During the last year, Zimbabweans have lived through election violence and a cholera epidemic which at its peak saw almost 4,000 new cases each week. Christian Aid’s Zimbabwe Programme Officer Miriam Machaya talks about the last 12 months and explains why urgent action is needed to break the cycle of hunger, disease and political intimidation in which Zimbabwe’s vulnerable population is caught.
This programme was recorded and edited by Antoinette Powell, Communication Development Officer - IIC Division, Christian Aid.
Climate Change Day of Action - p3
20 Mar 2009 @ 06:13 am
This podcast is a taster of what happened after the Cathedral service in Coventry. In this episode Louisa talks to campaigners marching with coffins through the city centre, takes a bus ride to E.ON headquarters and hears a rousing speech from Paul Brannen calling for justice for all. Stirring stuff.
All three podcasts today were recorded and produced by Louisa Leadlay and Steven Buckley from Christian Aid. If you would like to hear similar episodes, why not subscribe to the Christian Aid podcasts on iTunes?
Climate Change Day of Action - p2
19 Mar 2009 @ 11:16 am
Thousands of campaigners are gathering for Christian Aid's Climate Change Day of Action in Coventry. We started the day with a joint service with CAFOD in the cathedral. The service included evocatove anti-coal speeches from Dr James Hansen and an excellent sermon from The Right Reverend James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool.
The day continues with a march through Coventry City Centre and a protest outside the headquarters of energy company, E.ON. Join us again later today for the thrid and final part of today's podcasts from Coventry - Steven Buckley
Climate Change Day of Action - p1
19 Mar 2009 @ 07:26 am
Paul Brannen, Head of Campaigns at Christian Aid, introduces the Climate Change Day of Action in Coventry. He talks about the day of action, why the Copenhagen (COP15) talks in December are so important, and introduces the protest march to power company E.ON later this afternoon.
Join us again later today when we'll have a programme from Coventry Cathedral, including speeches from Dr James Hansen and The Right Revered James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool.
Safe from harm?
5 Mar 2009 @ 07:28 am
Around the world today, thousands of people will be beaten and abused, many at the hands of those closest to them. Others will be left in excruciating pain as a consequence of traditional practices. Thousands more will be trafficked into degrading and dangerous work. They have done nothing to deserve this treatment: they have simply been born female.
For Christian Aid, poverty is not simply about financial hardship: it is about having no say in how you live your life, no power to change conditions that keep you hungry, miserable or insecure. And in these cases of gender-based violence, poverty is endured at its most brutal.
Antoinette Powell caught up with Tendai Madondo, Christian Aid’s Programme Development Officer for the Irish Aid funded Multi Annual Partnerships programme, to find out why they feel tackling gender-based violence must be at the heart of exposing the scandal of poverty.
Keeping Faith In Development
24 Dec 2008 @ 05:06 am
For those involved in interfaith and intercommunity dialogue, these are interesting times. Interfaith dialogue is currently the 'in thing' and becoming big business in some areas such as international development where the value of cross-faith approaches in humanitarian projects and programmes is beginning to be given greater recognition.Â
In this podcast, Nigel Varndell, Intercommunity Initiatives Manager at Christian Aid, reflects on the pioneering interfaith conference that Christian Aid co-hosted with the Woolf Institute for Abrahamic Faith. He is joined by Ivan Lewis, Minister for International Development who gave the keynote address at the conference. He is also joined by members of World Jewish Relief and Islamic Relief who helped organise the conference. Additional reflections on the future of interfaith initiatives in international development are provided by conference participants including UK faith leaders and faith-based humanitarian NGOs.
Speakers:
Ivan Lewis, Minister for International Development
The Christian Aid Week report for 2008 is called 'Death and Taxes: the true toll of tax dodging'. The new report seeks to expose the scandal of a global tax system that allows the world's richest to duck their responsibilities while condemning the poorest to stunted development, even premature death.
The situation is stark and urgent. Our report predicts that illegal, trade-related tax evasion alone will be responsible for some 5.6 million deaths of young children in the developing world between 2000 and 2015. That's almost 1,000 a day. Half are already dead
If it's been a long and difficult road for Sierra Leone to emerge from the shadows of its decade-long civil war, it's been an even longer journey for Sierra Leonean women to make their voices heard. But now things are changing...
When communications officer Antoinette Powell visited some of the communities where they are working, she found that women are not simply speaking out but are beginning to take the lead in building a stronger future for their communities.
Sierra Leone’s 2007 elections were the first since UN troops withdrew after its civil war. For many women they were also the first in which they felt able to vote for a different candidate from their husbands or fathers.
Christian Aid partners - the Methodist Church of Sierra Leone and National Movement for Justice and Development - have been helping to bring about this change by addressing attitudes that see women as less valuable than men. Their work through Partners in Conflict Transformation or PICOT, addressing some of the causes of the country’s civil war, is helping groups like women who had no voice in decision-making to speak out and be heard.
It has been a long journey for Suraya Pakzan. Ten years ago she began secretly educating young girls from her own home in Taliban controlled Afghanistan. This month she is receives the 'Woman of Courage Award 2008' from the US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice. In this podcast Suraya speaks to Rachel Stevens about the remarkable lengths she went to, to protect the young girls she secretly educated.
Girls’ education was illegal under the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan. In 1998, concerned at the prospect of a generation of women growing up without an education, Suraya formed the Voice of Women Organisation and began teaching girls to read and write in the secrecy of her home in Kabul. In the beginning she had just ten students. Two years later, Suraya and her friends were educating more than 300 girls in small, secret groups in their houses – risking death for breaking the law if discovered.
In 2001, when the Taliban government was deposed, the ‘Voice of Women Organisation’ became the first woman-run non-governmental organisation to register under the new government. Today the organisation, which is now a Christian Aid partner, promotes women’s rights across Afghanistan through awareness raising programmes and continues to help poor women earn a living.
This month, Suraya is one of eight women from all over the world to receive the Woman of Courage Award in recognition of their bravery in speaking out against injustice in their countries.
Throughout the Trade Justice campaign, Christian Aid worked very closely with Third World Network and its director Martin Khor. Not only is Martin continuing his campaigning work to achieve trade justice for developing countries, but he is also advising the G77 governments on international climate change negotiations in the UNFCCC. Martin Khor describes how developing countries are facing a Triple Crisis: poverty, climate change and some of the potential solutions to climate change.
Martin Khor was interviewed by Amanda Farrant of Christian Aid. The views expressed in this programme are those of the contributors and may not reflect official Christian Aid policy. For our public position, please visit http://www.christianaid.org.uk
In this podcast, Martin Khor explains why the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol in their current forms are generally favourable for developing countries, and also why rich countries’ attempts to force developing countries to increase their commitments to reduce carbon emissions is simply not affair or feasible option.
