NIPSA Global Solidarity Newsletter

Issue 11

March 2013

Growing a better future NIPSA and Concern Worldwide support small farmers in Mozambique

In Search of Childhood Supporting Education Provision in the Gaza Strip

MSTC Update

Reporting on the visit of the Centre Manager Jane Madete

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Growing a bette Global Solidarity in Action. NIPSA and Concern Worldwide support small NIPSA funds are being spent in the Zambezia Province of Mozambique helping small farmers get the most out of their land and to have year-round access to nutritious food.

Challenging conditions for farmers

Mozambique is the fourth poorest country in the world and Zambezia a particularly challenged region. Infant mortality is high, primary school completion rates low, and few families have access to safe water, 88% of the population rely on small family farms, yet much government support is targeted at Agribusiness and smallholders are reliant on outdated equipment and methods which produce little yield. Storage of food is an issue, exacerbated by sudden shocks like cyclones and regular flooding, leading to a ‘hunger period’ that often lasts months.

Chinde district is composed of 32 islands in the

Zambezi river, less than 20 metres above sea level, with villages accessible only by boat. Most farming is done by hand, meaning long, strenuous and often dangerous days that don’t always result in enough food to feed the family.

Organising and learning

Concern’s Sustainable Agriculture Improvement project is designed to increase farmers use and knowledge of appropriate and sustainable agricultural methods to improve nutrition and quality of life, achieved through a collective and empowering learning process called Farmer Field Schools.

Delivered by Concern’s local partners, Farmer Field Schools bring smallholders together to organise, learn less labour intensive processes and give them the skills to disseminate their learning more widely

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all farmers in Mozambique

in the community to help break the hunger cycle and give people more time for other activities like education. NIPSA is providing £20,000 to fund the project until July 2014. Overall the project will benefit 700 individuals, including 140 farmers and their families, identified as the most in need.

Community ownership

Overall the project will benefit 700 individuals, including up to 140 farmers and their families, with particular efforts to support women farmers.

Though in its early stages, the project is on target to help participants increase yield by 25-50%, reduce storage losses and to access a wider range of crops.

In the practical, hands-on ecologically based ‘school without walls’, the knowledge of the farmers is valued and respected. The themes to study are determined by the group themselves, with input and technical

Hands on training at the ‘school without walls’. Chacuma, Chinde District, Zambezia, Mozambique 2012

support from Concern on specific areas.

Better yields and better prices

The project design places major emphasis on community ownership of this project to ensure its sustainability. This has been ensured by allowing the farmers themselves to direct Farmer Field Schools, establish their own seed banks to meet the needs of vulnerable households, and be directly involved in monitoring and evaluation of the project. The sustainability of this project is helped by the fact that it is part of a broader livelihoods programme across the region implemented by Concern.

Concern is addressing the wider needs of the extreme poor in surrounding communities, helping ensure that improvements in Chinde will be sustained in the future as well as helping farmers access markets and get fair prices.

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It’s not easy speaking out

by Deborah Doherty Head of Church and Community Christian Aid Christian Aid has appreciated the support of only political change but an end to the grinding NIPSA’s Developing World Fund for our programme poverty in which they lived. supporting quarry workers in Egypt.

Egypt had been a dictatorship for 29 years, under So much has changed in the country since the President Hosni Mubarak. Appointed Vice President dramatic events of 18th January 2011 and the in 1975, Mubarak assumed the presidency in 1981 following the assassination of his predecessor, impact of these events will last for many years.

A state of emergency was People often think of Egypt as a beautiful and exotic President Sadat. tourist destination, and not a country struggling immediately declared, which Mubarak later with dire poverty. In fact it is both. Like countries extended indefinitely. Predictably enough, this did such as India and Brazil, the gap between rich and not nurture free speech, human rights or democracy. poor in Egypt is huge, and while some have profited from industries such as tourism or oil, millions remain poor.

More than 20% of the population live below the poverty line – and when you’re talking about the most second most populous country on the African continent, that’s a lot. More than 16 million of Egypt’s 80 million inhabitants live in severe poverty.

The popular uprising in Egypt did not just materialise out of thin air. For years many Egyptians had felt cut off from the state and disempowered - craving not

So, what changed?

Sparked by the uprising and subsequent toppling of Tunisia’s president, Tuesday January 25, 2011 was to be the turn of ordinary Egyptians. What started out with a few hundred activists soon turned into a mass demonstration, with tens of thousands marching onto cities right across the country. Women and men, young and old, Muslim and Christian took to the streets calling for the end of Mubarak and with it the unjust and unfair regime that had lasted almost three decades.

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Lost loved ones, lost livelihoods.

The political events that ricocheted across the Middle East and northern Africa in 2011 radically changed life for thousands.

importance of their voting rights and the change that can bring.

I would like to share with you an example of just one of those families who have benefited from the support of NIPSA.

The effects of the political, social and economic changes in Egypt have been keenly felt. Many Nasra Mahmud (left) is married with four children.

Her father took her out of families lost loved ones in the school against her will before uprising, whole communities she was able to complete her lost their livelihoods, and education. many were left unable to pay for rent, school fees, Her husband is one of the medicines or food. quarry workers and often his Then, as the buds of the Arab Spring emerged in Libya new and urgent challenges presented themselves as an estimated 1.5 million Egyptian citizens living and working in Libya, fled back home to Egypt. Many of those returning faced rising unemployment, violence and insecurity. Families reliant on vital remittances sent by their loved ones in Libya were suddenly without income. Those returning were traumatized by the violence they had seen.

Wadi el Nil

But these events also offered an opportunity for Christian Aid’s partner Wadi el Nil to improve the situations of quarry workers and their families.

Key to this was the organisation of quarry workers into independent trade unions that advocate their interests and in addition offer literacy and skills training to their wives to increase income into the family.

work is not stable so their family’s economic conditions were deteriorating.

Nasra was introduced to Wadi el Nil through their awareness meetings and joined the literacy class. She worked hard to obtain the literacy certificate, she said, “ I passed the exam in spite of its difficulty. It was four detection paragraphs and I couldn’t make more than two wrong words in each paragraph, and now I have the certificate and the project co-ordinator helped me to find a job in the kinder-garden in my village. I am so happy and proud of myself!”

The future is uncertain.

For Nasra and many like her, the situation now, almost two years on, is far from settled. People are still anxious and afraid. The hopes and dreams of many Egyptians, for a better Egypt, have long since withered as they struggle to make ends meet and regain a sense of control over their lives.

There are many questions still unanswered. What will newly elected President Mohamed Morsi mean for Egypt? What will his new government mean for the Coptic Christian community? What will it mean for women? Egyptians are watching closely, still concerned about their security and their Through implementing the project activities for safety, wondering whether they will get a job and the target group such as awareness meetings, how they’ll provide for their families. The future is varied workshops, vocational training women have still uncertain and with it so are the lives of many increased in self-confidence and domestic violence Egyptians. has decreased.

But the support of NIPSA’s Developing World Women who have attended the literacy classes have Fund is much appreciated. Enabling the poorest become more aware of their rights to education communities to improve their income and their and the job opportunities it affords. They are more livelihoods ensures they are less vulnerable to the committed to educating their daughters as well as changes and uncertainties which surround them. their sons and have a greater understanding of the The project now in it’s third year is experiencing significant success, not only in achieving recognition of a trade union for the quarry workers but as a very positive and tangible support for women in the community.

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In search of childhood Stephen McCloskey Global Education

The Centre for Global Education is a Belfast-based development non-governmental organisation that has been delivering global education services to local communities for over 25 years. Our remit is to strengthen local awareness of global issues and provide skills, values and understanding that will

support action toward social change. The Centre believes that education without an action outcome is unlikely to alter the unfair economic and social relations that underpin poverty and inequality at local and global levels. This is one of the reasons why the Centre has always maintained close relations with the trade union sector in the north and south of Ireland. Like the Centre, trade unionists recognise

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Supporting Education Provision in the Gaza Strip

was established in 1993 to “relieve in any part of the world persons suffering from poverty, sickness or distress, and to advance for the public benefit the education of the inhabitants of impoverished countries so that their conditions of life may be An important example of this international improved”. Supported by members with all monies solidarity is NIPSA’s Developing World Fund which going directly to beneficiaries, the Developing World Fund has benefited communities and changed the importance of education in mobilising members toward action on local and global issues. They also value solidarity and regularly demonstrate their willingness to act locally in support of international causes.

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lives across the global South. The Centre for Global Education is privileged to be among the recipients of a grant from this important fund in 2013 to deliver an education project in the Gaza Strip.

Why we work in Gaza

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been subject to an economic siege that has reduced to a trickle the amount of food and humanitarian aid entering the territory since 2007. The need for support in Gaza therefore seemed to be more acute than in many other parts of the global South.

Secondly, the Centre identified a specific role it could play in the area of education in partnership with a local NGO which shared the Centre’s values and approach to education. Thirdly, the Centre had existing links in Palestine through previous visits to the West Bank that enabled us to make connections with civil society groups in Gaza.

Three years ago the Centre decided to broaden its operations to the delivery of projects overseas. We very deliberately began working at a small scale and local level to establish firm links with our partner organisation and ensure that the outcomes of our work were sustainable. The decision to work in the Gaza Strip was taken for three reasons. Firstly, the Through a visit to Gaza in May 2011, the Centre population of Gaza, mostly comprising refugees, has established a partnership with a Palestinian NGO

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called the Canaan Institute of New Pedagogy which provides professional training programmes to workers and volunteers in the field of socio-cultural education. Together we delivered a summer school for 1,000 8-12 year old children in July 2012 to provide a safe and structured play environment in an overcrowded region which has 1.7m people in an area just 45km long and 5-12km wide. The summer school was particularly welcomed in 2012 when the United Nations announced that their annual summer games for young people, a summer scheme delivered across the Gaza Strip, had to be cancelled owing to cuts in their budget.

 

How NIPSA’s grant will be used

The Centre and Canaan Institute wanted to followup the summer school with a more in-depth project over a longer timescale that could result in more sustainable outcomes for learners. We subsequently agreed on an initiative that supported the delivery of education services over four months to 300 children aged between 7 and 10 years based in three community centres in particularly marginalised areas of Gaza. This is the project supported by the Developing World Fund and it has the following three specific aims:

 

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in 247 schools run by the United Nations attended by 221,000 pupils (UNRWA). 90 percent of these schools operate a double shift which means that pupils attend school for half-a-day to make way for more children using the same building in either the To provide psycho-social support to children morning or afternoon. As a result, schools struggle suffering from psychological problems resulting to provide any kind of extra-curricular activities from the ongoing conflict in Gaza as well as to pupils and the swelling size of the school supporting their families in continuing that population means that the 7,700 teachers employed in UN schools struggle to counselling at home. contend with over-crowded To deliver structured play classrooms. The programme opportunities by using fun and supported by NIPSA will interactive activities like: games provide supplementary and drawing, painting and education activities for plastic art workshops; stories, 300 children by delivering poetry, magazines and wall community education in paper workshops; and a the morning or afternoon range of theatre technique when they are not at school. workshops. These activities Moreover, the project will will enable the children to train three facilitators in improve their skills in reading, each community centre writing and numeracy. The to work with the children need for this initiative could and the skills learned by hardly be greater in the wake the nine trainers will help of the November offensive on to sustain the work of each Gaza by Israel which resulted organisation beyond the in 160 deaths, 105 of whom duration of NIPSA’s support. were civilians and 34 children While the scale of the (Palestinian Centre for Human project is small, its roots Rights). A further 274 children will be planted deeply in were wounded and countless communities that have more traumatized by the acutely suffered from constant aerial bombardment the conflict in Gaza. The of the strip during the eight project is part of a growing day onslaught. As a result of living under constant siege, many of the children in international movement of solidarity with the Gaza suffer from mental health problems manifested Palestinian people that recognises the injustice of through fear, sleeplessness, hyper-tension and a Israel’s siege of Gaza and urges international action lack of motivation. Additional effects of the siege by governments and civil society groups to bring include under-nourishment and ill-health with this humanitarian crisis to an end. We should be Save the Children (2012) publishing a report earlier inspired by one Gaza’s young people, like Shahd this year which found that 58 percent of school Abusalama, who said ‘No matter how much Israel’s children in Gaza suffer from anaemia, caused by oppression escalates, their plans are bound to fail. an iron deficiency in their diet. This is the result of Their inhumanity does nothing but increase our their eating processed food smuggled through the humanity. tunnels between Egypt and Gaza rather than fresh We’re ready to take the challenge and fight for what we have always deserved: justice, freedom, and meat and vegetables. equality’ (Guardian, 9 June 2012).

To enhance learning in Mathematics, Arabic, and other core learning subjects in the schools’ curriculum. There have been falling standards in literacy and numeracy in Gaza and this programme will aim to address those key areas.

As a result of living under constant siege, many of the children in Gaza suffer from mental health problems manifested through fear, sleeplessness, hyper-tension and a lack of motivation.

Education system in crisis

Stephen McCloskey is the Director of the Centre for In regard to education provision, Gaza is in a state Global Education of crisis with 44 percent of the territory’s population The Centre for Global Education web site is: www. under 14 years. Most of Gaza’s children are educated centreforglobaleducation.com

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For those with no voice The Collective Corporation of Lawyers José Alvear Restrepo work tirelessly in defending the rights of trade unionists, victims of human rights violations and the most marginalised in Colombian society The 1948 assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, the former mayor of Bogotá and a leader of a populist movement in Colombia, sparked the Bogotazo massacre and a historic period of violent unrest.

In the wake of Gaitán’s death, the intellectual and human rights advocate José Alvear Restrepo emerged as a key actor who committed himself to ending state-sponsored human rights atrocities and to promoting the rights of the excluded and persecuted.

the politically persecuted, the arbitrarily detained, and victims of forced disappearance, extrajudicial execution, massacres, and torture.

The Collective Corporation of Lawyers José Alvear Restrepo (CCAJAR) came into being in honor of José Alvear Restrepo’s profound commitment to the Colombia’s most marginalized people. The organization emerged as a response to the needs of the popular sectors, as well as the rights of prisoners,

With the support of NIPSA’s Developing World Fund, CCAJAR has undertaken an initiative to provide legal assistance to trade unionists and their families in Colombia with the goal of combating impunity.

The needs of trade unionists in Colombia are pressing. According to the International Trade Union

A Trócaire partner, CCAJAR’s central focus is the integrated defense of human rights to eliminate social, economic, and political exclusion. CCAJAR continues to play an important role at the national level in promoting the civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights of the vulnerable, now with a focus on the rights of unions.

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Confederation, there were 443 attacks on the life, liberty, and integrity of trade unionists in Colombia in 2010, and in 2011 29 trade unionists were killed.

Colombia remains a highly insecure place for the free exercise of union activity, as demonstrated by continued assassinations, forced displacement, abductions, harassment, and arbitrary arrests, among other violations.

To address this reality, CCAJAR helped launch a global tribunal on the freedom of trade unionists in Colombia to condemn the state for failing to comply with local and international law with respect to workers’ rights and the free development of unions.

Through the tribunal, CCAJAR brought visibility to the issue of trade unionists’ rights, condemning the state for authoring, co-authoring, complying with and covering up cases of severe human rights violations. In addition to the global tribunal, CCAJAR has met directly with judicial authorities at the national level to expedite cases of human rights violations against trade unionists and to hold individuals legally accountable for violations committed.

While a considerable portion of CCAJAR’s work deals with advocacy at the judicial level, the organization also believes in empowerment through access to knowledge and legal support.

It has carried out several workshops in Bucaramanga with workers and family members of victims of human rights abuses, providing them with the legal knowledge they need to be able to assert and defend their inherent rights.

According to CCAJAR, defending individuals on a case-by-case basis in a hostile context where impunity is the law is an arduous process. However, the organization remains committed to its principles by defending the rights of unions, ensuring that trade unionists have the tools and support they need to live with reduced threat or fear of persecution.

Above: Families continue to find out the truth about their missing relatives.

Above: Taking to the streets

Below: Getting the message across, loud and clear.

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Next stop Tanzania

Tools For Solidarity has sent the second container, to the Mwanza Sewing and Training Centre, Tanzania, with the help from NIPSA Tools For Solidarity has sent the second container, out of three, in December 2012 to MSTC – the Mwanza Sewing and Training Centre, in Mwanza, Tanzania. The container is due to arrive this February and it represents one of the main focuses of Tools For Solidarity and the hard work of their volunteers over 12 months. By volunteers they mean individuals that give their free time to the workshops in Belfast, Downpatrick, Isle of Man and Mourne Grange. It is not only a coordinated effort of volunteers, it is also the vital contribution from NIPSA’s Developing World Fund that has made this work possible. This support is making a real impact on the lives of women tailors in Rural Areas of Tanzania.

The container sent included 400 Sewing Machines,

tailoring materials, accessories, spare parts, bicycles and tool kits for Fundis (mechanics who are trained at MSTC and provided with equipment) and more.

The Tools For Solidarity Mwanza self-financed project supports women tailors in rural areas with the access to high quality sewing machines, training and backup technical support. Training is essential if tailors are to make effective use and maintenance of their machines, improve the quality of the clothes they make and increase the income they generate. In a report from the manager of MSTC, for the month of November, the centre provided 115 sewing machines and trained 92 tailors in a 6 day training course with tailors getting free accommodation and food. During this period, 50 treadle stands were purchased from local metal

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fabricators who have also benefited from the project in establishing a small business and generating an income for themselves.

Five years after the start of the Mwanza Sewing and Training Centre (MSTC), in Tanzania NIPSA were delighted to welcome Jane Madete, the manager of the project, on her first ever visit to Belfast.

The main focus of Jane’s visit to NIPSA was to give members the chance to meet and hear from her the work that is undertaken by MSTC in Tanzania. She advised since it’s establishment MSTC have: ●● Trained 700 tailors in an intensive week long course in design and embroidery techniques ●● Provided business training to all tailors who attend the training course ●● Trained and supplied tools to 27 sewing machine mechanics - who now help maintain machines through the region ●● Actively supported the production of quality treadle bases for sewing machines - over 800 treadle bases have been made within Tanzania employing local people ●● Provide nearly 2000 high quality sewing machines to tailors helping them to develop their business and increase their income ●● Trained mechanics in sewing machine maintenance for projects in Uganda, Congo and other areas of Tanzania. ●● The project is now self funding. This means, that through the support of TFS and other organisation in sending sewing machines (that people no longer use and would end up being thrown out) they can control their own destiny

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Jane and the mechanics at MSTC have developed a project that provides all of the above support and does this over an area nearly twice the size of Ireland with a population of 9.3 million. It is a huge achievement, achieved not only by the support of TFS but the countless people who have supplied them with sewing machines, cloth and other materials. She said: “funders are always the

silent parent but without the finance to prepare, pack and ship the materials to MSTC all of the above achievements would be a distant dream. A big thank you to all the people who support TFS financially and that especially goes to NIPSA who are funding the shipments to MSTC for 3 years”.

Above: Jane Madete, manager of the Mwanza Sewing and Training Centre, Stephen Woods from Tools for Solidarity and NIPSA Assistant Secretary Geraldine Alexander.

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NIPSA joins charities in a joint campaign to end world hunger.

NIPSA has joined with more than 100 organisations in a new campaign to tackle world hunger.

The campaign calls on David Cameron to use the UK’s G8 presidency in 2013 to take action on the root causes of the hunger crises in the poorest countries.

It argues that there is Enough Food for Everyone:IF we give enough aid to stop children dying from hunger, and help the poorest people feed themselves through investment in small farmers.

IF we stop big companies dodging taxes on the profits they make overseas, so that the poorest countries have the resources and infrastructure to free themselves of hunger.

IF we stop poor farmers being forced off their land and use the available agricultural land to grow food for people, not to grow biofuels for cars.

IF we force governments and big companies to be honest and open about the actions they take that stop people getting enough food.

The launch event took place at Queen’s University, Belfast and was attended by campaign supporters, including NIPSA, and representatives of the “IF” Coalition in Northern Ireland.

If enough people show they care, world leaders will have to act. NIPSA are calling on members to join the campaign at www.enoughfoodif.org

How can you help?

Raising Money

The challenge is there for members and branches to work up fund raising ventures.

Donating

We encourage members, if they can afford it, to give regularly by either taking out a covenant or authorising a Give As You Earn (GAYE) payroll deduction. If you would like to do this, please complete the deduction slip below, and make a real difference to the lives of the poor people of the world.

NIPSA/Developing World Fund Payroll Donation Form

I want to give to the NIPSA Developing World Fund, direct from my salary the following amount per month: (please tick box) £5.00

cost in take home pay £3.90

£10.00 cost in take home pay £7.80 £15.00 cost in take home pay £11.70 £20.00 cost in take home pay £15.60 Above figures are based on standard tax rates.

Weekly paid staff should indicate amounts in panel below £ Minimum donation = £1.30 Cost in take home pay = £1.00 Name Address

Postcode Staff No. Employer Work Location Signed Above: IF launch at Queen’s University, Belfast 23rd January.

Ref A4_0049

Date Please tick if you already use GAYE Please return this form to NIPSA Headquarters