Dear friends,

It is with great sadness that we inform that our beloved colleague and friend Maria Jesus Gines (Chusa) passed away. Chusa was on the TAME flight which crashed last January 28 at the border between Ecuador and Colombia.

Chusa joined IDRC as Program Officer in October 1992 with the Environment and Natural Resources Division and later worked with the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity Program Initiative. On December 2000, she undertook a secondment to the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia as coordinator of the project "Strategies for Integrating Small-Scalle end-users in Cassava Biotechnology.

Chusa always standed out by her energy and dynamism. Her drive and commitment with the development issues and biodiversity were features appreciated by all who had the opportunity to know her. 

Colleagues, researchers, institutions with whom she worked with and we all will miss her, her working capacity and outstanding human qualities.

Our thoughts accompany her husband Patrick and her son Dario. 

Federico Burone
Regional Director
 

New EMS Director

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Walter Ubal as new Executive Director of the Environmental Management Secretariat (EMS). 

Dr. Ubal was former Project Manager of the Empowerment of Women Network for the WINNER (UNDEP/UNIFEM) Project; former Regional Project Manager for the UNDP/Tips Technological Information Promotion Systems Programme for Central and South Eastern Europe and Technical Director of MITC (International Technical Consulting) executing environmental projects in Latin America and Central Europe. Dr. Ubal obtained his Diploma in Environmental Management from the Wye College University of London. 

Dr. Ubal will start his new position on March 1st, 2002. He can be reached at info@ems-sema.org
 

Competitive funds, fellowships, contests and vacancies

An Ecosystem Approach to Human Health for the Prevention and Control of Chagas Disease, Dengue and Malaria in Central America and the Caribbean - Call for Proposals

The joint IDRC/PAHO/UNEP/UNF Regional Fund seeks to promote an Ecosystem Approach to Human Health for the Prevention and Control of Chagas Disease, Dengue and Malaria in Central America and the Caribbean. 

The fund seeks proposals for collaborative interdisciplinary research, designed to enhance understanding, methodology, and capacity to use natural resource management or ecosystem approaches to the improvement of human health. 

A minimum of two grants of up to 250,000 Canadian Dollars (CAD) will be assigned.

Deadline for applications: April 19, 2002

For further information visit: http://archive.idrc.ca/lacro/becas/ecosalud_e.html
 

Call for Proposals - Public and Private Sector Support  to Research: Changing Roles and Policy Responses

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is launching a competition to support research on the changing balance between public and private sector funding of research, and its implications for developing country governments and research institutions. The competition is open to researchers throughout the developing world, and will award up to seven grants, with a maximum value of CAD $80,000 each. 

Deadline for applications: March 29, 2002

For further information visit: http://archive.idrc.ca/research/xroks_e.html

Competiton - Gender, Globalization and Land Tenure

The Gender Unit at IDRC has launched a call for proposals from developing country researchers interested in exploring the issues of gender, globalization, and land tenure. The competition aims to encourage cutting-edge research that will illuminate the role of gender in natural resource management. 

Deadline for applications: March 29, 2002

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

Central American Competitive Grant Selection Process 
2002-2003: Call for Proposals

IDRC's Peacebuilding and Reconstruction Program Initiative is pleased to announce the launch of its Central America Call for Proposals for 2002-2003. 

This year's Call for Proposals will focus upon the following four themes: Democratization; Political Economy of Peacebuilding; Human Security and challenges to Peace.

Deadline for applications is 5 April, 2002

For more information visit http//www.idrc.ca/peace/en/centralamerica.html
 

Call for Proposals on a Feasibility Study on Agrarian Reform Policies for Peace in Colombia

The Peacebuilding and Reconstruction PI is pleased to announce the launch of a Call for Proposals on a Feasibility Study on Agrarian Reform Policies for Peace in Colombia. The competition is being managed by the Instituto Colombiano para el Desarrollo de la Ciencia y la Tecnologia "Francisco José de Caldas" (Colciencias). 

The winning proposal should yield an assessment of the state-of-the-art in past research initiatives (academic and action) on processes of agrarian reform in Colombia. The study will also endeavour to analyse the interpretation and possible influence. It should also suggest new research techniques and indicate theoretical or practical models which would lead to renewed perspectives and indicate how the international community could best accompany Colombians in the formulation of alternatives which could eventually feed into the peace process. 

The deadline for applications is 22 February 2002

For more information visit http//www.colciencias.gov.co/convocatorias/convocatorias_cod.php ?cod=54
 

Master in Communications with special emphasis on public policies for the internet

In 1999 FLASCO-Ecuador with the sponsoring of IDRC decided to promote A "Research program on the social impact of internet in Latin America and the Caribbean". As a result of this program several projects dealing with the internet were carried out in the areas of education, e-government and regulatory framework of the internet. Based on these results, FLACSO-Ecuador decided to start a Masters program. The program is designed for professionals in the Andean Region and its main objective is the training on research and implementation of public policies for the internet to be used in strategic areas of the society: local, management, education and governance.

For further information visit:http://www.flacso.org.ec:8080/flacso.nsf/InicioDocencia?OpenFrameSet

"The FTAA and the WTO involvement and challenges for the small economies of the hemisphere"

The project "Central America in the World Economy of the 21st  Century" announces the second intensive and high level course. The course will take place in Panajachel (Atitlan Lake), Guatemala, 18-23 February 2002.

For further information visit:http://www.asies.org.gt/ca/2curso.asp 

New IDRC approved projects

IDRC has approved the following projects in the LAC Region:

• 101088 - "The Latin American Trade Agenda Stakes and Priorities (LATN-II)

• 101156 Community based coastal resources management (Caribbean) II

• 101157 "Ecoplata 4 - Managing the Uruguayan coastal zone" 

• 101159 - "Internet policy: Ma Thesis program (FLACSO-Ecuador)" 

• 101209 - "Municipal Forest Management in Latin America"

• 101212 - Confronting the Challenge of Gender Equity in Environmental Management in Latin America

• 101231 - "Regional Strategy for the Application of the Clean Development Mechanism" (CDM) Uruguay

• 101233 "Negotiation and Decision-making for Mining Communities in Potosi, Bolivia"

For further information visit the IDRIS Database. The database has more than 7000 records containing information of all projects financed by IDRC in the last 30 years. Searches can be done by title, country, institution and will result in an abstract with basic information of the research study and links to related documents (some of them in full text).

The database has been updated with information up to December 2001. It can be accessed at
http://idrinfo.idrc.ca/
 

New IDRC publications

IDRC full text publications: 

1) "Forging Links for Health Research  Perspectives from the Council on Health Research for Development" edited by Victor Neufeld and Nancy Johnson
http://archive.idrc.ca/booktique/

2) "Seeding Solutions: Volume 1 Policy Options for Genetic Resources (People, Plants, and Patents Revisited)"
http://archive.idrc.ca/booktique/

3) "The Responsibility to Protect Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty"
http://archive.idrc.ca/booktique/

Documents resulting from IDRC projects (full text)

A set of final reports with the results and findings of the development and implementation of bioassays for detecting the presence of chemical toxins in water, as well as the educational actions undertaken and the municipal community participation in the Bioassays project (La Plata-Argentina; Piracicaba-Brasil; Mosquera- Colombia; Pudahuel-Chile; Montevideo- Uruguay) are available at http://archive.idrc.ca/lacro/bioensayos/

Articles on IDRC Reports: 

• "Broadening the Benefits of Trade: The Latin American Trade Network"

• "SIPAZ: Peace Journalism in Rural Colombia"