On this page you will find the last news about activities of Indaba-Network and members and its. Please contribute by sending information or comments.
News
Indaba-Magazine number 4 is available
The issue number 4 of Indaba-Magazine has been published. Click on "Indaba-Magazine" in the menu above to read the articles and download the magazine in pdf format.
You will find :
• an editoral by Michel Seyrat on children's rights : "The right to be seen as a human being";
• A feature article by Eduardo Missoni on youth's health;
• A series of reports on the First World Youth Meeting for a Sustainable Future, held in Bari, Italy, including testimonies from young delegates of Indaba-Network, the Bari Agreement between represented and the final statement.
Please send your feedback and your reports about your own projects to admin@indaba-network.net
Success of the First World Youth Meeting in Bari
1. Opening speech by Luca Bergamo
2. The plenary
3. The delegates
4. Working group
More than 1500 young people from all over the world attended the First World Youth Meeting on Sustainable Development in Bari, Italy. Indaba-Network was one of the partners organizations having contributed to the success of this event (see picture 2). Ten representatives of Indaba-Network attended the First World Youth Meeting on Sustainable Future in Bari, Italy:
- Gamal M. A. Le Attar, Palestine
- Cleopatra John Byarugaba, Uganda
- Jean-Baptiste Cazin, France
- Claudio Cerabino, Italy
- Sebastian Lamonega, Argentine
- Julietta Lenarduzzi, Argentine
- Mohamed Salih, Sudan
- Ettore Settineri, Italy
- Tamara Shukakidze, Georgia
And Dominique Bénard, as member of the Kick Off Committee (Planning Committee, see picture 6).
The meeting took place on three days: 19th, 20th and 21st of January. The participants were invited to work on five large thematic Area: Citizenship, Education,
Environment, Employment and Economy, Human safety and development.
NMC : First World Youth Meeting on Sustainable Future
Young people from all over the world will gather in Bari, Italy in
January 2010 to build a plan for g-local citizenship
by Eduardo
Missoni
Five
hundred young delegates from all over the world, together with another thousand
participants from around Italy will meet in January 2010 in Bari, capital of the southern Italian Puglia Region, to take part in the World Youth Meeting for a
Sustainable Future. They will work together on a coordinated plan linking
global and local action.
Think globally, act locally
The motto
“think globally, act locally” is not new but, today, we need to take a major step
forward. Interdependence between
local and global phenomena, related to an unprecedented acceleration of the
globalization process, requires us to go far beyond just the consciousness of the link between local actions and their global
dimensions. Action-oriented synergies need to be put in place.
The speed
and frequency of global interchanges have spurred world economic integration,
opening new opportunities for social and economic development. Nevertheless, a
development model has been imposed from above, at the planetary level, one
based on endless growth and consumption, with progressive cultural as well as
economic homogenization. The
artificial stimulus of new needs feeds the myth of economic growth without
concern for its consequences: to humanity’s health, the environment, or the life conditions of future generations. Such
an unsustainable model provokes wild and irresponsible competition for water
and energy resources, producing everlasting mountains of waste. The future of
today's youth and the coming generations is at stake. Humanity is facing today
the challenge of growing inequality and insecurity, geographic instability,
enormous migratory flows, unprecedented conflicts, and climatic changes.
A new social dynamic
The
decisions and strategies of a reduced number of global actors shape the
experience of billions of the planet’s citizens even though these actors keep
themselves at a lamentable and safe distance from the daily lives of their less
fortunate fellows.
These
actors shape global relations. Global relations differ fundamentally from
international relations because they are not limited to the interactions
between nations-states. Global
relations are trespassing upon the traditional rules of the game; exercising an
enormous power over national and local realities which become progressively
more difficult to govern at the appropriate levels. Today, for example,
local and national governments have to deal with the consequences of a
financial crisis without borders; one which
dramatically links the destiny of the poorest African
to the insane speculations of American financial companies.
Hence, the
need to go beyond global thinking and local action in order to establish a new
social dynamic that, starting from an understanding of local situations within
the global, is able to link global actions and social change implemented at the
local level. The
consciousness of the causes of global warming and of the profoundly unsustainable development model, for example, now pushes a growing number of communities to explore alternative economic approaches and life styles, such as those based on mutual
support, voluntary simplicity, and deep respect
for the natural environment.
This new
dynamic can only be the result of a new shared “g-local”—at once global and
local— citizenship
experience, engaging especially youth citizens:
those members of society who are expressing today a strong demand for the
future and the concept of sustainability.
Youth empowerment
Though
representing the central and most numerous segment of world population, as well
as the main stakeholders of a sustainable future, young people are
underrepresented when policies are decided and implemented. Their arguments,
their strength, and their proposals are almost always left aside when decisions
are taken, both in broader society as well as in the world’s institutions and organizations, at all levels, including in many NGOs.
It is at
the territorial level, within the local realm, that the effectiveness of
policies is measured. It is within
a given territory that one can concretely influence societal changes. Many examples of such change are
already underway: collectively choosing to be critical
consumers; looking for new entrepreneurial approaches, inclusive and socially
responsible; building a culture that recognizes the value of diversity and a
science able to link the centers of knowledge to the community and its needs;
correcting injustice in access to basic services, to education, and health; as
well as defending the environment and energy sources as a collective good. It
is indeed within a given territory that the first and fundamental pact must be
established between youth and society, its institutions as well as its social
and production networks: a pact
that would ensure young people their full, active, and responsible right to citizenship.
This right that would remain empty if it were not allowed to express itself in a collective consciousness, taking action at the global level, where knowledge and experiences can be constructively shared and young people allowed to participate in the real sphere of global decision making.
Ni, mondlokaj civitanoj
On these
thoughts, I find myself fully attuned to Luca Bergamo, whom I first met in 2006. Calling himself a “stubborn
innovator”, Luca is a creative youth organizer deeply concerned with actively linking local initiatives with
global questions. We discussed the possibility of
starting a project to face these challenges. At that time, he was the Director
General of an international organization
known as the Glocal Forum, aiming at the networking of local governments while
also offering space for youth participation in the Glocal Youth Forum.
At that
time, from 2004 to 2007, I served as the Secretary General of the World
Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), leading the world largest youth movement. At WOSM, I
was convinced of the “g-local” potential of Scouts as a social force and
imagined young people taking the lead of the Movement.
But the Scout
movement paradoxically was controlled, at its international peak organizational
level as well as in many of its National Member Organizations, by people who
are rather advanced in age who were and remain lagging behind in this manner of
thinking.
Once Luca
Bergamo became the Director General of the Italian National Youth Agency, the
international initiative of the Glocal Forum dissolved, and he was able to
transform that idea into a project, establishing the baseline for the program
that is finally taking off today: an initiative which brings us again together.
Parallel to
Luca, I have left my position at WOSM and am back in academia, trying to
actively link my teaching activities on global health, ethics and management of
international organizations with the growing interest in promoting g-local
citizenship. With Dominique Bénard, an educator who has dedicated his life to
teaching young people, we launched the Indaba-network (www.indaba-network.net): a network that uses
the tools offered by globalization to support g-local youth initiatives.
With
numerous other international actors and institutions (examples include the Interamerican Development Bank, the
International Labour Organization, UNESCO, UN-Habitat, the Millennium Development
Goals campaign, UNDP, and the World Bank), the Indaba-network supports the initiative that it recently
presented to the public.
Notwithstanding
their being politically extremely distant, the Italian Youth Minister, Giorgia
Meloni, and the President of the Puglia Region, Nichi Vendola, jointly launched
Ni, mondlokaj
civitanoj (NMC –
We, global-local citizens, www.nimociv.org) in a commendable bipartisan action, with
reciprocal recognition of their institutional work.
To
emphasize the sharing attitude and rejection of any cultural prevarication in
the exclusive search of the common good, the initiative bears a name in
Esperanto. Esperanto is a language
which can belong to anybody but is nobody's language: representing the adoption
of an “open source” communication philosophy. Reference
is made to the values expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
and in the Declaration on Social Justice, whereby achieving the Millennium
Development Goals is the concrete target.
The 1500 young people meeting in Bari in January will participate in three days of meetings, workshops and capacity building seminars on citizenship, education, environment, employment and the social economy, as well as human security and development. The Bari event will launch a process that we hope will involve a growing number of young mondlokaj civitanoj. The gathering will support young men and women who are ready to engage in their communities and in the world to build a sustainable future and a society without discrimination, a society where there will be a place for all; paraphrasing Martin Luther King a cause making them fit to live.
For more information contact : wt@nimociv.org, meeting@regione.puglia.it
and visit the NMC website : www.nimociv.org
Meeting of Indaba-Network
The first meeting of Indaba-Network took place from December 4th to 6th, 2009 in Bogève, France, near Geneva.
1. Present
- Dominique Bénard, France
- Claire Bénard, France
- Gemma Berri, Italy
- Nathalie Boyer, France
- Ferran Guimaraes, Spain
- Eduardo Missoni, Switzerland
- Sylvain Riss, France
- Alvaro José Sanmarti, Spain
- Michel Seyrat, France
- Patrick Suarez, Spain
2. Welcome and et agenda approval
- Eduardo Missoni welcome all participants. He underlines that this is the first time Indaba-Network is able to organise a real face to face meeting, until now members have worked together through the net only. He thanks those who did not hesitate to make a long road in order to participate to the meeting, This demonstrate the quality of their commitment towards the project. Some participants, living in other continents were unable to come and in the future we need to look at this problem and find solutions.
- The agenda is approved
3. The history of Indaba-Network, what we have achieved
- Indaba-Network's Origin. The project started in 2008 with some people around him and Dominique wishing to create a network of researchers, educationalists and committed young people with the aim to work together on three main topics: education, social commitment and values-based organisations. At the beginning, the idea was to create a "think tank" and share ideas and experiences with the support of a webblog completed by a cooperative space for debates and e-learning (Indaba-Academia) ; then the webblog was transformed into a website by merging with www.guidepourlaroute.net which had been developed at the same time by Dominique and Michel with the aim to provide young people with resources for personal and collective projects. The four founder members were Eduardo, Dominique, Michel Seyrat and Lara Paoletti.
- What we have achieved for the time being. along 2009, the project was developed with the creation of three main tools: the "World Citizens" programme, coming from "Guide pour la Route", Indaba-Magazine with three issues published since March 2009 and the "Toolbox", which now offers 92 handouts in French and/or in English on personal development, forming a team and starting a collective project. The site is published both in French and in English and a Spanish version is under preparation. During the last week, the site registered 1382 "page views" and 3966 "hits". In complement, a platform for cooperative work and distant learning - Indaba-Academia - was developed. For the time being, it is used for the common work of members only.
- The members. At the beginning of 2009, Dominique sent a membership form to all people who had demonstrated some interest for Indaba-Networl. For the time being 32 people have sent back the form (see the list in annex).
- Task Groups. 6 task groups have been set up in Indaba-Academia:
- Indaba-Magazine, tutored by Dominique Bénard and including : Michel Seyrat ; Marta Pieri ; Robert Lynn ; Nathalie Boyer ; Patrick Suarez. Some members of the group were actually involved.
- Website and e-learning platform. Magdi Negm ; Gino Lucrezi, Josh Kirby and Andres Herrada. Gino Lucrezi was approached to become the group tutor, but he was too much busy to accept. The group is not operational.
- Liberating Education. The group tutor is Gemma Berri. The group members are: Michel Seyrat ; Sylvain Riss, Magdi Negm ; Annamaria Magi ; Andres Herrada ; Habib Ashraf ; Jocelyne Gendrin-Guinebault ; Peter Blatch ; Dominique Bénard. Gemma was not able to play fully her role for health reasons. Only French speaking members were actually involved.
- Huamn Rights, responsible Citizenship and Political Involvement. The Group Tutor is Melissa Martins-Casagrande. The group includes : Biorn Maybury-Lewis ; Pietro Giulio Mariani ; Ferran Guimaraes ; Bernard Dumont ; Hakki Camur ; Arturo Romboli. Melissa and Biorn were active in preparing the third issue of Indaba-Magazine focused on Human Rights. The group is not yet operational.
- Human Development and Social Economy. The Group Tutor is Eduardo. The group includes Lara Paoletti ; Biorn Maybury-Lewis ; Licius Karenzo ; Hubert L'Hoste ; Bernard Dumont ; Carillo Jimenez ; Dominique Bénard et Patrick Suarez. The group is not yet operational.
- Values based organisations. The Group Tutor is Eduardo. No registered participant.
- The legal registration of Indaba-Network. Indaba-Network is being registered as a legal entity. It is agreed that this association will not cover the whole Indaba-Network but will have the mission to support the network. The Chairman is Eduardo Missoni, Michel Seyrat is the Secretary and Dominique Bénard the Treasurer.
4. The mission of Indaba-Network. Our shared vision.
- Discussion. A long discussion took place and allowed the participants to share their vision about the nature and mission of Indaba-Network.
- Ferran provided a tool to help members identify Indaba-Network's niche within other organisations having similar objectives. Several criteria were identified to set up Indaba-Network's map : Youth - Adult leaders ; Local - Global ; Professional commitment - Civic commitment ; Personal project ; Collective project.
- Today, one of the largest world problems is the transition from adolescence to adulthood with the four thresholds that youth need to pass through to achieve this process: entering he work market; becoming independent from their parents (financially self-sufficient with their own home); couple life and creating a family; citizenship and social/political involvement. Indaba-Network should help young people get over these thresholds and become able to a positive contribution to society. It is necessary to mobilise both researchers and educationalists in order to be able to develop new approaches and resources because neither the school system nor youth organiations seem to be able to address this problem efficiently.
- Ethical and values issues are essential. Society cannot be improved but through the involvement of youth as agents of social change. The participants brainstormed to list the key words which can describe the project of Indaba-Network : Education, Social Justice, Peace, Employment, Change, Entrepreneurship, Solidarity, Social Development...
- Transition from adolescence to adulthood is a time during which adult leaders must accompany young people towards the achievement of personal and collective projects. By achieving these projects young people have the opportunity to acquire the motivation and skills to become agents of social change.
- Indaba-Network is not an organisation, it is a network looking at gathering educators, researchers and young people themselves in order to develop new approaches and resources in the fields of education, social change and values-based organisations.
- Mission of Indaba-Network. At the end of that discussion, an agreement was reached on a mission statement for Indaba-Network, in French and in English:
- Développer un réseau international d'éducateurs, de chercheurs et de jeunes, pour soutenir les jeunes dans la réussite de leurs projets personnels et collectifs, les aider à trouver leur place dans la société, et agir pour la justice sociale, le développement durable et la paix aux niveaux local et mondial.
- To develop an international network of educators, researchers and youth to support young people in achieving their personal and collective projects, finding their place in society and acting at local and global level for social justice, sustainable development and peace.
- Indaba-Network Association. The Association is aimed at supporting the development of Indaba-Network particularly by collecting funds. The statutes of the Association were revised in order to reflect the mission of Indaba-Network.
6. Objectives for the future
- NMC Project : Eduardo presented the NMC project (in esperanto : Ni, Mondlokaj Civitanoj = "We Local-Global Citizens" - for more details visit www.nimociv.org). NMC objectives are very close from Indaba-Network's objectives. This is a unique opportunity to promote Indaba-Network, find allies and an international network to support our development.
- NMC organises on January 19th, 20th and 21st the 'First International Youth Meeting for a Sustainable Future' in Bari, Italy.
- Indaba-Network will participate in preparing a debate on non-formal education and will run a workshop on social entrepreneurship.
- There is a need to find people ready to work with Dominique in running the workshop in Bari (Gemma? Patrick Suarez? Melissa?)
- We must very quickly propose names of young people who would be interested in taking part in the event as delegates. Each of us should find at least two young people and send them the registration forms to be collected before the 10th of December. Copies of registration forms should be sent to Eduardo (mail@eduardomissoni.net)
- Also we need to propose experts for the various activities of the programme.
- How to improve the Website?
- Revise the first page of the website in order to make the access easier to young people looking for a support for their project and secondly to educators and researchers wishing to join in the network.
- The mission statement of Indaba-Network will be put on the first page of the site in place of current elements that will not be deleted but put on another page with a link "to know more".
- Under the mission statement, there will be two buttons: (1) "If you need any support for your project", giving access to tailored guidance, to the 'World Citizens' programme et to the 'Toolbox'; (2) "If you want to contribute to the network" giving access to various possibilities of involvement including writing articles for Indaba-Magazine, taking part in the development of 'World Citizens', writing handouts for the 'toolbox', etc.
- Nathalie Boyer proposed to revise the site in order to make it more attractive and interactive. We need to find a webmaster able to implement her proposals.
- It was decided to create a Spanish version of the website. A first page in Spanish will be put on line in January (Patrick Suarez and Dominique Bénard)
- An Italian version will also be created and a first page in Italian should be put on line in January as well (Gemma Berri, Lara Paoletti and Dominique Bénard)
- It was decided to ask Biorn and Melissa to help for English texts and to check English translations.
- Indaba-Academia: how to strengthen the cooperative work?
- The various task groups are put in reserve for the moment. The collective work will be focused on a single "forum" which will propose a common topic for a limited period. Tasks will be shared between the various members to implement the conclusions of the forum. The first topic will be 'Social Entrepreneurship' in order to prepare the workshop in Bari.
- Access to Indaba-Academia should be facilitated.
7. Developing the 'World Citizens' programme and supporting youth's projects
- Ferran is in charge of 'Communication' (helping young people promote their projects)
- Gemma will bring elements on fundraising.
- Michel will work on "Expression and Culture"
- Claire will propose resources on "Personal Development"
8. Promoting d'Indaba-Network
- Develop contacts with various youth organisations in various countries to propose Indaba-Network (Michel: Scouting in France; Nathalie; CEMEA in France; Gemma: AGESCI in Italy; Patrick, Alvaro: ASDE in Spain?)
- Prepare a special issue of Indaba-Magazine to promote the network in Bari (Michel, Nathalie, Eduardo, Ferran, Dominique).
- Revise the membership form (improve the part on skills, etc.)
- Study the project to publish the book that Michel started as a promotion tool.
9. Next meeting
We should look at the possibility to organise the next meeting in Catalunia or in Nice before the Summer (Ferran, Michel).
Indaba-Magazine: issue 3 published
The issue 3 of Indaba-Magazine is available. You can read it on line on this site (click on "Indaba-Magazine" on the menu), or download it in PDF format (at the Indaba-Magazine page). This issue is focused on Human Rights and includes articles on Pygmies of Central Africa, Youth standing against Mafia and a report on a mission to Chad with the refugees from Darfur.