CIVICUS World Assembly
From 20 to 23 August 2010, Montreal hosts the Annual Assembly of CIVICUS, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation wich is dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world. This year, CIVICUS offers around fifty activities under the theme Acting Together for a Just World. The Uniterra programme will host a booth along with AQOCI and CUSO-VSO. Come visit us!
Uniterra Leadership Meeting 2010
From August 20 to 22, members of the WUSC Local Committees across Canada will be at the University of Quebec in Outaouais (Gatineau, Quebec) to attend the 2010 Uniterra Leadership Meeting. This important annual gathering is a chance for Local Committee members to prepare their actions on campus for the upcoming year. A presentation of activities offered, opportunities to strengthen their leadership skills and to network are on the menu. Upon their return to their campus, participants will act as catalysts for change in their own Local Committee and their community.
The Siby Cooperative is now Fair Trade Certified
The Shea Butter Producers Cooperative of the Siby rural district (COOPROKASI) brings together over 800 producers organized into 21 groups based in the 21 villages that make up the rural district of Siby, Mali. July 5, 2010 marked a great moment for the cooperative which received its Fair trade certification, after two years of efforts to make its shea butter respond to the fair trade criteria of the international certification organization, Flo Cert. This certification will open new markets for the cooperative which will be able to diversify its activities. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this success!To learne more:
Site CECI, dossier karité
Maison du karité Siby Mali
From July 8 to 11, the Uniterra program will take part in the 19th edition of Ciné-spectacles au clair de lune Loto-Québec, an open-air summer festival organized by Vues d’Afrique at the Théâtre de Verdure in Parc Lafontaine, Montreal. Come out and meet representatives from Uniterra and its partners, every evening at 7pm while enjoying great African music, films and food! The Uniterra program will share a booth with two Canadian partners who will sell fair trade products from African organizations. Artistri, a Montreal alternative trade boutique, will offer crafts from the GIE DANI, a group of thirteen cooperatives that seeks to improve the lives of 2,800 crafts men and women from Niger. Karité Delapointe will sell body care products made of shea butter produced by some 3,000 women in Burkina Faso, federated within the UGPPK Union (Grouping of Women Producers of Shea-Butter Product of Sissili and Ziro).
To read the press release
Uniterra International Seminar in Nepal
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| Photo: Kiran Ambwani |
On June 12th, 13 Canadian students packed their bags and left the comfort of their homes to attend the 2010 International Seminar from June 14 to July 16 in the Gorkha district of Nepal. Paired up with undergraduate students from Nepal, these young Canadians are supporting local organizations on issues related to community forests, forest-based enterprises and sustainable forest management. Their participation will serve as a direct contribution to the achievement of the seventh Millennium Development Goal: Ensuring Environmental Sustainability.
HIV and AIDS: Uniterra welcomes two visitors from Burkina Faso
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| Youth from the African Youth Cooperative in Bukina Faso. Photo by Joseph Giguere |
Mr. Rodolphe Soubeigha and Mrs. Aminata Kandélé are facilitators for the African Youth Cooperative (CJA) in Burkina Faso and they are visiting Canada from May 23 to June 12, 2010. The African Youth Cooperative, a member of the Association for the Development of Prevention Initiatives in Health / Solidarity (ADIPS), promotes the economic and social development of youth and children, made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS, through having them to take part in a collective and income-generating enterprise. Several Uniterra volunteers supported the development of the CJA, which was modeled on the Quebec Youth Service Cooperatives run by the Labour Cooperation Network of Quebec (RCTQ-NETWORK). In March 2010, the NETWORK sent two of its members on a mission to Burkina Faso. Mr. Soubeigha and Mrs. Kandélé’s are now visiting the NETWORK to attend a training session and to work on developing a plan to strengthen the CJA. The two Burkinabe’s are also participating in the Canadian Summit on Citizen Economy and meeting with young leaders from the school shop MapMonde, which the CJA has been maintaining contact with for a couple years.