GEN at United Nations

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GEN's activities at UN level in 2004:

SARD Initiative:

In March 2004 GEN sent delegates to Italy and provided updated information on the Major Group focal points to be included in SARD’s powerpoint and multi-media presentations during the International Forum on Partnerships for Sustainable Development. Our contribution was a “Sustainable Rural Development and Ecovillage Training Program” in partnership with the EcoEarth Alliance. Our SARD-related objectives included training 24 women eco-volunteers in the project area of IIRD in Aurangabad District in Marathwada region in India; training 200 NGOs working in the field of rural development in different parts of India in order to build their capacity for implementing programs based on sustainable livelihoods and multi-functional rural development; training government officials from the Asian Region and NGOs from around the world in an integrated, multi-sectoral approach to sustainable rural community based development; establishing a resource centre for NGOs working in sustainable livelihoods; and supporting local and national advocacy and educational activities in India. GEN’s project is now one of about 15 or 20 that is being included as an indicative project or success story.

GEN in partnership with the Ecovillage Training Center in the United States hosted participants from UK, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Bangladesh, Congo, Uruguay, Brazil, Germany and the USA for training along the lines of the Findhorn UNITAR program. This was the sixth annual program of this type at the Ecovillage Training Center since 1994.

August 2000:

A delegation of eight members represented GEN in the 53rd Annual DPI/NGO Conference at the UN Headquarters, New York. Theme of the Conference: “Global Solidarity: The Way to Peace and International Cooperation”. GEN sponsored the midday side-event “Ecovillages: Providing a Model for Sustainable Living and Global Solidarity.”

October 2000:

UNESCO agreed to institutionally endorse the international conference “Spirit of Learning: Soul in Education,” under GEN auspices, which intended to strengthen the international collective effort toward an education containing universal values. We were authorised to use the International Year for the Culture of Peace logo in our printed materials and we were very pleased to host amongst our presenters Ms Ibtissam Al Bassam, Director of Teachers Section at UNESCO, and Mr. Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, Director of the World Bank in Geneva.
October 2000: The Ecovillage Network of the Americas, a charter member of GEN, provided training workshops in natural building, appropriate technology and sustainable village design to war refugee populations in rural Colombia.

Events at UN level:

2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
sideevents and more…

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