Daniel Stringer was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada but has lived and traveled globally. Daniel finished his education at the University of Paris, graduating with a professional doctoral degree in Diplomacy and International Organizations. He has spent most of his working career in the Communications and Political sectors in Ottawa, Toronto, Montevideo, New York and Washington DC. Daniel is active in community work, founding DreamKEEPERS which initiated the celebration of Martin Luther King Day both at Ottawa City Hall and nationally on Parliament Hill, Gifts of the Magi, which raises and distributes presents to the poor in the original spirit of Christmas, and the National Capital Peace Council which he describes as an interfaith service club for peace. He has given frequent presentations, including as a guest on barrister Luc Barrick’s CHIN radio program speaking on issues of human rights. Daniel is sole proprietor of In Any Event; an Ottawa-based Events Planning, Communications and Campaign Management consultancy.

Ms. Marian Barnes serves as Co-Founder and Secretary General of ANDECO (International Network of Promoters of Ecotourism in Andalucia). ANDECO is an NGO with a national and international membership whose principal objective is the promotion of ecotourism in Andalucía, a region of great ecological diversity and natural beauty located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Ms. Barnes was responsible for the creation of an “International Ecotourism Centre” for Spain, and for the “Discovery Trail of Natural Andalucia in the Sierra de las Nieves,” an ecotourism program that is developing a model ecological trail in the region. Ms. Barnes also serves as WANGO’s National Representative in Spain. She previously served as an ecotourism guide for IUSC: Centro de Estudios Superiores in Barcelona, Spain. She studied Tourism and Hotel Management at the University of Navarra in Spain, as well as Family Counselling at that University.

Mitch Dixon is CEO of Dixon Computing Systems, a computing networking business that supports the small and medium business community. As head of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in Canada, Mr. Dixon for years has been active in providing seminars aimed at creating family harmony and involvement in community well-being. He holds a Bachelor in Business Administration in Marketing Management from the City University of New York.

Presenter: Dr. Aurora Martin, President, Euro-Atlantic Partnership for Sustainable Development

At this dawn of the new millennium, people are eager to achieve peace and to renounce the old patterns of the classical warfare. Today, however, we face a growing threat, terrorism. Terrorism is a conflict in which the enemies are very hard to identify and to localize; a war in which most of the victims are not heavily trained solders but rather the civil population ? innocent casualties appearing in statistics and reports. In the war from Bosnia – Herzegovina, rape of women was used as battle strategy, with a goal of both psychological intimidation of the enemy, whose mother, wife and daughter were raped, and the destabilization of the community. We find discrimination to be at the heart of many conflicts. At the foundation of many conflicts has been religious discrimination. This includes historical acts carried out ironically in the name of a religion of tolerance, Christianity, and up to the contemporary consequences of the Taliban regime involving gender discrimination, with women killed with stones in stadiums similar to what happened to the first Christian believers. We have seen the fundamental aspect of racial discrimination as exemplified in the holocaust. The past century ended sadly, in the grief and pain of the civil population from the former Yugoslav republics, where ethnic discrimination was the “divide et impera” of the war. Today civil society is facing a new and great challenge and the civilian population is caught in the face of this new type of warfare of terrorism.

Presenter: Dr. Chandra Setiawan, Founder, Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP)

Indonesia is a unique country in terms of relationship between religion and state. While Indonesia does not have an official religion, almost of 90% of Indonesian population are Islam. In addition, Indonesia has a Ministry of Religion Affairs, which has its representatives all over the country, starting from the province level to the level of a town. Religious freedom is a guarantee according to the basic constitution and laws of Indonesia. However, the government only officially recognizes six religions: Islam, Christian-Protestant, Roman Catholic, Hindu, Buddha, and Confucian. Other religions or beliefs are not prohibited, but are not served by the Religious Affairs department. As a result, there is discrimination based on religion, and individual’s civil rights are marginalized by the government.

In response, a series of seminars and workshops were organized to look for answers concerning the roles of government and civil society in ensuring freedom of religion or belief in Indonesia. The participants, NGO leaders, government officials, and religious leaders were in consensus that government can only provide limited protection regarding the freedom of religion or belief. On the other hand, civil society is more central to helping to create a harmonious relationship between all aspects of society.

Presenter: Ali Said Ibrahim, Chairman, Center for Peace and Democracy (CPD)

The Centre for Peace and Democracy (CPD) is a nonprofit and non-governmental organization dedicated to strengthening peace, promoting democracy and providing human rights education in the war-torn nation of Somalia. The organization campaigns for the empowerment of civic society to end the fifteen years of crises and without effective central administration in Somalia after the collapse of the previous military dictator government in 1991. The Centre for Peace and Democracy works to strengthen a broad-based social justice movement that embodies, embraces, and honors many cultures to create the new systems and institutions essential to building a peaceful, just, and equitable world.

CPD provides training and other resources in partnership with communities, organizations, trainers, and other organizations to realize these goals. In March of 2006, the CPD held a two-day workshop in conflict resolution. The workshop brought together community elders, local authority administrators, and members of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) to work to strengthen the civil society in Somalia, empower women, protect human rights, establish good governance practices, raise HIV/AIDS awareness among the population, and enhance peace building efforts in the country.

Presenter: Daniel Pavel, Managing Director, Euro-Atlantic Partnership for Sustainable Development

In summarizing the correlation between piracy and terrorism, one can find a lot of skepticism and prejudices against the “dirty” character of terrorism and favoring of a so called “honorable” character of piracy. Yet much of the basis of this skepticism can be traced to romantic and inaccurate notions about piracy. An examination of the actual history of the crime reveals startling, even astonishing, parallels to contemporary international terrorism. Viewed in its proper historical context, piracy emerges as a clear and powerful precedent. And here comes the 21st Century main security dilemma – how to oppose and legally fight, with the juridical weapons of the current international system, against a perpetrator that uses no rules and submits to no conventions regarding the respect for human life? Are the civilized tools effective enough to stop and prevent attacks?

What is needed now is a framework to fight the international crime of terrorism. The framework should be incorporated into the U.N. Convention on Terrorism and should call for including the crime in domestic criminal law and perhaps the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. This framework must recognize the unique threat that terrorists pose to nation-states.

More than 2,000 years ago, Marcus Tullius Cicero defined pirates in Roman law as hostis humani generis, "enemies of the human race." From that day until now, pirates have held a unique status in the law as international criminals subject to universal jurisdiction—meaning that they may be captured wherever they are found, by any person who finds them. The ongoing war against pirates is the only known example of state vs. non-state conflict until the advent of the war on terror, and its history is long and notable.

Presenter: Dr. Jay S. Sweifach, Associate Professor, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, New York, NY

Around the globe, disasters are having a profound effect on all aspects of life. Whether they be manmade catastrophes such as 9/11 and bombings on Israeli buses or natural occurrences like hurricanes and SARS, disasters overwhelm the ability of societies and institutions to meet needs. Significant challenges face those who are deployed to the disaster, from first responders ? police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians ? to those who operate behind the scenes. During these moments, choices about service provision with ethical implications are numerous, where triage-like decisions over need-priorities must be made.

Recently, an international qualitative study was conducted with focus groups of individuals employed in health care and social service settings. The major research question concerned the impact of disasters, both natural and man-made, on agencies and social service practitioners.  Focus was placed on the ethical dissonance experienced by social service workers as a result of triage-based decisions that needed to be made. Findings of the study will be presented, focusing on the place of values and ethical guidelines at times of disaster and within environments of scarcity.

Presenter: Evans Lombe, Project Coordinator, African Agency of Humanitarian Aid

The NGO sector has a greater challenge of contributing to the eradication of wounds of conflicts if they are to be recognized as makers of global peace in the 21st Century. The world has become scrambled by the aftermath of wounds of conflicts, among them being poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, HIV/AIDS, street kids’ phenomenon, ethnic cleansing, immoral beliefs, terrorism, and war.

Peace is a product of human respect and recognition of life. Social economic development, which provides for basic needs and wants, gives a meaning to life by creating an environment which is humanly oriented and democratically governed.

Analysis of our present world shows that the world NGO sector has gained strength of national and global advocacy, despite resistance from its opponents. It has been proved that there is power and enhancement in advocacy, in the sense that those involved in disrespecting human life have to face judgment for their actions. When speaking of NGOs as peacemakers, the NGO sector promotes human respect, and also is proving to be a champion of promoting fundamental principles of democracy and sustainable development.

Presenter: Flordeliz Serpa, CEO, Non-Profit Evaluation and Resource Center, Inc.

In 2006, the Non-Profit Evaluation & Resource Center, Inc. (NPERCI), an independent not-for-profit organization, performed a needs assessment of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Puerto Rico, to determine their needs and formulate strategies to strengthen their organizational efficiency. Participation in the needs assessment was voluntary and anonymous, and the sample was selected using a non-probabilistic sampling technique. The questionnaire was mailed to a sample of 1,007 NGOs out of which, 305 (30%) participated. The three most important needs identified by participating NGOs were funds acquisition, operations based on standards of excellence, and strategic planning. Based on this information, NPERCI focused its efforts in promoting standards of excellence among NGOs in Puerto Rico.

At present, NPERCI administers the Comprehensive Standards of Excellence Program^© (CSEP), serving as an external evaluation center dedicated to promote standards of excellence in the non-governmental sector. It evaluates non-profit organizations and certifies those that comply with the standards of excellence. The CSEP is a voluntary, self-regulation system, based in a model that promotes integrity, transparency, and accountability in the Third Sector.

The purpose of the CSEP is to identify those organizations that comply with the standards of excellence as accountable organizations, committed to integrity and excellence and in which the public can trust. The CSEP uses a standardized and systematic model, which focuses on the performance of the organization and its human resources, considering the fundamental values of integrity, accountability, compassion, respect, equality, and honesty.

Presenter: Kirsten Jordan, Online Community Partnerships Coordinator, TakingITGlobal

According to the 2007 World Bank Development Report, individuals between the ages of 12 and 24 make up 1.5 billion of the world’s population, the largest youth cohort in history. Youth as a group are often characterized as being in a period of development and transition. Certain words, such as inexperienced and immature are commonly associated with being young and it is often forgotten that youth can be a powerful and huge resource.  Due to the fact that youth are an ever-growing demographic force it is essential that their voices and views be heard. Technology is one of the ways that their voices can be heard.

For the last seven years, the organization TakingITGlobal (www.takingitglobal.org) has sought to strengthen the capacity of youth as leaders and increase their awareness and involvement in global issues through the use of technology.  As Don Tapscott writes in his bestseller Wikinomics, “TakingITGlobal is one of the best examples of how N-Geners are using digital technologies to transform the world around them.” The organization’s flagship program, TakingITGlobal.org [often described as the MySpace for social good] has over 150,000 members from over 200 countries and territories.  Through TakingITGlobal, youth are making a profound mark on today’s world. 

Presenter: Shima Mofid, Administrator, Ladies Charitable Society

Kahrizak Nursing Home for the Disabled and the Elderly was founded in Iran 1972 by a great philanthropist, Dr. Hakimzadeh, in a derelict two-room house in Tehran, with the intention of sheltering destitute disabled and elderly people. The Ladies Charitable Society (LCS), with only 2 members, joined him immediately. Today, 3000 volunteer members of the LCS are at the service of KCF, with a supporting network in many nations.

The Charitable Ladies, concerned about the residents’ sense of idleness and isolation, were adamant in transforming this humble home into a vibrant community ? a place for everyone to live, rather than merely survive. To achieve this took 35 years of hard work and dedication to erect a city spreading over an area of 480.000 square meters with 1750 residents, known as "Kahrizak Centre for Living, Education, and Rehabilitation of the Disabled and the Elderly" (KCF).

Like most countries, Iran has been affected by the virus of non-intact families. An inevitable outcome of this new trend is the growing number of the elderly and disabled seeking institutional care. The most depressing aspect of institutional living for the Iranian elderly is the loss of relationship with loved ones and the home environment where they felt respected and needed. LCS has taken numerous measures to create a real community and family life that provides a suitable ground for intergeneration interaction.

Presenter: Chandra Bandara, Field Coordinator, Samadeepa Samaja Kendraya

Awarding degrees and other titles based on merit, work experience, education, studies and research activities is not a novel idea in our society. We can remember ancient times when kings of Sri Lanka conferred such titles of honor on people who had very extraordinary performances and achievements. With the tremendous development in the field of information technology, conventional methods of education are losing their importance. Internet universities have come into existence. A bank transaction can be effected by pressing a button of a computer in the present day trust-based society. However, most of the people in the South Asian societies do not enjoy these privileges.

In a Sri Lankan context it is only a dream to think of a degree without an uninterrupted formal education. On the other hand we can see governance in relation to all sectors has become weakened and the majority of the people are suffering in the vicious circle of bribery, corruption, war, violence, poverty, ill-health and ignorance. In the circumstances there is a responsibility on the part of all civic minded people to work for a world where democracy will flourish with good governance, transparency, accountability, social responsibility, human rights and rule of law.

With this vision in mind, the South Asian Academy for Good Governance (SAAGG) has been established in Sri Lanka based in its ancient capital of Anuradhapura. SAAGG promotes these goals at all levels, in all parts of the world through awards of Proficiency Proved Professional titles such as certificates, diplomas, degrees, doctorates and other titles after training, counseling, guidance, examination, investigation, monitoring and evaluation.