Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster, reports on the Reinforce project. With four billion euros set for financing the long-term project, Reinforce is supposed to help evaluate how well different types of trees react to current climate conditions. 30 trees species from around the globe were planted along the European Atlantic coastline.

We’ll have to wait a few decades before the trees grow to a mature state. In the meantime, regular monitoring of the planted trees will be taking place.  According to the article, researchers will also share data on the changing size, health and bud appearance of the trees.

The article quotes Rupert Pigot from British forestry promotion organization Confor. “The way that we grow our trees here in the UK means that we do rely very heavily on certain species. The current issue we have is a disease called phytophora remorum which is affecting Japanese larch. There are large swathes of larch down in the southeast, and going up through Wales and on the west coast of Scotland which are being affected by this.” Tree planting policies in the UK and Europe are mostly monocultural, which leaves forests vulnarable in terms of ongoing climate changes.

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The alliance story of the UN and the phone company is a truly amazing one. The alliance hopes to put an emphasis on the Technology Partnership’s optimistic goals, given that a sagacity of self-reflection might promote potential partnerships. It was during 2005 that the UN formulated this plan in order to influence mobile phone technology to contribute to the UN’s worldwide health and disaster relief efforts.

A few milestones worth talking about are discussed below. In 1998, Ted Turner (Chairman of the Board, UN Foundation) donated a sum of $ 1 billion to fund the initial cost of establishment as well as actions relating to global health promotion. In the millennium year (2000) the Millennium Declaration was made and it is in this same year that the UN published its very first set of guidelines for the business sector.

There were two reflective awakenings which stood out, with the establishment of this five-year alliance. There was no need for the private sector and the public sector to compete. They could work together in harmony and so achieve more.  Another observation is that now awareness regarding diseases could be spread in an easier way. And the main reason for this is because the use of mobile phones is more prominent in developing countries than in developing countries (3.5 billion subscriptions in middle- and low-income countries).

Find more information here.

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The Poetic Dialogue Project aims to blend the magic of Poems and Contemporary paintings to surprise viewers. The artists paint eye-catching pictures to reveal emotions and poets write poems to express the emotion the artist meant to reveal. Different pairs of poets and artists work together to come up with masterpieces that can melt hearts. The Poetic Dialogue Project is headed by Beth Shadur, who has also created several artworks combining pleasing images with heart-melting words. Words printed on the image let viewers understand the emotion or message hidden in the paintings more precisely.

The poetic dialogue project is a result of a meeting held at the Ragdale Foundation between an award-winning poet, Lois Roma-Deeley, and the artist Beth Shadur. Both of them decided to come up with miraculous artworks, created through a blend of words and images. They worked together to fulfill their dreams. In 2004, the project started off with 21 artists and 6 poets. The Poetic Dialogue Project exhibition was first conducted in the winter of 2009. The great success of the Poetic Dialogue Project promoted its growth and the exhibition travelled throughout the United States. Currently, 31 pairs of national artists and award winning poets are working with Beth Shadur to accelerate the growth of the project.

Later on, Poetic Dialogue Project exhibitions were conducted in the Chicago Cultural Center in 2009, Indiana State University in 2009, Bowling Green State University and many other venues. Samples of these artworks have also been displayed on the website of the Poetic Dialogue Project. You can go through the collection to give yourself a surprise. Never miss a chance if you get an opportunity to visit the exhibition of the Poetic Dialogue Project.

Find more information on the website of the Poetic Dialogue Project

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The International Academy of Leadership was set up by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in 1990 in Portugal. It is also located at the Theodor Heuss Academy in Gummersbach. The main aim of the Academy was to bring together participants who belong to different cultures, religions and dialects in order to discuss their views on various aspects of problems relating to economics, science and politics, as well as provide an opportunity to learn from other cultures.  This helps people understand the kind of environment that needs to be created in order to be able to work in cultural harmony. This also helps leaders understand how they should deal with problems that arise due to cultural differences.

There are a lot of events hosted by the International Academy of Leadership which are closely connected to projects of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. These events are attended by leaders and eminent experts from all over the world, who get together to discuss topics that relate to security, politics, media, science and economics. The aim of this forum is to provide others with knowledge and insight on the nation that each speaker comes from. This lets them understand the current situations of each country. This lets people have calm and fight-free discussions. This also helps them in working out solutions for the problems that are being faced and it encourages an understanding for intellectual freedom.

The International Academy for Leadership also offers seminars that last for about two weeks. These seminars include sessions like introductory workshops, information tours as well as provide topics that may be discussed with governments. The other activities that are conducted are seminars, training sessions for the academy’s expatriate staff, free exchange of points of view, tolerance learning workshops and so on.

Find more information at International Political Dialogue

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The institution’s main purpose of work was contributing towards wiping out deadly diseases – a long-term goal – and ensuring good healthcare in different countries of the world. In order to facilitate this, they took the initiative in distributing necessary vaccines, as well as organizing campaigns to educate people about diseases and their cures. If you look at the map of the world, you may think that all countries are WHO members, but current member statistics actually show 194 member nations.

Ever since the World Health Organisation was founded, it has been formulating new as well as innovative policies to bring together the private as well as public healthcare sector. This was to make sure that the policies could be implemented among the private as well as the public sectors. The WHO has been focusing on the private sector. This is due to the fact that they believe the WHO can achieve more of a widespread influence with their collaboration and efficiently work for global health. Therefore, it can be said that they tried to bring a public private partnership to life.

A public private partnership is usually shortened to P³ or PPP or P3. A PPP consists of an agreement between a public sector authority, as well as a private sector authority. In this case, it’s the WHO and the other nations. The WHO rightly felt that it could work on public health more efficiently after it merged its operations with those of member nations. Thus the WHO issued a formal declaration in which it invited the private sector, governments, the UN, non-government institutions etc for the merger. Through all these alliances, the WHO expects to have a bigger impact on public health issues.

Source: Wikipedia

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Riots in Middle Eastern countries, conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians, Muslim and non-Muslim disputes are some of the common international issues that are hot news in the media. You cannot stay away from such issues even if you belong to a peaceful religion, because someone you actually know could be facing troubles due to such riots and conflicts. Globalization has broken boundaries between countries. Nowadays, people often travel across the globe and settle anywhere they like. You may have your dear ones living in the Middle East, Israel or Palestine. Hence, all the international issues in the world are going to affect you in some way or another. We need to sit together in groups, discuss issues and do whatever we can do to sort out these issues.

Programs like the Dialogue Project in New York City are doing a great job. The aim of the Dialogue Project is to restore trust among people, spread positive vibes and to share different individual’s understanding of the world.

This project brings immigrants, senior citizens, people from different castes, religions and background, victims of city riots etc under one roof for a group discussion. The group decides on a topic which has to be discussed in detail. Every participant gets a chance to express their views. The discussion goes on for one or two hours, depending on the topic. Every group would have two facilitators to manage the discussion and ensure a non-aggressive exchange. Many of misconceptions get cleared by attending such meetings. Your views on the issue may change after taking part in the group discussion. It may be that others in the group share your opinion. You can share what you learned with your family and friends to spread awareness and understanding of key international issues today.

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The beginning stage of Malaria is known as clinical malaria. Patients at this stage would suffer from severe fever and headaches. The crucial stage of malaria is called severe malaria. During this time the blood, brain and kidneys are affected. The best solution would be to stop the reproduction of mosquitoes to control the rapid spread of malaria. Hence, do not dump waste in your house or surrounding areas. You should make sure that drains and water channels in your area are periodically sanitized to keep your area free from mosquitoes.  Effective treatments for malaria do exist, but no successful vaccination to save people from falling prey to malaria is yet available.

A global program called PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, established in 1999, was involved in intensive research to come up with an effective vaccine for malaria. The mission of this program is to eliminate Malaria entirely. After a long time researching and conducting tests, MVI released a Vaccine for malaria in 2011. The Phase 3 result of the vaccine release shows that the new vaccine saved almost half of African children between the ages of 5 and 17 months from malaria. Children who were being observed after the vaccination were considerably safe from the clinical and severe forms of malaria.

On October 18, 2011, the New England Journal of Medicine had published a statistical report that revealed the success rate of the new vaccine. According to their report, three doses of RTS vaccine were tested in seven countries of sub-Saharan Africa and the result was satisfying. As a trial 6000 children between the ages of 5 to17 months were given the new vaccine. The vaccination offered 56 percent protection against clinical and severe malaria.

MVI is now aiming to make the vaccine available in affected countries to let the world fight together against malaria with the most modern vaccine.

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To help U.S. citizens understand the culture and lifestyle of the Middle East, the Ibrahim Leadership and Dialogue Project has been organized by the Institute of International Education. Any U.S. citizen over 18 years old with a GPA of 3.5 or higher can join this project. Before joining the course you have to present your plans about how you are going to utilize the outcome of the training program. Candidates with good leadership skills can really make the most of this training program.

The training program starts with an orientation session conducted in Washington D.C. All the candidates are briefed on what is going to happen throughout the course. After the fundamental studies, students are taken to at least three countries in the Middle East to have a close look at Middle Eastern culture. Students are given the opportunity to interact with leaders who have shown lifelong commitment towards promoting tolerance and mutual understanding in their countries. Students can ask questions and discuss any issues that interest them during the interactive session.

The team is guided by IIE program staff and highly experienced faculty members, who have a deep understanding of Middle Eastern culture. During the visit, these experts lecture about issues and opportunities in the region to give you a clear understanding of trends in the Middle East.

The Ibrahim Leadership and Dialogue Project even gives students an opportunity to explore several historical and religious landmarks of the Middle East. The study tour usually lasts 2-3 weeks. Interaction with leaders and people who have different points of view in the Middle East can give students a clear idea about the issues happening in Middle Eastern countries. The aim of this project is to open students’ minds and strengthen their capacity to contribute to global leadership.

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The GAVI Alliance is a private-public health partnership that has committed its services to saving children’s lives and also to protecting the health of those people who require special care. The main activity of this firm is to provide people in poor countries with vaccines that are necessary for their survival. This will help them remain safe from illnesses. In the process the alliance gathers together donor governments and developing countries, along with the World Bank, UNICEF and WHO.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization started helping poor people in 2000. This was when the distribution of vaccines for children began to decline. 30 million children born in developing countries every year do not get all the vaccines they are supposed to be given at different stages of their lives.  288 million children were immunized against diseases that pose threats, like hepatitis B, yellow fever, Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis and so on, during the first decade of GAVI’s work. They were also able to saves lives through the introduction of two new vaccines.

GAVI supports countries that require maximum help and asks that countries find out which vaccines they need the most. These countries then apply for the necessary finances in order to pay for the vaccines. This in turn sustains the long-term relationship and ownership of the vaccination program. GAVI has also provided funds to medical companies for the development of immunization which has to be supplied to a country which is in dire need of them. It’s like a contract set between the medical company and the country, that they will supply the vaccinations for this period of time. GAVI, through their constant efforts have helped countless children live their life disease-free.

Image Note: this image is released under the creative commons license (source: DFID – UK Department for International Development/ Flickr)

The Dialogue project is carried out in traffic squares, public parks, shopping malls, museums etc. You can walk into the venue and read the attractive messages, see documentaries from great leaders and other citizens of the United States.  People are welcome to share their comments and messages with the organizers. A blank book is kept on a table at the venue. You can write your comments or quotes to share them with others. A few selected quotes from the book are even published on the standing screen to share them with all viewers.

If you like, you can bring the Dialogue to your community. To do so, you need to first find a crowded place in your town where the program can be hosted. Once you fix the venue, you can book your turn on the Dialogue’s website. The standing board is shipped to your location as per your request and you can conduct the program for two to four days in your city. Mike Garibaldi Frick, founder and organizer of the project, would be onsite to answer questions from the audience and media.

The Dialogue has been organized in several locations in the United States during different times of the year. This project was first launched in Union Square, San Francisco on January 12^, 2005. The popularity of the project accelerated its growth and the demand for it. Later on Dialogue was hosted in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Saint Louis, Eureka and in other parts of the United States.

You can explore the website of project Dialogue to go through the many quotes derived from the standing board. You can even submit your quotes on the website to share them with the organizers of the project.

Image Note: this image is released under the creative commons license (source:  L.C.Nøttaasen/ Flickr)