400 metric tons of food in target communities.
The GFRP is also working for bountiful harvests. In Rwanda, $10 million has been allocated for filling a financing gap for bulk fertilizer purchase and supporting the development of private sector-friendly auctions and voucher distribution schemes. Vouchers for purchasing fertilizers have been distributed to farmers ahead of the fall planting season.
Reform of Food Policies:
In Madagascar ($10 million disbursed), the increase of rice prices has been slowed, due in part to the temporary elimination of VAT on rice. The Bank's budget support operation helped mitigate the fiscal impact of this policy action.
In Guinea ($10 million allocated), budget support from the Bank is supporting the Government's policy to reduce customs duties on rice from 12.75 to 2.75 percent.
In Burundi ($10 million allocated and disbursed), Bank financing has helped mitigate the fiscal impact of the suspension of import duties on 13 basic food items.
Other SSA countries in the pipeline to receive GFRP disbursements include Benin ($9 million for fertilizer); Central African Republic ($7 million, school feeding, inputs, extension, infrastructure); Comoros ($1 million for seeds, risk management, access to credit); Guinea-Bissau ($5 million for safety nets, inputs); Mali ($5 million for budget support); Mauritania ($9 million for inputs, safety nets, irrigation, livestock); Mozambique ($20 million for budget support); Somalia ($7 million, for inputs, irrigation, livestock); Southern Sudan ($5 million for seeds and other inputs); and Togo ($7 million for safety nets, agricultural production).
The full participation of women in political decision-making at all levels, including their involvement in measures to achieve all other MDGs, is of paramount importance to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women. In addition to the political arena, women’s full participation in decision-making positions in the private sector, academia, civil society and the media is also crucial to build synergies across different sectors. Women’s public participation is a human rights issue; women have a right to be represented. Increased women’s participation also ensures that women’s interests are represented in decision-making and their participation widens policy debates and priorities. Research has shown that increased participation of women in decision-making has a positive impact on development priorities and poverty reduction, and that, when empowered, women make decisions that not only have a positive effect on themselves, but the lives of their families and communities as well. Progress in increasing the political representation of women in national parliaments has been increasing at a steady but slow pace, but growth has been uneven across regions. Insufficient data are available on women’s role at local government level as well as on their role in senior positions in other areas, such as the private sector and civil society.
Women’s economic independence
Women’s economic independence is critical to achieving all MDGs, not only MDG3. Even though women’s participation in paid employment outside agriculture has increased, women’s work continues to be characterized by a concentration in low status and low pay jobs, which are often temporary and informal. Globally, gender wage gaps exist and unemployment rates for women are higher than for men. While inequalities continue to define the quality, conditions and characteristics of women’s labour market participation, they also shoulder a disproportionate share of responsibilities at home. Women perform the majority of unpaid work which restricts their access to employment opportunities outside of the home and reinforces the traditional division of labour between women and men. Increasing women’s participation in paid employment is one of the most important strategies for poverty reduction, as is the promotion of women’s entrepreneurship. However, the employment must be based on decent work principles such as labour standards, social protection and recognition of workers’ rights. In addition, it is important to recognize the value of women’s unpaid work, and develop and promote policies that facilitate the reconciliation of employment and family responsibilities for all workers, women and men.
In addition, women’s access to and control over productive and economic resources is central to their empowerment and must be expanded if gender equality is to be achieved. Women’s access to land and property, including through inheritance, is critical to their economic empowerment. Land ownership has direct economic benefits, for example as a source of income, as a key input for production, and as collateral for credit. Without equal access to credit and other financial services, such as insurance or savings, women’s economic empowerment will remain limited.
Issues for discussion
What good practices exist to increase women’s access to decision-making positions at all levels?
What measures need to be taken to increase women’s access to employment opportunities, and access to and control over productive resources?
How can measurement of progress in these areas be strengthened?
Food security experts say international donors' response to the world's food crisis has been inadequate when compared to interventions to contain the global financial meltdown.
"Huge financial resources have been mobilised by the international community in a matter of days" in response to the global financial crisis, wrote Teresa Cavero in a report by the international NGO Oxfam released on 16 October - World Food Day.
While the US government put up US$700 billion to bail out financial institutions in one day, on 3 October, total global development aid for 2007 was $104 billion, according to Alexander Woollcombe, food security advocacy adviser at Oxfam in Dakar.
This year's food crisis threw an additional 75 million people into hunger and poverty in 2007 according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The World Bank estimates there are currently 967 million malnourished people in the world.
FAO says the financial crisis, following on the heels of the food price crisis, could deepen the plight of the poor in developing countries.
Remittances dropping
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf stated in a 15 October news release: "Borrowing, bank lending, official development aid, foreign direct investment and workers' remittances - all may be compromised by a deepening financial crisis."
There are no precise numbers yet about the impact of the financial crisis on developing countries, said Josef Schmidhuber, senior economist at the FAO's Global Perspectives Unit, but he noted that when industrialised countries face a crisis, fewer people work and fewer remittances are sent to developing countries.
"We're already hearing noises from Mexico that fewer remittances are being sent back. These [remittances] are more important than credits and foreign direct investment," he stressed.
Mexico receives $22 billion in annual remittances, and Bangladesh $4 billion, according to Schmidhuber. In Haiti and Honduras remittances make up over 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Response 'a slow trickle'
The FAO's Schmidhuber said donors promised $20 billion in aid to agriculture at the Rome FAO conference in June 2008, but according to Oxfam, five months on just $1 billion of this has been dispersed. Oxfam's Woollcombe said this is partly because "it takes time to distribute cash for agricultural production. The problem is it is not clear when or where it is actually coming."
The UN has estimated that $25 billion to $40 billion is needed to lessen the impacts of high food prices on developing countries.
"With the new commitments of the financial crisis, I would not be surprised if we don't get much more than the trickle that has arrived so far," said Schmidhuber.
The UK government's commitment of US$ 1.4 billion pledged at the Rome meeting still stands, said Matt Wells, spokesperson for the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
"Yes, there are challenges we are all facing, but we are continuing to call on other donors not to let the economic crisis deflect the fact that we need to remain focused on supporting those most in need," Wells told IRIN.
Building up resilience
To boost vulnerable people's resilience to crises, Oxfam and the Washington DC-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) stress the need for donors and international finance institutions to support 'social protection' such as aiding access to health and education, which they say will have a knock-on boost on their food-purchasing power.
Such measures could include targeted cash transfers, nutritional interventions, and fee waivers on targeted services, according to an October World Bank report 'Rising food and fuel prices: addressing the risks to future generations.'
It is the erosion of the global food system's resilience that underlies the food price spikes, according to Steve Wiggins, research fellow at the UK-based Overseas Development Institute.
The world needs to replenish severely depleted global grain reserves, which have dropped from 30 percent to 19 percent of annual grain use, Wiggins said. "Rebuilding stocks would help to calm nerves and restore the resilience of the global food system."
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FAO's Schmidhuber said as an alternative to real grain reserves, which are expensive to build and keep up, 'virtual grain stocks' should be developed; developing countries would purchase the right to buy at subsidised prices.
He said such alternatives would lead to a more efficient market that could also protect poor communities, adding that export bans and subsidies in the developed world distort markets and discourage production.
Progress is being made on both sides, he said. "We are starting to see a convergence between the developing and developed world as they shift these opposing approaches."
As the FAO's World Food Security Committee discusses these and other challenges in Rome from 14 to 17 October, Schmidhuber said governments should start by taking a simple step. "They need to do what they've said they are already committed to doing, and deliver the money."
