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  Inspire Inform Involve |
Dispatch 5.7 July 2005 "Food for Thought" |
 Read Past Issues |
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 Monthly Theme: Members Share Recipes, Thoughts on Food Since we launched the Food theme pages in June, we have had 15 new submitted recipes and a handful of blogs dedicated to the topic. Click here! There are also a number of food-related discussions going on that you can join, or if you prefer, start your own! Click here! Additionally, you can learn about important topics like hunger, genetically modified foods, nutrition, vegetarianism, water, and more. Celebrate food, by sharing your personal stories and views, photographs, not to mention your recipes! Plus, find out ways to put your knowledge and concern into action. From small actions you can take in your own life, to larger strategies - celebrate, reflect and act on TakingITGlobal's Monthly Theme on Food. The Food theme was sponsored by the World Food Programme and Walk the World. Look for their featured resources on TakingITGlobal's Food theme pages! View the theme! 
MDG Youth Campaign Kit Now Available Online 
Over the last months, TakingITGlobal, the Global Youth Action Network and the United Nations Millennium Campaign have worked hard to develop an MDG Youth Campaign Kit, which provides young people with all the necessary tools to start their own local or national MDG campaigns. The complete kit, including an action guide, brochures and a poster, a sticker, bookmark and postcard, are now available in English, French, Spanish and German on our website. In addition to the digital versions we'll send out 500 kits to our members at the end of the month and you can still apply to receive one as well. All you need to do is fill out our short survey click here!
MDG Monthly Theme Page Launches in German 
TakingITGlobal has partnered with the German Millennium Campaign to engage more young people in Germany in the activities around the Millennium Development Goals. A first step of the partnership was to translate the MDG monthly theme page, including the MDG Youth Campaign Kit, into German. If you speak German, check the site out! Click here!From this success, we are now seeking native German speakers who can translate other parts of the TakingITGlobal website. If you are interested in volunteering a few hours each week or month to help, send Franziska an email: franziska@takingitglobal.org
Organize an Open Forum for the WPAY 
10 years ago in 1995, the World Program of Action for Youth was adopted by the United Nations, highlighting ten key priority areas for youth and giving recommendations to governments and international agencies on how to increase youth participation in policy processes that affect their lives. Ten years after the adoption of this important document, there are still only a few people who know about it! Although youth participation in decision-making processes has seen some improvements, we still have a long way to go until youth will be fully recognized as key partners in development. So here's an idea. Why not spread the word about WPAY and organize an Open Forum in your community? You can make this an opportunity to discuss with other young people and local government officials what needs to be done in your community in order to realize the WPAY recommendations.For more information on the WPAY, visit the UN youth website: click here! For more information on Open Forums: Click here! We are currently also working on an information sheet about the WPAY that will help you during your Open Forum, so watch out for it in our voice section: click here!
Featured Country Sites: India  Our members from India have always been active in the TIG online community, feverishly submitting their writing, art and opinions. Now, with our current TIG Theme on Food, you know that Indian members will be close at hand again, not only because Indian food is beloved to many, but because our members are passionate about sharing food traditions and much more. Thank you to Maulik Baxi and Vagmi Dholakia who participated in the Food Theme advisory board and shared many thoughts and recipes such as 'Dal Dhokli' and "Pizza and Tacos with an Indian twist." Both recipes have been translated into 4 languages, so there is no excuse not to try them out! Plus, active TIG member Ajay Kamalakaran has already submitted 3 recipes and 1 photoblog since the Monthly Theme has launched. Can you keep up with our Indian members? Find out what else they're up to: click here!
Lebanon  Thousands upon thousands jammed downtown Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, on the weekend of April 8, 2005, for late night dinner extravaganzas and overnight leisure at sidewalk cafes. What were they doing? Answering a call to stop mourning and revive a city buffeted by nearly two months of political and economic turmoil following the assassination of ex-Premier, Rafik Hariri. The festivities were part of the "National Unity Initiative" and bustled through until the 30th anniversary day of the civil war outbreak in Lebanon. They provide testament to the power that food has in bringing people together to celebrate, reflect on, and act upon their past, present, and future. Were you at the festivities? What impact has this initiative had on your view of the situation in Lebanon? Find out what other members in Lebanon are saying: click here!If you are a TIG member in India or Lebanon and would like to connect with other members in your country and work together in promoting and developing your Country Site this month, email us at: countries@takingitglobal.org
CLC Russia Update: TIG Members in Budapest to Advise Microsoft 
"I had an incredible opportunity to meet youth leaders from several countries and to share my thoughts and ideas on how young people can impact technology development," writes Sofya Mezhorina from the small town of Tambov, Russia. Sofya, who graduated this year with a major in Linguistics, is one of 12 young people - most of them TIG members - from 10 countries selected by Microsoft as advisors for the Information Worker Board of the Future-2005. The mission of the 12-member board, which convened this year in Budapest on June 19-23, is to develop a vision for the future of work and the role technology will play in tomorrow's work force.Read the full article about Sofya's trip to Budapest which she calls "mind-flipping" in Panorama: click here!
TIG in Africa: First MDG Open Forum in West Africa! 
In partnership with ANCEFA (Africa Network Campaign on Education for All), TakingITGlobal organized the first MDG West Africa Open Forum in Dakar, Senegal on June 16. The forum coincided with the International Celebration of African Child Day and saw the official launch of the MDG West Africa Youth Caucus. The youth caucus and other youth activists from Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Rwanda gathered in Dakar to identify their role in the fight against poverty and the struggle to reach the MDGs in the West Africa Region. In attendance were major West African MDG stakeholders including the Millennium Campaign Regional Coordinator Coumba Toure, the Millennium Campaign Regional Youth Editor and representatives of the Senegalese National Platform for the MDGs. From talking to the 45 participants at the open forum, the MC Regional Coordinator stressed: "Poverty is not destiny… the same way we defeated Apartheid, we can defeat poverty." And with this kind of momentum - the West African Youth Caucus grew to 150 members after the open forum (!) - why not?Regional Partnerships TakingITGlobal has partnered with a Malian TV station, CyberNTIC in realizing a series of video interviews of African TIG members who work in, or use ICT in their activities. The collaboration also consisted of organizing ICT contests and competitions for youth, click here! As well, Réseau Afrique Jeunesse, the African section of UNESCO youth network (Infoyouth: click here!) based in Burkina-Faso, collaborates with TakingITGlobal to connect young African journalists. Réseau Afrique Jeunesse helped to promote and send young journalists to the Youth National Forum on June 10 and 11 in Ouagadougou, where 2000 youth participated.
Global Gallery Contest "We Are What You Eat" Everybody knows that you are what you eat - that what you consume doesn't only affect your wallet and your consciousness, it affects your health and well-being. Yet what you eat also impacts the world around you, and touches us all. The food we eat influences the environment around us, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the fields we run on, our economies,governmental policies, the way we share with others, the lives of workers and consumers alike. It's not just about nutrition and consumption, it's also about the people around you, everyday friends and invisible faraway faces without names. Every time we eat, we are sharing our meals with many many people, well beyond those sitting at our table. This month the Global Gallery invites you to create images representing the impact of what we eat; images of how you share your food with others, images of influence on the the massive world around us and of impact on our everyday experiences, and images showing how our world is affected and changing, in positive or negative ways, because of our eating habits. Send in your contest entries by July 29! Click here!
Panorama Online Magazine Our current issue is packed with hearty writings on our spotlight theme – food! You can read smartly written articles on what TIG members think about the production, distribution and consumption of food. In his article, TIG member Antony Simbowo speaks out against Genetically Modified foods and their impact on struggling farmers. "Fact is, genetically modified foods are engineered such that they possess what is known as the chain termination sequence. Pioneered by a British Biochemist, Fredrick Sanger, the process (also called the Sanger or the dideoxy process) manipulates the plants' genetic structure such that it cannot produce a viable offspring. This means that after the first harvest, a farmer has to go back to the seed vendor and buy a fresh supply of seeds from the patent holding company for planting since the first produce can only be consumed and not be successfully re-grown. This therefore creates a complete dependence on the companies for the continuous supply of seeds." Do you agree with what Antony has to say about GM foods? You can comment on any article you read in Panorama, but if you're passionate enough, write your own article on a food issue that matters to you. Submit your writing to Panorama on food or any topic today! click here! Questions? email: editorial@takingitglobal.org
Next Issue: 5 Years of TakingITGlobal  You've come a long way baby! TakingITGlobal will be celebrating it's 5th birthday this September, and to celebrate, we want to invite you to share a memorable story about your involvement in our community. Need help remembering a good one? Well, how did you first learn of TIG? When did you join and why? Did you attend a TIG open forum, did you meet some people you now call friends? What's your favorite part of the site? Reflective or humourous, share your writing with us and get published in Panorama's next issue! Submit here: click here!
Justin Trudeau Joins Youth Initiative to Arctic to Fight Climate Change  This July 22 to August 5, a unique and unprecedented International Youth Environmental Leadership Expedition to the Arctic is taking place. The ship-based journey from Iceland to Greenland to the Canadian Arctic will involve 70 high school students from around the world. The students will participate in a research and educational program together with a team of leading scientists, environmentalists and educators,including Justin Trudeau, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Skid Crease, and Dr. Fritz Koerner. The students will explore and witness first-hand the impacts Climate Change is having on the Arctic. Geography, history, flora, fauna, glaciology, politics, culture and much more will also be addressed. One of the many objectives will be for the students to produce a Youth Action Statement on Climate Change, which will be integrated into a youth declaration tabled by youth delegates at the upcoming Kyoto meeting in Montreal. Interested students and teachers are still needed to join the expedition.You can sign up and learn more by visiting the website: www.studentsonice.com/arctic05 or by calling 819-827-3300. Student participants will be blogging on TIG during the event: click here!
Wrap Up Your interest, support and involvement with TakingITGlobal helps our community to grow and encourage more young people to become inspired, informed and involved everyday! In being a member of TakingITGlobal, you are part of a community that is more than 87,000 strong coming from over 250 countries and territories. Thank you for having a vision of positive change. Your work makes a difference! In friendship, The TakingITGlobal Team dispatch@takingitglobal.org |
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Copyright 2005 TakingITGlobal The TakingITGlobal Dispatch is the official newsletter of TakingITGlobal, electronically published via email, and compiled from various events and news from within the TakingITGlobal network. Contributions should be sent to dispatch@takingitglobal.org. Please include your full name, age, and your TIG username. |
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