Placing first things first at Rio-De Janeiro 2012...

Saving agriculture in the context of climate change should be at the helm of the discussion at Rio 2012.

On the other hand parties should prioritise reduction in carbon dioxide emissions on global level. However, many countries of the world are reluctant to commit to major carbon cuts because they fear this will have seriously negative economic impact. Currently fossil fuels when burn produce carbon emissions so the quicker fossil fuels gets replaced with renewable energy sources the better. A rapid transition to clean renewable energy would be one of the strategies to reduce carbon emissions on global level

What are the cons of renewable energy sources? Renewable energy sources are more expensive than fossil fuels especially in the developing countries. Most developing countries depend so much on coal which emits more carbon.

Parties should also work on stopping deforestation. Forests absorb large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Whatever the debate may be forest protection from deforestation and afforest ration programmes should also be at the heart of the discussion.

At the heart of discussions, parties should consider these priorities. Strategise on saving the earth and protecting it for the future.

By James Gondwe, jamesgondwe20@yahoo.com

 

 

NAYD - Climate Change Information: Protect for the Future

NAYD - Climate Change Information: Protect for the Future: Pl acing first things first at COY/COP17 in Durban South Africa By James Gondwe, jamesgondwe20@yahoo.com The Millennium Development Goals (...

NAYD - Climate Change Information: Climate Revolution

NAYD - Climate Change Information: Climate Revolution:

Climate Revolution

Together we are the change in positive sense.
Climate did change, the demand from EARTH to us is delivered, now it is up to ALL of us through cooperation to return the balance.


Despite two decades of policy discussions since the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio, policymakers have failed to apply the recommendations outlined in its comprehensive implementation plan, Agenda 21. In the build up to the upcoming Rio+20 summit, many civil society groups remain deeply sceptical about the possibility of creating a ‘green economy’ without first rethinking some of the widely accepted fundamentals of economic policy.


Of these, the status of economic growth as a panacea for progress and prosperity has been a major point of contention between campaigners and policymakers for decades, and one that requires urgent resolution if ‘sustainable development’ is to become a practical reality in the 21st Century.
It is widely accepted that growth can be extremely beneficial when its proceeds are effectively redistributed, particularly in relation to poverty reduction. But the growth of the global economy is dependent on rates of resource consumption and waste that the planet cannot sustain. Humanity is consuming natural resources and generating destructive externalities 40 percent faster than nature can replace them or reabsorb the resulting waste. Any attempts to decouple this excessive throughput of resources from economic growth are likely to be far outweighed by increases in population and aggregate levels of consumption.


Just as challenging are the unequal power structures that the pursuit of growth engenders, and the many detrimental consequences of prioritising growth and consumerism before equity and other pressing social concerns. Apart from the ongoing failure to tackle climate change and resource depletion, one of the most problematic outcomes of pursuing growth has been decades of deregulation. The global banking crisis of 2008 was an inevitable consequence of such policies, and one that continues to have a devastating impact on the poor and vulnerable.
Whilst the profit margins of large corporations and the income of high-net-worth individuals continued to soar after the crisis, an estimated 100 million people were pushed further into poverty in 2009 and a record number of people suffered from hunger. Not long afterwards, it became painfully apparent that the multi-trillion dollar bank bailouts had compromised public finances in many European countries, often with dire implications for employment and government spending on public services.
The costs to society and democracy of maintaining a ‘light touch’ approach to regulating markets are also significant. The pursuit of growth requires an endless stream of consumers to buy products from a relatively small group of very large corporations. To facilitate this process, corporate advertising is ever-present and increasingly intrusive, promoting materialistic desires that shape attitudes and encourage overconsumption, funded by spiralling levels of personal debt. Corporate profitability is further enhanced by building obsolescence and disposability into consumer products, and by encouraging unnecessary waste which places additional pressure on the natural world and its dwindling resources.


Multinational corporations have benefited most from the excessive commercialisation of society, many of which are now larger and more powerful than sovereign states. Their financial leverage and political influence is perhaps the single most persistent obstacle to reversing globalised patterns of unsustainable consumption and overproduction, and their lobbying power over national and global governance has helped maintain the status quo. Unless this trend is reversed it will be difficult, if not impossible, for governments to pursue a more environmentally and socially sustainable agenda.


Global Reform
The aggressive pursuit of economic growth by governments can ultimately hinder progress on implementing Agenda 21. Creating a ‘green economy’ means more than investing in green technologies and renewable energy, and requires addressing the more fundamental issue of unequal power relations that drive economies, shape public policy and influence societies.
An important first step in creating a more equitable and sustainable world is to substitute the imperative for economic growth with more socially and environmentally sound policy objectives. These should include securing basic human needs for all; significantly reducing carbon emissions; enabling greater civic participation in decision-making at the local, national and global level; strictly regulating the activities and influence of multinational corporations; promoting agroecological food production; stimulating local economies; and shifting consumption patterns to emphasise sufficiency, re-use and maintenance.


All of these policies demand greater economic sharing – the redistribution of economic wealth and power downwards to enable public and environmental concerns to take priority over corporate interests. Stressing the need for governments to prioritise economic sharing and deemphasise growth at the 2012 Earth Summit can help articulate the principles that should inform environmental and development policy over the coming decade. Rio+20 might be one of the few remaining opportunities for policymakers to respond to the growing demands of civil society, and to finally end decades of sluggishness in the pursuit of ‘business as usual’.

http://climate.nayd.org/2012/01/climate-revolution.html#more

7 BILLION WORLD POPULATION IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

7 Billion Campaign Youth Actions Paper

On the 31^st of October 2011, the global population reached a mark of 7 billion and in Nigeria, about 167 million.  This has huge implications on sustainability, urbanization, access to health care services and youth empowerment considering that a third of Nigeria’s population is made up of young people ages 10 -25 years old.

With a population of 167 million people and in a world of 7 billion, how do the government and young people access their roles and responsibilities in making sure collaborative efforts are geared towards tackling emerging social problems considering the unique demographic dynamics.

Themed “Nigeria Demographics: Opportunities and Challenges,” UNFPA in collaboration with Education as a Vaccine (EVA), Save the Children Nigeria and the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) brought together young leaders from the six geographical zone of Nigeria to brainstorm on different developmental challenges and opportunities that exist.

The core issues that were discussed include- Education, Health, Environment/Climate Change, Unemployment and ICT. Different challenges facing this generation were raised, with outlined responsibilities youth and government can tackle these issues.

EDUCATION

Challenges

·         Low access to education particularly for the girl child and marginalized youths such as Young people in prison, rehab centers, young people with disabilities and almajiris

·         Low quality of education at all levels

·         Low enforcement of policies relating to education

Recommendations to Government/Policy makers

·         Government should create more vocational opportunities for alternative education such as training centers

·         Government should review and update national  education policy framework so that the content of the policies can be relevant to present day social needs of young people

·         Government should ensure meaningful youth participation in reviewing National Education Policies

·         Government should also increase budgetary allocation by 30% in order to meet the educational needs of the Nigerian youth population

·         Government should prioritize female education by giving incentives for girl-child education

Youth Actions

·         Young people should encourage volunteering in rural areas to implement community projects in rural areas, create after school programs, and embrace mentorship

·         Build an online directory as well as hard copy of existing opportunities of where and how to volunteer locally

·         Young people should advocate that youth schooling abroad should come home and share their skills for at least two-years, especially those studying abroad on government scholarship

ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Challenges

•       Climate change and environmental degradation causes different health hazard e.g. cancer

•       It also contributes to low productivity & food insecurity

•       Increase in the rate of migration

•       Socio-economic life is affected e.g. leisure, education

Recommendation to Government/Policy makers

•       Provide more Education and create awareness to address environmental issues

•       Develop policy framework on Sanitation/Habitation

•       Support youth-led environmental projects

•       Promote alternative and renewable energy

•       Mainstreaming youth into policy and decision making processes

•       Promote Green economy & Sustainable development

Youth Actions

•       Peer mentoring

•       Develop community projects on tree planting and nurturing of trees

•       Work with Government and other stakeholders to implement policy and projects

•       Promote indigenous knowledge and use of local technology that are energy efficient

•       Provide incentives and alternative source of livelihood to local communities especially those that are fully dependent on natural resources .e.g. trees

HEALTH

Challenges

• Sexual and reproductive health challenges like prevalence of STIs/HIV/AIDS, contraceptive usage, teenage/unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, early childbearing, negative cultural practices like FGM, early marriage, etc.
• The problem of the current NHIS scheme of the federal government not covering unemployed youths many of whom cannot afford high cost of health services
• Negative cultural/traditional/religious beliefs & values that do not promote the sexual and reproductive health and rights of youths especially female youths such as issues of early marriage, denial of decision-making rights on the number and spacing of their children, lack of access to contraceptive usage, etc.

Recommendation to Government/Policy makers

• Provision of youth friendly health services/centres across the country where young people can have their special needs on sexual and reproductive health issues met
• Ensuring the implementation of the national family life, HIV/AIDS education curriculum in all primary and secondary schools across the country and putting a mechanism in place to  monitor implementation in urban and grassroots
• Go beyond the NHIS scheme to have a health care plan that is targeted at youths especially the unemployed

Youth Actions

—  Advocacy activities by young people to influence health policies through gathering petitions and at the same time, getting feedback from the people to policy makers

—  Voluntary activism in health related services such as HIV counseling and testing, health sensitization and promotion activities, etc.

—  Organise sensitization programmes in our various organisations targeted especially to the grassroots to debunk negative cultural and religious beliefs that hinder young people from accessing adequate health care services especially with regards to their sexual and reproductive health.

ICT

Challenges

·         Low funding

·         Poor Infrastructure – electricity, optic fibre cables, personnel

·         Lack of access to ICT tools (Schools/out – of schools)

·         There is no adequate access to ICT training opportunities in local regions

·         There is a high rate of gender imbalance in access to ICT training opportunities

Recommendation to Government/Policy makers

·         Policy strengthening/Passing the ICT cyber crime bill

·         Providing infrastructure/ maintenance

·         Establishment of ICT incubation centres (e.g Silicon Valley)

·         Mainstreaming ICTs in Youth development Centres-  Nationally

·         Need driven effective training to capture people at the grass root and the disabled  (need assessment before implementing projects)

Youth Actions

·         Develop interest in ICT education

·         Use social networks positively

·         Develop electronic applications to solve challenges ( health, education, elections/governance, crime)

·         Capacity building for our peers

·         Need driven effective training to capture people at the grass root and the disabled

EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

CHALLENGES

·         Poor dissemination of information on Government’s employment creation strategies and policies  

·         Inadequate commitment by the Government towards the enforcement of local content laws that are meant to support local initiatives and boost domestic production.                                                                                                                     

·         Failure of the education system to produce relevant resources for market needs.

·         Agriculture potentially remains the highest youth employment sector of the economy but has long been abandoned due to many factors ranging from government effort to oil diversity to lack of resources for agricultural development.

Recommendation to Government/Policy makers

• Establishment of information dissemination agencies in hinterlands and rural areas.
• Revive and establish “one-stop youth incubation and development centers” with research and development mandate in every state and to promote entrepreneurship/business plan competitions as an on-going exercise.

·         A specific strategy on political will to ensure the enforcement of every effort impacting on employment and entrepreneurship.

·          Agriculture should be run with creative incentives and more attractive credit (and other resources e.g. Access to land) facilities.

Youth Actions

·         Involvement of Youth organizations/groups in the following areas:

(i)           More advocacy for government support towards creating enabling environment for employment and entrepreneurship efforts

(ii)          More monitoring, assessment and evaluation activities on government efforts

(iii)        More efforts towards peer capacity building/training efforts for employability skills and enterprise development (in collaboration with government, Development Partners and private sector organizations)

Road-Map to Rio de Janeiro

On 20th - 22nd, June 2012, the UNCSD
will take place in Rio de Janeiro. Also
referred to as the Rio+20 or the Earth
Summit 2012 due to the initial conference
held in Rio in 1992, the objectives of the
Summit are: to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development;
to assess progress towards internationally
agreed goals on sustainable development
and to address new and emerging
challenges. The Summit will also focus on
two specific themes: a green economy
in the context of poverty eradication and
sustainable development, and an
institutional framework for sustainable
development. The full text of Resolution A/RES/64/236, which endorsed the
Summit is available here.


Source-     /wycrio2012.org/

2012 Scholarships – Africa

Cranfield is delighted to announce the launch of the 2012 Scholarships. To celebrate the international spirit of the upcoming Olympics and ensure this can continue to be reflected within our own campus we have created 20 x £12K brand new international scholarships. These will be offered to 20 talented students from all of the world’s 5 continents.
The 2012 Scholarships are made possible thanks to the philanthropic support that the School of Management’s Annual Fund has received over the past year from our alumni.
If you would like to be considered for one of our scholarships, please indicate so in the application form, stating why you think you should receive an award.

2012 Scholarships – Africa

These awards are open to self-funded South African, Moroccan, Egyptian and Nigerian applicants.
Course: Full-time MBA
Value: £12,000 towards the tuition fees

Number of awards: 4

Scholarship details: These awards are open to self-funded South African, Moroccan, Egyptian and Nigerian applicants.

Deadline for Application: 15 April 2012
The selection criteria for the scholarships will be based on both:

• Strength of the application: an applicant’s achievements, academic credentials and professional track record.
• The interviewer’s report:  an assessment of the applicant’s communication and interpersonal skills, leadership and/or entrepreneurial potential as well as the candidate’s likely contribution to the professional and cultural make-up of the cohort and overall experience of the MBA class.

If you would like to be considered for one of our scholarships, please indicate so in the application form, stating why you think you should receive the award.

Source: http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/

Zeitgeist ‘Young Minds’

 

The 2012 edition of the Zeitgeist ‘Young Minds’, a competition to find 10 pioneers, change-makers and leaders of tomorrow aged 18 – 24, across Europe, Middle East and Africa* is now open. The winners will take their place alongside the greatest visionaries of today at Google Zeitgeist 2012 near London on May 20th – 22nd 2012.

 From January 25th until March 19th 2012, the search will be on to find 10 exceptional, motivated and inspiring 18-24 year-old from across EMEA*, who are making a positive impact in the world through science, the arts, education, innovation or inspiration. To apply: http://afterschoolpmp.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/call-for-entries2012-zeitgeist-young-minds-competition/

 

BE PART OF IT...

Flour Mills Nigeria PLC is recruiting fresh graduates for its 2012 Graduate Trainee Programme!

Position: GRADUATE TRAINEE

Job Reference: GT 12

Department: Manpower Development



Graduate Trainee Scheme

The programme is a twenty-month packaged intensive training and development initiative that support the trainees in hands-on roles and responsibilities. Training is broad based within our core businesses and functions and delivered through class work, special projects, web learning, executive mentoring and exposure to business units operations and functional areas.

Successful Trainees will be quickly integrated into the business and equipped with business, managerial and professional competencies to pursue a rewarding career and position themselves for leadership roles in the business.



Requirements

You must be result oriented, relish responsibility with an enthusiastic approach to learning and self improvement. You must be a good team player with high energy levels and good appetite for fast paced challenging assignments. You must possess good communication and organisation skills, have good initiative and be capable of independent thoughts.



The programme is a twenty-month packaged intensive training and development initiative that support the trainees in hands-on roles and responsibilities. Training is broad based within our core businesses and functions and delivered through class work, special projects, web learning, executive mentoring and exposure to business units operations and functional areas.

Successful Trainees will be quickly integrated into the business and equipped with business, managerial and professional competencies to pursue a rewarding career and position themselves for leadership roles in the business



Qualification:

1st degree (minimum 2nd class lower division) obtained full time from a recognized University not earlier than 2009.

5 O’ level credits at one sitting including English Language and Mathematics. Copied from: www.hotnigerianjobs.com

Applicants should have completed NYSC by March end

How to apply, Click : http://afterschoolpmp.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/call-for-applications-flour-mills-nigeria-graduate-trainee-scheme/




Esther Eshiet

Programmes Officer

EXCLUSIVE PROJECT

UNICEF USA: Email - Register to Volunteer with the UNICEF Tap Project

http://inside.unicefusa.org/site/Message...

Since 1947, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF has supported the work of UNICEF by fundraising for its programs and increasing public awareness of the challenges facing the world's children. As the oldest of 37 national committees for UNICEF worldwide, the U.S. Fund is part of a global effort to advance human…

BE PART OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Register Here for the Earth Hour Walk. Be the First of the 1,000 participants in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan.

BE THE CHANGE YOU DESIRE...

APPLY FOR THE 2012 YOUTHACTIONNET GLOBAL FELLOWSHIP!

Applications are due by: March 12, 2012 at 11:59PM EST

Eligibility 
• Open to all young people, ages 18-29 as of October 7, 2012
• Applicants must be the founder/co-founder of an existing organization, or a project within an organization, with a demonstrated one year track record of leading societal change
• Proficiency in English is required; applications must be submitted in English
• Applicants must attend the full retreat (all expenses paid) to take place in the second week of October 2012

Key Dates

Applications for the 2012 Fellowship program are due by March 12, 2012 at 11:59 PM EST

All applicants will be contacted by March 28, 2012 regarding the status of their application.

Finalists will be notified by May 22, 2012.

 The 2012 retreat will take place within in the second week of October 2012 in Turkey. 

IMPORTANT: Click here to read application instructions BEFORE applying!

Click here to apply online.

Click here to download the Word application.

While online submissions are preferred, applicants may email completed application forms to: yan@iyfnet.org

For questions and comments, contact yan@iyfnet.org

BE A PART OF IT...

Who is the most outstanding young African woman leader you know? Help us find her!

Moremi Initiative for Women’s Leadership in Africa (Moremi Initiative) is pleased to announce its call for applications for the 2012 Moremi Leadership Empowerment and Development (MILEAD) Fellows Program- to identify Africa’s most promising young women leaders.

The MILEAD Fellows Program is a one-year leadership development program designed to identify, develop and promote emerging young African Women leaders to attain and succeed in leadership in their community and Africa as a whole. The program targets dynamic young women interested in developing transformational leadership skills that help them tackle issues affecting women in their communities and society as a whole- by equipping them with the world class knowledge, skills, values and networks they need to succeed as 21st century women leaders. Applications are welcome from young African women living in Africa and the Diaspora.

The MILEAD Fellowship will be awarded to 25 outstanding young women with exceptional qualities who have exhibited leadership potential in their community, organization, and/or profession. To be eligible for the one-year program, an applicant must be African, living on the continent or in the Diaspora; agree to participate in all required activities related to MILEA- including a three-week residential Summer Institute in Ghana; and commit to a community change project. Applicant must be between 19 – 25 years of age. Specific requirements of the program and related dates are outlined in the application package. Please review program and application guidelines carefully, before completing your application.

 Click here to download the application form: http://afterschoolpmp.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/call-for-applicationsmoremi-initiative-fellowship-for-young-women-in-africa/