CWS Update November 2008
Days to note
- 18-26 Week for International Solidarity
- 20 - Universal Children's Day
- 25 - International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
- 30 - Launch of the CWS Christmas Appeal
>>Global Financial Crisis - Who suffers? Reports from
Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, ACT International and Indonesia on how the crisis
is threatening poor communities and fears it will derail progress in
fighting poverty Read more
>>Cell out for Congo – Christchurch secondary students give up their mobiles to raise awareness of this little known conflict Read more
>>Update on Congo conflict – There are increasing concerns about the safety of civilians and humanitarian access to those displaced by the fighting Read more
>>Kenya energy alternatives – Looking for ways to boost biofuels without threatening food security Read more
>>Palestine water shortage - the shortage of water in the West Bank is becoming a humanitarian crisis Read more
>>North Korea –NZ Friendship farm helps poor farmers earn more Read more
>>India challenges gender discrimination – A CWS supported
programme, Students for change, is working with students to break the
cycle of discrimination and violence against women Read more
Global Financial Crisis - Who Will Suffer the Most?
Not the politicians, the bankers and the speculators who caused it.
Those of us who are tax payers are largely footing the bill, but there
are millions of the world's most vulnerable poor who stand to bear the
heaviest burden. Take Nicaragua, the second-poorest nation in the
western hemisphere. Many families rely heavily of remittances from
relatives working abroad, mostly in the USA and Costa Rica. It is
estimated they send home about US$750 million per year or 13% of
Nicaragua’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Damaris Albuquerque,
Director of CWS partner CEPAD, says of the crisis:
"In Nicaragua we have not seen the effects yet, but we anticipate less
remittances in the near future, when relatives living in the US lose
their jobs or face other consequences. Many poor people in Nicaragua
depend on remittances for their everyday living or for complementary
commodities such as monthly payments of a house, or a car, or to send
children to the university. Also, the international prices of
commodities such as coffee may fall, as people in the US and Europe
strive to meet basic needs. One of Nicaragua's main exports is coffee
and if prices fall, the economy will be seriously affected. And many
small businesses exporting clothing, handicrafts, shoes and such may
not find their way into the foreign markets for the same reasons.
"The Nicaragua government has not said much about how the crisis is
going to affect us. They just say it is happening in the US and Europe
as a consequence of neoliberal policies and how wrong those policies
are. They stress the need to turn to the South to form a common bloc.
CEPAD is concerned that, as always, the poor will be most affected and
apparently there are no policies in place to lessen the impact."
On the other hand, Sarath Fernando, leader of Sri Lankan Partner
MONLAR, says: "The present crisis and the present global situation does
not make any special issue in the country because we are and have been
in the midst of a very serious crisis for several years. People who can
live with it are managing. The others have very little voice."
In other words, he is saying that things can hardly get worse for most
people in Sri Lanka. In a recent document MONLAR points to a 40%
increase in food prices in the past year. In the rich Western
countries the average expenditure on food for a family is about 8% of
disposable income, while it is between 50 and 70 percent for families
in poor countries. In Sri Lanka the proportion is about 80%. Thus, a
50% increase in essential food prices would make it impossible for them
to have their food, let alone meet other costs for household items,
health care, travel, and education. This inevitably leads to reductions
in essential nutritional requirements, especially for children and
mothers.
The global financial crisis should not derail progress that has been
made in fighting poverty worldwide, religious leaders have said, adding
that the current financial market turmoil makes attempts to tackle
deprivation all the more urgent. "When the powers that be declare there
is an emergency, there is mobilisation," said the Rev. David Beckmann,
president of the Washington-based 'Bread for the World'. Beckmann noted
that as he spoke the U.S. Congress was debating a financial bailout for
Wall Street financial institutions of nearly US$700 billion, while
"religious communities have been working with pennies for decades"
against hunger and poverty.
For his part John Nduna, Director of ACT International, says, “The
global credit crisis will have dramatic consequences for the poorest,
because those who fund them are hit by the breakdown. The financial
meltdown, he said, will most dramatically affect those who are in
chronic food crises, like Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, India and Afghanistan. The irony is that the European and
American governments are now pumping in hundreds of billion dollars to
help their banks and financial institutions, so they still can service
the market. We ask for little. Just 30 percent of our funding comes
from governments, but they seem to make their first cuts on aid. Where
are their priorities?"
The reaction from the ACT director is in line with international senior
analysts on development. Jeffrey Sachs, special advisor to the UN
Secretary General, says that the financial crises "distract world
leaders from the fight against hunger, even as it proves they can
mobilise massive funds to tackle emergencies." Sachs also added, "The
truth about poverty is that the poor don't need very much."
ACT International member, Lucy Montolalu, Executive Director, Yayasan
Tanggul Bencana di Indonesia, says, "People are totally focused on
economic growth, as if economic growth by itself can solve all the
problems of the world. People have to understand that unless we have a
very balanced view of social, economic and political emancipation of
everyone - which should be positively biased towards the poor - then
society will never be transformed. And the gap between the rich and the
poor will only continue to grow. On the macro level, the credit crisis
will not affect Indonesia too significantly. The government has taken
good decisions on the financial situation and can still survive four or
five more years into the future. But on the micro level, poor people
will be affected very much - unemployment could rise and there will be
an increase in the number of poor people who will not be able to fulfil
their own needs."
What does all this mean for us?
Simply that help for such people can only come from those of us who are
still well off, even though the crisis may affect us to some degree.
Our Partners in 20 countries need help as much as ever.
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CELL OUT for the Congo
Girls from Christchurch's Avonside Girls High School led the drive to
switch off their cell phones on October 22 to draw attention to the
wars and extreme suffering of people in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC). The problems are largely caused by the illegal scramble
for the huge mineral wealth of the area, including coltan
(columbite/tantalite) the one vital element without which cell phones
will not work.
CELL OUT was a way of raising the awareness of the huge number of cell
phone owners who have no idea that their equipment comes at the price
of dire need and suffering of Congolese people, especially women and
girls.
Well done Avonside girls and all who emulated them! Please continue to
raise awareness of this grave crisis in the DRC and support efforts to
help the victims. A short documentary about the region can be found at
www.irinnews/Africa. Go to 'Films & TV' - 'Congo's Curse'.
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Congo conflict: Civilians in Danger
83 aid agencies and human rights groups active in the Kivu Provinces of
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have called for urgent action to
protect civilians and an immediate increase in assistance to vulnerable
populations.
In October serious fighting broke out in the DRC's North Kivu province
and in the neighbouring district of Ituri, with thousands of civilians
displaced, and others cut off. There were claims that foreign troops,
for example from Rwanda, had been deployed in parts of the east -
though Rwanda denied this. The fighting in Ituri, largely around the
main town of Bunia, has left vulnerable communities without aid.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said
as long as there was still fighting and as long as the militia was
still along the roads, no one could set foot there to help the people.
ACT International partner, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) was to
have assisted 7,000 people in the affected area, but failed to reach
even 3,000 due to the fighting. Insecurity also forced LWF to stop
distributing supplies to thousands of Internally Displaced People and
returnees in two localities. Rebel factions said to be linked to
Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army have been blamed for the violence. The
district had largely been calm for most of 2007 and early 2008, but has
of late seen an upsurge in militia activity. Sporadic clashes between
the Congolese army and armed groups in North Kivu have been ongoing for
more than a year.
Thousands of the people who fled have yet to be located by aid
agencies. "Where are they? We are really worried about their fate,"
Colette Godenne of Medecins Sans Frontieres said, adding that a large
group of people was still hiding in the forest. Most of the
humanitarian aid groups that have intervened are stationed near the
major roads and they cannot search for them. Many of them lost their
belongings to the rebels, who also looted medical equipment from health
centres near the conflict zones.
DRC President Joseph Kabila, has urged the armed groups in North Kivu
to return to the peace process based on an agreement signed in Goma in
January. In the past Rwanda and DRC have accused each other of
supporting rebels and dissidents opposed to either regime. In 1998,
Rwanda invaded Congo in pursuit of Rwandan rebels, resulting in a
full-scale regional war that also drew in Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe and
Burundi. General Vincente Diaz de Hellegas, the commander of the UN
peacekeeping mission in the Congo, known as MONUC, said it will
continue to help the Congolese army in its efforts to restore state
authority across the DRC.
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Kenya: Boosting Biofuels Without Compromising Food Security
The
oil-rich seed of a poisonous shrub that thrives in arid climates with
poor soil lies at the heart of plans by Kenya to reduce its dependence
on imported fossil fuels without threatening food security.
"We are definitely focusing on the jatropha plant for oil production," says Faith Odongo of the Ministry of Energy.
In May 2008, the ministry unveiled a five-year strategy to develop the
bio-diesel industry to "enable more Kenyans to enjoy and derive comfort
from the supply of bio-diesel for agricultural production, employment
creation, rural-urban balance and blending in the motor vehicle
industry".
The strategy includes detailed proposals for the cultivation of the
jatropha curcas shrub as well as the processing of its seeds, also
known as Barbados nuts or Physic nuts, and the distribution of the
resulting bio-diesel for transport and power generation. Odongo said
the key objectives of the government strategy included the
diversification of rural energy sources by promoting the replacement of
kerosene - commonly used for domestic use - by bio-diesel.
She said the outlook was positive and that pilot cultivation projects
in various parts of the country had been encouraging. Research trials
in Mpeketoni, Lamu, a coastal town, where there is no power have shown
people using the little oil they got from the seeds to light their
lamps.
Odongo said the oil extracted from the seeds could be used in community
managed bio-diesel electricity generators. The government predicts that
as a result of biofuel development, by 2012 Kenya's imports of diesel
will have fallen by five percent and the proportion of Kenyans who use
kerosene for lighting will have dropped from three-quarters to half of
the total population.
However, there are still problems to be overcome. Whereas the trees
normally mature in two years, in the colder highland regions of Kenya
they take three years. Further the prices of seeds have gone up from
1000 shillings (US$15) per kilo in 2006, to 3000 shillings ($46) for
half a kilo today. Farmers also need educating in the growing of
jatropha and the government needs to ensure there is in fact a market
for the fuel. But according to media reports, this hasn't stopped a
Japan-based company, Biwako Bio-Laboratory Inc, from announcing a
10-year, US$19.4 million commercial bio-diesel project using jatropha
seeds grown over an eventual 100,000 ha of land.
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Palestine: Serious Water Shortage
A coalition of Palestinian and international NGOs has issued a
statement calling the water shortage across the West Bank a
humanitarian crisis and saying they were gravely concerned.
The coalition said there was a reduction in water supplies from
rainfall averaging 45% across the West Bank, which has left 200
communities not served by the municipal water sources at a loss. There
is not enough water for cooking, cleaning, agricultural irrigation, or
to water food-producing plants. Even in cities and villages connected
to water mains, reduction in supply means frequent cut offs for homes
and offices. It is common in many areas to not have water for a week,
and others only receive water once a fortnight.
Several aid organisations have been providing emergency water resources
to meet the basic needs of Palestinians, though it is doubtful that
even with this support, all basic needs would be met. The group said
that unless Israel increases the current water supply to the area,
health and hygiene, crops and fruit trees would suffer.
When wells dry up or water mains stay shut for long periods of time,
homes and businesses regularly turn to water tanker services to fill
the gaps in service. Most buildings have several water canisters on
their roofs,
used to store water when lines are full. The tanks are also filled up
by water tanker services, but cost 30-40% more than the municipal
service and can take up to 5% of their monthly income. Even when
families can buy water, tankers often have to travel long distances to
wells or filling points.
According to the water coalition, "lack of economic and physical access
to safe water is increasingly leading poor families to consume water
from unprotected sources, such as agricultural wells, posing serious
concerns about water quality and potential public health effects. The
current shortage is also increasing the levels of food insecurity among
rural communities, in particular herders, raising the risk of
displacement."
The organisations in the coalition issued a call for the international
community to respond with funds and aid for immediate relief, and the
long term building of more wells and filling points for communities off
the municipal grids. The group also called on Israel to issue permits
for the construction of such wells, and immediately increase the amount
of water West Bankers have access too. Finally, they called on the
Israeli and Palestinian governments to come to an equitable decision on
the sharing of water resources so that catastrophes and humanitarian
crises can be avoided in the future.
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North Korea: NZ Friendship Farm
For some years a group of New Zealanders, with some help from CWS, has
quietly been supporting a farm project in the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK). It is not well known that outside agencies
have been allowed to give assistance to some of that country's poorest
people. ACT International, to which CWS belongs, has had a similar
role and has also provided food aid in times of shortages there.
The NZ Friendship Farm is located in Hyongjesan district about 20
minutes drive north-east of Pyonyang. It is a state co-operative which
provides cheap food for the urban population in Pyongyang and a minimum
subsistence for the farm workers. Built into the system is the
incentive for farm families to produce surpluses, from which they can
profit personally by selling on the open market - as can the
cooperative itself, a remarkable achievement within a state-controlled
system.
Rice, about 45 varieties of vegetables and fruit trees are grown by the
860 families who live on the farm. The total population is just over
3000, with 1650 workers, forty percent of whom are women. New rice
management technology have evolved, which is lifting production by
about 2 tonnes per hectare without increased costs. The aid from New
Zealand has provided such things as agricultural text books, tractors
and a truck, which has helped the farm move away from ploughing and
transport with bullocks.
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India: Students for Change
CWS partner, EKTA, works with young people to create better
understanding between the sexes and in particular emphasises the
position of women and girls in society.
Suresh is a 2nd Year BA student, who comes from a rural background with
very little exposure to the outside world. His association with EKTA is
through the Students for Change programme. He has attended the
orientation programme and other thematic training conducted at the
college and inter college level. He says he now has a greater
understanding about violence against women.
Understanding the declining sex ratio and the issue of feticide were
new dimensions of social learning for him. Secondly the discussions on
Eve Teasing and Ragging and Gender and Masculinities have helped him to
understand the positioning of women and men in society. He is
determined to apply his learning in his personal life and to motivate
his friends to refrain from eve teasing and other discriminatory
practices against girls and women. He feels this process has helped him
immensely to grow as a sensitive person.
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