EOTO World Global Internet Forum Report

International Leadership for the MDGs & Leveraging Technology for Human Rights and Peace

The following report is only to serve as a synopsis for stakeholders and beneficiaries of EOTO World. Forums are hosted in accordance with EOTO Worlds project EXCHANGE program that connects Human Rights Activists around the globe in online spaces to discuss and build skills to affect the MDGs and a culture of peace. Following every forum, participants receive a customized resource guide related to the forum theme, designed to continue to assist global efforts toward anti-poverty and peace.

On 18-20 July, 2012, EOTO World hosted the global Internet forum. 21 Activists from 9 countries participated in a variety of sessions throughout the forum. A list of countries represented via participants from that area of the world is recorded under each session summary. Forum Rationale As the 2015 deadline approaches for the completion of the MDGs, world leaders have begun the process to think through remaining challenges to halt extreme poverty. The importance of the MDGs spans across all nations and populations. The MDGs is of particular consequence to the youth within these nations, whom often inherit poverty via economic, gender and social inequalities. Whereas there are advancements happening for the MDGs overall, the most vulnerable people are being left without much recourse. In a statement made within the 2011 UN Millennium Development Goals Report, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon revealed: progress tends to bypass those who are lowest on the economic ladder or are otherwise disadvantaged because of their sex, age, disability or ethnicity... and disparities between urban and rural areas remain daunting. Thus, EOTO World believes it is important for Activists to share and build resources that will help them address the MDGs in more innovative ways to advance the anti-poverty agenda. In addition to cultivating leadership for the MDGs, technology for both human rights and peace are becoming staples to activism. As the world becomes more digitalized, it is important for Activists to have affordable access to technology and capacity building to identify and use technologies to advance their causes. Leveraging technology can bring a wealth of information to stakeholders in a cause, and mobilize mass amounts of people faster. Furthermore, tools to collaborate among peers, organize work and manage contacts are as important for Activists to leverage as strategies to move the masses into action. Forum Goals EOTO World embarked on a mission to host a forum on International Leadership for the MDGs and Leveraging Technology for Human Rights and Peace to:

Engage youth with innovative ways to move the MDG agenda forward

Shed light on Indigenous populations as one representation of vulnerable people on the margins of the progress of the MDGs and ways to assist the movements And

Provide guidance on the basic use of technology to enhance human rights documentation and the dissemination of strategic messages to stakeholders

Notes from forum sessions

Session: Indigenous populations and the Millennium Development Goals

Language: Spanish Countries represented: USA, Mexico, El Salvador Percentages from polls: 100%-A little bit aware about the Millennium Development Goals 100%-Everyone is affected by the MDGs equally 66% MDGs very important for your community 33% My community is not informed about MDGs Participants felt that the information for the MDGs was often watered down, making it harder to address. Views on the diffusion of information about MDGs: 1. There isnt enough info in the local news that can be applied to the present reality on the ground in communities in Mexico. Funds are misappropriated because the budget is not used effectively for Indigenous persons. 2. El Salvador experiences similar situations. Primarily, there is not enough practical information for civil society to integrate Indigenous groups into popular participation spaces like university or television. Participants identified that funding for Indigenous MDG projects were hard to come by, particularly where sovereignty of Indigenous people is held in high regard. Participants were asked for examples anywhere in Latin America that has received MDG funding and how it has affected the community. Views on how the MDGs affect specific communities or countries in Latin America: 1. Mexico: Chiapas has been the only State that received funding for 2-3 projects geared towards the MDGs, mainly due to the rise of the leftist group Zapatista Army of National Liberation, back in 1994. Unequal distribution of the funding, affect the majority of the population in that area, which is Indigenous. More information should be given in public schools and throughout all areas of society and forms of communication, with a start in local efforts as well.

A presentation on the impact of the MDGs for Indigenous women was made by Ms. Dali Angel Perez, Coordinator of Red de Mujeres Jovenes Indigenas, which is a part of the Central American and Mexican Indigenous Womens Alliance. Resolutions for bettering conditions for Indigenous women are cited below. Goals for the political participation of Indigenous women: 1. Make it possible for women to be active in the struggle that affect Indigenous women and children. 2. Increase positions of leadership for the youth, increasing their chances to be heard. There are currently no mechanisms within the state to get to those positions of power. Examples of including Indigenous women in political participation include what has been done in international spaces:

Participation in Rio +20 and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2 representatives from the Indigenous network at the Economic Community of the West African States meeting

3. Intergenerational support (local): Create a place where older and younger women share experiences and wisdom to learn from one another and build a camaraderie between adult and young women to become in tune with the rights of all women. An example of creating intergenerational support is when there was a seminar done with 4 generations of Indigenous women to provide tools at the judicial, national and spiritual levels. The teachers are women who have struggled to get to their positions in life. Efforts are made by the women in the seminar to stop dependence on state funding. The safety of the space depends on the lived experience, harmony and shared bonds in a learning space for the network of Indigenous youth. 4. Make efforts to rescue the respect for mother earth through agriculture, conservation of all kinds of life and ritual ceremonies by educating other populations outside Indigenous shared spaces. An example: The women get involved in activities they already practice daily (e.g. making textiles and tortillas for the community) to become more proficient in their own craft and educate the rest of the population. Projects depend on state funding at first, then on organizations and their own labor. The entire experience empowers Indigenous populations to rely on themselves, lived experiences and to know what they want and how to ask for it. Present challenges for political participation of Indigenous women: 1. Advocating for the rights of Indigenous womens rights to land; the majority of the land is given to men. Women have to be married in order to gain rights. When her 4

husband dies, she can administer the rights until her son becomes of age. 2. There is not enough consultation with the Indigenous populations about implementation of projects. The educational models imposed by the state do not respect identity and mother tongue. The same dismissal of values by the state happens with the teachings from older generations of Indigenous peoples. 3. The challenges of the Millennium Development Goals cannot be discussed in general terms for Indigenous populations; the census does not reflect Indigenous realities. Input is neither asked nor required to implement the projects that involve Indigenous populations in most cases. Additionally, there is no explanation of legal terms. To Indigenous populations, words such as development do not mean to appropriate lands or to promote immigration to the city. 4. There are laws that produce paternalist and existentialist programs that disrupt Indigenous collectivity and self-governing character. These programs only assign activities (i.e. cleaning and sweeping in schools) with low pay, which exacerbate poverty levels of the Indigenous populations in Central America and Mexico. Instead of addressing the root of the problems, only a temporary band aid is applied as a solution. Moreover, there is no mention of multiculturalism. Participants wrapped up this session agreeing that greater efforts of Indigenous peoples must be made to become a united voice. Alliances of organizations, young Indigenous women and sisters who have become prominent at the international levels are priority.

Session: MDGs & Youth

Language: English Countries Represented: Ghana, Costa Rica, Mexico, Pakistan, Uganda, USA, Nigeria Percentages from polls: 100% believe that youth 35 and under can impact the MDGs 90% agree, 10 % disagree that there are some MDGs that are more important to address now than others 100% of participants work toward the MDGs in their community A presentation on how youth can impact the MDGs and the way forward was made by Dr. Raphael Ogar Oko, International Coordinator of the Millennium Development Ambassadors which is centrally housed in Nigeria. Views on the MDGs: 1. The MDGs are a well formed strategy because each goal compliments the other. The goals are mutually interdependent. 2. Within each nation, there are developed and developing individuals, so nations can 5

look inward to their own communities instead of outward to places like the UN to achieve the MDGs. Group Questions: 1. MDG's are important but they are not achieved by countries, so what can done to achieve some of them by 2015? Responses:

Focus on youth to facilitate and drive MDGs within their community to make it personal. Create family and community development goals. If you think about it, a millennium is actually longer than 2015 because a millennium is 1,000 years! Each of us can work toward achievement of the goals.

2. What is your view about the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that came out of Rio+20 and how do you see them in relation to the MDGs? Responses:

The world wants to see more than just some developed nations but a completely developed world. Several initiatives to facilitate development connect to a common point, but the task is to establish a culture of global development. The global community must learn to share and sustain resources for everybody, not just the elite or privileged.

3. Do you see the SDGs and MDGs as interconnected? Should they be combined? Responses:

The SDGs are meant to be more detailed than MDGs. The MDGs are only a starting point for holistic development, each goal is meant for people to dig deeper. For example- MDG 2 focuses on primary education, but what about higher education? There is a need for full education that incorporates human rights throughout each level of education, on all levels.

*Facilitator shares agreements from the session on technology and the student movement and MDG & youth session participants agree with the same sentiments. 4. Have you already combined what you think should be SDGs and use them with the MDGs in your work? Responses: 6

No, the development agenda needs to have specific goals and targets that are sustainable for each region. Most nations do not have clear goals and clear goals when the SDGs are crafted will help. No, but plan to. In most nations, people focus on environmental development but ignore human development.

5. What could some action oriented goals look like for the SDGs? Responses:

Focus goals fashioned from the Decade for the Education for Sustainable Development and how educators in formal and non-formal settings can apply these goals into their work. Goals should focus on what needs to be done instead of what should not happen. Goals should be focused toward eradicating extreme poverty instead of focusing on creating wealth. Goals should take into consideration current national agenda plans and compliment them. For example, there is concern around nations in Africa like the Nigeria 2020 vision, Kenya 2030 and Rwanda 2025 visions that are setting other agendas that may not go well with the new international development strategies. Goals should consider world peace and interreligious cooperation as additional means to achieve its aims.

Examples of ways to achieve goals:

Earth Charter International was recently appointed as a UNESCO Chair for the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and has recently opened a new educational center to promote the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development. The center seeks to empower and educate young people to use the Earth Charter as their ethical framework towards building a more just, peaceful and sustainable society. This initiative also serves as a solution to the call for ESD integrated into formal, non-formal and informal education that came from the Rio+20 outcome document.

In Abuja, Nigeria, youth are using technology for development via the MDG radio education program run by the Millennium Development Ambassadors.

6. What can we do as Human Rights Activists to promote the MDGs in our countries on the grassroots level? Responses: 7

Mobilize at local levels to help formulate community development goals and share best practices on efforts that are working. Relate the issues to the local areas Promote local issues in the global community.

Resolutions on Topic: 1. There are still challenges around harmonizing formal, non-formal and informal education because there is no clear global curriculum for MDG education. 2. Youth need platforms guidance, especially in developing world, to learn and strategize about the MDGs. 3. It is necessary for civil society sectors and governments to work together with youth to achieve the MDGs. 4. Volunteer movements and youth to youth contacts are important to exchange ideas and experiences. The goals are to inspire youth, empower them, connect them to resources as well as utilize and celebrate youth to motivate the best from them.

Session: Technology and the Global Student Movement

Language: English Countries Represented: USA, Uganda, Pakistan Percentages from polls: 100% were aware of a student movement in their country 100% believe that technology can be used to move their causes forward 90% of participants are not current students Participants used the session to discuss individual experiences with student movement activities, challenges and successes. The facilitated portion of the session challenged participants with broader ideas on how to impact student education throughout the human development span. What impacts need to happen for Higher Ed? Perspectives:

Focus on K-12 with better curriculums that include parent-teacher collaborations so that by the time the individual gets to Higher Education, the system for Higher Ed does not have to try teaching basic skills. Greater emphasis on K-12 teachers and parents should be a priority. In the USA, teachers are degraded and undervalued and parents seem not to care. Participants were challenged that low income parents are identified in research as too busy trying to make ends meet to help teachers give students a good education. Instead, parents can tend to leave the academics portion of rearing their children to teachers. Participants question if this is helpful and were left

thinking: How can such a divide between over-exhausted parents and ill equipped teachers be bridged to create a better environment for students? Students are prepared for tests, but not for critical thinking. Governments, parents, students and other stakeholders need to make education a better priority world-wide. Corruption must be tackled in order to deal with all levels of education because a lot of funds are intentionally misappropriated.

How can we employ community building to create better learning environments for students? Perspectives:

Encourage teachers with better benefits and rights Ensure that educational planning is a norm that includes the surrounding community to identify the challenges faced and arrive at viable solutions through collaboration on the educational infrastructure Create more education for parents, including helping adults become literate parents need to also be held more accountable for their children Network within communities to create awareness and allies on student issues

How effective can technology be for movements when most of the world is either not connected or has poor connection? Perspectives:

It is helpful for those that have the Internet to connect to others around the world that do not so that they can share the skills learned. Developed nations should help build the capacity of developing nations since most technologies that are far reaching benefit all nations. However, developed countries must be careful to only nurture ideas on technology and not dictate to other nations how to use them because it perpetuates superiority.

How to can expanding the reach of technology capacity building happen? Every day citizens with the ability to provide capacity building would probably not be able to travel overseas. Perspectives:

Capacity building can be done on and offline. Creators of advanced technologies should be traveling to do capacity building in person because they can afford it (i.e. Google and Microsoft) and they travel anyway to expand their business. Online capacity building can fill in the gaps of off-line capacity building on the use of technologies For places where Internet is not common place, a community can be made through an expanded network that starts from a person well versed in technology to teach through technology in presentations that can be replicated off-line. The effect is to pass on the knowledge from one medium of communication to the other, on the level each person is on to receive and process the information.

Participants discussed the link between human rights and sustainable development. The overwhelming consensus was that both are interconnected, but the challenge remains in how to move people out of their siloes for their side of the cause. How can technology be used to further education in your country? Perspectives:

Pakistan: Use of technology can help in spreading education to rural areas faster, so it must be used at all levels. Social media can help disseminate information to people for strategic planning. Uganda: Education through technology would be helpful to connect students to experiences of others abroad.

EXCHANGE session (participant-led topics of choice)

Language: Spanish Countries Represented: Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua Are there technologies that are very useful in advancing your cause? What are they and how they have been helpful to you? Perspectives: Technologies are hard to come by in countries like Colombia because it is only for people that have the economic ability to purchase. Many educational institutions in 2012 still do not have Internet access. Across Latin American countries, technological resources are not accessible to all social classes. The best way to advance the cause is through face to face contact. Despite lack of Internet accessibility across social classes, citizens have a right to information and access to the Internet spreads information faster. Virtual communications has exceeded the convenience of normal ways to get information in Colombia 10

What are challenges that you face in Latin America, either alone or in your MDG work? Perspectives: A main challenge is to break the gap of inequality over access to technologies, especially technologies needed by people with disabilities. Technology usually is designed for those without physical or cognitive limitations and overwhelmingly, minority populations like people with disabilities are not taken into account as technologies become more elaborate. An example of better technology for people with disabilities is a participants cellphone that allows hands-free dialing and other functions Another major challenge is the rise in Internet activism that attempts to raise awareness but fails to reach people that are doing the work on the ground and those that live in the communities affected by the issue. The result is that the awareness raising becomes a fad to support the causes within the network of Internet activists instead of a useful avenue to build strategic coordination of concrete actions.

What are some challenges that technology experts should prioritize resolving? Perspectives: Elaborate technologies without creating destructive environmental impacts. Environmental destruction that results in technology design and enhancement are rapidly killing off species. Provide full technology access to all countries in ways that do not rely upon the countrys economic development. Access to technology should be based upon how it will affect the quality of the environment as well as the human being, including enhancing individual human rights. Create good practical use of the Internet by making it easier for young people to exercise participatory citizenship without censorship.

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