News Archives

Drop-In Center: The Anti-Methadone Backlash

Pavel Kutsev, a leader of the harm reduction movement in Ukraine, writes about a war against substitution therapy programs, which includes banning methadone programs in municipal hospitals, anti-methadone campaigns in the mass media and police searches of methadone sites.

[Video] Interview with Ramsey Tesdell of 7iber.com

Ramsey Tesdell is the founder of 7iber.com, a citizen journalism community and training project based in Amman, Jordan. We met up with him at the Strengthening Independent Media program in Austria, which aims to map the new era of international media development. Ramsey explains the goals and activities of 7iber, his latest training efforts in Gaza, and the current state of donor investment in participatory media projects.

Blogging the Dream: Mental Health and Healthy Communities

Here in Câmpulung Moldovenesc, a small city in northeastern Romania along the banks of the Moldova River, a group of inspiring activists would rather focus on their mental health than mental illness. They advocate for a community-based approach which integrates mental health service users into society, rather than the usual segregation and stigmatization. "Be interested and understanding with your neighbor," the homepage of their website declares, "do not ignore him, do not fear him, help."

Abidjan Blog Camps: The First Workshop

The Rising Voices Grantee Abidjan Blog Camps started its first citizen media training program this month. A training session on 'Journalism and e-blogging' was held at the Press House of Abidjan. Ten journalists from various Ivorian media participated.

Malagasy Blogger Reflects Upon Climate Change Conference and G20 Summit

Sept, 27th marked the end of a busy week-long journey for Malagasy blogger and Foko coordinator Stephane, a.k.a pakysse. Stephane took off from Antananarivo, Madagascar on the 21st and landed in JFK, NYC on the 22nd for the Climate Change Conference in New York City at the United Nations Headquarters and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

Nomad Green: Environmental Activism

A number of workshops were held by the Rising Voices grantee Nomad Green in September 2009. Thanks to the passionate translators like Azaa, Ariungerel, Tungaa, and Odnoo, many articles have already been translated from Mongolian into English and was featured in the Nomad Green site.

[Video] Does New Media Outreach Lead to Westernization?

It is always easier to criticize than to get involved and one of the criticisms we hear most often at Rising Voices is that helping under-represented communities join the online global conversation will inevitably lead to their westernization. Álvaro Ramírez and Diego Gomez, co-founders of the HiperBarrio project, addressed this question while they were in Austria to pick up their Golden Nica award.

Foko Bloggers Represent Madagascar at World Summits

Two members of Foko Madagascar were recently invited to major international summits to represent their country and community in discussions about development, climate change, and poverty.

[Video] Interview with Pablo Flores

The day after Pablo Flores gave his presentation at the Ars Electronica Symposium about cloud technologies and education we were able to sit down with him for a few minutes to find out more about his projects and his current year-long sabbatical in which he will be visiting OLPC projects around the world and creating a multimedia website which compares his observations from one to one computing programs in different countries.

Drop-In Center: Improved Selection, Improved Program

Pavel Kutsev, leader of the organization Drop-In Center, points out how the selection of patients for substitution therapy programs in Ukraine is flawed, and calls on the authorities and the harm reduction community to improve it.