Ending week one -‘Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality’ – HLPF 2019.

My assessment of how the global community is doing ‘Empowering the girls, women and children Good Shepherd accompany and ensuring their inclusiveness and equality’ is not too well! The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019 tells the story The question asked on the front page of the report is telling. ‘We must ask ourselves if our actions today are laying the right foundation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?’ The specific set of Goals reviewed this week were SDG 4, 8, 10, 13 and 16. Some of the headlines in the SDG 4 report are: Shockingly low proficiency rates in reading and mathematics signal a global learning crisis’; ‘Early childhood education offers a head start in school, but one third of the world’s children are being left behind’; ‘Progress has stalled in reaching out-of-school children’; ‘Too many schools in sub-Saharan Africa lack the basic elements of a good quality education: trained teachers and adequate facilities’; and ‘Despite progress, 750 million adults still cannot read and write a simple statement; two thirds of those adults are women.’ See SDG 4

I attended the side event SDG 4: At the Heart of Achieving the 2030 Agenda co-sponsored by groups that have education at the heart of their mission. The panelists presented a range of examples of inclusive, quality education. It was noted that injustice is inherent in the educational system.

Sr. Nakato Betty RSCJ outlined some principles underlying quality and inclusive education and depicted the current interaction of the system of education with the student to asking a fish to climb a tree!

Mr. Brian Fitzsimons with International Presentation Association presented a project ‘iScoil Ireland’ begun in 2007 that seeks to addresses the ‘shockingly low proficiency rates in reading and mathematics’ mentioned in the SDG report through interactive, flexible, and personalized learning using technology and multiple modes of assessment leading to a recognized accreditation with 82% receiving a qualification.

Kristin Hokanson, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur presented Education for Life with Sustainable Development Goals integrated into the virtual school.

Nick Newland, Associated Country Women of the World spoke to the situation of education in conflict affected and fragile states and this should be at the heart of the 2030 Agenda. I was reminded of an article in Global Sisters Report that you may help helpful to situate your self in the reality of the camp with the Society of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate.

Nick Newland addresses the issue of education in conflict affected and fragile states.

The Spotlight Report was launched on Thursday morning. This is the 4th edition of the report which seeks to track progress across the Agenda and the individual goals. The findings are that progress is seriously off track. Progress has not and will not come with accelearation or resources. Rather a major shift in policy is required with serious attention being given to the role of the public sector in line with responsibility for human rights and the public resources required to implement the goals. There is a need for strong institutions and good governance for sustainability. In the Spotlight Report there is a chapter on SDG 4 By Antonia Wulff, Education International The chapter can be accessed here It gives a very good insight into what is really happening. “In practice, numerous actors are competing for influence, particularly on defining what works in education, as so-called knowledge-based economies, grapple for growth and hunt for quick fixes in education. The SDGs are to be implemented in a political landscape where the UN system struggles to assert its relevance and values; gone are the days when UNESCO was the obvious authority in education, to which countries would turn for policy advice. This matters because agreement continues to be sought as to what the broad priorities within SDG 4 mean in practice, such as quality education or relevant learning. Governments have committed to a shared level of ambition and set of priorities but at the end of the day it is up to each government to translate them into more specific national policy.”

Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2019

While numerous actors are competing for influence – the World Bank, the OECD, the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (Education Commission), and the London-based Varkey Foundation – NGO’s are at the cutting edge empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality as demonstrated at the SDG 4 event for individuals and groups within society but who notices, how counts?

I began the week on Sunday July 7th being a panelist at a Water Aid event – presenting an overview of SDG 4. My question to the participants was do we continues to advocate for our separate individual issues in relation to education or do we advocate for structural and systemic change? The Secretary General’s Report had some stark comments: “In 2016, one third of all primary schools lacked basic drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services, affecting the education of millions of school children, but particularly girls managing menstruation.” In 2018, one fifth of the world’s youth were not in education, employment or training… There is a stark gender difference. Young women were more than twice as likely as young men to be unemployed or outside the labour force and not in education or training.” I called for collective advocacy to challenge the unethical dimensions of the financial markets, financial institutions and an unscrupulous sector. When preparing for this I had access to two excellent presentations showcasing what Good Shepherd are doing in the Democratic Republic of Congo focusing on the education of children who were engaged in child labour and in Puket, Thailand with a focus on the education of children whose parents have migrated to Thailand. These programmes demonstrate holistic rights-based education.

Protecting the Human Right to Education
#ChildrenNOTMiners

NGO’s are often not recognized, not counted, not consulted, not included. But we do what we do best, ‘upholding the dignity of every person in the face of gross inequalities, violations of human rights, and the stubborn persistence of gender based violence against the girl child, women and children.

Launch of ‘Inherent Dignity’ an advocacy guidebook

 

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Here is the link to  Inherent Dignity which you can download for use.   The Launch was live-streamed on Facebook.   Please promote this guide in your networks.  It is a wonderful compendium of the human rights tools that can combat trafficking in persons.      The guide provides an overview of the abuses that assault dignity and then outlines the human rights mechanisms that champion the ‘Inherent Dignity’ of every person.  The guidebook ‘Inherent Dignity’ is focusing the response towards the transformation called for and committed to  in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – our hope for the future.   It is the one living in poverty, excluded, left behind, marginalized, discriminated against who is vulnerable to human trafficking.  It is the same dynamic of exploration and abuse that is  encapsulated in the current economic system – neo-liberalism – profit over people and planet.

There are some aspect of this guide book that I love    a) The title ‘Inherent Dignity.’   It is easy to read and provides the introduction to good discussion at the local and grassroots level.  The Guide says it is for local actors.  It is here that change will be effected – having the discussion in the family, in the local community with local leaders empowering people to know another reality, a reality of inherent dignity.

b)  The insight and statement  that human rights violations occur before a girl or women is trafficked … poverty, lack of access to education, health, domestic violence, sexual abuse, gender inequality … Angela Reed call it ‘cumulative disadvantage,’ cumulative human rights violations break down ‘inherent dignity’ and breaks the person – in spirit, in body, in mind must receive attention and be realistically addressed.  The guidebook also notes that human rights violations occurring during trafficking experience and after.

c) Highlights the active role that girls and women who have been trafficked have in prevention work is to be commended.

d) The language of rights holders and duty bearers give rise to the central role of participation of all in efforts to combat human trafficking.

e) The chart illustrating the paradigms – ways of understanding  the multifaceted drivers of human trafficking is very useful in discussion (see page 21) – users of the guide may identify others.

f) Read the experience of Cathy’s experience on Page 27.  And then see the analysis of Human Rights Violations that occurred before, during and after being trafficked.  Do you think there are girls and women with similar experiences in your neighbourhood?

 

Read ‘Inherent Dignity’  alongside the Good Shepherd Position Papers. It is a companion Document to the Position Papers   French      Spanish

 

 

Trafficking - 5.2 8.7 16.2 GPA CTP

Justice Peace Workshop – Ngong, Kenya

On Saturday evening January 13th a very successful 3 day Justice Peace workshop was completed at Ngong, Kenya.  It was attended by 12 sisters in Temporary Profession, 4 Novices, together with Sr Teresa, Formator with the Temporary Professed and Sr Catherine the community leader in Ngong.   There were 3 Resource Person – Donatus Lili,  NGO Regional Designate for RIMOA, (center) Michael Owino Coordinator of the Mission Development Office East Central Africa (right) and myself.  It was an experience of team work and integration of justice peace with ministry against a backdrop of spirituality.

See the suggested Schedule for Nairobi – January 2018     Invariably too much was planned but what was accomplished was substantive and with some depth.  Having been warmly welcomed by the community in Ngong, Day 1 began with introductions and sharing by each participant of experiences and the meaning of justice peace in her life.  Samples of sharing included standing firm and fighting corruption by not signing on a document; helping girls to bring cases to court in order to claim their rights; being an advocate in the court for children; having the courage to point out a judge  who was corrupt; advocating and representing children rights  with parents; being observant in the Metatu ( public transport) and noticing a girl who was being trafficked and taking appropriate action.  Some comments and reflections noted that there is no peace without justice;  the necessity of peace and justice to self; justice begins at home with self, within the community, and with staff by implementing just procedures; justice peace cannot be separated from compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation; justice and peace necessitates an analysis of root causes, calls for risk taking and is a process, a journey; being an agent of justice peace in society, within ministries,  within families, and it starts with me; being in solidarity with others; reflecting the face of Jesus in all circumstances.

Session two shared on the GSIJP Office – the who and the what, outlining structures and the job description of the Justice Peace Contact.  Winifred outlined some of the recommendations from the  workshop in 2016 as many of the participants had attended that workshop.  There was a review of vision and mission and the Congregational Direction Statement. See Thursday January 11 2018 Session 1& 2

Session 3 and 4 was learning around the Sustainable Development Goals using the lyrics We-Love-the-SDGs-Study-Guide-v2 and youtube  Group work followed making the connections between the various goals and presenting finding linking goals with what is happening in ministries especially the centrality of SDG 5.  This included familizariation with the targets of SDG 5 – no discrimination, no violence, no harmful traditional practices, recognize unpaid care work, women’t leadership, and sexual and reproductive health  and rights.  Thursday Session 3 & 4 on SDG’s January 11

Day 2, session 5 and 6 focused on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.  CEDAW is the bill of rights for Women.  Donatus shared on her experience of being in Geneva and presenting a CEDAW report on Fistula.   Donatus began with an overview of the human rights mechanisms and then focused on presenting the 30 articles of CEDAW Convention.  Some articles of particular interest to us are Article 1 which defines discrimination against women to cover all facets of human rights and fundamental freedoms.  Article 3: Women are fundamentally equal with men in all spheres life  and countries must take measures to uphold women’s equality in the political, social, economic, and cultural fields.  Article 6 is an important one for Good Shepherd as countries are urged to take steps to suppress the exploitation of prostitution and trafficking in women.  Article 7 is about women’s right to engage in political and public life with the right to vote, hold public office and participate in civil society. Article 9 has to do with nationality.  Women have equal rights with men to acquire, change, or retain their nationality and that of their children.   Article 10 addresses the right to education, article 11 the right to employment and article 12 the right to health.  Article 13 Women have  equal right to family benefits, financial credit and participation in recreational activities. Article 14 concerns rural women and article 15 addresses equality before the law.  Women have the right to enter contract, own property and choose three place of residence.  Article 16 Women have equal rights with men in matters related to marriage and family relations.   The following articles 17 – 24 are related to the Committee on CEDAW and reporting procedures followed by Articles 25 -30 on the Administration of the Convention.  

Winifred led Session 7 and 8 Introducing the United Nations and presenting in depth the Social Protection Floor Concept as outlined in ILO Recommendation 202.  See  Friday January 12 Session 7 & 8  (The Declaration on Human Rights was not presented – time factor).  The decision of the group was to hear about Social Protections Floors.

Session 9 was led by Michale Owino, Mission Development Office Director for Kenya.  Sr Rose Mary, the monitoring and evaluation office attended this session.ahZCXEVkTuOgsgwLANQcPA

Michael presented in a very thorough and reflective way the Mission Development Office – team, broad objectives, focus areas, resource mobilization, co-ordination – communication, monitoring and evaluation, capacity building, workshops with project directors, centralization, mainstreaming justice peace, spirituality and Mission Partner development.

The final session was filled with appreciations for the opportunity to learn and share.  I appreciated the interest, and participation of each person. Karibu!

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Asante Sana!