A post by Ambassador Behar in Dakar, Nov. 2010

A cool breeze at the end of the day blows down the sandy slope of the village of Mbisau in Senegal. A few dozen women, who are carrying their infants tied to their backs and wearing headscarves, are working bent down in their small plots of land where they are growing organic potatoes and onions. There are 126 women in this TIPA project, which uses advanced Israeli drip irrigation and agricultural techniques. Their project is a part of a broader program of MASHAV (Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation) and the Embassy of Israel in Senegal to combat poverty. The women are pleased. The new engagement in agriculture enables them to earn much needed money and also to deal with their other tasks such as raising their children and cooking. When the sun set and shines its last golden rays for the day on the green fields, the women return home happy and with smiles on their faces.

Gideon Behar,

Ambassador

Embassy of Israel,

Dakar

Vivencias de una becaria de MASHAV en Israel- Sra. Thelma Fernandez Logorria- julio 2010

Millenium cities initiatives- Israeli Partnership opens doors for early learners- Kumasi, Ghana

Mount Carmel Training Center designed a three- year program to integrate early childhood education into the classrooms. This involved close consultation with the Kumasi Metropolitan Department of Education, as well as working closely with a core group of teachers, who are soon to become teacher trainers themselves.


http://mci.ei.columbia.edu/?id=locations_kumasi

Israeli medical delegation in Congo takes heat while trying to soothe burns

Published in Ha'aretz a few days ago.
About 10 days ago Israel sent five medical specialists from Sheba Medical Center for 10 days to treat the wounded. They were the first plastic surgeons to arrive in Congo after the accident, with proper know-how and equipment to treat the victims. Approximately 50 victims were burned when an oil tanker caught fire two weeks ago, killing more than 230 people in avillage near the Democratic Republic of Congo's border with Burundi.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-medical-delegation-in-congo-takes-heat-while-trying-to-soothe-burns-1.302693

On July 19, MASHAV and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United nations signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in Eastern Africa, to promote strong technical collaboration as well as the development of capacity building strategies that will benefit government services, the civil society and the private sector in Eastern Africa.

The MOU was signed following an overall agreement on cooperation signed on November 2008 in Roma, FAO headquarters with the aim to assist developing countries to achieve the Millenium development goals (UN MDGs).

Congo: secours d’urgence aux grands brules

Israël a envoyé une équipe médicale d’urgence et du matériel de pointe pour soigner les rescapés, souvent très grièvement brûlés, de l’explosion d’un camion-citerne, qui a fait plus de 200 morts dans l’est de la République démocratique du Congo. une dizaine de docteurs, de chirurgiens et de spécialistes ont quitté en urgence Jérusalem, Haifa, et Tel-Aviv pour le Congo. MASHAV a pris la responsabilite de cette situation d’urgence. L'operation a etait mise en place suite à la demande du ministre des Affaires Etrangeres israelien Avigdor Lieberman.
http://jssnews.com/2010/07/12/israel-au-congo-aide-economique-et-secours-durgence/

Israel dispatches humanitarian aid to Kirgistan- June 2010

In historic move, UN creates single entity to promote women’s empowerment

UN News Center, July 2nd, 2010. A very welcome initiative!

In a bid to accelerate the empowerment of women, the General Assembly today voted unanimously to create a dynamic new entity merging four United Nations offices focusing on gender equality, a move hailed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other senior officials.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35224&Cr=gender&Cr1

Israeli eye camp in Georgia, June 2010

Nice pictures from the last eye surgery camp who recently (June 2010) took place in Georgia. A delegation of Israeli ophtalmologists sent by Israel's Agency for International Cooperation Development- MASHAV- in cooperation with the Israeli organization "Eyes from Zion"- gave a new hope for dozens of Georgian citizens suffering from eyes deseases.

Ministres israéliens et allemands à Jérusalem pour réparer le monde

Yesterday, MASHAV and the German INWENT debated on aid effectiveness in a framework of 1-day seminar in Shefayim, CINADCO-MASHAV's agricultural training Center.
I already found an article, for our french-speaking friends, on the JSS blog.

Le vice-ministre des Affaires étrangères Danny Ayalon a rencontré aujourd’hui Dirk Niebel, ministre fédéral allemand de la Coopération économique et du développement, qui est en visite en Israël à la tête d’une importante délégation.
Cette visite fait suite à la signature de l’accord pour l’aide aux pays en développement par Ayalon et le ministre Niebel et Janvier dernier. Israël attache une grande importance à la coopération avec l’Allemagne sur les questions de l’aide, qui ont augmenté énormément ces derniers mois. Cette coopération représente une composante unique et importante dans le développement des bonnes relations entre les deux pays.

http://jssnews.com/2010/06/22/ministres-israeliens-et-allemands-a-jerusalem-pour-reparer-le-monde/

previous to previous...DevCom seminar, Haifa, 31/5 - 1/6/2010

Doing a lot with little
I have just received this great post published by Julia Chandler from the British Aid Agency (DFID) on the Haifa seminar last week. Julia was one of the speakers at the conference. She gave a very interesting presentation on the British case study.
Thank you!
http://juliac2.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/doing-a-lot-with-little/

By the way, you are invited to watch these videos about the conference and what means doing a lot with little...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqgq2-ZFSqo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I54R0vz32nk

Further to our previous post...

Vey good material I just found on the website of Web2forDev! exactly fits the issues we will deal with next week.
"Talking with the audience: Development organisations and social media": http://web2fordev.net/component/content/article/1-latest-news/111-talking-with-the-audience

Haifa workshop 31/5 - 1/6

Next week Mashav is hosting a two-day workshop on "Maximizing Outcomes with Minimum Resources for Development Communication". The workshop will be held in Haifa, Mount Carmel Training Center (the very first branch of MASHAV, this years turning 50!). Jointly organized by MASHAV and DevCom, OECD Development Centre, the seminair will deal with communication issues regarding development and the role of the new media in dispatching development messages.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/4/16/45155914.pdf

Accession : Estonia, Israel and Slovenia invited to join OECD

10/05/2010 – OECD countries agreed today to invite Estonia, Israel and Slovenia to become members of the Organisation, paving the way for the Organisation’s membership to grow to 34 countries.
“Estonia, Israel and Slovenia, along with Chile that has just deposited its instrument to become a full member, will contribute to a more plural and open OECD that is playing an increasingly important role in the global economic architecture,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said.

By the way, MASHAV is organizing a seminar on development 2.0 for OECD-DEVCOM participants in Haifa at the end of the months.

http://www.oecd.org/document/57/0,3343,en_2649_201185_45159737_1_1_1_1,00.html

Cooperation agreement between Israel (MASHAV) and the Organization of American States (OAS)

Israel and the Organization of American States signed a memorandum of understanding consolidating decades of development cooperation.
The agreement signed Monday at OAS headquarters in Washington pledges to advance existing collaboration on education, environment, economic and social development, poverty, gender equity, disaster prevention and relief, agriculture and crisis management. from JTA two days ago.

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/05/18/2394852/israel-signs-development-mou-with-oas