|
Dear friends of Susila Dharma,
 |
Sriwahyuni is a farmer from Melati, Kalimantan and a new borrower from YUM's micro-credit program. >> |
Thanks for your many warm and encouraging responses to our last Network eNews. SD Britain writes, "SDIA e-News—I really like reading this, a good communications mechanism and a good example of what our funding to SDIA goes towards helping to support."
In this cyber world, it is very nice to know that our efforts are valued and useful to readers. Learning about what this diverse collection of people are doing in the name of Subud is always interesting.
In this issue you will find:
1. News from the Network >>
a. SD Nationals:
• SD Serbia and Youth Violence
• SD Australia Annual Meeting
• SD India Makes Plans
• SD Indonesia and Skyjuice
b. Kalimantan >>
• More Women Micro-Entrepreneurs
• Bina Cita Utama Choir Performs
c. International Child Development Program >>
Wins Award, Appoints New Directors
2. Participating at the United Nations >>
• 2008 U.N. Representatives Appointed
• UN Decade for Inter-religious Dialogue
3. Useful Development Resources >>
• Food for Thought
• Visual Communications
• SEED Enterprise Award
4. From the Office >>
• ISC Helps Our Distribution
• Soliciting Notes from the Field
• SDIA Travels
• Announcing SDIA 2008 Conference
—With love from the SDIA office.
TOP
1. Network News
- SD Nationals
SD Serbia responds to youth violence
Josephine Bacikin, chair of recently formed SD Serbia writes:
THANK YOU very much for your kind email and support to us in Serbia. My country is going through a difficult period again and I do appreciate that you remember us here.
The UNICEF project, School without Violence, is our national project to address our very demanding problem of youth violence. Sadly, this could be recently seen on the TV news, how vandalism happened as the reaction to Kosovo's proclamation of their independence. This violence was done mostly by the young people.
 Therefore, as our national project, Susila Dharma Serbia has chosen to support and take part in the School without Violence project which is monitored and managed by UNICEF.
The problem of violence among children is not a new one in Serbia; but for far too long it has been neglected and allowed to exist on the periphery of the national consciousness. SD Serbia's goals are to be part of this UNICEF project, to prevent and reduce violence within schools, and to create schools that are secure, nurturing learning environments for children and adolescents.
Thanks!
To learn more about the situation in Serbia, read a background report by Josephine. Download PDF >>
School without Violence request for funding. Download PDF >>
SD Australia annual meeting
In January Subud Australia held their National Congress in Adelaide and Susila Dharma Australia was on the agenda. Mardijah Simpson, a Director of SDIA, reports:
Renee Goetz, SD Australia chair, had a Susila Dharma spot in the program and I was happy to support her session. Experience has told me that it is really best not have separate national and international sessions but to combine them to show how we work together. I explained briefly how SDIA functions and what some other SD nationals have achieved. I tried to encourage people to consider supporting local, national and international initiatives. SD Australia used to have an SD contact person in each group; but the practice has fallen away in recent years; so I hope this will be revived. Renee said she would be in contact with each group to seek volunteers for this.
Renee spoke about what has been happening in the Brisbane group. She plans to get more involved with the International Child Development Program (ICDP) and is off to be trained in Norway shortly. Renee sees ICDP as a way to offer practical support to Aboriginal communities. At Renee's request, and with Hanna Thomas' help, the group drafted a motion to the Subud Australia Council for support for ICDP training to be a national project.
SD India strengthens networking between projects
A meeting of SD India was held on February 16 in Bangalore, led by the new chairman, S. A. Samy. The decisions of the meeting were to strengthen networking between Indian projects around the themes of organic farming, support to women, children, health, and nutrition and training for Projects; to start a newsletter to improve communication; to inform members of Subud India about SD activities; and to look for ways to finance SD India and Project work.
Mithra Foundation is also organizing discussions on the UN Millennium Development Goals (UN-MDGs) by a group of like-minded NGOs from four states, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andra Pradesh and Karnataka.
 SD Indonesia and SkyJuice!
Australia helps provide portable water purification for Cawang Community, East Jakarta. During the Austrade Mission in Jakarta, the New South Wales Asia Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and SkyJuice Foundation from Australia donated a portable water filtration unit worth about USD 3,500.
Learn about this project in a recent SD Indonesia newsletter. Download pdf file :
In Indonesian | In English
- Kalimantan
Thirteen new borrowers join the YUM micro-credit program
 Yayasan Usuha Mulia (YUM) has been operating a micro-credit program to help women entrepreneurs in Kalimantan. The management of the program was recently reorganized.
From the report: New borrower Sriwahyuni, a farmer from Melati, writes:
After I heard of the micro-credit program, I attended the monthly meetings and became very interested to become one of the members in order to improve my small business. I also find it very enjoyable and useful to meet with other women and share the experiences and difficulties we have encountered.
A full report of the program achievements in 2007 is available here. Download PDF >>
Bina Cita Utama choir wows dignitaries
The BCU Student Choir was invited to perform for the birthday celebrations of Hamid da Silva, who has been a Founding Partner of BCU School since its beginning in 2005.  He is also the Indonesian Honorary Consul in Portugal. Among the 100 guests were the Vice-Governor of Central Kalimantan, and several members of the National Parliament in Jakarta.
The following day the government ministers visited the school and expressed their admiration for its pioneering vision and. They acknowledged that, although it was the government's responsibility to provide quality education, they were still far from being able to achieve this and therefore were very grateful that people, both locally and internationally, were willing to dedicate their time, skill, and money to help with this educational project.
You can read the full BCU Newsletter here: Download PDF >>
TOP
- International Child Development Program (ICDP)
Norway
Led by a small dedicated team, this program has been steadily growing for 20 years and is now active in over 20 countries. Here is an explanation of the program and some new developments.
Professor Karsten Rukman Hundeide, ICDP chairman explains:
 Our work is primarily competence-building and training. When the training is over and the quality of the work has been evaluated, we withdraw, having prepared local trainers to take over the organisation and further implementation of our programme. Whenever possible, we try to insert the ICDP Programme into existing institutional structures, government networks, leading NGOs working in the field of care for children, educational institutions, high schools and universities. In this way ICDP training may become an established part of the local institutions responsible for the care of children and for the education of resource-persons in this field.
ICDP receives special award
ICDP received an award from the Mayor of Oslo for the best educational and awareness raising effort in the city. The award was given to Farahnaz Rastegar and Ellen Tronsmo for their work with ICDP and especially for ICDP's efforts in reaching out to the minority population. ICDP is implemented throughout the city through different local networks such as kindergartens, social service groups, and health stations.
ICDP welcomes four new directors:
Santana Momade, the representative of ICDP Mozambique, with expertise in the area of strategic planning and management. Stephan Solat, who lives in Ukraine where he works for USAID, has wide international experience in development and has supported ICDP in the past. Virginia Thomas has a high level of competence in development, particularly in the area of evaluation. She is the executive director for Susila Dharma International Association and lives in Canada. Penelope Villar is a clinical psychologist from Portugal. She is trained as an ICDP facilitator and has been working closely with ICDP Portugal. Continuing Board members include Karsten Rukman Hundeide as chairman and Nicoletta Lailah Armstrong as Director.
ICDP Portugal was recently established, working with Muchtar Martins and the team from the Roda Viva Project in the Alfragide district of Lisbon. In the late 1970s this education project pioneered the ICDP methodology.
For more information on see ICDP website >>
TOP
2. Participating at the United Nations
2008 SDIA/Subud representatives appointed
The following people have been appointed as permanent representatives to the UN for 2008: Katherine Carré (Switzerland), Solen Gratiet, and Raphael Bate (France), Joe Rosario (India), Garrett Thompson and Myra Margolin (USA), Amalia Rasheed (Spain) and Frederic Richard (Austria). A big thank you to these volunteers!
Raphael Bate and Solen Gratiet are both active with SD France and will be attending part of the two week Seventh sesion of the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March.
U.N. Decade for Inter-religious Dialogue — Katherine Carré reports:
I attended the meeting of the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns, which was called on 4 Feb to discuss the proposal for a UN Decade of Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace. The meeting started with a quiet after which the Chair, Trevor Davies, said "May we be granted peace of heart and clarity of vision." It was a very good meeting of about eighteen people.
This committee prefers to use the word 'religious' only rather than 'cultural' or ‘religious & cultural' as it wants to introduce the word religion into the UN. Inter-religious and intercultural dilutes the meaning of religious but is preferred by some, by Muslims, for example.
The minutes of the meeting will soon be sent to the office and will be available on request.
TOP
3. Useful Development Resources
Members of the SD Network regularly send us suggestions for learning more about development.
Rosanna Hille:
Food for thought
I found this photo essay from the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio a very powerful visual education tool to raise awareness about our planet. What do we really eat? >>
Bardolf Paul:
Visualizing information for advocacy
Statistics presented in creative visual ways can be almost instantly communicated, even to people who have no training or background. You can download Visualizing information for advocacy: an introduction to visual design. Visit The Tactical Technology Collective online.
The 2008 SEED awards for entrepreneurship in sustainable development
Do you have an entrepreneurial or innovative idea that is locally-driven and has great potential to contribute to sustainable development in developing countries? Are you finding new ways of simultaneously improving incomes and strengthening livelihoods; tackling poverty and marginalisation; and managing and conserving natural resources and ecosystems? Are you planning, or in the early stages of implementing, a new concept that brings together people and organizations from different backgrounds to work in partnership together?
Then apply for “The 2008 SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development” before 16th March 2008. Application forms can be filled in online or downloaded from the SEED Initiative website at http://www.seedinit.org . SEED Award Winners receive a tailored package of support services, worth US $25,000, including access to relevant expertise and technical assistance, developing business plans and identifying sources of finance.
Wireless networking in the developing World
A free book about designing, implementing, and maintaining low-cost wireless networks. They just released a new version of the book online this month.
Visit their website <http://wndw.net/>
TOP
4. From the Office
Thanks ISC!
Thanks to the International Subud Committee and Subud World News, the SD Network eNews is now widely distributed to Subud national committees and many more readers.
Soliciting articles for Notes from the Field
The Notes from the Field series publishes practical learning from project experiences with the intention of sharing our knowledge with each other and with other development organizations. If you have experiences and recommendations from your work that you feel others could learn from, please send your articles to the SDIA office info@susiladharma.org. The office reserves the right to select and edit submissions.
The French version of Notes from the Field #4Wireless Networking in the Developing World is a free book about designing, implementing, and maintaining low-cost wireless networks. They just released a new version of the book online this month. http://wndw.net/ Gender Study is now available - La condition féminine dans la région de Kingantoko - http://susiladharma.org/notesfromfield/index.html
SDIA Travel
Technical support to Indonesian projects: Daisy MacDonald from the UK is in Indonesia conducting an evaluation of the YUM Cipanas Children's Village Project for the Blond Trust. Daisy will also travel to Kalimantan to assist YUM with a needs assessment for future project development in the area. Daisy is a researcher and evaluator with a Masters Degree in Environment, Development and Policy from Sussex University. This technical support to projects is co-funded by the Blond Trust and SDIA.
SDIA Directors: Board members Sharifin Gardiner (chairman) and Paloma de la Viña (director) will participate in the Kalimantan Visioning Meeting in mid-March as representatives from SDIA.
Announcing Susila Dharma Conference 2008
Members of SDIA will gather in Armenia, Colombia for their annual Conference and business meeting. Program details will follow and all are welcome!
July 23, 24 and 25 there will be a 3 day Project Management Workshop
July 30 SDIA Annual General Business Meeting
July 31 SDIA Board Meeting.
The SDIA Network eNews is published once a month. Please submit news items. Deadline for submissions is the middle of each month.
TOP
|
