January 2011
Making connections for a better world
Fairer trade agreements
Gender agenda in fishing communities
» PAGE 3
» PAGE 10
HIV affected family in Cape Town, South Africa
An epidemic of discrimination Commonwealth People placing the Commonwealth firmly on the international agenda. Once you have read Commonwealth People please pass it on.
POSTER SPECIAL
Creating a sense of belonging – Peace through Sport in Pakistan » PAGE 6
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COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE
The Women of Africa
Defining Development The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are an attempt to focus attention on tangible indicators of development, and MDG 5 on Maternal Health has been a major theme for this year’s African Union and United Nations summits.
© Sugarfree
In East Africa there are many strategic challenges. For example, women make up less than 10% of parliamentarians, let alone higher appointments. (The Commonwealth target is 30%.) In Kenya, there are nearly a million more registered male voters than female. Political campaigning often takes place in bars at night time, which for cultural reasons makes it harder for women to access. For East African GAD advocates meeting in Uganda in June this year, supported by the Commonwealth Foundation, defining our terms in this way is a key part of bringing change to public services and wider society. Ms Olivia Rosemary Wawire of Uganda, Guest of Honour at the meeting, noted that she was one of only two female regional police commanders in her country. When she was in the fire brigade of the police, Wawire created an association of women in the police barracks to empower them politically, socially and economically. “It is our duty,” she said, “to alert others that women can also make it”.
The US$40bn Global Strategy for Women and Children’s Health, launched in September, aims among other things over the next five years, to prevent 570,000 women dying of complications relating to pregnancy or childbirth, including unsafe abortion. Taking the strategic view in Kabele, Uganda The funding is to be welcomed. However the Gender and Development (GAD) agenda, like that of the Commonwealth as a whole, identifies links between things like safe pregnancy on the one hand (what it calls women’s “practical needs”), and on the other, “strategic gender needs”: the division of power, resources, rights and responsibilities between women and men in society as a whole.
Hopeful signs GWEFODE, the gender NGO in Uganda that convened the meeting, agrees: “It is us – people in East African countries alone who bear the primary responsibility for improving the situation, with solutions tailored to our national contexts...the role of civil society, political parties and media in bringing about good governance is critical. The good news is that a number of leaders of East African countries have in recent years recognized the importance of nonauthoritarian, participatory democratic structures.” In Tanzania, women have made up 50% of parliamentarians for the last ten years, and have a growing presence at ministerial level. Other hopeful signs for the region are Rwanda’s joining the Commonwealth, and Kenya’s passing of its new constitution.
I did not know much about women’s rights and gender concepts. From now and onwards, I will always endeavour to write about women’s issues.
Women’s rights activist Ann Njogu points out that the document contains over 40 measures to improve women’s representation in decision-making, including a clause outlawing bias on the basis of sex. Harmful traditional practices have also been outlawed under the new constitution, meaning female genital mutilation and wife inheritance could become a thing of the past. Crucially, all marriages will now be registered and inheritance will now no longer be governed by customary law. Says Njogu, “This is an historic moment for the women of this country who have for years battled with their inlaws in succession cases.” Focusing on rights in Arusha, Tanzania If constitutions define our ideas of development at national level, even more fundamental are the human rights frameworks that underpin them. In May, the Commonwealth Foundation supported a meeting in Tanzania looking at “Making governments accountable for women’s rights”. This time East African public interest litigation experts, journalists and activists were joined by their counterparts from Nigeria, The Gambia, Mauritius, South Africa and Zimbabwe. According to Alliances for Africa, the Nigeriabased organisers, “The recent judgement by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court of West Africa in the Hadijatou Mani v Niger case, involving a former female slave in Niger; and the pronouncement of the SADC tribunal of Southern Africa that a woman can inherit her father’s title, show that sub-regional mechanisms are in a position to tackle inequality and abuse of women’s rights. “However, for the justice systems to develop, more cases need to be brought. Public interest litigation and other advocacy are relevant for the African situation and can be useful for influencing good governance structures at the national level.” Holding the workshop in Arusha enabled participants to visit the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the African Court on Human and People’s Rights – to experience the supra-national courts and meet with officers who work in them. Reaching out through the media As well as ensuring gender balance and the participation of young people, both meetings also got journalists on board. Mr Musinguzi Goodluck from the Ugandan newspaper New Vision commented: “I did not know much about women’s rights and gender concepts. From now and onwards, I will always endeavour to write about women’s issues.” His countryman Kabishanga Paul of Voice of Kigzi agreed: “I am obliged to write more relevant stories for the political, social and economic development of women in East African countries.”
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January 2011
HIV and AIDS in the Workplace:
An Epidemic of Discrimination It’s about attitudes, not beliefs 2002 research conducted by the Population Council in South Africa found that relatively few workers were concerned about casual contact with PLWHA. Three-quarters (78%) of the men and 85% of female survey respondents were comfortable sharing their work tools with PLWHA. About 64% of males and 71% of females were comfortable with the idea of eating from the same plate as PLWHA. A similar number (75%) of the males and 78% of female survey respondents were comfortable sharing a toilet with PLWHA. The findings were significant because stigma has most commonly been measured by exploring concerns about casual contact, such as fears of sharing toilets or food. But even if they know they are safe, co-workers and employers may still subject PLWHA to blame for contracting their illness; social isolation and ridicule; insulting assumptions about their sexual behaviours; and other discriminatory treatment. Waiting for treatment at a hospital in South Africa
UNAIDS, UNICEF and the WHO reported in September that more lives are being saved from HIV and AIDS than ever before, and eight developing countries now give drug treatment to all who need it.
However, the global economic crisis has put the sustainability of many programmes at risk, and there is a shortfall of US$6.3bn from the estimated US$26bn needed to keep up progress this year. There is also a mountain to climb in terms of social attitudes to People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), and no more so than in the workplace – where we spend much of our daily lives. But there are positive developments. The legislature in Lagos State in Nigeria, home to over 15 million people, has recently passed a law on discrimination against PLWHA which has been warmly welcomed by civil society. “So many organisations are still dismissing staff based on this and others don’t know how to handle it,” said one participant at a July meeting on the issue, sponsored by the Commonwealth Foundation. Auntie Sabi Says... AIDS No Dey Show For Face The Lagos workshop, which attracted public and private sector business, trade unions and NGOs, was organised by WANEP Nigeria. As well as showcasing educational materials (and “Auntie Sabi” leaflets) in three languages, and demonstrating male and female condoms, participants reached consensus on a number of points: most importantly that places of work must have, and implement, sound policies on HIV and AIDS and discrimination. The practice of compulsory testing as a condition for employment was discussed and condemned. Another topic was mandatory pre-nuptial tests conducted by churches in Nigeria. The
meeting decided these are not discriminatory as they enable couples to take informed decisions on their choice of partners. However, a refusal to wed couples where one or other partner tests positive is “highly discriminatory and infringes on the rights of the parties.”
So many organisations are still dismissing staff based on this and others don’t know how to handle it
Productivity argument These issues go beyond HIV and AIDS and on to whether the workplace is a non-threatening environment, free of racism, sexual harassment and other bullying of all kinds. Employers need to know that there is a productivity issue – not from infections, but from poor morale, staff turnover and other results of neglecting workers’ rights. The UK-based Ethical Trade Initiative, which has corporate, NGO and trade union members, has taken the approach of intensively training workplace supervisors and managers on discrimination in all its various guises. It is concerned to spread best practice and awareness of legal bench-marks, such as Kenya’s 2007 Employment Act. Like WANEP, the Ethical Trade Initiative encourages businesses to brainstorm the content of good workplace policies, and believes that these should always contain: • A clear statement of the company’s position on discrimination • A statement of coverage and scope – who is protected by the policy? • Definition of discrimination and conditions under which conduct is considered to be discriminatory • Complaints and investigation procedure • Consequences and penalties attached to acts of discrimination • Appeals process for those found guilty • Protection against retaliation – it must be safe for workers to raise their concerns. This is more important than “deterring false accusations”. On 30 November 2010 the Commonwealth Foundation supported the first ever Commonwealth HIV and Human Rights Lecture in London alongside the International HIV and AIDS Alliance and the Commonwealth HIV and AIDS Action Group. The Lecture was given by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah who overturned Section 377, a 150-year old British law banning gay sex between consenting adults in Delhi, India.
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Regime Change
Monitoring the Impact of Trade Agreements in the Caribbean potential for unequal outcomes. “Even in the context of implementation,” says CPDC, “it is imperative that the region and particularly civil society organisations monitor the outcomes of the agreement in the face of all the evidence that it will have critical negative impacts on small farmers, manufacturers, women, youth and other marginalised groups.”
Farm worker transporting sugarcane
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) aim to create a free trade area between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. They are a response to criticism that the non-reciprocal preferential trade agreements previously offered by the EU are incompatible with World Trade Organisation rules.
In 2008 the CARIFORUM governments of the Caribbean and the EU signed a full EPA. There is now a vigorous process of implementation that will entail several changes to national law and institutional arrangements – in a word, “liberalization.” But how much do affected societies know about the new rules, or their potential effects? Not enough, says the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC), a Barbados-based regional network of 25 agencies. CPDC has been researching and publishing on trade liberalization for the last eight years. This year it partnered with the Commonwealth Foundation to build civil society awareness of the EPA and encourage its monitoring. “all of this is going on and we don’t know” Country assessment research and national consultations were held in countries with varied
characteristics: two in the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States), St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and two larger countries with predominantly manufacturing (Trinidad and Tobago) and agrarian (Guyana) economies. Critical to the project were other Caribbean regional bodies, including the Windward Island Farmers Association; National Working Committees on Trade; and global NGOs such as Oxfam GB and Christian Aid. Prior to this activity many stakeholders were completely unaware of what was happening within their countries with respect to the EPA. One participant from Guyana said: “It is not that we don’t want to talk... I can’t believe all of this is going on and we don’t know. All of this information is actually new to us.” Of particular concern for the Caribbean is fallout from EU sugar and banana regime reforms, and the
For more information on the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) see the website www.cpdcngo.org
Asymmetries of power CPDC wanted to ensure that, at the minimum, there was transparency and adherence in implementing the immediate (year one) provisions of the EPA. Beyond that, the project aimed to increase the public discourse on the subject and was “an effort to build [civil society] capacity to organise and push for a review of harmful provisions”. According to a 2010 report by UNECLAC (the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), “In the past, Caribbean Small Island Developing States have focused their efforts on designing and implementing development strategies with little emphasis on monitoring and evaluation.” The reasons for this are said to include: inadequate data gathering and benchmarking; “an ingrained culture that is not favourable to assessment”; asymmetries in power between the region and donor countries and agencies; a shortage of financial, technical and institutional capacity; and difficulties in making changes proposed by evaluations, which “leads to inertia in conducting future evaluations, which are often deemed pointless since they might not be acted upon.” Live debate If this is even partially accurate, then civil society capacity to monitor and participate in trade strategy, and regional cooperation, are all the more important. The UNECLAC report outlines macroeconomic challenges facing the region, including the global downturn, but goes on to note that issues such as food security also have a trade dimension: “The supporters of trade liberalization suggest that lowering tariffs will result in food becoming more readily available and accessible to consumers. The opposing view is more concerned with the adjustment impacts on small producers who might lose their livelihoods without being able to adjust to alternative income-earning opportunities. They see the majority of consumers and the poor living in rural areas and having livelihoods dependent on growing and selling agricultural products. Thus, the debate about what trade policy is most appropriate under specific circumstances is very alive”. Little wonder then, that there has been demand for the research study outcomes from other regions of the Commonwealth, particularly in Africa.
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January 2011
A Place on the Board
Blind Youth Elect their Leaders in Uganda Ninsiima Margaret’s story of growing up blind in Uganda illustrates the struggle of disabled people in some developing countries. All Commonwealth countries have signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
directly into its planning process – and is enshrined in its constitution. The Commonwealth Foundation assisted with brailing of materials, accommodation, travel and other costs. Participants were aged between 18 and 35, most of them in their mid-twenties. The programme included leadership and HIV and AIDS education. One of the facilitators came forward to donate land to blind youth in Bushenyi.
That means they recognize that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments (long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments) and the barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis. “I have always been segregated in most of the community activities but as I go higher in education their attitude has changed. I have also tried to change society’s attitude in that most people now feel I’m a human being, not like they could discourage my parents from taking me to school. “I am trying to be self-sustaining, not to burden my parents who are poor, so I do brick-making business and sometimes potato selling. This has been out of the workshops I attend, mostly organised by persons with disabilities. They always emphasise that being self-sustaining as a blind girl makes more people to be attracted to you.” Participation: obligation and right The Convention says that persons with disabilities must be free and supported to form and join nongovernmental organisations at all levels, including those concerned with representing disabled people. Full and effective participation is important to correctly identify specific needs, and to empower the individual. It is recognized in the Convention as a general principle (article 3); a general obligation (article 4); and a right (articles 29 and 30). So how does that look in practice? For the Uganda National Association of the Blind (UNAB), a long-established umbrella NGO with 50 branches, it was a surprise to find that their own governance mechanisms were less than ideal. Issues of gender had been partially addressed through a women’s committee. For national meetings each delegation sent a male, a female, and a younger person. Even so, younger men and women like Ninsiima were marginalised; in UNAB’s own assessment “their representation and participation was minimal.” The contradiction was more keenly felt from 2006, when the Uganda government launched a National Policy on Disability whose primary aim was empowerment, participation and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities regardless of sex, form of disability – and age. So in May this year, in addition to the youth committee, UNAB started a Youth Forum that feeds
Ugandan youth doing it for themselves. Twelve participants were drawn from twelve different schools in the country. The workshop participants were trained on how to handle general maintenance and minor repairs.
I am trying to be selfsustaining, not to burden my parents who are poor, so I do brick-making business and sometimes potato selling.
Proposals accepted One of the youth proposals was that their elected representatives should sit on UNAB’s Board of Directors, its top management committee. This was accepted. Julius Hamya explains: “My appointment to the UNAB General Assembly as Assistant General Secretary makes me the second young person on the UNAB Board of Directors.” This is the latest in a long line of achievements: “I studied at Butalejja Integrated Primary School, where I freely interacted with the sighted students. I also participated in extra-curricular activities such as football, bicycle riding and athletics using guides. But I had to deal with a lack of special needs teachers, outdated technology, lack of Braille paper, and segregation by some students who thought that visual impairment was a curse. In secondary school sighted students would assist me with transcribing material – but would then get jealous when I came out with the top grades. I eventually went on to Makerere University.” UNAB’s watchwords are fairness, respect, empowerment and self-reliance – not sympathy. “Too much sympathy from able persons makes the disabled lazy.” When the able persons are change-makers like Ninsiima and Julius, the sympathy comes with respect, understanding – and an infectious determination. UNAB, formed in 1970, acts as a voice and provider of specialized services for blind and visually impaired persons including their parents and guardians. UNAB has two training centres for ICT, Braille, orientation and mobility, leadership and livelihood skills. It is active across Uganda including the conflict-affected North, where it runs programmes in ten schools.
Did you know? Louis Braille was just 15 when he invented his writing system based on a six-dot tactile cell, in 1821.
The Uganda National Association of the Blind (UNAB) UNAB, formed in 1970, acts as a voice and provider of specialized services for blind and visually impaired persons including their parents and guardians. UNAB has two training centres for ICT, Braille, orientation and mobility, leadership and livelihood skills. It is active across Uganda including the conflict-affected North, where it runs programmes in ten schools. » www.unabonline.org
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POSTER SPECIAL
COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE
January 2011
www.commonwealthfoundation.com
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Peace through Sport
A recent grant to the SW AT Youth Forum (SYF) in Pakistan is using spor t as a tool to build resilience and teach new skills to young people. The ‘Sports for Culture of Peace’ project has introduced organised sp orts tournaments into the district to help youn g people come to terms with post conflict traum a and loss. By using sport, the hope is to en gage them in a positive way that will not only pr omote and revive a sports culture but also bu ild their skills for future engagement in developm ent and peace building initiatives. It also aims to provide an immediate alternative to involvemen t in crime and violence. To date 36 cricket team s, 24 football teams and 36 volley ball teams have taken part in knock out tournaments in particularly high risk areas of the Swat distric t. By instilling a sense of team work, fair play and positive competition, the programme aims to develop a stronger sens e of belonging.
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COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE
Life after Conflict
“Culture is a Basic Need” In October this year, the Commonwealth Foundation in partnership with the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development launched the Culture and Conflict programme that looks not just at loss, but also at what culture can offer as a vehicle for recovery. This three year project will focus on cultural reflection, learning and artistic production in Pakistan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Neglected area Around the world, people have experienced violence and humiliation as conflict remains undiminished. Often, conflicts take on cultural dimensions, or cultural differences are used in attempts to justify conflicts. Yet culture, both as a basis of the social capital that brings people together, and as a source of creative and accessible ways of sparking dialogue, can be turned to in the quest for resolutions for conflict. There is a growing realisation that in peacebuilding and conflict prevention initiatives, there is a need to support and enlarge public space for peaceful discussion, and that during conflicts, space for public engagement, interaction and the articulation of non-violent solutions is crucial. Dealing with the impact of conflicts on individuals is also necessary. Writing in Culture is a Basic Need, a Prince Claus Fund publication, Anthony Oliver-Smith notes: “Survivors of serious disasters in which there is great loss of life and prolonged devastation and displacement may also suffer a loss of personal identity. The loss of status, social levelling, the reduction to a common level of misery, can constitute an assault on the sense of self. By the same token, it can also create a strong sense of solidarity.” Andrew Firmin, Programme Manager for Culture at the Commonwealth Foundation, explains: “As our expert group pointed out last year in the run-up to 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, there is a perception that culture is an optional extra to development. We say the opposite. It is a driver of development. Through encouraging artistic expression, it becomes possible to discuss subjects in safe ways and start conversations that would otherwise not happen. The impact of conflict is often to make the cultural sector more fragile, at the very time when it has the most to offer if supported. And yet support for cultural expression is neglected by most development organisations and agencies.” The Commonwealth Foundation sees the work as building both on the recommendations of the Commonwealth Group on Culture and Development, and the strong track record of the Prince Claus Fund. For example, in 2003, partly in response to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage the Prince Claus Fund instigated a new programme whose focus is on engaging in cultural “emergency response.” In 2004 it was active in Sri Lanka following the devastating tsunami. The collaboration between the Prince Claus
A potter at his wheel
The Greek historian Polybius (202–120 BC) put it bluntly: in times of conflict, “the useless destruction of temples, statues and other religious objects is an act of the insane”. In our own times – with displacement, humiliation, terror, “human shields” and rape still used as weapons of war – cultural damage is also measured in the effects on communities, families and individuals: their ability to reconstruct and make sense of their lives.
Salvaging of the Maritime Archaeological Unit - Divers raise a cannon with airlift balloons as part of the Avondster Project, after the 2004 tsunami, Sri Lanka © Prince Claus Fund
For more information on Prince Claus Fund, see the website www.princeclausfund.org
Fund and the Commonwealth Foundation aims to address current omissions, and illustrate the value that can be achieved through the support for initiatives that stimulate culture in order to help achieve reconciliation in post-conflict societies. • The Culture and Conflict Programme will work with existing and new local implementation partners to support culture-based projects in the targeted countries. It will also seek to find matching funds from other interested organisations. • A peer-to-peer network will be established made up of individuals and organisations who are leaders stimulating artistic and cultural production that reflects on conflict situations in their countries and supports each others’ work. • Three month fellowships in universities in the countries of focus will be offered to individuals with specialist knowledge and good practice shared and disseminated.
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January 2011
Online for Change
Tongan Citizens prepare for Elections radio and television, should provide Tongans with some of their citizenship education. • The website should contain information about how Tonga’s Parliament works. • Tongans wish to retain their culture, and accommodate change, whilst introducing political reforms, and wish their citizenship to reflect their Tongan identity • Development of the party system is an option for Tonga, and citizenship education resources should be produced on the costs and benefits of political parties, and how they might work. • Citizenship education should cover among other things the rule of law and separation of powers, and the pattern of interaction between the Monarchy, Parliament and government.
Tongan women performing a traditional dance in their national costume
As Commonwealth People goes to press, Tonga prepares for its General Election on 25 November. In April the Legislative Assembly enacted a package of political reforms, increasing the number of people’s representatives from nine to seventeen. Voter registration closed on 31 August, with approximately 40,000 voters registering in the small Pacific island state.
Meanwhile, for the past year the Commonwealth Foundation has been supporting citizenship education in Tonga. A major tool in this has been a website, www.citizenshipeducation.net, set up by The Centre for Citizenship Education (CCE). CCE is a New Zealand charity that grew out of discussions with Commonwealth Secretariat and Foundation members. The request for assistance came from the national adviser on civic education, who sits within the Office of the Prime Minister. Demand for citizenship education has also been expressed by the region as a whole in the Pacific Plan, and it is hoped that successes in Tonga will be rolled out in other neighbouring countries. “Retain culture, accommodate change” The Talatalanoa citizenship education planning forum and workshop, held in May, drew together over 60 specialists in Tonga’s traditional society, Parliament, central and local government, law, education, media, women’s, youth, village and church affairs, and others in non-government organisations. Among its recommendations were that:
Niuafo’ou, Tafahi, Niuatoputapu
Vava’u Group
Vava’u Neiafu
South Pacific Ocean Kao Island
Pangai
Ha’apai Group
Tongatapu Group
Nuku‘Alofa Eua
Minerva Reef not shown
• Citizenship education should seek to empower all Tongans, including those not usually reached by existing approaches. • Various technologies, including public and private
For more information on The Centre for Citizenship Education (CEC) see the website www.citizenshipeducation.net
Delicate judgements According to CCE Director Anthony Haas, “Citizenship education needs appropriate management. Appropriate follow-up to the volunteer and professional work of the Talatalanoa organising committee, along with appropriate financial, human, publishing, training and other resources should be assembled for short, medium and long term projects. “The general election will be “a further step in Tonga’s evolution as a Parliamentary democracy in which electors chose the majority of MPs, who in turn select a Prime Minister who appoints ministers to be the Kingdom’s government. Tonga is not alone in needing a loyal public service that can give fair and frank professional advice to whoever is appointed by the Prime Minister to be a cabinet minister. They have delicate judgements to make, even more so for those public servants who decide to campaign for seats in the Parliament, fail, and offer to return to senior public service roles.” Responding to the Tsunami Hurricanes and other extreme weather events have demonstrated the need for public preparedness and trust in Tonga’s disaster management services. They have also had political impacts. The desire for a parliamentary seat for the island of Niuatoputapu (Niua) was heightened by the effects of a tsunami in September 2009, in which nine people died and 79 homes were completely destroyed. Climate change remains top of the agenda for Tonga and the region. In August the 41st Pacific Islands Forum, meeting in Vanuatu, stated: “Climate change remains the greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific. The degree of urgency for real commitments to emissions reduction must be commensurate with the science and associated impacts of Climate Change on the most vulnerable communities. It cannot be viewed in the short term impacts to traditional industrial growth or political tenure, but in the longer term sustainability of economies, societies and peoples the world over. A meaningful legally binding agreement on emissions reduction must be reached urgently and without delay.”
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COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE
Women Fishworkers’ Voices in Chennai Fishing, among the world’s most physically demanding and risky occupations, depends primarily on male labour for harvesting the catch. The roles and work (paid and unpaid) of women are equally indispensable, but often overlooked.
address the discrimination faced by women. Brazil, for example, recognises all women who work in fishing and fisheries-related activities as workers entitled to social security and other benefits, France recognises women who provide shore-based support to the fishing activities of their partners as “collaborative spouses” and India itself produces gender-disaggregated data through a periodic census of marine fishing communities. In February this year the European Parliament adopted a resolution recognising the full involvement of women in the sector, on the same footing with men, as a fundamental objective of its Common Fisheries Policy.
An estimated 75% of the world’s fishing operations are artisanal or small scale, with over 85% of workers located in Asia. More than 20% of these workers earn less than a dollar a day. In July this year the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) met in Chennai to agree “A shared agenda for sustaining life and livelihoods in fishing communities” that would be truly inclusive of women as well as men. The Commonwealth Foundation supported five representatives to attend from Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania. Preparatory meetings had been held in seven countries – India’s had involved all nine coastal states and Union Territories: Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. As many as nine languages could be heard among the 55 representatives, most of them women. Slow progress “Over the past 30 years women fishworkers in India have organised for their rights as part of larger fishworker movements and unions,” explain Purnima Meher and Ujwala Patil of the National Fishworkers’ Forum. “They have had success on a few issues, like gaining transportation to markets, reducing taxes, and getting access to savings-cumrelief schemes in some regions. But leadership, particularly amongst women, has not grown over the past few decades and women’s issues are not reflected in the broader agenda of the fishworker movement.” Women participants at Chennai noted that the higher investment in boats, engines and fuel needed to survive in the intensive fisheries model currently being pursued, is creating new forms of oppression of women. Increasing costs, growing pressure on resources and uncertain incomes is leading to greater violence and alcoholism within families and communities, and, in some cases, to demands for high dowries. Other problems include lack of access
So busy helping men get their rights - that we forgot ourselves
to credit, poor sanitation and healthcare facilities, lack of land titles, stock depletion and pollution. “Go back and recast the policy net” Rosetta Ferreira of Coastal Links, a South African network of over 2,000 fishers, women and youth, summed up the situation in her country: “We were so busy helping men get their rights that we forgot ourselves. Men have not supported us in ensuring that there are livelihoods for women. We say to government: you have left us out – go back and recast the policy net to include women in fisheries.” Several countries have taken positive steps to
“Africa On Screen” 2010 in Johannesburg
2009 saw Clint Eastwood’s take on post-Apartheid South Africa with mainstream release Invictus, starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela during
the 1995 Rugby World Cup. But how many of us are aware of Apartheid-era football heroes like Smiley Moosa and Vusi Lamola? South Africa’s hosting the football World Cup provided the perfect backdrop to their story, so The Team That Never Played (directors Frances Green and Francis Leach, Australia) was one of the films that premiered at the fourth annual “Africa on Screen” in June/July this year. Moosa and Lamola were among the audience. Altogether over 30 films – six of them about soccer – were showcased at the festival, which had support from Australian, French and Spanish embassies among others. The Commonwealth
Community rights or human rights? For Nilanjana Biswas, who prepared research for the meeting, “whether community rights, which are based on custom, can be reconciled with the modern discourse on human rights still remains to be demonstrated. Positing community rights as human rights runs the risk of doubly obscuring the problems that women face.” Whatever the driving ideas, it has become clear to ICSF that the struggle of women in fisheries needs to be conducted at various levels. There is a need to challenge inequitable and patriarchal gender relations within and outside the household, and within fishworker organisations. There is also need to seek recognition for the paid and unpaid labour of women that goes towards sustaining the fisheries and fishing communities. For ICSF, “it is critical to recognise the role of collective action. Evidence from across the world indicates that where fishworkers are organised, they are able to seek accountability and affirmative action from their governments. Organisation has enabled women to counter various forms of discrimination and violence, including at the household and community level. It has helped question social norms that restrict women’s freedom and mobility and their ability to participate in decision-making.”
Foundation supported film-makers to attend from Cape Town (Aryan Kaganof, SMS Sugarman; Hannah Slezacek and Simon Hanson, producers of Wanuri Kahiu’s Pumzi) and Nigeria (Kunle Afolayan, The Figurine). Free showings and workshops Marketing of the event reached out to younger people, with high schools and film schools used as venues for five African films. The main festival sites were Museum Africa in Newtown, the Sci Bono Discovery Centre, and Art on Main. The majority of those attending workshops were young film students – and one full day was devoted to screening their shorts. Other directors at the festival included David Forbes, Caleb Heyman (USA), Michael Rix, Pule M, Busi Ntintili and Steve Kwena Mokwena – who has
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January 2011
Repealing Repression?
Media freedom remains on the agenda in Zimbabwe Marathon of meetings It was with these ideals in mind that the Commonwealth Foundation supported me earlier this year, to attend the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, and to visit the UK. In London I undertook a marathon of meetings with many players: the Commonwealth Foundation and Secretariat, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Zimbabwean journalists in exile, the BBC, Sky News, the press regulator, and the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Committee on Zimbabwe. I also spoke on “The Role of Media in Zimbabwe’s Transition” at the Royal Commonwealth Society, as well as giving a number of media interviews in the UK and back home about my visit. © Sugarfree
By Tabani Moyo, Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe Chapter According to David Sanger, the chief Washington correspondent of The New York Times, “agendasetting” is the central role that major newspapers and media outlets play the world over. They choose the lead stories, choose where to devote coverage, bring issues into the public eye through reporting and editorials. (David Rothkopf, Superclass 2010) There can be few countries in the Commonwealth where this is more amply demonstrated than my native Zimbabwe. But it’s not us editors, or companies, who are setting the agenda. It is unforgivable that since the enactment of the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) which formed the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) as an administrative arm in 2001, no private players have been licensed to operate independent radio and television stations – despite the government’s commitment to the African Charter on Broadcasting and SADC guidelines on the Conduct of Democratic Elections. We need to repeal the BSA and establish a regulator on the South African model – one with financial, structural and functional independence from government.
» FROM PREVIOUS PAGE collaborated with the Commonwealth on numerous projects, and himself worked in the President’s Office on youth issues during the Invictus era. “So many stories to tell” Talking with Sibusiso Mkwanazi, Pascal Schmitz (writer and director of Unhinged: Surviving Joburg and Adera) said, “The problem is that most South African filmgoers grew up on American culture and that is what they demand to see. We have so many stories to tell in South Africa but not enough resources... More kasi (township) stories need to be told.” But Lara Preston, the driving force behind the fes-tival, gave Janet Smith of South Africa’s Daily News a more upbeat assessment: “the music model
Neighbouring media “thriving” The restrictive nature of the BSA contrasts with the diversity of public, commercial and free-toair television and radio stations in neighbouring Commonwealth countries. South Africa leads on all fronts with several thriving community, commercial and public radio stations. The Mozambique broadcasting sector is one of the most vibrant and pluralistic in the region, registering remarkable growth in community radio. Church and faithbased organisations have come to dominate radio broadcasting in Malawi and Zambia. Namibia has many community and commercial radio stations. And we should know: due to inadequate transmission sites and obsolete equipment, only 30 percent of the country receives radio and television coverage from the state broadcaster; the other 70 percent relies on foreign stations. The African Charter on Broadcasting states that “the legal framework for broadcasting should include a clear statement of the principles underpinning broadcast regulation, including promoting respect for freedom of expression, diversity, and the free flow of information and ideas”. Further, that the right to communicate includes “access to telephones, email, internet and other communication systems, including through the promotion of community-controlled information technology centres.”
has proven that, as long as we are exposed to diversity, it becomes sustainable. In other words, people will go to see African and South African films – not because they are African, but because they like it.” “We can’t help using the example of Nollywood. [The $250m movie industry of Nigeria, ahead of the US in terms of film productions a year, making it second only to India’s Bollywood.] It defies logic and it might be terrible, but people all over the continent love it...this year we did choose more commercial films than we might have previously like Jozi and Outrageous. But this also shows that African films do not have to be highbrow. African films can be funny. We wanted to test the limits of the genres, not only the classic, important films.” The organisers hope that in future, Africa on Screen might extend to additional venues in Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban.
Yet the Global Political Agreement signed by the three political forces of Zimbabwe’s inclusive government states that the registration and re-registration of new and closed media players respectively will be done under the BSA and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). But how can these two pieces of repressive legislation possibly be the basis of reform or transformation? Previous to the AIPPA and the terror unleashed through it, any publisher who wanted to start his or her newspaper would simply notify and register with the General Post Office of Zimbabwe and proceed as planned with the publication. This should be the spirit which governs meaningful media reforms.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) MISA is a non-governmental organisation with members in 11 of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries. Officially launched in September 1992, MISA focuses primarily on the need to promote free, independent and pluralistic media, as envisaged in the 1991 Windhoek Declaration. » www.misa.org
The commonwealth media group The group comprises the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association; the Commonwealth Press Union Media Trust; and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (www. cba.org.uk), a membership organisation of Commonwealth broadcasters with a commitment to public service broadcasting. Founded in 1945, its aims are to support the development of quality broadcasting, including the arts, science and diversity; to foster freedom of expression; to help build capacity in developing countries; and support the exchange of knowledge and skills among broadcasters. » www.cba.org.uk
Since 2007 the Commonwealth Foundation has been expanding its support for filmmakers. As well as grants for key film festivals, it offers support for training in skills such as scriptwriting, cinematography and editing, and supports advocacy on behalf of the film sector. Other member countries with emerging audiovisual industries include Tanzania and Trinidad and Tobago. In September the Commonwealth Foundation, together with MEDIA Desk UK, hosted the UK launch of a new EU film fund. The 5m Euro “EU MEDIA Mundus” programme, beginning in January, aims to link Europe’s audiovisual industry with other continents’ and so is open to applicants from outside Europe. For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/ culture/media/mundus/index_en.htm
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Before I had nothing, but after attending the training from Pemba my life has changed. I have used the knowledge to start my own henna painting buisness. The income I get helps me to care for my family and send my children to school.
Fatma Hamad Fatma took part in a women’s livelihoods project as part of the Pemba Panorama outreach programme, supported by Friends of the Commonwealth.
January 2011
Join us today For too many people in the Commonwealth, the opportunities to help themselves are a distant dream and the cycle of poverty remains unbroken, generation after generation. Many of them are also prevented from demanding their rights, or are simply unaware of them altogether. We don’t think that’s right. Action needs to be taken. Friends is a group of people whose aim is to promote the good work already going on around the Commonwealth; to give people a chance to find out more about it; and ultimately to encourage them to participate and take an active role in the development of their communities. We support community projects that strengthen livelihoods and give people a voice in determining their own future. Friends are ordinary people, just like you, unified by a desire to help provide the knowledge, skills and opportunity to those around the Commonwealth who need support. We do this by raising funds and facilitating a strong online community, where information and resources can be shared. Over time, we have built a thriving group of friends from around the Commonwealth, drawn together by a wish to learn more, share more and achieve more. Coming together as individuals,
Friends network and build support in whatever ways they can to do more for others. By mobilising diverse resources we increase the capacity of individuals and small organisations to help people around the Commonwealth. With your help, we will continue to make a real difference to the lives of those who desperately need our support, and continue to expand their scope to acquire the skills and resources to exercise their rights; to work and care for their families and to speak freely without the fear of persecution. By joining a growing network of over 2000 friends you will find many opportunities to get involved. You can make a difference and here’s how. If you have skills to offer, help to give or something to say; the Friends discussion forum allows you to share this and do much more. Request a volunteer; propose a new initiative or simply ask for advice - whatever it is we want to hear it. You can participate in any capacity.
Join Friends of the Commonwealth today. It’s quick and easy. Membership is free and open to all. You will receive regular Friends e-newsletters, exclusive briefings and reports, event invitations, product discounts, opportunities to network and also to support the work of Friends and its partner organisatons.* *Some of these benefits are currently only available within the UK.
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The Commonwealth Foundation Making connections for a better world Funded principally by Commonwealth governments, we work to make civil society organisations stronger, so that they are in a better position to support citizens and governments. We work in four programme areas: culture, governance & democracy, human development and communities & livelihoods. Grant-giving is a vital part of our work. Our grants enable organisations to learn from and be inspired by the work of other organisations. • We bring people together. • We make people’s voices heard. • We encourage sharing of knowledge and learning. The views of the contributors to Commonwealth People do not necessarily reflect those of the Commonwealth Foundation © January 2011
Commonwealth People is published by: Commonwealth Foundation Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5HY United Kingdom Telephone +44 (0) 20 7930 3783 Fax +44 (0) 20 7839 8157 E-mail geninfo@commonwealth.int Web www.commonwealthfoundation.com Director Dr Mark Collins
Editorial Andrew Robertson Editor Marcie Shaoul ISSN 1475-2042 Design and print www.sugarfreedesign.co.uk Photography Chris de Bode / Panos Pictures Jocelyn Carlin / Panos Picturest Greg English /Hungry Eye Images Daniel Woolford/ Commonwealth Secretariat Rebecca Nduku / Commonwealth Secretariat James Robertson / Commonwealth Secretariat
Cover image SOUTH AFRICA Thembi with her boyfriend feeding their daughter in their home in New Crossroads, a poor suburb of Cape Town. Thembi contracted HIV from an ex-boyfriend when she was 16, he then died from the virus. Before she was tested she passed the virus on to her current boyfriend, who at the time was angry at the situation. Although his family have found it difficult to accept Thembi, Thembi and her boyfriend have remained together and now have a 16 month old daughter, who is HIV- because Thembi participated in a MPTCM programme and took ARV (antiretroviral) medication before the baby was born. Photographer: Giacomo Pirozzi, © Panos