Welcome to the first newsletter of what we hope to make a weekly event. Some of you may already know that I have now relocated to Nairobi where the TVE Africa Regional Office is situated within United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) office at the UN Gigiri complex. Being positioned here is very strategic as we have access to innumerable resources at fingertips. I hope to extend these opportunities to all of you in the coming months and through this newsletter I will spell out the prospects as they arise.
This newsletter is not only about the TVE Africa office, but I would like to include news from everyone of the African partners; whether it is news of activities that you are engaged in, socio-political changes in your area or anything you feel is important to share, I now invite you to email me directly and I will edit the information to feed a summary back to you.
Congratulations for achieving this milestone and let us now all participate in strengthening the network – Enock Chinyenze, TVE - Regional Coordinator for Africa
Partner Visits
In the past months, while waiting to move to Nairobi, I visited a number of the partners in their countries; namely, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, South Africa and, of course, Zimbabwe and Kenya where I have been based. A full report of the visits, which I have constructed in research form, will follow shortly after receipt of this newsletter. The findings in this report will serve as the strategic plan framework for TVE Africa in addition to the key functions for the Regional Coordinator identified at the Windhoek meeting – Harnessing the Power of Film, 2005. For those that attended the meeting you may also recall that you requested a strategic plan from the Coordinator and this exercise has ensured that the process was a participatory event (apart from learning the inner works of the different organisations).
We will get an opportunity to learn about the remaining organisations in due course and, in effect, this makes the research a continuous project that will redefine who we are and what we do.
Gigiri Office Complex
The UN Gigiri offices are home to International headquarters for UNEP and UN-HABITAT, UN Regional offices, and dozens of other UN offices are located in or around the centre. Visit: http://www.unon.org/
TVE has inside access to explore the many opportunities for the African partnership. To begin with, this week, I would like to alert you over the Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE) project. The OARE project, in partnership with UNEP and Yale University is, an international public-private consortium that enables developing countries to gain free access to one of the world's largest collections of environmental science literature. Over 1,300 scientific journal titles owned and published by over 300 prestigious publishing houses, scholarly societies, and scientific associations are now available at no cost to you. Visit: http://www.oaresciences.org/
Why is this an important resource? Well… to access these scientific documents on commercial grounds would cost you an arm and a leg (currently valued at over US$100 million). Secondly it bridges the scientific gap between the north and the south. You therefore can now write reports, or make films, using current scientific research data.
On the OARE homepage you will also find links to HINARI and AGORA that offer a similar service for health and agricultural research respectively. For you, as the APN, I can also send to you introductory packs about this project at your request, but go on and subscribe your organisation on their website right away for no cost.
Special Events
Irene Zikusoka, an independent filmmaker in Uganda and partner to the Women Broadcasting for Change (another one of TVE’s networks), together with Television for Development successfully launched the new ‘Why Women Count’ series at the 8th Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting (8WAMM) in Kampala this last June. To view the immediate response to the films from the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Don McKinnon, visit: http://commonwealth.live.poptech.coop/speech/34293/35178/165311/8wamm.htm
I viewed the new series this week and would like to congratulate the Women Broadcasting for Change network for an exceptional job well done. Following the last ‘Snapshots of Change’ series, the films have turned up a notch on relevance and I expect them to impact communities highly.
Still on the commonwealth, as you know, our annual meeting is this year will coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Kampala. Just as important as our closed meeting is that we will be running one of the workshops of the Commonwealth People’s Forum (CPF) where civil society will discuss, through workshops, and agree on a communiqué to send to CHOGM prior to their meeting. We will be inviting many of you to facilitate and make presentations in your area of expertise, so as you participate in this high level decision making process. Please start reading up on the commonwealth by logging onto: http://www.thecommonwealth.org/
Question of the week
The new ‘Earth Report’ series has of course been on air. Have you been watching the series?
Feedback
I welcome any feedback from you over TVE, your organisation or your country’s activities.
Editor: Enock Chinyenze. Nairobi, Kenya.
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