Category Archives: International Events

Any event that involves two or more nations.

The Best form of Aid

People are going to buy things they don’t need, and now there are ways for people to buy those objects in a good way. Many consumer goods are made in questionable ways and stores around the world are starting to commit to fair trade practices.

Fair trade is arguably the best form of “aid” an individual can give to developing regions. By buying fair trade people support small, local businesses that treat employees well and encourage local economic growth. The best example of this is fair trade coffee growers.

So this Saturday May 13th is World Fair Trade Day. One company has a list of their fair trade stores in Canada.

Go out and support people, not corporations!

Aid Works

This right from the BBC:

“Giving aid directly to governments in developing countries is as effective as funding specific projects and no more prone to corruption, a study says.

The report by the Paris-based organisation of industrialised nations (OECD) shows that aid funds are being increasingly channelled this way.

The OECD says this helps recipient governments plan anti-poverty schemes.

The report is the first major review by Western countries of how billions of dollars of development aid are spent.”

Peace in Darfur??

All over the world, people are celebrating: the road to peace in the Darfur region of the sudan has been paved. The question now is weather or not we shall all walk it together.

Over 400 000 people have lost their lives in the continuing genocide in Darfur. The signing of this peace deal marks the beginning of the process of ending the genocide.

For more information, including things that YOU can do TODAY to help, visit these websites:

www.savedarfur.org
www.darfurgenocide.org
www.projectequity.org

Great way to Communicate

t e l e k o m m u n i s t e n is a hosted voice over IP phone service that is worker-run that uses profits to fund international aid and development efforts. This is such a good idea!

From their website:

Worker Owned and Operated

telekommunisten is controlled by it’s workers and committed to staying that way, we believe we can serve our customers best and at the lowest cost by remaining focused on meeting the needs of our employees and customers, not on profits for outside shareholders. Being worker-owned means that all the money you spend on our products goes directly to the maintenance and improvement of the service you receive.

Dedicated to International Development and Aid

The founders of telekommunisten are committed activists and have contributed to numerous projects in North America, Europe and Africa, from setting up Independant media convergence spaces in Canada and working with refugees and migrants in Europe, to co-ordinating relief efforts in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. When you employ telekommunisten, you support our work.

Economist 2006 Report on e-readiness

The Economist Intelligence Unit has relased their 2006 e-readiness rankings and e-things are looking up according to the EIU!

“With over 1bn Internet users and 2bn mobile-phone users worldwide, and continual progress in most qualitative indicators of technology-related development, the world in early 2006 may be proclaimed ever more “e-ready”. This year’s e-readiness rankings reflect such progress, as all but two countries have improved their scores from the previous year. Most of the rankings’ top players have moved upwards in lock step, and there has been little real movement in the broader ranks from 2005 to 2006 (although the addition of three new countries this year has pushed some down the list).”