ANSA-EAP

The Senate has passed Senate Bill 3308  or the Freedom of Information bill on second reading last December 7, 2009. Once passed into law, the bill would be one of the strongholds of the right to information in the Philippines, which would consequently aid citizens and citizen groups in advocating for for transparent, accountable government transactions.

The 2nd Small Grants Call (January-November 2010) from Global Consortium on Security Transformation (GCST) has been issued for researchers, professionals, activists or practitioners under the age of 35 years from civil society organizations in developing countries. Academic research, policy briefs or working papers can be developed by selected candidates on subjects related to the processes of transformation of the security sector. “The goal of this initiative is to promote new foci and outlooks on security, as well as to open spaces and link new actors to the debate, reflection, and research of the subject.”

Organizations which have been implementing youth-focused programs can apply in the current round of grant cycle of the Starbucks Foundation. Nonprofits in the US and NGOs in other countries can apply for this funding opportunity.

The International House of Japan and the Japan Foundation are currently accepting applications for the 2010 Asia Leadership Fellow Program (ALFP). The ALFP is an opportunity for individuals working in the civil society/NGO sector in Asia to gain increased professional understanding about related issues through workshops, seminars, the retreat meeting, field trips and the public symposium. The Program will be held in Tokyo, Japan for a period of nearly one month and has been scheduled from 12 September to 13 November 2010. The theme of the program is “Asia in Dialogue: Visions and Actions for a Humane Society.”

For more information, visit this link.

The European Commission (EC) is requesting NGOs to apply for its new funding opportunity made available under the theme of “Good Health for All.” The adoption of ‘Programme for Action on the Crisis in Human Resources for Health (HRH) in Developing Countries 2007-2013’ in 2006 by the EC led to a deeper understanding of the critical issues faced in the area of human resources to achieve better healthcare globally.  There are a number of challenges faced by the public sector in planning, recruiting, training and managing training health personnel, which in turn is creating widening gaps in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. However, it has also been acknowledged that in such a situation, NGOs and other civil society organizations can rise above from their current levels of training only health workers to actually make interventions “to support and improve national health workforce strategies on pay and working conditions for HRH, on effective motivating factors, on equitable access to services and on putting the issue of HRH into the wider context of health system strengthening.”

Anyone can stand to win over $10,000 worth of prizes by joining three categories for the best videos about climate change in Asia and the Pacific.

OPEN DOORS 2009: A Regional Forum on Procurement Monitoring as a Social Accountability Tool Advancing Citizen's Engagement with Government

With goals of fostering a community of social accountability practitioners, the ANSA-EAP Regional Forum on Procurement Monitoring will be held in Hong Kong on 9-11 November 2009.

Dialogue, not Dissemination

Open Doors 2009 is predicated on the idea that generating information on social accountability tools, tales and techniques is essential—but having a more or less concrete sense of community of and for SAc practitioners is just as important a goal. In fact, much merit can be found in contributing to community-building efforts through openly communicating within and through the group.