World’s largest humanitarian network adopts ambitious blueprint for coming decade
The 17th General Assembly of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has ended with the unanimous adoption of Strategy 2020 – a plan that lays out the collective commitments of its 186 members.
Strategy 2020 aims to better fulfill the potential of the Red Cross Red Crescent at all levels, and to develop sustainable approaches in addressing three key areas: disasters, health risks and social exclusion. Crucially, it highlights that coping with increasing humanitarian needs will also require a change in mind-sets and attitudes to how we live, and relate to each other.
“Whilst appreciating our achievements, we are also aware of the humanitarian challenges that are looming on the horizon,” said IFRC President Tadateru Konoé. “This strategy reflects our commitment to ensure that we are collectively and individually positioned to support those who need us and pre-empt, wherever possible, suffering and despair.
“Put simply, through this strategy, we aim ultimately to show that the Red Cross Red Crescent is an agent of hope, peace and democracy.”
Mr Konoe, current President of the Japanese Red Cross with some 40 years experience in a variety of senior humanitarian positions, was elected president of the IFRC on the second day of the General Assembly. He takes over from Juan Manuel Suárez Del Toro Rivero who served eight years in one of the world’s most high profile and important humanitarian posts.
The General Assembly also supported IFRC policy on humanitarian diplomacy. The policy is again designed to enhance collective Red Cross Red Crescent capacity, this time to secure and protect humanitarian spaces and to ensure that the voices of the world’s most vulnerable are heard in the world’s halls of power.
Said IFRC secretary general Bekele Geleta: “Our membership has reconignized that we have a responsibility to proactively influence our governments, partners and donors, to ensure that their policies and decisions are always in the best interest of the most vulnerable.” The General Assembly also endorsed its first-ever policy on migration.
The contribution of millions of young people within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement was recognized as a driving force and a potent agent of change. The General Assembly has committed to effectively promoting the participation of young people within Red Cross Red Crescent leadership, nationally and globally.
To support the President in IFRC governance, the new president will count on four elected vice-presidents representing four regions: Paul Birech (Kenya) for Africa, Dr. Jaslin U. Salmon (Jamaica) for the Americas, Dr. Mohamed Al Maadeed (Qatar) for Asia Pacific, Dr. Bengt Westerberg (Sweden) for Europe.
They will with a new Governing Board of the IFRC that comprises 20 National Societies: Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Guatemala, Italy, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Russian Federation, South Africa, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, The Netherlands, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and United States. All elected officials will serve four-year terms and will play a crucial role in implementing IFRC Strategy 2020.
The international Red Cross Red Crescent meetings continue with the Council of Delegates from 23 to 25 November, which brings together the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the IFRC and National Societies to adopt new policies and strategies on major humanitarian issues, particularly internally displaced people, international migration, and the human cost of climate change, as well as the use of deadly weapons and the protection of medical workers and health facilities in armed conflicts.
More information about the General Assembly and the Council of Delegates can be found at www.ifrc.orgWorld’s largest humanitarian network adopts ambitious blueprint for coming decade... more
For centuries, many peoples around the world have had to gather bundles of firewood for cooking ... a process that not only produces carbon emissions but has a significant effect on health.
Smoke and fumes cause respiratory diseases killing an estimated 1.6 million people a year worldwide.
But as the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference approaches, one Norwegian inventor believes he has refined a simple technology that could have a major impact for ordinary people, their environment and the world. It's called the Kyoto Box.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports.
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I think that deforestation has a lot to do with droughts, it certainly results in desertification in many parts of the world.
What I like about these solar cookers, apart from the fact that they spare trees, do not emit carbon nor produce smoke and fumes that are bad for the health, they also liberate the women from the strenuous job of finding and gathering firewood, having to go further and further afar to do so, thus taking up a great deal of the women's time and energy.
Solar cookers plus simple solar stills in the Rift Valley of Kenya (where ground water is usually brackish) would solve a great deal of problems for the people living there.For centuries, many peoples around the world have had to gather bundles of firewood... more
The Ogiek, the traditional forest dwellers of Kenya, may soon be kicked out of the forest they call home in an attempt to replant it.
Over the past fifteen years the government of Kenya has allowed the deforestation of the critical Mau Forest for a badly planned settlement scheme. The forest allowed for the flow of water and with it so "spoiled" Kenya suffered one of the worst droughts it had seen in years.
Now to replant it the Kenya government sees the need to remove the Ogiek from their traditional home and destroy one of the few remaining hunter and gatherer societies the world has left.The Ogiek, the traditional forest dwellers of Kenya, may soon be kicked out of the... more
Migingo Island in Kenya is only the size of one football field, yet in 2009 this small fishing island became the center of a full-scale international conflict that continues to echo throughout East Africa. This piece explores the effects that the conflict has had on the residents of Migingo.Migingo Island in Kenya is only the size of one football field, yet in 2009 this small... more
Farmer in the Rift Valley, Kenya, shows how to compost, mulch,and grow food sustainably. This is the way you feed the world while maintaining biodiversity.Farmer in the Rift Valley, Kenya, shows how to compost, mulch,and grow food... more
Whether you hail from the era of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," "Top Gun," or "ER" you might recognize Anthony Edwards -- by face if not by name. The former NBC doc for eight seasons, is teaming up to run the New York Marathon today for a special cause.
World and Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt could meet his match in Kenya Monday when he encounters a cheetah for the first time.
Speaking at a press conference here on his first trip to Africa, the fastest man on earth still displayed his trademark cool, not least because he won't race an adult cheetah -- the fastest animal on earth -- but simply adopt a cub.
"It has just sunk in -- I am glad it wasn't a lion," he said with a chuckle.
Kenya Police are famous for their tax raising powers, for years driving in the corrupt African state was liable to cost you more than the fuel for your car. Now the anti corruption squad have started to change what has become the norm.
The confidential survey will be carried out by the National AIDS/STD Control Programme (NASCOP), starting in January or February next year. Homosexuality is punishable by 14 years in jail in Kenya.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Three masked members of a militant Islamist group in Somalia last week shot and killed a Somali Christian who declined to wear a veil as prescribed by Muslim custom, according to a Christian source in Somalia.
Members of the comparatively “moderate” Suna Waljameca group killed Amina Muse Ali, 45, on Oct. 19 at 9:30 p.m. in her home in Galkayo, in Somalia’s autonomous Puntland region, said the source who requested anonymity for security reasons.
Ali had told Christian leaders that she had received several threats from members of Suna Waljameca for not wearing a veil, symbolic of adherence to Islam. She had said members of the group had long monitored her movements because they suspected she was a Christian.
The source said Ali had called him on Oct. 4 saying, “My life is in danger. I am warned of dire consequences if I continue to live without putting on the veil. I need prayers from the fellowship.”
“I was shocked beyond words when I received the news that she had been shot dead,” the source in Somalia told Compass by telephone. “I wished I could have recalled her to my location. We have lost a long-serving Christian.”
Ali had come to Galkayo from Jilib, 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Kismayo, in 2007. She arrived in Puntland at the invitation of a close friend, Saynab Warsame of the Darod clan, when the Islamic extremist group al Shabaab invaded Kismayo, the source said. Warsame was born in Kismayo and had lived in Jilib but moved to Puntland when war broke out in 1991.
The source said it is not known if even Warsame knew of Ali’s conversion from Islam to Christianity.
“She might not have known, because Warsame is not a Christian,” he said.
In 1997 Ali, an orphan and unmarried, joined the Somali Christian Brothers’ Organization, a movement commonly known as the Somali Community-Based Organization. As such she had been an active member of the underground church in the Lower Juba region.
Muslim extremists have targeted the movement, killing some of its leaders after finding them in possession of Bibles. The organization was started in 1996 by Bishop Abdi Gure Hayo.NAIROBI, Kenya, Three masked members of a militant Islamist group in Somalia last week... more
CJ contributor Kassim Mohammed was captured this summer by Somali pirates. He wrote up his account on the Committee to Protect Journalists blog.
Here's an excerpt:
Along the route, a confrontation ensues between the pirates onboard while deep in the Gulf of Aden. A section is opposed to the idea of a journalist recording and visiting the highly guarded territory. Two of them turn, pointing their AK-47 rifles at me. At this point I am speechless that the men who only a few minutes ago were friends are baying for my blood.
After more than four hours roaming the Gulf of Aden, we finally come ashore. They lead me to a dark room and hold me hostage for eight hours, often threatening me: “You’re going to die in the next four hours if we don’t get a kill today,” one of them says.
My Sony H4 Zoom recorder is my only companion as I keep the record button on, making sure that I leave evidence even if they end my life. At this point, I reflect on my initial questions that led me to this mission: Who is behind this trade and does it have links to the development that is on going back in Eastleigh? My nose for news is slowly being replaced by a desire to survive the ordeal. I keep praying for a quick intervention. I see July 31 as my last day on Earth.
Eventually, they release me, but not before a parting shot: Western forces must respect Somalia. “You must tell the international community that we are here to stay despite what the U.S., Russia, and France do,” the ringleader, Guled, said. “They should respect our waters and avoid dumping waste here.”CJ contributor Kassim Mohammed was captured this summer by Somali pirates. He wrote up... more
The continued degradation of the Mau complex - Kenya's largest water catchment area - threatening everything from the spectacular annual migration of the wildebeest to pastoralism, agriculture and hydro-power generation, has dominated public debate for the better part of 2009. The government's plan to evict the illegal settlers has added to the controversy.
The threat posed by the continued depletion of the Mau complex ties in with the increasing concerns, on a global level, over loss of bio-diversity, increased carbon dioxide emissions as a result of forest cover loss, and poor soil and water resources.
However, while climate change could be a major contributor to the current crisis in the Mau complex, the destruction of the forests has reduced the ability of the Mau eco-system to absorb or reduce the impact of climate change, increasing the vulnerability of the people to changing weather patterns.
We look at some of the issues surrounding the country's largest closed-canopy forest eco-system:
Where is the Mau Complex?
Mainly in the Rift Valley Province, the Mau is one of the country's five major water towers; it forms the upper catchment of the main rivers west of the province. The rivers are: Njoro and Makalia (these drain into Lake Nakuru), Sondu, Yala, Nzoia and Nyando (draining into Lake Victoria) and the Ewaso Nyiro, Kerio and Mara rivers.
The complex supplies water to many lakes in the Rift Valley, from Lake Turkana in the northwest to Lake Natron in neighbouring Tanzania - the only regular breeding site for millions of flamingos.
Historically, it is home to a minority group of indigenous forest dwellers, the Ogiek.
What is the size of the Mau complex?
It covers at least 400,000ha - as large as the forests of the Aberdares and Mt Kenya combined.
Over the past two decades, the complex has lost at least 107,000ha of forest cover due to irregular and unplanned settlements, logging and charcoal burning, as well as increased agriculture.
What is at stake if degradation of the complex continues?
The importance of the complex lies in the eco-system service it provides to the country and East Africa as a whole, including river flow regulation, flood mitigation, water storage, reduced soil erosion, bio-diversity, carbon sequestration, carbon reservoir and micro-climate regulation.
The area contributes to the water supply to urban areas and supports the livelihood of millions of people in rural areas but the widespread irregular and poorly planned settlement and illegal forest resource extraction have affected the ecosystem, from water supply for commercial and domestic use to hydro-electric power generation, tourism and agriculture.
Moreover, experts have warned that continued destruction of the complex will lead to a water crisis that could extend beyond the country's borders.
According to a September 2009 report by the government's Interim Coordinating Secretariat for the Mau Forest Complex on the rehabilitation of the Mau Forest Ecosystem, if encroachment and unsustainable exploitation of the eco-system continue, damage could be irreversible, with serious ecological consequences and ramifications for internal security.
When did degradation of the complex begin?
Originally divided into 22 blocks, the real devastation of the complex began in 1997 when the government allocated large plots of land to individuals in what was seen as a political bid to win votes during the general elections that year. The present government has said all land allocations in the late 1990s are illegal and wants to evict the occupants.
What is controversial about the Mau?
The government and conservationists agree that quick action needs to be taken to stop the continued destruction of the complex but Rift Valley politicians are divided over the eviction of those deemed to be illegally settled in the complex.The continued degradation of the Mau complex - Kenya's largest water catchment area -... more
To celebrate energy saving week, we wanted to share some of the pioneering environmental work we have been doing with our Kenyan tea partners to save energy.To celebrate energy saving week, we wanted to share some of the pioneering... more
Grandmothers in Nairobi Kenya are busy learning Karate to prevent them being raped and robbed. The latest craze sweeping Kenya is Granny rape, the men think it will absolve them of their sins.
Video belowGrandmothers in Nairobi Kenya are busy learning Karate to prevent them being raped and... more
As we walk out of Kibera, the world’s largest slum, we leave behind the burning smells of feces, dead animals and waste. The sound of the 400 children playing at the school slowly fades with each step, as we weave around “poop river.” We have made our way out of the slum and the group's psyche mirrors the slight incline of the terrain as we shift from grim to cheery. We stop on a one-acre plot, the hills peak. As we turn back we’re overlooking the endless sea of tin-roofed shacks that make up Kibera and the green, opulent land that lay around it.
I am not a particularly religious person, definitely not someone who goes to church every Sunday and never was. The only downfall to going on my lifelong dream trip to Africa was that the group leader, Sandy Baird, was “concerned it won’t be a trip you’d enjoy,” he emailed. I was introduced to MANNA Worldwide and chairman Sandy Baird through a high school friend via e-mail and at the time only read that it was a non-profit organization, which raises money to feed needy children. I later discovered the group traveling to Tanzania and Kenya consisted of my non-religious self, and 15 Baptists from Houston, TX, but that wasn’t going to stop me. Once I’d seen pictures of my friend’s experience, I too wanted to smell, taste and feel all things Africa. I too wanted to do my part.
MANNA Worldwide was created in 2001 with the help of Sandy Baird and his wife Karen, who continue to serve on the original board to this day. In 1992 the Baird’s took a trip with best friends Vernon and Mary Smith, each couple bringing along their two young children. The families started their trip in Arusha, Tanzania where the Smiths related so much to the people’s moral and spiritual beliefs, they later decided to call it home. They have lived in Arusha for nearly 17 years where they raised their two children and have worked religiously, both physically and mentally, to help build the “Bible Baptist Academy” church, school and MANNA Clinic. In a matter of 7 years, the Smiths significant presence in Arusha has helped create jobs for locals, medicine for the community, a belief system and hope for a better future for the children.
The families trip continued on to Nairobi, Kenya where Sandy and Karen Baird were anxious to visit a place they’d heard so much about, one of the world’s largest slums: Kibera. The second anyone enters Kibera you immediately notice the strong divide between Nairobi, the largest city in Kenya, and Kibera where 1.5 million slum dwellers live within a 1.5 mile radius. The Baird's knew they wanted to do something, but “what” and “how” are the most common questions organizations ask when faced with the daunting task of helping Kibera. Some people give up with helplessness, others find a quick fix, but over time the Baird's saw how their belief system was instilled in Arusha and decided to implement the same plan in Kibera.
Before the Baird’s came to town, the Baptist church and school children would not wear their uniforms, got into regular fights and wouldn’t take education seriously. The school had lost all faith and faced extinction when MANNA began to partner with the Baird’s and changed the name of the school, appropriately, to “New Hope.”
The “New Hope Baptist Church and School” is at its maximum capacity with 400 students caged in a 2,000 square foot radius surrounded by barbwire fence and a gate. With average salaries of 1 USD daily, most parents can’t afford the 5 USD annual tuition for their children to attend school five days a week and be fed three meals per day. MANNA Worldwide has recently began scholarship programs for passing students, helping some to reach a college level education.
Relying heavily on active members such as the Baird’s, MANNA Worldwide receives zero government funding and gives 97.4% of its income directly to the children. The Baird’s have raised money, purchased and are now contracting builders for the new church and school site to rest on theAs we walk out of Kibera, the world’s largest slum, we leave behind the burning... more
"Concern is growing that failure to manage this waste is exposing Kenya to long-term and costly environmental damage whose impact will be felt in the emergence of new diseases, change in weather patterns and food insecurity and will take many decades to reverse.
Often left to rot in informal dumping sites, electronic gadgets are made up of some of the most lethal toxins such as cadmium, mercury and lead that are known to contaminate water sources, reduce fertility of land, and damage human tissues and organs.
In Nairobi, the impact of this carefree disposal of e-waste is already beginning to be felt in Dandora estate where contact with dumpsite material has seen a steep rise in the number of children diagnosed with lead poisoning.
Dandora is the host of Nairobi’s biggest dumpsite that takes most of the 4,000 tonnes of garbage that the city residents generate daily."
All this electronic material, when burned, is mostly housed in a plastic casing that releases toxic and carcinogenic substances like dioxins and polyaromatic hydrocarbons making it worse.
These companies should be responsible for this e-waste, they should use material that is eco-friendly and make these products last longer as well.
What do you think?Excerpt:
"Concern is growing that failure to manage this waste is exposing Kenya to... more
"President Mwai Kibaki has declared the drought a national disaster and appealed for $150 million to feed the hungry.
Rural areas like northern Kenya, which have suffered decades of neglect and under-development, are most affected, with livestock herders particularly at risk.
These are areas with little access to education, healthcare, water and sanitation – making them even more vulnerable.
Cattle and goats – the weakest of the livestock species reared here, began dying a long time ago. In some places, livestock grazers have already lost entire herds to drought and disease.
We met Abdille Qayleey in the village of Jowhar just outside Wajir town. He had 200 goats when the rains first failed. Today he has just 25 and they are too weak to provide a livelihood for his family of eleven."
I wonder if those who deny global climate change would do so if this was happening to them?"President Mwai Kibaki has declared the drought a national disaster and appealed for... more
Residents of Kenya want Barack Obama to return to their country and to rule over them.
“We need an Obama here in Africa,” grumbled Humphrey Oguto, a 27-year-old engineer. “He’s done a lot in just a little time … Our leaders have done nothing for years.”Residents of Kenya want Barack Obama to return to their country and to rule over them.... more
