Oxfam International Youth Partnerships

Voice Newsletter

March 2009

ABOUT

Oxfam's International Youth Partnerships (OIYP) Voice is the newsletter

of OIYP Action Partners worldwide.

Also published at http://www.oiyp.oxfam.org

Email us at: iypvoice@oxfam.org.au

Una versión espanol de este boletin estará disponible dentro de diez

dias. Si les gustaria recibir una copia, por favor envien un correo al
redactor jefe a iypvoice@oxfam.org.au

CONTENTS

Focus
Letter from the Editor

I. Action Partner News Laura Hopps, North

America/Nicaragua; Husna Hussein, Sri Lanka; Rebecca Lily
Solomon, Vanuatu and Djamila Ousmane Tinaou, Niger

II. Story of the Month Advocacy Up Close by

Shubhi Dwivedi, India.

III March Feature About Human Rights,

their defenders and our partner Gustavo Ulcué By Alejandra Gaviria
Reyes, Colombia/Argentina and Daniel Zapico, Spain

IV. Resources Information about

resources to help with your Action Partner work

V. Endnote An inspiring thought to

close with this month

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FOCUS

Welcome to the March issue of OIYP Voice Newsletter.

Some of our 2007 Action Partners have been exploring Human Rights
and Advocacy over the past few months in an online forum. This is
one of the ways that OIYP Action Partners get together in a shared
space and talk about things that matter to them. It is where they
share about their work, their lives and their opinions about the Human
Rights systems. They are able to do this not just when meeting face to
face, but are able to provide support to each other through the online
forum and various online social network sites. In some ways they are
even more effective than face to face work, as it allows people to be
present in multiple spaces as they support each other and undertake
new learning. While it may seem just to be words appearing on a
computer screen, transmitted through phone lines and satellites these
words bring new ways to see the world, and hope to many.

We wanted to bring a few of these words to you – as they are

inspiring, interesting and encouraging. The feature article this month
invites us to ask ourselves about the power of words and the
implications in many parts of the world of sharing these words – the
authors ask ‘Why have they tried to assassinate a human rights
supporter who only uses words?’ In our story of the month, Shubhi
from India talks about how she uses media and social networks within
India as advocacy tools to bring an end to domestic violence in her
community. She brings with her story the hopeful words that change
can happen; bringing freedom from violence.

Voice is the newsletter of OIYP Action Partners everywhere – it is your

forum where you can share your stories, challenges you face in your
work, ask for help or even share some resources - you can even help
edit an edition of Voice with Oxfam Staff. If you would like to
contribute to Voice Newsletter - Please send your story to Mary at
maryj@oxfam.org.au or email iypvoice@oxfam.org.au

I. ACTION PARTNER NEWS

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Read about the work of Action Partners around the world.

Sharing stories of work on the ground. Want to share your story? Email
it to Mary at maryj@oxfam.org.au or iypvoice@oxfam.org.au.

Laura Hopps, 2007 Action Partner, United States/Nicaragua

My name is Laura Hopps, and I'm from the U.S. but I've been living for
the past year and a half in Managua, Nicaragua starting a volunteer
program called Friends of Batahola Volunteers at the Centro Cultural
Batahola Norte. The Cultural Centre focuses on empowerment of
women and youth, helping people access education and skills to build
a dignified life. We have 25 courses like cooking, sewing, natural
medicine, micro-business start-up and administration, basic
accounting, typing, computer science, handicrafts, and others. The
goal of the volunteer program is to promote cross-cultural cooperation
and learning. Volunteers have the opportunity to learn from the
community and collaborate in grassroots change, and also to educate
people in the U.S. about the reality of Nicaragua, a country that was
devastated in the 80s by U.S. military intervention.

The Cultural Centre is an exciting place to work. It has a dynamic arts

program with music lessons in things like guitar, piano, base, trumpet,
marimba, flute. We have a choir and an orchestra as well, and classes
in painting and drawing, dance (latin dance as well as folklore), and
theatre. There's a library that serves over 1,000 kids each week who
come to study, for tutoring, and other activities. There's also a
scholarship program for 135 youth in the community to study in
primary and secondary school, and university.

In addition to an English class for adults, I'm working on a program in

Violence Prevention and Promoting the Right to Live Without Violence,
where we will train the Center's staff to be aware of the situation of
violence (especially intrafamily violence, which is the most common
here) and ways to listen to survivors and give them options about
where to go for help. I also am working in the formation of a youth
group called Movimento Nuevo Amanecer, and we have meetings
every other week to focus on educating ourselves on issues in the
community and to have fun activities like have a dance or yoga class.
One thing we're doing now is collecting school supplies for a rural
school in the mountains, where we'll visit during the vacation in April
to have an interchange with other young people.

Before I was in Nicaragua I was studying literature (with a focus on

creative writing), and international studies) at university in the US. I
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worked as a sexual assault advocate, to accompany survivors of rape
and help them access medical, legal, and psychological support
networks. I also worked as a translator in cases of undocumented
workers (mostly immigrants from Central America) to try to help them
get visas.

It's been amazing to be part of the AP community and to get to know

other activists from around the world. I've been inspired by all of you
and what you are doing in your communities!!

You can see more about the community where I work below:
http://bataholavolunteers.blogspot.com/

Paz,

Laura Hopps

Husna Hussain, 2007 Action Partner, Sri Lanka

My name is Fathima Husna, and I’m from Sri Lanka, a lovely island
situated in the South Asia. It's a beautiful island with hospitable
people. What I like most about my country is indeed its natural beauty.
My community is multicultural and that is what I like most about my
community. I am attached to the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament and Eco-
Care, an environmental organisation in my community.

At present, the armed conflict which has been going on between the
Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil rebellion group in the Northern
Sri Lanka for the past two decades has reached a crucial position
which has largely grabbed the attention of the world community, due
to the fact that the innocent civilians have got caught to the on going
fighting!! The innocent civilians who are caught in this fighting are
deprived of many of their rights, and it has become one of the prime
responsibilities of the SL Government to protect them. The
international media organisations that report about these sufferings
have considerably built awareness of this issue, and most importantly
it urges the government to ensure that the people's rights are
protected. I see international media reports as one of the powerful
tools that work towards pressurising the government to give more
care for these Internally Displaced People.

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In my opinion, media is indeed a powerful tool when building pressure
around the target audience. In order to gain wider public support for a
Human Right related issue, I believe that "Awareness Raising
Campaigns" act as powerful tools.

Rebecca Lily Solomon, Vanuatu

My name is Rebecca Lily Solomon...my name was given to me straight

after birth from my aunty...it is part of our traditionally way of naming
a new born baby in my community. Aunties and uncles are the one
giving names to children...my custom name is Leimaram meaning
Light....

Mangorise awoh in my language it says good morning....my language

is call Namakira it is one of the 100 languages in my country... I have
attended a training on culture identity and we had to do some
research and I found out that in my island Buninga has its own
language called Naworantan which is unique but the sad thing we lost
that language when our ancestors a travelling from Efate to Buninga
and now using the Namakira language. But I am still proud of who I
am because of my identity.

I come from Buninga a small island with a population of not more then
500 people. It is in the central part of Vanuatu and it is one of the
smaller islands in the shepherds Shefa province. Vanuatu has 81
islands and 6 provinces. My community is called Makiraliu...something
I love about my country is the food and the smiling faces and the
helpful people and I just love my island because it is small and we
have a lot of sea foods and nuts etc...

I work for World Vision Vanuatu under a project call Education for
Everyone...I am a literacy trainer help giving second change to people
to learn how to read and write. I am also a child’s right trainer giving
out information to communities about the rights of their children and
how to protect them...

Djamila Ousmane Tinaou, Niger

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I’m Djamila, it is an Arabic name (though I’m not arab) and it means….
beautiful or nice...

I’m from the Republic of Niger (West Africa). One thing I really like
about my country is the ability we have to live peacefully together
despite diverse ethnic groups. We have a tradition called “cousinage à
plaisanterie” (in French, the official language) or “joking kinships”.

Joking kinship is a common practice between ethnic groups and is

about making amusing mocks and provocations about each other.
There is no wickedness purpose at all, only an intention of
strengthening social relationship as in the process, no one is supposed
to get angry.

I volunteer with local NGO’s in my country and worked with Save the
Children. My activities are mainly focused on gender issues, especially
enhancing women’s living conditions and helping them understand
that they do not only have duties to comply with, but also rights. Since
January last year, I am pursuing a master program related to
development issues in Canada where I joined Oxfam-Quebec as a
volunteer on my campus.

That is all about me.

Na godé.Say an jima…meaning thanks (Na godé) See you later (Say

an jima) in Haoussa one of the language spoken in my country and
one of which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is translated
into.

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II. STORY OF THE MONTH

Advocacy Up Close

By Shubhi Dwivedi, 2007 Action Partner, India

I'm Shubhi Dwivedi from India. I'm a human rights lawyer currently
working with an organisation called Association for Advocacy and
Legal Initiatives (AALI) in Lucknow, India.

AALI is a feminist legal advocacy resource group with the mandate of

addressing women's and child issues within rights perspective and I'm
working here as an Advocacy Programme Officer.

Advocacy, according to me, is a process, a procedure, a strategy

which helps us disseminate information and draw the community's,
state's and other stake holders attention towards an important issue.

The act of pleading or arguing in favour of something, such as a

cause, idea, or policy can be defined as advocacy.

It is the pursuit of influencing outcomes-including public policy,

resource allocation, decisions within political, economic and social
systems and institutions that directly influence people's lives.

It is an important tool in a rights based approach. Advocacy can be

used as a tool for lobbying with the government and policy makers on
any issue; be it budgeting, implementation of laws etc, to bring about
a positive change in the society.

During my work tenure I felt that Advocacy entails a broad range of

linkages, strategic alliances and responses at various levels. This
strategy of advocating with various stakeholders viz state, civil society
and media has contributed in clarifying the critical link between
violence and human rights of women. This has enabled a more
comprehensive approach for seeking accountability for the realization
of women's human rights in the region.

To share an example: After years of continuous efforts of the human

rights activists and feminist groups, India finally passed the Domestic
Violence (Prevention and Prohibition) Act in 2005. However, despite
the government having passed this Act, the implementation of the
same has not even reached the satisfactory mark even after 3 years.
Human Rights groups in India are now jointly advocating for its
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implementation. One of our advocating strategy was to collect data on
its effective implementation in my state and share it with the various
stake holders.

This data collection revealed the lack of coordination between the

various implementing agencies which actually prompted the
government to act on it when we decided to share it with the media.

III. MARCH FEATURE

About Human Rights, their defenders and our partner Gustavo Ulcué

By Alejandra Gaviria Reyes, Colombia/Argentina and Daniel Zapico,

Spain

Many of you may remember Gustavo. A Colombian youth who spread

us in Sydney with his joy and irreverence and discussion but always
with good humour. Gustavo is one of our friends, an Action Partner
who fights to improve the situation in his community doing it with the
word. He is communicator and Human Rights activist.

On February 7, two men arrived at the home of Gustavo. His brother

was at home alone when the two men came looking for him. Stating
that Gustavo was not present, the men broke in while aiming a gun at
him. They then searched the entire house before entering Gustavo’s
bedroom and stealing his laptop computer. As the men were leaving,
they left his brother with the following threat: “Be thankful that
Gustavo wasn’t here, because if he was we would have finished him
off.”

Why is this? Why have they tried to assassinate a human rights

supporter who only uses words?

In Colombia there is an armed conflict against the guerrillas (which

were born in the 50s due to the social inequality and claiming an
agricultural reform), with state security forces and paramilitary groups
which are often supported by politicians, army and the police. This
long conflict has led to over 4 million displaced, tens of thousands
dead and thousands missing, according to the Colombian Commission
of Jurists, nearly 75% of the victims have been caused by the
paramilitaries and the army forces. The conflict and social-political
violence have turned Colombia into one of the most dangerous
countries in the world for human rights defenders.
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Colombian government, army and paramilitary groups have identified
human rights activists, to community and religious leaders, trade
unionists ... anyone who is claiming a change in state policies to
improve the situation of those most excluded from society as a
"lefties" and to the power "lefty" is synonymous of sympathizing with
guerrillas.

In this sense, anyone who denounces the injustices can become an

"objective" of threats, assaults, kidnappings, torture, killings and
threats to family members. Between 2002 and 2006 at least 138
human rights defenders were killed. Also journalists, trade unionists,
Indigenous ... suffer this persecution.

Gustavo is one of the people who fight to build alternatives to violence

and injustice that prevails in Colombia, promotes a communication
strategy for resistance denouncing the attacks and gives visibility to
the alternatives proposed by the Indigenous and social movements in
Colombia and Latin America. This is his "sin": to believe that it is
possible to build a world with more justice. But those who benefit from
injustice, just want to destroy his dreams of change.

So we just wanted to share it with the whole OIYP community: To show

that our friend and partner and his organization, ACIN, have been
victims of this violence.

Some Action Partners, we have sent letters to the Colombia embassies

in our countries to express our concern about the situation and to
request that the Colombian government take all necessary actions to
ensure his safety and freedom and he can return back to continue his
work. We would like to encourage the whole OIYP community to send
similar letters to support Gustavo. You can find the models that we
used here.

Within this dark picture for Human Rights in Colombia, we stand out
the example of resistance taken in adverse conditions by people such
as Gustavo. We will continue denouncing violence and supporting that
help to build the peace with justice for Colombia.

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IV. RESOURCES

Upcoming events and interesting stuff

OIYP Announcements

OIYP Skype account

Did you know that OIYP now has a Skype account? Why not add us to
your contacts!

Skype name: oiyp2007

OIYP Mobile

The OIYP Mobile is in action if you would like to send us a text update!

Send us a message on +61 424 883 177

OIYP Pictures

Send your images of you, your work or your community to OIYP for us
to include in future OIYP Voice newsletters. Make sure you get
permission from those people in the photos for us to distribute the
image through the Newsletter. Remember that it goes out to a global
audience.

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OIYP Homeroom

Do you have any questions that you would like to ask other Action
Partners in the network? Or are you facing challenges you would like
to get advice on from the OIYP network?

OIYP is setting up a Homeroom for all 2007 OIYP Action Partners on

the OIYP website. Similar to the Homerooms at Kaleidoscope, this is a
space for you to regroup and reconnect with other Action Partners,
and to discuss what’s on your mind. You can post questions so that
other Action Partners can contribute to your work, or share your
frustrations so that other Action Partners can support you.

We will be trialling the OIYP Homeroom from March 2nd – May 29th. To
participate, just log on to the members section of the OIYP website,
and go to the Members Forum. Please contact us if you have any
questions on how to do this.

Facilitate an OIYP SkillsShare

Would you like to facilitate an online discussion with your fellow Action
Partners? OIYP is offering Action Partners the opportunity to practice
their facilitation skills and to learn from each other on areas of
interest. SkillsShares will be run for a maximum of 4 weeks and the
topic will be decided by the Action Partner.

If you are interested, please email Amy Berson amyb@oxfam.org.au

for an application form. Priority will be given to those Action Partners
who have completed the online facilitation e-workshop or who have
had prior experience in online facilitation.

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Human Rights Advocacy and Business Capacity Building Program

The Diplomacy Training Program (DTP) is calling for applications for its
2009 Human Rights Advocacy and Business Capacity Building Program
for advocates to be held in Bangalore, India from 13-20 July. The
program aims to assist non-government and community advocates
from Asia-Pacific countries and Indigenous Australia to respond
practically to the challenges for human rights posed by the growing
power and influence of corporations.

For further information please contact the Diplomacy Training Program

by phone: (612) 9385-3549 or by email: dtp@unsw.edu.au. Deadline
24th April 2009

Job Vacancies in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty

The world's largest anti poverty alliance, the Global Call to Action

against Poverty (GCAP), is seeking to recruit three full-time positions

at its Global Secretariat. For more information visit www.whiteband.org

or email Rajiv@whiteband.org deadline 2nd April.

OIYP Skills Share - Creativity and Change Management (6-17 April

2009)

OIYP Action Partners who would like to brush up their creative instincts
and who want to creatively manage change occurring within and
outside their area of work or community are encouraged to participate
in this online skills share. The discussions will be facilitated by
Shumalia Amin Ali, Action Partner from Pakistan.

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To register for this skills share, please email Amy Berson
(amyb@oxfam.org.au) before Monday 30th March. Places are limited
so be quick!

Resources

United Nations website: www.un.org

Website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:

www.ohchr.org

This site includes a comprehensive guide to human rights, fact sheets

and the latest human rights news. It also includes a comprehensive
list of the work of the UN in the field which can be searched by country
or by issue.

Universal Declaration of Human rights:

- can be accessed using this link http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr

- can also be accessed through the United Nations website then click
on ‘Human Rights’ and then follow the links to Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.

Regional Websites:

- Council of Europe: http://www.coe.int/

- Organisation of American States: http://www.oas.org/

- African Union: http://www.africa-union.org/

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Sharma, R. R. ‘An introduction to advocacy: training guide’, Support for
Analysis and Research Africa,
http://aim.path.org/en/vaccines/hepb/pdf/USAIDAdvocacy1.pdf

United Nations Website: 60th Anniversary: Universal Declaration of

Human Rights,

http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/udhr60/declaration.shtml

V. ENDNOTE

A closing thought to inspire you this month.

The variety of colours and shapes represents diversity and freedom to

me. In this small piece of fabric these different colours and shapes can
coexist and, indeed, they transform this plain piece of fabric into
something colourful and interesting. I wish our little planet were like
this, a place where different colours and forms can coexist in harmony
and freedom.

María Alejandra Gaviria Reyes, 2007 Action

Partner, Colombia.

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