Development Scene

"Alternative Nobel Prize" 1993 Honours Women's Courage

Stockholm - This year five women or women-led movements from Israel/Palestine, Zimbabwe, India and the Shoshone Nation in the US will be honoured with the "Right Livelihood Award", often referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize". A press release by the "Right Livelihood Award" foundation, established by Jakob von Uexkull in 1980, states that the $ 200,000 prize recognises the "women's courage in crisis and conflicts".

The first award winner is the teacher Arna Mer-Khamis (Israel) and her organization Care and Learning, which was established in 1988 in Jenin (Occupied Palestine). Care and Learning cares for some 1,500 children in the West Bank who have suffered physically or mentally from Israeli occupation. The jury feels that the work of these women could serve as a model contribution to a real reconciliation between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.

The Organization of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP) in Zimbabwe and one of its "founding-mothers" Sithembiso Nyoni are honoured for motivating its million members to choose their own development path according to their culture and traditions and for their effective response to the most lengthy drought in Southern Africa. ORAP was established by a small group of people in Matabeteland in 1981, a year after the end of the war of independence.

The Indian environmental activist, advocate and researcher Vandana Shiva is also honoured. She established the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy in Dehra Dun in 1982. The Foundation supports people's environmental struggles, part of the objective of which is the articulation and justification of people's knowledge. Vandana Shiva is honoured for her pioneering insights into the social and environmental costs of the dominant development process.

The sisters Mary and Carrie Dann of the Western Shoshone Nation, living in Nevada (US), have been the major leaders for over twenty years in their people's political and legal struggle to retain their ancestral lands. Their courage and perseverance is honoured.

"Bonn Declaration": New Concept of Global Human Security

Bonn - "Security is based on the realization of human rights, economic progress which is environmentally sustainable, and social progress which is equitable." This is the essence of a new concept of Global Human Security described in the Bonn Declaration of the European Parliamentarians' Conference. Characteristic of this concept is its "demilitarization" of security following the end of the East-West conflict. The two-day conference, held on 17-18 September in Bonn, was attended by delegates from ministries, NGOs and international organizations as well as parliamentarians. They called on governments to keep the promises made in Rio and make more money available for development aid. At the same time, military expenditure should be reduced. More attention than in the past should be paid to the link between security and development. "Security is a necessary condition for development to occur; conversely, sustainable human development is essential for global human security to materialize."
The conference participants summarized their ideas on what a new form of development cooperation might include in a seven-point agenda to be put before parliaments and governments:

- "to gear development cooperation towards the key challenges of sustainable human development and global security;

- to set aside around 2% of existing ODA to develop new concepts and strengthen public support for international cooperation;

- to urge the developing countries to cut military spending and to restructure their budget priorities from military spending to investment in sustainable human development, and the industrialized countries to realize their peace dividend;

- to suggest that 20% of both developing country budgets and aid budgets be allocated to human development priorities, such as primary health care, basic education, drinking water, family planmug services;

- to redress the recently growing imbalance in expenditure between peace-keeping operations and long-term development support;

- to identify new mechanisms of better resource mobilization for global objectives which embrace common human survival on this fragile planet;

- to broaden the international development cooperation also to include trade, private investment, technology and labour flows."

The "Bonn Declaration" also calls for "more transparency" in international organizations like the World Bank and the UN Economic and Social Council, saying that more parliamentary control of their policies is needed.

UNESCO-Declaration on "Project 2000+": Scientific and Technological Literacy for All

Paris - "By the year 2001 there should be in place appropriate structures and activities to foster scientific literacy and technological literacy for all, in all countries", was the final recommendation in the eight-item Paris declaration on "Project 2000+" of UNESCO's International Forum on Scientific and Technological Literacy for All in July this year.

The Forum represented the second phase of the "Project 2000+", a joint venture based on a partnership between a group of major intergovernmental organizations, agencies and NGOs with special concerns and responsibilities in the field of science and technology, education and research. The purpose of the Forum was to establish an agenda for action, supporting steps that individuals, institutions, organizations and governments can take together to reform and revitalize science and technology education at all levels.

The "Project 2000+" declaration relates to the World Declaration on Education for All and UNCED Agenda 21 and emphasises that scientific and technological literacy are central elements of a responsible and sustainable development. The improvement of both school education and also of other educational programs is recommended. The goal is to set up a network and interexchange of curricula and resource materials for science and technology education. It is demanded that guidelines be formulated for the preparation and continous professional development of science and technology educators and leadership, coupled with assistance to countries giving effect to these guidelines. Moreover, effective communication is to be developed and assessment strategies and evaluation programs designed to enhance general levels of scientific literacy and technological literacy.

BMZ's New "Livestock Husbandry" Sector Concept

Bonn - The new sector concept "Livestock husbandry in cooperation for development" is geared both to reducing poverty and - in line with the demands of Agenda 21 of the Rio conference - to protecting the environment and natural resources. This was the core statement made by the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Hans-Peter Repnik, when presenting the concept in Bonn on October 26. The sector paper is "an action and orientation guideline for site-appropriate, environmentally compatible and sustainable use of local livestock production".

The sector paper is geared to three different site situations and points towards new paths:

- Nomads living of livestock husbandry are to have the capacity to adapt the size of their herd to the existing fodder base so that sustained use is ensured in the long term;

- The rural population practising livestock husbandry in crop-production regions are to have the capacity to earn higher profits from their livestock. Marketing of small livestock such as rabbits and poultry is a major source of income for women;

- Specialised livestock husbandry is steadily growing in urban centers. Producers of animal foodstuffs and raw materials (e.g. milk, meat and eggs) are to have the capacity to supply urban consumer centers and food processing operations with quality products at reasonable prices.

Greater attention is also paid to the political, economic and institutional framework conditions. International trade in agricultural produce should be liberalised. The sector paper puts forward that industrial nations should discontinue their export subsidies on meat. The BMZ criticizes the EC's policy on beef exports: While the export quantities involved should not be exaggerated, they are nevertheless extremely counter-productive for bilateral projects assisted by the Federal Republic and also for the EC promoted measures to raise animal productron in West African coastal areas.

BMZ: Commissioner for Emergency Aid and Refugee Affairs Appointed

Bonn - On July 1st this year, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) appointed Dr. Ulrich Popp, Head of Directorate 31, as Commissioner for Emergency Aid and Refugee Affairs.

The press release by the Ministry states that longer-term sustainable development-policy solutions are increasingly requested to accompanying immediate disaster relief activities. The borderline between humanitarian aid and development cooperation being very fluid, the two areas of responsibility should coordinate at a very early stage. This is now to be the task of the Commissioner for Emergency Aid. He is primarily responsible for BMZ in-house coordination of development cooperation in emergency situations, supported by a working group made up of members of the BMZ's various Divisions and Directorates. Dr. Popp also represents the ministry in its external dealings on matters concerning emergency aid, and is the central point of contact for other ministries, aid organizations and the general public.

This change in BMZ's organizational structure reflects a recommendation by Professor Werner Gocht (Aachen) in his study for the German IDNDR Committee, that "disaster reduction measures be increasingly included in the joint development work done by governmental organizations". Professor Gocht recommended that "at the BMZ, disaster reduction should come under the 'Poverty Relief' Department's brief, as this would give it more weight" (gate 3/93)