I just spent the morning at the Boys and Girls Club National Conference and wanted to share some highlights. Overall, it was really wonderful to meet many of the boys and girls staff from across Canada and get a better understanding of their priorities and program areas. Emily and I presented on Change That Clicks and generated a lot of interest in the program which is great! The best part of the worshop by far was the Internet Safety activity. We wanted BGCC staff to have a taste for how we are able to address some heavy topics with CTC but in a fun and dynamic manner :) The participants broke out into groups of 3 or 4 and wrote a short song about The Good and Bad one experiences in the digital world. I was super impressed with people's creativity, check it out:





There were some great ideas thrown around that could help us broaden our reach with CTC such as holding a Train The Trainer program for all interested clubs so they can lead the program singlehandedly. Our impact could be so powerful if we build the capacity of BGCC staff to provide educational programming using ICTs. Especially with the technological enhancements that will come through the CanTech Program, i feel our contribution needs to be more substantial than a one off program - we can influence the healthy institutionalization of ICTs. Beyond that, it is clear that our action-oriented approach and focus on community development are encouraged by BGCC staff who ultimately want to see their members driven to be contributors in society. I hope that we will see a greater exchange between our organizations in terms of how we enhance the leadership capacity of children and youth. I am also really interested in learning more about the training process for new BGCC staff in terms of effective ways to communication, interact and build healthy relationships with their members, how to resolve conflicts that arise and how to discipline in a non-threatening and non-oppressive manner. I have been thinking about the importance of equipping the CLC coordinators with anti-oppression and cross-cultural resolution training to build their ability to deal with difficult situations as they arise. What a perfect opportunity to exchange expertise with BGCC!

I had another inspiring experience listening to a speech by a young man who first joined the Boys and Girls Club as a member 11 years back. Currently working for the national office as the leadership program coordinator, he wanted to express his immense gratitude for the unwavering dedication of BGCC staff to raising the quality of life for the youth in their communities. His story was really touching…he felt that his life was completely turned around because of the opportunities and support of BGCC from day one. As he said, to empower youth there are two very important things: opportunity and believing. He felt that the BGCC staff always believed in him, and helped him realize his maximum potential. Today, he is coordinating a leadership program he took part in years ago and feels so honoured and privileged to shape the program that had the greatest impact on him. His speech was so genuine and it truly warmed my heart to know affecting change is as simple in believing and never losing hope in one another.

Hey team!

Just wanted to give you a brief update from Montreal. It's been a great trip so far. As soon as I arrived, I met with Yassir, Ilyes, and Sessi on the status of our Francophone engagement in Montreal. Though there has been definite progress in terms of outreach, partnerships, and online engagement, we are still facing certain barriers in reaching francophone youth as broadly as we would look. We decided that the best way for us to expand our networks in Montreal is to build strong partnerships with the more established francophone youth serving groups in the city. This might seem like common sense but the key is to identify groups that would benefit from the partnership as much as we would, groups that have shown interest in working with TIG or at least an interest in strengthening their programming in the ways that we could support. So we identified about 8 key groups we would like to develop partnerships with for Year 3 CLC. We also talked about the importance of networking at this stage as a way of increasing our visibility. We will be building a 3 month strategy together on Friday. It was so great to meet the three of them in person - we all share so much enthusiasm for our CLC work - i left feeling very inspired about what we can achieve in the coming year.

I then attended an Aboriginal Career Development dialogue on Monday and Tuesday. Various individuals and organizations were brought together to discuss the future of the Aboriginal work force and how greater cross-sectoral collaboration could help strengthen current efforts. We were such as diverse group, all adding a different piece to the puzzle. I realize that the work we do with the aboriginal program is such an important piece. It was expressed time and time again that empowering aboriginal youth to want to govern their lives should come before anything else, so the group had a lot of respect for the work we do and our efforts to cultivate a support network for aboriginal youth. Actually i was surprised to see how many people had already heard of TakingITGlobal! Many of them are members of the website and really like our newsletters, hehe. Anyway, being the only young person in attendance gave me many opportunities to offer a different perspective on things and share some of our best practices at TIG and other organizations we've partnered with. Everyone seemed really interested to learn of our approach, as a youth-led group, in terms of strategic planning, activity implementation, and focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.

One activity that resonated with all of us what a simple question that started off the day. What would a person look like if their human resource was fully developed? We ended up filling 8 pages of flip chart paper to draw a complete picture of what such a person would look like.
Off the top of my head, this list included: critical thinker, contributer to the community, compassionate, educated, inspiring, resilient, self-actualized and confident etc. During the rest of the dialogue, we kept the image of this person in mind. Even though we all have very different priorities in our work and use different approaches we all share this common vision of a person who has reached their full potential.

Anyway, this has gotten longer than i imagined. I'll stop there for now with more to come!

peace and love,
Kimia

This is getting ridiculous.. I don't know how much longer the Islamic government in Iran will get away with restricting people's freedom of choice and threatening those who voice dissent. Iranians are not just a bunch of cattle willing to be told how to act and how to think. They have the will to fight as they proved during the Iranian Revolution.

For those of you who might be interested, I read a fantastic book called We Are Iran, which is a compilation of Perisian blogs. Farsi is the fourth most frequently used language for keeping on-line journals, and Iran's political and social activists, prominent writers and journalists use online platforms to inform the Iranian public and the international community about the ill doings of the government, all in the name of Islam. It was an amazing read for me, and presented me with a whole segment of society in Iran who I wasn't familiar with since the political movement there is mostly underground.

Anyway, the latest on Iranian electio campaign below:


Iran bans make for flat election
By Jon Leyne
BBC News, Tehran

The election rally was a desultory affair. It was the last one as campaigning ended in Iran ahead of Friday's general election.

Leading conservative Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi Fard at a rally for the the United Front of Principalists
Conservatives are expected to cement control of the parliament
But barely 100 people gathered in the private car-parking space under a small block of flats.

The interior ministry would not let them hold the meeting in public.

Hardly any of the audience were women. They feel even more disconnected from politics than Iranian men.

And the party itself, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, has no candidates anyway.

They were all disqualified weeks ago, because of their alleged lack of Islamic credentials.

This is no fringe party. It had the single largest group of members in the Iranian parliament until just four years ago.

But this year the "reformists" - the more liberal-minded, pro-Western parties - have had their legs pulled from under them.

Many of their candidates have been disqualified, many more have not even bothered to put their names forward because they know there is no point.

Instead of howls of protest, the reformists seem to have lost the will to fight.

No talking to foreigners

When I approached one of the speakers at this rally, he said it was not "expedient" to speak to the BBC right now.

Hardly surprising when one reformist MP has been accused of treason, just for giving an interview to the Voice of America.

Another was criticised simply for speaking to the German ambassador.

Reformists hand out leaflets on a Tehran street
Reformists have not vanished but they appear defeated in advance

The reformists have not found a way to fight back against a system that now seems stacked against them.

Many of their supporters will simply not go out and vote in the parliamentary elections on Friday. In fact, here in the smart suburbs of north Tehran it's hard to find anyone who is going to vote.

Out in the more conservative provinces and in the villages it may be different. But even there, many of those who put their hopes in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the presidential elections nearly three years ago are disillusioned, particularly over his handling of the economy.

Mixed meassge

State television has been broadcasting stirring music and pictures of happy voters. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been telling Iranians it is their Islamic duty to vote.

Foreign governments and international media, including the BBC, have been attacked for trying to undermine this patriotic effort.

Party worker hands out election leaflets in Teheran
Some leaflets were handed out but campaigning was half-hearted

Yet the government itself is also sending mixed messages. Most election posters have been banned. The official campaign only lasted a week - including one day which was a public holiday.

The election itself is being held less than a week before the country shuts down for the Iranian new year holiday of Norouz. At the moment, most Iranians are more interested in shopping than politics.

On the streets of Tehran, there has been almost no evidence an election is about to happen.

Conservative or conservative

The suspicion is that the authorities are in two minds about what sort of turnout they want.

They need enough voters to endorse the legitimacy of what they still insist is a democratic process.

But too high a turnout might encourage those who have given up on the government to go out and register their protest, if they can find a like-minded candidate who has not been disqualified.

Some observers mischievously suggest the turnout has already been decreed as a safe 51% - the same as last time.

Maybe that is unfair. But the result certainly seems entirely predictable.

Control of parliament is almost certain to remain with the conservatives, or "principalists" as they prefer to call themselves - how can you be a conservative and a revolutionary at the same time, after all?

Precisely which of the conservatives will win is a more complicated question - fiendishly complicated in fact.

There are five main groupings or "lists" battling for seats. But many candidates have been endorsed by two or more groups.

Some candidates are even standing for apparently opposing groupings.

How voters are expected to make their choice is not clear.

But the evidence of this parliamentary election is that that choice is increasingly limited, and increasingly unimportant.

Creating Local Connections (CLC) Canada - Edmonton Trip – Jan 29 – Feb 1st ‘08
The last few days of my trip were spent in Edmonton with the CLC’s Alberta Youth Engagement Coordinator, Jessie-Lee Langille. It was really a pleasure to see Jessie-Lee in action, and have greater insight into the time commitment that coordinators put into organizing each of their events! Jessie-Lee had organized 5 CLC-related activities in the course of one week, and I was able to attend 4 of them:
1) Address Global Challenges – Open Forum on arts-based activism, held during International Development Week (IDW) at UAlberta.
With the aim of exhibiting artwork from the global gallery, Jessie-Lee ran a global gallery contest with Laura’s help. The theme was Addressing Global Challenges (which was also the overriding theme of IDW at UAlberta), using art to showcase what young people were doing worldwide to address global challenges. She then exhibited the contest submissions along with other global gallery submissions, and results of a local MDG mural project from 2007 that TakingITGlobal partnered on (you can find this collection on the global gallery). It was really great to see the brilliance of the global gallery in print! Participants were asked to take part in a draw by selecting their favourite art which motivated people to critically look at each piece. Jessie-Lee started the open forum with a powerpoint introducing TakingITGlobal and the role of the global gallery in engaging youth in social activism.
2) Networking meeting
One of the aims of the CLC Canada program is to support existing networks by introducing the TIG tools and providing the necessary training. Furthermore, in communities where there are no existing networks, some coordinators are holding meetings to bring groups together and encourage collaboration and sharing of best practices.

Jessie-Lee held her first networking meeting, having realized that no real coalition or network exists in Edmonton. It was a great turnout with members from 8 community groups present. It was amazing to see how many groups were environmentally-focused, but were seeking opportunities to connect with other non-enviro-related groups in the social and/or youth sector.
There was even a foundation at the table (who showed up unexpectedly) wishing to identify groups who were seeking funding for their youth and eco-focused programming. All members were open to sharing resources with one another, and the representative from a government-offered anti-violence program has followed up with me regarding the LVVL program. Jessie-Lee and I spoke about the TIG tools that other networks are using to strengthen their communications and as a ongoing platform for resource sharing. They was definitely a lot of interest in finding ways to integrate local sites with TIG’s to allow for events sharing and so on. So that’s something I will follow up with mike on. Jessie-Lee did a fantastic job of facilitating the meeting, and is very keen on helping with the establishment of a permanent network in Edmonton.
3) NGO Fair – We manned a TakingITGlobal booth at a NGO fair at UAlberta, during which I was able to meet with all the other participating groups and inform them of TIG and particularly the Browse Resources section where they could promote their organization and opportunities. Furthermore, I met one young lady at our booth who had so many questions around how to connect with specific groups who were working in Kashmir, and how to become more active in her community. Turns out she is moving to Toronto at the end of February and plans to come visit us at the TakingITGlobal office!
4) !TIG Training with newly formed student coalition at UAlberta! Jessie-Lee joined a new student coalition group that was very keen on developing a strong communications strategy. Naturally, they were very intrigued to hear about the tools offered on TIG and were committed to using our platform for their communications. So, we scheduled a training during my visit where coalition members were given a brief orientation on the site and the keys tools that were relevant to their coalition: TIG profiles, TIG groups, project pages, and organizational profiles. Though it takes quite some time to establish a network on the TIG site, let alone building a good comprehension of how to navigate TIG, the coalition members were patient and understood the long term benefits of “institutionalizing” TIG at the onset.

The important part of the trip was having a chance to sit down with Jessie-Lee and hear her reflections on both what she has been able to accomplish and gained on a professional level since joining CLC, as well as the various challenges she has faced carrying out her role. We outlined several ideas for strategic developments for year 3, as well as more immediate steps that could be taken to better support the coordinators. I am truly grateful to have such a dedicated staff on the CLC team, and I want to recognize the fact that Jessie-Lee has taken certain steps in her position that will have a broad impact on the CLC program. For example, she has developed a facilitator’s guides for the Climate Change Guide To Action that includes a powerpoint and student worksheets, all of which can be adopted by the other coordinators. involvement of university interns (working with CLC for credit) and approach to partnership his was developed with host organization, Alberta YouthVOLUNTEER!, the ED having had teaching experience. Furthermore, she has made an agreement with the Global Education Network at UAlberta to take on a few university interns who will be facilitating CLC workshops for school credit! Thank you for taking so much initiative and representing us so well  You rock! Check her out at http://profiles.takingitglobal.org/jesslangille. Oh, and she was recently interviewed by the Centre for Health Promotion at the University of Alberta. Click here to read the story!

Country Fun! My three week trip ended fabulously at a cowboy-style dance club in Edmonton. I was joined by my two favorite people in town, Gus (Year 1 Alberta Coordinator) and Jessie-Lee (his successor). We had a lot of fun and I have to say, I really dig the line dancing. Woohoo!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to thank you for your insightful blogs!!
It is your stories that capture the essence of what our generation is capable of... thank you.

I wanted to reflect on something lynne said in her latest blog that put a smile on my face:.

The world is HUGE.
But with TIG,
it seems like such a small, small world.

I feel the same way...



p.s. liked this image, because it represents a moment in time when we all have to decide what kind of life we want to lead - because a memorable life doesn't come without its struggles. So kudos to each of you for choosing the road less travelled...

Creating Local Connections (CLC) Canada, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Jan 22-27th By Kimia Ghomeshi and P.J. Partington
Since CLC was launched in 2006, I have been corresponding with our CLC project partner in Yellowknife (Centre for Northern Families), about various opportunities for TakingITGlobal in the Northwest Territories. Arlene Hache, the Executive Director, is convinced that the knowledge sharing and sense of community that is made possible with the internet is the answer to many of the challenges facing NWT’s youth (as described below). In a nutshell though, the geographical isolation of communities has resulted in a lack of cohesion and poor accessibility to social services. Arlene feels that the opportunities and self-directed learning that is made possible through information technology can and has created a great sense of empowerment amongst NWT’s youth. She believes that the adoption of TIGed and TakingITGlobal in general can have an unprecedented impact on isolated communities in NWT, so she has been seeking potential partners who would be interested in implementing TIG programming territory-wide.
Though some groups were incredibly responsive to the idea of partnering with TIG, many others that heard about us through the grape vine were not fully comfortable working with an organization that did not have a local presence. So P.J. and I decided to pay Yellowknife a visit in hopes of making a lasting impression.  With the support of the Centre for Northern Families youth coordinators, we schedule several meetings with youth serving organizations in the city. We also held a climate change workshop with youth organizers to plan the beginnings of a climate change youth movement in the territory.

And I have to mention the cute Bed and Breakfast that we stayed at amongst tons of Japanese tourists visiting NWT to see the Northern lights (it’s a huge tourist attraction!).
We managed to make it out to Great Slave Lake for a few walks and snowshoeing fun in -50 temperatures. Unfortunately all dog sledding and snowmobiling tours were completely full so we’ll have to save that for the next trip.

Overall, we felt that our visit was incredibly necessary for giving a face to TIG and presenting in detail the various programs that we offer. We had several requests to return and do more workshops, presentations, and to develop some territory-wide initiatives as described below. We could easily book a good 10 presentations/workshops on our next trip, which is super exciting! Furthermore, we gained much insight into the complexity of obstacles facing NGOs who have placed youth development as a priority. With a high school drop-out rate of ~50% (the majority of whom are aboriginal youth), many organizations are committed to providing services and programming targeting marginalized youth outside of the education system. But they are having extreme difficulties reaching the youth they wish to support. Practically every organization we spoke to shared similar ideas on what the ‘root’ of the problems were:
- High school curriculum – It is not culturally-sensitive to the aboriginal population (teaching mechanisms are counter-intuitive to how aboriginal youth are “taught” in their households, programs taught in English and not their native language, the lack of interaction with nature and spiritual components, etc)
- Domestic situation - Many aboriginal families are unstable, with alcoholism and other addictions being rampant especially in rural communities. Thus children are not well supported by their parents/guardians and in many cases kicked out of their homes.
- Education - Many youth are expelled from the school in their community and not permitted to return even after attending youth programs within correctional facilities. Furthermore, there are no transitional programs available to youth who have “graduated” from a correctional facility with hopes of becoming a respected member of society. They leave the correctional facility with literally nowhere to turn. So they end up back on the streets and without a healthy support network. - Lack of motivation - Many aboriginal youth come from disenfranchised families, generations back, and have never been “told” or shown that they can have a better life than that afforded to their parents. - Aboriginal youth are caught between two worlds – many cannot speak their native language, and language is central to feeling a part of any culture. Yet, they definitely have not conformed to the Canadian culture and many feel a great resentment toward the Canadian government and societal structure for the hundreds of years of oppression they have faced. However, many social and youth services provided are run by non-aboriginal peoples so some youth feel a reluctance in taking advantage of these services.
- Isolation – rural communities in NWT are far removed from the services (education, health, youth programming) that can be accessed in Yellowknife. It is in these communities where the majority of NWT’s aboriginal population resides.
- Intergenerational relationships – we hear time and time again that young people are lacking healthy relationships with adults and elders in their communities. For aboriginal youth in particular, these relationships could help to raise their cultural awareness and sense of belonging and pride for their heritage. (In fact, during my social change workshop in Yukon, 3 aboriginal youth said that they want to learn more about their culture from a reliable and relatable source, such as their elders, and not from high school teachers who don’t share their heritage). Anyhow, there is a huge challenge that is usually overlooked in the south when we speak about youth-adult relationships, because for northern communities it is in many cases the adults/elders who are lacking the will and mental capacity to acknowledge their invaluable role as mentors to the youth in their community. More resources need to be invested in providing services such as focus groups, reconciliation programs, and rehabilitation centres in smaller communities.
- Lack of accessible youth centres – there is only one drop-in youth centre in Yellowknife that provides a safe space and bedding for youth. However, it is funded and run by a faith-based group so several youth have expressed their discomfort with regularly using this centre because of references made to religion and a need to adopt religious values. For TakingITGlobal, it is important that we consider these many systemic barriers facing youth when designing programs for these regions. One thing that was echoed by all organizations is the success they’ve had with arts-based initiatives and so (not surprisingly) the Language as Violence, Violence as Language workshop, and the Express Yourself section of TIG were big time favorites for everyone. P.J. and I are really confident that we can have a great impact in NWT by introducing the appropriate programs, such as LVVL, TIGed, and Change That Clicks, and climate change-focused projects. There are some organizations eager to have us back in late March/early April who are currently seeking funding to have us back so our fingers are crossed! After having successfully met with the groups and schools outlined below, we look forward to connecting with youth more directly on our next trip.

*Climate Change Workshop*

Our Climate Change Workshop took place on Thursday, January 24th. Promotions were arranged by the inimitable Palesa Yaxley with the Centre for Northern Families. Posters were put up in key locations (eg. Javaroma, Frostbyte, and at the Schools) and our flyer, including the TIG link, glowed in giant neon on the YK1 District School Board’s illuminated sign on Franklin St, the main thoroughfare. Our name in lights!!
Though the promotions were very thorough, they started only 3 days prior to our arrival. This was due to staffing issues at the Centre. Unfortunately for attendance, the timing of the workshop itself was also poor, as students were just finishing their exams. However, the consummate pioneering flexibility that has defined TIG allowed us to conduct a highly successful workshop all the same. Through this flexibility the focus of the workshop shifted from being a session with youth on starting a local group to being a brainstorming and support session where we focussed on identifying the challenges of youth engagement in Yellowknife, identifying a leader (Gilly), and drawing up an action plan for the group’s development into the Spring. It was a small workshop in terms of size, but it was a representative and thoughtful group. A teacher from Sir John high school participated, as well as Jessica Simpson, founder of the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance, several young staff from the Centre and other interested youth, making for some great discussion and information sharing. It was also a great chance to set up a support and resource network for Gilly, and the groundwork has now been laid for future successful sessions in the high schools and community. All in all, the workshop, despite its small size and surprise form, was a great success. Our discussions on the barriers to youth engagement will be particularly helpful to making TIG’s work in the territories effective. We look forward to working with Gilly and Lauren as they drive their action plan forward. Judging by our other meetings, it will be a very welcome initiative.
Thanks for reading! Kimia and P.J.

My Yukon adventure has come and gone! Here's some highlights from my trip:

The Youth Take Over The World Conference, hosted by BYTE, served as a great opportunity to meet Yukon youth, mostly from Whitehorse but many from other communities as well. Kenny (Yukon Youth Engagement Coordinator for the CLC Canada program) and I facilitated an activism workshop called Viva La Revolution together with Sophie, a local youth who specializes in communications for social change. Considering the demographic, and the fact that almost all the youth who attended would be considered disengaged or underengaged, the workshops were a real challenge! The three of us recognized that we needed to shift our objectives for the workshops. Rather than focusing on building action plans as we had initially planned, we aimed to inspire the participants to voice their opinions about the issues they face and see their communities face, and to realize their potential in creating meaningful change. We had to learn to really present our information in a way that the youth could relate to. So much of the discussion revolved around questions, stories, and issues that were identified and shared by the participants themselves. Environmental issues and racism/discrimination were some of the key things that were raised. In each workshop, we felt that 1-2 youth left feeling that they were capable of influencing change on some level and that to us was an achievement! Kenny will be following-up with them before their initial excitement fizzles out :)

I spoke a lot with the MCs for the conference who work for Power of Hope, an international organization that aims to empower youth through the arts. Their facilitation techniques were super so I asked them if they offer any trainings. They are organizing a week long training in BC in the summer so I’m definitely looking into that opportunity to learn from the pros! Check them out at http://powerofhope.org/.

We also set up a booth which was a great way to speak to Yukon youth about TakingITGlobal, show them the site, and help some of them sign up on the spot! A really exciting part of the site for many of them was the Express Yourself section and the fact that they could connect with other youth around the world.

The conference ended on a high note with a concert featuring the Sam Roberts Band – the band’s first time in the Yukon! It’s not often that musicians book concerts up north so it was definitely exciting for the youth.

CBC Interview
Prior to the conference, Kenny, Sophie and I were interviewed by CBC radio who wanted to know more about TakingITGlobal, the youth social justice movement (locally and internationally), and our goals for the social change/activism workshop. What’s cool is that the entire interview (10-15 minutes) was aired and a handful of people at the conference approached us about it!

Be The Change group
At one of the local high schools, a social action club recently started up called Be The Change. As Kenny explained it, a group of students were so inspired by a Be The Change day that happened at their school in fall ’07, that they decided to start up a club that takes action on issues facing students in the school as well as acting in international issues. Before Christmas, as an example, they prepared and sent hampers full of school supplies to an elementary school in Afghanistan were was lacking the proper supplies (pencils, paper, binders) to learn. Kenny will be meeting with the group on an ongoing basis to support them in create action plans for future projects. I attended the Be The Change’s meeting last week and presented TakingITGlobal with Kenny. We went over the Guide To Action methodology with them and suggested doing a climate change workshop with them in the future. It was really nice to see how supportive their vice-principal is, who had some really cool ideas for upcoming projects, and is very much their mentor who helps to drive Be the Change. It was clear that the students really respect and look up to her.

Innovators program
I had an interesting meeting with Heather Dundas from the Innovators in the Schools program that aims to make science and technology fun. Heather was very keen is helping us to identify suitable schools and teachers for the workshops we offer, and she was especially interested in the climate change guide to action workshop. She also showed us a high school network that was recently created online that we could surely hook into to promote the TIG site. She also showed us some national science magazine for youth that might consider free advertising for TIG. Essentially there were many opportunities to connect, so Kenny will be following up with Heather once he does some more research.

Kenny rocks!
Finally, I have to say that Kenny really really inspired me on this trip. He is so well connected with the Whitehorse youth community and he has built relationships with many youth who clearly love his company! Everywhere we went – people knew Kenny! He even ditched me for the Boys and Girls youth on my last day in Whitehorse, hehe. He is super dedicated to his role as a mentor and friend and makes sure he is always approachable. And he listens and learns from them as much as they do from him. I really admire this in Kenny and he made me think very seriously about the importance of realizing our roles as mentors when talking about youth empowerment. It’s not as simple as giving 45 minutes of our time in a workshop, change takes persistence and dedication. It means building trust and proving your loyalty to your peers. For Kenny, this role is innate. The time spent learning and laughing with Kenny was priceless – thanks for the good times!!

Good times
On the topic of good times - On Sunday before my flight out of Whitehorse, Jessica Thiessen (Founder of Arctic Youth Network and CLC Advisor) took me down the Alaskan highway to one of Yukon’s most beautiful landscapes called Hanes Junction where a vast set of mountains are met by a UNESCO heritage site, the Kluane National Park. The mountains were so incredibly amazing that I was left speechless during most of the trip, so needless to say I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end my Yukon experience - Yukon is a goldmine for nature lovers 
I really look forward to spending more time exploring the territory on my next visit.

Thanks for reading!

Kimia

Can i just say that i'm soooo excited about the new translations tool on TIG! My latest blog is available in all 12 site languages. How cool is that? This is going be an amazing way to connect with TIG members worldwide. Plus, this definitely gives me incentive to blog more!

Thanks TIG!

Kimia

Hey all,

I am currently on a Western Canada trip, visiting CLC Canada coordinators and project partners in British Columbia, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, and Alberta. I'll be away for three weeks total and plan to be back in Toronto around February 5th. I am really excited to have a chance to meet some of our local partners and to attend and facilitate workshops with the CLCers. For more on the CLC project, go to http://projects.takingitglobal.org/clccanada.

On Monday January 13th, I took part in a networking meeting in Vancouver that was put on by Bob Neubauer, the CLC BC Coordinator and Shannon at Vancouver Community Network, our BC host organization. It went really well, with 15 people (11 groups) in attendance including City of Vancouver Youth Outreach Team, Gab Youth Services, Youth Spot Employment, and Reel Youth. Many of the groups had also attended the Youth Jam that occurred the previous year which was a meeting of youth workers seeking to build a knowledge-sharing network. Though there was incredible enthusiasm at the Jam, everyone lost touch, and essentially no network was formed. So many Jam participants came to this networking meeting with determination to build and SUSTAIN a Vancouver network of youth serving organizations. The meeting consisted of each group highlighting key projects happening with their organization and areas in which they are seeking support. There were many connections and resource sharing that happened right then and there which was really exciting to see. We spoke a lot about how to ensure that this network structure could be maintained and that communications would be ongoing between meetings (that were decidedly set for every 2 months). Bob and I spoke a lot about the types of online tools available that how other networks are using them. VCN will be launching a youth portal in the next few weeks that will include a directory of youth organizations. They agreed to build a backend to the site where the Vancouver network could continue internal discussions. All network members were in full support of using technology as a means of staying connected and looked to Shannon and Bob for further guidance on this. Great job Bob! To reach Bob, email him at bc@clc.takingitglobal.org.


I'm currently in Whitehorse and lovin it! It's really beautiful, the downtown is surrounded by mountains and Yukon College is atop a mountain looking down on the city. Having with the BYTE team (Bringing Youth Towards Equality is the CLC host organization in Yukon) has been really nice and everyone has been super welcoming. BYTE is having their annual conference this weekend, called Youth Take Over The World. Youth from across the Territory come to Whitehorse for this happening event.

They've got workshops happening throughout, musical performances including the Sam Roberts Band and Battle of the Bands, as well as a Carnival and an Arts show. So all youth serving groups in the Yukon as well as local radio/newspapers, schools and the College are in prep mode for the conference.

I have also met with Amanda Graham, the Yukon College coordinator for the university of the Arctic. UArctic is a network of universities from the Arctic to have come together to design a program (providing both online/offline courses) that focuses on life in the circumpolar world.
The program also allows for exchanges between northerners so that learn from their peers and experience life in other regions of the Arctic. We had a great discussion, looking at different ways TIG and UArctic could partner and support one another. UArctic students have often mentioned that they would like to stay more connected with one another in order to continue sharing their learning. Kenny actually took a UArctic course and felt strongly that the TakingITGlobal online community would be an incredible platform through with UArcticers could maintain their ties and further their learning. Furthermore, we spoke about possible building a TIGed module and/or understanding issues section that would act as an introduction to the circumpolar world. Currently TIG doesn't have any specific content on this region. UArctic has several academics and students from around the Circumpolar region who could help to develop such modules. In fact, they are currently revising their courses and are looking for opportunities to build new content.
Finally, we talked about integrating a social change/community engagement into one of their modules since this isn't currently touched on in their courses. TIG could develop a short presentation for this which would be a great entry point to connect with the students.

Overall, Amanda was increasingly more excited about the several opportunities that could arise from our partnership. Her suggestion was that we start by becoming members of UArctic (she believes we would meet the criteria), in order to connect with all parties involved in the network. She also suggested other programs that we should approach regarding a similar partnership including Northern Forum, Sudents on Ice, Australia/Antarctica exchange program, the IPY youth committees, APEC (young polar researchers who could support content development in this area), OOPIK, IISD Northern Intern program, U of Lampland Arctic Studies Centre, and Arctic-Portal.org (for cross-promotions). So clearly, I've got a lot of follow-up ahead of me! J Just as we were ending our meeting, I showed her some TIG magazines and our annual report - she was very impressed!

That's it for now, more updates to come soon!

Thanks for reading TIG!

Kimia

Check out the Fossil Of The Day Awards from the UNFCCC in Bali, Indonesia which are the daily awards of the top three countries that are blocking the negotiations on climate change. Tune into the Fossil of the Day Group to see who will be awarded each day.





Keep tuned for further videos. If you use Facebook join the Fossil Of The Day group at http://upei.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28103070144


And don't forget to attend the Global Youth Climate live chat this Sunday at 8.00 and 17.00 GMT, and chat with international youth climate change activists, live from the UN climate negotiations in Bali, Indonesia! Ask them your questions about the negotiations, youth action and strategy and hear their stories of the conference thus far. Activists from Australia, Canada, the US and Indonesia will be here to answer YOUR questions! On the day of the chat, go to http://www.takingitglobal.org/connections/chat/.

Best,
Kimia

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to send a quick update.

I am currently at the national YouthScape gathering in Montreal. What's YouthScape you might ask?

Well it's a national program also funded by McConnell, that aims to building resilient Canadian communities by engaging youth. There are five YouthScape communities and each has a convening or lead organization: Calgary (Child and Youth Friendly Calgary), Saskatoon (Communities for Children), Thunder Bay (Action for Neighborhood Change), Montreal (Boscoville) and Halifax (Heartwood Centre for Community Youth Development). Each community has designed its own unique program to engage young people -in a meaningful way - in their communities. Check out http://projects.takingitglobal.org/iicrd to learn more!

Anyhow, Eriel (aboriginal coordinator for CLC), Steve (Quebec Online Community Connector) and myself are attending the YouthScape meeting on behalf of TIG and the CLC program. TakingITGlobal is partnered with the International Institute for Child Rights and Development as the support team for YouthScape. TIG's role is to facilitate the national piece of YouthScape to building a learning community and supporting national communications between the YouthScape communities. We're doing that by helping them to effective use our online community and specifically the project pages to organize, mobilize, collaborate and share their growing knowledge with one another.

So... I'm super excited to be in Montreal right now and getting to meet everyone who makes up YouthScape across Canada. TIG's role will be to document all learnings at the gathering in the form of podcasts, video, blogs, photos, etc and train YouthScape folks on how to upload these resources to their project pages.

We've already began! Tonight was the welcoming session and afterwards we did 5 interviews, one person from each community, we asked what the one thing is that they are hoping to take away from this gathering/experience.

Everyone brings such different knowledge and experiences with them... i have already felt inspired by people's reflections on what it truly means to build, learn, share with one another. Philip Cook, the Executive Director of IICRD said that what he hopes to take away from the gathering is how you truly bridge youth empowerment efforts and community building... how is it that one can drive the other? The success of YouthScape really depends on their understanding of how the participation of youth, especially marginalized youth, is pivotal in community building...

Anyway, i'll have more updates over the next few days!

Cheers,

Kimia

Hey Everyone!

I would like to welcome 5 new staff members to the CLC team:

Karen Moores - Atlantic Online Community Connector
Jenny Mason - Nova Scotia Youth Engagement
Coordinator
Allison McLean - New Brunswick Youth Engagement
Coordinator
Dana Murray - Prairies Online Community Connector
Jonathan Reyes - West Coast Online Community Connector

These fantastic five has just finished their CLC weekend training today and are officially getting started this week!

We're looking forward to a great year with all of you. :)

Best,

Kimia

On some days, like last night, i get really overwhelmed watching the news, watching all the atrocities, murders, oppression, poverty, hunger...all the inhumanities taking place around the world. I felt so hopeless... and thought to myself... is the power the technology and media today that transcends borders actually helping anyone? Learning about what's happening in Burma right now, the hundreds (or thousands) of people detained, tortured even murdered, or the internal migrations happening in Iraq, or the ruthless Islamic regime in Iran who puts it's own high ranking clerics under house arrest who oppose the regimes inhumane practices that are incompatible with Islam... does having this knowledge give me power of some sort to make a difference. Sometime i can't help but feel that... we are ultimately powerless, that we sit and watch and feel the suffering of others and share our opinion with the world ... but that's all. If we consider ourselves an international community today that should be supporting and protecting the livelihoods of one another, ensuring that everyone is exercising their rights as human beings... if this is the power beholded to our now global community, then how is it that most of the world is in turmoil and we just sit back and watch?

I ask why... i know why... and it makes me feel so sad sometimes.

I want to help people in this life, we are all one family, but sometimes i just don't know how.

Questions: Which are the challenges, fields of action and priorities leading to the development of productive youth-inclusive projects in both the rural and the urban communities of the Americas’ region? Could you mention an example where such a project has flourished in your country and indicate the ingredients of its success?

What do you think? Here's my thoughts...

Challenges
- Accessibility to information and opportunities (poor transit/infrastructure, no central platform to learn about available resources)
- Lack of projects that appeal to those disengaged… or those “at risk”
- lack of relevancy of programs to address the needs of each local area’s youth community
- Lack of funding to offer more diverse activities and to expand programming outside of urban centres (most youth activity is urben-centric)
- Apathy
- T.V./Music/Media – essentially consumerism, youth become very wrapped up in this
- Lack of leadership opportunities
- Many youth from marginalized communities cannot afford to devote time to socially-minded project – many work from a young age
- Lack of decision-making power of young people who want to become more civically active in their community

Fields of action
- hands-on interactive projects – led by youth themselves
- Cultural activities, youth expression using multi-media tools, focus on global issues becoming more common, capacity-building is key (peer-to-peer)
- Online tools – meeting youth where they are
- Cross-cultural opportunities

Priorities
- Youth Empowerment
- creating a safe space for youth
- increasing youth skill-based capacity
- educational programs around local and global social issues (HIV/AIDS, MDGs, HIV/AIDS are some major topics of interest)
- peer-to-peer relationship-building, youth/adult partnerships, mentorship
- making connections, greater collaborations between youth initiatives to strengthen accessibility and quality of programming
-


Example of program…

Camp Fyrefly, Alberta, Canada

Camp fYrefly focuses on building and nurturing the leadership potential of youth from across Alberta in an effort to help them learn how to make significant contributions to their school, community, and home environments. The Camp is facilitated by educators, youth workers, and youth leaders who offer a wide range of powerful youth focused workshops and creative skills-building activities. The Camp is jam-packed with drama, music, writing, visual art, empowerment, reflection, anti-oppression work, personal growth opportunities, and in depth learning activities about specific youth social issues.

We will hold day and evening workshops with designated time set aside for personal reflection, community building, and social activities. Workshop topics include:


• Youth leadership
• confronting bias and dealing with diversity
• dating and relationship skills
• fighting oppression through art
• youth health and safety
• youth networking and self-esteem building
• nurturing ourselves and our knowledge
This is a program of “Out is In,” an organization committed to fighting homophobia through art. Camp Fyrefly is regarded very highly in Canada for several reasons. The topics covered are diverse, the environment is fun and inspirational, it is led by youth leaders from Alberta, and it is packed with innovative activities that build the creative abilities of participants. Most importantly, the camp focuses on youth empowerment and leadership opportunities in a very open and safe environment for marginalized groups, such as homosexual youth.