Be careful about International House in New York. I innocently applied for a housing in this place for 6 months, but I did not know it was actually a SCAM.

I went through a very bureaucratic process. First I had to pay a NOT REFUNDABLE 65 USD fee for the application. Then, there are admission criteria that I really think I was fulfilling, but I then received a letter telling me I was denied the housing.

I then asked why I was denied the place, and after 3 phone call attempts, the person told me that I did not fulfill the criteria in the same extent than other candidate, but could not explain why exactly or specifically.

She told me that it was like a university application!!!
I am really upset against International House, which basically steals international students or young people's money!!!!

I you feel you were in the same case and this is actually a SCAM, please write me a email at: sigar14@gmail.com.
The more we are the more powerful we will be.

Cheers,

Simon

I have visited five colleges with my son.He has recently passed the secondary school examination and intends to get admitted in a college of his choice.Everywhere I went,I found large number of students trying to secure admission forms and
depositing the same at the college counters.The numbers of students are very large at all the locations.Students were waiting in very long ques for hours with great patience.Nobody knew what was his fate.But they were very determine to get higher education.I hope the crave for their higher education will be fulfilled.

Blogging has become a way of life nowadays.It is a passion for many peoples.Many creative thought emerges as blogs and published in internet.Some people take pleasure by writing blogs while other groups of people gather enjoyment by reading them.In the mean time some blog writers have become famous for writing blogs.You may be curious on how the word "blog" was coined.Infact,the word was made from the words WEB and LOG where B has been taken from the former and LOG from the latter words.See how a brand new word,'BLOG' was created to conquer the world.It is a matter of great interest to note how the blogging will influence the world of tomorrow.

Failure is the pillar of success.But,this proverb or saying may be very cruel for many peoples.The shock or trauma may overwhelm the person who has just experienced a failure in his life and he/she may not bear he pain of the failure then.He/she may take various undesirable way to mitigate the pain.You know well what they do and may love to provide some cases for sharing with others.I suggest all persons to kindly to have patience and try to attain success again when the failure has come to test your fate.

The cyclonic storm called "AILA" recently hit large areas of Bangladesh and India.The storm was very fatal.It took away many human lives,domestic animals,crops,fruit gardens,homes and many infrastuctures.It was really a fatal storm.It has left miseries and scars of devastation all around.Peoples falling victim of the storm will take uncertain time to recover from the loss and trauma.Let us find means to support the affected peoples and come forward to assist them.

Recently I traveled several districts of Bangladesh.The time was very critical as the temperature was very high though
some rain was very desirable.We were lucky to see some rain along the trip though constant thunders frightened us.
We saw many cropped fields and fruit gardens along the long way.Flowering plants were showing their gorgeous colors too.
There was paddy fields in some areas.Most of them were harvested recently.Sesame,jute,pulses and many other crops were seen.
Mango trees were bearing diversified varieties of shapes,sizes and colors.Jackfruit,palmyra palm fruit,wax apple were some other fruits on the sight.But we were excited to see the festival of mango on the way.Particularly in Sathkhira we saw many orchards of mango
laden with many varieties of mango.Farmers were selling the HIMSAGAR variety with pleasure.We visited some orchards and enjoyed the beauty of the fruits in the garden.It was a great festival of the celebrated mango.We always love to taste mango and it was a great opportunity for us to see the festival.

I think I’ve figured it out. There’s something in public health called the “prevention paradox”: measures of disease prevention that offer great benefits to populations at large (such as fluoridation of water sources, wearing seatbelts, lifestyle changes, smallpox vaccinations, etc) offer little benefit or personal incentive to individuals.

But research shows that health education geared toward individuals (counseling on reducing salt intake for hypertension, exercise for diabetes, etc) are less effective when geared only toward individuals and/or used in a short-term approach. People are motivated to act for immediate gain and substantial personal benefits, but “the medical motivation for health education is inherently weak. Their health next year is not likely to be much better if they accept our advice or if they reject it. Much more powerful as motivators for health education are the social rewards of enhanced self-esteem and social approval.” (Geoffrey Rose, Sick Individuals and Sick Populations.)

Physicians also prefer individualized health education because with population interventions (such as anti-smoking campaigns), their success rates are low and results take a long time to achieve.

The US is such an individual-centric society that people have no cultural reason to care about population health as a whole. Most Americans do not see that universal access to healthcare means that problems are detected and treated early (which is less costly), and that sometimes preventive medicine can encourage life-saving behavior change. That the person going into the ER for stomach pain because s/he does not have health insurance is costing the taxpayer literally thousands more dollars than s/he would if s/he’d gone to a primary care physician.

Nor do they understand the concept of herd immunity- if a large proportion of a population is immune to or vaccinated against a particular disease, the likelihood that one individual will get that disease is far less.

The focus on the individual and the apathy toward the well-being of communities and populations is by no means restricted to health alone. The same can be said about the current financial crisis. Individuals who borrowed more than they could pay back, and their unscrupulous lenders have created a global downward spiral of hundreds of economies, with the bottom billion hit the hardest.

I find it ironic and deeply saddening that 30 million more people have been pushed into starvation thus far due to the financial crisis while bankers are taking hefty bonuses and governments are bailing out businesses that were failing even before the crash (GM, Chrysler, etc…)

This year we are blessed with a golden harvest of paddy.Our farmers are apparently happy for getting a good harvest.You will be amazed to see the standing paddy fields with the golden color just before the harvest.But the problem of glut comes with a good harvest for all commodities of commerce.It appears that glut may affect the farmers.Their peace may be lost partly due to the low price at the time of harvest.I hope the concerned agencies will come forward and demonstrate their sympathy and action to retain the smile of farmers who feed the whole world.Let the blessed harvest remain blessed for ever and is not tarnished by the profit seekers.

You will be astonished to see the gorgeous flowers that are blooming now in Bangladesh.They have stunning colors,shapes
and sizes.So many names and so many varieties of flowers,it is simply impossible to remember them.Despite this you will
be tempted to learn that red Krishnachura on small to large tree kindle your memories of love in your old days.You will find Cassia fistula everywhere from the megacity to the countryside.The whole tree is golden from to bottom.You may write a poem on this superb beauty now.You may be maddened by the beauty of Jarul awaiting all the way from the metropolis to the cool countryside.The dreamy blue-violet flowers play with your lovely past.
Like to see and enjoy more.Please just throw your glance and discover the stunning beauty that will be unfolded in front of your amazing vision.

Last night was a memorable one.My sleep was disturbed by a bad smell.I found a narrow long bug after a frantic search in the room.It was about an inch long.It was emitting such a bad smell that it was almost impossible for me to tolerate.I collected a broom and tried to drive it away.It emitted more
bad smell.When I threw this out of the room,I felt more bad smell.I was surprised to see a number of the same bug in the corners and walls of the room.They were stinking badly.I tried to drive them one by one.It was a horrible event.I felt that there was chemicals all around the room with irritating bad smell.Lasly,I killed around 25 bugs and broomed them downstair.To make my room habitable,I sprayed air freshener.Then,I took a book and searched for the bad smelling insect.Finally,I found that the insect was rice bug.It sucks its food from the rice at the milky stage and thus damage the rice.As the paddy field is being harvested now,the rice bug was flying to find alternative host.Then it was attracted by the light of our home causing inconvenience for me and to them simultaneously.The scientific name of the bug is

Leptocorisa oratorius (Fabricius).It may cause some kind of allergy or blister by the emitted chemicals.In fact,the bugs spray or emit chemical when they feel they are being attacked for their safety.
The invasion of the rice bug took away about an hour of my sleep but gave me wealth of knowledge and experience.Thanks to bad smelling rice bug.

So, I've decided to try and make a return to the blogosphere after a few years on hiatus.

Head on over to http://lifeandfreedom.wordpress.com to check it out!

Besty :)

More important than ever
When the number of people living on less than US$1 a day still numbers above 1 billion in 2009, something needs to be done about it. When the number living on less than US$2 a day almost reaches half the world’s population, there is a hidden pandemic which needs to be addressed, urgently. It’s a matter of life or death for millions every year.

And the worst part about those figures is that the world has the technology, money and ability to address the problem. Yet we still lag behind what the world has promised, time and time again.

The Global Financial Crisis has affected the worlds poorest the most. By the end of 2009, the President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, says that an additional 55 to 90 million people will be trapped in extreme poverty. He also warns that the number of chronically hungry will rise to over a 1 billion by the end of 2009. That’s 200 million more than just over a year ago. In a speech to global financial ministers, Zoellick warned that the world faces a ‘human catastrophe’ if the world fails to act – above all through raising development aid, as the world has promised time and time again.

The movement to end extreme poverty is more important than ever. If the global economic crisis goes unchecked, with developing countries ignored, the crisis will transform into a global human crisis.

The development of a social movement
But first, a little about the history of the current social movement to end poverty. In the lead up to 2000, a movement grew out of the UK calling for debt relief for what the World Bank calls the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), under the banner of Jubilee 2000. This campaign gathered the support of thousands, from the soccer mum to well-known celebrities. 2000 came and went, and while the campaign achieved some success, HIPC countries were still heavily indebted.

Also in 2000, the UN Millennium Summit, held in September, released the Millennium Declaration. This Declaration outlined where world leaders wanted the world to head, and what type of world they envisioned for the new millennium. The Declaration stated that “We will spare no effort to spare our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty, to which a billion of them are currently subjected.” Out of the Millennium Declaration came the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – 8 goals (broken down into 18 targets and 40 indicators) to be achieved by 2015 in ending extreme poverty and improving development around the world.

After the Millennium Summit and the introduction of the MDGs onto the world stage, civil society came together and launched what has become the largest social movement in history. In 2004, at the World Social Forum, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP – www.whiteband.org) was launched, bringing together civil society organisations from around the world.

2005 saw the launch of this social movement onto the global arena. Make Poverty History, a part of GCAP, launched in the UK, Australia, Canada, and many other countries around the world. The ONE Campaign launched in the US, and Live8 was staged in every G8 country, as well as in South Africa. The Live8Live List gained 38 million signatures from G8 countries, and the Live8 concerts gained unprecedented media coverage for the issue of extreme poverty. The MPH/Live8 Long Walk to Justice rally, held paralleling the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, had over 250,000 people participating calling for three main goals: More and Better Aid, Fair Trade and Debt Relief for the world’s poorest.

While the events around July, 2005, could be seen as the peak of the social movement, it was in practice only the launch of a far reaching social movement. After these events, GCAP has established over 100 national-level campaigns (such as MPH in Australia or the ONE Campaign in the US), and the UN Millennium Campaign engaged almost 2% (116 million) of the world’s population in 2008 alone through its annual Stand Up event in October every year.

And since 2000, this movement has achieved a lot. The number of the world’s poor has decreased, and in some regions rapidly decreased. Child mortality has rapidly decreased in almost every region, and countries like Uganda have been able to roll out universal primary-level education due to drastic debt-relief.

What has been achieved
The gains that have been made have only been possible because massive numbers of people have been involved globally in the movement calling for the end of extreme poverty. The UK, due to efforts of campaigners, has pledged to raise their development assistance to 0.7% of GNI by 2015. In Australia, Kevin Rudd has pledged to raise development assistance to 0.5% of GNI by 2015 (still short of the 0.7% target agreed by all OECD donor nations over a period of 40 years, most recently at the Monterrey Conference in 2002). Scandinavian countries, already giving over 1% of GNI in development assistance, recently tried to decrease ODA levels, yet campaigners in those countries, and public backlash in general, stopped these countries from decreasing ODA levels.

The MDGs provide the social movement a globally-agreed framework on development for the new millennium. When the Millennium Declaration was signed, it was agreed to by all 189 members of the UN, a world first in itself.

Due to efforts in 2005, the G8 nations pledged a further US$50 billion in development assistance. While many of the promises made at Gleneagles are yet to be achieved, groups like Oxfam in the UK and the ONE Campaign in the US provide ongoing accountability and continual pressure on G8 nations to follow through on the promises made at the G8.

The social movement in Australia
In Australia, Make Poverty History is made up of over 60 aid and development NGO’s, union groups, churches through Micah Challenge, and others campaigning for more and better aid, fair trade and debt relief. Each individual organisation focuses on different issues surrounding the universe of international development, but each of these organisations are committed to seeing the end of extreme poverty. Organisations such as World Vision, Oxfam Australia and the Oaktree Foundation have been heavily involved in the MPH campaign and the social movement more generally. And each organisation, generally, has focused its attention on various aspects of the MPH campaigns – Oxfam on fairer trade through the Make Trade Fair campaign, Oaktree on issues of aid through the Zeroseven Roadtrip, the MPH Concert and campaigning that will continue to occur this year.

What has been achieved so far in Australia
Through the efforts of all MPH member NGO’s and groups, Australia has seen it raise its ODA levels from 0.3% of GNI in 2005, to 0.5% by 2015. In real terms, that is an AU$4 billion increase. Along with more aid, that aid is being better focused with the AusAID program, the MDGs, its targets and indicators are becoming more integrated into the development of AusAID programs and, increasingly, the evaluation of AusAID projects are based upon MDG indicators. The media has increasingly become aware of issues of extreme poverty and the MDGs, and opinion pieces addressing the issue of poverty are being written by both civil society and MPs on a regular basis in the nation’s major media outlets.
Campaigns run by various organisations have seen meaningful results. In 2007, the Oaktree Foundation, in partnership with Reach, organised the Zeroseven Roadtrip as a follow-up to the MPH Concert of 2006. This roadtrip culminated with Kevin Rudd, then Opposition Leader, committing to raising ODA levels to 0.5% of GNI by 2015. This would not have been possible without the thousands of people and hundreds of businesses engaged by 700 Oaktree MPH Ambassadors, nor would have it been possible without over 50,000 people who participated in the Face Up To Poverty photo petition organised by World Vision, some of whom were featured on the MPH Opera House projection that gained international media coverage through CNN and BBC.

The MPH Concert of 2006 organised by Oaktree and presented by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) along with many of the partner NGO’s in the MPH campaign, saw 14,000 young people at the concert itself, while 20 million worldwide saw the concert online or through Channel 10’s coverage of the event. The concert also generated widespread media coverage around Australia, with Bono, the Edge and Pearl Jam headlining the concert, along with a number of Australia artists performing. The concert was held parallel to the G20 Finance Ministers summit in Melbourne, and sent a massive message to the G20 finance ministers about the Australian public’s position on matters of extreme poverty.

What this all means
Both globally and at a national level, events from Live8 to the MPH Concert and Zeroseven within Australia aimed at generating and keeping momentum going, in an effort to put pressure on leaders to increase aid levels, and make a serious effort to end poverty. These events show our leaders that the public is serious about these issues, and wants to see change happen.

But, if these events are not followed through with meaningful action – members of the public writing to their MP’s or Senators, groups lobbying government, media attention and debate surrounding these issues, among other actions, then these events only go so far. Raising awareness in the public only goes so far – providing avenues of engagement, and meaningful actions that the public can take, provides the tipping point for political action to take place. Once politicians see that the public cares about an issue – whether that be through letters received from the public, or petitions signed – change starts to occur. And when it comes down to it, if votes are at stake, change will undoubtedly occur.

Why I’m involved in the campaign to end extreme poverty
I do not consider myself to be an expert on development - that is best left up to the local communities where developmental projects are being undertaken. However, I do believe that, living in one of the most privileged countries in the world, I have a responsibility to do what I can to end what I see as the greatest injustice of our generation.

And I in no means wish to diminish projects undertaken by aid and development organisations worldwide. Projects delivered by organisations like World Vision, Oxfam, Plan, and many others provide life-saving skills, medication, education and opportunities to millions around the world. The projects of the Oaktree Foundation have provided educational opportunities to thousands, and initiatives such as GOLD, supported and funded through the Schools4Schools program (www.schools4schools.org) or our current work in Timor-Leste in partnership with Plan Timor-Leste, are programs that I truly believe change people’s lives for the better. And indeed, organisations such as Oxfam and World Vision are world leaders and experts in areas of development and aid.

However, the mere fact that there are many hundreds of development organisations around the world does not excuse governments from promises that they have made, or from what I see as a moral obligation of governments around the world to address the issues surrounding extreme poverty. This is why movements like Make Poverty History are needed to keep governments to account on their promises, and make sure that they do indeed follow through.

A person’s age, the amount of money that they do or do not have, what degree they do or do not have, or their position in society has little bearing on the change that they can create. The movement to end extreme poverty has brought together the average person to the celebrity, and this is a powerful voice aimed at the leaders of our world today.

I’m involved with Oaktree, and more generally the movement to end poverty, because I believe that it is a matter a life and death for many of the world’s poor. Oaktree, for me personally, provides just one outlet to campaign for these issues, and focuses on issues that I believe are extremely important. The campaigning that Oaktree has undertaken in partnership with and the support of many other organisations, businesses and individuals around Australia has had a huge effect on the lives of many, and is desperately needed if a meaningful commitment to the MDGs and the 0.7% target is going to be reached in Australia.

Position of the movement in 2009
And this brings us back to the beginning. The movement to end extreme poverty, globally and at a national level, is more important than ever. The current global economic crisis has set achievement of the MDGs back. The World Bank’s governing body of 24 finance and economic ministers recently stated that “developing countries face especially serious consequences as the financial and economic crisis turns into a human and development calamity." They also stated that "Hard-earned progress towards the Millennium Development Goals is now in jeopardy."

It is the job of organisations like Oaktree, World Vision, Oxfam, and of civil society more broadly to make sure that the world’s developed nations indeed keep their promises on development aid and effectiveness, ODA levels, and a commitment to the MDGs. The MDGs may not be fully realised by 2015, but that does not mean that governments can relax their stance on the issue.

Mind-boggling numbers of people are living in abject poverty, suffering from chronic hunger, and dying because of access to extremely basic sanitation and hygiene needs. The global economic crisis threatens to turn into a crisis of “human calamity” if the economic crisis goes on unchecked, or if the needs of developing nations are ignored.

Behind every statistic is a story that has affected a child, a mother, a father, entire families, villages, nations and the world at large. The largest social movement in history, and the campaigns, projects, events and actions run by each organisation within the larger movement, must not wind down, but instead intensify pressure and campaigning, to ensure that the needs of the world’s poor are met.

I am on my way to New York, going there for a three months internship at the UN. I will use this blog to share my thoughts during my internship at the Global Compact Office.
I am now on the Greyhound bus still in Toronto.

After I worked in a corporate responsibility research firm in Toronto, I will now try to expand my knowledge in this area and learn more about all the stakeholders that are part of Corporate Social Responsibility. I think the UN is the best place to analyze such issues.
So far, my research mainly focused on the private sector perspective and how CSR can contribute to the value of a company. I am very interested about human rights issues, while this is a personal interest.
The bus is leaving see you soon.


... Well I realized the Greyhound bus had wifi! Great!

So yes I am writing this blog to organize my thoughts a bit and share my experience with those who dare read my poor English... whatever..

Before coming back to the goals of my internship I will briefly write about why I am going there and maybe why I was selected for the internship.

I have been passionate about global issues since my studies in history. In France, I studied history and political science. My program was B.A Multidisciplinary Social Science, History and Arts. I especially enjoyed a course on international relations and the history of socialism from Serge Wolikow. My passion led me to study International Relations at Laval University in Quebec, where I could further my knowledge by studying international economy, IR theory, environmental global governance.

I had the huge opportunity to work at TakingITGlobal on a project from IDRC, Microsoft and a Swiss development Agency whose aim was to develop IT infrastructure in developing countries. This was opportunity to see how a CSR project work, who the stakeholders are, and what make a project successful ... or not!

Then after completing some courses in business I had the huge opportunity to work in a Corporate Social Responsibility / Social Responsible Research Firm called Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. There I did a qualitative assessment of more than 600 publicly listed companies (listed on worldwide Stock Exchanges), to analyze the policies of multinationals (MNFs)and their relations to their actual (or what is publicly known) performance in term of environmental social (labor and human rights) and governance/anti-corruption norms. This led me to learn a range of issues I did not know before, and I gained expertize because I had to compile in my research all the reputational issues of MNFs in one database containing more than 2000 companies. I learned what the main issues are, but I only had the broad picture in relation to those issues.

I realized that the way company report their environmental performance is far from being the same for all companies. In accounting a company can hide a range of issues to increase the way their valuation is perceived by financial institutions or people who want to invest in those company.
But when social/environmental/governance (ESG) issues are in question, this is much worse!

There are some initiative that took place recently such as the Global Reporting Initiatives and other business initiative such as Responsible Care that compel companies to benchmark their reporting. This is great but not enough. I think government hold a responsibility to render those companies much more accountable. This is a first step to a cleaner, responsible and more transparent economic growth.
There is a great need to make accountability uniform and sufficiently transparent so that the financial markets take into account new metrics to valuate companies.

I also learned that corruption is still pandemic and companies policies in this area can be really weak (there are of course best practices). Also I was amazed to see companies that have a competitive advantage BECAUSE they are non-transparent (the worst are private equity firms). Most of those non transparent company are registered in fiscal heavens, do not pay taxes locally.

Some Banks also do not have thorough anti-money laundering mechanisms and specific policies.

When I talk about non transparent companies I am mainly referring to emerging market companies located in Brazil, Venezuela, China, India, Russia. Those are the worst in term or accountability. Not that all are doing bad, but their reporting is quasi non existent. So that at the end we never do what they do (good or bad).

I will post this blog as it is... that is to say very disorganized and come back later to talk about other issues I have in mind.

maybe it will get published... here's hoping! :)


Sir,

I find it inaccurate to call President Obama's decision to end the Global Gag Rule, an "order... ending the prohibition on sending aid to international organisations that provide abortion." (Brief Encounter, January 31st). Obama's decision does not change the fact that US tax-payers' dollars cannot be used to provide abortions overseas. The
legislation, first enacted by Ronald Reagan, rejected by Clinton and reinstated by Bush, prohibited US family planning assistance to organizations that use non-US funds to perform abortions (even in countries where it is legal), provide counseling and referrals for abortion, and lobby to liberalize abortion laws.

None of these restrictions would be permitted within the United States, where abortion is legal. Yet US ideologues had no qualms about denying poor women the right to decide when and if to carry out a pregnancy. Each year there are 19 million unsafe abortions, most of which could be prevented if poor women had access to voluntary family
planning including contraception, sex education, and the ability to prevent unwanted pregnancies. In addition, women with fewer births are able to invest more in their children's nutrition and education-- resulting in healthier, more productive contributors to society.

Many of the organizations that lost their funding were unable to provide other life-saving services such as maternal and infant healthcare, poverty reduction, and HIV prevention. For example, the United Nations Population Fund lost its US contribution of $244 million over seven years, based on a spurious claim of collusion with the Chinese government in coerced sterilizations. This contributed to 74,000 deaths from unsafe abortion globally each year, even though Bush's own hand-picked State Department team visited China and found no evidence that UNFPA participated in such programs; and, indeed, that its programs were "a force for good." Obama's move to restore reproductive freedoms to women will surely reduce global demand for abortion and improve overall population health.



(PS- the picture of all the old white dudes is from bush's second day in office, when he signed the global gag rule back into its miserable existence.)