Summer Fellowship - 2008

IDI Fellowship - Summer 2008 -

L-RAMP/Chennai, IndiaFellowship

Description
"Before innovations can touch lives, you have to breathe life into them".
such is the guiding philosophy of the Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Programme
(L-RAMP) based in Chennai, India.

L-RAMP brings together the technological expertise of IIT, Madras (IIT-M), and the business incubation expertise of Rural Innovations Network (RIN), with the support of The Lemelson Foundation, an American philanthropy that works with a vision to improve lives through invention.

The International Development Initiative (IDI) at MIT is forming a collaboration with L-RAMP centers in India, Peru and Indonesia. The first collaboration will be with the L-RAMP in Chennai (Madras), India.

IDI is seeking an MIT student Fellow to develop this collaboration in Chennai and in rural areas of Tamil Nadu for four to ten weeks over the summer (timingis flexible).

Specifically, the Fellow will:
1. Learn about the context of Chennai and Tamil Nadu, including economic situations, materials resources, funding opportunities, and marketfactors for rural innovations;
2. Research intellectual property rights, patents, and other legalissues in the US and India;
3. Work with RAMP staff on market positioning or other areas of interest to the RAMP center;
4. Investigate possible modes of dissemination of MIT and RAMP innovations;
5. Recommend areas for future collaborations between MIT students,RAMP, and local innovators (as well as other potential areas for further MITcollaboration);

Deliverables
* Recommendations for future collaborations (shared with RAMP and IDI)
* Presentation of findings to RAMP staff at the end of the fellowship
* A short report (approximately 10 pages) to IDI on findings

Critical skills / qualification required
Strong analytical skills and interest in management. Demonstrated research experience and ability for independent work.

Language English and Tamil (preferred, but not necessary)

Budget
Fellows will be funded for up to 400 hours work (any additional hours willbe considered voluntary.) IDI will purchase or reimburse for aneconomically-priced plane ticket to India, plus a stipend of $10 an hour forthe portions of the agreed work carried out at MIT and in India.

For further information, see: http://www.lramp.org/ <http://www.lramp.org/>and http://www.rinovations.org/ <http://www.rinovations.org/>

Please submit your CV and a cover letter to
Laura Sampath (IDI)lsampath@mit.edu describing your interest in the fellowship, qualifications and availability over the summer.

Deadline:
Rolling until the position is filled (get your application insoon!)
Finalists will also have an interview with IDI staff.

Contact

Laura Sampath (lsampath@mit.edu) with questions.

Laura Sampath
International Development Initiative,
MIT77 Massachusetts Ave,
10-183Cambridge,
MA 02139
office: 617.253.7052
cell: 781.308.6076
http://web.mit.edu/idi/ <http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc>

Tuesday Evenings: Around the Roundtable Dinner Parties

Around the Roundtable Dinner Parties

Details for Joining the Call/Web Cast

When:
Every Tuesday evening at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Can’t make this time? All interviews will be archived and accessible from your computer where you can listen and watch at your convenience

Format:
A 40-minute interview followed by a 20-minute Question and Answer session with an additional 30-minute community forum for those who are interested in continuing the conversation.

Where:
Listen on your phone at work, in the car or at home or watch on your computer/laptop at a location of your choice.

How:
After you complete the online registration process, you will receive a follow-up email with the information you need to participate and weekly updates on the speakers.

Questions? email: wgr@unifemusa.org

hosted by: www.peacexpeace.org and www.unifemusa.org


UNIFEM and The Millennium Development Goals
UNIFEM-USNC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organizationUNIFEM-USNC • 2345 Crystal Drive • Suite 301 • Arlington, VA 22202phone: (703) 236-1535 • email: info@unifem-usnc.org

Here’s how:

Join the Women’s Global Roundtable. Register here.

When the call is in process, if possible, place your phone on mute to reduce background noise.

Bon appetit and happy listening!


Attachment
Size
Around the Roundtable Instructions.pdf
256.82 KB

April 7th - Message from the Secretary General of the United Nations

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
--
MESSAGE ON WORLD HEALTH DAY
7 April 2008


Climate change is sometimes debated as if it affected only the planet, and not the people living on it. This year’s World Health Day is an opportunity to broaden this view by spotlighting the major health threats we face as a result of global warming.

Climate change endangers the quality and availability of water and food, our fundamental determinants of nutrition and health. It is causing more frequent and more severe storms, heat waves, droughts and floods, while worsening the quality of our air. The result is an upsurge in human suffering caused by injury, disease, malnutrition and death.

We need to give voice to this often-overlooked reality, ensuring that protecting human health is anchored at the heart of the global climate change agenda.

The impact will be most severe in poor countries, which have contributed least to this global crisis. By 2020, up to a quarter of a billion Africans will experience increased water stress, and crop yields in some African countries are expected to drop by half.

Malnutrition and climate-related infectious diseases will take their heaviest toll on the most vulnerable: small children, the elderly and the infirm. Women living in poverty face particular risk when natural disasters and other global-warming related dangers strike.

We must do more than decry these circumstances. We must act to ensure that the health of the vulnerable is protected during climate change. This means stepping up efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals, from cutting childhood mortality to empowering women, as a central component of the international response to climate change.

Public health has decades of experience in dealing effectively with problems that climate change will exacerbate, and we can use this as a basis for predicting – and forestalling – the consequences.

Climate change is real, it is accelerating and it threatens all of us. We must respond with urgent action to stabilize the climate, achieve the MDGs, and encourage individual action. Our collective efforts can foster social and economic development for the world’s poorest peoples, improving their health systems and their lives.

World Health Day challenges us to join forces in the great effort to combat climate change, for the sake of our planet and all of its inhabitants.

World Water Day - 22nd March

World Water Day -- 22nd March


The new year, Jamshedi Navroze, that falls on the spring equinox, is a time that reminds us of the renewal and rejuvination of life, and of caring for creation. Today [22nd March] is world water day. The World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland this year had seven sessions on exploring the possibilities of creating public-private partnerships to address the issue of managing this life sustaining resource for humanity.

The Secretary General of the UN simply says: Water is Running Out!


Do carve out some time to view the following presentation[65:53 minutes];
a thoughtful discussion which revolves around this issue which affects our world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hO83qESlH0

While the problem is global, solutions will have to be local. What can each one
of us do in creating awareness of this issue, which resonates strongly with our
faith tradition ?

Behram Pastakia

The Roshan Sadri Charitable Foundation

The Roshan Sadri Charitable Foundation


The charitable foundation established with the legacy of Roshan Sadri (nee Sarosh) has a specific remit to assist the Zoroastrian Community.

The trustees are focusing on projects that help the community rather than an individual, i.e. they are hesitant to fund individual education or medical needs. For example the trustees are more likely to support a school project, and not an individual through school or college, similarly a hospital project rather than meet the cost of a medical operation of an individuals.

Your application has a better chance of succeeding if the project is for the welfare of the community.


Do not hesitate to contact the administrator to seek his help, before applying.

I commend you to look at http://www.ersf.org.uk/ study the projects they have supported, and make applications,

With love and peace

Jehangir Sarosh
jangosarosh@yahoo.co.uk
###

International Women's Day, March 8th

International Women’s Day

“It is not so much a woman’s duty to bring children into the world, as to see what sort of world she is bringing them into and what their contribution will be to it”. (Nellie McClung, 1915)

The United Nations, in 1977 proclaimed March 8 as the International Women’s Day and it is an occasion marked by women’s groups around the world. Women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural economic and political differences come together to celebrate their day. They can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice peace and development.

International Women’s Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history. It is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war, during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for “liberty, equality, fraternity” marched on Versailles to demand women’s rights to vote.

The idea of an International Women’s Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in an industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. The first National Women’s day was established by a group of socialist women in the United States in 1908. This act inspired an international event.

In Canada the women did not have a right to vote till 1929 as women were “not considered persons” . They were considered to be persons only “in matters of pain and penalties but were not considered persons in matter of rights and privileges” The British Privy Council on October 18, 1929 recognized women as “persons” further stating “ The exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours”.
This ruling gave women the right to be persons.

Today for most of us reading this we cannot even imagine those times. But for many many women and girls across the world violence is a fact of life, violence only because of their gender. Rape and sexual assault has become a weapon of war, there has been no other time in history when there have been more widows as a result of armed conflict. HIV/AIDS now has a woman’s face.

At the opening of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations on February 25th, 2008, Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General, launched a global campaign to end violence against women and said “I am counting on you -- advocates from Government, civil society and the UN -- to carry our message around the world. In this campaign, I will personally approach world leaders to spur action through national campaigns. I will urge all States to review applicable laws, and to revise them or enact new ones to ensure that violence against women is always criminalized. And I will call on all States to enforce their laws to end impunity.

I will form a global network of male leaders to assist me in mobilizing men and boys – men in Government, men in the arts and sports, men in business, men in the religious sphere, men in every walk of life, who know what leadership truly means.

There is no blanket approach to fighting violence against women. What works in one country may not lead to desired results in another. Each nation must devise its own strategy. But there is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable.

Today’s weapons of armed conflict include rape, sexual violence, and the abduction of children conscripted as soldiers or forced into sexual slavery. On my visits to conflict-torn areas around the world, I have spoken with women who have endured horrific forms of violence. I will forever be haunted by their suffering -- but equally, I will always be inspired by their courage. These mothers, sisters, daughters and friends are determined to reclaim their lives.

This is a campaign for them. It is a campaign for the women and girls who have the right to live free of violence, today and in the future. It is a campaign to stop the untold cost that violence against women inflicts on all humankind.”

He called on the Security Council to establish a mechanism dedicated to monitoring violence against women and girls, under the framework of resolution 1325, the landmark resolution on women, peace and security adopted by the Security Council seven years ago.

He ended by asking all in the Assembly to pledge with him: United We Shall Succeed.

The International Women’s day 2008 is dedicated to Investing in Women and Girls. “Achieving gender equality and empowering women is a goal in itself. When women are fully empowered and engaged all of society benefits. Only in this way can we successfully take on the enormous challenge confronting our world - from conflict resolution and peace building to fighting AIDS and reaching all the other Millennium Developmental Goals” Ban-Ki-Moon UN, Secretary General


Dolly Dastoor
Montreal, Canada

Why Volunteer ?

Why volunteer?
Service for the welfare of the world without any selfish motive (karmayog) is a path to salvation as it helps one to learn how to give up the desire to reap the fruits of actions. No one is incapable or dependent on anyone or anything in following this path. So this should be the single reason for volunteering. :-)

Some non-spiritual reasons are, however, listed below.
•
Make an Impact: Volunteering your time and talents is a powerful way to improve the world, educate others about causes you care about, maybe you will start an organization yourself.
•
Get Satisfaction: Give voice to your heart through your giving and volunteering, keep your talents alive, fulfill your responsibility to the youth, elders, etc., feel better about yourself, feel needed and valued, act upon and express your beliefs.
•
Help Others: Volunteers lend their unique influence and connection to an organisation's growth, make a difference in someone's life, be altruistic, solve a community problem, give back to society.
•
Learn: Volunteering is a learning experience. Test yourself in new situations to see what truly interests you. It gives you the luxury to fail -- the chance to risk doing something you've never done before and to learn from it. Learn about yourself, your values, beliefs and views of the world in which you live. Discover your talents, learn a new skill or new knowledge, learn about your community, better understand social justice issues.
•
Develop Yourself: Develop creativity by trying new things, starting a new program, taking risks. Develop compassion, develop your personality, gain a new perspective on things, self-actualize, achieve, build self-esteem and self-confidence and sense of independence, get an opportunity to work independently, gain hands-on experience, interact with people.
•
Enjoy: Have fun, feel good, take a break, get a very satisfying experience, express gratitude, reduce stress, think positively, have a more balanced life, meet inspiring people, make friends, discover tremendous energy, create and maintain relationships. Volunteer as a family and give the entire family a shared experience as a wonderful family memory.
•
Utilize time: The truth is that any amount of time we can give is enough to make a significant difference in someone else's life. Use spare time to do activities over the internet or via phone.

If you are a business:
•
improve community relations and public image
•
enable employees to enjoy new levels of responsibility and leadership skills
•
improve employee satisfaction, morale and loyalty
•
get a sense of fulfillment as a result of contributing to the community
•
The Business Case for Volunteering

Employer-Supported Volunteering can take many forms, and includes a wide range of programs and activities through which companies support their employees' volunteer work in, or on behalf of, the community. These may include - e volunteering, employees spending time with the community, employees sharing their expertise in administration, finance, personne&HR, marketing etc with the NGOs that require such assistance.

Every company gauges their business investments by totalling up the returns. But when it comes to social or environmental investments the same rigours don't necessarily apply. The result is that the community investments are not working as hard as they could be. However, with the field of corporate social responsibility maturing worldwide, this is beginning to change.
By sponsoring volunteering, a few leading companies around the world (Walt Disney, Proctor and Gamble, Fluor, Chase Manhattan Bank and Whitbread Brewery) and in Australia (Westpac, American Express and The Body Shop) are getting better results for their community dollar.

The advantages over traditional community investments such as cash donations, donations in kind, or donations of equipment, include:
Improve Employee Skills and Training: Some leadership companies have integrated volunteer programs into ongoing training and development efforts to build employee knowledge and skills. For example, BT Group plc found that volunteering and other forms of employee community involvement helped develop a variety of competencies, including planning and implementation, communication, project management, listening skills and customer focus.
Encourage Employee Teamwork: Many community projects require volunteers to work cooperatively in teams to accomplish tasks. Such teams often involve a diverse mix of company and community representatives, spanning a variety of ages, races, cultures, and working styles. Many companies have harnessed the teamwork skills learned in volunteer activities to help everyone from line employees to senior executives work more collaboratively in their jobs.
Develop Leadership Skills: Because volunteer initiatives provide opportunities for employees to engage in activities that may differ from their daily tasks, employees can develop and demonstrate their ability to take charge in new and challenging situations. Companies find that their volunteer efforts in the community have enabled them to identify leadership skills among employees that had not surfaced during daily operations.
Develop the Local Labour Pool: Some companies direct their volunteer activities toward helping community members develop skills and abilities that enhance their employability and opportunities for advancement.
Recruit and Retain Employees: Volunteer programs can be an attractive company benefit to current and prospective employees. According to the Points of Light Foundation, in 2003, 58 percent of U.S. companies used their employee volunteer programs for recruitment and retention purposes.
Improve Corporate Reputation: Volunteer projects and strategic partnerships can yield positive media attention for companies. For example, The Home Depot has received favourable publicity for its partnership with Habitat for Humanity and KaBOOM! in the United States and Canada. The company helps KaBOOM! build playgrounds with cash donations, donations in kind, and encouraging employees to volunteer.
Leverage Philanthropic Resources: When included as part of a strategic mix of community-involvement activities, corporate volunteerism can enable companies to provide a greater benefit to the community at a lower cost than can be done through charitable contributions alone. For example, some companies make donations contributions to organizations for which their employees volunteer.
Increased Impact in Areas of Strategic Importance: Some companies give employees time off for community service to work on projects or issue areas defined by the company. This strategy is an effective tool to increase employee participation in community.


"Each one of us should lead a life stirring enough to start a movement." --Max Lucado

Source: http://www.karmayog.com/