When I grow older
I will be stronger
They'll call me freedom
Just like a waving flag

-K'Naan

I have just arrived back in Toronto after a wonderful, crazy, busy and mind stretching week at the 4th World Youth Congress in Quebec City.

I wanted to write as the thoughts are fresh in my mind. It's hard to sum into a few words what I want to say, as there are a flurry of emotions which are crowding my ability to describe clearly everything that I saw and experienced. All I know is that these youth conferences always leave me feeling revitalized, re-energized and positive about the changes which our youth want to make in the world. So often we are jaded by this ideal and desire to "change the world". People think that this is a naive way of thinking and it is reserved for the young minds who do not know better.

Well, you know what? If these thoughts to better our world are considered naive, then I am not ashamed to say that I am naive. I would rather be put into this category of so called youth who know no better, then to be jaded, conservative and take no action to at least TRY and achieve the unity and peace which the living beings in our world deserve.

I had the privilege to meet hundreds of youth from over 100 countries, including Ghana, Spain, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Brazil, the US, Canada, Kenya and Benin. The pool of talents, passion and drive which surrounded me for a week made me feel blessed to be where I am.

Thank you to all at the World Youth Congress who re-validated the view that changing the world is not naive, but indeed a reality which many others strive for.

live and love,
Mai

I think if someone were trying to sum up this whole Georgia-Russia-South Ossetia situation then 'Look what I can do!' would be pretty close to it. Because when Georgia started bombing South Ossetia a few days ago it was sort of saying: 'Look what I can do South Ossetian separatist groups and your Russian supporters! I can bomb you until "order is restored"!' Then when Russia retaliated it was sort of saying: 'Look what I can do Georgia! I'm a much bigger military power than you are and I'm not afraid to march right into your country and bomb your civilians right back!' Then Georgia said: 'Go ahead! I'm trying to join NATO and the US and Britain both think I'm great!' Russia: 'Try me!' And so on.

Obviously it's a little more complicated than that.

So did Georgia think that NATO was going to come to its defense? Because in the end - despite all Russian meddling in South Ossetia - (to the best of my knowledge) Georgia reacted with force first. Which to Russia pretty much translates to: 'Bring it on!' Maybe Georgia's President should have taken a good long look at Chechnya before inviting Russia to come on over. He might also want to check out Afghanistan - and then he might have realized that NATO (of which he is not yet a member anyways) is pretty busy at the moment.

Obviously nothing excuses the amount of force used by either side - whatever the situation - and the high amount of civilian casualties, displaced peoples and homes destroyed.


There are a couple of Georgia-Russia Discussion threads on TIG if you want to join in:
Russia-Georgian War in the Current Events Forum and The Conflict in South Ossetia and Georgia in the Peace, Conflict and Governance Forum.


Also if anyone has any sites where first-hand accounts from people in the region are being posted in English please leave me a link!

Look out for TakingITGlobal's staff conducting quick interviews with WYC delegates! We'll be recording your thoughts about the Congress and the sessions that you're looking forward to. Videos will be uploaded to this virtual congress page, so stay tuned!

If we capture you on camera, you might be able to get a nice gift!

I headed off in the morning to the Australian Science and Math School, hosted at Flinders University. The school is only a few years old, and is built with an open concept -- no classrooms, but instead a number of large spaces with desks and chairs that reconfigured in many different ways to foster teamwork and collaboration. We had a large group - about 50 teachers and school leaders, and had a really interesting day -- when I showed the "Are you listening?" video, a whole bunch of students gathered upstairs in the area overlooking where I was speaking to watch - I think they were really curious that so many teachers were learning about their way of using technology!

After a fantastic dinner by the water with a group of curriculum developers, I headed to sleep -- because I had to catch a 6:40am flight to Canberra!

I made it to the nation's capital early in the morning, and it was freezing! 0 degrees but it warmed up as the sun rose... I had a few hours to fit the gym and have lunch before heading to Canberra University -- the group in Canberra decided to have an evening workshop (4-9pm) with dinner. Although everyone had a full day of work before showing up, we still had a lot of active participation, and after wrapping up at 9 and getting back to the hotel around 10, it was time for sleep for another 6:45am flight back to Sydney for the last workshop of the trip!

Arriving in Sydney in the morning, with my 32kg on-the-dot bag faithfully appearing on the carousel, I headed off to Parramatta right on time, and arrived 3 minutes before the workshop was to begin! We had the biggest crowd of any session -- around 60 people, and so a lot of the interactive sections took a lot longer than usual, but they had great ideas and a large group of schools approached me after and wants to deeply engage their entire district with TIGed, which is exciting! After wrapping up and chatting with a bunch of the attendees, I was off to one of my favourite hotels in the world -- the Westin Sydney, to relax, enjoy their great gym, and have dinner with Jenny, who had the whole series of workshops organized, to debrief on the experience (yum, Tasmanian lamb!). After that, I met up with Jarra and Nick, and headed to Micky's for dessert (Banana Pancakes and Ice Cream!) to catch up and for me to celebrate the completion of 10 sessions in 11 days in 5 cities!

I'm writing this now on the flight to Vancouver -- I managed to get right to sleep after lunch on the 10am flight, which will hopefully mean I can work through the North American day and head to sleep at a proper time tonight. Saturday, we head to Quebec City for the World Youth Congress to meet TIG members from all over the world. I've also agreed to head to Brisbane on the 19th to speak at the Queenland Government's e-learning summit, and after that, I'll be ready to just settle down at home and enjoy the rest of the summer in Toronto :)

A week after President George W. Bush signed legislation repealing the travel restrictions placed on HIV-positive individuals visiting or immigrating into the United States Congresswoman Barbara Lee, from California, shared the process that concluded in the repeal with an audience at the XVII International AIDS Conference. The consequences of travel restrictions like those practiced by the United States, and still practiced by many other countries all over the world, were made clear during the question period. One man came forward to express the sense of betrayal felt by those forced out by the restrictions, he had personal experience as a US citizen living in Canada with a partner who is HIV-positive. He still loved his country, he told the panel, but he was ashamed and angry with his government for initiating the repressive legislation that forced him to choose between his country and his partner, as well as for taking 20 years to address it. The XVI International AIDS Conference, held in Toronto in 2006, drew attention to the restrictions. Many HIV-positive individuals faced difficulties traveling to the conference, since many flights into Canada would take them through the US. Congresswoman Lee attended AIDS 2006 and realized that the only way to put the United States on the "correct side of history", on this particular issue, was to abolish the travel restrictions completely, in her words: "Human rights are not won by appeasement or incrementalism." Although repealing the travel restrictions had support from both Democrats and Republicans, as well as a consensus in the medical community that travel restrictions did nothing to protect public health, it was a time when there was hostility towards any immigrant-related reform amongst the general public. However two years later the repeal is a major step forward, although it is not the final step. It is now up to the Secretary of Health to change regulations to reflect the new legislation. HIV must be taken off of the list of diseases that mean inadmissibility to the United States, but Congresswoman Lee is confident that this will happen soon. So confident she has suggested her constituency, Berkeley, California, be considered for the next International AIDS Conference.

Near the end of the session the conversation was brought back around to other human rights areas where the United States is lacking. One woman approached the microphone to congratulate Congresswoman Lee on her role in repealing the travel restrictions, but also to say that she would not personally attend an AIDS Conference in the United States until an apology was issued for all the human rights abuses it commits in other countries. Although using a session on travel restrictions against HIV-positive individuals as a platform for chiding the US on Iraq, or as she put it "marching into other countries" in the name of democracy, seems slightly inappropriate, it is a part of what the conference is about. Congratulating and celebrating to encourage progress, along with questioning and criticizing to show that we have not forgotten what remains to be addressed.

Children and Youth Facing HIV/AIDS
August 4, 2008
International AIDS Conference 2008
Jo Anne Tacorda

The session opened with Stephanie Raper, of Australia, a young person born HIV+ and Peter Laugharn, of the Netherlands. During the session similarities between panelists emerged such as their findings related to the discrimination and stigma youth living with HIV face in their daily lives. Adriana Gomez, of Brazil, spoke about a magazine called “Living as a Young Person,” this magazine featured workshops conducted in March – August 2007 and was first published in 2004. During those workshops, youth shared their feelings, fears and hopes. Similarly, Christabell, from Kenya, representing a group called Stay Alive Group support (SAYG), spoke about the wide gap between non-infected and infected youth, young people’s reluctance to get tested, and the lack of commitment young people have to support infected persons. Panelists also touched upon the double standard between adult and children disclosure; adults are told about their status via well trained health care providers while children and youth are often told their status via parents or caregivers who are not properly trained to support them. Discussions also focused on a growing body of evidence that suggests that while orphan hood in Africa is an important factor, it is not the only factor. Research has shown that orphans do not necessarily suffer greater deprivation so, including factors such as orphan hood, we must consider poverty, regional factors, and gender disparities as more effective measures.

Panelists showed that without education youth can perceive HIV+ status as a ‘death sentence’ and untreatable, they feel shame and exclude themselves from society. Those not infected and uneducated about the subject often use derogatory language, play ‘the blame game,’ and excluded HIV+ persons from society; as Christabell noted “discrimination leads to stigma, whether knowingly or unknowingly”. However, with proper support and education youth who are living with HIV have a better outlook on life and can see the possibilities for a brighter future.

In the future Panelists would like to see more effective strategies to combat reluctance to get tested and hold youth accountable to know their status. Panelists recommended that health care workers and parents receive training to properly support young people, take them through the testing process and also to communicate status disclosure with youth appropriately since “trust in [your parents] is key, if you can’t trust your parents who can you trust?... Keeping an illness from a child, a child who has their own body and their own mind, is devastating and should not happen” as Stephanie Raper noted. Best practices include those exemplified by SAYG who provides psychological support, opportunities to form partnerships on health issues and information for peer education. SAYG uses effective approaches including community asset mapping, programs and interventions and community resources. Developing disclosure guidelines and best practices is also important. There is also a strong need for youth friendly services so that youth feel comfortable about being tested and are open to receiving support.

La Formulaire à la DJC est finalment disponible en Français!

Rétrouver-la ici: www.projects.takingitglobal.org/cydpoznan/docs

Children and Youth Facing HIV/AIDS
August 4, 2008
International AIDS Conference 2008

The session opened with Stephanie Raper, of Australia, a young person born HIV+ and Peter Laugharn, of the Netherlands. During the session similarities between panelists emerged such as their findings related to the discrimination and stigma youth living with HIV face in their daily lives. Adriana Gomez, of Brazil, spoke about a magazine called “Living as a Young Person,” this magazine featured workshops conducted in March – August 2007 and was first published in 2004. During those workshops, youth shared their feelings, fears and hopes. Similarly, Christabell, from Kenya, representing a group called Stay Alive Group support (SAYG), spoke about the wide gap between non-infected and infected youth, young people’s reluctance to get tested, and the lack of commitment young people have to support infected persons. Panelists also touched upon the double standard between adult and children disclosure; adults are told about their status via well trained health care providers while children and youth are often told their status via parents or caregivers who are not properly trained to support them. Discussions also focused on a growing body of evidence that suggests that while orphan hood in Africa is an important factor, it is not the only factor. Research has shown that orphans do not necessarily suffer greater deprivation so, including factors such as orphan hood, we must consider poverty, regional factors, and gender disparities as more effective measures.

Panelists showed that without education youth can perceive HIV+ status as a ‘death sentence’ and untreatable, they feel shame and exclude themselves from society. Those not infected and uneducated about the subject often use derogatory language, play ‘the blame game,’ and excluded HIV+ persons from society; as Christabell noted “discrimination leads to stigma, whether knowingly or unknowingly”. However, with proper support and education youth who are living with HIV have a better outlook on life and can see the possibilities for a brighter future.

In the future Panelists would like to see more effective strategies to combat reluctance to get tested and hold youth accountable to know their status. Panelists recommended that health care workers and parents receive training to properly support young people, take them through the testing process and also to communicate status disclosure with youth appropriately since “trust in [your parents] is key, if you can’t trust your parents who can you trust?... Keeping an illness from a child, a child who has their own body and their own mind, is devastating and should not happen” as Stephanie Raper noted. Best practices include those exemplified by SAYG who provides psychological support, opportunities to form partnerships on health issues and information for peer education. SAYG uses effective approaches including community asset mapping, programs and interventions and community resources. Developing disclosure guidelines and best practices is also important. There is also a strong need for youth friendly services so that youth feel comfortable about being tested and are open to receiving support.

Now that I've been away a full week, I forced myself to carve out some time to reflect on the intensity of the time so far before kicking off the second stretch.

As always, our summers at TakingITGlobal are quite busy -- generally for the education "industry", most conferences are held during the summer when teachers have school holidays. This summer, as a follow-up to my keynote at last October's ACEL (Australian Counsel of Educational Leaders) conference (which was apparently quite good even though I was quite sick at the time), I was invited to be a "Traveling Scholar" for ACEL, presenting 5 full-day workshops on TakingITGlobal to school leaders and teachers across Australia. In addition, I started off the trip by keynoting a leadership conference at Melbourne Grammar School, and today keynoted the International Middle Years conference in Adelaide... so I've made quite good use of two weeks!

Sunday - Wednesday: Melbourne

After the trek from Toronto to Vancouver to Sydney to Melbourne, I knew the first thing I needed to do to keep my sanity was to spend a good amount of time at the fitness center at the Westin. What a great idea - it helped me refresh, have a fantastic swim in the beautiful infinity pool, and after a brief stroll that was quickly canceled when the rain started, I got to sleep at a reasonable hour.

On Monday, I woke up nice and early and arrived at the charming greened campus of Melbourne Grammar, one of Melbourne's oldest and most respected private schools. To their enormous credit, they had invited students from a broad cross-section of Melbourne to attend the conference, in addition to a grade of their students. I was brilliantly introduced by one of their capable students, and my keynote was well-received - with more questions from students than we had time for. Following the keynote, a panel including a futurist, scientist, and Aboriginal leader Patrick Dodson, who cited my presentation several times as they discussed issues of leadership in the 21st century and challenged students to act on the issues they felt challenged by. In the afternoon, I ran several hours of hands-on workshops guiding a small group of students through the TIG site and beginning the Guide to Action as a tool for action planning.

Tuesday morning, I visited Kilsyth, a suburb of Melbourne, and ran a 3 hour workshop with a group of teachers across that region looking at TIG and especially with an interest in Health education... it was a good challenge because we didn't have Internet except for a very slow 2G connection, so I was able to get well prepared and experiment with some activities for the following days' sessions!

That evening, I traveled to Mooney Valley Racecourse (home of Australia's best race - the Cox plate, worth $3 million!) and presented our work at TIG to about 150 principals, who also had some great questions, and I enjoyed meeting a teacher who grew up in Mississauga and had spent his recent years enjoying and exploring Australia's wilderness.

On Wednesday, I spent from 9 AM to 3:30 PM with an enthusiastic group of teachers and principals learning about TIG, exploring global issues, and understanding how to fit our programs and ideas at TIG into the curriculum and everyday use in their classrooms. I also shared our Best Practices on Global Education resource with them... and then I was off to the airport, heading to my next destination: Tasmania!

Thursday - Saturday: Hobart, Tasmania

On Thursday, I woke up and did it all over again, in a beautiful setting amongst Lemon trees at Lateare Gardens in Hobart with a fire burning to keep us all warm and cozy from the cold outside! I think the goals of what we do at TakingITGlobal really connected closely with some people - one teacher was literally in tears sharing how wonderful she thought what we did was... it's really a special opportunity (as exhausting as it is) to be able to share our work with people that are also dedicating their lives to helping young people develop. I think sometimes we all forget the power and opportunity we have to impact the lives of others - and I feel like a few people really felt reconnected to that opportunity, which is really an amazing opportunity to be able to stimulate.

After a short 2 hour break to refresh and do some e-mail, I headed off to the Hobart Yacht club, where I addressed about 50 high school principals, who weren't able to attend the day's workshop because they were having a leadership retreat. I had to pack 90 minutes into a 30 minute before dinner speech, so I think it was overwhelming, but many of them were quite excited by what we do... and I had delicious local Salmon which was a bonus!

The next day was my main day off. I decided not to head off to my next destination right away, but to stick around in Hobart and see some of the beautiful wildlife Tasmania has to offer. So I signed up for a Tasman Island Eco Cruise - having no idea how much of an adventure it would be! After a scenic bus ride to Port Arthur, one of the main convict colonies from the 1800s, we boarded a powerful boat (675 HP) that they describe as a 4x4 of the sea. Initially the ride was quite smooth - and we discovered some caves and amazing rock formations on the coast. The "swells" were only about 1 meter, and so it was just like jumping waves on a boat at home.

However, once we got out to the Tasman Sea, things got a lot more interesting. The waves and the winds were coming strongly from an unusual direction, and 2-3 meter waves and swells gave us quite a ride! I had chosen to sit in the 4th row (moved from the 2nd) and for close to an hour, we jumped waves and it felt like we were on a roller coaster as we plunged down after riding a wave.... but I stuck with my seat - a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

We arrived at two areas with Australian and New Zealand seals, and at a cove where dolphins chased our boat around until we had to leave - amazing to lean over and watch them at the water and bow of the boat jumping up playfully! A number of albatross with their huge wingspans also provided us with an amazing show - watching them fish and gracefully glide across the sky with nothing around us but huge rock and menacing water... or what looked menacing in my book. In 1998, however, the water was so rough that in the annual Sydney-Hobart race, five boats sank and six sailors were killed.

On Saturday morning, before heading to the airport, I spent a few hours enjoying the Salamanca Market, with hundreds of stalls offering delicious local treats and art and coffee and everything needed to pass a few hours and take in the culture of a place!

Sunday - Monday: Adelaide, South Australia

Now I'm here in Adelaide, where this morning I keynoted the International Middle Years of Schooling conference, and was again introduced by a fantastic student duo! I gave out dozens of bookmarks afterwards, with many many people promising to check out the site and connect their students into TIG. I was also followed by an excellent presentation by Professor Erica, who gave a talk on creativity that linked really perfectly and built on top of many of the themes I covered.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Australian Science and Mathematics School to do another day-long workshop, and then heading to Canberra the next morning... I'll be sure to check in soon with more! And I'll be editing this entry in about 2 hours with photos once they upload.

G'day for now, Mike

Photographers on the first day of the Youth Pre-Conference in Mexico City.

Some of you may already know about this, but I thought I'd share anyway. I received an email from our local environmental organization today that seemed like a really great opportunity for young people who are passionate about the environment. The UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) is apparently developing a youth network in North America. They're looking for 16-20 university students from the U.S. and Canada to take part in UNEP's new Kick the Carbon Habit Education Campaign, who would be invited to attend a conference in the fall of 2008 and work together to launch this campaign around North America with the help of UNEP.

The application deadline is July 28 (soon!). If you have any questions, the contact is unepyouth.na@gmail.com. I don't think it's possible to attach stuff to TIGblogs, but if anyone is interested, let me know, I can forward you the email and the application form!

-------------Information form cut and paste from attachment in email---------------------------------
KICK THE CARBON HABIT EDUCATION CAMPAIGN YOUTH NETWORK

Are you interested in being part of a new environmental youth network in North America?

If so, the United Nations Environment Programme is now accepting applications from dynamic youth who would like to be part of its new Kick the Carbon Habit Education Campaign Youth Network.

UNEP recognizes education as a key part of understanding and mitigating climate change. This campaign will help empower and educate youth and the general public on ways to conserve resources. In collaboration with UNEP, representatives of the youth network will play an active role in spreading this educational effort around the country.

UNEP’s goal with the Kick the Carbon Habit Education Campaign is to set in motion an ongoing effort by university students to educate their communities about methods of conservation in a world where natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce. As the network grows, representatives will create a self-sustaining network of youth leaders around the country.

Sixteen to 20 youth from around the U.S. and Canada will be selected for the 2008-2009 school year to launch the Campaign. The aim of this nation-wide campaign is to increase awareness of resource conservation, and will be led by university and high school students who will use educational events to reach out to their communities. Three audiences will be specifically targeted: children ages 8-14, youth ages 14-22, and the general community. University and high school students will engage these audiences in events such as a resource conservation fair at an elementary school or handing out eco-friendly bulbs to homeowners around a university campus.

Youth Network representatives will play a unique role in this campaign, as they will not only be the direct connection to UNEP, they will also be the distributors of the campaign “start-up kit.” The campaign will kick-off with a conference in November, where this pioneer group will learn how to reach out to solicit new involvement in the campaign and distribute “The Kit”. They will liaise with UNEP and with each other to develop strategies for the growth of the campaign, write and distribute a monthly e-newsletter to update volunteers on activities taking place within the network, and play a leadership role in deciding future goals of the network.

This campaign is new, but not unique in its efforts to educate the public about climate change. Youth who have had experience in organizing grassroots activities or other educational campaigns are encouraged to apply; however, such previous experience is not necessary.

So for the past 2 days, we had a camera crew from NHK - the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation - doing a series of interviews with our founders, capturing the office in action, and basically documenting how TIG and our members are changing the world using technology...

This is for an episode of a documentary series on Digital Natives that is to air in Japan in September. In the meantime, you can see the website here: http://www.nhk.or.jp/digitalnative/en.html.

They're also asking if TIG members can submit their own videos on their opinions about technology, the Internet and how it can make a positive impact in the world - if you have something to say, record it and upload here!

Permanent URL for this page: http://go.worldbank.org/8CXAXYWB


Global Fund for Indigenous Peoples

The Global Fund for Indigenous Peoples is the newest World Bank initiative that aims to directly assist Indigenous Peoples.

The Global Fund will support three activities:

1) The Grants Facility for Indigenous Peoples provides small grants directly to Indigenous Peoples' organizations to support implementation of sustainable development projects and programs based on their cultural preferences.

2) Capacity Building for Indigenous Leaders in the Andean region of South America is a pilot program designed to strengthen the indigenous organizations of the Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela).

3) Financial support for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will assist the Permanent Forum to promote a global partnership among Indigenous Peoples, the UN system, the Bank and other donors.

If you want to see some beautiful sustainable homes follow this link. THis man is known for making homes out of trash.
http://www.earthship.net/

Does anyone else find the spotlight image for the Fitness and Sport page hilarious? It puts a smile on my face every single time I see it. Seriously - it's really brightening up my week.