Commonwealth People - Issue 4 by PAUL VATER

October 2011

Making connections for a better world

Contemporary dance benefits

Community dialogue for health awareness » PAGE 9

» PAGE 8

Promoting transparency in the Caribbean Commonwealth People placing the Commonwealth firmly on the international agenda. Once you have read Commonwealth People please pass it on.

POSTER SPECIAL

Re-Orientations: Drama for a mutually imagined future » PAGE 6

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE

Focus on film

The bigger picture Despite growing popularity, the expansion of film is impeded by huge imbalances in financing, distribution and exhibition, a situation perpetuated by deregulation of international markets.

Of all films shown globally, around 85% are still Hollywood productions. Traditional funding sources and distribution channels are difficult to access for many, and in some countries these are getting smaller. The UK Film Council, for example, was closed in April 2011. The Commonwealth Foundation’s film grants focus on training, exhibition, distribution, conferences and exchanges. All support is for participation by people from developing countries, or exposure of their work to new audiences. In many countries, the challenge is to have films made; in others, films are being made but the challenge is to have them screened for national, regional or international audiences. Copyright laws are often inadequate. Almost everywhere, developing country filmmakers struggle to make a living.

Far and away the best film ever made about calypso...celebrating the complex history and unique energy of the art form.

Caribbean Beat commenting on Calypso Dream

Crowds gathered at the ZIFF Award Night at the Old Fort in Zanzibar

Nigeria: Director Elvis Chucks (right) and a film crew with a video camera on the set of a Nollywood movie production

Calypso Dreams For eleven nights in September 2010, I Will Tell International Film Festival hosted screenings in Brixton, South London, including works from Commonwealth countries. Works featured with support from the Commonwealth Foundation included Sweet Crude from Nigeria; a tribute to the history and humanity of the Niger Delta region and Calypso Dreams from Trinidad and Tobago; an intimate portrait of some of the true Calypsonians, shot over 3 years in Port of Spain. An Evening with Andrew Marcano, Associate Producer of Calypso Dreams, treated the audience to discussion and live performance. There were also exhibitions in Brixton’s Windrush Square, named after the ‘Empire Windrush’, the ship which carried the first post-war Caribbean immigrants to the UK in 1948. Trinidad and Tobago is the only country in the Commonwealth Caribbean where the government provides dedicated funds to support the production

of film. The Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (TTFF), established in 2005, has expanded its submission criteria to include films from and about Latin America. In 2011, for the second year running, the Commonwealth Foundation supported exchange screenings between TTFF and the Zanzibar International Film Festival in Tanzania. Africa in Motion In Nigeria, commercially viable domestic video production has lessened reliance on European institutions for financing. As of 2009 over 1,000 films were produced each year, and the industry employed approximately 300,000 Nigerians. But Africa is still badly underrepresented overall, contributing less than 1% to the world’s creative goods exports. Africa in Motion (AiM), a festival held in Edinburgh, Scotland, aims to reverse that lack of exposure and cultural appreciation among adults and children alike. Says Festival Director Dr Lizelle Bisschoff, “Our primary interests lie in equality across borders and genders – that made a grant application to the Commonwealth Foundation appropriate. We specifically ensure that we screen a number of films by female directors each year.” “We took screenings on tour to primary and high schools in rural Scotland, and plan to do more of this in future. The children learned that Africa is not (only) a continent of poverty and war, but of creativity, joy and stories. The luckiest ones were also thrilled to meet animator Allan Mwaniki and learn techniques from him; many were already familiar with his Kenyan and Tanzanian creations from BBC television.” Between 2006 and 2010, the Commonwealth Foundation gave grant support of £174,232 to 31 film-related projects.

October 2011

Addressing corruption

Promoting transparency in the Caribbean Since independence, most Anglophone Caribbean states have sustained a tradition of liberal democracy. Based on data from Freedom House for 2005-2009, all CARICOM members except Haiti were for the most part classified as “free”, that is, scoring highly for political rights and civil liberties. By such measures, the Caribbean remains the most democratic region in the world.

The problem however, according to many observers, is a winner-takes-all pattern to democracies. If Amartya Sen is right that democracy is government by discussion, in the Caribbean that discussion is often an adversarial one, shaped by the unavoidable proximity of business and government within a small population. Corruption kills A conference addressing these issues was held in Port of Spain in September 2010, convened by the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI), a national chapter of Transparency International, and with Commonwealth Foundation support. One of the aims was to encourage the formation of national chapters across the region, a legacy of the Commonwealth People’s Forum, held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009. Victor Hart, the keynote speaker and a former head of TTTI, explains: “Transparency International defines corruption as ‘the misuse of entrusted power for private gain’. There are two sides to corruption: the demand side, often someone in the public sector who receives a bribe; and the supply side, often someone in the private sector who gives the bribe. When a bribe is paid, both sides are equally guilty, so the problem has to be tackled across the

board. Worldwide, corruption retards development and denies people the basics of livelihood. So it is a fact that corruption kills; a fact that is too often overlooked when national priorities are considered by government planners and donor agencies.” Buzzwords In a 2010 contribution for the Commonwealth Foundation, Wendy Grenade, a Lecturer at the University of the West Indies in Barbados sounds a note of caution about good governance and transparency. These are “battered and unsettled” buzzwords and not to be imported carelessly. Like Hart, Grenade takes the agenda beyond the needs of the market. Corruption is damaging because ultimately it is citizens’ trust that is punctured: “governance must be about making a difference to people’s lives.” In small states, leaders in politics and civil society wishing to make that difference may need to be more multifunctional than their counterparts in larger states. Ther are 32 Commonwealth countries that have 1.5 million residents or fewer; in the Commonwealth Caribbean that means everyone except Jamaica (still classified as small due to other shared features). Smaller systems may be more responsive to reform,

Regardless of the type of government, nature or size of the state - the development of Commonwealth countries have been propelled by the sheer determination and investment of citizens to contribute to the task to nation building…

Dominica: Maudrie Davroux selects bananas at the packing station on her smallholding in Castle Bruce, under a fair trade scheme

Caribbean Regional Consultation in advance of the Commonwealth People’s Forum 2011

since a single actor can have a greater proportionate influence. But this can bring volatility, or a locked in advantage over competitors, critics and opposition, and therefore periods of stasis. Five Questions In a blog post this year, the World Bank’s Graham Teskey likewise addressed the debate around what ‘good governance’ truly means: T ony Benn (a former UK Cabinet Minister) was once asked about governance. After a few moments reflection, he answered succinctly, sucking on his trademark pipe: “Well you know, I would ask five questions of anyone in a position of authority: What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you use it? To whom are you accountable? And how do I get rid of you?” It seems to me that this is about as good a definition of governance as there is… these five questions could form the basis of any diagnostic: they could be asked of individuals, organisations, and institutions. That could be either bracing and creative, or intimidating, depending on who is asking. The Commonwealth Foundation recognises that several government and business leaders are questioning the legitimacy of the civil society role in public life generally, and in advocacy in particular. Amongst other responses, the Commonwealth Foundation has produced a series of country-specific toolkits addressing the principles and practice of civil society accountability, allowing civil society organisations to respond to heightened calls for transparency and best practice. The five questions are surely least intimidating when we’re willing to ask them of ourselves and our partners, as a matter of course and not just in situations of conflict or perceived wrong-doing. When wrong-doing does come to light, it is helpful to have regional anti-corruption partnerships already up and running.

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE

Natural resource management

Our relationship to the land For the 5.8 million people of Papua New Guinea, sharing land is a fact of life. According to tradition all land is held and used communally, so everyone has access for gardening, hunting, and other subsistence needs. That’s one reason why the country is one of the least affected by the global economic crisis. Strong social support systems in Pacific countries, particularly through extended family, provide an important cushion.

Less positively, these countries are cushioned simply by their lack of integration with the world economy: low levels of formal employment and trade. In a growing population, traditional support systems do not meet everyone’s needs – particularly those of women and young people. According to a 2010 report for Oxfam Australia and Oxfam New Zealand, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of several Pacific countries where net food imports account for more than 5% of total imports. The right to engage The Oxfam report tells us “nationwide economic growth in the Pacific region has not always contributed to poverty alleviation or led to improvements in many people’s lives… [Donors] should support Pacific Island governments to meaningfully engage their populations to consider their future economic development.” In advance of this year’s Commonwealth People’s Forum, the Pacific Regional Consultation, held in Sydney in May, saw meaningful engagement partly in terms of legal frameworks. Delegates called on Commonwealth countries to: • become signatories to the UNESCO 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage; • ratify the UNESCO 2001 Declaration on Cultural Diversity; • recognise the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Peoples, and empower them in their progress towards self determination; • specifically, to protect their rights in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Papua New Guinea: Men attempt to move a freshly felled tree into position before it is milled by a mobile saw mill which has arrived in the community and will be used in promoting eco-forestry in the Lake Murray area

Adapting to Climate Change Extracts from the Pacific Regional Consultation in advance of Commonwealth People’s Forum 2011

Pacific Island countries are experiencing a rise in droughts, coastal erosion, salination of water and food insecurity as a result of anthropogenic (manmade) climate change. Funding will be used for adaptation that is based on the unique needs of each Commonwealth region in the areas of: renewable

55 villages, one consensus So what does sustainable development look like in practice – what local models are available? The Bainings Environmental Heritage Conservation Foundation, based in Kokopo, PNG, has mobilised some 40,000 residents from 55 villages to better

energy; water rights and supply, sanitation and hygiene; food security; fisheries protection and coastal protection; agroforestry; reforestation and resettlement and capacity building. There must be an appropriate and accessible mechanism established for accessing funds. This funding would also provide for the creation of a Commonwealth Climate Technology Exchange that provides an open source for Commonwealth countries to share clean technologies and promote

October 2011

manage their natural resources. In October 2010, funding from the Commonwealth Foundation supported the Bainings Environment Conservation Conference, where 125 participants discussed the impact of climate change and the need to conserve biodiversity in the Bainings environment. Executive Director, Charles Alois Balar explains: “We grew up in response to climate change, population pressures, unscrupulous land development for logging and mining, palm oil production, overfishing and other environmental threats.

We started in 2007 in a small village office with two coffee tables, no communication and no power. We’ve gone on to cooperate with a wide range of partners. We conduct workshops for local youths and they become our field officers. The Commonwealth Foundation helped us with a conference at the Catholic Diocesan Hall to discuss biodiversity and the use of our communally-owned 900,000 hectares of rainforest.

Alois Balar Bainings Environmental Heritage Conservation Foundation, Papua New Guinea.

A hunter from the Catfish clan perpares to cut down some wallabies caught in a recent hunt and stored in a tree beside the lake

renewable energy in the Commonwealth countries. This institution would also conduct research and development into renewable energy technologies. Pacific Island Civil Society affirms that the Pacific is founded on religions that view life holistically. Our religious life, culture and identity are connected to our relationship with the land. The spirituality of our people is a core part of who we are and how we live as responsible citizens.

“These are sensitive issues, linked to gender and other conflicts. At our conference a women’s leader told us: ‘We depend on the environment to feed the family, but the very men we feed and who are heads of our households take the lead in destroying that environment by inviting logging and other destructive activities.’ Bainings is proud that of 125 participants, 53 were women and that they spoke out. We are talking about a nation with only one female Member of Parliament. Having advertised the event through radio, there was also a good turn-out of over 30 young people. “We’d like to make it an annual meeting. Through the discussions, the majority view completely changed. In the past, only NGOs would speak up for the rainforests. Now people can see that we can’t go on doing economic activities without any knowledge about the impact on the environment.”

(opposite page) Queensland’s beachside properties teeter following king tide Eros. © istockphoto.com (right) Papuan women crossing bridge, Wamena, Papua, Indonesia. © istockphoto.com

Report compiled by the Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO) Read the full regional consultation reports at: » www.cpf2011.org

Pisiska Nitau with a catch of fresh water fish outside her home

POSTER SPECIAL

Re-Orientations: Drama for a mutually imagined future Using several languages (English, Mandarin, Swedish and Kannada), this intercultural collaboration runs rings around racial and sexual prejudice. A devised play (one written by the whole team), Re-Orientations was performed to audiences in London, Shanghai and Sweden, and led to educational workshops for 300 young people. Funding from the Commonwealth Foundation brought Indian artists Spatica Ramanujam and Radhakrishna Urala to the mix and enabled them to share their experiences of this cross-cultural collaboration through community theatre workshops in India. Re-Orientations was produced by the UK-based intercultural arts organisation Border Crossings, which, since its foundation in 1995 has presented many productions drawing from a range of cultural traditions, and serving a variety of audiences across Britain’s diverse communities and elsewhere. Indian director, actor and writer Mahesh Dattani wrote about his experiences in the development phase:

“As a group I feel it is extremely important for us to feel a little disoriented. In a creative space that requires greater understanding of ourselves and others, it can be disastrous to continue to play roles that are prescribed by our cultures, roles that we are comfortable with. In this week we have learnt a lot about our own cultures. How hugely dependent we are on the perception of others.”

www.bordercrossings.org.uk

Images: Patrick Baldwin and Jales Cheung

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE

October 2011

www.commonwealthfoundation.com

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE

Dance meets roots

Healing electoral violence in Kenya By Ondiege Matthew, Artistic Director and Choreographer, Dance Into Space Foundation Nakuru County is one of the most cosmopolitan regions in Kenya. Sitting on the floor of the Great Rift Valley, bordering Central Province areas like Laikipia and Naivasha on one side, Rongai and Baringo on the Western side and Lake Nakuru on other side, Nakuru town’s 1.7 million inhabitants are ethnically diverse. This was one factor in Nakuru becoming a hotbed for the post election violence that saw many communities fight each other over the election results of 2007.

The town has one of the oldest theatres in the country (Nakuru Players Theatre), built in 1918 and first used as a radio control room during World War I. It is normally frequented only by patrons coming to the bar. The theatre’s stage has been partly used as a store, it has a dilapidated backstage and broken wings. But for Dance Into Space (DIS, a non-profit founded in 1999) this is a stage-set for opportunity. Since 2007 our Dance Meets Roots project has been creating new groups of contemporary dancers across Kenya, building new audiences in rural areas, and looking for permanent performance spaces. In the county of Nakuru, DIS Foundation has been able to conduct the project through the partnership and assistance from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Rift Valley Province and the Nakuru Players Theatre itself. Decentralising Dance Besides this under-used, 200-seat venue, there are no other facilities that local artists can conveniently use. Most work in borrowed private spaces, clubs, churches and schools. The five dance groups in the county, young people aged 17 to their early thirties, are relatively new to contemporary arts practice. The only experience most have of theatre is awareness and community campaigns, and copying salsa and hip hop videos for a small fee within the town’s clubs. But this is their language and we have to work with it. Post-performance discussions reveal that elders have too much authority when teaching the youth, to the extent that authority becomes an obstacle to learning. Simon Kalonzo and a few salsa dancers started one of these groups Aura in 2010. They mainly perform in public functions organised by the government and NGOs; weddings; private functions and parties. Their dance repertoires include chachacha and zouk among other creatively “copied” dance styles. Sawwa Dancers started in

2008 and they do traditional dance, act and sing. Peer C started many years ago as an NGO dealing with reproductive health issues. Their support comes from that sector, the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru, the United Nations Population Fund, and performances of set books for schools.

Our induction workshops examine the relevance of contemporary dance, its contexts and its viability in community development, education, expression and employment.

Bold Moves Our induction workshops (1-2 weeks) prepare the body, but also the psyche, so that participants accept that it’s all possible. They learn the basics of stretching, standing, positions, poise, body fitness, directions, strength and memory. They also examine the relevance of contemporary dance, its contexts and its viability in community development, education, expression and employment. Later, advanced level workshops look at techniques – African and universal. In Nakuru the participants worked on choreography related to thematic concerns and a baseline survey, fusing it with their acting and narration skills. We are grateful to the Commonwealth Foundation for assisting the participants with their travel, accommodation and subsistence costs. DIS considers dance, apart from being artistic expression, a platform where issues like human rights, social justice and “unity in diversity” can be brought into the public arena. It was a bold move to take on the sceptics and prove that rural audiences can find great entertainment in this art form. The “strangeness” that contemporary dance has for the villagers in Africa is its strongest point since the images are provocative and leave long-lasting impressions in their minds. The participants value it too. Nicholas, a dancer with a disability, told us: “It required you to give your best; it required you to think so fast.” Dance Into Space is now working across the country in other provinces and has recently concluded induction workshops in the Coast and Eastern regions with plans to link the groups from different communities and regions together in the near future.

Video footage of some of the dance pieces are available at the following YouTube links: DMR Piece 1.avi; DMR Piece 2.avi; DMR Piece 3.avi.

October 2011

Community dialogue

Combating HIV and AIDS in Africa It is easy to assume we all have the power to choose “behaviour change”. But for poor and marginalised groups, social conditions may reduce the options to a very narrow range. The new UNAIDS Strategy 20112015, Getting to Zero, and the outcomes of the High Level Meeting on AIDS in June 2011 both underscore the need for a comprehensive response including non-formal education. There is always potential for health advice to clash with longer-established cultures. Traditional or religious laws and practices feature in daily lives at least as much as formal systems of education, medicine and law. In the age of HIV, some rituals, morals and other belief systems help to sustain life but others worsen the risks and consequences of disease, such as female genital mutilation, early marriage, wife-inheritance and men-only property systems. When women become HIV positive or are widowed, their rights to land or income may be violated by close family, in-laws or employers. In Malawi, to counter some of these factors, impressive public health campaigns have been run through radio and other media; effective because they become an interactive dialogue at community level. In December 2010 the Commonwealth

Foundation funded training for 120 communitybased educators. Antony Mkupira, a project officer with local NGO Gender Support Programme, explains the approach: “Through discussion, people put forward their own issues around harmful cultural practices, for example failure to take HIV tests in a polygamous marriage. Because they are unlikely to feel free discussing in front of everyone else, we first conduct dialogues in separate groups: men, women, young people, and opinion leaders – the custodians of culture. Only then do we bring everyone together in a community dialogue, to determine if they share the same concerns.” It is widely agreed that in order to protect themselves from HIV or to mitigate its impact, people need confidence and motivation, awareness of gender issues, and access to services: much more than just the raw facts. But how do we get there? How can civil society campaign for these things in ways that are alive to new generations, new opportunities or new mismatches between tradition and changed conditions? One thing is certain: it can’t be done as a monologue. To quote from beyond the Commonwealth and

Ghana, Accra: Police officers hold hands in front of a billboard at a police station, featuring the image of a policeman and the slogan ‘Aids is real, use a condom’.

before the HIV pandemic, Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin suggests that, even wisdom goes nowhere without discussion: “The idea lives not in one person’s isolated individual consciousness – if it remains there only, it degenerates and dies. The idea begins to live, that is, to take shape, to develop, to find and renew its verbal expression, to give birth to new ideas, only when it enters into [dialogue] with other ideas, with the ideas of others...a thought embodied in someone else’s voice.”

An equal start in life

Rights of children with disabilities The 25 villages around Srivilliputhur in India’s Chennai region have some of the highest rates of childhood disability in the country and the world. In October 2010 these communities, with the support of UK-based International Children’s Trust and Chennai Institute for the Disabled, hosted an international seminar on protecting disabled children’s rights. The Commonwealth Foundation enabled Indian, Sri Lankan and South African partners to also benefit. The first human rights instrument of the 21st Century was the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD), 2006. In 2009 we celebrated 20 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Having all signed both, Commonwealth countries recognise that children participate in society; and that disability results from long-term impairments (physical, mental, intellectual or sensory) interacting with social barriers to that participation. The Chennai projects aim to prevent concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation of people with disabilities. Enabling maximum independence means action from the start: childhood. The UNCRPD says disabled children should get an education on an equal footing, with necessary means to reach their

full potential. Yet today, only 2-3 percent of disabled children worldwide are in school at all. Landmark legislation India passed a Right to Education Act in 2009. Its development came after sustained popular mobilisation by civil society, including teachers’ unions. The Indian Constitution now provides free and compulsory education for children between the ages of 6 and 14. It aims to bring out-of-school children into formal education, and there is special attention to children from disadvantaged groups including those with disabilities. In some communities the incidence of disability is heightened by marriages between relatives. But disability is not just genetic, it can be caused (as well as worsened) by lack of access to basic healthcare and education. In general, poorer children are twice as likely to become disabled at some point in their lives, and the worst forms of child labour (hazardous conditions, physical or gender-based violence) often play a part. Women and girls with disabilities are subject to many types of discrimination and realising their rights will take specific measures.

India, Faridkot, Punjab: A mother discusses her daughter’s treatment at the Baba Farid Centre – It treats patients with a mixture of homeopathic, ayurvedic and acupuncture methods.

We mostly focus on child labour issues and children’s rights. But this seminar made us also think of the rights of mentally challenged children. The children said if they see any mentally challenged children, they will not be scared but try to assist them.

Virgil D’Sami, Arunodhay NGO and partner of International Children’s Trust in Tiruvottiyur, Northern Chennai

Find out if your country has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability: www.un.org/disability

COMMONWEALTH PEOPLE

Trade accountability

Protecting consumers’ rights

Trinidad and Tobago: Shipwreck in the Gulf of Paria near Port of Spain harbour, with oil tankers in the background.

Economists divide the world into production and consumption. Novices in the subject are introduced to the solitary figure of Robinson Crusoe, shipwrecked on a desert island, choosing how much of his time to spend producing (harvesting coconuts) and consuming (coconuts, leisure). Then there are the axioms of consumer choice, for example that our preferences are fixed, or can be treated as such. Then the idea that public goods like the environment, and our commitments to others – “welfare economics” – are particularly thorny. This may be irreverent but the serious point is that there are other traditions that see economics as about history as well as maths, seek to model consumption more socially, or view labour as not just a negative residual of leisure. Take for example theories of self-actualisation, “decent work” or service, or the Commonwealth Statement on Culture and Development, which states: “Development has frequently been conceived in quantitative terms, without taking into account its qualitative dimensions, namely the satisfaction of individual and community aspirations.” The impact of highly theoretical economic policy advice, an important face of globalisation, has been debated for some time now. Debts, diets and diabetes With 220 member organisations, Consumers International (CI) World Congress is the only forum that brings together consumer advocates from developed and developing countries. Its May 2011 meeting in Hong Kong covered issues including safe and nutritious food for all, corporate social responsibility, and consumers in the digital world. This built on past successes like securing a commitment from the G20 to consumer protection in financial services (2010) and World Health Organization recommendations against marketing of unhealthy food to children. The Commonwealth Foundation supported a number of delegates to attend. Diets in the Pacific are a particular concern; figures from the World Health Organisation this year show that in at least ten countries of the region excessive consumption of fatty and processed food means that 50-90% of the population is now overweight. In Nauru, perhaps 45% of adults have

Consumerism often gets a bad press. But identifying ourselves as consumers, in a deliberate and conscious way, can also open the way to new forms of empowerment and campaigning. If products and services do not meet basic information and safety standards, the consumer is unfairly treated. If consumers don’t ask questions about the ethics and sustainability of products on the shelves, then the worker is unfairly treated, along with the planet and the generations who will inherit it.

diabetes as a result. The Pacific Islands continue to be used as a market for off-cuts and rejected produce from larger countries. Message in a bottle And what about those “fixed” preferences? Alcohol and drugs campaigners in developing Commonwealth countries say young consumers of film and television are subjected to a lot of persuasion: We don’t look for advertising posters – we look for product placement. When beer bottles are visible minute after minute in a film, naturally we know what’s going on. When the same brand of cigarettes is smoked by everyone in a film regardless of whether it is the messenger, office worker or director who is smoking, we also know what’s going on. In the course of a week’s broadcasting, film scenes with alcohol appeared about every 10 minutes. In 62% of these scenes, alcohol was consumed in a positive, glamorous context and in 43% of scenes it was depicted as a means of solving problems. When we see what sort of expectations breweries have for the growth of consumption, there is reason for concern. T he Promise of Youth: concerning the alcohol Industry and the targeting of young people in developing countries. Ingvar Midthun, published by FORUT and the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance

Together with low rates of financial literacy, savings and employment, non-communicable diseases

India: Shopper with a loaded trolley outside a department store at the High Street Phoenix shopping mall, in a former textile mill.

(NCDs) among young people are very much on the Commonwealth agenda. Another Commonwealth contribution has been to remind planners that consumers’ needs and incentives differ according to whether they are women or men. Consumption is not just about personal budgets, but also local, municipal and national ones. It extends to trade policy, and all those container ships on Crusoe’s horizon.

October 2011

Workshops for women writers

(FEM)RITE of passage I was unemployed at the time and dithering about whether to pursue my writing. Am I good enough? Is this really what I want to do? I can’t make sense of the 40,000 words of the novel that I’ve just written. Is it any good? I came back, a week later, elated, resolved, more sure of myself than I had been for ages. I don’t really know why: the course tutor had told me to throw my novel in the fire and start writing another, better one. Being taken seriously had a profound effect on me... something I had dreamt about for years became tangible. Julia Bell, The Creative Writing Coursebook.

Commonwealth Writers unearths, promotes and connects new writing talent from the fifty-four countries of the Commonwealth by awarding prizes and increasing opportunities for writers. Commonwealth Book Prize Awarded for best first book, this prize is open to writers who have had their first novel (full length work of fiction) published between January 1st and December 31st 2011. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £10,000.

Uganda: Book shelves in the library at the Catholic seminary in the village of Nyenga.

There remains a myth that writing can’t be taught: you’ve either got it or you haven’t. But the success of writing courses belies this myth. Understandings of “creative writing” are culturally and historically specific. The horror writer Stephen King’s On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft (2000) is shot through with the frustrations of working class America; his finally becoming published is remembered in terms of financial rescue as well as self-expression. In 2011 the Commonwealth Foundation supported FEMRITE, a residential course on writing and inter-cultural exchange for women from Uganda (the host country), Botswana, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Based in Jinja and Kampala, the regional meeting was facilitated by local and Swedish experts. Linda Lillian (Uganda) reflects: “They provided feedback in a friendly way. The public reading attracted many people and they were not disappointed. It would not have been the same without that reading, which tested us on Uganda’s literary scene.” The participants of this

and previous FEMRITE workshops are producing between them an anthology of short stories. Tough love Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark, in their acerbic How Not to Write a Novel (2008) have some sharp words for those who tackle gender from both sides of the fence. They note that while most readers of fiction in the West are women, in Africa men predominate in many areas of writing and publishing. This is one of the things that FEMRITE hopes to change. Also in 2011, the Commonwealth Foundation supported the first ‘Bocas Lit Fest’ in Trinidad and Tobago, which brought together distinguished poets, novelists, biographers, essayists and linguists from across the Caribbean. The programme included workshops on language, storytelling and drama for children, critiquing your own work, getting published and more.

Commonwealth Short Story Prize Awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000- 5,000 words). Regional winners receive £1,000 and the overall winner receives £5,000. For each prize we award regional winners and an overall winner. The regions are Canada and Europe; Caribbean; Asia; Africa; Pacific. Open to Commonwealth citizens aged 18 or over. Rules and eligibility information for both prizes, as well as on line entry forms are available at: » www.commonwealthwriters.org

October 2011

Education for women

Be part of an active Commonwealth community

In October 2010, Friends UK held an event to raise awareness about the lack of opportunities for young women across the world to complete their secondary education. It highlighted the work of the Commonwealth Countries League Education Fund, which sponsors girls from the most challenging backgrounds in the Commonwealth to ensure they receive a secondary education. Bringing together 200 guests, Friends UK raised £2,000 to support the CCL Education Fund.

I am very delighted to know that you are interested in the welfare of the poor people who can make it through hard work... I promise to make good use of this opportunity and be useful to myself, my family and country. What you do for me I shall do for others in the future.

Join us today Connecting | Discussing | Networking | Fundraising Friends of the Commonwealth is a fast-growing international network of people from all over the world who share an interest in Commonwealth issues. Membership is free and open to all. By joining online you will receive*: • Regular updates about Commonwealth initiatives and grants • Full access to our online community • Networking opportunities in your area or region • Support to organise local fundraising initiatives • Professional development through mentoring and volunteering opportunities • Opportunities to get your articles and essays published and read by a global readership *some of these benefits are currently only available in the UK Coming together as individuals, members of Friends can use the network as a forum to debate key issues, raise awareness, organise and promote local events, support international campaigns and find out more about a range of activities and opportunities throughout the Commonwealth.

Florence Florence from Nigeria wrote a letter to say what the CCL Education Fund’s support meant to her.

The Commonwealth Foundation Making connections for a better world We are an intergovernmental organisation funded principally by Commonwealth governments, and guided by Commonwealth values. We aim to strengthen civil society in the achievement of Commonwealth priorities including democracy, good governance, sustainable development and cultural diversity. • We bring people together. • We make people’s voices heard. • We encourage sharing of knowledge and learning. The views of the contributors to Commonwealth People do not necessarily reflect those of the Commonwealth Foundation

Join US today. Membership is free and open to all. By joining a growing network of Friends you can find out how to get involved, get informed and get invested in the Commonwealth. By working together we can maximize our knowledge and our impact around the world. If you have something to say, help to give, skills to offer or just want to join a group of people interested in the development of their community and the Commonwealth, then get involved!

www.commonwealthfriends.org

Commonwealth People is published by: Commonwealth Foundation Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5HY United Kingdom Telephone +44 (0) 20 7930 3783 Fax +44 (0) 20 7839 8157 E-mail geninfo@commonwealth.int Web www.commonwealthfoundation.com Interim Director Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah

Editorial Andrew Robertson Editors Marcie Shaoul and Claire Turner ISSN 1475-2042 Design and print www.sugarfreedesign.co.uk Photography Neil Cooper / Panos Pictures Jacob Silberberg / Panos Pictures Philip Wolmuth / Panos Pictures Natalie Behring / Panos Pictures Jocelyn Carlin / Panos Pictures Sven Torfinn / Panos Pictures Chris Stowers / Panos Pictures Fred Hoogervorst / Panos Pictures Mark Henley / Panos Pictures

Cover image

Jamaica, Giblatore, St. Catherine Parish: Local residents during a meeting at the Giblatore community centre. Neil Cooper © Panos Pictures