NEWS

28 January, 2004 US TEACHERS, STUDENTS WIN GRANTS FOR SERVICE-LEARNING PROJECTS Youth Service America (YSA) announced today that 100 grants will be awarded to teachers and students through the State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Awards. Selected through a competitive process from over 850 applicants, grantees will use the funds to implement service-learning projects for the 16th Annual National Youth Service Day on April 16-18, 2004. From: Youth Service America   24 January, 2004 MORE AMERICANS HELPING PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS More and more individual Americans, local organizations, schools and U.S. companies are stepping up to help communities like Almazor in Uzbekistan and Peace Corps volunteers to improve the lives of others across the world. From: Peace Corps   20 January, 2004 PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN HAMID KARZAI REGISTERED Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai personally demonstrated the importance of the electoral process by registering himself as an eligible voter for the upcoming elections in his country. "As an Afghan this has been my old desire and now I have the voting card and will vote for the person who I like," President Karzai told reporters who had witnessed the registration. From: UN Volunteers   19 January, 2004 UK'S NORTH LANARKSHIRE CITIZENS LAUNCHING FORUM TO DEVELOP VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES Groups of local people who have participated in citizenship education programmes in UK's North Lanarkshire over the past three years are being offered an exciting opportunity to help form a unique Active Citizens Forum for the North Lanarkshire area. From: Active Citizens Forum   14 January, 2004 VOLUNTEERS BEING TRAINED AS DEVELOPMENT INSTRUCTORS IN DURBAN Volunteers are being trained in leading, teaching, mobilizing,organizing and taking responsibility of instructors in development projects. They are trained at KwaZulu-Natal Experimental College in Durban, an institution that is open to South Africans and to international citizens also who wish to contribute to South Africa's development.   12 January, 2004 18th IAVE WORLD VOLUNTEER CONFERENCE 18th World Volunteer Conference (www.iave2004barcelona.org), promoted by IAVE and on this occasion directed by FCVS, will be held in Barcelona from August 17 -21 2004 within the framework of the FORUM de las Culturas 2004. From: International Association for Volunteer Effort   9 January, 2004 VOLUNTARY SERVICES OVERSEAS RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS FROM INDIA Starting 2004 Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), an international development charity, will start recruiting VSO volunteers from India to work in other developing countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. VSO (www.vso.org.uk) will recruit volunteers through a programme called iVolunteer Overseas (www.ivoindia.org) which is a joint initiative with MITRA, a non-profit charity based in India. From: Voluntary Services Overseas   7 January, 2004 EL VOLUNTARIADO EN LAS UNIVERSIDADES ESPANOLAS En los ultimos anos las universidades espanolas se han dado cuenta de que, si bien su labor principal es formar buenos profesionales, tambien deben tomar parte activa en los procesos y las necesidades sociales. Tanto es asi que las universidades se han convertido en un puente entre los problemas sociales existentes y las inquietudes solidarias de muchos jovenes universitarios, y han incorporado a su organizacion estructuras de gestion y apoyo a la accion sociovoluntaria.   6 January, 2004 RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT GIVE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES TO IRAN EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS Over 1,000 patients have so far been treated by the emergency medical services established in Bam at the weekend by the Red Cross and Red Crescent and which include a 200-bed referral hospital which is replacing the facilities destroyed in the earthquake. From: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement