As people power in the streets and squares of North Africa and the Middle East topples the established order, IPS news agency is in Dakar, Senegal to report from the World Social Forum, the annual global gathering of social movements dedicated to building alternatives. Hundreds of thousands of activists and thinkers from around the world are expected in Dakar from 6 – 11 February. Daily reporting and podcasts from the event will be gathered at the IPS TerraViva WSF 2011 news site, with content in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Read more »

GLOBE Mexico Forum.

IPS Latin America organized a journalists workshop as a contribution to the GLOBE International Forum, a network of parliamentarians that aims to agree common legislative responses to the major global environmental challenges. The training workshop was held on 6 December, in Mexico City, in parallel to the 16th Meeting of the Parties (COP16) on climate change in Cancun.

The workshop gathered professional journalists from India, China, South Africa, Brasil, Mexico, Russia, Argentina and Colombia interacting with international and Mexican climate change experts who provided information on the parliamentarians meeting and COP16, and debated about the role of communication in front of the challenges presented by climate change. Read more »

IPS is also organizing a media workshop for journalists from G20 countries attending the GLOBE international legislators forum in Mexico DF from 3rd to 5th December.

IPS thanks COM +, UNESCO, FANRPAN and CCMP for their support.

Themba James Maseko, CEO, Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) South Africa and Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, African Monitor Founder and President.

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa addressed the IPS 2010 annual meeting in Madrid with a powerful keynote speech and a conclusion that Afro-optimism must replace Afro-pessimism as Africans themselves face up to and solve the challenges of the continent. The Archbishop is the founder of “African Monitor” an NGO dedicated to bringing African voices for African development. The public seminar on Thursday 25th November was jointly convened and hosted by IPS with AECID, the Spanish Agency for International Co-operation with around 200 journalists, researchers, activists and others in attendance. Francisco Moza Zapatero, the new director of AECID, and Federico Mayor, the Chair of the IPS Board, opened the meeting. Read more »

Maria Nazareth Farani Azevêdo, Brazilian Ambassador in Geneva and Carlos Roberto Tiburcio de Oliveira, special advisor to the Brazilian Presidency General Secretariat.

On the occasion of the South-South Expo in Geneva 22 – 26 November, IPS joined the South South Unit of UNDP to facilitate a communication meeting initiated and hosted by the Government of Brazil. This was the third time that a group of Southern and emerging countries have come together at the invitation of Brazil to reflect upon and exchange about South South flows of information and communication, and the role of the media. The first meeting took place in Rome in November 2009 and the second in September 2010 in New York. A total of twenty four countries have participated in the meetings to date. Read more »