Friday, June 2, 2017

The World’s Best News: The awareness campaign, culture on the move, and “Africans Rising”


 ”Verdens bedste nyheder”/ “World’s Best News” is a Danish journalistic awareness campaign that publishes news about progress in developing countries. The purpose is to inform Danes about progress rather than setbacks toward eradicating global poverty.

The background is, that there is good news out there although these days it doesn’t seem to make headlines very often. Most don’t  know e.g. 4 out of 8 UN millennium goals have been reached from 2000-2015 and 3 other goals are well on their way to be reached.  (source)

In fact, income, education and lifespan have increased while too many remain negative toward-  or unaware of - progress achieved.

The campaign challenges this negative attitude by providing actual success stories through social and conventional medias.

Furthermore, the campaign organize a yearly action day, which took place Thursday September 8 2016 for the 6thth time.



All over Denmark “World’s Best News”-newspapers and fruit juice were distributed by 1500 volunteers to people going to work and students on their way to school, and anyone else in the streets.

Deepening links:
International version in English: https://worldsbestnews.org
“”World’s Best News” spreads from Denmark to the rest of Europe” Click



The main story in 2016 was the start of implementation of UN´s 17 Global Goals decided in 2015. There’s now for the first time ever a plan to end poverty & protect the planet by 2030.
- In Danish:
“Verdensmålene – den mest ambitiøse plan nogensinde”  Click
- In English:
“The Global Goals – the most ambitious plan for our planet”   Click
- Click on the icons to get examples of actions in order to reach each goal: (UNDP website)

The topics in this newsletter will also focus on good news about progress, which are not covered in the mainstream medias!


Good News no. 1: Culture on the Move

“Shiriki kuhifadhi utamaduni wetu!” (Swahili):
“Get involved in preserving our culture!”



This slogan has been turned into action by everyone involved in the Cultural Arts Centre.



The CAC is situated at Tumaini University Makumira on the slopes of Mount Meru in Northern Tanzania.

They teach, document, preserve and promote the traditional dance and music culture of the tribes before it disappears together with their old crafts of music instrument making.
- They organize documentation teams that work with tribes in order to film and collect and document traditions, music & dance.
- They develop a permanent dance and music group that employ young dancers and musicians, develop their skills and entertain countrywide &  generates income for the center.
- They organize workshops where the old craft of drum making is being learned.
- They perform outreach to local communities and schools in order to let young and old experience traditional music, dance and instruments.





All the activities will be placed in a permanent center that is under construction secured by a 1.7 million Euro grant from The European Union (60 % from EU / 40 % from Tumani Makumira University). Construction of the Cultural Arts Centre began in February 2016 on 15,5 acres of land purchased by the university.      

I visited the construction site in August 2016: Phase 1 of 3 is well under way. Performance space for audience of 300, a dance studio, conference facilities, cultural arts displays, music library, offices, research video editing facilities, and outdoor classrooms are all under way.
While the center is being constructed, the dance group trains daily and performs 2 times a week in a temporary setting.



The Center´s professional dancers performing at the new site. See examples here: Click

The performances demonstrate how old traditions and instruments are not only being preserved but also transformed into modern performances that bridge past and future.



When the CAC outreach groups go out to schools they find the kids – after a bit of hesitation – eagerly involve themselves in dancing and drumming.
The possibilities are manifold for preserving the art and dance culture activities that make the young proud of themselves and their heritage.

More about Cultural Arts Centre activities: Homepage      Videos


Good News Choice no. 2: Africans Rising

Civil society organizations in every country in Africa have been fighting for peace justice and sustainable development. But they have not had many possibilities of working together across borders with all the civil society organizations that fight for the same in other countries on the huge continent.
Now a new initiative is changing this.

“On 23rd & 24th of August 2016, 270 people, from 40 countries, congregated and deliberated on citizen’s responses to the structural and systematic challenges facing the African continent. … The conference attracted responses from people from all walks of life ranging from the faith based representatives, trade unions, youth groups, parliamentarians and representatives of women’s movements. When the work was finally done and the declaration pronounced, there was a lot of excitement in the air: People chanted, danced, ululated at the prospect that a new dawn for (a more united) Africa was indeed on the horizon. With over 60 % of participants below the age of 35, the message was clear that young people are not only the future, but they are present. Their voices does not only matter but also count!” Reference https://africans-rising.org
The conference took place in Arusha in North Tanzania  titled “African Rising Conference: African Rising for justice, Peace and Sustainable Development”

This event demonstrated that African civil societies are on the move to play a bigger role by working together across borders:

- See the result of the conference: The Kilimanjaro Declaration
- Follow “Africans Rising” on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AfricansRising/


- See video with highlights from the conference: https://vimeo.com/181011730

Deepening:
- Definition of civil society: “… Communities, networks and ties that stand between the individual and the state” (Encyclopedia Britannica)


- “What is civil society? – Definition & examples”  A video lesson from an US Social Science Course ( 5 min, video) http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-civil-society-definition-examples.html

Last words

There is a lot of good news but these are often less advertised than the bad news. 
Accordingly, today’s medias give us an unbalanced view of reality.
It is up to each of us to find an answer to the question:
How do we avoid “… the bubble that news consumers increasingly live in – their views reinforced by what they choose to watch and read.”?


(The quote is from Time, page 37, September 26, 2016)

______________________________________________________________
Teach GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP network newsletter no. 26

To read any of the previous 21 newsletters/ simply visit the blog (link). The content are thematic introductions & curated learning possibilities.

May 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark

Egon Hedegaard

______________________________________________________________
Everyone, who is engaged in developing global citizenship, is welcome to receive these newsletters/ teaching resources. Please request via email, and network by forwarding me questions, inspiring links, and texts to use in future newsletters.

No comments:

Post a Comment