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Wednesday, November 04, 2009 04:05 GMT

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GUATEMALA: Controversy Dogs New Highway
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY - Construction is expected to begin soon on a new highway across north-central Guatemala, the largest infrastructure project tackled so far by the government of Álvaro Colom.
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LABOUR: Sorting Garbage - Green and Dignified Work
By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO - More than 1,500 representatives of waste recyclers from 13 countries, and thousands of other visitors, including the host country Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, met last week in São Paulo, demonstrating that they are no longer pariahs in our throw-away society.
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ARGENTINA: 'Drugs Are Killing the Youngsters We're Feeding'
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - "You often ask yourself why feed them if some wretch is just going to come along and sell them that rubbish," says Isabel Ruiz, who runs the Las Brujas soup kitchen in Moreno, a poor neighbourhood on the west side of the Argentine capital.
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CHILE: Teen Pregnancy, a Problem That Won’t Go Away
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO - Chile currently stands out for its spectacular progress in a number of health indicators, including maternal and child mortality and chronic malnutrition. But these successes obscure an acute social problem that refuses to yield: the steady rise in the number of teenage mothers.
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GUATEMALA: Despite Flaws, Judge Selection Process Improved, Say NGOs
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY - A new process aimed at making the selection of judges more transparent in Guatemala failed to block the appointment of several candidates who were questioned by civil society and a U.N.-sponsored commission set up to strengthen and purge the country's justice system.
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MIDEAST: Harvesting in Death Zone, With a Song
By Eva Bartlett
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza - On a quiet October morning, Fida Zaneen, 19, sings a traditional love song as she pulls olives from trees in Beit Hanoun's border region during the annual olive harvest.
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MEXICO: Int'l Tribunal 'Scandalised' by Denials of Workers' Rights
By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY - On the day his trade union section held elections for officials, "our offices were occupied, damaged and ransacked" by thugs from the executive committee of the National Teachers Union (SNTE), said Mexican teacher Gerardo Cruz, a leader in the CNTE, a dissident caucus seeking reform within the union.
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PHILIPPINES: Amid Disasters’ Rubble, Accusations Hound President
Analysis by Stephen de Tarczynski
MANILA - Even in the wake of the tropical storms that lashed the northern parts of the Philippines recently, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took time out to visit her home province.
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RIGHTS: Before the Olympics in Brazil…
By Danielle Batist
SWANSEA, U.K. - Athletes competing for Olympic gold speak to the imagination of most of us. Homeless people playing an international football tournament may be a less familiar sight. Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro will get a chance to see both.
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CLIMATE CHANGE-BOLIVIA: Climbing a 'Dead' Glacier
By Franz Chávez
CHACALTAYA, Bolivia - The rapid disappearance of glaciers and the subsequent exhaustion of water sources are pushing indigenous communities in the Bolivian highlands even further into poverty, Bolivian experts told IPS, adding that an increase in awareness about climate change is desperately needed.
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ZAMBIA: Give Us Our Constitution
By Kelvin Kachingwe
LUSAKA - Pressure is mounting for a new constitution that is inclusive of all citizens' views as the ongoing delays by the body granted to draft it still continues.
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ECONOMY-AFRICA: Pros and Cons to Huge Chinese Investment in DRC
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN - Concerns abound about a nine billion dollar Chinese investment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially around environmental consequences and transparency. And, on the Chinese side, investors complain not only about the lack of security in the DRC but about their own government not providing enough support.
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PHILIPPINES: Women's Rights Laws in Place
By Stephen de Tarczynski
MANILA - Although the enacting in August of the Magna Carta of Women (MCW) - a major law aiming to end discrimination against women across the archipelago - was well-received here, there remain concerns about whether the legislation will be fully implemented.
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BOLIVIA: Politics, a Risky Business for Women
By Franz Chávez
LA PAZ - Taking an active part in politics in Bolivia can be a hazardous undertaking. Hundreds of reports of violence against women participating in politics attest to the risk. And while attacks go unpunished, a bill designed to protect the rights of women occupying public office has spent almost a decade in Congress waiting to be approved.
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RIGHTS-UGANDA: Colliding with the Fourth Estate
By Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi
KAMPALA - Charles Odobo Bichachi, editor of the Independent Newspaper has in a span of a year, been summoned to the police several times accused of publishing seditious statements. And just last month, Bichachi fell into trouble again: this time over a cartoon.
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CAMBODIA: Climate Fight an Uphill Battle, But All’s Not Lost
By Robert Carmichael
PHNOM PENH - As one of the world’s poorest nations, Cambodia is by definition one of those least able to protect itself from the effects of climate change. As an agrarian society, it is one of those most susceptible to climate change.
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NGOs participation
social movements trade unions grassroots advocacy charity faith-based MOBILISATION groups COLLECTIVE ACTION social capital democratic expression dissent INNOVATION

AGRICULTURE-SENEGAL: Groundnut Production in Freefall

DEVELOPMENT: South-South Unity to Get Boost at U.N. Meet

RIGHTS-US: Another Legal Setback for Arar Torture Case

GUATEMALA: Controversy Dogs New Highway

U.S.: Obama's Outreach to Muslim World Teetering

RIGHTS-UGANDA: Baganda Fight for Their Heritage

PAKISTAN: Polio Vaccination: One Hurdle Down, One More to Go

CHILE: Women in Arms

RIGHTS-US: Govt Lawyers Seek to Quash Rendition Lawsuit

HEALTH: Southern Researchers Fill Gap on Neglected Diseases

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CIVIL SOCIETY UNDER THREAT IN RUSSIA
By Kumi Naidoo and Tanzilya Salimdjanova
With Russia's presidential elections -- notoriously a time of clampdown on dissent -- looming, it is important to ask whether non-governmental organisations there will be able to freely go about their legitimate activities, whether providing services, election monitoring, or holding the government to account, ask Kumi Naidoo, secretary general of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen participation, and Tanzilya Salimdjanova, associate at CIVICUS - Civil Society Watch programme.

"THE WORLD COULD BE VERY DIFFERENT FROM HOW IT IS TODAY"
By Candido Grzybowski
"The World Social Forum didn't produce the progressive wave in Latin America by itself; nevertheless, it would be difficult to imagine it without the presence of the WSF", says Cândido Grzybowski, director of Ibase (Brazil) and member of the WSF International Committee, in this interview with IPS's Alejandro Kirk.

CIVIL SOCIETY UNDER ATTACK
By Kumi Naidoo
In the last 12 months we have seen civil society organisations challenged by political threats to civil society's right to exist, by the need to improve its internal governance, and by the threats that face humankind, from climate change crisis to poverty and inequality, writes Kumi Naidoo, secretary general of CIVICUS: A World Alliance for Citizen Participation.

World Social Forum

Int'l NGO Accountability Charter

Choike.org - Portal on Southern Civil Societies

CIVICUS - World Alliance for Citizen Participation

CONGO - Conf. of NGOs at UN

Ubuntu - World Forum of Civil Society Networks

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