| Trinidad author to chair UNESCO Education Commission | |||||||||||
 Dr Kris Rampersad, Trinidad and Tobago representative on UNESCO Executive Board, 2013 to 2017 PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- The particular challenges of small island developing states (SIDS), and the particular realities of Trinidad and Tobago as a small island with a continental physical and natural heritage, require special focus within UNESCO programmes and budgets, according to recommendations presented by Dr Kris Rampersad, Trinidad and Tobago representative to the UNESCO executive board during its 196th session in Paris, France. Rampersad was unanimously presented by colleagues of the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) and accepted by the executive board to chair the Education Commission at the upcoming 38th sessions of the UNESCO general assembly to take place in November. The decision took place at the 196th session of the UNESCO executive board, on which Rampersad serves as the representative of Trinidad and Tobago. She has been unanimously elected to co-chair the executive board’s Programme and External Relations Commission for the three consecutive sessions since 2013. The general assembly and the executive board are the two governing organs of UNESCO. “These provide considerable opportunities to advance Trinidad and Tobago’s presence in UNESCO which is working to build a culture of peace and share our experiences and challenges in the region in this respect in the face of numerous challenges, including size and capacity as small island sovereign states,” she said. Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh has commended Rampersad’s work on the UNESCO board and her upcoming chairmanship of Trinidad and Tobago, recognising the significant place Trinidad and Tobago has occupied within UNESCO, now celebrating its 70th anniversary. The Trinidad and Tobago representative maintained a high level of participation and representation in the numerous activities of the executive board strengthening networks with representatives of SIDS, the Commonwealth, GRULAC, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) within UNESCO. She presented the Trinidad and Tobago national Leading for Literacy Now! project as a model approach to address challenges with literacy; and identified challenges identified in the allied National Commission Leading for Numeracy initiatives. Leading for Literacy Now was a programme introduced during her term as chair of the National Commission (2011-2015) in conjunction with declaration of a Decade for Literacy for Trinidad and Tobago implemented by the Elizabeth Crouch-headed Education Committee of the National Commission. It was inspired by UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova’s 10,000 Principal Leadership programme, with financial support from UNESCO, the ministry of education, the private sector and also represents a model UNESCO-public-private sector partnership initiative. Rampersad has actively contributed to UNESCO’s efforts over the past two years in defining actions for programmes and budgets that will meet the needs of small island states; and suggested ways of deepening synergies across UNESCO programme areas of science, education, cultural heritage conservation and advancing the creative industries, and use of information and communications to achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness and cost savings. She advocated the need to ensure balanced and equitable programme focus and allocations through the debates on UNESCO’s role in the UN post-2015 education agenda; UNESCO’s alignment with the Global Geo Parks initiative, protection of journalists, the centralisation of culture in development, and a deeper role of UNESCO Institute of Statistics in matters related to SIDS. She further participated in UNESCO’s introduction of a new International Day of University Sports, the rights to learning without fear and making classrooms safe zones, facilitation of technical and vocational education and education in the digital age; the place of information and communication technologies to advance learning of persons with disabilities; developing global citizenship, among others. Rampersad is an author and an independent media, cultural and literary development educator and consultant. She was appointed to the UNESCO executive board in 2013, following UNESCO elections in which Trinidad and Tobago polled the highest number of votes within the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC). http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-Trinidad-author-to-chair-UNESCO-Education-Commission-27489.html
http://newsday.co.tt/news/0,216691.html
The particular challenges of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and the particular realities of Trinidad and Tobago as a small island with a continental physical and natural heritage, require special focus within UNESCO programmes and budgets.
This was among the recommendations presented by Dr Kris Rampersad, Trinidad and Tobago (TT) Representative to the UNESCO Executive Board during its 196th session in Paris, France.
Rampersad was presented by colleagues of the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) and accepted by the Executive Board to chair the Education Commission at the upcoming 38th sessions of the UNESCO General Assembly to take place in November. The decision took place at the 196th session of the UNESCO Executive Board, in which Rampersad serves as the TT Representative. She has been elected to co-chair the Executive Board’s Programme and External Relations Commission for the three consecutive sessions since 2013 – 194th, 195th, and 196th. The General Assembly and the Executive Board are the two governing organs of UNESCO. “These provide considerable opportunities to advance Trinidad and Tobago’s presence in UNESCO which is working to build a culture of peace and share our experiences and challenges in the region in this respect in the face of numerous challenges, including size and capacity as small island sovereign states,” she said. Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh has commended D Rampersad’s work on the UNESCO Board and her upcoming chairmanship of TT, recognising the significant place TT has occupied within UNESCO, now celebrating its 70th anniversary. The TT representative maintained a high level of participation and representation in the numerous activities of the Executive Board strengthening networks with representatives of SIDS, the Commonwealth, GRULAC, and CARICOM within UNESCO. She presented the TT national Leading for Literacy Now! Project as a model approach to address challenges with literacy; and identified challenges identified in the allied National Commission Leading for Numeracy initiatives. Leading for Literacy Now was a programme introduced during her term as Chair of the National Commission (2011-2015) in conjunction with declaration of a Decade for Literacy for Trinidad and Tobago implemented by the Elizabeth Crouch-headed Education Committee of the National Commission. It was inspired by UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova’s 10,000 Principal Leadership programme, with financial support from UNESCO, the Ministry of Education, the private sector and also represents a model UNESCO-public- private sector partnership initiative. Rampersad has actively contributed to UNESCO’s efforts over the past two years in defining actions for programmes and budgets that will meet the needs of Small Island States; and suggested ways of deepening synergies across UNESCO programme areas of science, education, cultural heritage conservation and advancing the creative industries, and use of information and communications to achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness and cost savings. She advocated the need to ensure balanced and equitable programme focus and allocations through the debates on UNESCO’s role in the UN post- 2015 education agenda; UNESCO’s alignment with the Global Geo Parks initiative, protection of journalists, the centralisation of culture in development, and a deeper role of UNESCO Institute of Statistics in matters related to SIDS. She further participated in UNESCO’s introduction of a new International Day of University Sports, the rights to learning without fear and making classrooms safe zones, facilitation of technical and vocational education and education in the digital age; the place of information and communication technologies to advance learning of persons with disabilities; developing global citizenship, among others. Rampersad is an author and an independent media, cultural and literary development educator and consultant. She was appointed to the UNESCO Executive Board in 2013, following UNESCO elections in which TT polled the highest number of votes within the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries. Trinidad author to chair UNESCO Education Commission
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- The particular challenges of small island developing states , and the particular realities of Trinidad and Tobago as a small island with a continental physical and natural heritage, require special focus within UNESCO programmes and budgets, according to recommendations presented by Dr Kris Rampersad, Trinidad and Tobago representative to the UNESCO executive board during its 196th session in Paris, France. Rampersad was unanimously presented by colleagues of the Latin American and Caribbean Group and accepted by the executive board to chair the Education Commission at the upcoming 38th sessions of the UNESCO general assembly to take place in November.
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T&T author chairs Unesco Education Commission
Published:
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Dr Kris Rampersad
Author and former T&T Guardian Sunday editor Dr Kris Rampersad says special focus should be give to small island states by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).
Rampersad, who represented T&T at the Unesco Executive Board during its 196th session in Paris, said because of the challenges of small states, countries like T&T required special focus within Unesco programmes and budgets.
She suggested ways of “deepening synergies in the areas of science, education, cultural heritage conservation and advancing the creative industries, and use of information and communications to achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness and cost savings.”
Rampersad also said there was a need to ensure balanced and equitable programme focus and allocations through the debates on Unesco’s role in the UN post-2015 education agenda.
She also called for “Unesco’s alignment with the Global Geo Parks initiative, protection of journalists, the centralisation of culture in development, and a deeper role of Unesco Institute of Statistics in matters related to SIDs.”
Rampersad has also advocated the rights to learning without fear, making classrooms safe zones, facilitation of technical and vocational education in the digital age, helping the disabled with ICT and developing global citizenship.
http://www.cnc3.co.tt/aggregator/sources/1
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Showing posts with label Small Islands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Small Islands. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
T&T Author To Chair UNESCO Education Commission
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Building Capacity for advancing Caribbean Agricultural Development
One of the outstanding outreach and advocacy initiatives for agriculture and food security developed in conjunction with the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute. As the world transitioned from conventional to new media, the holistic approach involved retooling executives and extension officers in use of new media tools, revising internal and eternal communications strategies and approaches, devising new mechanisms for engaging multisectoral stakeholders and broadening partnerships in public, private, NGO, media and academic sectors as well as revising CARDI's range of outreach materials that include newsletter - the CARDI Update, the academic CARDI Journal, the bulletins on sound agriculture, animal husbandry and food security practices as well as conceptualising, coordinating and introducing the agri-journalism award and strengthening understanding of the impact of climate change on agriculture.
This collaboration, apart from the above named outputs and outcomes, provided a new unique model for multistakeholder engagement that was adopted internationally by CARDI's EU-ACP partners and the Agri Journalism award to encourage outreach and awareness about food security, healthy lifestyles and agriculture and its satellite industries and economies. To develop your campaign and outreach initiatives or to sponsor development of these experiences for further outreach make contact
CARDI Update 2009 -2 .pdf (application/pdf Object)
CARDI and the Campaigns for
One of the outstanding outreach and advocacy initiatives for agriculture and food security developed in conjunction with the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute. As the world transitioned from conventional to new media, the holistic approach involved retooling executives and extension officers in use of new media tools, revising internal and eternal communications strategies and approaches, devising new mechanisms for engaging multisectoral stakeholders and broadening partnerships in public, private, NGO, media and academic sectors as well as revising CARDI's range of outreach materials that include newsletter - the CARDI Update, the academic CARDI Journal, the bulletins on sound agriculture, animal husbandry and food security practices as well as conceptualising, coordinating and introducing the agri-journalism award and strengthening understanding of the impact of climate change on agriculture.
This collaboration, apart from the above named outputs and outcomes, provided a new unique model for multistakeholder engagement that was adopted internationally by CARDI's EU-ACP partners and the Agri Journalism award to encourage outreach and awareness about food security, healthy lifestyles and agriculture and its satellite industries and economies. To develop your campaign and outreach initiatives or to sponsor development of these experiences for further outreach make contact
CARDI Update 2009 -2 .pdf (application/pdf Object)
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Go Barefoot for Human Rights
‘Barefoot and pregnant’ is an image that has been associated with disempowered women, dependent and entangled in a cycle of poverty, frustration and self-negation from limited life chances resulting from unplanned, unaffordable pregnancies. Similarly, aspects of the feminist movement have also frowned on lengthening and thinning heels on women’s shoes as similar representations of internalised repressions. In fact, shoes and rising heels have been associated with improved standards of living and lifestyles that allow persons to afford shoes to protect themselves from dreaded poverty-associated diseases, and the roughness of the ground.
Now leading women in the civil society movement have adopted the metaphor – at least half of it, ‘barefoot’ – and extended it, to remind the world of the violations of human rights around the world. Go barefoot – lose your shoes is the rallying call to the world to remind ourselves of these violations. Led by CIVICUS - a world alliance of civil society interests, based in South Africa and headed by Ingrid Srinath – men and boys, women and girls shed their shoes and trekked barefooted through most of the CIVICUS World Assembly activities in Montreal recently, to signal their commitment to defending the rights of persons around the world.
On Human Rights Day, December, 10 – mark the date - the CIVICUS led campaign - Every Human Has Rights – will rally people to focus, even for a few moments, to think about other people whose rights have been violated in the hope of building understanding and to begin to make the fight for human rights part of everyone’s lives. This year’s rally around the slogan Go Barefoot – Lose Your Shoes, will zero in on people living in poverty – people who don’t have food to put on their table, let alone shoes to put on their feet.
In particular, we may want to think of the women and children in the some 20 percent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago whose existence hover around the ‘poverty line’.
I have found that more horrifying than what is conjured by the metaphor of ‘barefoot and pregnant’, is the statistic – of 20 percent of our population being barely able to afford life’s basics , given that T&T’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head is said to be some USD 20,000. In lay terms, that means, that if this country’s wealth was more equitably distributed, every individual will be earning some TTD 120,000 a year.
Human Rights day was introduced to keep focus on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the anniversary of this Declaration with its 30 Articles of the rights of men and women. In printed form, the 9 cm by 12 cm booklet of 15 pages defines human rights as right to life, liberty, security, property, education, equality before law, freedom of thought, religion, opinion, peaceful assembly, political participation, equal pay for equal work, right to join trade unions, right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being.
Other less known, are ‘right to nationality’, family, equal access to the public service, free development of personality and right to protection of moral and material interests from any scientific, literary or artistic production.
Trinbagonians, with the endemic liming culture would be pleased to know it also includes the right to participate in cultural life, enjoy the arts, share in scientific achievement as well as – note this –“rights to the freedom to rest and leisure and periodic holidays with pay.”
It is clear that many of these rights still point to the unequal status of women in many parts of the world where women still do not enjoy right to property, freedom of thought, equal pay for equal work, and right to enjoy adequate standard of living for health and well being and access to social and public services and utilities, and many have no prospect of experiencing “rights to the freedom to rest and leisure and periodic holidays with pay.”
Go Barefoot, lose your shoes, is based on the belief that the world would be a better place if every person walked a mile in another person’s. Wouldn’t it? Try it and at noon on December 10, take off your shoes, step out onto the street and walk around the to reognise that Every Human Have Rights. Some details in the box on what you can do.
Dr Kris Rampersad is a media, cultural and literary consultant, and author of Through the Political Glass Ceiling – Race to Prime Ministership by Trinidad and Tobago’s First Female.
Now leading women in the civil society movement have adopted the metaphor – at least half of it, ‘barefoot’ – and extended it, to remind the world of the violations of human rights around the world. Go barefoot – lose your shoes is the rallying call to the world to remind ourselves of these violations. Led by CIVICUS - a world alliance of civil society interests, based in South Africa and headed by Ingrid Srinath – men and boys, women and girls shed their shoes and trekked barefooted through most of the CIVICUS World Assembly activities in Montreal recently, to signal their commitment to defending the rights of persons around the world.
On Human Rights Day, December, 10 – mark the date - the CIVICUS led campaign - Every Human Has Rights – will rally people to focus, even for a few moments, to think about other people whose rights have been violated in the hope of building understanding and to begin to make the fight for human rights part of everyone’s lives. This year’s rally around the slogan Go Barefoot – Lose Your Shoes, will zero in on people living in poverty – people who don’t have food to put on their table, let alone shoes to put on their feet.
In particular, we may want to think of the women and children in the some 20 percent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago whose existence hover around the ‘poverty line’.
I have found that more horrifying than what is conjured by the metaphor of ‘barefoot and pregnant’, is the statistic – of 20 percent of our population being barely able to afford life’s basics , given that T&T’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head is said to be some USD 20,000. In lay terms, that means, that if this country’s wealth was more equitably distributed, every individual will be earning some TTD 120,000 a year.
Human Rights day was introduced to keep focus on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the anniversary of this Declaration with its 30 Articles of the rights of men and women. In printed form, the 9 cm by 12 cm booklet of 15 pages defines human rights as right to life, liberty, security, property, education, equality before law, freedom of thought, religion, opinion, peaceful assembly, political participation, equal pay for equal work, right to join trade unions, right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being.
Other less known, are ‘right to nationality’, family, equal access to the public service, free development of personality and right to protection of moral and material interests from any scientific, literary or artistic production.
Trinbagonians, with the endemic liming culture would be pleased to know it also includes the right to participate in cultural life, enjoy the arts, share in scientific achievement as well as – note this –“rights to the freedom to rest and leisure and periodic holidays with pay.”
It is clear that many of these rights still point to the unequal status of women in many parts of the world where women still do not enjoy right to property, freedom of thought, equal pay for equal work, and right to enjoy adequate standard of living for health and well being and access to social and public services and utilities, and many have no prospect of experiencing “rights to the freedom to rest and leisure and periodic holidays with pay.”
Go Barefoot, lose your shoes, is based on the belief that the world would be a better place if every person walked a mile in another person’s. Wouldn’t it? Try it and at noon on December 10, take off your shoes, step out onto the street and walk around the to reognise that Every Human Have Rights. Some details in the box on what you can do.
Dr Kris Rampersad is a media, cultural and literary consultant, and author of Through the Political Glass Ceiling – Race to Prime Ministership by Trinidad and Tobago’s First Female.
For Gender and Culture Sensitive Analyses, Strategy, Education, Facilitation, Workshops, Outreach, Advocacy and MultiMedia Materials make contact at the GloCal Knowledge Pot
What you can do:
1. Raising profile of rights
Lose your shoes and walk around your office, church, school etc, barefooted. Take pictures and videos to upload onto the Lose Your Shoes website.
2. Raise awareness
Stories and case studies online and used in digital promotions will help demonstrate that violations of human rights are one of the biggest obstacles to eradicating poverty and people action to uphold Universal rights.
3. 12 steps for human rights
Take the pledge to take the12 STEPS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS by starting with actions on the day and then throughout the year – one each month, simple actions from signing a petition, to attending an event or watching a video and sharing with friends.
For more actions, see http://loseyourshoes.org/
What you can do:
1. Raising profile of rights
Lose your shoes and walk around your office, church, school etc, barefooted. Take pictures and videos to upload onto the Lose Your Shoes website.
2. Raise awareness
Stories and case studies online and used in digital promotions will help demonstrate that violations of human rights are one of the biggest obstacles to eradicating poverty and people action to uphold Universal rights.
3. 12 steps for human rights
Take the pledge to take the12 STEPS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS by starting with actions on the day and then throughout the year – one each month, simple actions from signing a petition, to attending an event or watching a video and sharing with friends.
For more actions, see http://loseyourshoes.org/
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