The Power of Culture

The National Biodigester Programme in Cambodia, won the first prize  in the election of Energy For Life Best Practice Award 2011. This joint  programme between the Cambodia Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and  Fisheries (MAFF) and the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) is  supported through the Hivos Climate Fund.

The first ever conference on female genital mutilation (FGM) in the Middle East is currently taking place in Beirut, Lebanon, with participants from Iraqi Kurdistan, Central Iraq and Yemen with input from experts from Indonesia and Egypt. The groundbreaking event, organized by the non-governmental organizations Wadi and Hivos, is serving as a first common platform for experts and activists fighting FGM in the Middle East. Its purpose is to learn from each other, create a network and cooperation structure, and develop a coherent transnational strategy to eradicate FGM.

The Centre for Internet and Society and Hivos are pleased to announce the Digital AlterNatives video contest. There  are hundreds of stories of the Everyday Digital Native - people who are  always connected, or on the fringes, or groups that bond over causes but  don’t really care for the ‘Digital Native’ tag & hype. Tell us  their story through your video! Deadline for your proposals is the 8th of January 2012.

Newspapers are full with columnists, politicians, academics and policy makers and their opinion on the future of development cooperation. But so far a real debate has not yet begun. Hivos and The Broker have joined forces and would like to invite you to share your views on the matter.

The BIRU (Biogas Rumah) Programme, implemented by Hivos and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) of the Republic of Indonesia, has celebrated the construction of its 4,000th biogas digester.

Power Cut Middle East, a themed program within the IFFR’s main Signals section, presents recent films and visual art works from the region with a focus on Syria and Egypt. The program, a collaboration with Hivos Culture Fund, consists of short films, documentaries, feature films and visual art installations guided by discussions, lectures and artist talks.

Hivos is concerned about the arrest and detention of Syrian activist and blogger Razan Ghazzawi. Razan Ghazzawi works as a media officer at the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), a partner of Hivos.

Hivos is concerned about the arrest and detention of Syrian activist and blogger Razan Ghazzawi. Razan Ghazzawi works as a media officer at the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), a partner of Hivos.

Hivos presents the Small Climate Summit, a crowdsourced treaty based on Tweets. Far away from the diplomatic stage in Durban the Small Climate Summit in Amsterdam focuses on small and smart inventions instead of big pretensions. Ideas on Twitter #SCS were discussed live in Amsterdam on Thursday the 1st of December between 1 pm and 5 pm by a group of entrepreneurs, architects and energy specialists.

Religious leaders and government authorities in Ethiopia held a meeting Tuesday over whether or not to ban the gay conference in which about 200 activists as well as UN and US officials are expected to participate. The conference is being held at Addis Ababa`s Jupiter International Hotel Dec 3 to discuss men having sex with men (MSM) issues.

The 2011 Roland Berger Human Dignity Award has been granted to Mazen Darwish from Syria, a partner of Hivos. The other two winners of this year’s award were Radhia Nasrawi from Tunisia and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) from Egypt.