Call for Proposal: START Grants for GECRA

START announces the Call for Proposals for the 2009/2010 START Grants for Global Environmental Change Research in Africa. A proposal is to be prepared using a special application form available at the START website.

Due date for Proposals is: 30 August 2009.

For more information, click HERE  or contact the undersigned:

Charles S. Kauffman
International START Secretariat
2000 Florida Avenue NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC, 20009, USA
Tel: +1-202-462-2213
Fax: +1-202-457-5859
cskauffman@agu.org

Nokia Life Tools

TED's website reports about the emerging mobile technology - Nokia Life Tools (NLT). It is a range of innovative agriculture information and education services designed especially for rural and small town communities in emerging markets. Accurate and regular information on weather, prices and availability of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and prevailing market prices for the produce are sent to directly to farmers; while the Education service of Nokia Life Tools aims to give students a decisive advantage by boosting their English language and local, national and international general knowledge -- delivered to the palm of their hand.

For more stories and videos on what Nokia is doing, visit Nokia Conversations.

Euro-Africa ICT Conference: a call to remove roadblocks

The SECOND day of Euro-Africa ICT conference has just commenced. The major theme this morning has been dominated by hot discussion on how Europe, Africa and the Carribean regions can work together to remove roadblocks. Some participants were concerned about the definition of roadblocks and suggested a word "challenge" instead. However, at last it was used interchengeably with "challenge". The biggest challenge identified was lack of adequate infrastructure to deploy the technology to rural and unreached areas. The status of two major infrastructure projects in Eastern and Southern Africa was presented.The SEACOM project is at the completion stage and is expected to start operation sometimes after June 2009. EASSy project is the second. Its construction shall start soon and be completed by the end of 2010. More about the two projects click here for SEACOM and here for EASSy.

Tanzanian participants during the 1st Euro-Africa Forum on ICT Research in Brussels. With me are Professors Tolly Mbwete, the Vice Chancellor of the Open University of Tanzania (center), and Faustine Kamuzora, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Mzumbe University in Tanzania (right)

Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research Opens in Brussels Today

The 1st Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research co-organised by the European Commission (DG INFSO) and the African Union Commission with the support of the EuroAfriCa-ICT initiative has been opened this morning (25th March 2009). The two day forum which closes tomorrow on 26th March 2009 is taking place in the EU premises in Brussels, Belgium (below).
Three keynote speakers have inagurated the presentations and discussions among over 400 policy-makers and ICT researchers from Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa participating in this meeting. The event was officially opened by Ms Viviane Reding, Commissioner, Directorate-General for Information Society and media, European Union Commission (EUC). Ms Reding spoke via a video link. Other keynote speakers during opening session were Ms Vera Brenda Ngosi, Director of Human Resources, Science and Technology, African Union Commission (AUC) and Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director-General for Communication and information, Uited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

15WCTOH: Singapore 2012!!

Singapore has been selected to host the 15WCTOH after three years from now. Singapore has been selected because of its unbeaatble struggle to fight diseases and other social problems including related to tobacco use.

14WCTOH: more photos shared

Find more photos on Mumbai and 14WCTOH posted by Dr. Maria-Paz Corvalán from MEDEF, Chile by clicking here

14WCTOH: Sessions in brief and networking

THE THIRD DAY of WCTOH has ended. As usual there were plenary session and parallel sessions on different aspects of tobacco control. Some of them were: Partnership and capacity building, women and tobacco, point of sale, smokefree implementation, and the role of media in promoting and reducing tobacco use.Deborah McLellan, The Executive Director of TReND (left), Prakash Gupta, The President of the 14WCTOH (centre), and Hector Mongi, The editor of this blog, after one of the sessions.

During the evening, all conference partipants were invited to a networking night coloured by shows of different Indian cultures. Hypothetical villages from across India, with diverse cultural foods, dances, and so on were created in the venue.

Networking Night at the Cricket Club of India (CCI)

14WCTOH: Bloomberg Awards Panama, Thailand, Mexico and Nigeria

A SECOND day of the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (14WCTOH) has ended by four organizations in four countries receiving Bloomberg awards for their exemplary commitments to tobacco control. The organizations are:Coalición Panameña contra el Tabaquismo (COPACET) of Panama, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)of Thailand, Secretaría de Salud Ciudad de México of Mexico and Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth of Nigeria (ERA/FEN). Each award includes financial support for a continued tobacco control activities. Bloomberg awards are initiatives by the Bloomberg Philanthropy Foundation and its partners on fighting global tobacco related public health problems. The awards were presented by the Deputy Mayor of New York, Patricia E. Harris on behalf of the Lord Mayor, Michael Bloomberg. However, Mayor Bloomberg spoke to the audience through a video link.