That's Green: Biggest privately-owned solar PV panel installatio...

That's Green: Biggest privately-owned solar PV panel installatio...: "A new photovoltaic solar panel electricity generation scheme for farmer and grain store operator Colin Godwin at Keysley Farm, Monkton Dever..."

How does your business cope with the flow of information to your potential customers?

Information used to move slowly, through traditional advertising, traditional journalists; from printing press onto paper, into the shops, onto the billboards and then to your customers. Now it's around the world in a second, and back again!

And it's not through traditional journalists either: your customers are out there right now, all over the marketplaces, speaking to each other about your

Cambridge-based tax and accountancy specialists expand into Australia

With a steady stream of people moving to Australia from England and vice versa, Websters are pleased to announce the opening of their new offices in Australia.

The purpose of their new Sydney-based office is to advise individuals and businesses who are migrating from the UK to Australia, or from Australia to the UK, on the sometimes quite complicated tax and financial issues that may affect them

Once a fisher always a fisher? Maybe not....

WOW, I had one of the most productive days in a long time. It was a day with no meetings, no emails, no phone calls, no deadlines and no process work. Wondering why it was so productive?

Well, I had the privilege of spending an entire day meeting and listening to the stories of smallholder producers who benefitted from the IFAD-funded Participatory Artisanal Fisheries Development Support Programme, better known as PADPPA.

Ndaya Beltchika, was appointed as the country programme manager for Benin in 2010. In closing PADPPA she took the bold step of documenting the success and challenges of this programme so that others could avoid making the same mistakes and reinventing the wheel.

Kudos to Beltchika, as she is a true knowledge worker and one of the few people I’ve worked with who fully appreciates the power and potential of learning both from successes and failures.

I think it is fair to say that PADPPA has both impressive achievements and faced massive challenges.

It was approved in 2003 and has a 50-50 cofinancing arrangement with African Development Fund (AfDF).

It took over two years before it started its operations in 2005. For the first four years it only disbursed 10.13%, which classifies it as a poor-performing project.

“One of the major challenges of PADPPA was the 50-50 cofinancing arrangements between AfDF and IFAD”, says Gerard Gnakadja, the National Coordinator. “If I had to redo the project, I would strongly recommend against such an arrangement and would have each donor fully finance a component thus making implementation more efficient and effective.”

The turning point was in 2009, when IFAD started supervising its own projects and providing direct implementation support. As a result, literally overnight there was a boast in the project activities and in just a little more than two years the disbursement rate increased from 20.47% to 50.53%.

The programme is coming to and end. Over the last eight years, it has focused on strengthening the fisheries sector in Benin by:

• rehabilitating wetlands and lakes to increase fishing opportunities
• strengthening fisher’s community and building their capacity to better manage the fisheries resources and other natural resources
• encouraging fishers to take up alternative income generating activities

My productive day started with meeting three extraordinary smallholder producers who had given up fishing for other types of income generating activities.

Agriculture is cool: Meet Paul Allognon, the fisher who became a farmer

Paul Allognon, once a fisher, today thanks to the programme is a successful smallholder farmer. He is one of the 200 fishers who received training on agriculture-related activities offered by the Vice-President of the Agricultural Chamber, Adjehoda Amoussou, and his colleagues.

“Usually these training sessions last between 15 to 30 days and afterwords, the project provides extension services and monitors the farmers to make sure they apply what they learnt”, explains Amoussou. “However, the PADPPA trainees benefitted from an abridged version of the training and from what I understand not all of them received the post training backstopping”.

Although Allognon did not benefit from the full training programme, however, he learnt the basic agricultural practices such as rotating crops, when to plant what, when and how to use fertilizer, when to harvest and how and where to market and sell his produce. Understanding the importance of a good irrigation system, he installed a water pump and has a CFA350,0001 irrigation system on his land.

As a result, Allognon is now cultivating onions, tomatoes, pepper, parsley and cucumber.

“The village ladies visited me a couple of weeks ago and asked for onions. This is why we’re planting them now”, explains Allognon. “I plant based on needs, this way, I hardly ever have any surplus.”

On this farm, Allognon has a number of coconut palm trees which are another source of income. “I sell the coconut oil for CFA500 per litre. Every three months on average I manage to produced 120 litres of oil”, mentions Allognon.

“I dry the shell which is then used as firewood. The shell is also on high demand by the ladies who are in fish smoking business and also as animal feed”, says Allognon with a smile.

By embracing agriculture, Allognon has managed to triple his income. He is now able to offer employment to six other people and can afford paying them CFA15,000 per month.

“I would never go back to fishing. Believe me, fishing is not worthwhile. You go out to the sea at crack of dawn, stay out 3-5 days or if you make day trips, you come back at dusk and with what? What a basket full of small fish”, remarks Allognon.

Thanks to a steady income, Allognon is able to send all his 9 and 4 year old children to school. He has managed to buy an 2000 m2land, and is in the process of building a house for his family.

Reflecting on PADPPA’s achievements, Olivier Vigan, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries observed: “Only if we could have changed the mindset of many more fishers, that would have made this programme a success”. “In retrospect, we should have had many more awareness building programmes and prepared the fishers psychologically to convert from fishing to other acitivities”.

I wish, the programme would have used people like Paul Allognon as mentors to show the benefits of embracing agriculture and engaging in agriculture-related projects. And yes, more awareness building and proactive actions to change the fisher’s mindset would have definitely resulted in many more fishers converting to agriculture, rabbit farming or other income generating activities.


Rabbit farming: a viable alternative to fishing

On this very special day, after meeting Paul Allognon, I met Rose Mensah and Kuassi Oke, two former fishers who are now fully emerged and engaged with rabbit farming.

Mensah lives by Aeheme lake where she used to be a fish wholesaler. However, the lake’s fish stock has depleted significantly, thus making fishing a risky business. Mensah was lucky to benefit from PADPPA’s rabbit farming activities. In 2007, PADPPA gave her three female and 1 male rabbit.

In a month’s time she had 18 rabbits and ever since then, it has been a growing business. Today she has over 200 rabbits and can count on a steady flow of 30 rabbits per month.

Thanks to her new activity, she has 20 fixed clients - among which some hotels in Cotonou. On average she makes CFA100,000 a month.

“I sell the rabbits for CFA3000. Thanks to the money I make from my rabbit farm, not only I am able to feed the family, send the children to school, but I am also able to put aside at least CFA10,000 a month”, explains Mensah.

Mensah’s vision is to be able to build another big rabbit pen. “But to do that I need one million CFA and I need to able to get a loan. And that is not an easy thing to do.”

Kuassi Oke, a 55 year old rabbit farmer, has an equally thriving farm as Mensah’s. He too in 2007 received 3 females and 1 male and ever since then, he’s gone from success to success.

Oke is a real businessman. To ensure that he has a steady stock, he has put in a place a bullet proof reproduction scheme. “I have 25 females. Each month I have half of them reproduce. This way, the females get a rest every other month and on average I have 115 new rabbits.”

He manages to sell 50 rabbits a month to clients in major cities, hotel owners and in to people in his village. As a true businessman, he has fixed price - CFA3000 per rabbit - and does not provide any preferential treatment to his fellow villagers!

Thanks to his new activity, he is able to provide a good life to his 19 children, three wives and has a monthly saving of CFA40,000. Realizing that not everyone has been lucky as him, to help others, he has created a village saving scheme where on a monthly basis he deposits some of his savings which is used to assist villagers in moments of dire need.

Initially the villagers were a bit intrigued and suspicious of his activity. But, today, thanks to his flourishing business, he has earned a social status. He is now providing rabbit farming training to interested villagers and is the adviser to the village chief.

He has put in place a succession plan by training two of his sons which will take over from him, when and if he decides to retire!

Oke has expanded his business to poultry and is looking forward to be able to buy himself a motorcycle.

New frontiers for rabbit farming: Processing and packaging

One would hope that sooner rather than later Mensah and Oke will learn how to add value to their rabbit farming business by embracing some processing activities. Hopefully, they will be able to access credit, challenging as it may be, so that they can acquire the necessary skills and set up the infrastructure needed for processing, packing and selling rabbit meat.

It would have been nice if PADPPA had seized this opportunity and offered these sterling entrepreneurs the opportunity to add value to their rabbit farm by exposing them to the processing and packaging world.

Keeping close to “Centre de miracle”

As we were driving back, I thought to myself, WOW, what a great day. Would it be possible to replicate this miracle every day? I guess if I keep close to this “Centre de miracle”, I will have a good chance of experiencing it over and over again.

I wonder what will my boss think, if I call or send an email telling her that I have found a new vocation and do not want to leave?

I’ll be covering the story of fishers on the next series of PADPPA blogposts. So, keep on eye on this space. More to come. For now, goodbye and good night.

$1=44CFA

Progressive Judeomania, Part 2

Judaic Anti-Zionist Progressives, you're making asses of yourselves with comments like this:

"... I have lost most of my remaining respect for [Rabbi Andy Bachman] after reading him denounce Allison Benedikt's writing her own hagaddah as a crime against the Jewish people by invoking the one true science, numerology. Who is he, Louis Farrakhan?"

Judaism, the religion Rabbi Bachman represents, is so rotten with numerology (Gematria) it's difficult to imagine that anyone with even the most cursory understanding of the religion wouldn't know this. And this remains true to this day, even in its 'progressive,' 'Reform' branch. Reform Rabbi Andy Bachman's numerology: "The structure of the Seder is built on the number 4 (4 questions, 4 cups, 4 children)" is in itself proof of this.

So what sense is there to wheeling in Louis Farrakhan as a reference when Rabbi Bachman's numerology stems directly from rabbinic Judaism's very own, very rich numerology traditions? For anyone even wondering, it's progressive tribal megalomania.

It matters not that Louis Farrakhan's use of numerology is negligible compared to that of any given rabbi; facts be damned! Jack Ross needs a low point of reference to measure Reform Rabbi Andy Bachman's numerology against and that's where the hated "Goy" Louis Farrakhan comes in; in other words, "Rabbi Bachman, you're a 'Jew,' you should be living up to the progressive, ethical, lightsome, perfect standards of Judaism, not acting like those backwards 'Goys' with their backwards numerology." What a laugh!

It's pretty obvious that many of these people don't know much about Judaism. They just know it must be super because it came from "The Jews"* and not from "the Goyim."

Silly ruses like the above serve only to shelter precious Judaic egos from the self-reflection that is second-nature to non-Judaic people of the West; they shield the religion of Judaism from critical analysis that Christianity has been subject to for centuries. Judaism, even in its 'progressive' 'Reform' guise is saturated with backwards traditions including numerology, but none so backwards as its tribal megalomania.

Judaism, and "The Jews," your enlightenment is centuries overdue. It used to be possible to hide this fact but since you've come to the forefront of the establishment, your business has become our business and we see clearly that the self-chosen 'progressive' emperor and arbiter of everything 'democratic' and 'enlightened' has no clothes.

*Actually, the origin of Judaism is the ancient pagan traditions of the East augmented by savage tribalism, extreme narcissism and paranoia--the distinct contribution of the rabbis--with all of this barely camouflaged by a paper-thin Biblical veneer.

Also see:

Progressive Judeomania

Trade mark attorney 'back home'

Alexander Ramage Associates has appointed James Setchell as an associate. A UK registered Trade Mark Attorney and European Trade Mark Attorney, James first worked for the Woking-based firm as a trainee in 1994, after having gained an LLB with honours from Cardiff University.

During his subsequent career in private practice in London and Newcastle, James spent a number of years as a trade mark

Is That's Business pro-business?

A link to a story on strikes by public sector workers on That's Business was posted up on a discussion on the Guardian newspaper's website.

The report was dismissed by a reader of the Guardian (presumably without bothering to read the story, never a good basis for a rational, reasoned debate!) because, they opened, That's Business is a 'pro-business' website.

That's Business is not pro or anti

Fire Resistant Ductwork can save lives: New White Paper

Newly published, from ventilation ductwork specialist Senior Hargreaves, a 2000 word white paper examines how fire resistant ductwork helps protect life, safeguards property and promotes enterprise survival in the event of fire. Hargreaves is making their extensive knowledge and experience available to building services engineers, insurance company surveyors, senior fire officers, health and

'Israel' Still Not Preventing Human Trafficking

It's not expected that anything more than token gestures against exploitation of non-Judaic human beings can come from a fundamentally Two-Tiered State.

Report: Israel Not Preventing Human Trafficking

also see:

'Israel among worst human traffickers'

Women as Commodities: Trafficking in Women in Israel 2003

Caribbean "Brothers in the Faith" Under Investigation for Child Trafficking, Sex Slavery

New Sanhedrin Just as Clownishly Hypocritical as the Old One

FBI Arrested Rabbi Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, Kidney Trafficker and Major Figure in a Global Human Organ Ring

"Israeli Transplant Programme"

This Purple prose could really boost your business!

Companies looking to exploit new social media networks must think very carefully about how they develop their Facebook presence according to a new report by integrated marketing specialists, The Purple Agency (part of Adare).

According to Purple too many companies fail to harness the potential of social media to express their brands and engage consumers positively. In so doing they run the risk

Majority of people in UK do NOT support proposed strike action

Only 32% of UK Adults Support Strike Action on 30th June. And 33% Expect it to Lead to Tougher Government Response

Harris Interactive and industrial relations experts Marshall-James have commissioned a poll that has shown that opinion is very much split across the UK’s working population as to the anticipated value and effectiveness of the proposed day of industrial action on 30th June.

The

Cherie Blair to be at conference in Aston, Birmingham

QC and human rights campaigner Cherie Blair will be inspiring women as a key note speaker at an event hosted by Conference Aston in Birmingham.

The former prime minister’s wife will be speaking at the lunch on July 8th which is hosted by the Network of Aspiring Woman, founded by former Apprentice star Jo Cameron.

‘An Afternoon with Cherie Blair’ forms part of a larger networking event, with

Business Flights Specialist Receives Four New Awards

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Corporate travel specialist CT Business Travel recently attended an awards event held by UNIGLOBE Travel where the business collected the awards for outstanding achievements.

UNIGLOBE Travel is the world’s largest single-brand travel management company

Gender Equality and Rural Empowerment

Exchanging experiences in El Salvador and Guatemala
In an effort to create better opportunities for rural women in Latin America – and across the globe – the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have combined forces to create a grant programme focused on sharing experiences in gender equality and rural empowerment. One key element of the programme was to bring rural men and women together with experts on gender equity, value chains and rural development to share experiences. With this in mind, the program hosted study tours in Guatemala and El Salvador that brought various actors together to find new ways to weave social inclusion into the very fabric of society. This is their story.

Italian Children to the Guilt Chambers

Israel will Train Italian Teachers to Teach About Holocaust

Gil Ronen - Arutz Sheva

June 13, 2011

Education Minister Gideon Saar and his Italian counterpart, Mariastella Gelmini, signed cooperation agreements Monday for training Italian teachers in Holocaust education, and for bilateral youth exchanges. The agreements were signed in the course of today's joint Israeli-Italian government meeting in Rome.

The agreement on training Italian teachers in Holocaust education is the first of its kind. The Italian Education Ministry will, on an annual basis, select teachers to attend special training at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. These teachers will then teach the subject in Italian secondary schools. Previous training in teaching the Holocaust has been carried out in non-governmental frameworks.

Minister Saar said that, "Enhancing Holocaust studies around the world, especially in Europe, constitutes a bulwark against forgetting and denying the Holocaust.

According to the second agreement, a joint steering committee will be established to work on advancing bilateral youth exchanges. Education Minister Saar said that, "It is important to strengthen the deep links between Italy and Israel by boosting the brave friendship between our peoples. Friendly meetings between youth will help guarantee future relations."

Another agreement signed Monday between Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his Italian counterpart, Franco Frattini, also provides for the advancement of bilateral cooperation in the fields of education, research and higher education.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144906

U.S. Politics Descends to New Depths of 'Noahide' Fanaticism

Skull and Bones Bill Buckley's process of "draining the fever swamps" and making conservatism "respectable" has reached its final destination in complete, slavish depravity.



And by the way, Michele Bachmann is the representative for Minnesota's 6th congressional district which happens to be the home of 'traditional Catholic' journal The Remnant which we last heard from when its editor Michael Matt was making himself utterly irrelevant, wailing of an imminent Sharia law takeover of the U.S.

Andrew Cuomo and the "Democratic Process"

Here's a look at Hasidic Democracy.

During his recent campaign, Andrew Cuomo ingratiated himself with the Satmar Rebbe. The Satmar is the largest Hasidic sect in New York with a population of around 45,000 (0.23% of the New York State population of over 19 million, which makes it negligible in a truly democratic election):


Andrew Cuomo ingratiates himself with the Rebbe of the much smaller Vienner sect.




Andrew Cuomo ingratiates himself with Rebbe of the even smaller Pupa sect:

The Death of American Democracy

Counterfeit Birthright, Genuine Fanaticism

Continuing on with our analysis of Judaic fanaticism and how it's transmitted:

Feldman: ‘Israel’s out of control downward spiral will help bring about alienation in Birthright alumni’

Also see:

"Fanaticism" vs. Fanaticism

Time for Camp

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That's Holiday: British independent budget hotel chain announces l...: "Owner of an independent hotel? Want to be part of something big, yet retain your independence? Then Umi hotels might have what you are looki..."

Progressive Judeomania

Gilad Atzmon: I guess that the difficulties involved in resolving the tension between the universal and the tribal explains why so many progressive Jews prefer to operate in intellectual, ideological and political exclusive ‘Jews only’ cells where these questions are never raised, never asked, and never answered.

Our project of following the progressive, Judaic anti-Zionist movement is ever interesting. It's clear that for a lot of these people getting high and listening to Bob Marley and the Grateful Dead occupied more of their formative years than learning the actual teachings of their rabbi-following ancestors. I lost some time in my youth as well but still managed to learn the teachings of my Catholic ancestors, and later, to learn Judaic traditional teachings which is the foundation from which I write here.

Philip Weiss must have been too distracted from youth until present to learn about rabbinic Judaism, but not too distracted to not absorb the megalomania at its core, unless there's some other way of accounting for him associating Benjamin Netanyahu's barbaric rhetoric with Islam instead of the rabbinic Judaism passed down by Netanyahu's grandfather Rabbi Natan Mileikowsky; or explicitly associating Catholicism with pedophilia (which Catholicism wholly condemns) rather than rabbinic Judaism which explicitly allows pedophilia in its most authoritative texts (See: Judaism Discovered, pp. 422-425, 436).

Does Phil perhaps think that just because The New York Times front page hasn't reported the rampant pedophilia in the synagogues and yeshivas that it doesn't exist? It's fortunate for Phil that he hasn't spent much time in the synagogue or perhaps he'd know from personal experience that the rabbis have granted themselves permission to rape children and contrived 'moser' laws forbidding victims from informing non-'Jews' about it. Apparently, The New York Times is obedient to the halakha of the 'moser' (how liberal!), but I digress.

Facts are no obstacle to actualized Judeomania, and no atrocity is terrible enough to sideline Judeomaniacal self-interest, even temporarily, which is why I emphatically say that I side with any person of Judaic ancestry who has put the savage tribalism of Judaism behind them and wishes to make repair for its ravages--in genuine benevolence--and why I will continue to critique the religion of Judaism in every guise it reinvents for its self-preservation.

As Zionism's ugliness is increasingly manifest to the world, the sane of the world are increasingly voicing their disgust, thank God. But let no one be fooled that Zionism has 'hijacked Judaism' and that we need to 'return to the ethical teachings of Judaism.' There is no such thing. And if my opinion isn't weighty enough, read what Thomas Jefferson wrote on the topic and keep it in mind when anyone tells you 'its un-American to criticize a religion' which strange unwritten law only seems to strictly apply to the religion most deserving of criticism.

And now, I present, Progressive Judeomania:

Gilad Atzmon: Jews & Their Self Interest-An Interview with Philip Weiss

also see:

Judaic Activists Set Sail for the Cause of Tribal Universalism?

"No One Judges 'Israel'"

Tikkun Olam is a Tribal, not Universal, Concept

Bard's Kashrut Progressivism

Beer-wine assist: An innovative way of sharing knowledge

Last night at the East and Southern Africa knowledge management workshop, Peter Ballantyne introduced an innovative way to share knowledge - a beer-wine assist!!!

The beer-wine assist was a peer assist in the form of an open space. Now, that is real innovation. Combining two knowledge sharing methods into one!!! And we covered the following topics:

• learning more about linking local learners
• how to document and package success stories
• learning routes
• communication and knowledge management strategies

This morning when the group shared their discussions in the openspace, it was heart warming to see how much they had learnt and internalized in just 60 minutes. And this evening when we did the after action review, participants indicated that they found the openspace very useful. 

So, the peer-assist innovation turned out to be a smashing success. Must have been a combination of great participants and the beer and wine!!

This morning we had a great conversation on how a good meeting culture is essential for creating a conducive environment for learning and sharing. To instill a better meeting etiquette and to ensure that everyone gets the most of any meeting, the group talked about the importance of:

• preparing for the meeting
• sticking to schedule
• staying focused
• holding meetings only when there is a real need to do so
• inviting the right people
• distributing background documents before the meeting
• having a facilitator
• involving all the participants in the conversation
• having concrete action points and follow-up mechanism
• debriefing after the meeting, asking ourselves what worked and what could have gone better

There was a lengthy debate on the role of facilitator versus a chairperson. I am not sure we reached any agreement on this issue. Suffice to say that tomorrow, we'll be dedicating some more time on talking about how to conduct meetings in an appreciative manner and unpacking further the roles of facilitator and chairperson.

During the course of the workshop, the country teams discussed the challenges and opportunities of mainstreaming knowledge management within their projects, at government level and at grassroot and farmer level. As the day came to a close, they shared their draft action plans for the next 12 months.

Here are some of the challenges they committed to address and overcome:

• identify a  KM champion at leadership/government level
• develop an integrated knowledge management and learning strategy
• capture information in a meaningful manner
• institutionalize knowledge management and learning in a sustainable manner
• create a culture of learning and sharing
• develop capacity for knowledge management and learning in a sustainable manner
• convince projects and government of the importance of knowledge management and learning
• identify the structure and institutional arrangement required in the project to make KM work
• promote exchange visits as their are valuable learning and sharing mechanism

I felt privileged to have participated in this workshop, and I learnt a lot from the wide range of experience of our colleagues in the field. 

I sat in awe when I heard the insightful comments of participants such as: "KM and learning is not a project", "We cannot do is not an option", "we need to consider feedback as a gift", and "KM is not about creating a website, but it is about transforming and changing the way we do business".

This group has come a long way. I guess their next frontier would be to expand their partnerships and networks so that they can benefit from a much wider knowledgebase, and to share their knowledge, experience and achievements with others.

I am sure sooner rather later we'll be ableto instill a culture of learning sharing not only in IFAD-funded projects, but also at grassroot, government level and beyond. And when that happens we can pat ourselves on the back and be proud of our work. For sure, that day is in the very near future!

IFADAfrica - facilitating KM&L in project meetings

View more presentations from IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

IFADAfrica Rwanda -Presentation of country experience

View more presentations from IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

IFADAfrica - Zambia country experience progress report

View more documents from IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

FeaturesExec Media Database enhanced with help of the PR community

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In addition to clearer navigation across the

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Over half (53 per cent) of the employees surveyed claimed they sometimes lose receipts and often forget to claim for certain items

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Israeli Death Squad Commander Testifies on Israeli Television

Israeli undercover agents boast of killing Palestinians on TV

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Undercover Israeli intelligence officers appeared on national television Saturday to talk about assassinating Palestinians in a program broadcast on Israel's Channel 10.

Oren Beaton presented a photo album of Palestinians he killed during his time as a commander of an undercover Israeli unit operating in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Beaton explained that he kept photos of his victims.

"This is a photo of a Palestinian young man called Basim Subeih who I killed. This is another young man. I shredded his body, and the photo shows the remnants of his body," he said.

The TV program also featured an undercover agent referred to as "D", who openly admitted killing "wanted Palestinians."

He complained of suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and said that the state had rejected his demands for compensation.

The Channel 10 presenter appealed to the Israeli government to meet the agent's demands.

"Those are the Shin Bet agents we only hear about and never see, and thanks to them we live safely," she said.

The report was filmed in the Palestinian territories, and showed agents wandering around the streets of Ar-Ram in occupied East Jerusalem with handguns under their shirts, illustrating that the agents were still operating in Palestinian cities.

The agents, who speak fluent Arabic, are shown surrounded by masked Palestinian collaborators secretly deployed to the area to protect them.

The program provided previously unconfirmed details about the operational methods of undercover agents.

The report explained that officers conducted surveillance before an assassination, investigating the target's friends and classmates.

Agents would even ask about the target's favorite meals and habits at home, the report said.

In this way, agents would put together an image of the target's behavior and routine.

Agent "D" said officers would then "seize the target and wait until the commander arrives to confirm his identity. Then we shoot him."

This confirms previous accounts from Palestinians who have said they witnessed Israeli agents shooting Palestinians at point-blank range.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397902

Also see:

"There’s No Place for Morals"

IFAD’s knowledge management efforts in East and Southern Africa bear fruits and add value to rural development activities

The third IFADAfrica knowledge management learning workshop kicked off on 20 June 2011 in a sunny and relatively chilly Lusaka.

The event brings together 60 participants from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

I had had the privilege and honour of attending the startup workshop of IFADAfrica two years ago and I must say, I was delighted to see the progress made by my East and Southern Africa colleagues in mainstreaming knowledge management (KM) in their activities.

What struck me most, was the fact that some countries had managed to work with ministries, to build KM capacity at ministerial level. s a result, today government representatives were in a better position to understand and appreciate the value of knowledge management. This has resulted in reducing redundancies, improving the flow of information and increasing efficiencies.


As a KM practitioner, I get excited when I see how KM activities have led to influencing policy. This morning, listening to my Zambian colleagues how thanks to their KM efforts, they had managed to influence the development of the national rural finance, put a smile on my lips. They had done a knowledge audit and used the results to inform government which then developed the national rural finance strategy.

During the last two days, participants shared how they had mainstreamed KM in their activities. There was general consensus that when knowledge management is embedded within the project, that is when it has the biggest impact.

It was refreshing to hear that there was a general understanding on the importance of KM being a common thread throughout the entire project cycle: starting with project design, through out project implementation to instill a culture of knowledge sharing and learning, to continuously and systematically capture and share the learning and lessons.

This is why, East and Southern Africa colleagues are now increasingly including knowledge management in the design of new projects and programmes. I guess we can call these projects rural development 2.0 projects!

East and Southern Africa knowledge management evolving framework

One of the objectives of the KM activities in East and Southern Africa is to make sure that government and project staff, stakeholders and partners understand and appreciate what is a knowledge management and learning system. This has lead to an interesting evolving KM framework, which at its heart focuses on learning and adapting to continuously improve and increase the impact of IFAD-funded projects and programmes.
What this framework does, is to link and create cross linkages between learning adaptation, information management, communication and innovation.

This is why they’re putting in place sound information management mechanisms to capture, document and store information. They’re adopting learning oriented monitoring and evaluation and as a result they should be able to continuously analyze information, assess progress and adapt.

Another key component of the framework is communication, which ranges from systematic sharing of information, communication within and among teams, instilling a culture of giving and receiving feedback, to communicating with stakeholders, packaging content in a compelling manner for advocacy purposes and increasing IFAD visibility.

One of the objectives of KM is to innovate, scale-up and bring about change and transformation. Thus, the need to instill a culture of appreciation for new ideas, culture of sourcing new ideas and creating the right environment to experiment with new ideas.

The ESA KM framework has adopted simple principles such as building capacity of project staff, instilling a learning and sharing culture, continuously improving processes, promoting south-south/exchange visits. To the maximum extent possible they are trying to use existing structure and avoid reinventing the wheel. And in the words of Dick Siame, IFAD country presence officer, “making sure government warms up and buys in to the KM agenda”.

As I am writing this blogpost colleagues are discussing the importance of collaboration, breaking the silos, and linkages between knowledge management and monitoring and evaluation.

We’re reporting live from the workshop on Twitter. Follow #esakm. Have look at the pictures from the event on Facebook and please share your comments and views on this blog, on Facebook and on Twitter. For IFAD colleagues at HQ, post your comments and feedback on Yammer.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Kasmin is on the 'Righttrack' with OBE for services to Training and to Exports

Kasmin Cooney, the Managing Director of Righttrack Consultancy, has been awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2011.

Kasmin says: “The OBE notification arrived as a complete surprise. I see it as not just as recognition of my efforts over the years but for all the immediate and extended Righttrack team who all contribute to our work in the training industry.”

Kasmin founded

How to write and submit press releases that will get published as stories

The second in its series of free PR case-studies titled “The Biggest PR Mistakes of All Time” has been published by The PR Training Centre and can be downloaded free of charge at www.theprtrainingcentre.com/pr-mistakes.html.

Publication of this new PR Mistakes study has been timed to coincide with a Creative Writing for Public Relations Workshop to be held on Monday 27th of June in Covent

That's Business joins Google Affiliates Network

That's Business has joined the Google Affiliates Network. After looking at what was available That's Business decided to sign up for Office Max, the popular office supply company.

Readers of That's Business will be able to see the rather discrete link to Office Max on the top right section of the site.

Time for Camp

We've been discussing Judaic fanaticism and one of the most critical links in the chain of transmission of Judaic fanaticism undoubtedly is Judaic summer camp. This very important topic gets little coverage and it's time for that to be remedied.

I'm linking to a testimonial titled, "Life After Zionist Summer Camp" from Allison Benedikt, an editor at The Village Voice. I'd like to preface it with a few comments.

I sincerely appreciate the author's earnestness which reminds me of the same in Phillip Weiss' testimonials. This will probably be taken solely as gratitude for ammunition provided, but that is not so. I view these people as fellow human beings who have the terrible misfortune of having been indoctrinated with a terrible ideology from youth.

The author briefly mentions Hadassah which is the parent organization of a large percentage of Zionist summer camps. Hadassah was founded by Henrietta Szold, the daughter of Rabbi Benjamin Szold. According to the Encyclopedia Judaica among other sources Rabbi Benjamin Szold, from Hungary, was expelled from Vienna for his involvement in the 1848 'revolution.' He later studied at the University of Breslau rabbinic seminary where he came under the influence of Zacharias Frankel, Heinrich Graetz, and (the son of Chief Rabbi of Hamburg, Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob Bernays) Jacob Bernays. We touched on the very influential, very revolutionary Bernays family HERE.

Rabbi Szold advocated a Judaism which allowed innovation in ritual practice but not in basic tenets. He advocated Zionism publicly from 1893. Rabbi Szold had no sons so his daughter Henrietta Szold "received the level of attention and education from her father that was usually reserved for a son." Henrietta Szold was, essentially, a rabbi.

Here we must review a topic touched on before. Like Moses Hess, Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob Bernays and other figures of the fake Judaic enlightenment (Haskalah), Rabbi Benjamin Szold also advocated a Judaism every bit as ferociously tribal as its Orthodox rabbinic root, only relieved of much of the crippling rituals and conspicuous identifying marks to facilitate its participation and advancement in the rapidly modernizing world. His daughter Henrietta Szold is the matriarch of Hadasssah which passes that brand of Judaism along to untold numbers of Judaic children at the many summer camps and youth programs it oversees. Within the Judaic community, pressure is very high for children to be sent to these summer camps. Money is not an obstacle.

According to the Encyclopedia Judaica:

Young people are drawn into the orbit of Jewish community through Hadassah programs like the Training Wheels Al Galgalim program which teaches parents and toddlers about Jewish traditions. Other programs for American Jewish youngsters include Young Judea clubs, summer camps, summer and year abroad programs in Israel, and campus based programs.

Hadassah ... was recognized in 2001 when the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) conferred on Hadassah special consultative status as a non-governmental organization (NGO).

Coincidentally (can you believe it?), Hadassah made money from the Madoff ponzi scheme:

Hadassah Reveals $130 Million Windfall From Madoff

Stewart Ain, The Jewish Week

“We’re looking for an opportunity to recover [from the Madoff and stock market losses],” says Hadassah President Nancy Falchuk. “Three hundred thousand women own this organization and we will come through this.”

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, may have lost $90 million invested with Bernard Madoff, but over the last 20 years it withdrew $130 million from that account, The Jewish Week has learned.

“We had no idea how much we had pulled out until a few days ago,” said a source close to the organization.

The source said Hadassah “went back through its books, year by year, to check all the records” to learn how much was withdrawn after receiving many calls from members upset with the $90 million loss.

“There are a lot of angry people out there,” the source said. “When we checked, we found that we did quite well — $130 million was withdrawn” since 1987 ...

full article:

http://www.hadassah.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=keJNIWOvElH&b=5771185&ct=7805081

Now, a testimonial from a soul fortunate to be leaving the orbit of the Hadassah racket:

http://www.theawl.com/2011/06/life-after-zionist-summer-camp

New award aims to celebrate working mum champions

Do you know of someone in your place of work or company who has made a big difference to working mums? Perhaps you have a colleague or an employee who has set up a parents' forum at work or a manager who has come up with specific initiatives which benefit working mums?

If so, www.workingmums.co.uk is looking for you.

They are asking employees to nominate stand-out individuals who they believe

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It's also useful for curbing those

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Anthony Weiner's Satanic Rebbe

Weiner is not the only congressman with deep ties to Rabbi Pinto. Rep. Michael Grimm (R-S.I.) and Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have both met with Pinto multiple times and collected thousands in contributions from the rabbi's followers.

Sexting pol Anthony Weiner often seeks counsel with Rabbi to the Stars Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto

Reuven Blau • New York Daily News

Rep. Anthony Weiner might want to turn to his rabbi for more than spiritual support.

The embattled Queens-Brooklyn Democrat is a follower of Rabbi to the Stars Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, a self-proclaimed kabbalah scholar who puts death curses on his critics.

The 37-year-old Pinto comes from a long line of Moroccan rabbinical royalty, only speaks Hebrew and refuses to meet with women. Weiner regularly stops by his classes and holiday gatherings, sources said.

In return, the rabbi has instructed his wealthy, largely Israeli, followers to hold fund-raisers for the pol, a staunch supporter of Israel and Jewish causes.

The list of Pinto-tied money bundlers includes high-powered lawyer Morris Missry and developers Zina Sapir and Haim Binstock. They held fund-raisers for Weiner that gathered $343,800 for his runs for mayor in 2009 and other elections, records show.

The rabbi grabbed headlines last summer when a picture of LeBron James holding his hand surfaced shortly after the basketball star chose to sign with the Miami Heat. James consulted with the rabbi for business advice.

Weiner also has occasionally attended classes given by the rabbi at his tony upper East Side headquarters on E. 58th St. off Lexington Ave., around the corner from Bloomingdale's.

In their private discussions, "they would talk about Israel," a member of Pinto's inner circle said. "They'd ask [Weiner] why Obama wasn't more supportive."

The Israel-born rabbi is also not immune to bad press. His townhouse is facing foreclosure, a top aide was linked to the porn business and a real estate broker on whom he placed a death curse plunged to his death from the 19th floor of the Jumeirah Essex House last June.

Solomon Obstfeld had rented at least one luxury apartment to the rabbi at a below-market rate, but the two men began feuding over late payments shortly before Obstfeld's sudden death.

Weiner is not the only congressman with deep ties to Rabbi Pinto. Rep. Michael Grimm (R-S.I.) and Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have both met with Pinto multiple times and collected thousands in contributions from the rabbi's followers.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/06/13/2011-06-13_rep_could_find_good_counsel_in_local_rabbi.html

Another example of how social media is rural development's best friend

On 1 June 2011, IFAD launched its Environment and Natural Resource Management (ENRM) policy with a webcast discussion on “How to scale up investments in sustainable intensification of agriculture.” We decided to do a social media campaign to market the event, create awareness around the issue, and showcase our policy and case studies. The response was amazing!

We managed to create a lively discussion at IFAD HQ with UN agencies, NGOs, Civil Society, Private Sector, Media, and Academia colleagues and interested people from all over the world. These virtual participants were far from passive viewers. They engaged in the conversation by posting comments on our website and sending their questions via Twitter and Facebook.

Why use social media?

From the beginning we asked ourselves: How can we spread the word about ENRM issues? How can we engage others outside of IFAD in the discussion? How can we make people aware of the conclusions of the policy?

ENRM’s depth and breadth is immense and it is a topic that is of interest not only to experts but also to many others. So the challenge was how can we make sure to get everyone on board? How can we discuss the issues in an inclusive manner without excluding anyone?

We decided that using social media as a channel would enable us to interact with people in a dynamic way. Our decision was based on the fact that effective communications is not a one-way avenue, but rather it’s about the dialogue and interaction. And social media gives everyone with internet and/or cell phone access a voice and opportunity to contribute and join the conversation.

How did we create the social media campaign?

We started working on the campaign 4 weeks before the event. We created a landing page on the IFAD website. This page included information on the policy, on the event, and on the webcast and the social media activities that would take place. We included pictures, videos, and case studies of IFAD’s work in ENRM.

Then we formulated our main messages in tweets (max 140 characters). This is the tricky part. How can we capture the essence of a policy of 30 pages, to a tweet-friendly message in 140 characters? Well, the good thing is that you don’t need to limit yourself to one tweet. We created a number of tweets, some contained information about the event and webcast, some contained statistics from the policy, and others contained questions to the audience to get their feedback on how to scale up.

We sent out the first tweet 10 days before the event, and in the following days we continued sending tweets to spread information and encourage action and feedback. Our UN social media partners engaged and sent out our tweets, spreading the word to all their followers. The Environment and Climate Division informed their networks, and encouraged them to contribute to the discussion. Then on the big day of the launch, during the webcast, we could pose the comments and questions live to the discussants in the room. We connected ideas, and added new voices to a conversation that otherwise would have been limited to the IFAD HQ.

What did we achieve?

• Reached over 50 000 people with over 300 tweets
• People engaged interactively by re-tweeting our messages, and also by sending us comments and questions. We got approximately 100 new followers on Twitter during the campaign, and we were pleased to see that the private sector was engaged in the debate.
• The ENRM site had 1300 unique visitors during the campaign, peeking to about 600 visitors on the day of the event

Our lessons learnt

For a social media campaign to be successful you need to:

• Plan and prepare
• Be clear about: what you want to say, who you want to reach, what you want as an outcome

Most importantly, to be successful on social media, you need to:

• Provide good content that engages people
• Respond to the questions and feedback

Our colleagues at the Environment and Climate Division did an excellent job in engaging with the audience. They asked follow-up questions, and replied to the technical questions. They created a dialogue.

If you missed the event (and even if you participated in the event), make sure you:

• Read some of the tweets
• Visit the event’s photo gallery
• Watch the webcast and take a look at the comments

A #HighFive to Jeff Brez and his team, the Communications team, the excellent moderator Kevin Cleaver, IFAD Associate Vice-President of Programmes as well as all the people out there who followed us and engaged in the conversation. We all look forward to the next IFAD webcast and social media chatter. Until then, make sure you keep in touch with us via our Twitter, Facebook, Blog, YouTube, Blip.TV and Slideshare channels.

In Venezuela, amidst extreme weather events, a new collaboration is being forged – to fight climate change

By Jesús Quintana, ECD/LAC

Venezuela, badly hit by climate change and environmental hazards

Between 2009 and 2010, Venezuela suffered one of its worst droughts ever recorded, affecting vital activities, especially agriculture and energy. The Guri dam, one of the biggest in Latin America, which supplies half of Venezuela’s energy, had to reduce electricity generation drastically. Agriculture production also fell between 10 and 30 per cent, depending on crops.

Rains returned to Venezuela in late 2010, only to flood the country. Torrential storms drove more than 130,000 Venezuelans from their homes and deepened a housing shortage. This year, Venezuela is facing renewed downpours during the rainy season, unleashing more mudslides and floods. Seven states (including Falcon, where IFAD is implementing the Sustainable Rural Development Project for the Semi-Arid Zones of Falcon and Lara States project - PROSALAFA II) and parts of Caracas are under a state of emergency.

Venezuela’s answer to these challenges combines several actions, including better preparedness and prevention, hydrological works, and better management of watersheds, with an emphasis on reforestation.

IFAD on call – providing useful tools with multiple benefits

IFAD has been supporting the second phase of PROSALAFA II since 2002. The project is working in the semi-arid zones of Falcon and Lara states, home to some of the country’s poorest communities, strengthening the capacity of rural organizations, and promoting conservation of the natural resource base, with a special focus on soil and water conservation, through the micro-watershed as planning and action unit.

IFAD has proposed to expand this partnership, including new institutions that could focus better on the environmental and climate change challenges faced by the country. In collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), IFAD and the Ministry of Environment of Venezuela (MPPA) are preparing an innovative project to foster afforestation and reforestation of degraded semi-arid watersheds of Lara and Falcón, improving the management of natural resources, especially soil and water. This will result in multiple benefits, social (living conditions), economic (water provision and increased production) and environmental ones, complementing other national initiatives, such as Misión Árbol and Mesas Técnicas del Agua.

Last week, I attended the start-up workshop for the design of this innovative project - Promotion of Sustainable and Climate-compatible Rural Development in Lara and Falcón States - which will contribute directly to climate change mitigation, sequestering carbon and avoiding GHG emissions - the first of its type in Venezuela. The meeting, held 7 and 8 of June in Cabudare (Lara State, west of the country), reunited MPPA, local authorities and IFAD, and was chaired by Rodolfo Roa, Director General, DGCH, MPPA.

This proposal, to be submitted to the GEF for financing (US$ 3.7 m) in December, will focus on innovative activities with strong demonstration potential for better planning and management of land uses – showing that they can effectively contribute to global goals, reducing carbon emissions and facilitating more resilient livelihoods, an approach that IFAD applies to its programs, and, together with other organizations, defends in international fora.

En Venezuela, entre sequías e inundaciones, se propone una nueva colaboración para combatir el cambio climático

Por Jesús Quintana, ECD/LAC

Venezuela, muy afectada por el cambio climático y los fenómenos ambientales

Entre 2009 y 2010, Venezuela sufrió una de las peores sequías jamás registradas, afectando sobre todo actividades vitales, como agricultura o energía. El embalse de Guri, uno de los mayores de América Latina y que produce la mitad de la energía de Venezuela, tuvo que reducir su generación drásticamente por falta de agua. La producción agrícola cayó entre un 10 y un 30 %, dependiendo de los cultivos.

Las precipitaciones volvieron a Venezuela al final de 2010, sólo para inundar el país. Las lluvias torrenciales obligaron a más de 130,000 personas a dejar sus casas, empeorando el problema de falta de viviendas. Este año, al llegar la estación lluviosa, Venezuela ha empezado a sufrir de nuevo tormentas e inundaciones, de forma que siete Estados (incluyendo Falcón, donde IFAD está ejecutando el proyecto PROSALAFA II) y zonas de Caracas están bajo el estado de emergencia debido a las lluvias.

La respuesta de Venezuela a estos desafíos combina diferentes medidas, incluyendo mejor preparación y prevención, obras hidrológicas y de otro tipo, y mejor manejo de cuencas con énfasis en reforestación.

FIDA listo para actuar – proveyendo herramientas útiles con beneficios multiples

FIDA está apoyando la segunda fase del Proyecto de Desarrollo Rural Sostenible para las Zonas Semiáridas de los Estados de Falcón y Lara (PROSALAFA II) desde 2002. El proyecto trabaja en las zonas semi-áridas de Lara y Falcón, donde viven algunas de las comunidades más pobres del país, reforzando la capacidad de las organizaciones rurales, y apoyando la conservación de los recursos naturales, especialmente suelo y agua, usando la micro-cuenca como unidad de planificación y acción.

FIDA ha propuesto ampliar esta colaboración para incluir a nuevos socios y afrontar mejor los retos ambientales y climáticos del país. En coordinación con el Fondo para el Medio Ambiente Mundial (GEF), FIDA y el Ministerio del Ambiente de Venezuela (MPPA) están preparando un proyecto innovador que promoverá la reforestación de cuencas degradadas del semi-árido, mejorando la gestión de los recursos naturales (agua, suelos, bosques). Esta iniciativa conllevará beneficios múltiples, tanto sociales (mejores condiciones de vida), como económicos (provisión de agua y mejora de la producción) y ambientales, complementando otras iniciativas nacionales, como la Misión Árbol o las Mesas Técnicas del Agua.

La semana pasada asistí al taller de inicio del diseño de este proyecto innovador - el Proyecto de Desarrollo Social Integral y su Interrelación con el Cambio Climático en las Cuencas Hidrográficas de los
Estados de Lara y Falcón (Venezuela) (PDELAFA-FMAM) - que contribuirá directamente a la mitigación del cambio climático, secuestrando carbono y evitando emisiones – el primero de este tipo en Venezuela. La reunión del pasado 7 y 8 de junio en Cabudare (Estado de Lara, este del país), reunió al MPPA, autoridades locales y FIDA, presidido por Rodolfo Roa, Director General, DGCH, MPPA.

La propuesta, que se presentará al GEF para financiamiento (US$ 3.7 m) en diciembre próximo, promoverá actividades innovadores con fuerte potencial demostrativo, mostrando que el mejor uso y aprovechamiento territorial puede contribuir efectivamente a objetivos globales, reduciendo las emisiones de gases invernaderos y contribuyendo a reforzar las capacidades de agricultores y comunidades, un enfoque que FIDA aplica a sus programas y defiende en foros internacionales.

Video
Entrevista con Noli Fernández, Directora Nacional de Salud Indígena en el Ministerio de Poder Popular para la Salud de Venezuela, hablando sobre un espacio productivo para ‘la construcción de políticas públicas con pertenencia cultural.’

Don't know how much conflicts cost you? You have no excuse! Say experts

An appalling 99% of businesses do not know how much conflict is costing their bottom line! This is the extraordinary worrying claim by experts at CMP Resolutions.

The figure of £33 billion is often cited as the cost to the UK of workplace conflict. And everyone has horror stories about the costly impact of the day-to-day conflict in their workplace.

Yet 99% of HR managers cannot not put a

SociView™, the first social media mapping tool is launched

SociView™, said to be the first social-media-mapping tool to give organisations a true view of their global social-media real estate, is now available.

Its aim is to support organisations in organising their social-media landscape to instil 'best practice' and generate sales opportunities. Founder Chris Sykes, Chief Executive of Volume Ltd, worked closely with large international concerns to

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Will security in Pakistan affect IFAD’ support to the country?

Photo credit: Reuters

Recent events in Pakistan rightly rose concerns on the extent to which the current security situation in the country could affect the implementation of IFAD funded projects.

Obviously ‘security’ is a factor beyond the control of IFAD, and as such it represents one of the (exogenous) risks for working in Pakistan.

However, it should be noted that - with the exception of one project whose unexpected and exceptional increased insecurity in the project area prevented proper monitoring - IFAD has always been able to adequately supervise both physical progresses and fiduciary aspects of its funded projects in Pakistan.

This does not guarantee per se that the situation may not change in the future, but it highlights the fact that in principle the security situation in Pakistan should not significantly affect IFAD’s capacity to continue its support to this country.

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New Design and Innovation Consultancy

Digital Content Provider Pauley Interactive has launched a new offer for companies requiring specialist expertise to promote their business by using via design and innovation. Established as a 3D digital visualisation company, the fast growing multidisciplinary digital specialist has expanded into what it calls: “future-oriented design-driven innovation.”

“A company that is focused on increasing

Are you engaging your staff?

Franchise business activitymix has seen a growing demand for corporate employee engagement programmes since it launched back in 2003.

“The key developments are having fun with the team and the importance of the relationships people have with their colleagues. Their significance has increased and are they now primary drivers of engagement,” says Jules Lancastle of activitymix.

A business with

It's time to tell the truth about who the children of Abraham really are!

New Trifold Flyer by Michael Hoffman Available For Mass Distribution:

It's time to tell the truth about who the children of Abraham really are!

Maps and graphics boost impact of environmental information

By Bjorn Alfthan and Riccardo Pravettoni, UNEP/GRID-Arendal

Bjorn, researcher: On Monday 6th June, we had the opportunity to visit IFAD and discuss our work. As a collaborating centre of UNEP, our mission is to “communicate environmental information to policy makers, and facilitate environmental decision-making for change”.

Thankfully, we were advised to keep the presentation short to leave room for discussion afterwards. And discuss we did! It was enlightening to discover some of the challenges IFAD has in terms of communications, both internally and externally.

Measuring the impact of communication products was one. This is also a theme that we regularly touch on in our organization. We hope to have demonstrated that some forms of communication can have direct impact. There is considerable evidence that our graphic-intensive Rapid Response Assessment series, for example, has successfully raised awareness and understanding of the issues each title addresses. Although evidence of policy impacts is harder to track, there are also some convincing cases from our work.

However, measuring and identifying impacts – rather than simply outputs - are generally quite hard to do - because of process time lags, the difficulty of tracking the absorption of specific information by diverse end users before they take decisions, and/or because decisions, especially those related to the environment, are rarely taken on the basis of single information sources.

Clearly, no way of communicating the environment offers a magic wand in having immediate impact (in the policy arena or elsewhere) – but our experience at UNEP/GRID-Arendal has shown that certain visual/graphic forms of communication do work better than others.

Riccardo, Environmental Cartographer: What is the best way of communicating environmental issues? What is the meaning and the role of a map? Where does art meet information
dissemination?

For me the importance of “form” on the impact of content on an audience must be stressed. As style characterizes the success of a written text (in science and in literature), a good and appealing visual representation - it could be a thematic map, a diagram, a chart or an info-graphic document in general - is a key factor in communicating complex issues in a limited amount of space and time.

A great lesson learned from the guru of data, Edward Tufte, shows how an ill-prepared visual representation of information can (inadvertently) hide key facts or trends. The example at left is believed to have contributed to the fatal explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger back in 1987. It didn't convey to the decisionmakers the high risk of failure of the "0-rings."

One way of presenting environmentally sensitive information is through the use of analytical maps and graphics that “compress” multilevel information into something concise and effective - and where all the elements have as a common goal the communication of an environmental message in the most efficient way possible.


The art is in layering and grouping data and information that then conveys a clear message: easier said than done! Incorporating communications / mapping efforts in any research or project team activities from the outset can be key to a high impact outcome.













Do know of any excellent examples of graphic environmental information with high impact? If so, thanks for sharing them with us here.

Economic Terrorism and Population Transfer in Ireland

At around 8:40 the topic of the exodus of the native Irish population comes up. The other side of that terrorism is that the Judaic fellow recently installed as commissar over the Irish government's most critical functions has come up with a plan which allows people from 14 nations from East Europe, Asia and the Middle East to enter Ireland without a visa. So, to recap: native Irish out; poor, uneducated foreigners in. There's no other way of describing this than savage, tribal warfare. The war is fought with financial and legal instruments rather with spears and machetes, but it is savage tribalism nonetheless.

also see:

A Lesson in "Globalism"

Brazil in focus

Interviews with IFAD Evaluation Committee members provide unique insight into poverty reduction, sustainability, South-South Cooperation and scaling-up

“Striking.”
“Innovative.”
“Synergies.”
“Involved.”
“Dedication.”

These are just a few of the superlative descriptors used by members of IFAD’s Evaluation Committee to describe their recent visit to Brazil. Concern over sustainability, replicability and scale also marked the cautiously optimistic feedback provided by the committee members.

On the week-long mission, committee members representing Burkina Faso, Canada, Holland, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Nigeria – IFAD’s board member from Sweden also came along for the ride – had the opportunity to meet with government representatives on the state and federal level, to interact with family farmers, to learn from project personnel and IFAD staff, and to actively engage in a well-rounded and well-informed dialogue on everything from knowledge management and South-South Cooperation, to the role IFAD should play in Middle Income Countries, environmental stewardship, and the importance of pro-poor policies and demand-driven development.

Rather than attempt to distil a week’s worth of work, conversation, sweat, debate, collaboration and learning into a thousand-word blog, we figured we’d go to the members of the Executive Committee themselves for their reflections on the IFAD-supported Dom Hélder Câmara Project, Brazil’s emergent policies for pro-poor growth, the role of BRIC’s in poverty reduction, sustainability, replicability, climate change and knowledge management. The informal interviews were undertaken in the field with our little flip-cam. And while the quality of the recordings doesn’t meet BBC standards, the candour and incisiveness of the reflections from the EC members representing Canada, India, Nigeria and Sweden are well worth the listen. Their responses provide unique insight into the synergies between Africa and Brazil, the relevance of IFAD in Latin America and the rest of the world, and the need to lay-out clear policies and platforms that will enable poor rural people to break the cycle of poverty.

Watch the videos
Amalia Garcia-Thärn – EC representative from Sweden

Iain MacGillivray – EC representative from Canada

Yaya Olaniran – EC representative from Nigeria

Shobhan Kumar Pattanayak – EC Chairman from India

Learn More
More information on the Dom Hélder Câmara Project

English | Portuguese

US$4 million knowledge-sharing programme provides new hope for rural poverty reduction in northeast Brazil

English | Portuguese

IFAD Social Reporting Blog posts on Brazil