QSA - Issues

Global Issues

This page provides up to date information about issues of concern to Quaker Service Australia and its supporters, the development sector as a whole, and our overseas partners.

2010 Election - Call to the parties

The Australia Council for International Development (ACFID) calls on all political parties and candidates in the 2010 election to commit Australia to play its full part in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Call to the Parties will provide a platform for ACFID's advocacy during the 2010 Election Campaign. These recommendations were developed in consultation with the Make Poverty History Campaign. ACFID is asking the next Australian Government to commit to delivering better aid, more aid and just aid. Fore more information visit: http://www.acfid.asn.au/about-acfid/2010-election-call-to-the-parties

Image: ACFID Call to the Parties

QSA Partner receives environmental award

Joss Brooks, who founded the Pitchandikulum Bio Resource Centre in India, was recently awarded the T.N. Khoshoo Memorial Award for his work on restoration projects in Tamil Nadu. Joss, who has been a QSA project partner since the 1970s, has dedicated himself to environmental restoration projects for 4 decades. His work began with restoring the green cover over the Auroville Green Belt, and now continues with the transformation of a garbage dump into a thriving indigenous vegetation area in the city of Chennai. To read about this award, click here. To read more about Joss's work click here. Photo: Joss with his partner Anita.

Making agriculture local and sustainable

Hear Jackie Perkins speaking to Radio 3CR on their "Food Fight" program about our sustainable agriculture projects in Uganda. Listen to the reasons why we ensure that our approach is to focus on projects that are local and sustainable.

http://www.3cr.org.au/food-fight-11082009

Armed Violence and Development

The 2006 Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, which is endorsed by more than 90 states, commits to preventing and reducing the human, social and economic costs of armed violence. It recognises the relationship between armed violence and development. The Declaration calls upon states to strike to achieve demonstrable reductions in the global burden of armed violence and improvements in human security by 2015.

The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva has been active in furthering the Geneva Declaration process, and attended the fourth regional meeting organized in the Geneva Declaration process, held on 12 – 14 November 2008 in Sarajevo. The agenda featured an exchange of views by states, the presentation of an analytic overview of armed violence in the region and reports on practical programmes to reduce armed violence by states, international and regional agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations. At the conclusion of the two-day event the state participants adopted the Sarajevo Declaration on Armed Violence and Development. To read more about the Geneva Declaration, click here. To visit the QUNO website, click here (Image: QUNO logo)

Financial Crisis and Development

While many Australians are noticing changes to their superannuation and bank balances, they are not the only ones affected by the financial crisis. The plummeting dollar directly impacts international development assistance and Australian development agencies are having to use more funds to send agreed budgetted amounts to overseas partners.

Donor agencies are thinking carefully about how to manage this situation so that our partners do not suffer. QSA is able to deliver on all this year's promises, but needs increased support in order to continue its assistance. Our project partners are living in countries that have been most dramatically affected by the financial crisis, with rising prices, particularly of imported items such as fuel or cement, and increasing inflation all impacting on their ability to make ends meet.

For more information, please contact us To read an AusAID statement on this issue, click here.

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Quaker Service Australia Inc. 119 Devonshire St Surry Hills, NSW 2010 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9698-9103 Fax: +61 2 9225-9241 ABN: 35 989 797 918

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