Gender and Development e -Brief / Issue 33
December, 2005
IN THIS ISSUE
EVENTS
DEVELOPMENT
ESCWA opens four-day seminar on water governance
Run for Social Development - Marathon attracts 17,000 people in Lebanon
GENDER
Lebanese American University conference highlights need to end gender disparity
NEWS
HEALTH
Fund seeks to eliminate child deaths from heart disease – Lebanon
Saudi Arabia should export its AIDS awareness campaign
CULTURE
What does citizenship mean to you?
Funding the arts in the Middle East
DEVELOPMENT
New local community-development plan kicks off in Lebanon
DEMOCRACY
Hayyabina slams politicians over fiefdoms - Lebanon
CNN seeks to show '360 degree view' of the Middle East
GENDER
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence starts on 25 November - Global
UN Human Rights Committee Blasts Canada : Women Call for Action
Iraqi prostitutes now live in fear for their lives
Saudi businesswomen run for office
Women gain ground in Afghan parliamentary polls
Gender and ICTs – Global
ECONOMYTRADE
Arabs blast U.S. 'Big Brother' approach to Bilateral Free Trade Agreements
Lebanon determined to cut deficit, boost production
Lebanon to begin privatization of EDL
Dubai firm unveils plans for $120 million tower in Beirut
EURO-MED
Euro-Med partners fail to agree
Euro-Med to tackle southern 'strategic challenges'
Euro-Arab Neighborhood – Europe
French Muslims Live In "Ethnic Ghettos"
ICT
Fund for IT projects in developing countries seeks support at Tunis summit
Brothers of Lebanon bridge a 27-year divide by Web
Yemen Online – Yemen
Egypt's Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Development Gateway Foundation New portal - Open Educational Resources
Al-Hilal Digitization Project
HUMANRIGHTS
'Lebanon will improve conditions in Palestinian refugee camps'
Samir Kantar’s case to be presented to head of UN rights commission
Child labor still a major problem in Lebanon
POLITICS
Mideast reform forum ends in confusion
Bahrain forum to push for U.S. reforms plans in Mideast
REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
CHILDHOODYOUTH
Youth employment in the Machreq-Maghreb Region: a situational assessment
Children as partners: child participation promoting social change
Orphanhood and the long-run impact on children
In best or vested interests: an exploration of the concept and practice of family reunification for street children
Investing in children of the Islamic world
Beyond the Fire – Global
DEVELOPMENT
WWF4 & Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s).
Networking Research, Development and Innovation in Arab Countries
Research for Development in the Middle East and North Africa
Promoting fair human flows: an Arab human development perspective
ICT
Livelihoods Approaches to Information and Communication in Support of Rural Poverty Elimination and Food Security
Technologies for Education for All: possibilities and prospects in the Arab Region
Information Society Profiles for Western Asia - 2003
Review of Science and Technology in ESCWA Member Countries
GENDER/THEREGION
Household arrangements and economic poverty: a subjective well-being approach
Contradicting commitments: how the achievement of Education For All is being undermined by the International Monetary Fund
Is microfinance a "magic bullet" for women's empowerment?: analysis of findings from South Asia
Cycles of violence: gender relations and armed conflict
Why did economic liberalization lead to feminization of the labor force in Morocco and de-feminization in Egypt?
Gender Jihad For Islam's Future
Gender and the Digital Economy - Perspectives from the Developing World
Beyond access: transforming policy and practice for gender equality in education
EDUCAITON
Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2006: literacy for life
Development e-Briefreceives 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, AWID: Democracy Digest: Development Gateway: Dignity: e-Civicus: Eldis: ESCWA: GDB: Global Knowledge Partnership: IGTN: ILO: One World: Siyanda: The Daily Star: The Drum Beat: The Soul Beat: The World Bank: UNDP: Wicejilist: WLP:
EVENTS
DEVELOPMENT
ESCWA opens four-day seminar on water governance
The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) launched "Regional Water Week" on Nov 14th, with "Water Governance: the Role of Stakeholders in Water Management," a four-day seminar at the UN House. Regional in scope, the lectures assemble speakers from the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean and the Gulf States as well as representatives from UN and European development agencies.
Run for Social Development - Marathon attracts 17,000 people in Lebanon
Over 17,000 people from 71 countries ran through the streets of Beirut on Sunday in this year's third International Marathon dedicated for social development, some wearing standard sportswear, others disguised in costumes. The sports event soon turned into a political forum with Premier Fouad Siniora sending an implicit message of support to the Lebanese Resistance by openly calling for the liberation of the Shebaa Farms, a stretch of land occupied by Israel. For more info:
GENDER
Lebanese American University conference highlights need to end gender disparity
Political and social gender disparity in the region's governments and civil societies fell under the spotlight Nov 18thas participants at a conference at the LebaneseAmericanUniversity stressed the need to end the practice. The round-table talks entitled "Democracy & Gender: The Role of Women in Politics, the Media, and Education," looked at women's roles in those fields in Germany, a country whose experience with both postwar reunification and gender inequality has much in common with Lebanon's
TOP
NEWS
HEALTH
Fund seeks to eliminate child deaths from heart disease – Lebanon
"No child should die from heart disease because of lack of funds," is a mission statement that says it all. It is all what the Brave Heart Fund, a charitable fundraising initiative established in November 2003 at the children's Heart Center of the American University of Beirut Medical Center, has been trying to do for the past two years. Celebrating it's second anniversary this month, the Fund has already saved the lives of 160 child so far. For more information:
Saudi Arabia should export its AIDS awareness campaign
According to a United Nations report issued last week there are an estimated half million people in the Middle East and North Africa region who are HIV positive. Such is the nature of the condition, whether in the MENA region or any other part of the world, that the real figure is almost certainly higher, perhaps much higher. Social stigmas, fear of losing a job, being cast out of the family or countless other basic concerns prevent some, maybe many.
CULTURE
What does citizenship mean to you?
"People get mobilized over theatrical issues," says Naeem Mohaiemen, director of the artist-activist group known as the Visible Collective, which presented its work to Beirut audiences last week, in collaboration with media artist Walid Raad and in conjunction with the third edition of the Home Works Forum on Cultural Practices. For more information:
Funding the arts in the Middle East
Cultural production too comes down to a bottom line. So it was that the final session of "Zawaya Encounters," assembling cultural organizations with funding agencies at the same table, attracted a capacity crowd to Masrah al-Madina's little theater earlier this week, A two-day seminar series hosting speakers from around the region.
DEVELOPMENT
New local community-development plan kicks off in Lebanon
A new plan to improve development in local communities has been launched by the minister of state for administrative development. The project aims to balance development more equally across the country by "activating the role of municipalities in economic and social development in accordance with modern municipal programs," said the project's leader, Paul Kazalonga.
DEMOCRACY
Hayyabina slams politicians over fiefdoms - Lebanon
Local NGO Hayyabina (Let's Go!) on Tuesday slammed Hizbullah, Amal, Druze leader Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt and former Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh as well as other political groups for "violating" Lebanon's sovereignty. Hayyabina, a group which champions secularism, challenged the "fashionable" political slogans of sovereignty and independence and offered a map depicting Lebanon's true political make-up during. For more information:
CNN seeks to show '360 degree view' of the Middle East
CNN has launched a new initiative portraying the multi-faceted Middle East in a region of the world where the mass public believes - whether justified or not - that the network has become the mouthpiece of the U.S. administration. As the senior vice president of the network, Rena Golden has had to answer for CNN International's choice of global news coverage - in her own words - "all the time." For more info:
GENDER
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence starts on 25 November - Global
The 25th of November marks the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, which is an international campaign aimed at placing the issue of gender violence on the local, provincial and national agendas of both government and civil society. For more information on the campaign, see:
UN Human Rights Committee Blasts Canada : Women Call for Action
Discrimination against Aboriginal women and women prisoners, and negative impacts on women caused by cuts to social assistance and social programmes, drew severe criticism from the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which just completed its 5th review of Canada’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. “The Committee recognizes Canada’s failure to protect Aboriginal women from violence, to address the poverty of Aboriginal women, and to correct overt discrimination in the law,” said Sharon McIvor of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action. Read more at
Iraqi prostitutes now live in fear for their lives
Salima Jabar dresses as a peasant when she goes to the market near Baghdad Gate to sell produce. But the prices she charges for fruits and vegetables are shockingly high. Jabar, a 50-year-old madam who has worked as a prostitute for a decade, has not always run her ring covertly. During Saddam's time, she said, she and her women serviced - and were protected by - Baathists. She described it as "a paradise. We played with money." For more info:
Saudi businesswomenrun for office
Male members of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry voted Nov 29thfor a board of directors, with many saying they voted for women standing as candidates for the first time in conservative Saudi Arabia. "Four of the 12 candidates I voted for are women," Humam Attar, a company owneras he left the chamber while campaign activists jostled to hand out pamphlets of the candidates they support under a scorching sun.
Women gain ground in Afghan parliamentary polls
The recent polls showed some surprising gains for women, but it is far too soon to herald a new age of sexual equality. Now that the results of September's parliamentary and local council elections have been finalized, officials and international pundits have been little short of gushing in their assessment of how female candidates fared in the various contests. For more information:
Gender And ICTs - Global
ICTs are not gender-neutral. Many countries, especially the rural population in them, have been left out of the information revolution owing to factors like, the absence of basic infrastructure, high costs of ICT deployment, unfamiliarity with ICTs … for more information:
ECONOMY &TRADE
Arabs blast U.S. 'Big Brother' approach to Bilateral Free Trade Agreements
Arabs attending a conference Nov 10thin Bahrain blasted Washington's "Big Brother" attitude in bilateral Free Trade Agreements, saying they are political tools to serve U.S. interests rather than enhance economic prosperity in the region. "FTAs are not the ultimate solution for this region. ... I see FTAs as a catalyst for change and reform rather than promoting trade.
Lebanon determined to cut deficit, boost production
Lebanon is aiming at reducing the budget deficit to GDP ratio to less than 3 percent annually in the medium term, Finance Minister Jihad Azour said on Monday. Azour, who was speaking at the opening of the "Improving Investment Opportunities in Lebanon" conference, insisted this target can be achieved through a series of measures.
Lebanon to begin privatization of EDL
Lebanon's Energy Minister said he is pushing forward with a long-stalled 2002 law which calls for the gradual privatization of state electricity company Electricite Du Liban (EDL). Mohammad Fneish, the first Hizbullah member to serve in the Lebanese cabinet, broke with the recent history of his party, which along with fellow Shiite group Amal had traditionally opposed privatization.
Dubai firm unveils plans for $120 million tower in Beirut
Dubai-based DAMAC Properties announced a $120 million project to build a luxury apartment tower in Downtown Beirut, the company's first real-estate investment outside the United Arab Emirates.The 27-story building at the intersection of Fakhreddin and Omar Daouk Streets will include 70 apartments, the company said. For more information:
EURO-MED
Euro-Med partners fail to agree
The Barcelona Declaration and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership did not succeed in creating a circle of Mediterranean countries that share effective political and economic relations, according to Patrick Renauld, head of the European Union delegation at La Sagesse University on the second day of a three-day event organized by the EU to mark the 10th anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. For more information:
Euro-Med to tackle southern 'strategic challenges'
The Euro Mediterranean Summit in Barcelona on November 27-28 will enable the heads of stateand of government of the European Union, for the first time in its half a century's existence, to meet their counterparts from the southern and eastern Mediterranean. For more information:
Euro-Arab Neighborhood – Europe
The German Commission for UNESCO has launched the project "Euro-Arab Neighborhood: Students Build Bridges" within the scope of the programme "Dialogue with the Islamic World" that was initiated by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. The aim of the project is to promote the Euro-Arab dialogue among young people by co-operation of school magazines. All types of schools and young people of any age who are interested in a journalistic co-operation are welcome to take part in this project...
French Muslims Live In "Ethnic Ghettos"
Hadi Yahmid, IslamOline correspondent, reveals that a report by the French intelligence service states that many French city suburbs mostly populated by Muslims are becoming "ethnic ghettos." But a French sociology professor, according to Yahmid, rejects the findings ... for more information:
ICT
Fund for IT projects in developing countries seeks support at Tunis summit
An innovative fund that poor countries have endorsed to help them harness the IT revolution is urging more wealthy public and corporate donors to join the venture at an international summit in Tunisia WSIS II. Lebanese President is expected to attend the conference during a trip to Tunisia. Organizers of the three month-old Digital Solidarity Fund, which has attracted a lukewarm reaction from rich governments, said they would present their first full project at the World Summit for the Information Society in Tunis on Nov 16th.
Brothers of Lebanon bridge a 27-year divide by Web
Bassam Kantar has a special relationship with the brother he has not seen for 27 years.The youngest brother of Samir Kantar, the longest serving Lebanese prisoner in Israel, Bassam, 28, has been communicating with Samir for five years through a Web site dedicated to the detainee."When Samir was taken away, he was 16 years old," Bassam said, "and I was just a year old.
Yemen Online –Yemen
With USAID support, Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) is wiring selected Yemeni high schools to the internet. Two-thirds of these schools are girls' schools; literacy rates for Yemen's girls and women run as low as 30%. One strategy is student-centred teaching, which organisers describe as "a significant development in a culture where schooling is traditional, top-down, and teacher-centered". For more info:
Egypt's Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Development Gateway Foundation Announce Plans for an Arabic Language Web Portal
A partnership between the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) and the Development Gateway Foundation to unveil a new Arabic language portal in 2006 was announced at the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, Tunisia, in November. The project will enable the formation of an online community of practice in Arabic-speaking regions that addresses reform and other development issues. The Library is a founding Cooperating Organization of the Development Gateway's Culture and Development topic page.
New portal - Open Educational Resources
A new Web initiative launched at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), will connectanyone with Internet access and the desire to learn to a world of free, high-quality open educational materials.
Al-Hilal Digitization Project
The Digital Library of The Modern History of Egypt, a project of Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s (BA) integrated digital library, is designed to include collections of specialized libraries belonging to eminent Egyptian politicians, authors and historians… for more information: