Face2Face with International Development - Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

Come Face2Face with entrepreneurs who think big!

Meet Tatu Juma from Tanzania. She heads a successful business in her community. Her story presents an example of how empowering women in developing countries helps contribute to a community's-and a country's-economic growth.

Face2Face is a new exhibit by the Canadian International Development Agency that brings visitors real stories from the field. Come visit Tatu Juma St. Mary's University. For more information, visit cida.gc.ca/face2face

Face2Face will on display at SMU on the following dates and times

International Development Week:

    Feb 1st: International Fair, L290 (10am – 4pm)

    Feb 2nd: Film Screening, Scotia Bank Theatre @ 7pm

    Feb 3rd: Stories from the Field Event (1:30pm – 3pm)

 Library:

    February 6th – 10th

Student Union Building:

    February 13th – 17th

Loyola Colonnade:

    February 20rd – 24th

IDS Noon Seminar: Feature Speaker - Milford Bateman, J. Dobrila

University, Croatia Development Consultant: Microcredit Schemes

Neoliberalism, Commercialization and Client Failure

McNally Building MM227, SMU

click here for the campus tour

International Night

Join us for our 14th annual International Night. We will begin the night by teasing your taste buds with a variety of international cuisines from across the globe. Our infamous variety show will follow the buffet. Finally, the night will be concluded with a DJ dance party featuring the best tunes from around the world. Don't miss this unique and dazzling night of international food, entertainment and dancing.

Where:   Loyola Residence Conference Hall - L290

When:    Saturday, January 28th

Time:      6:00pm - 1:00am

Cost:      $25 SMU Students ($30 @ the door)

              $30 Regular Admission

Tickets are ALL SOLD OUT

For more information please contact the International Centre at 420-5525.

Great door prizes will be drawn throughout the night!!!

Click the link for the complete program and menu

http://internationalcentre.smu.ca/int-night.html

Loyola Residence Conference Hall L290, SMU

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Film Festival: Screening - The Greenwave

Click here for the trailer

Synopsis:

Green is the color of hope. Green is the color of Islam. And green was the symbol of recognition among the supporters of presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who became the symbolic figure of the Green Revolution in Iran last year. The presidential elections on June 12th, 2009 were supposed to bring about a change, but contrary to all expectations the ultra-conservative populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was confirmed in office. As clear as was the result, as loud and justified were the accusations of vote-rigging.

The on-going Where is my vote? protest demonstrations were again and again worn down and broken up with brutal attacks by government militia. Images taken from private persons with their cell phones or cameras bear witness to this excessive violence: people were beaten, stabbed, shot dead, arrested, kidnapped, some of them disappearing without trace. What remains is the countless number of dead or injured people and victims of torture, and another deep wound in the hearts of the Iranians.

THE GREEN WAVE is a touching documentary-collage illustrating the dramatic events and telling about the feelings of the people behind this revolution. Facebook reports, Twitter messages and videos posted in the internet were included in the film composition, and hundreds of real blog entries served as reference for the experiences and thoughts of two young students, whose story is running through the film as the main thread.

Scotiabank Theatre Auditorium Sobey Building, SMU

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Film Festival: Screening - Grace, Milly, Lucy....Child Soldiers

Click here for the trailer

A film by Raymonde Provencher - Canada/Uganda, 2010

Synopsis: “It’s very easy to create a killing machine. Just imagine. You’re seven years old and taken away from your family . . . your parents are killed in front of you or you’re forced to kill somebody. Through all that you’re beaten . . . then you’re given a gun and you’re told, ‘This gun is your life.’” – Grace Akallo

When we usually speak about child soldiers, we rarely realize that many of them are girls. This little-known reality is underscored by the gripping personal accounts of Grace Akallo, Milly Auma, and Lucy Lanyero in Raymonde Provencher’s riveting, visually stunning film. As adults seeking to rebuild their lives, they are three among thousands of young girls violently abducted from Ugandan villages by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel force that trained kidnapped girls to fight and kill, often forcing them into child-bearing unions with their captors. Back in their village and internationally, these survivors of a shattered past help women ex-rebels find a voice in the world, acceptance at home, and forgiveness from one another. And joining forces with victims of other conflicts, they are active in a global campaign, envisioning a more just world where their own and all children are no longer tools of war.

With Empowering Hands (EH), the association they founded to share their experiences and consolidate their efforts, they are working with children who have been affected by war to help them readjust once they return to their families. These women are determined: the victims’ voices must be heard and the war in Uganda must be stopped. The future of an entire sacrificed generation depends on it. Through moving first-hand accounts, CHILD SOLDIERS provides a gripping portrayal of a generation shattered by violence and war. Interspersing personal accounts with scenes from daily life, the documentary also uses a unique visual and sound treatment that conjures up the stifled echoes of a repressed past.

Scotiabank Theatre Auditorium Sobey Building, SMU

click here for the campus tour

Film Festival: Screening - War Don Don

Click here for the trailer

Synopsis:
In the heart of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, United Nations soldiers guard a heavily fortified building known as the “special court.” Inside, Issa Sesay awaits his trial. Prosecutors say Sesay is a war criminal, guilty of heinous crimes against humanity. His defenders say he is a reluctant fighter who protected civilians and played a crucial role in bringing peace to Sierra Leone. With unprecedented access to prosecutors, defense attorneys, victims, and, from behind bars, Sesay himself, WAR DON DON puts international justice on trial for the world to see — finding that in some cases the past is not just painful, it is also opaque.

Director’s Statement:
Rebecca Richman Cohen
In the summer of 2006 I sat behind bulletproof glass in the observer gallery of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the world's first international war crimes "hybrid tribunal," created jointly by the United Nations and the government of Sierra Leone. At the time I was working not as a filmmaker, but as a law student and legal intern for a defense team. Though I was assigned to work on the case of the AFRC-accused, Alex Tamba Brima, I found myself drawn to observe the trial of the leader of a different warring faction.

From my seat in the gallery of the RUF-accused trial, I first observed Issa Sesay, a former rebel leader accused of crimes against humanity and a key player in the peace negotiations – and I was fascinated by the range of roles that one man could assume amidst the intensity of such a brutal conflict. I became convinced that the story of his trial needed to reach a larger audience. Combining my legal experience in criminal defense with my background as a filmmaker, I realized that a documentary film could communicate the complexities of Sesay's rise and fall from power.

In 2011 the Special Court for Sierra Leone prepares to be the first major war crimes tribunal to conclude its cases since the Trials at Nuremberg more than sixty years ago. This landmark moment in international criminal justice is a timely call for introspection, dialogue, and critical analysis. I hope WAR DON DON offers an insider's view about the complex moral, political, and legal questions that issue from rebuilding lawless and war torn nations - and will inspire thoughtful debate about the future of international criminal justice.

Scotiabank Theatre Auditorium Sobey Building, SMU

click here for the campus tour

Film Festival: Screening - Persepolis

Click here for the trailer

Synopsis:

The poignant story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of precocious and outspoken nine year old Marjane that we see a people’s hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power - forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. Clever and fearless, she outsmarts the “social guardians” and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden. Yet when her uncle is senselessly executed and as bombs fall around Tehran in the Iran/Iraq war, the daily fear that permeates life in Iran is palpable. As she gets older, Marjane’s boldness causes her parents to worry over her continued safety. And so, at age fourteen, they make the difficult decision to send her to school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land, she endures the typical ordeals of a teenager.

In addition, Marjane has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape. Over time, she gains acceptance, and even experiences love, but after high school she finds herself alone and horribly homesick. Though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical society, Marjane decides to return to Iran to be close to her family. After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school and marries, all the while continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran. She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past. Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novels Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood (Pantheon, 2003, English version) and Persepolis 2: the Story of a Return (Pantheon, 2004, English version) won widespread acclaim in France, now her home, and around the world.

Now, she has co-directed, with Vincent Paronnaud, the animated film version of her memoir. The title PERSEPOLIS comes from the Persian capital founded in the 6th century BC by Darius I, later destroyed by Alexander the Great. It’s a reminder that there’s an old and grand civilization, besieged by waves of invaders but carrying on through millennia, that is much deeper and more complex than the current-day view of Iran as a monoculture of fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism. “I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists,” Satrapi says. “I also don’t want those Iranians who lost their lives in prisons defending freedom, who died in the war against Iraq, who suffered under various repressive regimes, or who were forced to leave their families and flee their homeland to be forgotten.”

Sponsored & Hosted by SMU-WUSC Refugee Committee

Scotiabank Theatre Auditorium Sobey Building, SMU

click here for the campus tour

11am

3pm

5th Annual I Represent International Fiesta

Travel to the four corners of the globe. I represent will feature international food, culture, products as well as information about international opportunities for Saint Mary's students.

International organizations in the region will be on hand to showcase their work, highlight current issues related to youth, social and political involvement and have information about volunteer opportunities.

Saint Mary's Students will showcase their cultures and bring us a taste of their traditional food and music.

Food, Crafts and art from around the world will be on sale!!

Loyola Residence Conference Hall L290, SMU

click here for the campus tour

Film Festival: Screening - The Greenwave

Click here for the trailer

Synopsis:

Green is the color of hope. Green is the color of Islam. And green was the symbol of recognition among the supporters of presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who became the symbolic figure of the Green Revolution in Iran last year. The presidential elections on June 12th, 2009 were supposed to bring about a change, but contrary to all expectations the ultra-conservative populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was confirmed in office. As clear as was the result, as loud and justified were the accusations of vote-rigging.

The on-going Where is my vote? protest demonstrations were again and again worn down and broken up with brutal attacks by government militia. Images taken from private persons with their cell phones or cameras bear witness to this excessive violence: people were beaten, stabbed, shot dead, arrested, kidnapped, some of them disappearing without trace. What remains is the countless number of dead or injured people and victims of torture, and another deep wound in the hearts of the Iranians.

THE GREEN WAVE is a touching documentary-collage illustrating the dramatic events and telling about the feelings of the people behind this revolution. Facebook reports, Twitter messages and videos posted in the internet were included in the film composition, and hundreds of real blog entries served as reference for the experiences and thoughts of two young students, whose story is running through the film as the main thread.

Scotiabank Theatre Auditorium Sobey Building, SMU

click here for the campus tour

Film Festival: Screening - War Don Don

Click here for the trailer

Synopsis:
In the heart of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, United Nations soldiers guard a heavily fortified building known as the “special court.” Inside, Issa Sesay awaits his trial. Prosecutors say Sesay is a war criminal, guilty of heinous crimes against humanity. His defenders say he is a reluctant fighter who protected civilians and played a crucial role in bringing peace to Sierra Leone. With unprecedented access to prosecutors, defense attorneys, victims, and, from behind bars, Sesay himself, WAR DON DON puts international justice on trial for the world to see — finding that in some cases the past is not just painful, it is also opaque.

Director’s Statement:
Rebecca Richman Cohen
In the summer of 2006 I sat behind bulletproof glass in the observer gallery of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the world's first international war crimes "hybrid tribunal," created jointly by the United Nations and the government of Sierra Leone. At the time I was working not as a filmmaker, but as a law student and legal intern for a defense team. Though I was assigned to work on the case of the AFRC-accused, Alex Tamba Brima, I found myself drawn to observe the trial of the leader of a different warring faction.

From my seat in the gallery of the RUF-accused trial, I first observed Issa Sesay, a former rebel leader accused of crimes against humanity and a key player in the peace negotiations – and I was fascinated by the range of roles that one man could assume amidst the intensity of such a brutal conflict. I became convinced that the story of his trial needed to reach a larger audience. Combining my legal experience in criminal defense with my background as a filmmaker, I realized that a documentary film could communicate the complexities of Sesay's rise and fall from power.

In 2011 the Special Court for Sierra Leone prepares to be the first major war crimes tribunal to conclude its cases since the Trials at Nuremberg more than sixty years ago. This landmark moment in international criminal justice is a timely call for introspection, dialogue, and critical analysis. I hope WAR DON DON offers an insider's view about the complex moral, political, and legal questions that issue from rebuilding lawless and war torn nations - and will inspire thoughtful debate about the future of international criminal justice.

TBA

Film Festival: Screening - Pray the Devil Back to Hell - Women &

Peace in Liberia

Click here for the trailer

Synopsis

Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.

Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks.

A story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honors the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism 

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the extraordinary story of a small band of Liberian women who came together in the midst of a bloody civil war, took on the violent warlords and corrupt Charles Taylor regime, and won a long-awaited peace for their shattered country in 2003.

As the rebel noose tightened upon Monrovia, and peace talks faced collapse, the women of Liberia – Christian and Muslims united - formed a thin but unshakable white line between the opposing forces, and successfully demanded an end to the fighting– armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions.

In one remarkable scene, the women barricaded the site of stalled peace talks in Ghana, and announced they would not move until a deal was done. Faced with eviction, they invoked the most powerful weapon in their arsenal – threatening to remove their clothes. It worked.

The women of Liberia are living proof that moral courage and non-violent resistance can succeed, even where the best efforts of traditional diplomacy have failed.

Their demonstrations culminated in the exile of Charles Taylor and the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first female head of state, and marked the vanguard of a new wave of women taking control of their political destiny around the world.

This remarkable chapter of world history was on its way to being lost forever. The Liberian war and peace movement were largely ignored as the international press focused on Iraq. Moreover, the women's own modesty helped obscure this great accomplishment.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell reconstructs the moment through interviews, archival footage and striking images of contemporary Liberia. It is compelling testimony to the potential of women worldwide to alter the history of nations.

Sponsored & Hosted by:

The Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women

Advancing equality, fairness and dignity for women in Nova Scotia

The minister responsible for the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women Act appoints 10 to 12 women from across the province.  Diversity is a hallmark of membership and action.

Council members, supported by staff, advise government about issues facing women and their families.  The agency proposes policies, legislation, programs and practices, and publishes reports and recommendations.

Four programs are the focus for action and collaboration with government, community and academic partners.  The four program areas are:

• Women in Leadership
• Women’s Work and Economic Security
• Personal Safety and Freedom from Violence
• Women’s Health and Well-being.

For more information, contact us at www.women.gov.ns.ca or women@gov.ns.ca

Scotiabank Theatre Auditorium Sobey Building, SMU

click here for the campus tour

IDS Noon Seminar: Feature Speaker - Mark Redwood, Expert in

Urban Agriculture and Program Leader of the Climate Change and

Water Program, International Development Research Centre

McNally Building MM227, SMU

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2pm

3pm

Students for Development - Stories from the Field: Memories of China and

Uganda

Come and hear Katie Hunt (2011 winter intern) share about her experience in Xi’an, China and Jessica McGrath share about her experience living and studying at the Uganda Marty University in Uganda

NOTE: Light refreshments will be served!

McNally Building MM227, SMU

click here for the campus tour

7pm

9pm

5th Annual International Week Trivia NIght

Do you know what country drinks the most beer per capita? What does MSF stand for? Come and finish off an exciting week of exploring the world of international development by challenging your intellect and knowledge of world issues.

Have fun with people from different places andorganizations coming together to mingle, have a few drinks, and celebrate the end of a productive week of promoting international development - there will be several team and door prizes.

Cost: TBA

Gorsebrook Lounge, SMU

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4th Annual SMU-WUSC Rock for Refugees

WUSC is a non-governmental organization that links Canadian post-secondary campuses with overseas projects to contribute to a more equitable world. WUSC believes that education changes the world and through the student refugee program WUSC local student committees work to support refuges living in Kenya, Malawi and Thailand to resettle in Canada and begin or continue their post-secondary education.

For the last 26 years Saint Mary's University and the SMU-WUSC Student Local Committee have sponsored and supported one refugee student each year. Facilitated by SMU-WUSC Committee

Gorsebrook Lounge, SMU

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9:00pm

4:00pm

Battle of the Floors

Battle of the Floors is set to begin its 15th year as one of the largest on-campus events. This year’s day-long contest is sure to be the biggest and best battle yet as different floors in residence compete through relays, brain-teasers, and other fun tasks.

Each team’s theme will represent a different country, drawn from the home countries of students from our residence community. Don’t miss this “internationally acclaimed” event. For SMU residence students only.

Battle of the Floors 2012

McNally Main Auditorium, SMU

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12noon

1:30pm

Feature Speaker - Making a Difference: Nadia Kostiuk, Vice-President of

Geographic Programs, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

Nadia Kostiuk, CIDA Vice-President, will speak on current challenges to development cooperation, the results that CIDA and Canada are achieving, and how you can get involved.

Nadia Kostiuk is the Vice-President responsible for CIDA’s Business Modernization Initiative.  Prior to assuming these responsibilities in August 2010, she was the Regional Director General for Southern and Eastern Africa in Geographic Programs Branch.  From 2004 to 2008, she held several senior positions in the then-Africa Branch.

From 1998 to 2004 Nadia worked at the Privy Council Office, initially on Foreign and Defence Policy, and subsequently in the Machinery of Government Secretariat.  Her formative experience in international development included working for the Government of Botswana as a District Officer (Development) in the early 1980s.  Upon her return to Canada she joined CIDA in 1984.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a master’s degree in International Affairs (Development Studies) from the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa.

NOTE: Co-sponsored by SMU & Dal

Room 2118, Marion McCain Arts & Social Sciences Building (FASS Building), Dal

click here for the campus map