September 2002 Edition Grassroots Good News

["Burkhard Luber" <luber at dieschwelle.de>]

Grassroots Good News / September 2002

Contents:
1) PeopLink
2) The African Internet
3) Environmental Research & Corporate Watchdogging


1) PeopLink
is a nonprofit marketplace benefiting grassroots artisans and their
communities around the world (www.peoplink.org). It is a non-profit
organization helping talented producers in remote communities all over
the world market their products on the Internet. Peoplink is building
a global network of Trading Partners (TPs) that, in turn, provide
services to several community-based artisan producer groups. Briefly,
PEOPLink equips the TPs with digital cameras and trains them to
capture images and edit them in a compressed format suitable for
transmission via the Internet. Peopllink then place images of the
crafts on the PEOPLink Web page and promote them to retail and
wholesale buyers in the industrialized countries. This same Web page
contains ample educational materials, sent to electronically by the
TPs, about the work and lives of the artisans. Peoplink also helps
them build and maintain their own Web catalogs and provide on-line
training and product development support.


2) The African Internet
is a paper by Wainaina Mungai, published at
www.geocities.com/wainainam. Beside being a thoughtful exploration of
the perspectives and problems of Internet Technology for Africa, the
author has made an impressive digest of interesting web sites - all
with short presentating text - grouped under the sections Health,
Economic Opportunity, Empowerment and Participation, Education and
Environment. There are fascinating examples how the Internet is being
used by NGOs and they have relevance not only for persons interested
in Africa.



3) Environmental Research & Corporate Watchdogging

ISAR (Initiative for Social Action and Renewal in Eurasia) focus on
that with a list within the presentation of its Caspian Program on its
Web Site www.isar.org (below is a selection):


Bank Information Center - BIC
www.bicusa.org
The Bank Information Center is an NGO that provides information and
strategic support to NGOs and social movements throughout the world on
the projects, policies and practices of the World Bank and other
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). BIC advocates for greater
transparency, accountability and citizen participation at the MDBs.
Information on policy debates, current projects and publications
accessible on the website.

CEE Bankwatch Network
www.bankwatch.org
The CEE Bankwatch Network is an international NGO that monitors the
activities of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) in the
region, and proposes constructive alternatives to their policies and
projects in the region. The Network focuses on energy and transport,
while working to promote public participation and access to
information about activities of IFIs in the CEE region. Additional
information on the Network and related resources are available through
this site.

Corporate Europe Observatory - CEO
www.xs4all.nl/~ceo
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a research and campaign group,
which monitors the political and economic influence of transnational
corporations, and their lobby groups in Europe and around the world.
CEO publishes a quarterly newsletter, the Corporate Europe Observer,
as well as briefings on related issues.

Corporate Watch
www.corpwatch.org
Corporate Watch is a website dedicated to helping build greater
democratic control over transnational corporations at the local,
national and international levels. Corporate Watch is designed to
provide every day Internet users, activists, journalists and policy
makers with an array of tools that can be used to investigate and
analyze corporate activity. They are committed to exposing corporate
greed by documenting the social, political, economic and environmental
impacts of these transnational giants.

The DataCenter
www.igc.apc.org/datacenter
The DataCenter is an independent nonprofit research center providing
information to activists working for progressive social change. Staff
collects, organizes and retrieves information on political, social and
economic issues. Services include a public interest library, a
customized research service and several publications. The Data Center
has been collecting corporate data and providing strategic company
research to activists for two decades.

EarthRights International - ERI
www.earthrights.org
Earthrights International is an NGO that combines the power of law and
the power of people to protect earth rights. ERI works on both the
international and grassroots levels to identify abuses of earth rights
and devise strategies for their eradication. One of ERI's activities,
The Energy Project, works to increase local communities' participation
in decision-making related to energy consumption as well as to expose
the harms of massive energy projects. Additional information on The
Energy Project and other ERI activities is available through their
website.

Environmental Background Information Center - EBIC
www.enviroweb.org/ebic/index.html
The Environmental Background Information Center is an NGO that
provides corporate research and strategic assistance to members of the
public who are interested in getting involved in local environmental
issues.

Friends of the Earth
www.foe.org
FOE is an international, nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to
protecting the planet from environmental degradation; preserving
biological, cultural, and ethnic diversity; and empowering citizens to
have an influential voice in decisions affecting the quality of their
environment and their lives. FOE has a corporate accountability
campaign.

Multinational Monitor
www.essential.org/monitor
The Multinational Monitor is a monthly publication that tracks
corporate activity, especially in the Third World, focusing on the
export of hazardous substances, worker health and safety, labor union
issues and the environment.

Oilwatch
www.oilwatch.org.ec
Oilwatch is an international network of environmental, human rights,
religious, and local organizations that supports and strengthens local
initiatives in the struggle against the negative impacts of oil and
gas exploitation in tropical countries, as well as educating and
raising the consciousness of the general public, politicians and the
oil industry, on a global level.

Project Underground
www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground
Project Underground works to expose corporate human rights and
environmental abuses; and works in support of communities threatened
by the mining and oil industries. Their web site offers many resources
and links related to corporate research of the mining and oil
industries.

Rainforest Action Network - RAN
www.ran.org
Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and
support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots
organizing, and non-violent direct action. RAN's Amazon Oil Program
works to stop destructive fossil fuel development in rainforest areas,
like Shell Oil's drillings on U'wa homeland in Colombia and in the
Camisea region of Peru, identifying environmentally responsible
alternatives that bring long-term economic solutions to indigenous
communities.

Sustainable Energy and Economy Network - SEEN
www.seen.org
SEEN, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies, and the
Transnational Institute, works in partnership with citizens groups
globally on environment and development issues with a particular focus
on climate change, energy, gender equity and economic issues. SEEN
provides information on investments made by international finance
institutions and government agencies in developing countries and
economies in transitions as well as in economically disadvantaged
regions of the US.

Worldwatch Institute
www.worldwatch.org
Worldwatch is a nonprofit public policy research organization
dedicated to informing policymakers and the public about emerging
global problems and trends and the complex links between the world
economy and its environmental support systems. Publications on related
issues are available through the website.

______________________________________________________________________
Grassroots Good News come to you from The Threshold Foundation

Editor:			Dr Burkhard Luber
Contact:		mailto:Luber at dieschwelle.de
English Website at 	www.dieschwelle.de

Grassroots Good News are an electronic mailing list which presents
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