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<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>THE GCAP E-LETTER</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">May 27th 2009- Edition #42<br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a
href="http://www.whiteband.org/about-gcap/reports/gcap-internal-letters/the-gcap-e-letter-may-27-2009-edition-42?set_language=en&utm_source=eletter090528">English</a>
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href="http://www.whiteband.org/about-gcap-es/reportes/boletin-de-noticias-interno-del-gcap/boletin-interno-del-gcap-27-de-mayo-2009-edicion-42?set_language=es&utm_source=eletter090528">Español</a>
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href="http://www.whiteband.org/about-gcap-fr/rapports/gcap-internal-letters/lettre-electronique-d2019amcp-27-mai-n0-42?set_language=fr&utm_source=eletter090528">Français</a>
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href="http://www.whiteband.org/about-gcap-pt/relatorios/leia-o-informativo-interno-da-gcap/informativo-gcap-27-de-maio-2009-2013-edicao-no-42?set_language=pt&utm_source=eletter090528">Português</a>
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href="http://www.whiteband.org/about-gcap-ar/reports/gcap-internal-letters/the-gcap-e-letter-may-27-2009-edition-42-arabic?set_language=ar&utm_source=eletter090528">العربية</a><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">*************************</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>In this e-letter</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Letter from the
Global Secretariat</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong> What's coming up?</strong></font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"> UN HIGH LEVEL MEETING
ON FINANCIAL CRISIS & CIVIL SOCIETY MEETINGS - Postponed<br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">STAND UP AND TAKE
ACTION <br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">CLIMATE CHANGE WORKING
GROUP<br>
</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>What’s been
happening?</strong></font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">ANNUAL REPORT 2008 –
Has been distributed to Regional Secretariats</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">‘PRESS THE 8’
INTERACTIVE TOOL LAUNCH</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">FACE TO FACE MEETINGS<br>
<strong></strong></font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Regional/Constituency
Updates</strong></font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">AFRICA</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">ASIA</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">EUROPE <strong> </strong></font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>GCAP Internal
Updates</strong></font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
REVIEW</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">GOOGLE TRANSLATIONS
TESTING</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">CALL FOR SPOKESPEOPLE
AND POLICY EXPERTS <br>
<br>
</font> </li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">*************************</font></p>
<h2><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Letter from the Global
Secretariat</font></h2>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Dear friends,</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">May has been a bittersweet
month for GCAP. We begun with an upswing as the newly formed GCAP
foundation kicked off to a new independent start away from CIVICUS. On
May 5 we successfully launched our G8 mobilisation campaign, ‘Press the
8’, a smart and interactive online and offline tool to encourage
citizens around the world to send a clear message to the G8 leaders
about poverty issues and the MDGs.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">But then on May 24, we
tragically lost Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem in a fatal car accident in
Nairobi. Taju was a beloved colleague and a dear friend to many in the
GCAP family. As the Deputy Director for the United Nations Millennium
Campaign in Africa he fought for justice and equality for the world’s
poorest.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">As part of GCAP, Taju in
collaboration with the UNMC, played a leadership role on the ‘Stand Up’
campaign to take action to end poverty. For the past three years,
millions of people around the world have stood up to show their support
for the fight against poverty and the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) - Taju was a prominent spokesperson for the MDGs. He was an
African visionary whose infectious laughter, brilliant mind and deep
passionate commitment to African unity and integration will be deeply
missed.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Nonetheless, Taju would
not want us to mourn his death but to celebrate his life and values by
intensifying our fight for global justice and for the political and
economic liberation for the people of Africa. His death in the early
hours of the morning of Africa Day is a symbolic reminder of his deep
love and affection for the people of Africa as whole and for the dream
of pan-African unity.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">If you would like to send
your message of condolences, you can do so at <br>
<a
title="Global Call to Action against Poverty shocked and saddened by the death of Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem in Nairobi"
class="internal-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/7824be31d7223a5f38a0b550c12b5e67?utm_source=eletter090528">Global
Call to Action against Poverty shocked and saddened by the death of Dr.
Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem in Nairobi</a> </font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Sincerely,</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><em><strong>The Global
Secretariat Staff</strong></em><br>
<br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">*************************</font></p>
<h2><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">What's coming up?</font></h2>
<h3><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">UN HIGH LEVEL MEETING ON
FINANCIAL CRISIS – Postponed</font></h3>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The United Nations
Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on
Development has been postponed from June 1-3 to June 24 –26 June. The
venue remains the UN Headquarters in New York.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Negotiations have begun on
the newly revised Draft Outcome Document. Keep yourself up to date on
all Summit documents at:</font></p>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a class="external-link"
href="http://www.un.org/ga/econcrisissummit/docs.shtml">www.un.org/ga/econcrisissummit/docs.shtml</a>
<strong><br>
<br>
Participation Matters!</strong> Get your country’s voice heard at the
UN Summit. Ask your Head of State to sign the lobby letter to the UN,
or to attend the conference. A draft has been created for use by
national coalitions that would like to lobby their governments. The
letter is available in French, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese.</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Please follow this link to
letter and download it in your language.<br>
<a title="UN Summit on world financial and economic crisis"
class="internal-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/c0da268d5dab39a356ec4a1a362fe63d?utm_source=eletter090528">UN
Summit on world financial and economic crisis</a></font>
</p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Currently, there is a call
to Heads of State to attend the conference and ensure its success. GCAP
could make a contribution by reaching to national constituencies, on
the ground contacts to reach ministers of finance, ministers of trade
and ministers of development cooperation in capitals, not just the
foreign ministries. There is much discussion about how the success or
failure of this Summit will impact the Copenhagen negotiations and the
MDG 2010 Summit. Many view this as a “now or never” moment for the
opportunity to significantly reform the financial system, including the
placement, oversight and review under a larger global development
architecture.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>PEOPLE’S VOICES ON
THE CRISIS & Civil Society Forum </strong> </font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">These events were being
organised by civil society movements to bring people from the South and
the North, especially women, unemployed workers and other poor from the
global south who have been left affected and unheard in the financial
meltdown.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><em>For more information
on the civil society meetings taking place pre-Summit, please contact
Rosa Lizarde of the Feminist Task Force: <a
href="mailto:rosaencasa@aol.com">rosaencasa@aol.com</a></em> </font></p>
<h3><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">STAND UP AND TAKE ACTION</font></h3>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Stand Up and Take Action
will take place this year between October 16th – 18th.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">A new GCAP working group
has started to work on Stand Up and Take Action, with a view to coming
up with creative action suggestions, creating a toolkit and providing
some suggested guidelines on how to make Stand Up and Take Action
better integrated with the overall mobilisations this year, in
particular how to integrate our ongoing messages and demands – on the
food, fuel and financial crises, climate change, gender equality, etc.
– within this year’s event.</font></p>
<p>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><em>To find out more about
the Stand Up Working Group, please contact Helena Suarez (<a
href="mailto:helena.suarez@whiteband.org">helena.suarez@whiteband.org</a>)</em> </font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The Stand Up and Take
Action website has been updated to start gathering momentum towards
this year’s event.<br>
<a class="external-link"
href="http://www.standagainstpoverty.org?utm_source=eletter090528">www.standagainstpoverty.org</a> </font>
</p>
<h3><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">CLIMATE CHANGE WORKING
GROUP</font></h3>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The Mobilisation Task
Force has re-convened the Climate Change Working Group. During the
first meeting this year the group discussed our partnership with the
Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA) with GCCA Director Ben
Margolis.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Find out about the GCCA in
this document outlining GCCA key dates and possible GCAP involvement:<br>
<a title="GCAP GCCA letter to Coalitions and National Partners.pdf"
class="internal-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/2e2cf18d8f0f444fd75ff8d9aabe8678?utm_source=eletter090528">GCAP
GCCA letter to Coalitions and National Partners</a></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The working group also
discussed ways of working and participation. The working group hopes to
engage with all those GCAP activists with an interest in Climate Change
and in particular those planning their activities towards the UNFCCC
meeting in Copenhague in December.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><em>
If you’re interested in joining the Climate Change Working Group,
contact Helena Suarez (<a href="mailto:helena.suarez@whiteband.org">helena.suarez@whiteband.org</a>)</em></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The Climate Change Working
Group would like to hear from those planning Climate Change/Poverty
Hearings.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><em>Please contact Helena
Suarez (<a href="mailto:helena.suarez@whiteband.org">helena.suarez@whiteband.org</a>)
if you are involved in planning or have already staged a Climate
Change/Poverty Hearing, or if you would like to find out more. </em></font></p>
<h2><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">What’s been happening?</font></h2>
<h3><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">G8 COMMON POSITION PAPER<br>
</font></h3>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">During May 3-5, the Civil
G8 Dialogue was held in Rome, Italy. The meeting was organised around
thematic groups working on basic rights (education, health, etc.);
World Economy and Resources; Food and Agriculture; Global Governance;
Climate Change and Environment. Each thematic group presented points to
the G8 Sherpas’ meeting on May 5th. The outcome of the meeting was a
common policy document that outlines demands that must be brought to
the G8 in July. The CLP can be used by national coalitions as a guide
to your own lobbying and mobilisation efforts.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a
title="GCAP G8 Common Lobbying Positions FINAL" class="internal-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/bb137023706c9a23933269711f1881cd?utm_source=eletter090528">GCAP
G8 Common Lobbying Positions FINAL - Updated</a></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>G8 ‘PRESS THE 8’
CAMPAIGN’</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">As an online action
supporting mobilisation around the G8 in July in Italy, we launched an
interactive ‘game’ and an online petition based on the concept ‘Press
the G8’ on May 5.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong><a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8?utm_source=eletter090528">www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8</a>
<br>
</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The interactive counts the
amount of ‘pressure’ that individual activists put on the G8 leaders.
Individual activists add their pressure by literally ‘pressing’ the G8
leader or leaders of their choice, each time a leader is ‘pressed’ the
counter goes up.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Individual activists can
also sign a petition to further express their support by adding their
names to the cause.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The amount of pressure
added and the total number of signatures will be used to lobby the G8
during their upcoming meeting in July in Italy.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The petition and
interactive work independently of each other, and you can use the
petition and/or interactive in your own websites in a variety of ways.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Link to the interactive
and petition page on whiteband.org from your website</font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8?utm_source=gcappartner">www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8?utm_source=gcappartner</a>
(English)</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8/es?utm_source=gcappartner">www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8/es?utm_source=gcappartner</a>
(Spanish)<br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8/fr?utm_source=gcappartner">www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8/fr?utm_source=gcappartner</a>
(French)<br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8/it?utm_source=gcappartner">www.whiteband.org/action/presstheg8/it?utm_source=gcappartner</a>
(Italian)</font></li>
</ul>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><em>Contact Helena Suarez (<a
href="mailto:helena.suarez@whiteband.org">helena.suarez@whiteband.org</a>)
for instructions and support to add the interactive and/or petition
directly on your website.</em></font>
<h3><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">ANNUAL REPORT 2008 - OUT
NOW</font></h3>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The Global Call to Action
against Poverty Report 2008 is out now, with information about the past
year’s mobilisation and actions across the world. Thank you to all
national coalitions for submitting their reports towards creating this
useful account of GCAP’s work throughout 2008.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>All regional
secretariats have now received copies of the annual report. Please
contact your regional secretariat (see details below) to find out how
you can receive a copy of the annual report.</strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Download your copy of the
report now!</font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Arabic - <a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/26cc0a5d7b83175e68cd153fc9620b05?utm_source=eletter090528">www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/26cc0a5d7b83175e68cd153fc9620b05</a></font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">English - <a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/7f983b26136135211799a4f42ffe7d5c?utm_source=eletter090528">www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/7f983b26136135211799a4f42ffe7d5c</a></font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">French - <a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/9f5413c925856affbf61f6a9e95483de?utm_source=eletter090528">www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/9f5413c925856affbf61f6a9e95483de</a></font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Portuguese - <a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/96d88908a44f5cf91d2bbc57325080c3?utm_source=eletter090528">www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/96d88908a44f5cf91d2bbc57325080c3</a></font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Spanish - <a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/0c1b8ac86d448ecf1eec2dce6ec59447?utm_source=eletter090528">www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/0c1b8ac86d448ecf1eec2dce6ec59447</a></font></li>
</ul>
<h3><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">FACE TO FACE MEETINGS</font></h3>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">May 28-29 - <strong>Learning
and Accountability (LAG) –</strong> The LAG had its first face to face
meeting in Utrecht, Netherlands. In the meeting the group extracted
core values of GCAP from the Montevideo Declaration. In the upcoming
months, the group will explore making all parts of GCAP accountable to
these agreed upon values. The group also discussed capacity building.
In the past, discussions of accountability and capacity building within
GCAP have been focused on the weakness of the movement. One important
element that arose in the meeting was an acknowledgement of the huge
capacity that exists in GCAP, and the need to use it better to use our
strengths as a source of learning.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Read the whole report: <a
title="Learning and accountability group" class="internal-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/cb0f9899a350491467a58dc2cb88199b?utm_source=eletter090528">Learning
and accountability group</a> </font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">May 28-29 – <strong>Foundation
Board</strong> – The GCAP Global Foundation Board held their first face
to face meeting the 29th and 30th in Utrecht, Netherlands to discuss
their roles and responsibilities, and administrative procedures
relevant to the secretariat.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">June (dates to be
confirmed) – <strong>Mobilisation Task Force (MTF)</strong> – There is
a scheduled MTF face to face meeting at the end of June in London. The
venue will be confirmed. There is funding for 10 participants from the
Southern coalitions.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">We are preparing the
agenda and list of participants on this. The main items of discussions
look at longer term planning, how to implement the strategic directions
from a point of view of already planned mobilisation activities, and
then looking strategically at 2009 moments that are coming up right
after June, plus Stand Up and Copenhagen, and then a look at the ways
of working of the group, including participation and representation of
the different regions and constituencies within GCAP.</font></p>
<h2><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Regional/Constituency
updates</font></h2>
<h3><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">EUROPE</font></h3>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>MALTA</strong> - <strong>EU
Election Campaign</strong> - On May 8th the European Development NGOs
launched a campaign ’10Days4Development’ throughout Europe to raise
awareness about the role of the European Union in the world and to
encourage citizens to vote at the European elections, which will be
held from June 4th - 7th.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The campaign ran from May
9th – 18th. The campaign was supposed to encourage citizens to ask
their European candidates about their planned proposals of action –if
they are elected – in order to foster international development and to
act against climate change.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">In May / June 2009
elections to the European Parliament will be held in the 27 Member
States of the European Union (EU). Half a billion European citizens
will elect 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEP) in the biggest
trans-national election in history.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Since the subsequent
elections will be held in 2014, these 2009 elections are the last
chance to elect a European Parliament that will be committed to put an
end to poverty and inequality by the MDG target date.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">This represents a key
opportunity for pan-European campaigning on development issues and GCAP
national coalitions are taking the lead in promoting the public
visibility of the economic and social justice agenda.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">One example is from the
GCAP national coalition in Malta. SKOP is the National Platform of
Maltese NGDOs and, in preparation of the coming elections to the
European Parliament, they have just released a Manifesto on MDGs, which
has been disseminated along candidates, in order to explore their
positions regarding development issues.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The Manifesto calls on MEP
to ensure that EU policies are in line with development objectives,
especially taking into account issues like gender equity, climate
justice, financing for development, the necessary reform of the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP) and trade policy, the links between migration
and development and the importance of democratic accountability.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>AidWatch Report
Launch, Concorde</strong> - On May 14 the European confederation of 18
international networks and 22 national associations, representing more
than 1600 European development NGOs launched the AidWatch Report.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">European governments
provided 60% of global aid flows in 2008 and have committed to lead
donor countries in their fight against poverty and inequality.
Nevertheless, the report shows that the European Union is failing to
deliver on its pledges.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">This is the fourth year
that development NGOs from all 27 EU countries have come together
through this initiative to produce this report, under the umbrella of
CONCORD.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The full report is
available at: <a href="http://www.concordeurope.org">www.concordeurope.org</a></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">For more information on
this, you can contact Jasmine Burnley at the following address: <a
href="mailto:jasmine.burnley@concordeurope.org">jasmine.burnley@concordeurope.org</a></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>AidWatch Report
Stunt, Concorde - </strong>On May 18th, CONCORD organised the
EUROVISION AID CONTEST 2009 at the surroundings of the European Council
in Brussels. A new version of the well – known music contest has been
organised in order to rate the performance of European countries
regarding their aid patterns. The best rated country has been Sweden,
and the worst rated one was Italy.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">More information at: <a
href="http://www.concordeurope.org/">www.concordeurope.org</a></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">To see the video of the
stunt, please click the following link: <a
href="http://blip.tv/file/2126854">http://blip.tv/file/2126854</a></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">More information available
at <a href="http://www.skopmalta.org">www.skopmalta.org</a> </font></p>
<h3><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">ASIA</font></h3>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Humanitarian
crisis in Pakistan</strong> - According to the UNHCR, Pakistan is
facing the worst kind of human crises of its 62 years history due to
growing extremism and military operation in the northern region -
Malakand Division. This is the biggest displacement in last 15 years
(after Rwanda) in the world.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Independent reports from
GCAP-Pakistan Coalition Partners and others CSOs suggest that over 2.5
million people, mostly women and children, have been affected due to
the military operation with the extremists. Many homes have been
destroyed, so are the means of livelihood including shops, hotel
industry, standing crops (including fruit orchards) devastated,
livestock have been left without any care. Fortunately the Swat
district is among the few districts of the Province Pakhtoonkhwa which
have better literacy rate including of women. Unfortunately, however a
majority of the schools particularly girls’ schools and other
educational institutions have been bombed by the militants thus leaving
less opportunity for the future generation to get education.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Read the full statement
from GCAP Pakistan on Internally Displaced People (IDPs)<br>
<a title="GCAP Pakistan statement on Internally Displaced People (IDPs)"
class="internal-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/e5ef2ad9ed80986bba322fae68f43d20?utm_source=eletter090528">GCAP
Pakistan statement on Internally Displaced People (IDPs)</a> </font></p>
<h3><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">AFRICA</font></h3>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Adelaide Sosseh attended
the African Union (AU) - an Experts Meeting on the Status of Reporting
and Implementation of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in
Africa (SDGEA) - from the 6-8 May 2009 in Banjul, The Gambia.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>The Gambia</strong>
- GCAP our very own Co-chair and convener Adelaide Sosseh, presented a
paper at the Sensitization Workshop on Violence against Women and Girls
that was jointly organized by the Women’s Bureau and UNDP as part of
the International Women’s Day Celebration 2009. The paper focused on
occurrences of violence and subsequent stigmatization, and it also
offered recommendations.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Kenya</strong> -
took the campaign to the countryside, with its prominent message being
one in which it requested that the Ministry of Education give free
sanitary towels to girls in school to avoid unnecessary absences.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Malawi and Liberia</strong>
- national coalitions worked with their Ministries to hold discussions
around important issues that enhance the ever increasing gender gap. In
Malawi this included the marginalization of women in the decision
making process while in Liberia the focus was more on how poverty
continues to impact negatively on women’s lives.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Burkina Faso</strong>
- took on a whole different angle through creating dialogue around the
theme of “Women and HIV/AIDS” the discussion focused on the
genderization of the disease and the need to remove stigma around it.
Through sketched and speeches, GCAP Burkina Faso aimed to let the
audience know that HIV/AIDS is indeed everyone’s business.</font></p>
<h2><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">GCAP Internal Updates</font></h2>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Internal
Communications Review</strong> - An internal communications review is
underway with the support of Oxfam GB, and the help of the learning and
accountability interns. The review will study the current internal
communications tools used by GCAP, which is including teleconferences,
the E-newsletter, things like how many coalitions are active in task
forces and working groups, and finally making some recommendations on
how we can improve this. We're currently working on a brief for a TOR
(job description) for an external consultant.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Google
Translations Testing</strong> - We're looking at using Google
translator for shorter items, and perhaps others that need to go in
some form in other languages with an online translator but edited by a
native speaker, and finally for much longer documents we'll use
professional translations. We're going to experiment to compare time it
takes versus the cost of a professional translator. We have requested
the Global Council to feed back on how useful and important this is the
quality of translation; does the council have other suggestions for
improvement for accessibility of documents in other languages without
impacting too much on the resource implications</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>Call for
Spokespeople and Policy Experts</strong> - We know national coalitions
and constituency groups have excellent spokespeople and policy experts.
However, we don’t always know about them at the global level and the
result is we’re not always to reflect the diversity of GCAP in our
global events.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><em>Please send the names,
contact information and areas of expertise of your spokespeople and
policy experts to Caitlin Blaser: <a
href="mailto:caitlin.blaser@whiteband.org">caitlin.blaser@whiteband.org</a></em></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">In the future we hope we
hope all parts of GCAP will be able to call on this as a resource to
strengthen their activities</font></p>
<h2><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Some useful links:</font></h2>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Read the whiteband <a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/feb4f88eebf570d2d6297acf5acf65a4?utm_source=eletter090528">blog</a></font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">See the <a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/00bb6267afc698dbb9f684dcf9701b64?utm_source=eletter090528">photo
gallery</a></font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Surf on <a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/1ab94426dcd6ac80ae9e6618d0f2b806?utm_source=eletter090528">GCAP
sites</a></font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Learn about <a
class="external-link"
href="http://www.whiteband.org/resolveuid/72bc0968c5bbdb9278c6c770acef3044?utm_source=eletter090528">our
issues</a></font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Send your national updates
to your regional secretariat:</font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Africa - Christophe
Zoungrana (<a href="mailto:christophez@whiteband.org">christophez@whiteband.org</a>,
<a href="mailto:gcap.africa@whiteband.org">gcap.africa@whiteband.org</a>)
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Latin America and
Caribbean - Viviane Castro (<a href="mailto:gcap.lac@whiteband.org">gcap.lac@whiteband.org</a>)
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Europe - Ximena Valente
(<a href="mailto:gcapeuropesecretariat@whiteband.org">gcapeuropesecretariat@whiteband.org</a>)</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Middle East and Arab
Region - Hamdi Al-Khawaja (<a href="mailto:hamdi@dwrc.org">hamdi@dwrc.org</a>)</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">North America - Dennis
Howlett (<a href="mailto:dhowlett@makepovertyhistory.ca">dhowlett@makepovertyhistory.ca</a>)</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">South East, North and
Central Asia - Chona Ramos (<a href="mailto:chlemara67@yahoo.com">chlemara67@yahoo.com</a>)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The GCAP Global
Secretariat:</font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Ciara O'Sullivan, Media
and Communication Coordinator (on leave) </font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Irene Ndiritu, Media
Officer (<a href="mailto:irene.ndiritu@whiteband.org">irene.ndiritu@whiteband.org</a>)<br>
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Helena Suarez, Web and
New Media Coordinator (<a href="mailto:helena.suarez@whiteband.org">helena.suarez@whiteband.org</a>)
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Caitlin Blaser,
Campaign Officer (<a href="mailto:caitlin.blaser@whiteband.org">caitlin.blaser@whiteband.org</a>)</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Budhi
Bahroelim,Learning and Accountability Intern (<a
href="mailto:budhi.bahroelim@whiteband.org">budhi.bahroelim@whiteband.org</a>)
</font></li>
<li><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Mercedes Alvarez Rudin,
Learning and Accountability Intern (<a
href="mailto:Mercedes.Alvarez@whiteband.org">mercedes.alvarez@whiteband.org</a>)
</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><strong>GCAP Global
Secretariat<br>
</strong>C/O CIVICUS PO Box 933, Southdale 2135 Johannesburg –
South-Africa<br>
Tel: + 27 11 838 0690<br>
Fax: + 27 11 833 9779</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><em>The Global Call to
Action against Poverty (GCAP) is a growing
alliance of trade unions, community groups, faith groups, women and
youth organisations, NGOs and other campaigners working together across
more than 100 national platforms. GCAP is calling for action from the
world's leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality.
The white band is our symbol and expression of solidarity against
poverty.</em></font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a
href="http://www.whiteband.org">www.whiteband.org</a></font></p>
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