Setting standards for the aid industry

An interesting report on the importance and challenge of delivering aid to a high standard (of particular interest in the light of the recent re-affirmation by the Chancellor of Britain's commitment to give 0.7% of GDP away to support developing countries):

"The humanitarian community has gone through a period of soul searching in recent years, following the failure to protect victims of genocide in Rwanda, the chaotic lack of coordination after the 2004 Asian tsunami and the sex-for-food scandals in West Africa. Yet attempts to set universal standards and to certify aid agencies have been inconsistent and controversial....

... This week, practitioners are taking part in the Humanitarian Standards Forum in Geneva to assess the state of humanitarian accountability and to chart a path forward."

Read more: http://shar.es/xNtPz

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Good News for anyone looking for an ethical high street bank

Church-backed bid for RBS arm could herald ethical bank:

"The Church of England is backing a bid for hundreds of branches being offloaded by Royal Bank of Scotland, raising the prospect of a new, ethical bank on the high street."

Read more: http://goo.gl/mag/Tplbs6F

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New York City pitches $20 billion plan to prep for climate change

"With the Big Apple facing significant impacts from climate change in the decades to come — including becoming as hot as Birmingham, Alabama, by 2050 — the plan aims to make sure that New York City’s extensive subway, transit, sewer and water, energy and food distribution systems will still be able to serve the more than 8 million people who live there."

The Big Apple can afford to prepare for climate change.

What about cities in the Developing World?

Read more: http://goo.gl/mag/8fZJo7I

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On yer bike! How bicycles prevent rape and empower girls in rural Cambodia

"In Cambodia, school ends at the primary level for many girls simply because the nearest secondary school is too far to commute to by foot. Furthermore, this long commute is dangerous. Rape and other forms of violence against women have reached epidemic proportions in the Cambodian countryside, and parents are rightfully concerned for their daughters’ safety.

Given a sturdy bicycle, however, many of these seemingly insurmountable barriers to education disappear."

Read more: GOOD Magazine

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First X-Man Standing

Legend. Nuff said.

"In 2007, actor Patrick Stewart became the patron of Refuge, a U.K. charity that provides support for victims of domestic abuse; in 2009, he wrote about witnessing his father, a former sergeant, abuse his mother. Stewart remains devoted to the cause, and in a recent panel at Comicpalooza in Houston, he said his work with Refuge is one of his proudest accomplishments and spoke out against victim-blaming:

“As a child, I heard in my home doctors and ambulance men say, ‘Mrs. Stewart, you must have done something to provoke him. Mrs. Stewart, it takes two to make an argument.’ Wrong. Wrong! My mother did NOTHING to provoke that — and even if she had, violence is NEVER, ever a choice that a man should make. Ever.”

Watch the video: http://youtu.be/TqFaiVNuy1k

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Don't just talk about the problem, get involved

“You want to change a life, to save a life? Then you need to drop the awareness campaigns and make your work part of life itself.”

Read more: http://faceofthematter.com/2013/06/04/the-everything-approach/

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Vertical farm rising from a derelict site in Manchester

"At present the Biosphere offers a fairly limited diet of freshwater fish, mushrooms green leaves, apples, pears and the occasional citrus fruit or plum.

"But according to the project founder, the potential is limitless.The concept is based on the traditional African agricultural traditions where crops are grown above each other - for example, coconuts above bananas, over coffee and ground tubers such as yams.

"Mr Walsh [the architect of the scheme] believes pressure on land and declining energy resources will mean the West will be forced to give up growing vast horizontal fields of single crops in remote farms and transporting them hundreds of miles to urban centres to be consumed. Instead every building and open space in towns and cities will be put into production."

Read more: http://goo.gl/mag/wMxPRtr

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Burkina Faso

Justice Matters founding member, Sara recently spent a few days in Burkina Faso with Josephine, an amazing 13 year old. This is her story:

"Five News’ Peter Lane reports from Burkina Faso as new figures expose the scale of world hunger."

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The surprising power of people in parks

On Saturday 8th June, members from Justice Matters joined with 45,000 others at Hyde Park to demand that the G8 take action on the silent scandal of world hunger.

As film director and Olympics opening ceremony maestro pointed out, this was just the latest in a series of moments where people in parks stood up and demanded action on injustice - from female emancipation to workers rights, nuclear weapons to apartheid, Live Aid to Make Poverty History and Drop the Debt, the Big IF London, the people of Britain have a track record of coming together in parks to make history. This felt like one of those days - indeed, during the afternoon, we were informed that the G8 had agreed to provide a further £2.8bn in aid to ensure proper nutritious food is made available to children in the developing world. Exciting times...

Here are some photos from our preparation...

 

... and of the event itself...