| Posted: Feb. 07 2010,08:39 |
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Postal address of organization/institution
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10 Via Antagora - 00124 Rome, Italy
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E-mail address of organization/institution
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s.tripi@tiscali.it
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Website address of organization/institution
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www.goodnewsagency.org
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Telephone of organization/institution
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+39 06 5091 7326
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PRIORITIES: All of the organization's domains of culture of peace activity |
EDUCATION FOR PEACE
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION
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TOP PRIORITY: The organization's most important culture of peace activity |
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION
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PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS: What
partnerships and networks does your organization participate in, thus
strengthening the global movement for a culture of peace? |
For
seven years many Rotary clubs in Italy have personally introduced Good
News Agency to the principals and professors of high schools and
colleges, an initiative which has led to the direct “recruitment” of
150 schools so far. Furthermore, this synergy gave origin to three
school competitions that involved 50 high schools. These competitions
addressed three major social themes: Declaration of Human Rights,
Learning and Practising Human Rights, and Water.
In 2008 the
campaign “Let’s take Good News Agency to the schools!” was also
launched internationally with a direct distribution to the 530 district
governors who coordinate the 32,000 Rotary clubs in 200 countries and
territories. Several positive feedbacks encourage us to persevere.
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ACTIONS: What activities have
been undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the ten years of the Decade? If you already made a
report in 2005, your information from 2005 will be included in the 2010
report.
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The
main focus of our activities has been to promote a positive flow of
information worldwide in order to educate public opinion and the youth
and to encourage them to cultivate international understanding and a
“global village” perspective based on unity in diversity and on sharing.
Thus
we have concentrated our activities mainly on the production and
distribution of Good News Agency, our e-newsletter that carries
positive and constructive news from all over the world related to
voluntary work, the work of the United Nations, non governmental
organizations and institutions engaged in improving the quality of life
– news that doesn’t “burn out” in the space of a day. An all volunteer
effort, Good News Agency is published in English on one Friday and in
Italian the next. Each issue includes about sixty articles of positive
news. Back issues are available at www.goodnewsagency.org
Our
mailing list has increased substantially over the past few years and
Good News Agency is now distributed free of charge, through Internet,
to 10,000 media and editorial journalists of daily newspapers,
periodical magazines, radio and television stations in 54 countries.
It is also distributed to 3,000 NGOs and 1,700 high schools,
colleges and universities.
The Ethical Code of the Media,
launched in 2001, has now been endorsed by over 150 eminent people and
service groups from many countries. The Code stresses that to
give voice also to the events which indicate in the world the response
of humanity to the greatest problems of our times is a responsibility
of the media which can no longer be put off. In this way public opinion
may be formed on the basis of a range of information corresponding to
all aspects of the reality in which we live. The Ethical Code of the
Media is posted on our web site in nine languages and its promotion is
ongoing, although limited by the scarcity of our available resources.
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PROGRESS: Has your organization
seen progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain
of action and in your constituency during the second half of the
Decade? |
As
was the case in the Seventies with the expression “world goodwill”, the
concept of ‘good news’ is now being recognized by the public opinion of
today, a public opinion that has begun to perceive the lack of positive
information and is now starting to express the wish for it. News items
of a positive nature are starting to be included in the reports of the
media, although they still represent a minority of the global flow of
information that the media publishes each day.
As far as the NGOs
are concerned: they continue to show strong appreciation for Good News
Agency and many of them distribute it through their own mailing lists
and/or post it in their web sites. On the basis of this “magic” of the
Internet, we estimate that the total distribution of our e-newsletter
has now reached the level of 200,000 copies, and this is probably still
a conservative estimate.
And the distribution to schools has been
favourably influenced by the increasing appreciation of Good News
Agency on the part of many teachers, who find it most useful for
discussion and further research with their students.
The demand for
good news has produced a positive situation for our publishing
activity. Started ten years ago with the work of three volunteers it
has now attracted the voluntary work of an editorial team of fifteen
people (four editors and eleven translators).
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OBSTACLES: Has your organization faced any obstacles to implementing the culture of peace and nonviolence? If so, what were they?
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The
initiatives carried out so far did not face any major obstacles –
actually, they prompted positive reactions which confirmed to us that
we were on the right track. However, the scarcity of financial
resources, if it persists, will negatively affect the plan indicated in
the following paragraph.
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization in the short, medium and long term to
promote a culture of peace and nonviolence? |
Official
Development Assistance on the part of major western countries is still
far from the 0.7% of the GDP that the North-South Commission indicated
in the Seventies. We think public opinion in those countries must be
nourished with a positive flow of information to give voice to the
responsibility of sharing which is at the basis of a culture of peace
and nonviolence. In this arena Good News Agency could play a stronger
role if it was published also in French, German, Spanish and, in a
second phase, also in Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese.
Although the
basic work for the English and Italian editions will continue to be
carried out on a voluntary basis, the other language editions will have
to be produced at a cost that we cannot meet.
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GLOBAL MOVEMENT: How do you think the culture of peace and nonviolence could be strengthened and supported at the world level??
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In
our opinion, the strongest prospect is represented by the innumerable
and potent synergies that can be established among peace actors within
civil society worldwide. In order to push this prospect forward, and to
favour its materialization, it would be helpful to spread
internationally as many examples as possible, laid down by field
service and with the indication of tangible examples of possible
synergies and partnerships.
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