Document(s) 7 of 11

News

Senior Program Specialist of the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas

We are pleased to inform that Dr. Ben Petrazzini has been selected for the position of ICA's Senior Program Specialist with headquarters in IDRC's Regional Office in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Dr. Petrazzini has acted, among other posts, as Representative of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) before the United Nations, the World Bank, the IDB and the U.S. Government. Dr. Petrazzini obtained a PhD. in Communications from the University of California and has published largely on telecommunications, ICTs and development issues.

Dr. Petrazzini will take office early in November. We wish to take advantage of the opportunity to welcome him to our Regional Office.

New Website - Conflict over natural resources

IDRC has created a web site that focuses on conflict over natural resources. Why do conflicts arise over natural resources - land, water, forests, etc.- in Canada and elsewhere in the world? Explore the socioeconomic, cultural, and political factors that contribute to this problem and examine various ways of managing it. This site also includes information about specific projects supported by IDRC in this area, as well as links to other sites interested in this field.

For further information visit: http://www.idrc.ca/conflict/

Special Acknowledgements:

• The "DDT and Malaria" Project (100194), which seeks to control malaria through alternatives to the use of DDT funded by the IDRC and implemented by the National Public Health Institute of Mexico has won one of the most reputable prizes in medical research, the Rosenkraz Award in the area of epidemiology, conferred by Roche Syntex laboratories in Mexico. Next 16 October, the Health Secretary of Mexico, Dr. Julio Frenk Mora, shall deliver the above-mentioned prize.

For further information, visit: http://www.insp.mx/

• The Public Service School Foundation of the Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FESP, Brazil) has recently recognized three best "teaching cases" on innovative anti-poverty policies and two of the awards were given for cases produced within the IDRC-IADB/INDES project "Best practice and teaching cases in social policy reform" (100669). This project is a joint venture of IADB's training facility (INDES) and IDRC.

CONGRATULATIONS to the research teams involved in both projects!

Land use and water management in Bolivia

The Government of Bolivia has recently created the "Consejo Interinstitucional del Agua (CONIAG)" an organization for coordination, dialogue and interest articulation that is responsible for promoting and coordinating a new proposal for the integrated management of water resources. It is constituted by a directorate drawn from four government ministries, an accredited representative for municipalities and five representatives from civil society. IDRC is supporting a new research project with CONDESAN to support and strengthen CONIAG in construction of the future water law in Bolivia. This project has been designed to help provide CONIAG technical analysis capacity for assigning and managing water rights.

Mr. Peter Cooper, Director of IDRC's Environment and Natural Resources Program Area, Federico Burone, IDRC's Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean and Merle Faminow, IDRC's MINGA Program Officer met with the Director of CONIAG on the occasion of Peter Cooper's visit to Bolivia and Uruguay on mid September.

Competitive funds, fellowships, contests and vacancies

Vacancy - Research Officer

The Environmental Management Secretariat for Latin America and the Caribbean (EMS) is a program funded and administered by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada

The EMS wishes to select a Research Officer that may join the Secretariat's working team, with headquarters in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Qualifications required:

• University MA degree on environmental administration and postgraduate studies on areas related to the development and/or management of research.
• International experience concerning the formulation, management and evaluation of projects.
• Excellent proficiency in English (written and oral) and in computer operation at users' level.

For further information concerning the terms of the competition, visit: http://www.ems-sema.org/ro/tors_en.html

Call for Proposals - Stigma and Global Health

IDRC together with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are calling on researchers to submit proposals for their joint funding program in stigma and global health.

Letter of Intent Deadline: October 14, 2002
Application Deadline: November 14, 2002

For further information visit, http://www.nih.gov/fic/programs/stigma.html

AGROPOLIS Awards - 2003

AGROPOLIS is an awards program that supports innovative master`s and doctoral level research. It aims to add to the body of knowledge of urban and peri-urban agriculture, and thereby to support interventions that address critical areas in the industry.

The award will cover justifiable field research expenses to a maximum of Cdn$20,000 per year. Award tenure corresponds to the period of field research, normally no less than 3 months and no more than 12 months.

Deadline for applications: January 31, 2001

Further information: http://www.idrc.ca/cfp/

Outcome of the Competitive Call of the Peace Building and Reconstruction (PBR) Program Initiative in Central America

PBR is pleased announce that this year's Competitive Call for Proposals for Central America was won by the Asociación de Investigación y Estudios Sociales-ASIES and the Fundación Guillermo Ungo-FUNDAUNGO for their proposal "La Sostenibildad de la Paz y la Profundizacion Democrática en América Central: los casos the Guatemala y el Salvador". The proponents will receive an award of CAD $400,000 to undertake a comparative analysis of the peace processes of El Salvador and Guatemala, this project will seek to identify the main lessons that can be drawn from the implementation of the peacebuilding process in those two countries, with a view to determining how the peacebuilding exercise is contributing to the strengthening and consolidation of democracy in the region.

For further information, visit: http://www.idrc.ca/peace/

Students receive IDRC Doctoral Research Awards (IDRA)

The following IDRA awards were granted this year for research to be conducted in the Latin American and Caribbean region:

• Dalle, Sarah, "Integrating Ethnobotanical Resources into Land Management Planning: The Impact of Land-Use Change on the Availability of Useful Plants in a Forestry Ejido in Quintana Roo, Mexico", McGill University
• Mendez, Alberto, "On the Border of Development Capital Accumulation and Social Change in the Mexico-U.S. Borderlands (Mexico)", University of British Columbia
• Navarro-Flores, Olga, "Les relations de partenarait Nord-Sud dans le secteur de l'économie socialeune approche institutionnelle, Guatemala", Université du Québec à Montréal
• Oliver, Beatriz, "Popular Education and Participation in Social Movement Concerned with Globalization, The Environment and Local Resource Management The Case of Rural Family Producers in Uruguay", McGill University
• Virjee, Kameel, "The Financial Sustainability of Water Supply and Sanitation Improvements A Case Study of Squatter Settlements in Trinidad", McGill University

For further information, visit: http://archive.idrc.ca/awards/eycrinfo.html

New IDRC approved projects

IDRC has approved the following projects for the Latin America and the Caribbean region:

• 100999 Tropical Diseases Research (Phase XII), Global
• 101389 ICT's and Knowledge (Central America)
• 101419 Alternatives Policies for Land Access, Tenure and Use (Bolivia)
• 101471 "Judicial Observatory for Guatemala"
• 101476 Repairing the Past: Reparations and Transitions to Democracy" Global-Latin America
• 101490 Mercosur: Economic Research and Integration (Phase II)
• 101492 Rural Sustainable Agroindustries: documenting Research Results (CONDESAN)
• 101555 ICA Hemispheric Advisory Board-Working visit to Canada
• 101568 Support to V Kraho Traditional Seed (Brazil)
• 101593 Feasibility Analysis of Wireless Technologies in Low Teledensity Areas
• 101600 El Encuentro Profile, Chile
• 101616 Study case of Costa Rica: a program of universalization of ICTs at the national level

Further information on IDRC funded projects can be obtained by accessing the IDRIS database.
To access the database visit http://idrinfo.idrc.ca/

New projects approved by the EMS/IDRC:

• Management Of Environmental Risk In Low Income Human Settlements In Urban Areas in Central America. IDB/EMS Project managed by FEMICA. The aim of the project is to strengthen Central American municipalities in environmental management of their urban areas inhabited by the more vulnerable population.
  

New IDRC publications

Book Launch "Democracy, Citizenship and Diversity"

On October 25 the book "Democracy, citizenship and diversity: the political debate" will be launched in Guatemala City. It collects the presentations and comments of the international workshop held under the same name in Guatemala on February 6, 2002. The book, which contains the main contributions by Diego Iturralde (Ecuador), Luis Villoro (Mexico), Will Kymlicka (Canada) and Rolando Castilllo (Guatemala), is a publication of the UNDP office in Guatemala in cooperation with IDRC.

Documents resulting from IDRC funding

1) "Equity and health systems reform in Latin America and the Caribbean", Cadernos de Saúde Pública, July/Aug. 2002, vol.18, no.4.
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_issuetoc&pid=0102-311X20020004&lng=en&nrm=iso

2) "Cutting-edge policies on indigenous peoples and mining: key lessons for the World Summit and Beyond" by Viviane Weitzner, North-South Institute (Canadá) Project 100158 http://www.nsi-ins.ca/download/weitzner_mining_eng.pdf Press release - The North-South Institute calls on governments and corporations to respect Indigenous Peoples' rights vis-à-vis mining developments http://www.nsi-ins.ca/ensi/news_views/news40.html

3) "Democratic Security in Guatemala: challenges for the transformation" Copies can be obtained from FLACSO Guatemala, by contacting Manolo Vela, Coordinator of Political and Security Studies, at e-mail: mvela@flacso.edu.gt

Documents on IDRC Reports:

4) "Rethinking a Model for Peace in Guatemala" by Steve Hunt

Other documents:

5) Telecentres .... what for? Lessons regarding community telecentres in Latin America and the Caribbean, by Ricardo Gómez, Karin Delgadillo, Klaus Stoll. http://archive.idrc.ca/pan/publications/tcparaque.pdf

Conferences

"Forum on Democracy, Political Representation and Social Exclusion in the Andes"

On October 28-29th 2002, the Peace Building and Reconstruction Program Initiative in cooperation with the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL) and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA), Carleton University will be organizing in Ottawa the "Forum on Democracy, Political Representation, and Social Exclusion in the Andes". The Forum seeks to bring together experts from North and South America to explore the ongoing challenges to deepening democracy in the region with a focus on their implications for the international actors' future engagement. Further details can be obtained from Colleen Duggan, Senior Program Specialist, PBR cduggan@idrc.ca , ext. 2024

Project workshop : "Development and validation of a community-based strategy for the control and prevention of dengue and diarrhea in urban ecosystems of the Guatemala-Mexico border region"

From 30 October to 11 November, a number of workshops will be held in Guatemala City with the purpose of conducting an in-depth review of the protocol and methodology of the project "Development and validation of a community-based strategy for the control and prevention of dengue and diarrhea in urban ecosystems of the Guatemala-Mexico border region" with the different concerned stakeholders: researchers, consultants, special guests, representatives of international organizations and of the IDRC. The project will be implemented by the Nutrition Institute of Central America and Panama - INCAP/ PHO.

For further information, visit: http://www.idrc.ca/ecohealth/

"Seminar: Indigenous Resource Management, Challenges and Initiatives: a case Study of Mapuche People in Lumaco in Chile"

On October 2, Gisela Frias presented to the Regional Office staff in Montevideo the first findings of her study on " Indigenous Resource Management, Challenges and Initiatives: A Case Study of Mapuche People in Lumaco in Chile". Gisela is an intern working with IDRC's program initiative Managing Natural Resources Latin America (MINGA). The final report on the study will be available by the end of year. Gisela can be reached at gfrias@idrc.ca

Workshop "The Changing Role of Public-Private Sector Support for Research and Development", Lima, Perú, October 1-4, 2002

The workshop was designed to bring together the awardees of the first RoKs Call (announced in our "Compartimos", January 2002) to discuss the research methodology, policy impacts and communications related to their proposals and acted as an opportunity to interact with and learn from each other, discuss the issues with IDRC RoKs staff and guests, and explore the potential for further interaction.

For further information on RoKS visit: http://www.idrc.ca/roks/

"International Conference on Environmental Conflicts in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, and Chile" Vancouver, Canadá

The international conference took place from September 24 to 27, 2002 at the Liu Centre for Global Studies, University of British Columbia. This was an international conference to share research findings on changes in conflict dynamics following processes of conflict management. The conference was organized by the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of British Columbia and the IDRC.

For futher information visit: http://www.liucentre.ubc.ca/liu/events/conferences/250209canachile/program.htm

Latin American Roundtable "Feasibility in the use of household sewage"

This round-table discussion took place on 24- 25 September 2002 in Lima, Peru, as part of the regional project "Integrated Systems for the Treatment and Use of Sewage Water in Latin America" funded by the IDRC and carried out by CEPIS/ PAHO. During the meeting, the results of the project were presented to public and private institutions involved, as well as international credit and cooperation agencies, with the aim to implement projects in the region.

For further information, visit: http//www.cepis.ops-oms.org/bvsaar/e/proyecto/proyecto.html

Mercosur Panel - Progress or Setback?

On 20 September, the Mercosur Panel "Progress or Setback?" was held in Rio de Janeiro. It was organized by CEBRI and the Mercosur Network funded by the IDRC.

For further information on the conference, visit: http://www2.redmercosur.org.uy/conferencia/panel_mercosur.htm

Launching of the Mercosur Cities Declaration: toward Johannesburg 2002

In view of the celebration of the World Sustainable Development Summit in Johannesburg 2002, the launching of the "Mercosur Cities Declaration" took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 15 August. The event was organized by the Permanent Technical Secretariat of Mercosur Cities (STPM), the Montevideo Municipality (IMM) and the Environmental Management Secretariat for Latin America and the Caribbean (EMS/ IDRC). Research findings were presented at the event: "Diagnosis of priority aspects of urban environmental management policies in the cities of the Mercosur Network" by Carlos Fagetti, and "Public Participation in urban environmental management: Use of New Information Technologies by the Governments of Mercosur Cities" by Alén Pérez Casas (M.A.). The press conference which followed introduced the declaration "The cities' voice toward the World Sustainable Development Summit of the United Nations 2002, Rio + 10". This document emerges as a result of the drafting process by the cities composing the Network, in their desire to bring in the Mercosur cities' viewpoint to the World Summit.

For further information, visit: http://www.ems_sema.org/eventos/mc/declaracion.html

Mining Policy Research Initiative (MPRI) and the Johannesburg Summit

On 30 August 2002, Cristina Echavarría, MPRI Director and Coordinator of the Regional Participatory Process of the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project, attended as a panelist a side event at the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS), organized by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in the city of Johannesburg. Later, on 31 August, a question-and-answer session concerning the MMSD project was held at the IUCN environmental centre. Again, MPRI played an active role sharing information with several stakeholders in connection with the MMSD process in South America.

For further information, visit: http://www.idrc.ca/iipm/

Document(s) 7 of 11