Peace Library News

AfricaFocus Bulletin
Sep 15, 2005 (050915)
(Reposted from sources cited below)

Among the many reports issued as world leaders gather in New York to discuss their commitment to fighting world poverty, the annual Human Development Report is among the most blunt in concluding that the "promise to the world's poor is being broken." In addition to documenting the failures and presenting its annual measurement of the Human Development Index (HDI) for 177 countries, this year's report identifies specific actions that could begin to reverse the trend.

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains excerpts from the overview of the 2005 Human Development Report, focused on inequality, aid, and trade. The web version of this Bulletin also contains the listing of the HDI rank of African and other countries
http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/hdr2005.php
The full report, including the new human development index listing and a press kit are available at http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005

From the Peace Company:

Dear Friends,

The International Day of Peace, September 21, is a time to reflect upon peace in our lives and in our world.

This is the 23rd annual observance of the International Day of Peace, a UN resolution first inaugurated on the third Tuesday of September 1982. Beginning on the 20th anniversary in 2002, the UN General Assembly set September 21st as the permanent date for the international Day of Peace. The UN Resolution calls for a global ceasefire and a minute of silence for peace at 12 Noon.

The Peace Company invites you to recognize this special day with silence, prayer, meditation, or celebratory activites that honor the spirit of peace. We hope that one day soon, every day will be peace day. In service to peace, The Peace Company will continue and expand its products and services to help make peace the way we live.

In Peace, Your Friends at The Peace Company
www.ThePeaceCompany.com

Association for Conflict Resolution
http://www.acrnet.org
The Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) is a professional organization
dedicated to enhancing the practice and public understanding of conflict
resolution. ACR represents and serves a diverse national and international
audience that includes more than 6,000 mediators, arbitrators, facilitators,
educators, and others involved in the field of CR and collaborative
decision-making. Anyone interested in the field of CR is welcome to join.

Check out their "Frequently Asked Questions about Conflict Resolution"
http://www.acrnet.org/about/CR-FAQ.htm

... and their ACR Update newsletter
http://www.acrnet.org/publications/acrupdate.htm

Teaching Human Rights Online
http://homepages.uc.edu/thro/index.html
THRO is a project of the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights directed by Howard Tolley, Jr. at the University of Cincinnati.
All cases available as a single file for printing or as CD-ROM from THRO.

This has been compiled from various scanner manuals:

• Use crisp, clear text. The most important thing to remember about getting accurate text scans is to start with a good quality original. Tears, wrinkles and smudges can confuse the OCR software and lead to errors in the final output.


• Black text on a white background is best.


• Touch up a dirty original with a touch of correction fluid, or make a photocopy to improve the contrast of the original.


• Try text that is 9-point font or larger.


• If the text on the original is slanted, or the page shape is irregular, it can be difficult to align the text properly for scanning. Draw a line on the back of the page that corresponds with the baseline of the text, and use that line to align the page with the scanner's guides.


• Translucent papers and newsprint allow text from the opposite side to show through the paper, confusing the scanner. Place a sheet of black paper over the back of the page to block the light.


• These types of text might convert less accurately:



text close to non-text elements: bullets, lines, or graphics
text in spreadsheets, tables, or forms
letters that have gaps, bleed along their edges, or touch each other
underlined text
text on colored paper



• Handwriting cannot be converted.


• Use your word processor's spell checker to go over the scanned text when you are finished scanning. Though OCR programs have built in dictionaries, they are seldom as extensive or precise as the one you've personalized for your own use.

Our featured web site is the Best practices database maintained by the Together Foundation and UN-Habitat. This searchable database contains proven solutions to common social, economic and environmental problems of an urbanising and globalising world. Over 1600 practices from 140 countries demonstrate practical ways in which public, private and civil society sectors are working together to improve governance, eradicate poverty, provide housing, land and basic services, protect the environment and support economic development.

The African Union was established in July 2002 by African leaders, evolving from the Organization of African Unity (OAU). However the idea of the African Union can be traced to the Pan-Africanist movement. Timothy Murithi looks at the emergence of Pan-Africanism and how it was institutionalized through the Pan-African Congress and the OAU. He argues that the African Union represents the third phase of the institutionalization of Pan-Africanism. The book

• examines the limitations of the OAU and discusses whether the African Union can adopt a more interventionist stance in dealing with peacebuilding and development in Africa.
• assesses the African Union's peace and security institutions and analyzes how it is to collaborate with civil society.
• It takes a critical look at the Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)
• argues that Africa needs to adopt a developmental and governance agenda that will be much more responsive towards improving the well-being and livelihood of its peoples.

The African Union is a must read, and highly recommended for
students, academics, policy and development practitioners.
Dr David J. Francis, University of Bradford, UK

Available from Ashgate
ashgate.bookpoint.co.uk
Order ref: 30FL2252

Dr. Tim Murithi has joined the CCR as a Senior Researcher in the Policy Development and Research (PDR) programme. He was previously with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in Switzerland.

A progress report reviewing recent action taken in response to the Secretary-General's report on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa has been issued A/60/182. The report suggests there is a need to increase efforts aimed at conflict prevention and resolution, as well as to strengthen peacekeeping capacity and enhance cooperation and coordination between international and regional institutions

Originally posted on Thread and Thrum "The whole of anything, good and bad together" - A Blog attempting to inform on the latest developments in Gender, Children & Education.

Helping others resolve differences: empowering stakeholders
Gregorio Encina Billikopf

This book [online and print] is an effort to present practical, sound, research-based ideas hopefully leading to the improved management of deep-seated interpersonal conflict. While many of the concepts where originally developed through research in agriculture and agri-business firms, the method has since drawn the interest of a wide range of people from women's groups, churches, attorneys and mediation centers throughout the world. The methods used require more time than traditional mediation, but are particularly well suited to volunteer mediators, intercultural conflicts, and other conflicts where emotional factors are high. The Web edition was made available on 25 May 2004, and the hard edition of the book was published on 7 April 2004. This is a public service of the University of California

Chapter 1 - Fighting words: How did we get here?
Chapter 2 - The mediation process
Chapter 3 - Empathic listening and challenging perceptions
Chapter 4 - Coaching participants on negotiation skills
Chapter 5 - Nora and Rebecca
Chapter 6 - Rebecca's first pre-caucus
Chapter 7 - Nora's first pre-caucus
Chapter 8 - Rebecca's second pre-caucus
Chapter 9 - Nora's second pre-caucus
Chapter 10 - Joint session
Appendix (Group Facilitation journal article)

Download
For questions on making CDs or hard copies of this book for free distribution, see "Copyright questions" on the web site.