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To Read the May 2010 Issue An innovation at the heart of the United Nations UNDEF Update – No. 5, 2010 INSIDE UNDEF Sub-Saharan Africa A34.1%lmost 2,000 ORGANIZATIONS Compete for UNDEF grants Asia and the Pacific 22 % IN THIS ISSUE Sub-Saharan Africa 37 % INSIDE UNDEF More than 2,000 projects vie for UNDEF funding .................................... 1 New Advisory Board appointed for a two-year term ....................................... 2 Europe 18 % Practitioner profile .............................. 2 NEWS FROM THE FIELD UNDEF-backed NGO on frontlines of Arab States The Americas Haiti relief effort ................................... 3 6 % 14 % Bulletins pour une citoyenneté informée au Togo ................................ 3 Women build jurisprudence on the ground to address AIDS in Global 3 % Tanzania ................................................... 3 Images bring civil society endeavours to life in Northern Caucasus ................................................. 4 UNDEF received 1,966 applications for its Fourth Round of Funding by the deadline of New Year’s Eve 2009. The proposals Active citizens and accountable originated from organizations in 137 countries, the vast majority local NGOs in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The Local Government examination by independent assessors is now under way, a process in which all applications will be judged on their inherent in Bangladesh ....................................... 4 quality and scored against set criteria. WORTH READING As no more than some 70 proposals can be expected to be short-listed, the assessment process is expected to be highly An UNDEF-backed tool to clean up rigorous and competitive. The various further stages of the selection process include review by the UNDEF Programme political funding................................... 5 Consultative Group -- comprising the Department of Political Affairs, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Office McFaul book advocates increased of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Development Programme, the UN Development Fund for Women and backing for UNDEF ............................. 5 the UN Office on Drugs and Crime -- and the UNDEF Advisory Board. Because of the high volume of applicants, only those IDASA And UNDEF join forces for who advance to the short-list will be contacted by UNDEF. This is expected to be in the second half of 2010, at which stage, African democracy ............................. 5 short-listed applicants will be required to compose a draft project document -- the final stage of the selection process. Gender double standard is in the In its first three Rounds of Funding, UNDEF supported 271 projects around the world - 207 projects in 99 countries, 47 liberal DNA, say NGOs at UNDEF- regional projects covering a further 28 countries, and 17 global projects. They all reflect a focus on strengthening the backed conference ........................... 5 voice of civil society, ranging from empowering marginalized groups to organizing women to claim their rights and exchanging electoral best practices. CONTRIBUTORS’ ROLL CALL ............ 6 The United Nations Democracy Fund Ph: +1 212 963 3399 E-mail: [email protected] 1 United Nations Plaza, Room DC1-1300 Fax: +1 212 963 1486 Website: http://www.un.org/democracyfund/ New York, NY 10017, USA UNDEF Update 1 UNDEF Update – No. 5, 2010 INSIDE UNDEF New Advisory Board appointed for a two-year term The Secretary-General has finalized the International Affairs, Law and Political Science composition of the new UNDEF Advisory Board at Columbia University, who stays on as Chair on Frontlines -- the body which gives him policy guidance of the Board; Kwame Anthony Appiah, and recommends funding proposals for his Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University approval. From now on, under the UNDEF (see Practitioner Profile below); and Seyla Terms of Reference revised last year, the Board Benhabib, Professor of Political Science and is appointed for a period of two years, rather Philosophy at Yale University. Mr. Amir Dossal, than one year as had been the case since Executive Director of the UN Office for UNDEF was established in 2006 as a Trust Fund Partnerships, remains an ex officio member. of the Secretary-General. As civil society forms UNDEF’s overwhelming The 2010-11 Board members include the client base, the Board includes two civil society Governments of the seven largest UNDEF organizations chosen for their expertise donors as measured by cumulative beyond a single country: Conectas Human contributions received by December 2009: the Rights, a São Paolo-based international United States, India, Japan, Qatar, Australia, umbrella organization bringing together Germany and Spain; and six other Member human rights practitioners and working for the States reflecting diverse geographical consolidation of the rule of law in the southern representation, including one representative hemisphere; and the International Peace from Small Island Developing States – all of Institute, the New York-based independent, which have demonstrated commitment to international think tank dedicated to democratic principles: Costa Rica, Ghana, Iraq, strengthening international peace and security Mauritius, Poland and Republic of Korea. institutions through policy research, convening, publishing and outreach. The Board also includes four individual members: Michael Doyle, Professor of Michael Doyle Seyla Benhabib Photo by Peter Freed Practitioner Profile UNDEF is delighted that Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah of Princeton University has accepted the Secretary-General’s invitation to serve on the UNDEF Advisory Board for 2010-11. Dr. Appiah, who grew up in Ghana and the United Kingdom, has taught philosophy and African studies at the Universities of Ghana, Cambridge, Duke, Cornell, Yale and Harvard. He joined the Princeton faculty in 2002 as Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values. He is also associated with Princeton’s Center for African American Studies and Programs in African Studies. Dr. Appiah’s published work includes In My Father’s House, which won the Herskovitz Prize for African Studies, Colour Conscious: The Political Morality of Race (with Amy Gutmann), The Ethics of Identity, and Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. As an intellectual bridging the global South and North, as well as the worlds of philosophy and of African studies, he adds a unique perspective to the work of UNDEF. “I am honoured to serve on the UNDEF Advisory Board,” said Dr. Appiah. “No work is more important today than building the social infrastructure for democratic governance around the world.” The next issue of UNDEF Update will profile Professor Seyla Benhabib. Photo by David Shankbone UNDEF Update 2 UNDEF Update – No. 5, 2010 NEWS FROM THE FIELD Haiti has more NGOs per capita “There have even been several Bulletins UNDEF-backed than any country in the world cases of rape.” except India. Since the earthquake pour une NGO struck, local NGOs have been the “The situation is terrible,” said key to the response. Elvire Eugène. “There is flooding. citoyenneté There are large numbers of on Frontlines One of them is the Association people in the street without food Femmes Soleil d’Haiti, which or drinkable water. informée was about to launch an UNDEF- of “In cooperation with the backed project for empowering au Haiti women when the catastrophe authorities, we sent 20 buses happened. Since then, it has to Port-au-Prince to repatriate Relief been engaged full-time in the people to Cap. We receive Togo them in a gym, in Effort relief and humanitarian effort to Avec le soutien du hospitals, and we help the displaced, wounded and FNUD, « Droits et have opened an vulnerable. Libertés pour Tous emergency shelter. au Togo » est une For Femmes Soleil, located in And we have initiative de trois the north coast port city of Cap helped take care Haitien, this has also meant organisations de of 4,000 bodies of la société civile addressing cases of sexual people from Cap togolaise. Ce projet violence that have occurred in Haitien who died in promeut la culture the turbulent aftermath of the Port au Prince. d é m o c r a t i q u e disaster. dans la société “Already young girls have been “It’s only through dans toute sa sexually abused and violated,” this effort to help composante sans Elvire Eugène, a human rights families that are tenir compte du lawyer and the Secretary-General affected in one way rang social de of Femmes Soleil, wrote in an or another that we manage to l’appartenance politique, religieuse, email to UNDEF on 20 January. keep going and not fall apart.” ethnique et régionale. Les partenaires du projet mettent In Tanzania, UNDEF supports a The partnership was born at en place des mécanismes de Women build ground-breaking partnership the 2006 session of the UN sensibilisation des populations du between women judges and Commission on the Status of monde rural sur le concept de la a women’s grassroot support Women, when the Society for démocratie à travers des supports jurisprudence network to develop the role of the Women and AIDS in Africa éducatifs différents tels que les judiciary in addressing HIV/AIDS. representative was struck by the publications et l’organisation de on the ground “Jurisprudence on the Ground” relevance of a presentation by causeries débats dans les lycées et brings together three partners: the International Association of collèges. Ce projet œuvre également to Address the Society for Women and AIDS Women
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