Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Organised farmers as partners in agribusiness; Optimising the performance of producers' organisation 2013 CRM:0018972

Optimising the performance of producers' organisation

Organised farmers as partners in agribusiness

 

16 – 27 September, The Netherlands, Wageningen

 

-      NFP Fellowships available – apply before 05 February 2013   -

 

 

Please find below more information on the International course on: Optimising the performance of producers' organisation. Please feel free to circulate this email in your network. We request you to inform us of any links to a related websites on which we could also post this announcement.

 

 

Introduction

Large contrasts exist in how we manage the food we have available. While in parts of our societies there is a shortage of food, in the urban and wealthier communities, good food is thrown away only because it is beyond its sell-by date. Optimising the 'farm to fork' chain can contribute significantly to food security. Read more

 

 

Application

Interested candidates can apply at the website of Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen UR for admission to the training. Click here to apply.

 

NFP Fellowships

A limited number of fellowships is available from Nuffic - the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) for nationals of certain countries. In order to apply for such a NFP fellowship, you have to register through the Nuffic Scholarship Online (SOL) system. Applications for NFP fellowships should be submitted before 5 February 2013. SOL opens on December 01. You will be informed by Nuffic whether your application has been accepted. More information on the NFP fellowships.

 

Important

Please note that for a valid NPF fellowship application you need to register directly at CDI as well as at Nuffic (SOL). Your fellowship application will not be taken into account if you register with only one of these two institutions.

 

If you do not want to receive this information in the future please let us know.

 

Kind regards,

Ted Schrader

Course coordinator

 


Centre for Development Innovation (CDI)
Wageningen UR
P.O. Box 88, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands
E-mail:
ted.schrader@wur.nl

Please like us on facebook: www.facebook.com/CDIwageningenUR

Website: www.wageningenur.nl/cdi

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CDIwageningenUR

 

http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/Disclaimer.htm

 

Monday, October 29, 2012

4th WLEC - Women's Leadership and Empowerment Conference 2013

WLEC - Women's Leadership and Empowerment Conference 2013
13-15 March 2013
Bangkok, Thailand
Website: http://www.tomorrowpeople.org/womens-leadership-conference-2013.html

Dear Scholars, Students, NGO and governmental representatives:

We are happy to announce WLEC 2013, hosted by Tomorrow People Organization (www.tomorrowpeople.org).

This highly exciting and challenging international Conference is intended to be a forum, discussion and networking place for academics, researchers, professionals, administrators, educational leaders, policy makers, industry representatives, advanced students and others interested in leadership, women empowerment and gender studies.

More specifically, it targets:

Scholars: Share your research, learn some new approaches, hear about others' experiences and pass on your knowledge and experience on to others.

Government officials and policy makers: Learn about the best practices, educational development strategies and educational systems around the world; network with other policy makers and NGOs working in the field of supporting the educational development.

NGOs: Network with other international NGOs, possible donors and colleagues from around the world and share your achievements and strategies with others.

Graduate students: Meet your colleagues from around the world, make new friends, and improve your knowledge and communication skills.

Company representatives: Chance to improve your leadership skills, learn more about the importance of permanent education in achieving the high performances of your organization, meet your colleagues, exchange ideas and establish new connections and partnerships.

Others: Anyone who is interested in making some positive changes around them and gaining new knowledge, skills and friends and becoming more useful to their own communities.

4th Annual Women's Leadership and Empowerment Conference will provide unlimited resources and opportunities to interact with prominent leaders in the field of leadership and women studies and greatly expand on your global network of scholars and professionals.

We welcome: ORAL, POSTER and VIRTUAL presentations. Early submissions are strongly encouraged due to limited space in the venue, as applications are reviewed on a rolling admission basis - as long as space is available.

The conference topics include, but are not limited to: Casual factors of leadership development, Can leadership be learned? - Nature vs. nurture, Cross cultural aspects of leadership, Family Systems: Change and Traditions, Leadership styles and techniques, Leadership values, Leading under extreme diversity, Women and leadership, Women with Disabilities, Shaping the future by female leaders, Creating an innovative leadership, Growing as individuals, Creating a new relationship with your values, especially money, Success Stories: Meet women who have achieved successful careers, Women and Sports, Women as Entrepreneurs, Women and Environment, Women in Politics, The Role of Women in Contemporary Society, Women and Culture, Role Reversal in the Home and Workplace, other related areas of gender and leadership studies.

Papers presented at the conference will be published in dedicated ISBN publication of WLEC 2013 Conference Proceedings.

We look forward to seeing you in Bangkok in March 2013, as one of our participants, coming from over 40 countries worldwide!

Sincerely,

Jovana Savic
Program Manager
WLEC 2013 Organizing Committee
Email: contact@tomorrowepople.org, jsavic@tomorrowpeople.org

 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Call for Abstracts, Workshop: "EU External Environmental Governance Beyond its Neighbourhood"

Call for Abstracts

for a workshop on

 

EU External Environmental Governance Beyond its Neighbourhood

 

19 & 20 April 2013

Berlin

 

This workshop adopts a wide angle on a broad variety of different external governance efforts in which the EU engages, including international negotiations, policy promotion and the use of market power. It strives to analyse the effectiveness of different EU external environmental governance efforts, to identify different patterns EU external environmental governance and to explore the conditions in non-EU countries and internationally that enable or impede effective EU external governance.

 

The slow progress of international climate negotiations and the 'failed' leadership of the European Union at the Copenhagen conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change attracted significant scholarly attention. Finding consensus on a suitable post-Kyoto Protocol agreement poses major challenges. The difficulties with the 'traditional' multilateral way of governing global environmental problems through treaties gave rise to a search for solutions that complement and support these efforts. The EU has set ambitious domestic climate targets and strives for similar commitments of other major polluters. In other environmental policy areas such as chemicals policy, the EU also leads by adopting and promoting ambitious regulation. Apart from multilateral negotiations, the EU's toolbox comprises bilateral agreements, cooperation efforts with non-EU jurisdictions at different levels of governance, coercion and incentives, and external effects of EU pioneering policy through learning, competition and emulation.

 

Studies show that the further remote from the EU's neighbourhood a jurisdiction is located, the more important become domestic conditions in non-EU countries because the EU's leverage diminishes. The workshop stresses this aspect and strives to investigate the interplay between non-EU domestic factors and the EU's external governance activities. EU scholars recently have paid increasing attention to the external effects of EU policies and institutions on countries beyond the EU's neighbourhood. They propose conceptualisations of EU external governance and Europeanisation beyond Europe. This workshop aims at contributing to this emerging field by focusing on the area of environmental policy.

 

We invite paper proposals that cover, in particular, the following aspects and questions. Ideally, papers will cover a number of these elements. Both individual case studies and comparative studies are invited.

 

- Different EU activities and mechanisms: What kind of external governance tools and activities (international negotiations, policy promotion, capacity building, conditionality etc.) does the EU engage in with what result? Conditionality figures highly in the EU's neighbourhood and accession policy. However, it becomes less salient in EU external governance beyond its neighbourhood. What mechanisms prevail in external environmental governance?

 

- Different domestic factors in third countries: The success of EU external governance efforts depends on certain scope conditions. Which domestic factors foster the effectiveness of or constitute a barrier to EU external environmental governance?

 

- Different levels of governance: Not only nation states, also subnational entities and international organisations can be subject to external effects of EU environmental policy. How can we characterise the EU's external environmental governance in a multilevel context?

 

- Different regions and countries: How can we characterise EU external environmental governance in different countries and regions of the world? Are there differences with regard to the EU's approach and its effectiveness?

 

- Different institutional embeddedness: To what extent is a non-EU jurisdiction embedded in regional networks that are not directed towards Europe (Asia, Latin America, Africa etc.)

 

- Different policy subfields: How can we characterise EU external governance in different areas of environmental policy? Are there differences between policy types (for example product- vs. process-related) and policy areas (for example climate change vs. biodiversity)?

 

Interested authors are invited to send an abstract (max. 500 words) to Katja Biedenkopf (k.biedenkopf@uva.nl) and Diarmuid Torney (diarmuidtorney@gmail.com) by 31 December 2012. Invited paper givers will be asked to submit their final paper by 5 April 2012.

 

The workshop is funded by the "Kolleg Forschergruppe (KFG) The Transformative Power of Europe" of the Freie Universität Berlin. Accommodation and travel expenses will be covered for invited paper givers.

 

Call for Entries: 2013 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation

Bangkok, 23 October 2012 – Entries are now being accepted for the 2013 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. The Awards recognize the achievement of the private sector and public-private initiatives in successfully conserving or restoring structures, places and properties of heritage value in the region. The Awards emphasize the importance of the conservation process, including technical achievements and the quality of the restoration work undertaken, as well as community involvement and participation in the project.

The deadline for receipt of materials is 31 March 2013.

Since the Awards were established in 2000, UNESCO has received 469 entries from 24 countries.  A total of 148 projects have received Awards for high achievement in conservation, while eight projects have received the Jury Commendation for Innovation. 

With support from the Macau Foundation, the Awards programme is now being enhanced to have even greater impact in raising awareness about exemplary practices in conserving heritage sites around the region. 

Projects involving heritage properties more than fifty years old which were completed within the last ten years are eligible for consideration. Houses, commercial and institutional buildings, historic towns and villages, archaeological heritage sites and cultural landscapes, for example, are all suitable for entry. The project must be the result of private sector initiative or public-private partnership.  

Entries for the 2013 Awards programme must be submitted with an official entry form, project description using provided official format, drawings and photographs in hard copy and on CD ROM to UNESCO Bangkok. 

Winners will be announced in August 2013, with a selected number of entries receiving the “Award of Excellence”, “Award of Distinction”, “Award of Merit”, “Honourable Mention” and “Jury Commendation for Innovation”. 

In addition to the conservation awards, the “Jury Commendation for Innovation” will also be considered for newly-built structures which demonstrate outstanding architectural design that is well-integrated into historic contexts.  

In 2012, Mbaru Niang, a village of traditional houses in Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia was honoured with the Award of Excellence. The two Awards of Distinction include the Sethna Buildings in Mumbai, India and the Water Systems in Hampi, India. The three Awards of Merit include the Zhizhusi Complex in Beijing, China; the Chandramauleshwar Temple in Hampi, India; and Khilingrong Mosque in Shigar, Pakistan. Two Honourable Mentions were also awarded. They include the William Street Precinct in Perth, Australia and Jaisalmer Fort in Rajasthan, India.

The 2012 Jury Commendation for Innovation was awarded to the Reading Room of the Portuguese School of Macau in Macao (SAR) China. 

To apply for the 2013 Awards, visit the Awards website: www.unescobkk.org/culture/wh/asia-pacific-heritage-awards/2013ha/.

 

For more information, please contact:


Culture Unit
UNESCO Bangkok 

Tel:  (66 2) 391-0577 Ext. 509
Fax: (66 2) 391-0866

Email: culture.bgk@unesco.org

 

UNESCO Bangkok Press Release 2012

 

Thursday, October 18, 2012

2013 Land for Life Award is now open

The application process for 2013 Land for Life Award is now open. The
deadline to apply is 15 March 2013.

The Land for Life award will recognize innovation and excellence in
sustainable land management, particularly efforts that enhance soils’
natural health and yield, and promote collaboration between policy
makers, scientists and communities.

The main goals of the Land for Life award are, among others:

*Recognize excellence and innovation in sustainable land management

*Provide winners with visibility and support to expand their work

*Inspire leadership for the restoration of soils' natural health and
the transformation of degraded land

The Land for Life award is at its second edition. The three winners of
the past edition, selected from 110 applications, were presented
during the global celebrations of World Day to Combat Desertification
in Rio de Janeiro on 17 June 2012. You might want to read more about
the winners in a special edition of UNCCD news at
http://newsbox.unccd.int/#Anchor-special-49575.

For more information on the current edition of the award and on the
application process plase visit:
http://www.unccd.int/en/programmes/Event-and-campaigns/LandForLife/Pages/default.aspx

CliMates, the international student think-and-do tank, organizes its first international Summit in Paris - October 29th - November 2nd 2012!


After a year of research and international network building, CliMates is organizing its first International Summit, bringing together its active members in Paris to find solutions to climate change of the next generation. 

The CliMates Summit will be the 

  • To discuss key issues of international climate change 
  • For youth and students to present innovative solutions to climate 
  • To promote new forms of international negotiations

The CliMates International Summit will have three main goals:

  • Review and analyze one year of collaborative and multidisciplinary research led by CliMates students
  • Stimulate the debate on climate change and promote a student expertise
  • Produce a CliMates Call for Action: a list of student solutions and projects to advocate and implement

The CliMates Call for Action will consist in a series of commitment and recommendations that CliMates will present and advocate to decision makers at all levels, including to negotiators of the UNFCCC COP 18, in Doha in November 2012. 

The CliMates Call for Action shall also consist in a blueprint for CliMates and its partners’ activity for the following year. For this reasons, CliMates invites its partners (especially student and youth organizations) to participate in and sign the CliMates Call for Action.
Throughout the Summit, negotiations will be held in order to adopt different solutions and a Common Student Position. Using an original method of discussion, the intent will be to find new ways to unlock current debates on addressing climate change, and to particularly find ways for youth and students to contribute.

Each student will formulate and express ideas to be incorporated in the CliMates Call for Action, which will be adopted in the Summit's Closing Ceremony.

Students will negotiate in small working groups, dedicated to specific topics within the general framework of climate negotiations. High level experts, from prestigious research institutions, public and private organizations, will participate in these working groups in order to guide students in the discussions and enhance the level of expertise. 

Those students are going to make a lot of noise, would help them spread the word about their initiative?

More information on www.climates.fr

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Call for local partners for the National Youth Forum on Green Solutions Bhutan, 21-23 December 2012


Call for local partners for the National Youth Forum on Green Solutions Bhutan, 21-23 December 2012

About ICIMOD:
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan – and based in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Youth Forums:
ICIMOD values the potential role that young people can play in promoting sustainable mountain development. To inform, empower, and involve youth from the region in the development process, ICIMOD has implemented more than 48 major events dedicated to youth engagement since the launch of the Youth for Sustainable Mountain Development (Y4SMD) initiative in August 2009. One of the major activities under this initiative is the organization of Youth Forums at national, regional, and global levels. Since 2010, Youth Forums and other capacity building events under the Y4SMD initiative have trained over 300 youth. Plans to promote similar activities in the future include National Youth Forums in Pakistan and Myanmar in November 2012 and Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal in December 2012. ICIMOD would also like to team up with a local partner to organize a National Youth Forum in Bhutan in December 2012.

What are National Youth Forums?
National Youth Forums are a two to three-day capacity building events, driven by young champions of green solutions in their own country. These forums allow youth to share knowledge and network as well as listen to expert accounts of global and regional efforts for sustainable mountain development. A typical National Youth Forum includes the following components:
·         Technical session: Local experts present local issues and their global linkages (2–5 presentations: 30 minutes each)
·         Motivational session: ICIMOD and local experts  (2 presentations: 15 minutes each)
·         Knowledge management, group work, experience sharing, and social networking sessions (2–4 sessions: 2 hours each)
·         Field visit to demonstrate local efforts for sustainable mountain development (Half or full day depending on the site)
·         Intergenerational Sustainability Dialogue on Developing Green Solutions in the Changing World bringing together youth from schools and colleges, teachers, and representatives of NGOs, the government, and local communities  (2 hours)
·         Opening and closing sessions featuring representatives from local organizations, ICIMOD, senior government officials, and participants (1.5 hours each)

 ICIMOD strives to ensure that at least 30% of the selected participants come from a rural background and the gender division of participants is equal.

Further information:
If you have any queries or would like to host a similar event in your country, please contact: · Anja Møller Rasmussen, Programme Manager, Integrated Knowledge Management (IKM) and Himalayan University Consortium (HUC), ICIMOD  and Tek Jung Mahat, Initiative Leader, ICIMOD tmahat@icimod.org

Monday, October 15, 2012

Call for application to the Asian Waterbird Conservation Fund

The 'Asian Waterbird Conservation Fund' has been established to provide financial support to projects at site of importance for
migratory waterbirds in the East Asia - Australasian Flyway.

The goal of the Fund is to support projects on the
 ground in Asia that will lead to the conservation or protection of migratory waterbirds
and their wetland habitats in the EAAF, particularly through partnership with the local community at the site.

The Fund is administered by WWF Hong Kong. At present, the maximum amount that can be applied for each project shall not exceed US$5,000.

Seventeen projects have been funded since the first round of application in June 2006. You may visit our website
http://www.wwf.org.hk/en/whatwedo/conservation/wetlands/flyway/#AWCF for details.

There will be a single call for applications to the Fund each year. The deadline for 2012 annual application is 31 October 2012. For
application form and further information, please checkhttp://www.wwf.org.hk/en/whatwedo/conservation/wetlands/flyway/#AWCF
<http://www.wwf.org.hk/en/whatwedo/conservation/wetlands/flyway/#AWCF>
or contact the AWCF Secretariat by e-mail to awcf@wwf.org.hk.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Call for Abstracts: Davos Atmosphere and Cryosphere Assembly DACA-13, Air, Ice & Process Interactions, 8 – 12 July 2013, Davos, Switzerland

Davos Atmosphere and Cryosphere Assembly DACA-13

Air, Ice & Process Interactions, 8 – 12 July 2013, Davos, Switzerland

 




The IAMAS & IACS Associations of the IUGG invite the international scientific community to their joint 2013 Assembly - the DACA-13 conference - to discuss latest developments in atmospheric and cryospheric research.

DACA-13, with its overarching theme of "Air, Ice & Process Interactions", seeks to emphasize that many key challenges concerning global environmental change lie at the interface of these disciplines. Therefore particular attention will be devoted to the interaction between these vulnerable components, along with a range of more discipline-oriented sessions spanning the atmospheric and cryospheric sciences. The conference will be held in Davos in the heart of the Swiss Alps.

Program of DACA-13

The IACS and IAMAS communities and international experts working together with DACA-13's Scientific Program Committee (SPC) have developed a cohesive and exciting program. It features 20 symposia, many containing several topical sessions, structured into four blocks. Detailed descriptions of the symposia and their sub-sessions plus the corresponding conveners can be viewed here.
In addition to the symposia, central elements of the conference will include keynote presentations by several world-leading experts, amongst whom are Valérie Masson-Delmotte (LSCE Paris), Ronald B. Smith (Yale) and Thomas Stocker (University of Bern), and extended poster sessions. Also a range of scientific excursions and trips will be offered to allow participants to savour the surrounding alpine environment. A competitive registration fee of CHF 470 has been made possible by sponsorships and institutional support.

 

DACA-13 in Davos, Switzerland

DACA-13 will be held in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos, which can be reached by train from Zurich Airport in about two hours. Davos, Europe's highest city, is situated in the Eastern part of the Swiss Alps at 1560 meters above sea level. It offers a very advanced congress infrastructure and a wide range of accommodation from the simple hostel to elegant five-star lodgings. The city, although a center for international dialogue on business and research, has retained a pleasant village atmosphere. The stunning alpine environment will contribute to making your visit an enjoyable experience.

 

Organization of DACA-13

DACA-13 is jointly organized by IACS (International Association of Cryospheric Sciences) and IAMAS (International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences), represented respectively by the Secretaries-General, Andrew Mackintosh and Hans Volkert, and a Swiss national organizing committee. The latter comprises representatives from WMO (Deon Terblanche, Ghassem Asrar), MeteoSwiss (Saskia Willemse), SCNAT (Pierre Dèzes), PMOD Davos (Werner Schmutz), WSL/SLF Davos (Charles Fierz, Anja Schilling), PSI (Markus Furger), ETH Zurich (Heini Wernli, Huw Davies), EPF Lausanne/WSL/SLF Davos (Michi Lehning), and University Bern (Heinz Wanner). "Davos Congress" and "Destination Davos Klosters" support the organization of DACA-13. 

 

Call for abstracts

The DACA-13 Scientific Program Committee invites the submission of abstracts on original or review work to be considered for oral or poster presentations. The program provides guidance on the thematic areas covered at DACA-13. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 31 January 2013. Authors wishing to submit an abstract are required to pay CHF 30 author deposit by credit card. Note that every author can only submit one abstract with "oral preference". Additional abstracts for poster presentations are welcome. Please click here to be transferred to the abstract submission form. Authors who wish to apply for a travel grant, have to submit their abstract(s) until 14 December 2012 at the latest, including a short letter of motivation, a CV and their publication list.

 

Schedule

Deadline for abstracts with grant application
14 December 2012
Deadline for abstracts without grant application
31 January 2013
Acceptance information and draft program
28 February 2013
Deadline early registration
31 March 2013
Conference DACA-13
8 -12 July 2013

If you have any questions regarding the conference or the scientific program, please contact the Project Manager for DACA-13, Anja Schilling (anja.schilling@slf.ch).

For questions related to the location, accommodation or travels, please contact the head of the Davos Congress Administration, Michèle Lagger (michele.lagger@davos.ch)