It is well known that versions of events rarely agree. If there is a road accident, even eye-witnesses differ as to the actions – and even the clothing and gender – of those involved. That’s why traffic police may interview as them soon as possible,

and refer to the thing as an “incident”: even the word “accident” is enough to set the imagination racing. The Commonwealth theme for 2012 has been announced as “Connecting Cultures” so we look back at two of our recent project grants that supported

exchange, revival and re-interpretation of heritage. Connecting Cultures has a temporal as well as a spatial dimension.

(continued on page 2)

Making connections for a better world March 2012

Connecting Cultures – remembering the future

Commonwealth People placing the Commonwealth firmly on the international agenda.

POSTER SPECIAL

Slum-dog millions: Unity through film, East Africa

Once you have read Commonwealth People please pass it on. » PAGE 6

Savings for Pacific citizens» PAGE 10

New hope for coastal fisheries» PAGE 5

(cover story continued)

Trans-aTlanTic Maroon connecTion (JaMaica/sierra leone)The Maroons of Jamaica are the descendants of Africans who were enslaved on plantations, but rebelled and won their freedom in 1739. Their liberty was short lived and after another war almost the entire Maroon community in Trelawney Town (now Flagstaff) were deported to Nova Scotia (Canada) in 1796. In 1800, most were then transported back to Sierra Leone. In 1841, a group from Sierra Leone came back to Jamaica.

A confusing odyssey; and not content to simply read Wikipedia’s version of it, a Jamaican NGO (Cockpit Country Local Forest Management Committee) set out to document Flagstaff’s oral history, music and botanical knowledge for a new museum. Next, the researchers visited Freetown on the other side of the Atlantic ocean to make comparisons and connections. In the welcoming words of Sierra Leonean journalist Alie Sonta Kamara, “Maroons from the Island of Jamaica have come to connect with a side of the family not spoken about for two centuries....the Maroons were instrumental in setting up the new colony [Sierra Leone and its capital].”

Participant Nicole Ferguson (25) said she was fascinated to discover linguistic and cultural ties: “Even the market is almost like in Jamaica. Everything I eat here, it’s there. So then I got comfortable. (...) For me, I think the information should pass mostly to young people, like it should be taught in school. Because that is a problem we encounter, older heads who have the information don’t always pass it on.”

Which can’t be said of her companion on the trip, Kenute Cameron (63), who enthused: “It give me a different heart, it give me a different life, it give me a different thinking, it make my life become

a new life (...) Over 30, 40 years I’ve been dreaming about this thing and it worked. And I know faith is there. Faith is a word. You have a journey, a distance towards it. The faith led me to Sierra Leone, Africa.”

Towards a virTual MuseuM for The PacificThe 4th Melanesian Festival was organised in New Caledonia by the Pacific Islands Museum Association (PIMA) in December 2010. PIMA met to plan, perform and celebrate. The theme, “Our identity lies ahead of us,” was inspired by a quotation from the indigenous Kanak leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, and was intended to show the dynamism, diversity and modernity of the Melanesian region.

PIMA is based in Port Vila, Vanuatu, but as it head Mrs Tarisi Vunidilo explains, “To meet together is quite a mission, given the thousands of kilometres that separate our members. Most representatives’ costs are covered by their governments, but donor support enables us to also include non-Melanesian participants, for example from Tonga, Samoa, and Guam. The most significant outcome was endorsement of our plan to develop a Virtual Museum for the whole Pacific region – which again due to remoteness is so important. We are now also training members on how to control illicit trafficking of cultural objects.”

02

Cover story

A recent Commonwealth Secretariat book, Education in Small States: Policies and Priorities (Crossley, Bray and Packer, 2011) reports that respect for indigenous knowledge and local languages can contribute to whether children stay in school.

Oral traditions must pass on knowledge in an unbroken chain. But they are equally aware that words can be a mixed blessing – as testified by the world’s proverbs:

“A word is medicine to the wise.” (Telegu – Andrha Pradesh, India) “Words will endure; ways will fall into disuse.” (Tamil ) “There is nothing one goes to meet with more pleasure than the word.” (Rwandan) “The poison of a word is a word.” (Swahili)

- David Crystal (2006), Words Words Words

Nicole Ferguson and Kenute Cameron with St. John’s Maroon Church elders, Freetown, Sierra Leone: Trans-Atlantic Maroon Connection Project

Nicole Ferguson interviewed by Robert Pearson on top of Gun Hill, Flagstaff, Jamaica: Trans-Atlantic Maroon Connection Project

Connecting Cultures – remembering the future

Lewis Namier (1888 - 1941)

When discoursing or writing about history, [people] imagine it in terms of their own experience, and when trying to gauge the future they cite supposed analogies from the past: till, by a double process of repetition, they imagine the past and remember the future.

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE

03

According to research published in February 2012, Malaria kills 1.2 million people a year – nearly twice the previous estimate. The study also found that 42% of deaths were in older children and adults, overturning long-held assumptions that Malaria chiefly threatens the under-fives. In the same month, WHO figures showed the highest levels yet of drug-resistant Tuberculosis (TB). In some countries, 65% of patients treated for TB find themselves back in hospital with the new resistant strain. TB is the leading cause of death (25%) among people living with HIV.

These developments have compounded alarm about the financial state of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, which announced in December that it was going to effectively cancel a whole round of grant-making – before being thrown a lifeline by the US. Recent figures from UNAIDS and Kaiser Family Foundation show that funding for HIV and AIDS was down 10% in 2010 compared with 2009, the first drop in a decade.

needed: $8bnWriting in the UK’s Guardian last November, Sarah Boseley explained: “The fund has been staring at a financial black hole ever since its big replenishment meeting in New York a year ago failed to deliver the sums it hoped for. It wanted $20bn. It got $11.7bn. That was in spite of exhortations to donors to pledge money from the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, who warned that the stakes were high and that lives would be lost if pressure on the big killer diseases was not maintained.”

On World AIDS Day last year former UK minister Lord Paul Boateng commented (in the same newspaper) that the cuts “just didn’t make sense, either morally or economically” – and that they threatened any hopes of reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Also citing the Busan meeting on aid effectiveness (2011), Lord Boateng identified “a wider trend for global leaders to take their eyes off the ball with respect to health.”

hiv and aids advocacy in sri lankaIn order to lobby governments and donors effectively, and to seek funding, civil society needs strong advocacy skills. In 2011 the Commonwealth Foundation supported translation of advocacy materials into both Sinhala and Tamil languages, and their distribution. The toolkit was developed by the Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations (APCASO), and is already used in India, Malaysia and elsewhere in the region.

Ms Swarna Hemalatha Kodagoda, of Alliance Lanka, explained the need: “CSOs in Sri Lanka work independently, seeking project funding from various donors. This is inevitable if there is lack of funding for CSOs to network and work together continuously. The selection of projects for support from the Global Fund leaves out many capable CSOs. They might be less aware of current developments and proceedings nationally and globally, but only due to more powerful hands at the decision making levels, language barriers, and other communication constraints.”

TargeTing TuberculosisAlthough it is a preventable disease, TB kills around 2 million people a year worldwide because of poverty and associated poor housing. In 2010 the Commonwealth Foundation supported Target Tuberculosis, an international NGO, to bring together all its local partners for the first time (from Africa and Asia). The meeting in Mahaballipuram, India, focused on better engaging civil society in TB control – including some of the same advocacy issues. One participant said, “the advocacy part was the most useful because I lack experience there, but it’s important for the growth of any organisation.”

In the state of Tamil Nadu itself, in the year before the workshop Target TB and Network Theni had referred over 2,500 people for tests in Theni district. Over 10% of these tested positive for TB or TB-HIV co-infection. Another local partner, Blossom Trust, had reached nearly 200,000 people with street drama, talks, exhibitions and rallies aimed at all-round health awareness.

Running on empty?

People try to protect themselves from the smoke as a truck fumigates a street to protect against Malaria.

“We are finally seeing the fruits of our labours: deaths from all three diseases are falling and new science has shown that the AIDS epidemic can be halted – as well as millions of lives saved – in just a few years, but this will require new determination by African leaders and donor governments to finish the job.” - Lord Paul Boateng

The struggle against AIDS, TB and Malaria

In India, someone dies of TB every 1.5 minutes – that’s 1,000 people each day. Because of this existing epidemic, and a highly mobile population, health officials are concerned about incurable forms that are beginning to appear. Zarir Udwadia, a consultant chest physician in Mumbai says “Second-line drugs are thrown around like water,” in a way that only serves to breed further drug resistance. Less than 1 per cent of the estimated 275,000 Multi-Drug Resistant TB patients in India are treated in the public system, he said; the rest are taking the wrong drugs in the private system. “They linger on, infecting 10 or 20 of their contacts every year.” – Globe and Mail (Canada) January 2012.

The Commonwealth Health

Ministers Meeting 2012 is in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 May. It will focus on the connections between infectious and non-communicable (e.g. genetic, diet and lifestyle) diseases.

March 2012

As of 2011 the Commonwealth had advised over 30 governments about the issue of Public Private Partnerships, and assisted in setting up or training PPP units in five countries. Bilateral donors are also interested. For example in June last year, the UK government announced that some international aid will go to companies (300,000 of them) in developing countries, rather than governments. This, it argued, would improve the current situation where only 2% of foreign direct investment goes to least developed countries. In Mozambique, for example, the UK government will work to encourage private investment in rural roads and regional infrastructure. In Kenya, it will support the private delivery of services, and refocus attention on supporting private schools.

wasTe To wealThThese were some of the issues discussed during a recent study visit of Nigerian and Cameroonian delegates to Living Earth in Kampala, Uganda, with support from the Commonwealth Foundation. Living Earth has helped to broker a micro-scale partnership aimed at improving living conditions in the slums. The tour included visits to the town authorities (Nansana District); small businesses trained in collecting and recycling (producing handicrafts from scrap plastic and fuel-bricks from organic waste); and the company that brokers formal partnerships between the two. For their part, the hosts learned about community mobilisation and web-based project information sharing.

bringing in business...Taking ouT PoliTics?PPPs change what economists call the principal-agent problem: how to ensure that instructions of the “principal” (a ministry or local council) are carried out by its “agent” (service managers and workers). Before, the question was how public firms could perform efficiently when the “customer” had no competitors to go to. Now, the question is whether the private firm has negotiated a fair contract and adhered to it, and in the case of large-scale projects, whether politicians can realistically threaten to go to anyone else in the case of failure.

In turn, this has thrown up new bureaucracies to oversee performance and pricing – and transformed the very language of politics into debates about good or poor value for money (“delivery”). PPP can be controversial, not least because it is often accompanied by changes in workers’ pay and conditions; in affordability (introducing user fees); or in the very nature of services (reducing functions or adding new ones, like profit-making). According to the World Bank, the performance of many PPP projects has never been scrutinized and the debate has often been driven more by ideology than objective results.

Three P’s - or should iT be four?From the citizens’ point of view, the principal-agent problem is different again: having elected a government whose term may be shorter than the term of a PPP contract, how does the community ensure benefits for the consumer? How does it gain the necessary technical expertise? For Usha Jumani, a management consultant who spoke at a 2010 Commonwealth Conference led by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies with support from the Commonwealth Foundation, the focus should be on Public-Private-People Partnerships:

“Whilst communities and people’s organisations will have local knowledge, they don’t always have the skills to engage with public and private partners (...) people should not just be put in a circle amongst giants. Governments and the private sector should follow the process of ‘trust, train, transfer’ when community groups are expected to be involved in the delivery of projects or services. That is, communities should be trusted to deliver the service; they should be trained in how to deliver them; and then responsibility should be transferred.”

A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is any division of ownership and control between government and profit-making business. That is, any arrangement between complete public control on the one hand, and outright privatisation (selling off whole businesses and sectors) on the other. So PPPs are various in design, and where there are immense budgets and timescales, they are legally complex. Transparency and accountability are vital in bringing benefits to governments and citizens.

04

Micro-partnerships for urban services

In the pipeline

Visit to plastic recycling plant, Living Earth Foundation project, Kampala

Meeting a briquette maker in Uganda, Living Earth Foundation project, Kampala

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE

A recent UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) report says switching to a Green Economy is about ensuring such activities and benefits don’t compete: “Biodiversity in all its dimensions – the quality, quantity and diversity of ecosystems, species and genes – needs to be preserved not only for societal, ethical or religious reasons but also for the economic benefit it provides to present and future generations. We should aim to become a society that recognises, measures, manages and economically rewards responsible stewardship of its natural capital.”

In 2009, the Commonwealth Foundation published Road to Recovery: Mapping a Sustainable Economy in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development. The paper focused on the positive contribution that partnerships featuring civil society, social enterprise and other ‘under the radar’ actors can make in tackling the linked global challenges, and on what is required to make such partnerships work. It identifies three goals to define the new vision: economic resilience, respecting nature’s limits, and social justice and equity.

1. Pan-african efforTs for sMall fisheriesIn late 2011, the Commonwealth Foundation supported fishers’ organisations from Gambia, Malawi, Seychelles, Tanzania and Uganda to converge on Durban, South Africa – both to learn about good practices, and influence the COP17 Climate Change negotiations. Coastal Links, one of the local partners, successfully defended court action by an association of the biggest commercial fishing companies in 2008. Together with Masifundise (organisers at Durban) they have helped the South African government to draft a national small-scale fisheries policy.

Says Joshua Cox of Masifundise (established 1980): “The environmental cost (overall and per tonne of fish) is far higher in industrial fisheries than on small scale, so policy change is needed. We were among the 12,000 people who marched through the streets of Durban, and we were interviewed by the media. We also participated in a civil society event where fishers from the Western Cape, South Africa, spoke of the observed impacts of climate change.”

gender effecTsAddressing the meeting, Athman Seif (Kenya) pointed out that resource conflicts can lead to sexual exploitation of impoverished fishing workers. And Vaal B. Namugga explained that in Uganda, lack of infrastructural development and control over pricing and marketing has had far more negative effects on women in the fisher communities than men. “Traditionally women in Uganda were involved in processing for local, national and regional markets. But now that fresh catches are packaged for export further afield, thousands of jobs have disappeared. Now they are unemployed, doing the fishing itself as a last resort or they are working in export processing factories – in poorer conditions and at low pay.

Uganda had been the focus for another Commonwealth-supported activity a year before, in December 2010. The hosts on that occasion, the Civil Society Organizations’ Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment in East Africa (CISONET), Kampala, have reservations for women and young people in the network’s elected leadership. Along with Kenya and Tanzania, Uganda was affected by over-exploitation in Lake Victoria, and a subsequent fishing ban.

2. Mangroves MaTTerCoastal wetlands – mangrove swamps in the tropics and salt marshes in temperate regions - andseagrass beds fix large amounts of carbon (‘blue carbon’) within plants above and below sea-level as well as within soils. Occupying only 2% of seabed area, vegetated wetlands represent 50% of carbon transfer from oceans to sediments. (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2012)

But human impacts on coasts and oceans have destroyed 20% of mangroves and now put more than 60% of tropical coral reefs under immediate, direct threat. Acting now to conserve these habitats is critically important not only to save wildlife and livelihoods, but also to control carbon emissions that would otherwise accelerate global warming, rises in sea level and increases in extreme weather events. It is cost-effective too. In one example, planting and protecting nearly 12,000 hectares of mangroves cost US$ 1.1 million but saved annual expenditure on flood

protection (dyke maintenance) of US$7.3 million.

“…Many environmentalists argue that decarbonisation is unlikely to be achieved by innovations in technology alone. In their view, the economic growth and consumption-driven character of modern economies must change if environmental disaster is to be avoided. If they are right (…) Commonwealth states will face fundamental changes to what is produced, consumed and traded”. – commonwealth eminent Persons group

(Report to Heads of Government, 2011)

In 2011 the Commonwealth Foundation supported Action for Protection of Wild Animals (APOWA), an NGO in the Indian coastal state of Orissa, to protect the Bhitarkanika Mangroves. These trees are the buffer between local people’s straw houses and potentially deadly storms (as occurred in 2008 and 2009). The project assisted communities with alternative livelihoods such as mushroom cultivation, poultry farming, kitchen gardening (vegetables) and rice growing, so as to lessen their dependence on exploiting the mangrove forest. In addition, more than 30,000 mangrove saplings were planted in tidal creeks that had been suffering erosion. A nursery was set up to grow more, with a capacity of 16,000 seedlings.

Vulnerable to the Bay of Bengal, 30,000 citizens of Orissa have died in recent years – and survivors have been called “the climate’s first orphans”. But initiatives like this one give renewed hope. APOWA project participant Kajal Mandal said: “All of the vegetables we eat now, we grow ourselves. We have even been able to share some of the produce with relatives.”

For the full UNEP report, Green Economy in a Blue World, see www.unep.org/regionalseas Green economy was on the agenda at the Commonwealth Environment Ministers Meeting in Nairobi on 20 February 2012.

Around 40% of people now live within 100km of a shore line – and for those of us in island states, the proportion is far greater. Marine fisheries, shipping, power generation and manufacturing are often concentrated in coastal areas – dramatically brought home by Japan’s nuclear disaster last year. Until recently we’ve hardly explored, let alone understood, the ecology of the seas and its true economic worth. For too long its immediate dependants, and future potential, have counted for little or nothing.

New directions for coastal communities

Green Economy

05

(top) Masifundise & Coastal Links activists at COP17 Climate Change (bottom) APOWA project in Indian coastal state, Orissa

March 2012

Slum-dog millions:

Unity through film, East Africa

In Africa, young people make up the

majority of those living in crowded

slums with no basic services - they

survive but they don’t thrive. Linking

life experiences in Kenya, Rwanda,

Tanzania and Uganda, the film

project Togetherness is... challenges

the pattern. Based on five years of

filmmaking by Hot Sun Foundation in

Kibera, Nairobi (Africa’s largest slum),

the initiative trains young women and

men to develop their talents, tell their

stories and transform their communities.

Thousands more have benefited from

an internet TV channel, open-air

screenings, festivals and street theatre.

This is a space entirely led by 18-25

year old women and men, in a spirit of

equality. Those from conflict-affected

regions told their peers: “Don’t wish for

war. War is ugly and painful.”

In 2011 the Commonwealth Foundation

supported workshops and screenings

in Nairobi and Kampala. The featured

film, Togetherness Supreme, is in

Kiswahili, Sheng and Kikuyu, with

English subtitles. The organisers told us,

“Young people cannot always express

themselves, for fear of offending

politicians. But the media industry in

East Africa is poised for development of

independent voices. The youth should

be heard. To do so, they need training,

networking and role models.”

Images: www.globalgiving.org/projects/kenya-slum-filmmaking

06

07

08

The PEN is mightier than the swordThe power of words

Everyone is talking about the citizen movements that have shaken North Africa and the Middle East since December 2010 – Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen and elsewhere – with mixed results. For ex-Communist Eastern Europe and its diasporas around the world, the phrase “Arab Spring” calls to mind the “Prague Spring” of 1968, when Czechoslovakia’s citizens and elites joined forces to demand greater civil rights, cultural expression and self-determination from the Soviet bloc. Although thwarted (in a crack-down officially called “the fraternal help”), Czech and Slovak aspirations would eventually come to fruition in the region-wide revolutions of 1989-1991.

Vàclav Havel, who died in December last year, began his human rights career aiming not for the Presidency but to keep writing meaningful plays, and to defend long-haired rock bands like The Plastic People of the Universe. Havel worked for reconciliation, respect and understanding both in and out of office - although the transition from campaigner to politician brought inevitable compromise. On grounds that it protected Kosovo’s civilians, he backed NATO’s controversial 1999 war on Serbia while vehemently disowning the phrase “humanitarian bombing.”

In 1979 Havel wrote that persecution of writers was “a desperate attempt to plug up the dreadful wellspring of truth”; as in the Soviet Union and its other satellite states, Czechoslovakia’s banned texts were painstakingly reproduced and circulated by hand. The role of the Internet

and social media in the Arab Spring has been much debated, but Eastern Europe used ink.

Pen inTernaTional Formed in 1921, the friendship club PEN (which originally stood for Poets, Essayists and Novelists) is active in over 100 countries and affiliated to the United Nations. Since 1960 it has had a Writers in Prison Committee, and decolonisation in Europe is just one of many chapters in its story.

For example, there are 40 clubs based in schools across Sierra Leone, carrying out activities including debating programmes, writing competitions, and reading groups. The Sierra Leone Junior PENPoint Magazine allows students to showcase their writing and disseminate news and essays. Sierra Leonean members are principal drivers in developing a PEN Africa Network.

77Th congress in belgrade, serbiaIn September 2011, the Commonwealth Foundation supported PEN clubs from six African countries to take part in the associations’ Annual Congress. Issues on the agenda included women’s freedom of expression (PEN has a Women Writers Committee); translation and linguistic rights; and developing more regional links.

Yusuf Serunkuma (Uganda) commented:“I made friends with several authors and editors

from the other regions, but notably the South African anti-Apartheid dissident Christopher Hope. And it was pleasant to meet Yusuf Elalamy from

Morocco and Feggie Mphasi from Malawi. I had this debate with Elalamy and we are continuing the talk, planning some cooperation in the time ahead.”

“...there were individuals willing to live within the truth, even when things were at their worst. These people had no access to real power, nor did they aspire to it.” “...we never decided to become dissidents. We have been transformed into them, without quite knowing how, sometimes we have ended up in prison without precisely knowing how. We simply went ahead and did certain things that we felt we ought to do, and that seemed to us decent to do, nothing more nor less.” - Vàclav Havel, playwright and President of Czechoslovakia (1989-1992) and Czech Republic (1993-2003)

The PeN ChArTer

1. Literature knows no frontiers and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheavals.

2. In all circumstances, and particularly in time of war, works of art, the patrimony of humanity at large, should be left untouched by national or political passion.

3. Members of PEN should at all times use what influence they have in favour of good understanding and mutual respect between nations; they pledge themselves to do their utmost to dispel race, class and national hatreds, and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world.

4. PEN stands for the principle of unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations, and members pledge themselves to oppose any form of suppression of freedom of expression in the country and community to which they belong, as well as throughout the world wherever this is possible. PEN declares for a free press and opposes arbitrary censorship in time of peace. It believes that the necessary advance of the world towards a more highly organised political and economic order renders a free criticism of governments, administrations and institutions imperative. And since freedom implies voluntary restraint, members pledge themselves to oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood and distortion of facts for political and personal ends.

» www.pen-international.org

77th PEN International Congress in Belgrade September 2011

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE

09

“What I observe when I go to Kinshasa, Jakarta or Oslo, is that when you bring civil society around the same table as the government and companies, the debate rarely stops at tax and royalties. (...) We will not have succeeded until the citizens of resource-rich countries really see the benefits in faster economic development and real improvements in their lives.” - Clare Short, Chair of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and former UK Minister for International Development

look ouTThe discovery of oil in Spanish Lookout, western Belize (2005) is having a huge impact on the country’s economy. By 2010 Belize Natural Energy, one of five companies drilling in Belize, was producing 3,000 barrels a day and had exported 182,000 barrels to Panama, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

But as in any resource-rich nation, good governance mechanisms are needed for the benefits to reach ordinary citizens and future generations. Revenue Watch Institute, which monitors transparency in the energy sector, has said (2010): “Abundant natural resources offer no guarantee of prosperity for the countries that possess such wealth. Good resource governance cannot depend solely

on an active civil society, well-meaning politicians or enlightened companies. Rather, it requires the collaboration and innovations of all three.”

nexT caller, PleaseThe Commonwealth Foundation supported a weekly programme on Ak’ Kutan Radio to discuss the issue. Belize’s official language is English but Spanish is the mother tongue for around half the population and Kriol (Creole) is also widely spoken. The radio discussions reached 30 rural Q’eqchi speaking communities – which like Garifuna is an indigenous language of Belize. Topics covered included environmental justice, human rights, Free Prior and Informed Consent, sustainable community development and cultural rights. Some villages have telephone coverage and were able to call in to the show with comments.

This was followed, in March 2011, by a National Oil Summit – the first of its kind anywhere in Belize. The organisers, Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM), helped community leaders to draft a joint People’s Position Statement and publicised it with a press conference. The Deputy Prime Minister and three ministries also attended and put their case.

crude PlugSATIIM’s Position Statement drew attention to indigenous people’s experiences in Ecuador, where after decades of legal dispute, Texaco/Chevron accepted liability for illegally dumping toxic waste in ways that polluted water supplies and displaced communities. (The saga was made into a documentary film, Crude, by Joe Berlinger). Although the settlement runs to billions of dollars, SATIIM notes, it can never restore ways of life that have been lost.

Indigenous perspectives on oil, BelizeEnergy for debate

© S

uga

rfre

e

“Institutions should not be regarded as technical instruments or tools that can simply be designed on theoretical or conceptual drawing boards. Any institution – or set of rules shaping behaviour – will benefit some interests more than others. That’s what makes it necessarily and naturally political. Yet, if institutions are to ‘work’ they need to be both legitimate (that is, thought to be acceptable and proper) and enjoy at least the tacit support of those who will be bound by them and who apply and uphold them.” - Adrian Leftwich, University of York (UK) and Research Director, Developmental Leadership Program.

Grenada has been using films about its larger Caribbean neighbours as a means of citizenship education for good governance. The workshop programme, run by local NGO Agency for Rural Transformation (ART), included screenings of two award-winning documentaries about Jamaica’s experiences of tourism (“Jamaica For Sale”) and IMF-led structural adjustment (“Life and Debt”).

Grenada itself underwent a voluntary structural adjustment programme in the 1990s, with fiscal reform, privatisation and job cuts in the public sector aimed at reducing the budget deficit. A small off-shore sector was established, including internet gaming companies, but it failed to flourish in the 2000s. Since 2008, the economy has again been feeling the pinch with the global downturn and a fall-off in tourism revenue.

ART’s empowerment and capacity building workshops follow on from a 2010 training held in St Vincent and the Grenadines about the Commonwealth Foundation’s CEAL Guide to citizens’ education. The Commonwealth Foundation funded costs such as venue and equipment rental, and one resource person’s trip to the island of Carriacou where local government is being piloted.

adJusT your seT?The films were shown on television, and at a public forum followed by a panel discussion involving senior figures from politics (Grenada and St Lucia), finance, trade unions, and women’s organisations.

Sandra Ferguson, head of ART, points out the benefits of this format: “Some citizens, particularly those active in civil society, may come with misgivings that they are being drawn into a partisan [party political] agenda, and need to be reassured that a range of views will be heard.

“In the 1980s when some of this Jamaican history happened, others would have been very young or not yet born. And others again have literacy problems, so exercises need to be inclusive. Care was taken to ensure that case studies were read aloud so that everything was clearly understood. When someone tells me they feel educated to a whole new level, and determined to pass on their knowledge, I feel all the effort is paying off.”

Governance in Grenada

Newspaper headlines, AMANDALA Belize

Use of film for public dialogue

March 2012

Credit unions are financial cooperatives that are owned by their members. They pool members’ savings and on a not-for-profit basis, use the funds to provide affordable loans and other services. Unlike commercial banks, which are owned by shareholders and use outside capital, credit unions are controlled on a one person, one vote basis. And unlike other microfinance institutions, they do not rely on grants or investment from governments and other donors. This means they are not targeted at defined social groups but grow up anywhere that people share a common bond, such as a local community or place of work.

Of the Commonwealth countries, this vehicle of financial inclusion is particularly widespread in the Caribbean, Canada and Australia. For example in the Bahamas, The Tribune reports that credit union membership has grown 29% over the last five years, and growth in funds has outstripped that in conventional banks. India has the greatest number of members, at 20 million, followed by Canada at 11 million (2010 figures from WOCCU).

MuTual groundCredit unions from nine Pacific countries met in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in September 2011. Discussion and training took place on issues of women’s leadership, setting interest rates, governance, and managing risk. The congress was a joint effort of global, regional and national networks. Through the Credit Union Foundation Australia (CUFA), a not-for-profit development agency, the Commonwealth Foundation supported delegates from outlying parts of Papua New Guinea to attend. CUFA was formed in 1971, when the credit union movement was beginning to go global. With offices in Cambodia, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste, CUFA’s staff are mostly aged under 35 and half of its directors are women.

Credit unions in the Pacific

10

Savings for citizens

“Credit unions offer much more than financial services. They provide members the chance to own their own financial institution and help them create opportunities such as starting small businesses, growing farms, building family homes and educating their children. Regardless of account size in the credit union, each member may run for the volunteer board of directors and cast a vote in elections. In some countries, members encounter their first taste of democratic decision making through their credit unions.” – World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU)

Pacific credit unions in figures (2010)

fiJi PaPua new guinea

soloMon islands Tonga

Rate of credit union membership

2.50% 7% 1.60% 6%

Number of Members

15,243 across 29 credit unions

250,000 across 20 credit unions

5,395 across 13 credit unions

3,600 across 80 credit unions

Savings (US$) 19,952,445 117,760,000 3,663,158 1,415,398

Loans (US$) 21,037,941 76,630,000 3,695,626 1,332,757

Reserves (US$) N/A 106,800,000 N/A 52,891

Assets (US$) 24,501,189 249,160,000 N/A 2,663,067

Participants at the Pacific Credit Union Technical Congress 2011 in Papua New Guinea

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE

11

The vast majority of Commonwealth citizens work in micro and small enterprises (including self-employment). This includes a high proportion of youth and many of the Commonwealth’s 45 million international migrants. It’s increasingly recognised that small businesses include not only survival strategies but also stable, dynamic and growing enterprises.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) contribute 8% of India’s GDP wealth, and generate over 65 million jobs. Like the country’s dense and modernising rail network, they connect the 92% of Indians who work in the informal economy, with those in large-scale manufacturing, multinationals, administration, and knowledge industries like Information Technology.

uPseTTing The aPPle-carT?But according to Traidcraft (UK) and the Institute of Policy Studies (Sri Lanka), Free Trade Agreements could threaten the MSME sector and unbalance this picture. Says Ashani Abayasekara, “There is an urgent need to raise awareness amongst these stakeholders, to influence negotiations in a pro-poor, pro-development direction.”

Supported by the Commonwealth Foundation, an information toolkit was produced in English and Hindi to explain the implications of FTAs for different sectors. Research and consultation took place with entrepreneurs, government ministries, journalists and trade bodies. Anil Gupta, President of the Indian Industries Association said: “The toolkit makes an attempt to simplify complicated FTA provisions. This will be really very useful and I urge exporters to look at it. I’m not aware of any other source with such good research from the MSME perspective – in fact I never imagined such work happening.”

What do Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) mean for India’s poor?

Lobbying for Livelihoods

Auto partsWith immense prospects to grow small enterprises, this industry is bargaining hard with the European Union.

LeatherKanpur in Uttar Pradesh is the biggest producer of leather goods in India. Micro, small and medium enterprises make up 705 of the sector and employ huge numbers of women and men. Leather is an export-oriented industry.“I appreciate the care that has been taken to inform us of the concerned officials to whom the leather industry could make its case.”

– Taj Alam, Chairman, Uttar Pradesh Leather Industries Association.

Food processingThis employs more people than any other industry, and is 90% micro, small and medium enterprise. Oriented to the domestic market, but could be heavily affected by food imports.

Food origin is also fundamental to a country’s land use, diet and culture. In the last issue of Commonwealth People we reported on how rapid transition to cheap imported foods has contributed to epidemics of lifestyle diseases in the Pacific. In India in 2008, an alliance of civil society, nutrition experts and state governments successfully defended cooked school meals against industrially processed foods.

A small factory in India’s largest slum, Dharavi, where used electronic appliances such as fridges are being recycled.

Solar panels are assembled in a factory near Jaipur, India. Some are used for domestic use, bringing electricity to remote villages.

SmALL mirACLeS: iNDiA’S emPLoymeNT-iNTeNSive SeCTorS

March 2012

2011: woMen as agenTs of changeThis year’s Special Grants Initiative follows on from a successful series of awards last year to promote the 2011 Commonwealth Theme ‘Women as Agents of Change’, in celebration of women whose work has made a positive difference to the lives of others and emphasises that by investing in women and girls we can accelerate social, economic and political progress in our member states.

From over 600 applications, a £100,000 budget was awarded amongst the following organisations:

Culture and Development east Africa (CDeA)Received £17,134 to build the capacity of womens’ organisations in East Africa to advocate for the integration of culture indicators in national policies and strategies.

People with Disabilities Solomon islands (PWDSi)Received £14,809 for Empowering and Investing in Women with Disabilities to be Agents of Change.

The Canon Collins TrustReceived £13,600 to create a network of women’s empowerment ambassadors from a mixture of sectoral backgrounds working at a variety of levels.

The Commonwealth youth exchange CouncilReceived £20,000 to fund a one-week youth fellowship and workshop designed to equip young women leaders with the knowledge, skills and networks to advocate for themselves & their peers.

The Commonwealth human ecology CouncilReceived £13,838 for Gender Mainstreaming in Transboundary Water Resource Management around Lake Victoria Basin in East Africa.

African Woman and Child Feature (AWC)Received £19,962 for their Gender Justice Barometer in East Africa.

Commonwealth People is published by:

commonwealth foundationMarlborough House, Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5HYUnited Kingdom

Telephone+44 (0) 20 7930 3783

Fax+44 (0) 20 7839 8157

E-mailgeninfo@commonwealth.int

Webwww.commonwealthfoundation.com

DirectorVijay Krishnarayan

EditorialAndrew Robertson

EditorsMarcie Shaoul and Claire Turner

issn 1475-2042

Design and printwww.sugarfreedesign.co.uk

Photography Fredrik Naumann / Panos Pictures Robert Wallis / Panos Pictures Dieter Telemans / Panos Pictures

Cover image Street performers with gumbay drum, Freetown, Sierra Leone: Trans-Atlantic Maroon Connection Project

All other images provided by Commonwealth Foundation grants recipients.

The Commonwealth FoundationMaking connections for a better world

We are an intergovernmental organisation funded principally by Commonwealth governments, and guided by Commonwealth values. We aim to strengthen civil society in the achievement of Commonwealth priorities including democracy, good governance, sustainable development and cultural diversity.

•  We bring people together. •  We make people’s voices heard.•  We encourage sharing of knowledge and learning.

The views of the contributors to Commonwealth People do not necessarily reflect those of the Commonwealth Foundation

© March 2012

12

Special Grants Initiative

Friends of the Commonwealth is an international network of individuals whose aim is to maximise the reach and impact of existing Commonwealth networks, to engage new audiences in Commonwealth affairs and to support civil society action to promote and uphold Commonwealth values.

By joining a growing network of Friends you can

find out how to get involved, get informed and invested in the Commonwealth. By working together we can maximise our knowledge and our impact around the world.

So, if you have something to say, help to give, skills to offer or just want to join a group of people interested in the development of their community and the Commonwealth, then get in involved!

Informing | Debating | Networking | Sharing

Be part of an active Commonwealth community

Commonwealth Foundation Update

JoiN US TodAy. MEMBErShiP iS FrEE ANd oPEN To ALL.

» www.commonwealthfriends.org

The Commonwealth unites 54 countries with diverse cultures around shared values & vision.

Join us in 2012 as we celebrate our Commonwealth, a global community of over two billion people of differing beliefs and traditions, with cultural expression a vibrant means of identity and exchange.

» www.commonwealththeme.org

The Commonwealth Foundation’s 2012 Special Grants Initiative will be awarded in partnership with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) to celebrate this year’s Commonwealth Theme, ‘Connecting Cultures’. £100,000 is available and we expect to award 4 grants up to the value of £25,000 for projects taking place between July 2012 and June 2013. The call for applications closed on 9 March and the successful applications will be announced in June.

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE