South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took up office in February 2008, after having scored a record victory margin in December's presidential election with his "Economy, First!" pledge.
Previously the CEO of Hyundai Construction and a former mayor of Seoul, Mr Lee is nicknamed "The Bulldozer" for his forcefulness. He has promised to boost growth, cut high youth unemployment and raise competitiveness in the face of challenges from China and Japan. His Grand National Party won control of parliament in elections in April 2008, which observers predicted would allow him to push through his economic reforms. However, his approval ratings plummeted after he agreed to resume US beef imports in order to secure a free trade deal.
He was forced to apologise for failing to heed public concerns, and the domestic crisis sparked by the row over US beef imports is thought to have reduced his chances of implementing other promised reforms. In the autumn of 2008, Mr Lee warned that the South Korean economy could be even more badly affected by the global credit crisis than it was by the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.
Lee Myung-bak is the country's first president with a business background. He entered politics in 1992 and became mayor of Seoul in 2002. Mr. Lee has expressed willingness to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il whenever necessary and has described his attitude to inter-Korean relations as "pragmatic, not ideological". He has pledged to take a tougher line with Pyongyang than his predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun.
As we have mentioned before that President Lee Myung-bak is former CEO of Hyundai Construction and his nick name is "The Bulldozer”, so easily we can assume that President Lee Myung-bak has strict behavior. As Lee stated that he wanted to restore better relations with the United States through a greater emphasis on free market solutions, but two months after his inauguration, Lee’s approval ratings stood at 28% and by June 2008 they had reached 17%.Then U.S.-korea Free Trade Agreement or KORUS FTA, which faces opposition from legislators in both countries. While it was expected that Lee’s agreement during the summit to partiality lift the ban on U.S. beef imports would remove the obstacles in approving the KORUS FTA in the U.S. Many Korean protested the resumption of U.S. beef imports. In the mean time the Korean government issued a statement warning that violent protesters would be punished and measures would be taken to stop clashes between police and protesters. All of South Korea’s former presidents, including Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, saw a decrease in popularity at the end of their respective tenures. But in the early stages of their presidential terms they were powerful leaders, earning approval of over 70 percent each.
Under the Lee myung-bak administration, police are reportedly moving to restrict assemblies and demonstrations depending on their purposes as well as imposing fines on people who refuse on the street demands to present identification. Lee has been called “authoritarian,” “pro-big business and anti labor”. Lee vowed in 2007 to “get rid of” political and “hard line” unions. Amnesty International highly criticized the human rights violation caused by the presidency of Lee Myung-bak. Not only political freedoms but also Lee tried to interfere on press freedoms. The chief executives of Korea Broadcastings Advertising Corporation and the English broadcasting company, Arirang TV have been replaced by government supporters. It has also been suggested that is trying to change the top executive of KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), the country’s most powerful television network.
However I don’t want to criticize of President Lee Myung-bak, as I am trying to find out the actual ideology or political view of President Lee Myung-bak. Although I’ve already discussed about his some recent activities but still we have some remain. If we say that President Lee Myung-bak is doing liberal minded presidency then it will be right? Our conclusion says that Lee’s Political Background is from Grand National Party and that political view is conservatism which we could see on Lee’s presidency. But the Grand National Party also liberal conservatism but which we haven’t seen Lee’s presidency. Actually I think that President Lee’s presidency is so strict and conservative. According to the rule of “pro big business and anti labor” we can say that Lee’s presidency implying to “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” (부익부빈익빈).
It may prospective advantages for a country when the peoples of country follow their president. But in Korea we have seen for several times that people are doing demonstrate against the president. Although that doesn’t mean that President Lee Myung-bak is going to wrong way. Because as we’ve mentioned before that President Lee Myung-bak has promised to push through economic reforms, so this kind of prospective idea can give a good achievement for Korea and as Lee’s presidency has forced for 3 years; so still we have to see for remaining 2 years to do comments on his presidency. If we analyze to presidency of Lee’s first year then we can say that he is going to follow the presidency rule of Park Chung-hee
JP
My motherland is a land of river, to swim in the river and hearing murmuring song of river, it always makes me happy.
About Me
Memory
Juel Parvez
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Demanding for a good governance
The Problem with Presidents
We need global, not just national, leaders.
Mao Zedong was right. we should always focus on the primary, not secondary, contradictions. And right now, our primary global contradiction is painfully obvious: the biggest challenges of governance are global in origin, but all the politics that respond to them are local. There are many wise leaders around the world, but there is not enough global leadership.
The first decade of the 21st century has only accelerated the emergence of such challenges. The era began with 9/11, when a plot hatched in Afghanistan brought down the Twin Towers in Manhattan. In 2003 SARS jumped simultaneously from a village in China to two cities on opposite sides of the world—Singapore and Toronto. Barely six years later, H1N1 haunted the globe. The speed and ferocity of the Lehman Brothers crisis brought the world to the brink of a meltdown.
The biggest challenge of all is progressing more slowly than the financial crisis. But climate change is the perfect example of just how ineffective our current leadership structures are. The solution to global warming is quite simple: we have to increase the economic price of greenhouse-gas emissions equitably, with rich countries paying more and poorer nations paying less, but with all countries paying some price. Yet someone has to make the first move. America—whose population is only 5 percent of the world but consumes 25 percent of the world’s gasoline—is the obvious candidate. If the price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States were to be raised by $1 (and that would still make an American gallon cheaper than a European or Singaporean gallon), the change in driving habits would dramatically cut greenhouse-gas emissions. And American leadership, by example, would likely change attitudes in other nations.
In many ways, the United States is the wisest country in the world. It certainly remains the most successful, despite its recent travails. Yet in this land of wisdom and success, not one American politician would dare advocate a $1 solution to save the world. It would mean immediate political suicide. Herein lies the nub of the problem. Politicians are elected in local constituencies to take care of local concerns. Those who try to save the world will not last long.
This is why humanity needs a wake-up call. We can develop good domestic governance, from New Zealand to the Netherlands, from Singapore to Sweden. But good national leaders can only mitigate the shocks of global challenges, not solve them. Solutions have to be tackled through global organizations like the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, or global coalitions like the G20.
In theory, everyone agrees that we need to strengthen and open up these institutions. In practice, however, global organizations and coalitions are controlled by a few powerful national governments that put their national interests ahead of the world’s. This is the ultimate global paradox. Great powers want to use their status to dominate global organizations—think of how the United States and Europe still split the leadership of the World Bank and the IMF. But the more they control and distort the agenda of those institutions, the more they weaken them. And if these organizations are weak, solutions to global problems will simply not emerge.
The only way around this is to develop a strong, new international consensus, among citizens as well as governments, that the world needs more global governance (not global government). Only then will the mightiest nations think of the greater good and allow institutions—from the G20 to the U.N., from the IMF to the World Trade Organization—to be revitalized. Yes, these bodies are imperfect. But in the world of politics, it is easier to reform existing institutions than to create perfect new ones. Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping, taught us how pragmatism could revive one great civilization. We need to muster the same pragmatism to save humanity.
Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, is the author of The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East.
We need global, not just national, leaders.
Mao Zedong was right. we should always focus on the primary, not secondary, contradictions. And right now, our primary global contradiction is painfully obvious: the biggest challenges of governance are global in origin, but all the politics that respond to them are local. There are many wise leaders around the world, but there is not enough global leadership.
The first decade of the 21st century has only accelerated the emergence of such challenges. The era began with 9/11, when a plot hatched in Afghanistan brought down the Twin Towers in Manhattan. In 2003 SARS jumped simultaneously from a village in China to two cities on opposite sides of the world—Singapore and Toronto. Barely six years later, H1N1 haunted the globe. The speed and ferocity of the Lehman Brothers crisis brought the world to the brink of a meltdown.
The biggest challenge of all is progressing more slowly than the financial crisis. But climate change is the perfect example of just how ineffective our current leadership structures are. The solution to global warming is quite simple: we have to increase the economic price of greenhouse-gas emissions equitably, with rich countries paying more and poorer nations paying less, but with all countries paying some price. Yet someone has to make the first move. America—whose population is only 5 percent of the world but consumes 25 percent of the world’s gasoline—is the obvious candidate. If the price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States were to be raised by $1 (and that would still make an American gallon cheaper than a European or Singaporean gallon), the change in driving habits would dramatically cut greenhouse-gas emissions. And American leadership, by example, would likely change attitudes in other nations.
In many ways, the United States is the wisest country in the world. It certainly remains the most successful, despite its recent travails. Yet in this land of wisdom and success, not one American politician would dare advocate a $1 solution to save the world. It would mean immediate political suicide. Herein lies the nub of the problem. Politicians are elected in local constituencies to take care of local concerns. Those who try to save the world will not last long.
This is why humanity needs a wake-up call. We can develop good domestic governance, from New Zealand to the Netherlands, from Singapore to Sweden. But good national leaders can only mitigate the shocks of global challenges, not solve them. Solutions have to be tackled through global organizations like the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, or global coalitions like the G20.
In theory, everyone agrees that we need to strengthen and open up these institutions. In practice, however, global organizations and coalitions are controlled by a few powerful national governments that put their national interests ahead of the world’s. This is the ultimate global paradox. Great powers want to use their status to dominate global organizations—think of how the United States and Europe still split the leadership of the World Bank and the IMF. But the more they control and distort the agenda of those institutions, the more they weaken them. And if these organizations are weak, solutions to global problems will simply not emerge.
The only way around this is to develop a strong, new international consensus, among citizens as well as governments, that the world needs more global governance (not global government). Only then will the mightiest nations think of the greater good and allow institutions—from the G20 to the U.N., from the IMF to the World Trade Organization—to be revitalized. Yes, these bodies are imperfect. But in the world of politics, it is easier to reform existing institutions than to create perfect new ones. Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping, taught us how pragmatism could revive one great civilization. We need to muster the same pragmatism to save humanity.
Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, is the author of The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East.
Monday, May 3, 2010
유누스와 아디다스, 저가 신발 제작에 합의
지난 3월 21일 노벨평화상 수상자 무하마드 유누스 총재가 이끄는 그라민 그룹과 독일의 스포츠 기업 아디다스가 방글라데시의 가난한 사람들을 위해 저가 신발을 만드는데 힘을 모으기로 합의했다. 양측은 양해각서(MOU)를 체결한 후 연말까지 시제품을 내놓기로 했다고 방글라데시의 유력 일간지 The Daily Star지가 유누스 센터의 말을 인용해 보도했다.
ⓒ Grameen Guest/Flickr
유누스 총재는 “이 신발의 가격은 가난한 사람들도 구입할 수 있는 수준이 될 것이다. 그리고 가난한 사람들을 질병으로부터 보호해 줄 것이다”라고 말했다. 그라민그룹과 아디다스의 목표는 어른 아이 할 것 없이 모두가 신발을 신게 하는 것이다. 특히 시골의 어린이들이 맨발로 걸어 다니면서 질병을 옮기는 일을 예방하는데 큰 도움이 될 것으로 보인다.
이번 일은 유누스에게도 중요한 업적이 될 것이다. 이전에도 그라민그룹은 프랑스 기업 Danone, Veolia와 함께 가난한 사람들에게 영양과 안전한 식수를 제공하기 위한 사회사업을 시행하기도 했다. 또한 독일의 BASF와 미국의 인텔도 그라민 그룹과 함께 가난한 사람들에게 모기 퇴치와 정보 및 의사소통 기술을 제공하는 사회사업에 협력했었다(기후변화행동연구소 이승민 객원연구원).
ⓒ Grameen Guest/Flickr
유누스 총재는 “이 신발의 가격은 가난한 사람들도 구입할 수 있는 수준이 될 것이다. 그리고 가난한 사람들을 질병으로부터 보호해 줄 것이다”라고 말했다. 그라민그룹과 아디다스의 목표는 어른 아이 할 것 없이 모두가 신발을 신게 하는 것이다. 특히 시골의 어린이들이 맨발로 걸어 다니면서 질병을 옮기는 일을 예방하는데 큰 도움이 될 것으로 보인다.
이번 일은 유누스에게도 중요한 업적이 될 것이다. 이전에도 그라민그룹은 프랑스 기업 Danone, Veolia와 함께 가난한 사람들에게 영양과 안전한 식수를 제공하기 위한 사회사업을 시행하기도 했다. 또한 독일의 BASF와 미국의 인텔도 그라민 그룹과 함께 가난한 사람들에게 모기 퇴치와 정보 및 의사소통 기술을 제공하는 사회사업에 협력했었다(기후변화행동연구소 이승민 객원연구원).
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Malnutrition is define to ignorance
ALIBORI DEPARTMENT, Benin, 14 April 2010 – More than one in three Beninese children under the age of five show signs of chronic malnutrition. In the drier, northernmost part of the country, most families harvest crops for both income and their own consumption, feeding their children whatever is available from this yield.
"A young child is weighed at Gomparou Health Clinic in Benin’s northern Alibori Department. More than one in three Beninese children under the age of five show signs of chronic malnutrition."
“The main cause of malnutrition is ignorance,” said Linata Gbadamassi, a nurse working in the Gomparou Health Clinic in Benin’s northern Alibori Department.“There is not a shortage of food but, rather, mothers don’t use the right ingredients,” she added. “They tend to always give the child plain porridge made of just maize or millet instead of enriching it with soya or other nutritious foods.”
Now this is a problem of child survival’
The problem is intensified by local myths about food, according to Ms. Gbadamassi. For example, many people believe that if their children eat eggs, they will become thieves. Much discussion and counselling will be needed to change these deep-seated beliefs.
Child malnutrition is also rooted in the unequal power relationship between men and women.
“It is the men who buy the meat and will often eat their share first, leaving whatever is left over for the wife and children,” said Ms. Gbadamassi.
“Malnutrition is a phenomenon that starts very early in life, in the womb, and its consequences are irreversible,” noted UNICEF Benin Nutrition Officer Anne-Sophie Le Dain. “What we have here in Benin is a problem of child survival.”
"A young child is weighed at Gomparou Health Clinic in Benin’s northern Alibori Department. More than one in three Beninese children under the age of five show signs of chronic malnutrition."
“The main cause of malnutrition is ignorance,” said Linata Gbadamassi, a nurse working in the Gomparou Health Clinic in Benin’s northern Alibori Department.“There is not a shortage of food but, rather, mothers don’t use the right ingredients,” she added. “They tend to always give the child plain porridge made of just maize or millet instead of enriching it with soya or other nutritious foods.”
Now this is a problem of child survival’
The problem is intensified by local myths about food, according to Ms. Gbadamassi. For example, many people believe that if their children eat eggs, they will become thieves. Much discussion and counselling will be needed to change these deep-seated beliefs.
Child malnutrition is also rooted in the unequal power relationship between men and women.
“It is the men who buy the meat and will often eat their share first, leaving whatever is left over for the wife and children,” said Ms. Gbadamassi.
“Malnutrition is a phenomenon that starts very early in life, in the womb, and its consequences are irreversible,” noted UNICEF Benin Nutrition Officer Anne-Sophie Le Dain. “What we have here in Benin is a problem of child survival.”
Thursday, March 18, 2010
First UN envoy for sexual violence in war says rape must stop
Rape in wartime is a scar on modern society that must be stamped out by ending impunity and changing men's attitudes towards women, says Margot Wallstrom, the United Nations' first special representative on sexual violence in conflict.
Wallstrom, a 55-year-old Swede and the former European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy, took the job because she sees it as an irresistible opportunity to make a difference.
"The whole world should stand up and say this must come to an end," she told AlertNet in a telephone interview.
Wallstrom officially starts the new role in April, but has already assumed many of the responsibilities that come with it. She plans to travel to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) later this month on her first assignment.
A five-year war in DRC officially ended in 2003 but violence lingers on. Millions have died and tens of thousands of women and young girls have been raped. The mineral-rich African state is regularly listed as one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.
Rape has followed conflict for generations across the globe. But Wallstrom says the atrocities committed in recent wars - where rape has been used as a weapon to spread fear and ethnically cleanse populations, particularly in Africa - have shocked people and were a driving reason for creating a U.N. special representative for sexual violence in conflict zones.
"We've seen some conflicts that have become more and more brutal and this has shocked the world," she said. "But this doesn't only happen in Africa, it happens everywhere."
Nonetheless, most of her travel will be to Africa, she added.
WOMEN BLAMED
Christian Mukosa from Amnesty International has been tracking cases of rape in Chad, now home to hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring African countries blighted by war.
Armed bandits and gangs roam the borders and violence is common.
"In east Chad, woman are subject to rape and other violence," he said. "Not only when they leave the compound to collect water or firewood but also inside the camps."
Women who report rape are often told it is their fault for putting themselves in vulnerable situations. They are stigmatised, treated as outcasts, and their husbands demand new wives.
"There is a culture of impunity for rapists," Mukosa said. "When you talk to people in Chad they think that rape is normal."
Wallstrom will report directly to the U.N. Security Council during her two-year mission. Her brief is to concentrate on sexual violence in conflict zones, but she told AlertNet she had also received reports from Haiti of rape in the massive camps that have sprung up since January's devastating earthquake.
The earthquake killed about 250,000 people and made hundreds of thousands homeless. Many of the survivors are living in makeshift camps where security and privacy are minimal.
Anna Neistat from Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group, travelled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti's destroyed capital, to investigate rape in the camps.
"Women have to bathe in public or wander to remote areas of the camps, usually after dark, and that is unsafe," she said. "One woman was gang-raped when she was returning."
Neistat said the HRW team uncovered a handful of rapes in the camps but many more are probably hidden by women who are too afraid or ashamed to come forward.
For Wallstrom, her new job is not only a mission to reduce violence against women but an opportunity to work towards a more humane world where conflict does not justify rape.
"What type of society would tolerate it?" she said.
For more humanitarian news and analysis, please visit www.alertnet.org
With the exception of public UN sources, reproduction or redistribution of the above text, in whole, part or in any form, requires the prior consent of the original source. The opinions expressed in the documents carried by this site are those of the authors and are not necessarily shared by UN OCHA or ReliefWeb.
Wallstrom, a 55-year-old Swede and the former European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy, took the job because she sees it as an irresistible opportunity to make a difference.
"The whole world should stand up and say this must come to an end," she told AlertNet in a telephone interview.
Wallstrom officially starts the new role in April, but has already assumed many of the responsibilities that come with it. She plans to travel to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) later this month on her first assignment.
A five-year war in DRC officially ended in 2003 but violence lingers on. Millions have died and tens of thousands of women and young girls have been raped. The mineral-rich African state is regularly listed as one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.
Rape has followed conflict for generations across the globe. But Wallstrom says the atrocities committed in recent wars - where rape has been used as a weapon to spread fear and ethnically cleanse populations, particularly in Africa - have shocked people and were a driving reason for creating a U.N. special representative for sexual violence in conflict zones.
"We've seen some conflicts that have become more and more brutal and this has shocked the world," she said. "But this doesn't only happen in Africa, it happens everywhere."
Nonetheless, most of her travel will be to Africa, she added.
WOMEN BLAMED
Christian Mukosa from Amnesty International has been tracking cases of rape in Chad, now home to hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring African countries blighted by war.
Armed bandits and gangs roam the borders and violence is common.
"In east Chad, woman are subject to rape and other violence," he said. "Not only when they leave the compound to collect water or firewood but also inside the camps."
Women who report rape are often told it is their fault for putting themselves in vulnerable situations. They are stigmatised, treated as outcasts, and their husbands demand new wives.
"There is a culture of impunity for rapists," Mukosa said. "When you talk to people in Chad they think that rape is normal."
Wallstrom will report directly to the U.N. Security Council during her two-year mission. Her brief is to concentrate on sexual violence in conflict zones, but she told AlertNet she had also received reports from Haiti of rape in the massive camps that have sprung up since January's devastating earthquake.
The earthquake killed about 250,000 people and made hundreds of thousands homeless. Many of the survivors are living in makeshift camps where security and privacy are minimal.
Anna Neistat from Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group, travelled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti's destroyed capital, to investigate rape in the camps.
"Women have to bathe in public or wander to remote areas of the camps, usually after dark, and that is unsafe," she said. "One woman was gang-raped when she was returning."
Neistat said the HRW team uncovered a handful of rapes in the camps but many more are probably hidden by women who are too afraid or ashamed to come forward.
For Wallstrom, her new job is not only a mission to reduce violence against women but an opportunity to work towards a more humane world where conflict does not justify rape.
"What type of society would tolerate it?" she said.
For more humanitarian news and analysis, please visit www.alertnet.org
With the exception of public UN sources, reproduction or redistribution of the above text, in whole, part or in any form, requires the prior consent of the original source. The opinions expressed in the documents carried by this site are those of the authors and are not necessarily shared by UN OCHA or ReliefWeb.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Save the Children and UNICEF are doing well. But we should regard in Houman Rights of people which are still in uncertainity of this globalization.
Two million affected
A full assessment of earthquake damage to Haiti’s education infrastructure has yet to be completed, but an estimated 90 per cent of schools in the Port-au-Prince area – and 40 per cent of schools in the southern port city of Jacmel and other stricken localities – were damaged or destroyed. This could mean that as many as 2 million children are being deprived of their right to education.
Working with the Haitian Ministry of Education, UNICEF is setting up 150 school tents for earthquake-affected children. The goal is to get all children back to school by early April.
“The temporary learning spaces will be used until the schools are rebuilt,” said UNICEF Education Specialist Andrea Berther. “In addition, UNICEF and the ministry are working to identify and quickly train teaching personnel.”
© UNICEF Haiti/2010/Khadivi
UNICEF Emergency Specialist, Arnaud Conchon is co-ordinating distribution of more than 3,000 Early Childhood Development kits to Haitian children, particularly those living in displacement camps. Each kit serves 50 children up to six years of age.
These efforts are critical because education provides children with a sense of safety and normalcy in times of chaos and crisis. Besides tent classrooms, UNICEF has started the distribution of 390 School-in-a-Box kits and 410 recreation kits in 10 rural departments where displaced quake survivors are now living. Each School-in-a-Box kit provides as many as 40 children with exercise books, pens, pencils and other learning materials.
Safe spaces for children
UNICEF is also establishing ‘child-friendly’ early-childhood and primary learning centres equipped with education supplies and learning materials, as well as access to safe drinking water and latrines.
“We will do an accelerated learning programme so the students do not lose the school year. This will be challenging in terms of coordination, but everyone is on board,” said Ms. Berther.
UNICEF and Save the Children, in support of the Ministry of Education, are now leading an education working group in Haiti. In addition to opening all primary schools, the goals for the next three months are to:
Ensure availability of temporary spaces for children and youth
Support national education authorities and administrators tasked with the coordination of the crisis response and eventual reconstruction of the system
Complete assessments and analyses to gain a fuller picture of educational needs in post-earthquake Haiti.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0176/Noorani
A UNICEF worker inventories Early Childhood Development kits and other supplies at a UNICEF warehouse in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The kits are destined for residential child care centres and UNICEF-supported child-friendly spaces.
Community mobilization
In addition to its support for the Ministry of Education, UNICEF will encourage community mobilization to ensure that parent-teacher associations in affected areas are involved in the management and revitalization of the learning spaces.
The focus on education reflects the fact that the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti is a children’s emergency. Nearly 40 per cent of all Haitians are below 15 years of age, and recovery must start with children.
Moreover, UNICEF believes the unprecedented international commitment, support and funding seen since the earthquake struck must be used to build back better for all young Haitians. In the education sector, this means getting all children in school in a country where enrolment and attendance were poor even before disaster struck.
Back in Mount Jacquot, Yolanda continued to write and draw in her notebook. Her teacher, Onickel Paul, noted that the opening of the tent school had helped build trust, among the children and their parents, that things are getting better in Haiti.
A full assessment of earthquake damage to Haiti’s education infrastructure has yet to be completed, but an estimated 90 per cent of schools in the Port-au-Prince area – and 40 per cent of schools in the southern port city of Jacmel and other stricken localities – were damaged or destroyed. This could mean that as many as 2 million children are being deprived of their right to education.
Working with the Haitian Ministry of Education, UNICEF is setting up 150 school tents for earthquake-affected children. The goal is to get all children back to school by early April.
“The temporary learning spaces will be used until the schools are rebuilt,” said UNICEF Education Specialist Andrea Berther. “In addition, UNICEF and the ministry are working to identify and quickly train teaching personnel.”
© UNICEF Haiti/2010/Khadivi
UNICEF Emergency Specialist, Arnaud Conchon is co-ordinating distribution of more than 3,000 Early Childhood Development kits to Haitian children, particularly those living in displacement camps. Each kit serves 50 children up to six years of age.
These efforts are critical because education provides children with a sense of safety and normalcy in times of chaos and crisis. Besides tent classrooms, UNICEF has started the distribution of 390 School-in-a-Box kits and 410 recreation kits in 10 rural departments where displaced quake survivors are now living. Each School-in-a-Box kit provides as many as 40 children with exercise books, pens, pencils and other learning materials.
Safe spaces for children
UNICEF is also establishing ‘child-friendly’ early-childhood and primary learning centres equipped with education supplies and learning materials, as well as access to safe drinking water and latrines.
“We will do an accelerated learning programme so the students do not lose the school year. This will be challenging in terms of coordination, but everyone is on board,” said Ms. Berther.
UNICEF and Save the Children, in support of the Ministry of Education, are now leading an education working group in Haiti. In addition to opening all primary schools, the goals for the next three months are to:
Ensure availability of temporary spaces for children and youth
Support national education authorities and administrators tasked with the coordination of the crisis response and eventual reconstruction of the system
Complete assessments and analyses to gain a fuller picture of educational needs in post-earthquake Haiti.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0176/Noorani
A UNICEF worker inventories Early Childhood Development kits and other supplies at a UNICEF warehouse in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The kits are destined for residential child care centres and UNICEF-supported child-friendly spaces.
Community mobilization
In addition to its support for the Ministry of Education, UNICEF will encourage community mobilization to ensure that parent-teacher associations in affected areas are involved in the management and revitalization of the learning spaces.
The focus on education reflects the fact that the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti is a children’s emergency. Nearly 40 per cent of all Haitians are below 15 years of age, and recovery must start with children.
Moreover, UNICEF believes the unprecedented international commitment, support and funding seen since the earthquake struck must be used to build back better for all young Haitians. In the education sector, this means getting all children in school in a country where enrolment and attendance were poor even before disaster struck.
Back in Mount Jacquot, Yolanda continued to write and draw in her notebook. Her teacher, Onickel Paul, noted that the opening of the tent school had helped build trust, among the children and their parents, that things are getting better in Haiti.
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