The Wellspring

Applications are now open for the 34th JAL Scholarship Program. This year’s theme is ‘Challenges for the Future’.

The 2007 JAL Scholarship Program aims to foster globally-minded citizens, focusing on promoting mutual understanding within the Asia-Oceania region. The scholarship includes a 22-day stay in Japan (4th - 25th July, 2007), where scholars will participate in seminars by distinguished speakers, pioneers in various fields, discussion sessions, field trips in Tokyo and rural Japan, home stays, and also the prestigious Asia Forum in Ishikawa.

Japan Airlines will provide a return economy class ticket to Tokyo, accommodation, insurance against sickness, injury and theft (excluding cash, cheques) for the duration of the official program in Japan.

Applicants must be an undergraduate or graduate student currently studying at university, be an Australian resident of at least eight years, and have not lived in Japan for more than six months.

All interested students meeting the above criteria are invited to submit an application in the form of an essay in English, of 800 words or less, on an issue that engages them and which has implications for the future for either their locality or the global community.

For further information and to download a scholarship brochure and submit an appliation, see http://www.au.jal.com/en/others/scholarship07/.

Applications close 5 April, 2007.

Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) is celebrated on a designated weekend every April in more than 115 countries. GYSD remembers the year-round contributions of young people as assets and resources in their communities. In April 2007, millions of young people, in partnership with non-Governmental organizations, faith-based institutions, Governments, schools, media, and businesses will address the most pressing needs in their communities and their countries.

GYSD offers a way for organisations to to:

• BUILD the capacity of an international network of organizations that promotes youth participation, service, and learning;
• EDUCATE the public, the media, and policy-makers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders around the world;
• MOBILIZE youth and adults to meet the needs of their communities through volunteering; and
• LEARN and share effective practices in youth service, youth voice, and civic engagement in the world today.

For further information, see http://www.GYSD.org/.

International Women’s Day 2007 was celebrated on 8 March with the theme “Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls”. It also marked the culmination of an effort to implement a proposal for the creation of a new UN women’s agency.

Late last year, the United Nations High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence handed down its report recommending that the UN Development Fund for Women, the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues be combined into one ambitiously-funded agency. The combined budgets of the three units is currently less than $80 million annually.

In late February this year, a coalition of over 150 international NGOs represented at the UN Commission on the Status of Women urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to implement the proposal.

On International Women’s Day, Ban came out in support of the idea, saying that the UN should create a new agency to focus exclusively on promoting women’s rights and well-being,

“Such a new body should be able to call on all of the U.N. system’s resources in the work to empower women and realize gender equality worldwide,” Ban said. “It should mobilize forces of change at the global level and inspire enhanced results at the country level.”

Update (20 March): On a related note: to help commemorate International Women’s Day, UN Non-Government Liaison Service released the latest in the Development Dossier series, which analyses and discusses major issues on the international development agenda. The Unfinished Story of Women and the United Nations covers more than eighty-five years of history between women and inter-governmental organizations. The book recalls the success story of women and the League of Nations and describes the unfolding history of women at the United Nations for the advancement and empowerment of women, especially in the 30 years since the First UN World Conference on Women in 1975 in Mexico City and up to the ten-year review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in 2005.

The Unfinished Story of Women and the United Nations is available at http://www.un-ngls.org/pdf/UnfinishedStory.pdf.

Civicus is a South African-based NGO that works to strengthen citizen action and civil society thorughout the world.

Civicus is currently calling for applications from young people aged 18 - 25 to participate in its upcoming Civicus Youth Assembly, which will be held 22 - 23 May, 2007 in Glasgow, Scotland. The Assembly will bring together 150 of the world’s most engaged and dynamic young activists in the field of social and civic justice from around 90 different countries worldwide, and will offer a unique opportunity to meet and work with those who are really making changes to things that matter. It will also give young people a program and a space to develop and commit to action internationally.

Youth Assembly delegates will also be accredited as full delegates to the the Civicus World Assembly, one of the largest annual civil society conferences, to be held 23 - 27 May. Youth Assembly delegates will have a voice and opportunity to meet and influence some of the world’s leading NGOs, groups and individuals who are committed to the creation of a more just and equitable world.

All Youth Assembly delegate places are free and will include all accommodation, food and social programme events for the week (including registration for the Civic World Assembly). However, travel expenses to and from Scotland are to be paid personally.

Delegate places are limited and will be awarded to the strongest applicants from around the world. Applicants will be assessed on the extent that they are:

• Motivated
• Open-minded and outgoing
• Responsible and with vision
• Active participants

A limited number of places will also be reserved for young people who can demonstrate interest in the themes of the Assembly, but who have not yet had the chance to be involved in a social or civil justice project.

For further information and to download an application form, see http://www.civicusyouth.org/.

Applications close 6 April, 2007.

Applications are now open for the Wild Gift, a program that grants up to $15,000 to youth-led year-long projects that benefit people and nature.

The Wild Gift provides grants ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 to leaders who wish to embark on a self-designed year long project to protect nature or promote sustainability. The program is open to young leaders aged 21 to 30 worldwide and is provided at no cost to the recipient.

The Wild Gift program consists of four parts: mentoring to help refine leader-designed projects, a 20-day wilderness trek, a year’s support to ensure the project’s success, and a seven-day trek after one year to share project results and strategize for continued achievement.

Past leader-designed projects that the Wild Gift has supported include a documentary film on community farms, a nature writing program for urban youth in southern California, and the founding of a solar construction company that provides green technology to development projects in Ladakh, India.

For more information and to download an application form, visit http://www.wildgift.org/.

Applications close 1 April, 2007.

The US$1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2007 is now open for entries.

The Alcan Prize, a joint-initiative of Canadian aluminium company Alcan and The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum, is an annual prize awarded to a not-for-profit, civil society or non-governmental organization based anywhere in the world that is demonstrating a comprehensive approach to addressing, achieving and further advancing economic, environmental and/or social sustainability.

Additionally, Alcan Grants valued at US$15,000 are awarded to the remaining nine shortlisted organizations, with the specific intention of investing in certifiable training and capacity building for the organization.

Prize and grant recipients are selected by an independent, high-level international panel of distinguished adjudicators, who consider both past performance as well as evaluating how
organizations will continue to contribute to and impact on sustainability through their ongoing activities.

Each person can nominate as many organizations as they wish and every eligible organization is encouraged to enter.

For more information and to enter online, see http://www.alcanprizeforsustainability.com/.

Applications close 31 March, 2007.

The John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights is calling for applications from young people and young professionals from across the world aged 16 - 28 for (what is possibly the event with the most unwieldy name I’ve ever come upon) Reach Out, Speak Up! Ignite Change Now - Global Youth Assembly 2007. The Assembly will be held from 1 - 4 August, 2007 in Edmonton, Canada and bring together 700 - 1000 young people to ‘discuss major global issues and what our generation can do about them’.

The Assembly programme includes educational keynotes addresses, break-out sessions, leadership skills training and workshops based around the eight United Nations action areas to build a Culture of Peace. The aim is to develop an understanding of critical local and global issues and strengthen participants’ capacity to stimulate change. The Assembly will also feature a vibrant arts component to emphasise that there are many ways to ignite positive change – be it through hip-hop, film, or poetry.

Organisers are accepting educational or leadership building presentation proposals until 15 March, 2007. For more information and a Call for Proposals form, email organisers at program@youthassembly.ca.

Early bird registration is available until 15 May, 2007 and is CAD$299. Accommodation and travel arrangements are the responsibility of participants, and it does not seem as if scholarships or financial assistance is available.

The Assembly is a satellite project of the Youth Assembly at the United Nations and will be held under the patronage of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.

For more information and to register online, see http://www.youthassembly.ca/.

United Nations Truth is an anonymous blog that hopes to shed some light on the day-to-day inner workings of the United Nations. It seems to have a particular interest in the Middle East peace process. While not always the most readable (some of the posts are very lengthy), content on the blog is interesting and insightful. There is even an entry about the proper way to pronounce the new Secretary-General’s name (it’s ‘bahn gee-moon’).

Visit the blog at http://www.un-truth.com/.