The Erasure of Sex: The Global Capture of Policies on Sex by Gender Identity Activists and the Effects on the Rights of Women and Girls

This article reviews the goals, history, and impact of the new gender identity politics. Based on the Yogyakarta Principles, these new ideas and policies will profoundly affect the rights of women and girls worldwide. The Principles are a document from an international meeting about sexual orientation and gender identity in 2006. In 2017, the document was updated to the Yogyakarta Principles Plus 10. The Principles recommend legal changes by states worldwide, resulting in the erasure of sex as a legal and cultural category. These principles have been widely used to lobby for legal changes resulting in profound structural changes that lead to undermining and eliminating protections for women and girls from sex-based discrimination and state obligations to achieve de facto sex equality. One of the most far-reaching recommendations is “States [national governments] must abolish all legal records of sex from all legal documents, including birth certificates and passports.” These recommendations are being implemented globally, although they have never been discussed or adopted by member states or any international organization, nor were any official women’s organizations consulted. This article was written by a collective of many feminist activists, researchers, and specialist service providers from Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Africa who met every week at the Women’s Declaration International (WDI) sessions. They collected evidence and collaborated on creating this document from 2019 to 2022

Convening for a Prosperous Future: Middle East North African South Asian (MENASA) Convening

PSU is proactively leaning into its future as a majority-BIPOC student institution and is dedicated to coming alongside BIPOC communities, critical partners, actors, and agents to act in the present to ensure a prosperous future. We recognize that opportunities and challenges for BIPOC communities require collective, rather than singular, action. In that spirit, we invite you to save the date and join Portland State University\u27s Global Diversity and Inclusion Division on Sunday October 23rd between 11am-2pm for a convening luncheon contemplating present challenges and imagining a prosperous future for our Middle East North African South Asian (MENASA) Community. This social event aims to be an asset-based intergenerational, inter-ideological, and intercultural opportunity for listening, shared learning, and recognition of points of synergy and opportunity across the rich and diverse identities of the MENASA community in our area -- resulting in a shared agenda and momentum for action. Related Materials: Five affinity-based convenings: Latiné Futures Convening Convening on the Future of Black Thriving & Joy Convening for a Thriving Future for Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, Asian, and Asian American Communities (PIAA) Convening for a Prosperous Future for Middle East, North African and South Asian Community (MENASA) Native Leaders Roundtable Time to Act Events:The Future and Thriving of BIPOC Communities: A Time to Act Macroconvening(Affinity groups met in-person November 2022)Time 2 Act: Continuing Action for a Just and Equitable PSU(Video - Winter Symposium 2021) Time to Act: Envisioning and Creating a Just and Equitable PSU(Video - Virtual Equity Summit, October 30, 2020) Equity Plan: Time to Act: Plan for Equity & Racial Justice 2021 - 2024 (PDF - Report, 2021

Collaborative adaptation research initiative in Africa and Asia

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Initiative de recherche concertée sur l'adaptation en Afrique et en AsieWhile climate change is a global threat, some parts of the world are especially vulnerable to the extreme effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, changes in precipitation patterns, and the melting of glaciers. CARIAA aims to help build the resilience of poor people to climate change by supporting a network of consortia to conduct high-caliber research, informing adaptation policy and practice in hot spots in Africa and Asia. This brief article introduces the CARIAA consortia teams and their focus countries

Pathways to resilience in semi-arid economies

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Nouveaux mécanismes de résilience dans les pays semi-aridesRather than starting with complex climate change projections, this research begins by identifying the decisions people need to make now about investment choices and development options for semi-arid regions, which are often economically marginalized due to geographical and resources limitations, and are particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. This article introduces Pathways to Resilience in Semi-arid Economies (PRISE), a 5-year research programme that aims to strengthen the commitment of decision-makers in local and national governments, businesses and trade bodies to rapid, inclusive and resilient development in semi-arid regions

Targeting climate change hot spots : introducing the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA)

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Objectif : les zones cruciales au regard des changements climatiques; présentation de l'Initiative de recherche concertée sur l'adaptation en Afrique et en Asie (IRCAAA)While climate change is a global threat, some parts of the world are especially vulnerable due to the expected impacts on these sensitive regions and the large numbers of people who inhabit them. Climate change in these “hot spots” threatens the livelihoods of vast populations, particularly the poor. CARIAA aims to help build the resilience of poor people to climate change by supporting a network of consortia to conduct high-calibre research and policy engagement in hot spots in Africa and Asia

Himalayan adaptation, water and resilience research on glacier and snowpack dependent river basins for improving livelihoods

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Recherche sur l'adaptation, l'eau et la résilience en Himalaya (Hi-Aware) concernant les bassins hydrographiques alimentés par l'eau des glaciers et des manteaux neigeux, en vue de l'amélioration des moyens de subsistanceThe Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, dubbed the “Water Towers of Asia” provides water and other ecosystem services to more than 1.3 billion people. However, its glacier- and snow-fed river basins are highly vulnerable to climate change. Shifts in the timing and pattern of precipitation, and of glacier and snow runoff already impact water and energy availability. This brief introduces the Himalayan Adaptation, Water and Resilience (HI-AWARE) Research on Glacier and Snowpack Dependent River Basins for Improving Livelihoods; a programme which aims to enhance the climate resilience and adaptive capacities of the poor and vulnerable people living in the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra basins

Global manifesto on forgotten foods

This Manifesto on Forgotten Foods1 is the result of a broad and intensive consultation process carried out in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East (see Annex 1 for the roadmap). It was facilitated by GFAR as part of its Collective Actions to Empower Farmers at the Center of Innovation; led by a coalition of Regional Research Organizations and their partners, in particular, AARINENA, APAARI, FARA; and supported by CFF, and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. The content of this Manifesto is a landmark by presenting a coherent, multi-faceted but systemic, collective action-oriented proposal that covers research and innovation, and development (policy). The Manifesto aims to serve as a guide for the present and the future of forgotten foods. Its proponents call for a transformation of the agricultural research and innovation system through: change in research methodologies/paradigm; professional change; changes in the governance/ organization of development, research and innovation; changes in institutions; and changes in training/capacity building approaches and curricula. The Manifesto places smallholder farmers center stage, as producers and custodians of forgotten foods and related knowledge, agents of change and co-producers of (new) knowledge and practices. The Manifesto calls for concrete actions that contribute to achieve several of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, and to the ‘Right to Food’ and the ‘Right to Health’ embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is also meant to be an invaluable input for the United Nations Food Systems Summit later in 2021

Electronic data capture for large scale typhoid surveillance, household contact tracing, and health utilisation survey: Strategic Typhoid Alliance across Africa and Asia

Background Electronic data capture systems (EDCs) have the potential to achieve efficiency and quality in collection of multisite data. We quantify volume, time, accuracy and costs of an EDC using large-scale census data from the STRATAA consortium, a comprehensive programme assessing population dynamics and epidemiology of typhoid fever in Malawi, Nepal and Bangladesh to inform vaccine and public health interventions. Results A census form was developed through a structured iterative process and implemented using Open Data Kit Collect running on Android-based tablets. Data were uploaded to Open Data Kit Aggregate, then auto-synced to MySQL-defined database nightly. Data were backed-up daily from 3 sites centrally, and auto-reported weekly. Pre-census materials’ costs were estimated. Demographics of 308,348 individuals from 80,851 households were recorded within average of 14.7 weeks range (13-16) using 65 fieldworkers. Overall, 21.7 errors (95% confidence interval: 21.4, 22.0) per 10,000 data points were found: 13.0 (95% confidence interval: 12.6, 13.5) and 24.5 (95% confidence interval: 24.1, 24.9) errors on numeric and text fields respectively. These values meet standard quality threshold of 50 errors per 10,000 data points. The EDC’s total variable cost was estimated at US$13,791.82 per site. Conclusions In conclusion, the EDC is robust, allowing for timely and high volume accurate data collection, and could be adopted in similar epidemiological settings

Reductions in abortion-related mortality following policy reform: evidence from Romania, South Africa and Bangladesh

Unsafe abortion is a significant contributor to worldwide maternal mortality; however, abortion law and policy liberalization could lead to drops in unsafe abortion and related deaths. This review provides an analysis of changes in abortion mortality in three countries where significant policy reform and related service delivery occurred. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature, population data and grey literature on programs and policies, this paper demonstrates the policy and program changes that led to declines in abortion-related mortality in Romania, South Africa and Bangladesh. In all three countries, abortion policy liberalization was followed by implementation of safe abortion services and other reproductive health interventions. South Africa and Bangladesh trained mid-level providers to offer safe abortion and menstrual regulation services, respectively, Romania improved contraceptive policies and services, and Bangladesh made advances in emergency obstetric care and family planning. The findings point to the importance of multi-faceted and complementary reproductive health reforms in successful implementation of abortion policy reform