Discover the trailer of this documentary that presents the transformative peacebuilding process Burundi’s leaders went through that changed them and changed the nation — how it happened, what worked, what lessons can we learn from it.
Presented by the Wilson Center in collaboration with Spectrum Media.
“The Civic Origins of Progressive Policy Change: Combating Violence against Women in Global Perspective, 1975–2005” by MALA HTUN and S. LAUREL WELDON.
A new study on violence against women conducted over four decades and in 70 countries reveals the mobilization of feminist movements is more important for change than the wealth of nations, left-wing political parties, or the number of women politicians. The study’s results have been presented in the latest issue of American Political Science Review (APSR), published by Cambridge University Press for the American Political Science Association (APSA):
S. Laurel Weldon, co-author of the study, said: “Violence against women is a global problem. Research from North America, Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia has found astonishingly high rates of sexual assault, stalking, trafficking, violence in intimate relationships, and other violations of women’s bodies and psyches. In Europe it is a bigger danger to women than cancer, with 45 per cent of European women experiencing some form of physical or sexual violence. Rates are similar in North America, Australia and New Zealand and studies in Asia, Latin America and Africa show that violence towards women there is ubiquitous.”
Mala Htun, co-author of the study, wrote: “Social movements shape public and government agendas and create the political will to address issues. Government action, in turn, sends a signal about national priorities and the meaning of citizenship. The roots of change of progressive social policies lie in civil society.”
For more information, please visit Cambridge University Press‘ website:
Here is a new post in Africa Up Close about school-based peace education in Burundi and the latest developement in the field of peace education:
The 10th Education for All Global Monitoring Report, “Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work” shows how vital it is to ensure that all young people have the skills they need to prosper. But across the world, 200 million young people still leave school without the skills they need:
The devastating effect conflicts have on education was the focus of UNESCO‘s 2011 Education For All Global Monitoring Report. The 2012 EFA GMR Report “Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work” will be officially launched on October 16, 2012. Here is a recent article by Prof. Alan Smith who worked on the 2011 report: http://efareport.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/conflicts-are-one-of-the-biggest-barriers-to-education-for-all/
On September 26, 2012, in the margins of the 67th session of the U.N. General Assembly, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon officially launched U.N.’s Education First initiative. The U.N. Secretary-General secured over US$1.5 billion in commitments for this initiative. The main objective is to make education a top priority of the global political agenda and to boost progress towards the Millennium Development Goal on education. This initiative also places the promotion of Global Citizenship as one of its top three priorities. Fostering Global Citizenship implies “transforming the way people think and act;” giving Education a “central role in helping people to forge more just, peaceful, tolerant and inclusive societies;” and providing people with “the understanding, skills and values they need to cooperate in resolving the interconnected challenges of the 21st Century.”
Nicholas Kristof, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times, visited Brown University on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, to give an evening lecture on his book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, which he co-authored with Sheryl WuDunn. The book inspired a four-hour documentary recently broadcasted on PBS in the United States.
Here is a short interview of Kristof at Brown University: Nicholas Kristof: Turning oppression into opportunity | Brown University News and Events.
And here is the link to Half the Sky’s official website:
Tina Robiolle, PhD 