Written Statement to UN WGEPAD Consultation with civil society 05 03 21

FORWARDED: We have the pleasure to inform you that the Call for Application for the 2021 OHCHR Fellowship Programme for people of African descent is now open!

Every year, the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) invites young activists of African descent to take part in the Fellowship Programme. This year the Fellowship will be held from 15 November to 3 December 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the three-week training will be held online this year.

The Fellowship Programme provides the participants with an intensive learning opportunity to deepen their understanding of the United Nations human rights system, instruments and mechanisms, with a focus on issues of particular relevance to people of African descent. The Fellowship Programme will allow the participants to better contribute to the protection and promotion of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of people of African descent in their respective countries.

The deadline for application is 5 July 2021. Applications can be submitted in English, French, and Spanish. For more information on the Fellowship programme and how to apply:
Email africandescentfellowship@ohchr.org.

Articles on Gentrification and the Death of Black Communities:

https://www.blackagendareport.com/gentrification-kills-black-communities
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/009773cc5c224421a66d1ce9ff089849
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/brookland-manor-gentrification-mid-city/2021/05/25/cebd92ea-bd82-11eb-b26e-53663e6be6ff_story.html
http://cuatower.com/2021/06/brookland-movie-gathering-interrupted-by-police/
https://www.streetsensemedia.org/article/historic-preservation-review-board-votes-approve-barry-farm-dwellings-historic-landmark/
https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2012/10/16/target-redesigns-hawaii-store.html

Courtesy of Pan African Community Action (PACA) 
  http://madmimi.com/signups/0a09fa4368b442ddb8813e302c7d479f/join

Connecting, empowering and celebrating diverse leadership and community action on environmental issues is fundamental to Bristol's just transition. 11:29:01  Examples of projects that are already making a difference in city within  local communities include the Black and Green Project. On 28 October 2021,   one of the project's ambassadors made a brief presentation about the National Lottery funded Black and Green project.

"The program was born out of a sense of frustration during Bristol Green Capital year in 2015, that though this was great at this opportunity to celebrate children's and fund projects for the environment was not used as a chance to show the diversity of people and action going on in the city, but was the same faces in same spaces having the same conversation around very exclusive types of Environmental Action. So in 2016, black and green was created as a project, run by and serving the black and brown communities of Bristol. This focused explicitly on the role that race and ethnicity plays within how you experience the environment, your resilience against the effects of climate change, and the parent agency, you have to influence change and be included in those decision making processes. We believe actions should be good for both people and planet as we need to reshape how we live to minimize the impact on the planet, it would be foolish not to use this time to reduce inequalities, focusing on both equity and justice. If we don't do this, we will end up in the same place we are now, just with solar panels and electric cars, and I want more than that for every feature. This ...  needs to be done by centralizing marginalized voices in discussions choices and actions for the environment.  It is those who contribute the nice has it as has been said previously, this morning, who suffer the most yet often have the least powerful agency to affect change this cannot continue. It is because we as a society, do not value all life. Equally, that we can pollute burn and extract without a second thought.

The first step to adjust transition is to value, all life, and the voices of all people back and green ambassadors a part of the shift and the project aims to lead connect and celebrate diverse community action for the environment, changing perceptions and creating opportunities within the traditionally exclusive environmental sector. What I believe is so vital about black and green is the fact that we come from a place of positivity. Too often the environmental movement is based in negativity and sacrifice, we celebrate and amplify existing cultural practice or community action and connect these to strengthen the power and the impact. We have three pronged approach, and part of it is about individual development, and the program creates leaders, which is meant to be me in theory I think after the first year, and who can bring different perspectives, the ambassadors receive training at a cross section of different fields, and we challenge the sections, and we're supported by the local council and universities, and this privilege allows us to access spaces that may not otherwise be available to us. So we sit on panels and steering groups and funding advisory boards to bring a different perspective instigate fundamental change and keep pushing that door open, a little wider to allow more than me through it. And we have community projects. So, each Ambassador has a particular focus for each year, and we create a community action or research project around that. my focus this year has been around cleaner. My colleague Roy has built a project around urban green spaces and a car has been discovering how cultural heritage influences sustainable practice, and you can read more about this in our new one report which is available on our website.

The second year has just begun and I can see Mr Irvine and roots are in the room.  So reach out to them because they're the new ambassadors. And we've already scaled up so we now for, we started with two in the pilot year three and four. And so, the need and importance of this is shown by the fact that we've grown year on year. And it's also shown the global relevance of this program by the fact we've been invited to talk at the action hub. Within the Blue Zone in Kop next week. This speaks to the relevance and success of the project. So I'll finish with my offer and ask, and I'll offer it to you is to use us engage with the program, we can provide you with expertise insight and challenge when it comes to an acting, adjust transition, or what the intersection of climate and racial justice looks like feels like a means in a global scale, we can connect you with a wealth of action already happening in the city by hugely diverse group of individuals and, and we've developed a particular areas of expertise so cleaner green spaces and we've developed our particular areas of expertise so cleaner green spaces and cultural practice, like I said, and we want to share that with you and transform this interaction. I ask that you take us up on that offer, and you invite other voices marginalized voices into decision making spaces, but most importantly when you do this it's not in a tokenistic way, or just to take a box, and there needs to be real value and power given in these spaces to those people you invite in, otherwise it can do more harm than good. And our Ask is you open still wider and don't just stop inviting one or two ambassadors in that you challenge yourself and your organizations to understand what barriers you have put in place. And that means you don't have diversity within your organizations or businesses already, and why different voices or faces are not comfortable in the space that you're creating and I'll ask is that you support this program which is vital. So we have three years of National Lottery funding, but that's not enough time to make the difference we want to make. And the change we need to see. So, if you would like to support this program and make it sustainable please do so and again. And to do that will be posted in the chat.

 Watch the The Black & Green Project event,  from Bristol Ideas - Festival of the Future City 2021 last week, on How Do We All Ensure Meaningful, Inclusive Action on Climate Change?
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pinh3hLedE .  
             
              Read the end of year one report:
              https://www.blackandgreenambassadors.co.uk/resources/
             
              And watch the film to hear Asia, Roy and Olivia reflections on their time as Ambassadors:
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULPpptNfOfY
              https://www.blackandgreenambassadors.co.uk/
 

The following AfOx Insaka event held on 4 March 2022 is recommended viewing for interesting and insightful discussion on the environment, SDGs,  Agenda 2063, and genome research on the African continent.

 AfOx digital insaka with Professor Workineh Kelbessa and Dr Stephen B. Kenn - YouTube