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Outsourcing Migrant Processing

New proposed rules for those seeking refuge in Australia

Last month, when Australian opposition leader Kim Beazley proposed that migrants and visitors sign an agreement to respect Australian values, a volley of debate ensued. Today, the Australian government released a discussion paper on refugee admission policy changes, which include an English-language course for refugees before they reach Australia’s shores. The discussion paper is currently up for community feedback.
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One Laptop per Child: Is Criticism Welcome?

Untouchable? OLPC, the Church, and the Red Cross

News of a tentative agreement between Libya and One Laptop per Child made headlines earlier this week. The 2B1 Children’s Machine is designed to be a low-cost, low-power laptop, targeted at developing nations. While agreements with Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria and Thailand have also been reached, India rejected participation in July. Economist Atanu Dey writes about his skepticism of OLPC and the Indian government’s reasoning in his blog.
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The Shock Effect and Public Awareness

Parody of an AIDS campaign

Finding new ways to keep media attention on pressing yet unchanging topics is not an easy task. As more public awareness campaigns seek to be controversial, more critique is dished out. In recent news, critics have decried the tastelessness in the blackface cover of The Independent and the I am an African ads.

The controversy used to elbow for the public’s attention can obscure the original intent. One LA Times journalist confused a Doctors Without Borders campaign in Paris, which distributed tents to homeless people, with tourists camping out.

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Ban on Child Labour in India Comes Into Force Today

Thousands of children work in roadside food stalls (bbc)

A new law that bans the employment of children under 14 in residences and the hospitality sectors comes into force today in India. It also prevents children from working in teashops, restaurants, spas, hotels, resorts and other recreational centres. Officials say the ban on employing children in homes and roadside food stalls will affect 255,000 children. But activists say these numbers could be as high as 20 million and point out that the most widespread forms of child labour in India continue to be allowed.
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Upgrading International Development, Part II

A Talk with Ethan Zuckerman, Global Voices Online Co-founder, Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law

In part two of the interview, Ethan shares his views on conquering digital divides, activism and technology, and how improvements in technology might affect us in the future. You can read the first part of the interview here.
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How can we use technology to turn apathy into action?

I think the only force that combats apathy is empathy. Until you care about a situation in another part of the world, it’s very hard to decide to pay attention to that situation and even harder to decide to act.

To get people to care across cultural, language and geographic barriers requires some sort of exposure. I knew very little about Africa and cared very little until I lived in Ghana as a student in 1993. Coming back to the US, I was suddenly interested in African politics because there were a lot of people in Ghana I cared deeply for. This discovery is what led me to form Geekcorps - I wanted to give other geeks the chance to get exposed to different parts of the world, build interpersonal ties and work on solutions to tough technical problems.

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Susu Collectors: Microfinance in Ghanaian Culture

Connecting informal and formal financial services

While microfinancing is being touted as the new wave of aiding developing countries, informal financial structures on a micro-scale aren’t that new at all. At Timbuktu Chronicles, there’s an example of institutional microfinance combining with traditional Ghanaian financial services, the Susu collectors.

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Regulating What We Eat

NYC Board of Health proposes regulating trans fats in restaurants

As obesity and diabetes statistics are climbing steadily in the U.S., health experts are caught in between public policy makers and the food industry. The numbers have been debated and revised without any viable public health strategies developing. Yesterday, the New York City Board of Health voted to propose regulating the maximum amount of trans fats used in NYC restaurants. Stepping out of the obesity debate, the regulation is focused on reducing heart disease.

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BILL JOY on our Innovation Acceleration

100 answers from Free Voices like Bill Joy now avaiable

Among the 100 questions that Bill Joy answered at the Table of Free Voices were 13 questions about “Innovation Acceleration: Science, Technology and the Future.” Read what the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Green Technology investor, and the man Fortune magazine calls the “Edison of the Internet” has to say about the social impact of new media, local food, and why companies should insure against genetic catastrophes. Here are some (exclusive) transcribed excerpts of Joy’s answers from the “Innovation Acceleration” question session from the Table of Free Voices. Like all content from the Table, Joy’s answers are Copyleft.
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Brian J. Weller’s MIND-MAPS

The array of extraordinary people, ideas and exchanges all around me is overwhelming. An example: over lunch, I was lucky enough to meet Brian J. Weller and take a look at his extraordinary mind-maps, ingenious resources for fostering a well thought-out response to these challenging questions.
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Purge of Liberal Academics in Iran and… USA?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeks to revive Islamic radicalism

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has just called for the expulsion of all professors from Iranian universities who do not submit to the fundamentalist doctrines that underlay the Iranian revolution of 1979. In what some analysts interpreted as the start of a clampdown, Ahmadinejad derided secular lecturers as a fifth column of Western colonialism which he said was seeking to expand into Iran.
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Reinventing School Lunch

Let's get the grease out of school lunches

In relation to my ASK YOURSELF Blog Post from August 28, ‘Where can I find open-source food?’ I came across an article by Micheal Ableman from the Center for EcoLiteracy on the Alternet site: “Imagine a world where students could plant, harvest and cultivate the foods they eat in their school cafeterias.” Here are some highlights from the article:
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ASK YOURSELF: “Is it irresponsible for somebody like me, who isn’t really educated in matters of politics, to vote?”

This question was donated to us on the World Question Tour and is available on our website in video format. Jordan Copeland from London, who is asking the question, regards himself as politically uninformed due to lack of interest. What do you think? Should people be able to answer certain criteria before they go to the polls? what can be done to better educate people about politics? Please leave your thoughts and comments in the field below.

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Single-Sex Ed: Policy, Research and Charity

The debate on single-sex schooling continues (Photo:Photocase)

The recent PR blitz around Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls is characteristically uncritical, after the announcement of the first 75 South African girls selected for enrollment. Despite general praise, single-sex schooling remains hotly debated in the educational field, a discussion touching on elitism, faltering public education, segregation and discrimination.
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Preserving History with Public Art

Volunteers at the University of Mississippi Museum restored gravestones in rural communities. (Photo: Photocase)

Huge art projects like wrappings or anonymous snarky graffiti, posters and stickers are an integral part of the urban landscape. Limited financing or a new coat of paint gives this kind of public art an ephemeral “here today, gone tomorrow” quality. Lacking the grand scale, some public art integrates into its environment, engaging community members in dialogue and creating a lasting change of perspective.
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ASK YOURSELF: “Where can I buy open-source food?”

This question was donated by Marco Steel, 28, of Berlin, Antigua and Barbuda. It reminded me of the recent documentary ‘We Feed the World’ by Austrian filmmaker Erwin Wagenhofer, which offered some unappetizing answers to the question ‘what do we know about the food on our plates?’. Consumer Awareness is the key.
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Defining Ecotourism: Is the Flight Included?

The Bishop of London calls flying on holiday a symptom of sin.

On the Idealist blog, there’s a recent link to a story on World Changing about an ecotourism project in Patagonia, Chile, called Dos Margaritas. While the profile highlights a successful project, the comments tell a larger story about the ecotourism concept. World Changing readers replied to the post concerned about the vague definition of “ecotourism” and the lack of standardization and certification for ecotravel companies.
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Law Clinics: Social Justice or Political Agenda?

Earlier this week, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) announced the opening of South Africa’s first law clinic for media freedom and access to information. Citing growing restrictions on public protest and marches, FXI is hoping to counter the problem with legal aid relating to issues such as “gagging” orders and the protection of journalistic sources.
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I.T. Takes a Village

Villagers at Hansdehar © SmartVillages.Org 2006

The Indian village of Hansdehar has launched itself onto the net. You can read all about the villagers, the history, tourist opportunities and the problems of day to day life at SmartVillages.Org. There are photos too, and lists of the number of registered pensioners as well as detailed information on the sewage system. It’s the first featured village chosen, and the site owners promise that more will be online soon.
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Making Moves under 30: Youth Activism

Entering “youth” into a mainstream media site’s search engine is bound to produce a list of results revealing the myriad of problems facing youth worldwide. Youth activism, however, is often missing or hidden as “extra-curriculars” for the university bound. Our Time is Now: Young People Changing the World highlights thirty young men and women working for social change.
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Investing: Can Money Grow on Trees?

An increasing trend in socially responsible investing (Photo: Photocase)

A Worldwatch Institute feature reports on a new study about environmental and social reporting practices in the business world. The research by the Social Investment Research Analysis Network (SIRAN) shows a trend towards objective, standardized reporting within the S&P 100. Currently, 79 out of the 100 blue-chip companies have a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) website, an increase in 34 percent from the previous year.
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Mind the Gap

Prince Harry spent part of his gap year helping out in Lesotho © BBC 2004

How are you planning to spend your ‘gap year’ between school and university? Building solar cookers in Tanzania or teaching English to five year-olds in a remote corner of Nepal? What are you hoping to get out of it, and what good do you really think you’ll do? Maybe the Tanzanian locals prefer to cook over a traditional dung fire, and maybe those Nepali kids will never need to know how to spell the colors of the rainbow. The UK-based organisation Voluntary Service Overseas is trying to shake up the concept, calling gap years “colonial and outdated”.
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A New Era for Women in Rwanda

Staff at the Rwanda Women's Network © Rwanda Women Network 2006

Feministing find reasons to be cheerful in this article from the Seattle Times about the changing status of women in Rwanda. Since the devastating genocide which left the country with a 70% female population, Rwanda has out-paced Sweden and Norway as the nation with the highest percentage of female legislators in the world. 48% of MPs are women, as are 50% of the judges in the legal system, the head of the supreme court and half of Rwanda’s college graduates.

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So You Think You Can Do Better? Computer Games Get Serious

A screengrab from Peacemaker, © www.peacemakergame.com

Do you think you could sort out the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Now’s your chance to find out. Developers at Carnegie Mellon University in the USA have come up with Peacemaker, an interactive game based on the conflict in Gaza.
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Managing the World’s Water Resources

(Photo: Stockholm International Water Institute)

The successful WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Initiative dramatized the global water crisis by adapting a familiar nursery rhyme.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water:
After a drink of the water,
Jack died of cholera
and Jill from amoebic dysentery.

The problems of managing the world’s water resources and providing clean water will be revisited from August 20-26 during the World Water Week 2006 conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Technology that Benefits Humanity

Kinkajou LED Projector (Design That Matters, Inc.)

When browsing the latest high-tech products on the market, it’s clear that necessity is no longer the mother of invention. Developing innovative products which are desperately needed to solve social problems is a difficult task, from financing research to pricing. In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, John Voelcker profiles 10 social entrepreneurs who received awards for “technology benefiting humanity” from the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California (idealist.org).
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features

Upgrading International Development, Part II

Upgrading International Development

Fighting Corruption: Bribe Payers Index 2006

Recycle Your Cell-Phone, Save a Gorilla

A Look Behind the Prison Walls

The Homeless World Cup 2006

Reach Out and Finance Someone

Arundhati Roy asks herself: What form of resistance is effective and acceptable?

Iranian Bloggers Joined by President Ahmadinejad

Creating A New Universe

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Education

Outsourcing Migrant Processing

One Laptop per Child: Is Criticism Welcome?

The Shock Effect and Public Awareness

Ban on Child Labour in India Comes Into Force Today

Upgrading International Development, Part II

Susu Collectors: Microfinance in Ghanaian Culture

Regulating What We Eat

BILL JOY on our Innovation Acceleration

Brian J. Weller’s MIND-MAPS

Purge of Liberal Academics in Iran and… USA?

Reinventing School Lunch

ASK YOURSELF: “Is it irresponsible for somebody like me, who isn’t really educated in matters of politics, to vote?”

Single-Sex Ed: Policy, Research and Charity

Preserving History with Public Art

ASK YOURSELF: “Where can I buy open-source food?”

Defining Ecotourism: Is the Flight Included?

Law Clinics: Social Justice or Political Agenda?

I.T. Takes a Village

Making Moves under 30: Youth Activism

Investing: Can Money Grow on Trees?

Mind the Gap

A New Era for Women in Rwanda

So You Think You Can Do Better? Computer Games Get Serious

Managing the World’s Water Resources

Technology that Benefits Humanity