[alt-media-res] Fw: [Members - IFIWN] The IFIWatchnet Newsletter - December 2006

Fri Dec 15 10:05:12 GMT 2006

The IFIWatchnet Newsletter - December 2006
----- Original Message ----- 
From: IFIWatchnet 
To: members at lists.ifiwatchnet.org 
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 4:10 AM
Subject: [Members - IFIWN] The IFIWatchnet Newsletter - December 2006


            If you have trouble viewing this e-mail, please follow this link...  
           
            December 15th., 2006  

                        Dear IFIWatchnet members,

                        Various IFIwatchnet participants have suggested to us that we need to produce a regular newsletter to all IFIwatchnet network members. This is not another bulletin about IFIs, but a newsletter about our own networking activities, and how people are using and can use IFIwatchnet to improve how they share relevant campaign and advocacy information.The newsletter will include, in maximum 2 pages: 

                          a.. Details of one IFIwatchnet feature 
                          b.. Feedback on how IFIwatchnet has helped broaden the reach of member documents, events, etc. 
                          c.. Statistics on the most active members, most downloaded documents, etc 
                          d.. News from members on their communications; 
                          e.. Time- and money- saving technology and communications tips (beyond
                          IFIwatchnet). 
                        We will produce the newsletter every two months in a way that does not take a lot of time to produce and enriches rather than distracts from our work.

                        We would like to members to contribute. You may direct information that you would like to see published in the newsletter to newsletter at ifiwatchnet.org.

                        Ten days before each edition, we will send a reminder. 

                        The first edition of the newsletter is here. We hope you find it interesting and look forward to your feedback.

                        Alex Wilks
                        Chair of the Steering Group of IFIWatchnet
                       

                  IFIWatchnet people

                  There have been changes among Regional Animators (RAs), the people in certain member groups which help ensure IFIwatchnet is known and used by NGOs in their region.

                    a.. Romil Hernández is the RA for Asia, based at NGO Forum on the ADB in The Philippines. E-mail: romil at forum.adb.org 
                    b.. Mandla Hadebe took over from Fiona Chipunza as African RA based at Afrodad, in Zimbabwe. E-mail: mandla at afrodad.co.zw 
                    c.. David Hoffman is the new RA for Eastern Europe, based at CEE Bankwatch's office in the Czech Republic. We would like to thank Klára Schirová, also from Bankwatch, for all her wonderful efforts and hard work as RA since the beginning of IFIWatchnet. E-mail: david.hoffman at bankwatch.org 
                    d.. Pieter Jansen, from Both Ends in the Netherlands will be the new RA for Western Europe. He is taking on Lucy Baker's position (from the Bretton Woods Project). Again, we would like to thank Lucy for her contribution and vision, hard work and guidance through all the years that took to build this wonderful network. E-mail: pj at bothends.org 
                    e.. Zoe Young, is the main administrator of the video section of IFIWatchnet. E-mail: zoe at esemplastic.net 

                    An IFIwatchnet feature explained

                    This year various technical improvements have been made to IFIwatchnet. including:

                    - Custom calendar feeds for events
                    - Who's in town feature
                    - Document upload feature
                    - Dedicated blogs to cover IADB, WB and IMF meetings
                    - New e-mail list serve for RAs and Steering Group. 

                    This newsletter explains what is the IFIwatchnet blog and how it was used for the Bank/Fund Annual meetings in Singapore. A blog is a weblog, a simple web technology which lists articles by date. Articles are often written in an informal, chatty, style. In this case we established a new section of the IFIwatchnet site to which members could post information and intelligence about the Bank/Fund meetings. The blog was an important means to spread civil society information and views about the Singapore government's banning and harassment of civil society groups (mainly IFIwatchnet members). The blog was used not only by many civil society groups, but also by journalists from Reuters and other news agencies. 


                  New website technology and testing phase

                  We have decided to move the website to a new content management system (CMS). We have nearly finished the first version of the new website. We will send you the link on XX December and will appreciate your feedback by YY January. We will also be testing it ourselves during this time. 

                  The shift is to make it easier for you all to post material and to ensure that we can take advantage of several recent improvements in web technologies. We have decided - in discussions with the IFIwatchnet Steering Group - that ActionApps, the technology developed by the Associate of Progressive Communications which we have used so far has not advanced fast enough. After great consideration, Drupal (www.drupal.org) was selected as the best suite of tools to keep IFIWn's technology updated for several years to come. The site conversion involves a delicate conversion of data and resources, but we believe that the future of the network is intimately connected to the correct choice of technology now.

                  We would deeply appreciate your feedback on the draft site once we send the link.

                   Statistics

                  Top 10 most accessed documents

                  October, November and December 2006

                    a.. Mark Weisbrot, CEPR: Ecuador's Rebellious Presidential Candidate May Have a Point 
                    b.. ITeM: IFIs LA Monitor Newsletter - October, 2006 
                    c.. Mandla Hadebe, Afrodad: Export Credit Agencies Support White Elephant Projects. ECAs Taking African Countries For a Ride 
                    d.. International Rivers Network: Internal investigation shows World Bank water project destroys livelihoods in Pakistan 
                    e.. UDN: Uganda Scores Low on Open Budget Index 
                    f.. Graham Saul: WB energy and poverty framework sells climate and people short 
                    g.. World Bank: Bringing equity into development (World Bank board note 28 june 2006) 
                    h.. Bretton Woods Project: Highlights of UK NGO meeting with Paul Wolfowitz 13 November 2006, World Bank London offices, 10 - 11 am 
                    i.. Mark Weisbrot, Luis Sandoval, Belén Cadena: Ecuador's Presidential Election: Background on Economic Issues 
                    j.. Earthworks, BIC, BWP, CRBM: Tarnished gold - mining and the unmet promises of development 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


_______________________________________________
Members mailing list
Members at lists.ifiwatchnet.org
http://lists.ifiwatchnet.org/mailman/listinfo/members
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/alt-media-res/attachments/20061215/9fbc42b5/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 17047 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/alt-media-res/attachments/20061215/9fbc42b5/attachment-0001.jpe