Following up: G8 and maternal health

Some of you may have seen an earlier request to support ONE's G8 campaign. On the 26th of June, the G8 announced they would be contributing $5 billion towards maternal and child health through the 'Muskoka Initiative'. Donations from other nations such as the Republic of Korea, Spain and New Zealand, and organisations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation takes the ground total to $7.3 billion. Although it is definitely a step in the right direction, it comes as somewhat of a disappointment to groups like ONE who would have liked to see provision for 3.5 million healthcare workers to be trained by 2015.

The Muskoka Initiative will work with several global partners to achieve the targets for Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. These are to reduce child mortality by two thirds, maternal mortality by three quarters, and to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. The Muskoka Initiative has a strong focus on outcomes, and has set various targets to be reached between 2010 and 2015.

Addressing recent concerns about the accountability and trustworthiness of the G8 on coming through with promises, the Canadian prime minister has announced that the Muskoka Initiative includes an accountability mechanism to ensure the G8 follows through on its commitments.

You can read more about the Muskoka Initiative here, in an official statement from the G8 (also available in pdf).

Go Black Stars!!

Library Club @ Kinbu

Morning all. Hope you all enjoyed the Black Star's second victory over the USA!

This is a copy of an email I'll be sending later to bring everyone up to speed on the decisions we came to at our meeting on Friday. As you know, members of the Library and Support Teams met up to discuss the best way to move forward in implementing the Library Club at Kinbu. It was decided that junior mentors would take charge of the groundwork, liaising with both staff and students at Kinbu. We want to make sure that the Club is sustainable, so involving Kinbu from the start is crucial. In the same vein, the Library Club needs a member of staff at Kinbu to be its patron.

We'd like junior mentors to work together on a presentation, after which we will come up with a final plan of action. We set a date of the 5th of July for this. As usual, it will take place at 5pm in the Quiet Room. The presentation can take any form - if you'd like to put together a PowerPoint presentation, we will make a projector available. To make communication easier, a file with everyone's names, numbers and email addresses will be emailed to you all. Should you need a place to meet up in the time leading up to the presentation, you can always come down to Databank. Anthony, Thelma and Samson will be spearheading this work.

Also, please don't forget about our Mini Seminar this Friday. We'll be going through sections 4 and 5 of the Appraisal Forms, and we'll also need you to submit your journals. It will be great to see you all there.

Go Black Stars!!

We've been reading...

Global fund suspends funding due to corruption
Elias Mbao, allAfrica -- The Global Fund has suspended funding to Zambia's Ministry of Health because of fraud in the ministry. This is a second time that donors are freezing funding to the ministry in about one year. The Swedish and Dutch governments in May 2009 froze aid to the Ministry of Health following reports about embezzlement of public funds including monies from donors. According to a report issued by The Global Fund's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) after the 21st board meeting in Geneva held between April 28 and 30, 2010, the fund would not proceed with signing any new grants to the ministry until it was satisfied that the situation was under control.

No winner for this years Mo Ibrahim Foundation Award
Botswana Gazette -- The Prize Committee of the 2010 Mo Ibrahim Prize has taken a decision not to award the prize this year. Last year the Prize Committee announced that it had considered some credible candidates, but after in depth review could not select a winner. This year the Prize Committee told the Board that there had been no new candidates or new developments and that therefore no selection of a winner had been made. The Ibrahim Prize recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership. The prize is awarded to a democratically elected former African Executive Head of State or Government who has served their term in office within the limits set by the country's constitution and has left office in the last three years.

Far From Gulf, a Spill Scourge 5 Decades Old
Adam Nossiter, NY Times -- Big oil spills are no longer news in this vast, tropical land. The Niger Delta, where the wealth underground is out of all proportion with the poverty on the surface, has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates. The oil pours out nearly every week, and some swamps are long since lifeless. Perhaps no place on earth has been as battered by oil, experts say, leaving residents here astonished at the nonstop attention paid to the gusher half a world away in the Gulf of Mexico. It was only a few weeks ago, they say, that a burst pipe belonging to Royal Dutch Shell in the mangroves was finally shut after flowing for two months: now nothing living moves in a black-and-brown world once teeming with shrimp and crab.

World Bank endorses Africa's progress
Johnstone Ole Turana, Business Daily (Nairobi) -- Africa stands to gain from a new decision-making approach by the World Bank regarding investment priorities. The lender is ditching its Washington-based decision making and is opting for a platform where the key issues will be tackled through increased participation. It is expected to provide Africa with opportunity to rate its priorities and channel resources to critical areas such as infrastructure development. Previously, the Bank came up with uniform programmes for region with little appreciation of the diversity in terms of resource endowment, governance, and state of development. "Africa has undergone tremendous changes over the last decade and our engagement need to be in line with the new realities..."

Lites -- New!
Obama lauds Liberia leadership
Canada invites African leaders to G8 meeting

Go Black Stars!!

Today's meeting

Wow... no posts for almost a week, that's terrible. Won't happen again.

Ok so I'm breaking the silence with a reminder for everyone in the Library and Support Teams. Our meeting will go on today as scheduled at 5pm in the Quiet Room. We need to finalise our plans for the Library Club so that we're able to have it up and running from the first day of next term. It would be great to see you all there. I also want to remind you all about fundraising; we've got just over a month left to come up with as much as possible. Let's do this!

Another thing - I'm adding a new feature (of sorts) to the regular 'We've been reading...' posts. It's called Lites; for those short articles it wouldn't make sense leaving an excerpt for. Look out for it in the next 'We've been reading...'. It may not be regular, but we'll see how things go for now. Let me know what you think. I'd love to see some feedback on the blog's new look too.

Go Black Stars!!

Young Entrepreneurs Competition 2010

Morning all! Hope you've had a great weekend. I'd like to draw your attention to Sukuma Afrika's Young Entrepreneur's Competition. Here is some information about Sumuma Afrika from their website:

Sukuma Afrika (Zulu for “Stand Up”) is a forum to facilitate networking, dialogue, information, mentoring and access to finance for entrepreneurs with projects in Africa that impact the millennium development goals – the 8 UN goals to half poverty worldwide by 2015.

Sukuma Afrika, was established in support of the UN Stand Up Campaign in recognition of the critical role young entrepreneurs and the Diaspora will play in the fight against poverty as the generation that will be responsible for reaching the Millennium Development Goals in 2015.

Sukuma Afrika works with young entrepreneurs interested in Africa’s development and achieves this through partnerships with the United Nations’ Millennium Campaign, corporate partners and investors committed to supporting the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.

The competition encourages African youth (up to 35 years of age) to come up with a for-profit business model that would contribute to achieving one of the Millennium Development Goals. The deadline for submissions is Monday the 28th, so you'll have to hurry if you want to enter. For more information, see here.

Thanks to David Agbenyega, one of our senior mentors, for the heads up.

________________________________________________

Don't forget to show your support for ONE's campaign and encourage the G8 leaders to commit to train 3.5 million health workers by 2015 in order to prevent maternal and child mortality. Click here to sign up!

Go Black Stars!!

A few announcements - Updated

Sorry for the long silence folks! Been a busy past couple of days, but no excuses so I'll just press right on. I have a few announcements that I'll be emailing you about later on once everything is confirmed; this is for all you bloggers out there.

First up, we have some dates for the last two Mini Seminars! These are especially important because they are the last ones, and there are a couple of things we need you to know. The first will be on the 2nd of July - Mr Nyantekyi will be continuing his talk on the Power of Positive Thinking. It is really really important that you come along to this one as this is the date your journals are due. We'll be needing them as part of the Programme's assessment. The second will be a week later, on the 9th of July, when Albert Ankrah will be talking to mentees about Career Development. We'd like to see everyone here for this too as it's the last session before the Awards Day (yes, we're having an awards ceremony!) Please note though, that these dates are not yet confirmed. It is possible that we will be having one of the two on the 9th of July instead. As usual, I'll update you as soon as they have been confirmed, but until then please keep your diaries free!

The second thing I'd like to talk to you about is to remind you to fundraise!!! I haven't received a call/text/email from anyone letting me know that they'll be going somewhere, so I'm guessing no one has started yet. Please please can we start as soon as possible - we've only got until the end of July to raise over GH¢30,000! We really have to pull together to manage this. And please don't forget to let me know after you've been to someone with the sponsorship letter - we'd like to keep records so we don't have too many people going to the same place. You can call, text, send me an email or even just drop a comment... anything that'll get the message through.

Third thing: the Appraisal Forms. These were due last Friday, so it's really important that I get them as soon as possible. Elinam wants you to know that if you've been having trouble meeting up with your mentees, you can fill in the form among yourselves (i.e. junior and/or senior mentors in a group). If you've met them before and have a fair idea of what they're like, you can go ahead and put some objectives down and we'll work with those. The deadline is now this Friday (18th June). You may or may not be pleased to know that we are scrapping section 3 (Interim Performance Tracking). We will be working on sections 4 and 5 (End of Programme Conversation and Review, final comments) during the last Mini Seminars, which is another important reason we'd like to see you all there.

Lastly, junior mentors in the Library and Support Team have a meeting next Friday (25th June 2010). We need to put together a concrete plan of action as to how the Library Club at Kinbu is going to run. We also need to make some headway into choosing a patron, etc. This time we're taking a slightly different approach -- come to the meeting to find out more!

I think that's all for now. Keep checking back and I'll inform you of any changes to the dates of the Mini Seminars.

Go Black Stars!!

Help prevent maternal mortality worldwide!

The G8 summit is kicking off next week in Canada. This year, the wonderful people over at ONE are advocating a push to train 3.5 million health workers by 2010. I feel that this is a fantastic initiative that could potentially save the lives of millions of mothers and their babies. Too many women die or suffer horrific complications trying to bring life into the world. If you agree, please take a minute to sign up to their campaign. Thank you.

Go Black Stars!!

Mini Seminar: The Road to Greatness

On Friday, Harry McNinson gave a highly motivating Mini Seminar on 'The Road to Greatness'. We'd like to commend our mentees for forgoing their Entertainment and our mentors (and speaker) for missing the opening game of the World Cup to be there.

Harry introduced his talk with a brief outline of his journey from a student at Kinbu to being the first student in his class (and possibly school) to go to university, to where he is now at Databank. He had no qualms about being real, sharing his struggles and mistakes as plainly as his joys and successes.

After this introduction, Harry launched into the meat of the seminar, detailing the steps one must take to get onto (and indeed to stay on) the Road to Greatness. He related a lot of this talk to his experiences at Kinbu (including a cheeky remark about an old teacher, much to the amusement of the students), making it especially relateable to all mentees present.

Go Black Stars!!

We've been reading...

Women leaders urge peaceful end to Israeli-Palestinian conflict 
UN -- Women leaders attending a United Nations-hosted conference in Madrid today called for a just and peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including an end to the three-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip. The conference, co-hosted by the International Women’s Commission for a Just and Sustainable Israeli-Palestinian Peace, was convened in part to mark the 10-year anniversary of the passage of Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

Rising Africa: A big leap for football, a giant leap for the continent 
Paul Vallely, The Independent -- Not far from Soccer City, the stadium which will today house the opening ceremonies of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, stands the Maponya shopping mall. There you can buy Versace sunglasses, eat sushi, smoke a £20 Havana cigar and even purchase a car from the resident Audi dealer. But this is no smart up-town white suburb of Johannesburg. This is black Soweto. It is as potent a symbol of a changing African continent as the stadium itself, which was built in the apartheid era as a football venue for South Africa’s black population. This was where Nelson Mandela addressed 100,000 ecstatic supporters soon after his release from prison as apartheid crumbled. For the past three years it has stood empty as African workers refurbished it for today’s launch. But more than a football stadium is being reborn...

The makings of a pirate
Yasmine Cathell, Youthink! -- The press has done a great job portraying Somali pirates as evil and greedy individuals who hold innocent seafarers hostage for exorbitant sums of money. While that might be true to an extent, let’s look at it from another point of view. Imagine for a moment that you live in a country that is mostly desert, has minimal sources of food, limited access to freshwater and consists of only 2% arable land. Now add to that no government, no police to keep the streets safe, no schools and no jobs. On the upside you have some of the most beautiful beaches, and the longest coast of any African nation with waters full of fish... Well you had fish, before the government collapsed and illegal unregulated and unreported (IUU) big fishing boats from other richer nations came and depleted the supply...

Zoomlion to establish waste management institute
Ghana Web -- Zoomlion will establish a waste management university next year to undertake fulltime courses in waste management, sanitation and hygiene. The company is putting in place structures to kick start the university that would have campuses in Accra and Tamale. The Public Relations Officer of Zoomlion, Mr. Oscar Provencal, told journalists that the university would be first of its type in Africa and is expected to serve the sub-region and other African countries...

Go Black Stars!!

ImagineNations Network

One of our senior mentors, David Agbenyega, has just come across the ImagineNations Network. It's an organisation that links up young entrepreneurs to a network of like-minded groups, mentors and supporters, as well as providing information, tools and resources.

As well as helping you to find a support network, ImagineNations Network (INN) can also help you to grow your business, save time, make an impact, and cultivate your skills. You can read more about how it works here.

You might be interested to know that INN is hosting a $10,000 Business Plan Competition for entrepreneurs, for which there will be prizes for those coming in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. More details here, or check out their website.

Thanks for your contribution David!

Go Black Stars!!

Recap of yesterday's meeting

Last night we had a short meeting to finalise ideas about the Library Club. (Thanks to everyone who braved the heavy rain and made it over!) We decided that we would go ahead with the ideas we came up with during the previous two meetings. Added onto this, we're planning on asking a teacher at Kinbu to be the patron of the club. This way, the club can be run without Databank needing to be there at all times. We can give them the guidelines and they can run with it. We might want to check in every now and again and provide the occasional speaker for example, but for the most part the day to day running of the Library Club will be up to Kinbu.

Senyo Tetteh, the architect we're working with on the Library refurbishing project has informed us that once we get started, the work will take 5 weeks to complete. This means that we will be looking at raising as much as we can until the end of July (instead of June) so it'll be good to go by the start of term in September. We really do have to get this started, so if you don't have a sponsorship letter you can pass by Databank and we'll get one to you. Alternatively if you let me know by 2pm on Friday, I can bring some along to the Mini Seminar.

During the meeting it came to light that not everyone is clear on the plans for fundraising. We've decided that that all mentors in all teams (i.e. Clean Up, Library and Support) will work together to raise funds. We have the mentees involved as well so it's a big team effort - it needs to be if we're to raise the whole GH¢32,000!


Other Notes:
Tomorrow is an important date for two reasons. Three, actually. First, the FIFA World Cup is starting, whooo! As excited we all are about this, lets not forget about two other things. One is that our Appraisal Forms are due, and the other is that we're having a Mini Seminar. If you've not handed in your Forms yet and you can't make it to the seminar, please try to bring them over to Databank sometime during the day.

Go Black Stars!!

Cheat Sheet supplements

I was just over at Youthink! - the youth 'branch' of the World Bank - when I came across some fantastic information that I think can be used to supplement your Cheat Sheets. I'm particularly excited because everything is put together with the youth in mind. Even better, there is information that goes with almost all of our cheat sheets. Here are the links (pages are linked to the titles of our Cheat Sheet, not the web page itself):

Corruption
Environmental Cleanliness
Health & Personal Hygiene
Gender & Development

Each contains a wealth of information and has further links should you wish to look at them in more detail. The logo above is also a link - it will take you to a page with links to all the issues the site addresses. Youthink! also has a blog; unfortunately I can't add it to our Interesting Blogs widget because they do not have a feed associated with their posts. I'll be adding any particularly interesting posts to our regular 'We've been reading...' feature. In the meantime, check out the site and have fun! :)

Junior mentor rewards

Keli Gadzekpo, the Chairman of Databank Foundation, gave two lucky junior mentors an opportunity to attend an exclusive networking event. Anthony Tawiah and Rachel Tutuani were given tickets to the Golden Hearts Charity Ball 2010 which was held at The Marquee, State House. From all accounts, it was a fantastic evening. From a high end fashion show by Vlisco to performances by Kwabena Kwabena and Afi Kudjo, it was an exciting event that was enjoyed by all.

Unfortunately although there are many deserving mentors, there were only tickets available for two this time. Opportunities like these will continue to come by every now and again - for a good chance of being selected next time, be sure to stay on top of your mentoring game!

Meetings this week

Our meeting tomorrow is still scheduled to go ahead (for mentors in all groups). We will be discussing the Library Club in detail; about what exactly it will entail and how to go about implementing it at Kinbu. We will also be handing out sponsorship letters to those of you who do not have them already (or for those of yo who need more).

I can now confirm that our postponed Mini Seminar (details here) will be held this Friday. Same time, same place - Kinbu assembly hall at 3pm. I'm really looking forward to it, I hope you are too! Appraisal Forms will be due on this date; you can pick some up at our meeting tomorrow if you need to.

We've been reading...

Michelle Obama encourages mentoringHuffington Post -- Michelle Obama toured the Detroit area today, urging mentoring as a way to inspire young people to succeed and continue their education. She spoke at the Detroit Institute of Art at a Detroit Mentoring Luncheon. Her speech focused on the difference that individuals can make, even during troubling times. "What we all know in our lives and through our experiences is that there's no magic dust that is sprinkled on us that gives us success," the First Lady said...

France backs Africa's global role
BBC -- The French president has called for Africa to be given a bigger say in world affairs and better representation on the UN Security Council. President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking at a two-day France-Africa summit in Nice, also said Africa would be a key source of global growth in the coming decades. He pledged to push for Security Council reform next year. Thirty-eight heads of state and some 200 business leaders are at the summit, the first to be hosted by Mr Sarkozy...

Trinidad and Tobago's first female prime ministerJohn Yearwood, Miami Herald -- When Kamla Persad-Bissessar shattered the glass ceiling to become this country's first female prime minister, she had her pick of splashy sites for her swearing-in: the stately presidential mansion, the multimillion-dollar diplomatic center or the gleaming new waterfront convention center. She nixed them all. Instead, Persad-Bissessar will be sworn in at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the foreign ministry building across the street from a park where her supporters will be able to congregate...

G8 summit communique drops pledge on aid to Africa
Larry Elliot, Guardian -- The west's seven richest countries are planning to abandon a pledge to double aid to the poorest countries in Africa by this year, the Guardian has learned. A leaked draft communique for this month's Canadian-hosted Muskoka summit contains no mention of the commitment made at the 2005 Gleneagles summit to provide an extra $25bn (£17bn) a year for Africa as part of a $50bn increase in financial assistance. The apparent watering down of the pledge follows strong lobbying from France and Italy, which are way off track to meet their 2010 aid goals, and provides an early test for David Cameron at his first G8 summit. Britain has been at the forefront of attempts to increase western aid to Africa over the past five years, with both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown insisting that the Gleneagles promise be included in successive G8 communiques...

Mini Seminar cancelled

Unfortunately, due to a number of unforeseen circumstances, we have had to cancel today's Mini Seminar for now. Harry McNinson (our scheduled speaker) has been called impromptu to Koforidua on official business. There has also been an uprising in the Kinbu area as a result of the AMA reclaiming land. While we are unsure of the exact details around the issue, safety is our main priority and we do not want to do anything that could potentially put anyone at risk.

God willing, the seminar will be rescheduled for next Friday. I will let you know as soon as this has been confirmed. You can still come along to Databank to submit your Appraisal Forms however.

Success stories

I know you are all aware of the benefits of mentoring, especially if you work with the YLMP. This being the case, you will also know that mentoring can be challenging at times. I found a few quotes - 'success stories' from various mentoring programmes - that I want to share to encourage you to push through the tough times. Hope you enjoy the read! :)

By mentors:

"Over the past 3 years of serving as a mentor, I have enjoyed myself tremendously. I feel that my fellow mentors and I have made a significant impact in the lives of our students. What I have enjoyed most about the program has been interacting and getting to know my mentee. For an hour each week, I get to escape from my world and return to simpler times of elementary school. Whether talking about music class, field trips, or the latest book report...it is refreshing to see life from a different perspective."

"I have enjoyed being a positive role model. Greeted with enthusiasm every visit, it is warming to see that my presence is so greatly appreciated and that simply by being there to talk and help with homework, I can make such a large impact...I have enjoyed the simple pleasure of taking time out of my hectic schedule to interact with my mentee on a personal level."

"At first I was very nervous and I didn't really think it would be very rewarding, and didn't really think I could be effective. However, now I realize how little it really takes for these kids to get something from me, and now I look forward to it every week and try to encourage all my co-workers to get involved."

"While it is a great feeling to give back to my community, it is even more rewarding to see the direct impact mentoring has on individual lives, mentors and mentees alike. To be able to be a positive role model in a child's life, who may not have one otherwise, is a feeling unparalleled for everyone involved. My experience mentoring has inspired me to dedicate the rest of my life to helping and educating others, who I hope in turn will continue to pay forward the wonderful gift of mentoring in the future."

Mentoring resources

June has come by so fast! I've just come across a few resources that I think would be very helpful for anyone in a mentoring relationship. I thought I would share them with you. They aren't very long; I hope you find them useful.

- The Mentoring Life Cycle

- Getting to the Gold (Building a relationship with your mentees)

- Tools for Mentoring Adolescents

- School Based Mentoring: 'High risk' and economically disadvantaged students

They all come from MENTOR, which is a good website for you to check out. It's a shame they don't have a blog, it would probably be a very helpful source. They do however, have links to all sorts of information and resources you might find interesting. The information is all quite condensed; they cover each topic quite extensively.