I just came back from facilitating a workshop with some student club leaders about how to incorporate a values-based framework into their projects. The idea being that if they can impart the right values into students through their activities, the values will affect the students decisions and thus actions and hopefully have a larger and longer lasting affect, than just doing a single activity.
Before this part of the workshop there was a few speakers; a teacher, a businessman and a low-level government official who studies this kind of topic (its called ESD - Education for Sustainable Development). They were all upstaged by a migrant worker who works in the hotel's restaurant. He decided to join the workshop and challenge the speakers. I was very impressed with his guts, though not sure what he was actually saying! It was the kind of topic that some of the speakers took to heart and thus some impassioned speeches and topics on how to educate students for sustainable development ensued.
On thursday i had a drink with a friend in an American multinational. It was fascinating to hear how they are dealing with the current crisis. It seems companies are making some fairly (apparently overdue) restructuring without really knowing if it will work or not. None-the-less restructuring they are, cutting jobs, increasing efficiency, reducing production due to reduced demand, changing product lines etc.
Work is interesting at the moment, though the days start early and finish late. The project I am requires interviewing all kinds of NGOs, and international banks, UN etc. We finished our project reviewing a company's volunteering program after the earthquake -also a fairly interesting project because of the topic.
That project was on a tight deadline because next week is the anniversary of the earthquake as I am sure you will read in the news. Ultimately the government has acted fast many of the homeless are now moving from temporary accommodation into permanent accommodation; many of the fallen schools will be rebuilt by the September school term.
But the region is still a mess; the government could only afford to compensate the homeless with money equal to a third of building a home (more than a million homes have to be rebuilt!); companies are being asked to donate more money for rebuilding (to show they are committed to China; and that their last donation was not just a one-off); all kinds of fund raising events are happening around town and so forth.
Amongst the CDs being released, the celebrities getting involved and the PR department people all dashing off to Sichuan and announcing their new donations and programs, the government has been slowly releasing more information -particularly the sensitive number of children. Sensitive because government corruption was blamed for the poor quality schools and the huge number that collapsed. But Chinese statistics are even less trustworthy than British ones, so it does not mean much.
Somewhat more meaningful, thankfully, has been that it seems the government has truly recognised how important and useful charities were a year ago (even though they are few in number and mostly unofficial) and is really starting to support their work, and at least reduce many of the barriers that held them back. So the future for that sector does look a bit more promising -though noone expects major changes as this government is still paranoid about controlling the country to prevent social unrest. Charities, the media, students etc all need to be carefully discouraged (or controlled) from doing anything too ambitious!
On that note, I have been sharing with some of my American friends about Labour's self-destruction, and it is amusing how every other day they create more internal divisions, come up with more stupid ideas, reveal how unethical they are and.... well i won't go on any more. I will though look forward to reading next week's papers though!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Happy Labor Day
The 1st of May is a public holiday in many countries across the World in recognition of the 'worker'. International Labor Day means a three-day weekend in China as well as the UK, so a time to finally get back to my blog! (and probably many of you have noted the american spelling of labor, which you will have to get over -I have no american accent though!)
April finished with us bottom of the league, unfortunately. When we played Laser Tag (Laser Quest - paintball with lasers) our team did not fair much better: we lost 3 of the 4 games we played. However it was an interesting day, playing outside in a forest, and then in and around a number of uninhabited villas. Add in some sound effects of civilians shouting in Iraqi and it could have been Baghdad!
Other highlights of the month included going to a few jazz concerts, watching some more films and downloading lots of music, courtesy of Google China who now allow free legal music download if you access the internet in China.
Work-wise 1 project has finished, and another started -a few more are lined up for the Summer, so BSR in china seems to be doing ok at least, despite the financial situation. We also have 2 new directors starting, and our office is now packed, with our interns having to hot-desk and move around the conference room or share desks with other people!
At the end of this month our contract in our apartment is up, so this morning Andrea and I found a new apartment a 5 minute walk away that we'll move into. We'll be the first ones living there so at least it is clean and everything should work fine! The area is very green and convenient; we just have to hope the continuing construction of new buildings nearby is not too loud -although I am sure they will be finished soon!
I read this week that the so called 'eco-city' of Dongtan, near Shanghai, has now almost officially been declared dead and buried. Although the plans and hopes for the city were always 'too' high, it is a shame that the entire project is not going ahead. It would have been an interesting test-city, built entirely sustainably with locally produced energy, produce, water harvested etc. It is somewhat embrassing for the UK, as the Guardian says:
It seems the British are particularly bad at this stuff. There are many critics of Brown's plans to build 12 eco-towns, not least the people that currently live in or near them. Is it only the British that are so maried to their old ways they cannot accept change or refuse to sacrifice anything? It seems the UK wind industry is also in a mess because of delays in getting planning permission. Maybe we can just build our wind farms in poor countries and pay them for the wind? I am sure they can handle the sight of them!
April finished with us bottom of the league, unfortunately. When we played Laser Tag (Laser Quest - paintball with lasers) our team did not fair much better: we lost 3 of the 4 games we played. However it was an interesting day, playing outside in a forest, and then in and around a number of uninhabited villas. Add in some sound effects of civilians shouting in Iraqi and it could have been Baghdad!
Other highlights of the month included going to a few jazz concerts, watching some more films and downloading lots of music, courtesy of Google China who now allow free legal music download if you access the internet in China.
Work-wise 1 project has finished, and another started -a few more are lined up for the Summer, so BSR in china seems to be doing ok at least, despite the financial situation. We also have 2 new directors starting, and our office is now packed, with our interns having to hot-desk and move around the conference room or share desks with other people!
At the end of this month our contract in our apartment is up, so this morning Andrea and I found a new apartment a 5 minute walk away that we'll move into. We'll be the first ones living there so at least it is clean and everything should work fine! The area is very green and convenient; we just have to hope the continuing construction of new buildings nearby is not too loud -although I am sure they will be finished soon!
I read this week that the so called 'eco-city' of Dongtan, near Shanghai, has now almost officially been declared dead and buried. Although the plans and hopes for the city were always 'too' high, it is a shame that the entire project is not going ahead. It would have been an interesting test-city, built entirely sustainably with locally produced energy, produce, water harvested etc. It is somewhat embrassing for the UK, as the Guardian says:
Tony Blair signed the deal to design and build Dongtan with Chinese president Hu Jin-tao. His deputy, John Prescott, went there twice. So did Britain's top urban planner, Peter Hall, and the London mayor Ken Livingstone, who wanted ideas for greening his urban landscape.
It seems the British are particularly bad at this stuff. There are many critics of Brown's plans to build 12 eco-towns, not least the people that currently live in or near them. Is it only the British that are so maried to their old ways they cannot accept change or refuse to sacrifice anything? It seems the UK wind industry is also in a mess because of delays in getting planning permission. Maybe we can just build our wind farms in poor countries and pay them for the wind? I am sure they can handle the sight of them!
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