A sea of message at Maldives

In a world where access to clean water and marine conservation are becoming increasingly important, it should come as no surprise that the first Water Wo/Men fundraiser event was in the Maldives. Between September 30-October 4, some of the world’s global glitterati came together to discuss and debate ideas on how to preserve one of nature’s most precious elements.

Hollywood stars Daryl Hannah and Kate Bosworth, Jose Garcia, Melanie Laurent, supermodel Helena Christensen, British singer Beth Orton, Foo Fighters keyboard player Rami Jaffee, Bollywood Director Shekhar Kapur and German actress Michaela Merten joined hands with the biggest names in water sports and marine conservation to raise funds for the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve through the BLUE Marine Foundation, an organization founded by “The End of the Line” producer Chris Gorell Barnes.

A water-sports show over the famous Yin Yang wave brought some of the world’s best surfers and wake-boarders together. Equally joyous was the fact that children from a local village were invited to participate in a surf lesson. Rami Jaffee was jamming away at Chill Bar at the Six Senses Laamu Resort while Helena Christensen and Kate Bosworth were seen enjoying a Zero Carbon meal at LEAF. Ethically sourced food and gourmet wines formed a large part of the social events and were in keeping with the spirit of the entire do.

The finale ‘Barefoot Ball’ was an unforgettable sunset beach jam with Maldivian musicians on local drums playing with their slightly more famous Western counterparts! For those who wanted to relax at night, open-air screenings on the beach at Cinema Paradiso came with bowls of ice cream — 50 flavours of them!

The event, which is meant to bring great minds together, will be repeated annually. Proceeds from this year’s affair will be donated to three key marine charities — ‘Water Charity’, ‘Plant a Fish’ and ‘Blue Marine Foundation’.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com

4th UNESCO regional conference begins Thursday

UNESCO Regional Conference on Global Literacy begins in New Delhi on Thursday.

It is being organised by the India's Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy with UNESCO begins Thursday at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi with the participation of Ali Bagherzadeh Faroji, Vice Minister for General Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Education and Finance Ministers of the 14 countries of the region namely, Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are among the other dignitaries expected to attend the two day conference which will be inaugurated by M A A Fatmi, Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development of India.

The First Ladies from 10 countries namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have been invited to participate in the conference. As Goodwill Ambassadors, the First Ladies would play a vital role to promote literacy in the entire region.

UPA chairperson, Ms Sonia Gandhi will be the Chief Guest of the inaugural session of the two day conference, whereas Ms Mahashweta Devi, Jnanapeeth award winner and recipient of Saraswathi Samman, will be the keynote speaker.

The Conference is of utmost importance for UNESCO and its member States and partners in their effort to achieve the goals of Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to fulfill their commitments to the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) and the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD).

The Delhi Conference is important for the Indian sub-continent because 3 highly populated countries among E-9 countries namely, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan continue to face major literacy challenges, including the sheer number of illiterates.

In addition to a serious gender gap, there is a high urban-rural disparity. As a key instrument for lifelong learning, indispensable for effective participation in social and economic life and essential for peace, literacy is a crucial issue in the region.

The countries of South and South West Asia have the highest number of illiterates in the world, and out of the 388 million adults in this region who cannot read and write 63.5 per cent are women.

The Conference will organize Five Roundtable presentations on main challenges, trends, gaps, achievements and innovations in the region and make recommendations on how to promote literacy.

The five main issues to be addressed in the conference are:
"Literacy and Gender", "Literacy Policies and Strategies, Costs & Financing", "Programme Content and Delivery", "Monitoring & Evaluation of Literacy" and "Coalition and Partnership-Building for Literacy and Non Formal Education (NFE)".

Source: IRNA

Call for preparation of action plan for community radio in Maldives

Independent and representative committee should formulate draft of a community radio policy.

At a National Orientation on Community Radio in the Maldives, concluded recently in Male, the county's capital, participants called for the appointment by the Ministry of Information and Arts, by September 2007, of an independent and representative committee comprising all stakeholders, to formulate the draft of a community radio policy in Maldives, ensuring transparency in the process.

By the end of 2007, the committee should provide recommendations relating to all aspects of community radio including independent programming, technical regulations, sustainability and transparency both on behalf of the government as well as civil society, strategies and a three-year action plan for the introduction of this new information and communication development tool, including a pilot initiative for possible completion in December 2007.

It was also noted that in the meantime, preparatory capacity building in community broadcasting techniques in collaboration with the existing Atoll Media Centres and VOM will immediately follow with UNESCO/IPDC and other United Nations assistance in keeping with the One UN approach to development assistance in this country.

These recommendations formed part of an 8-point package for study by the Government including the acceptance of the international definition of Community Radio, operationalisation and implementation of Community Radio in Maldives by 2010; reinforcement and capacity building of participatory programming in Maldives, continued and systematic awareness and engagement on the potential of Community Radio in collaboration with the Government and civil society, formulation of programming guidelines to ensure editorial independence and appropriate responses to the needs of the communities, and processes within and outside the legal framework, to ensure ownership and management of the Community Radio by the community.

The National Orientation was attended by over 60 participants including Community Radio experts from the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India, media professionals, representatives from non governmental organizations and other civil society bodies, UN staff, senior officials from the Government and the National Security Force, and the Youth movement, as well as senior staff of the Voice of Maldives.

This overall exercise was organized by the Voice of Maldives, in collaboration with UNESCO within the context of the reform agenda of the Government of Maldives, which places special emphasis on public participation, and inclusion of all especially the poor and marginalized in promoting good governance practices and the raising of awareness of human rights especially amongst the most vulnerable including women, youth and citizens in the outer Atoll islands.

Source: UNESCO

She is dead against reducing art to something that promotes tourism.

Minja Yang the UNESCO representative to India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka and the director of UNESCO office in New Delhi said that the big dilemma is how to keep these performing art forms meaningful and how to better the living conditions of artistes.

‘‘I am not blaming tourism or the tourists. For UNESCO, tourism is a major vehicle to acquire knowledge. But we have wonderful people who have been working for decades and decades, trying to preserve the art forms accepting the minimum wages, yet poorly paid,’’ said Minja Yang, who was in the capital city to release Kutiyattam Register prepared under the financial assistance from UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust.

Sixty countries come under UNESCO’s intangible assignment. ‘‘The State has to make a representative list of intangible arts, rituals etc. The survival of any art depends of guru, disciples, and the community to sustain the existence of it,’’ she said.

Minja Yang is very hopeful about UNESCO’S international convention, which she says stimulates the conservation intangible endangered heritage and the projects to revive them.

There are five states - Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu - that are part of the UNESCO programme.

‘‘The present idea is to identify two itineraries for each state. Now we have ‘craft-route’ and itinerary of ancient Kingdoms like Hoyasala and Hampi. We intend to include the tribal areas as well. But our immediate priority is to design the itinerary of dance route. Kerala has a number of performing arts.

“The quality and dedication of the people is remarkable. Our intention is not to make the performing artistes to bend to the tourists. Instead the tourists must bow to them,’’ said Minja Yang.

The members of the inter-governmental committee, of the 2003 convention are still working on the operational guidelines. Expert committee was convened last month to determine differences between the endangered list and the representative list.

Minja Yang said that UNESCO’s forthcoming project focuses on mass media.

‘‘Big news paper companies can support the intangible heritage; they can bring out DVD, CD and articles. Though the intangible heritage has evolved from a community, it belongs to the whole world. So the role of the media is intermediary between the creator and the public,’’ she said.

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