CANADEM has created a "graduate level" internship program that may be of interest to the TIG community. Here's an email that I was sent today:

United Nations field operations remain eager to have young Canadian professionals work with them. With the loss of DFAIT funding and the closing of the old Canada Corps program, there are fewer and fewer funded opportunities for those young Canadians. In response, CANADEM has created the International Career Advancement Program (ICAP). It provides an opportunity for qualified and motivated young professionals (with at least a BA) to fund their own internship in a UN field office. We use CANADEM's extensive network of contacts with UN agencies, the OSCE and others to find positions and make connections.

It isn't as easy as a funded placement, but the track record of previous CANADEM interns is that a very high percentage go directly on to further international contracts or full time employment. (We just completed a survey of our interns going back to 1998. 76% are still employed in international development. A further 13% are now back at school to add to their capacities before continuing to work abroad.)

We would be pleased to have you place a link to this program on your sites if you think that it would be helpful to any of your alumnae - and we in turn would be pleased to put a link on our site to your organization. When we can't help a motivated young person who contacts us, we would be very pleased to help them become aware of what you are doing.

Please contact me for more information if you are interested - or send us the information for a link to you.

Randy Weekes
Director
CANADEM-GPS Internship Programs

CANADEM
1 Sherbrooke St. E.,
Perth, ON K7H 1A1
Tel: 613-264-5504 Fax: 613-789-6125
randy.weekes@canadem.ca
www.canadem.ca/canjeunesse/
"CANADEM's 'global positioning system' to assist young Canadians
to launch their international careers with the UN or other international agencies/NGOs"

I found an interesting article written by Hugo Slim about the implications of aid agencies that work in areas with poor government structures. The author states that: "providing or enabling social and economic development is obviously a public good but, simultaneously, it can bring about political harm."

I agree with the author in that communities can become dependent on aid agencies and miss opportunities for self growth, and where if possible aid agencies should try to work with governments and deliver support through them when possible.

You can find the article at:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/state/2007/0412hugoslim.htm

The Centre for International Health, Faculty of Medicine
5th Annual Global Health Research Conference
IN COLLABORATION WITH

The Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
PRESENTS

The Convergence of Health and Law: International Perspectives

THE JOHN R. EVANS LECTURESHIP IN GLOBAL HEALTH
Presented by

Rebecca Cook
Chair, International Human Rights Law, Faculty of Law and

Bernard Dickens
Dr. William M. Scholl Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy Faculty of Law
cross-appointed Faculty of Medicine and Joint Centre for Bioethics

Introduction by John Evans
Chair, Board of Directors, MaRs Discovery District, University of Toronto

MacLeod Auditorium, Faculty of Medicine
1 King's College Circle, University of Toronto

SPECIAL CONFERENCE OPENING EVENT
Monday, May 7 at 7pm
MacLeod Auditorium, Faculty of Medicine
RECEPTION TO FOLLOW

IN DISCUSSION WITH VINCENT LAM
Emergency physician, 2006 Giller Prize winner and
author of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures

Moderated by Ed Morgan
Professor, International and Constitutional Law

REGISTRATION FROM uofttix.ca
May 7 at 7pm only Vincent Lam & Reception
$20 - Faculty & General Admission
$10 - Students May 7 and 8

Vincent Lam event AND Conference Program (May 8) 8am-6pm
$75 - Faculty & General Admission
$20 - Students

INFORMATION
j.kopelow@sympatico.ca / 416-946-7962
www.intlhealth.med.utoronto.ca
www.law.utoronto.ca

For those in the Toronto area:

I am facilitating an exchange program between a school group in Mexico and an educational facility north-east of Toronto from March 20th to the 28th, 2007. Spanish speaking students with mental and physical disabilities of varing ages and their caregivers are participating.

Would you like to donate any mitts, hats, scarfs, snowpants, jackets or boots?

I am collecting any warm items of clothing. The ages of the participants range from 10 years to 40 years of age. Also, if you or anyone you know would like to volunteer to assist with this educational program, or would like to act as a translator for the group please contact me for more information.

Thanks!

I am hosting a really interesting chat on Thursday December 14th. I'd like to hear from people who have been involved with TakingITGlobal for a long time and from those who have just found out about us recently. I hope that a lot of people will made time in their busy schedules to take part. We're going to host the chat during two time periods, from 10:00am to 11:30am and from 4:00pm to 5:30pm, that's Eastern Standard Time. I would like to talk about TakingITGlobal and how what we are doing is making an impact in people's lives, and how we can improve. Questions I'd like to ask our members include: What are some of the challenges facing young people today? What are some of the most pressing issues in global development, and how can TakingITGlobal contribute? I think this chat will really help us to find out more about what our members see as TakingITGlobal's strengths and weaknesses, as well as being quite interesting and fun!