Dear All,
It has been quite a while since we've had a “weekly” Rising Voices newsletter, hasn't it? It's hard to believe that we have already reached December and 2009 is almost over.
World AIDS Day
Hopefully you all saw Solana's email about our activities for World AIDS Day tomorrow. Please help us distribute our “Blogging Positively” guide written by Janet Feldman, which presents case studies, interviews, and tips about citizen media related to HIV/AIDS.
https://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/guides/
The guide is now available in English, Spanish, and French, and a Russian translation should be up by tomorrow. On Global Voices we have also set up a special coverage page for World AIDS Day 2009 with an embedded map of HIV-positive bloggers and bloggers who write frequently about HIV/AIDS.
https://globalvoicesonline.org/specialcoverage/world-aids-day-2009/
For those who want to get further involved in using citizen media to ensure more inclusive coverage of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, please join us for a live online chat on December 3rd (7 pm Nairobi time). More information about the chat is available on the special coverage page.
Catching up with Rising Voices projects
Did you know that the Canadian coal mining company Teck Resources is planning on increasing its production from 1.5 million to 8 million tons every year at he Ovoot Tolgoi mine, an open-pit coal mine in southern Mongolia? The huge increase in production is sure to have a large environmental impact in Mongolia, but until recently residents of southern Mongolia had no way to make their voices heard. The Mongolian environmental citizen news project Nomad Green is trying to change that by organizing workshops to teach environmental activists how to publish news about changes and threats to their environment. Learn more in Rezwan's latest feature post and by visiting Nomad Green itself:
https://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2009/11/28/nomad-green-mongolian-environmental-news-reported-by-you/
http://en.nomadgreen.org/
There are also plenty of environmental threats in Madagascar. Patrick from Foko Madagascar tells us about the illegal logging of rosewood trees in eastern Madagascar which are exported to make guitars, billiard cues, furniture and luxury flooring. He tells us that the coup and political crisis that took place earlier this year has created an environment where people are able to evade the legal system. His own hometown of North Mananara has suffered as a result. This is something to think about the next time we buy furniture made out of rosewood. See photos from Patrick's post, and read the latest from more Malagasy bloggers in Joan's latest wrap-up:
http://layshiyuu.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/rosewood-business-on-the-east-coast-of-madagascar/
https://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/foko/2009/11/27/want-more-good-news-from-madagascar-what-about-starting-another-blogging-contest/
“Every month when I do my roundups of what happened on the Ceasefire blog that month I think to myself, ‘It can’t get much better than this!’ And it always does.” So writes Ruthie Ackerman in her introduction to a recap of blog posts from Liberians living in Staten Island, New York and Monrovia, Liberia who are part of the Ceasefire Liberia project. Sticking to the environmental theme, make sure not to miss Saki G's coverage of a Liberian youth group which organized an event to fight against climate change as part of the Road to Copenhagen campaign.
http://ceasefireliberia.com/2009/10/wood-camp-youth-consider-cop-15-the-gateway-to-the-future/
https://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/ceasefire-liberia/2009/10/30/ceasefire-liberia-in-the-news-october/
http://ceasefireliberia.com/
Opportunities
Youth Producing Change: Call for Submissions: | Human Rights Watch
The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in partnership with Adobe Youth Voices seeks youth-produced film, video and animated works on human rights issues made by youth ages 19 and under for its third annual YOUTH PRODUCING CHANGE program.
Ashoka November Fellowship Bulletin
With lots of funding opportunities.
Twenty Ten project accepting applications from professional African journalists
In 2010 a new training opportunity in Twenty Ten opens up for photo/multimedia journalists with an interest in multimedia. You can join the All Stars by signing up for the multimedia program and have a chance to become a member of the Dream Team in South Africa. Subscribe by following the steps below and apply to join Twenty Ten.
That is all for this week. We'll try to keep these newsletters more consistent in the future. I hope to see many of you in the chat on December 3.
Best,
David