From the Assetmap.org/Uganda team,

Thanks EVERYONE who supported the Assetmap.org/Uganda project. It was inspiring for us to see the number of people who were excited about tools that would let them support community-led development efforts in this remarkable region. With your support, we were among the top 20 vote getters and will head to California to compete for $100,000 in grants and prizes this may.

While experienced practitioners have long-known that the most impacting, sustainable development efforts are those led by local communities, its only been in the last few years that average citizens around the world have begun to have the resources they need to support these efforts. We believe with your support, Assetmap.org/Uganda can provide a vital toolset to support post-conflict rebuilding in Uganda.

But we need your help! This tool is about collaboration and average citizens supporting development around the world. What information do you need to make decisions about collaborations, volunteering, or philanthropic giving? What type of data factors into how you support development efforts around the world. We have our instincts and some research, but we want to hear from YOU.

If you’re interested in any of these issues, please take a few minutes to fill out this survey:

http://www.formassembly.com/forms/50620

Thanks again, and please email us at assetmapuganda@gmail.com for more information or to get involved.

Best wishes,

Nathaniel Whittemore and Assetmap.org/Uganda team

from dogoodwell.wordpress posted with vodpod

HELP PEACE BUILDING EFFORTS IN NORTHERN UGANDA IN JUST FIVE MINUTES.

http://web.mac.com/nlwhittemore/Site/about.html

Northern Uganda is an incredible place. The efforts of community based organizations in a region that has suffered more than 20 years of civil war serve as an inspiration for all of us who seek peace and justice for a better world. Today, the country is on the verge of peace but faces a new challenge: who will support the incredible efforts of community-led organizations when the big NGOs move on to the next crisis?

Concerned global citizens! Help the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University launch an exciting new project that will use digital mapping tools to better coordinate American support and philanthropy for civil society in northern Uganda. The project is called assetmap.org/uganda and has the goal of aggregating information about where projects happen, what they focus on, and who’s involved so that all of us concerned with supporting community-led efforts to rebuild northern Ugandan civil society can better share best practices, direct support, and collaborate for greater impact. To read more, click here.

To help go here:
http://www.netsquared.org/user/register

Then you can go here to vote:
http://www.netsquared.org/2008/conference/projects/assetmap-org-uganda

American citizens (and indeed, people from around the world) have a unique opportunity to support norther Ugandan civil society’s transition from war to peace. Amazing organizations and projects led by average people have begun to do just that. But to fully realize our opportunity, we need collaboration. For collaboration, we need shared information. Providing that information is what assetmap.org/uganda is all about.

We’ve posted a project submission online in the Netsquared Mashable competition, and I’m asking you to register for Netsquared and vote for us. If our project, assetmap.org/uganda, is in the top 20 in terms of user voting, we’ll be invited to the national conference in May, where a panel will award more than $100,000 in prizes.

Netsquared is an initiative designed to help people use digital tools to further social change goals. I believe our project has a unique potential to improve coordination and collaboration among the sizeable expat community who run or support community development and human rights projects in northern Uganda. We hope to facilitate this collaboration by designing a tool that:

* maps project locations so you know who’s working where
* tags information about the specific issues projects and organizations seek to address
* links tagged and mapped projects to the facebook and LinkedIn profiles of participating donors or volunteers

This could be the basis for volunteer collaborations, best practice sharing, grant award competitions, and much much more, but to aggregate our impact, we need to aggregate our data.

APPLY for the Global Engagement Summit

(formerly the International Youth Volunteerism Summit)

April 16-20, 2008 

GES builds delegates’ skills and capacities to engage in responsible , effective, and sustainable change around the world.  Through skill-building workshops, direct mentorships with nonprofit representatives, and several outcome opportunities, delegates shape their projects in microfinance, community development, global health, sustainable engineering, and many other topics.

over $50,000 dollars

to support their global projects!

Apply online: http://www.formassembly.com/forms/49218

Questions: GES2008.am.info@gmail.com

More Information: www.theges.org

American Delegate DEADLINE: February 1st, 2008

(Northwestern Student DEADLINE: January 15th, 200

(If you are an International Student at an American University, you are considered an American Delegate.)

GES 2008 – April 16-20, 2008

Hi all,

You should all be receiving comments on your projects today. We were incredibly excited about the quality and passion exhibited in these summaries, and we’re looking forward to reading the full applications. You should have received a full application template along with your comments. For those of you who will spend the next few weeks developing partnerships, we also encourage you to use the CGE letter to potential partners. We hope this will not only help you explain your project, but ensure that your communication with organizations does not build unreasonable expectations.

Happy holidays and good luck finalizing these proposals!

Nathaniel and Jon

Mind the Gap Partner Letter

Projects for Peace Partner Letter

MIND the GAP and PROJECTS for PEACE

1-page project summaries DUE, FRIDAY Dec  7th, 5pm CST.

via email to globalengagement ( at ) gmail ( dot ) com

contact us with any questions!

The Center for Global Engagement presents:

“Education, Human Rights, and Social Entrepreneurship: The Guatemalan Experience”
a talk by Jorge Chojolan
Ashoka Fellow, Founder of the Colegio Miguel Angel Asturias
Tuesday, December 4th - 7pm University 102 (Reception to follow)
The founder of the Colegio Miguel Angel Asturias, Jorge Chojolan is an internationally recognized Guatemalan social entrepreneur attempting to rebuild the Guatemalan education system by creating a network of schools focused on human rights, environmental stewardship, and greater empowerment of students and teachers as leaders in the educational process. An indigenous Mayan born into poverty, Jorge has devoted his life to the promotion of rights and education, and has been recognized by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public as a leading global change agent. Since 2006, Northwestern students and staff have had an active role volunteering at and providing support for the Colegio.
For more on Jorge Chojolan and the Colegio Miguel Angel Asturias, visit www.asturiasacademy.org

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Center for Global Engagement, Global Engagement Summit, Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights, Northwestern Community Development Corps, Buffet Center for International and Comparative Studies

Thanks again to all our wonderful presenters. Below and on the “Microbicide Conference” tab, you’ll find presentations from three of our speakers, Dr. Harry Moultrie, Dr. Renslow Shearer, and Jim Pickett.

HIV/AIDs and Microbicides in South Africa - Dr. Harry Moultrie’s Presentation

Microbicides Advocacy - Jim Pickett’s Presentation

Microbicide Implementation - Dr. Renslow Shearer

Passionate about global change?
Looking for real-life experience combating poverty, injustive, and inequality?
ENGAGE Uganda is for you.

Last year, 16 Northwestern undergrads spent their summer partnering with Ugandan nonprofit organizations to design and implement community development projects.

These students invite you to join them for the first course of the ENGAGE Uganda program, “Development, Humanitarians, and Uganda,” the first step in participating in next summer’s ENGAGE Uganda immersion program.

This winter quarter student organized seminar is designed for students interested in the ENGAGE Uganda program and the questions of development, humanitarianism, and youth engagement it focuses on. Through discussions, readings, films, and workshops, this pass/fail course will introduce students to the major challenges and opportunities of global youth engagement, as well as the conceptual frameworks for making sense of those challenges. Led by students and staff from ENGAGE Uganda 2007, the course will include a variety of lessons including a strong emphasis on introductions to development and humanitarian work. Outside guests will facilitate professional development workshops designed to build project management and leadership skills.

For a permission number, email Jonathan Marino
j-marino@northwestern.edu
815.222.9088

ENGAGE Uganda Program Info:
The ENGAGE Uganda program will enable 12-15 students to partner as small teams with community based organizations in Uganda to collaboratively design and implement small-scale community improvement projects. ENGAGE Uganda will include a recommended winter quarter student organized seminar, a mandatory spring quarter professional linkage seminar, and a 2-credit summer immersion experience. Through the program, students will develop their capacity not only to act abroad, but to think critically about the challenges and opportunities of global engagement; through readings, discussions, in-classroom learning and applied experiences, they will access conceptual frameworks that will help them better understand their own place in our global world and make them more able to understand issues of cross-cultural partnerships, insider-outsider partnerships, and leadership more generally.

After a successful Conference on Microbicides and HIV/AIDS, we had a few reflections. Over the course of the afternoon, a number of themes seemed to stand out:

1. The investment in Microbicides is a vital long-term investment in the struggle against HIV/AIDS but its going to take time and resources to get it right

2. When these technologies are ready, they’re going to take partnerships across sectors and with local actors to ensure they’re viable at the community level that truly matters

3. We can’t forget that we can do better to implement the strategies - particularly the prevention strategies - that we’ve seen can be successful already.