On Friday, July 2 the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted a resolution that includes establishment of “UN Women,” the new gender equality agency at the UN. The formal name is the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. (A/64/L.56).  This momentous action is the result of years of negotiations between UN Member States and advocacy by the global women’s movement. 

PPAF works to promote the advancement of women in its activities in its focus countries and welcomes this new important agency. 

UN Women will function as a secretariat and also will carry out operational activities at the country level; it brings together four parts of the UN system:

• the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), established in 1946;
• the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), established in 1976, and with its headquarters in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic;
• the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), established in 1997; and
• the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), established in 1976).

The new body will be headed by an Under-Secretary General who will be a member of all senior UN decision-making bodies and will report to the Secretary-General.  [Keep reading for more information on UN Women and on Ambassador Cuello's statement concerning a role for UN Women in the Dominican Republic.]  

Advocates argue that through the establishment of UN Women, an historic step has been taken towards gender equality, women`s empowerment and women`s human rights as a whole.   According to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, through this resolution “We enter a new era in the UN`s work for women.”    

INSTRAW and the Dominican Republic  

In the UN press release discussing adoption of the resolution, Ambassador Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo is cited as saying his delegation

 “‘shares the delight’ of all other Member States at the adoption of the resolution.  The creation of UN Women answered the call of millions of women and girls around the world that had been waiting on the United Nations to respond to their needs.  He hoped that working with and for women through a single body would allow the Organization to tackle the gender-related specificities of development in a coherent and efficient manner.  He thanked the co-facilitators and Secretariat officials that had provided guidance during the negotiations.

 He said that the Dominican Republic had a long history of fighting for women and, to that end, had hosted INSTRAW, which had been essential, among other ways, in providing logistical support to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) following the devastating 12 January earthquake there.  He trusted that the integration of INSTRAW’s mandate into that of UN Women would preserve its training functions and ensure that its physical facilities remained in the Dominican Republic to guarantee the new body’s equitable geographical representation.”

 Role of UN Women

The General Assembly resolution creating UN Women expects this agency to have both operational and what the UN calls “normative” roles: dealing with policies and promoting and monitoring international covenants and agreements, working with the Commission on the Status of Women, a separate intergovernmental body, and with the UN Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC.

As far as the financing is concerned, the operations of UN Women will be funded from voluntary contributions, while the regular UN budget will support its normative work.

According to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon “UN Women will significantly boost UN efforts to promote gender equality, expand opportunity, and tackle discrimination around the globe.”

For more information, see the text of the full draft resolution, which deals system-wide coherence under the agenda item 114, Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit.

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/64/L.56   The final resolution, not yet posted, is: A/RES/64/289.  See also:

http://www.unwomen.org/

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/

http://www.un.org

On Friday, July 2, four Dominican Republic organizations held a conference at the United Nations about the “Empowerment of Young Women through Youth Delegates to the United Nations.”   This was a side event to the 2010 Substantive Session of the UN Economic and Social Council which took place on the day that the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted Resolution A/64/L.56, which establishes “UN Women” as the new gender equality entity at the UN. 

These were the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD), La Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic (UNA-DR) and the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the UN.

Convinced that empowering women and youth fuels thriving economies, and spurs productivity and growth, the Public-Private Alliance Foundation welcomes their involvement on national delegations.  PPAF regularly involves young women and men from different origins and cultures as interns.   PPAF also welcomes the creation of UN Women, which will be operational by January 2011.   PPAF further seeks to help achieve the aims of UN Women, to work for all women and girls toward achieving the goals of equality, development and peace all over the world.

Panelists at the July 2 event were:  Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations in New York; Kerry Stefancyk, Program Coordinator for GFDD; Anik Kohli. UN Swiss youth delegate in 2008-2009; Fruzsina Molnar Straus, Communication and Program Officer at the World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA); and Yamile Eusebio, Director of Formative Activities in FUNGLODE and Director of the New York GFDD office.  Pilar Sandoval, the Executive Director of UNA-DR was unable to join the panel.

The main theme of the meeting was to promote and show the value of youth delegates at the United Nations, and the extent youth representatives, in particular young women, are involved.

The United Nations Youth Program (in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs)  provides for young people to become representatives of their country at an international level. Promoting youth rights and fostering active participation in decision making bodies are the main purposes of the program.

Through their involvement, youth focus on the Millennium Development Goals, asserts Anik Kohli.   Contacting government ministries, organizing awareness raising projects through school visits, and study trips to the capital are among possible actions delegates can take. Furthermore, at an international level, thanks to the inclusion of youth delegates in a country’s official delegation, youth can be part in decision-making at the United Nations in the United Nations General Assembly and various functional Commissions of the Economic and Social Council such as the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and Commission for Social Development (CSocD).

The role of a youth representative varies from country to country. One focus of a youth delegate’s work can be in the Third Committee, the part of the General Assembly that deliberates on Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Issues. In past instances, youth delegates have delivered statements on issues of concern to young people in the Third Committee, and have also taken part in the drafting of various youth resolutions. 

There are obviously many advantages in getting involved as a young delegate.  These can include learning about international affairs in a way that cannot be done as part of formal studies in a university, expansion of networks, and all the professional opportunities may result. According to Ambassador Cuello, youth involvement offers momentous opportunity and great experience. Furthermore, the youth involved bring new ideas to staff and perhaps are the diplomats of the future.

How and why to become a youth delegate:

One of the selection criteria is obviously to have a strong interest in international affairs and significant experience with youth organizations. Applicants must be ages from 18 to 25, ready to work at least 6 hours a week as a Youth Delegate and must at least speak English fluently, says Anik Kohli.

Some countries have existing youth representative programmes to select youth delegates, other do not. In the latter, youth need to lobby in their country on the importance of having a youth representative in its delegation to the UN General Assembly.  They need to write to the Minister of Foreign affairs and the Minister of Youth outlining the merits and how Youth are worth representing. The lobbying would be more compelling through cooperation with existing youth organizations in the country.  Each country has its own application process, thus interested youth have to inquire through their ministry of foreign affairs or a national youth council about how the application process works. Then they will need to apply accordingly.

Alejandro Javier, one of the three young delegates from Dominican Republic in 2009, said that the selection process for the Dominican Republic’s first ever Youth Delegation was thorough, and the competition was fierce. Alejandro presented his essay on Youth Empowerment, and the selection committee (composed of representatives from the United Nations and the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs) evaluated it and warranted his inclusion in the second stage of the process. He was then interviewed and selected as one of the three Youth Representatives to the General Assembly that will represent the Dominican Republic.

Of course the youth can also get involved through various organizations. The United Nations Association for Dominican Republic, a non-profit organization, is dedicated exclusively to the empowering of youth in international affairs. The UNA-DR participant’s average age is from 19 to 23 years old and is composed of more women than men.

Yet, approximately one billion youth live in the world today. This means that one person in five is between the age of 15 and 24 years, or 18% of the world’s population is “youth”. Nevertheless only 26 countries are conscious that Youth participation not only leads to better decisions but is an integral part of a democratic society and so have a Youth Delegation to the U.N.  According to Ms. Yamile Eusebio, as Youth worldwide are touched by major issues such as education, employment, role of girls and young women, poverty, drug abuse, etc., it is vital that more countries select Youth delegates.

For more information:

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development: http://www.globalfoundationdd.org/gfdd/

La Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo: http://www.funglode.org/

UN Youth Program:   http://www.un.org/youth     See also:   http://www.unyouth.com/

UN Women agency: http://www.unwomen.org/

Youth Delegates to the 64th Session of the General Assembly 2009 http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/ga64.htm

Swiss Delegation to the UN: http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/topics/intorg/un/missny.html

PPAF’s renewable energy seminars, held in the Dominican Republic in cooperation with the National Energy Commission (CNE) and others in 2009, emphasized the importance of Law 57-07 to make the D.R. a potential leader in the Caribbean in renewable energy, and to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.  Law 57-07 grants numerous incentives and tax exemptions to investors in renewable energy.

PPAF is very happy to learn that the Dominican Corporation of State Electrical Companies (CDEEE) recently signed its first contract, with Grupo Eolico Dominicano, to buy wind energy that will be carried by the Interconnected Electrical System (SENI). The system currently carries only energy from conventional sources.

The energy will come from Grupo Eolico Dominicano’s 34 mega watt wind park, which will join SENI in 2011. 

Speaking to the newspaper Dominican Today, Grupo Eolico Dominicano representative Wilfredo Gonzalez, who participated in PPAF’s 2009 seminars, called the deal “historic.” He said that the group will continue to make renewable energy investments in the Dominican Republic.

The power will be sold to the CDEE according to the price formula found in Law 57-07 on Incentives to the Development of Renewable Energy Sources and Special Regimes.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2010/7/5/36209/Dominican-Republics-1st-wind-energy-park-to-operate-in-2011

PPAF has worked with ADOA since 2007 in strengthening fish farming in the Dominican Republic.

email info@adoard.com
Edificio CONAPROPE
Feria Ganadera
Santo Domingo
República Dominicana

June 10-11, 2010 – AMCHAM DR / AMCHAM Haiti Conference– Montrouis, Haiti

About 600 people attended the “Building A New Haiti” conference organized by the American Chambers of Commerce of the Dominican Republic and Haiti and the U.S. Commercial Service.   Speakers included the Haitian President Rene Preval and the Prime Minister, Max Bellerive.  Partial lists of attendees and presenters and PowerPoint presentations of selected speeches are available on the AmCham DR website:  http://amcham.org.do  David Stillman of PPAF and a team from SImACT attended, with Lesly Kernisant making a presentation in the Tourism segment.  PPAF has posted a few photos from the event.

June 12-13, 2010 – PPAF/SImACT Workshop, Jacmel, Haiti    

About 50 participants from the AmCham conference, plus about 20 from Jacmel and elsewhere participated in the PPAF / SImACT workshop “Reconstruction and Business Opportunities in Southern Haiti.”  Billed as an add-on to the AmCham conference, this workshop focused group discussions and site visits on several practical possibilities.  The Minister of Tourism Patrick Delatour gave a keynote address.   (See article, press and photos.)

June 21, 2010 – “Building a New Haiti” Debriefing and Planning meeting, Brooklyn, NY

About 20 people attended the meeting, held at the offices of the Brooklyn International Trade Development Center of Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.  Several shareholders and friends of SImACT participated, as well as the PPAF Executive Director.   Thoughts, comments and suggestions of those who attended the June 10-11 conference in Montrouis will be used to shape the July 10 forum and the September trade mission (below) and for communications with government officials.  

July 10, 2010 – Meeting to Plan a Trade Mission to Haiti, Brooklyn, NY

Participants in the July 10 meeting will help plan for a trade mission to Haiti.  The meeting is being organized by the New York State Association of Minority Contractors and the NS and J Advisory Group.  It will be held Medgar Evers College.  PPAF and SImACT have been invited as presenters.  Contact events@nsandj.com  to reserve a place.

September 8-10, 2010 –  Proposed Trade Mission to Haiti 

A trade mission, jointly led by NS&J Advisory Group and SImACT, is being planned for September, to Jacmel and other sites in Haiti.  Details will be available after the July 10 meeting.

The June 2 summit was organized in effort to begin to review the funds that had already been pledged in the months following the New York summit. The day was spent discussing ways to create and implement initiatives aimed at rebuilding the Haitian infrastructure after the devastating earthquake of January 12. The focus was on projects that would restore some of Haiti’s most basic systems such as water, sewage and electricity, as well as building housing for the many displaced Haitians.

Fifty-four donor countries and 35 international organizations attended the summit. According to President Fernandez, by its close, a total of 7.81 billion was promised to help aid in the reconstruction of Haiti- still short of the 10 billion originally pledged in New York.  Most of these funds have not yet been delivered.

“ All this leads to the figure of US$6.71 billion. If we add the US$1.30 billion offered by the United States in the Summit in New York to that, we’ve already identified US$ 7.81 billion in pledges for Haiti’s reconstruction” (President Fernandez) .

 Former President Clinton and Prime Minister Bellerive are charged with using $ 5.3 billion of those dollars to fund various reconstruction projects over the next 18 months. The new Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (ICRH), will have their first meeting on June 14th to discuss further details.

Another concern was the safety of the million or so Haitians who are now homeless and susceptible to the 2010 Hurricane season which began June 1. Efforts are being made to ensure their protection and secure housing for the refugees in order to shield them from the effects of the harsh season and prevent further tragedy.

“We have more than one million people that are currently living in very precarious conditions, in camping tents,” stated Clinton, who is the United Nation’s Special Envoy to Haiti. “We can not allow for people to die during this Hurricane Season because they inhabit temporary dwellings.”

Gastos de viaje lado Jacmel es de $US 100, a pagar a Public-Private Alliance Foundation (PPAF). Ver la ficha de inscripción, que debe ser presentado y pagado por 01 de junio. Este evento tendrá lugar inmediatamente después de la conferencia “Construyendo un Nuevo Haiti” celebrará del 9 al 11 de junio en el norte de Port-au-Prince (Club Indigo, Costa Arcadin, Montrouis). PPAF / SImACT proporcionar transporte Club Indigo en Jacmel en la mañana del Sábado, 12 de junio y volver a Port-au-Prince el 13 de junio, aquellos que se inscriban en este tema. Favor de registrarse antes de 01 de junio de usar este formulario de registro.   email: ppafoundation@gmail.com para el formulario en espanol.

NOTA: Si usted desea permanecer días adicionales, por favor escriba a ppafoundation@gmail.com para más detalles.

Map of Haiti

Our focus would be on Jacmel, on the southern coast, in collaboration with the Haitian-American investment group Société Immobilière de Agriculture, Commerce et Tourisme, Inc., (SImACT) .  Our team identified priorities and made initial preparations for a workshop on investment and commerce to revive Southern Haiti.  This is scheduled to take place in Jacmel in late June.      

En route we visited tent camps near the border and encountered the diversity of conditions we would see throughout the trip.   One camp dealing with post-operative care was well-equipped by Harvard University and USAID.   Another, for displaced families, run by the American Refugee Committee and assisted by UNICEF, was more basic.   A third was “do-it-yourself.”  

I wanted to learn how people were faring.   I was interested in how people were cooking their meals, and confirmed charcoal and wood had become more scarce and more expensive since the earthquake. I explained that one of our concerns was to promote better, clean cookstoves and ethanol fuel.  The ARC camp supervisor was delighted and the woman below gave me permission to take this photo of her using a charcoal stove.

Woman cooking on a charcoal stove

We traveled to Port-au-Prince, Leogane and Jacmel.  Many people remained in great distress; others at first sight appeared to be going about their daily lives.   In some cases destroyed and intact buildings were side-by-side.  One could see tents in front of houses and encampments in schoolyards, churchyards and public sites.  There were still people with little shelter from sun and rain – sometimes a bedsheet attached to sticks.  

Parts of Port-au-Prince were untouched; other parts were devastated.  The image of the demolished Presidential palace has become known worldwide.  Leogâne, with a population of about 150,000, suffered heavily.  Much was destroyed. Jacmel had been cut off by mountain landslides.  The route was reopened but still vulnerable in the coming rainy season.

Maternity Ward at Jacmel Hospital reduced to rubble

The charming port town of Jacmel, with a population of about 50,000, had been damaged.  Its hospital had been destroyed.  Sections of town had been flattened.  But we could also see early possibilities for economic and social reconstruction.  With the national policy focus on decentralization and the international attention coming to Haiti for rebuilding, we felt that Jacmel could be a center for recovery and improvement.   Jacmel has been known as a site for Haitian tourism and the arts.  Its historic district, much of which was slated for demolition after the earthquake, has been spared, at least for now. 

There is great need to strengthen the infrastructure and services people need – from the hospital to the schools to the port.  Then there is room for imagination and creativity.  SImACT and PPAF confirmed their intent to organize the workshop on investment and commerce, with topics that could include infrastructure, renewable energy, ethanol cookstoves, housing, agriculture and agribusiness, social venture capital, health, historic district, tourism and arts and artisans.  The outcomes of this workshop can help Haiti Build Back Better.

Historic building near port of Jacmel

David Stillman, PhD

Executive Director

Public-Private Alliance Foundation

 Rafael Pérez Duvergé , the Executive Director of IDIAF – the Dominican Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Research – opened the workshop.    Featured speakers included Dr. James Tidwell, chair of the aquaculture program of Kentucky State University and Dr. Darryl Jory, a professional with the American Soybean Association.  The Public-Private Alliance Foundation was a co-sponsor of the event.  

As a result of presentations to the U.S. Peace Corps staff in January by Maximo Nicolas, President of ADOA,  David Stillman, Executive Director of PPAF and former Peace Corps Volunteers Bill Miller and Dan Mizroch, Peace Corps has agreed to add fish farming as a priority in its future programming and volunteer assignments.  

The workshop included working groups on research, training, finance, marketing, promotion, and quality control.   The working groups developed presentations that are currently being distilled into a report of the meeting and a contribution to the National Strategic Plan. 

 Highlights at the meeting were announcement by the Taiwan Technical Mission and the Agricultural Development Bank of the DR (Bagricola) that a lending program for small farmers had been agreed and would soon begin.  This would be managed by ADOA.  Kentucky State University announced cooperation with IDIAF and others for research and training.  KSU has offered to facilitate exchanges of students and young professionals, both Dominican and from KSU.  The American Soybean Association announced its support for continued seminars and for nutrients for fish stock.

See the Dominican online newspaper El Nuevo Diario for an article on the aquaculture conference.  (en espanol)   Also see PPAF”s blog for March 6. 

Aquaculture Strategic Planning Workshop Participants

 

Ricardo Colon, CODOPESCA, speaking at opening session

Finance Workshop including representatives of the Taiwan Technical Mission and Bagricola (Dominican Agriculturel Bank), with workshop participants

Leaders of ADOA, Technical Mission of Taiwan, PPAF and American Soybean Association

FUNGLODE, the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development of the Dominican Republic, featured PPAF’s work in Haiti, at the UN Department of Public Information / NGO Forum  “NGOs Responding to Crisis: Meeting New Challenges, the Case of Haiti” held on February 24, 2010.  Press release dated March 1, 2010.

The Dominican newspaper El Nuevo Diario  wrote in “Expertos nacionales e internacionales revisarán estrategia en acuicultura“ about the fish farming conference  held by the  Dominican Aquaculture Association ADOA on March 23-24, 2010.  Article dated February 23, 2010.

The April newsletter of the Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions of the University of South Florida included an article about David Stillman’s March 22 talk on Alternative Energy in Developing countries.  See page 4 of the newsletter:   http://patelcenter.rc.usf.edu/documents/newsletters/1004Apr.pdf