1. Our Next General Body Meeting
DATE: February 22, 2010
TIME: 8-9PM
LOCATION: Hamilton Hall, Morningside Campus, Room 304
Spotlight Student Group: There is Hope, Mission Haiti
2. CUPID’s Community Initiatives Summer Abroad Fellows Program Information Sessions
Come to an Information Session for Summer Opportunities in the Dominican Republic and Colombia. All Columbia students invited to apply
Interested applicants are encouraged to attend at least one of the following information sessions:
Wednesday, February 24th, 7-8 p.m. at Teachers College, Russell Hall 306 (3rd Floor of Teachers College Library)
Thursday, February 25th, 8-9 p.m. at Teachers College, Russell Hall 305 (3rd Floor of Teachers College Library)
Teachers College is located at 525 W. 120th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam)
Please read below for a short description of our partnering organizations and the CUPID Summer Fellow positions available.
For more information and to download an application form, go to http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cupid/Initiatives.html or email us at cupidinitiatives@gmail.com
Volunteers Colombia
Volunteers Colombia (VC) is a young organization that works with the island community of Baru within the Department of Bolivar in the Caribbean region of Colombia. The Department of Bolivar is not only one of the poorest departments in the country, but also one of the departments with the most inequalities. The community of Baru suffers from extreme poverty and faces different social challenges such as early onset of sexual relations that lead to high numbers of teen pregnancy and low educational achievement. The CUPID positions offered will address these issues from a multidisciplinary perspective, making for an extraordinary professional summer experience.
Description of the Positions:
The CUPID Summer Fellows in Baru will work in the areas of educational and social welfare. In education, the fellows will develop internal assessments designed to measure the effects of a newly-implemented ESL program and examine the potential for vocational education related to the growing tourism industry on the island. In social welfare, the CUPID Fellows will examine the socio-cultural background of the community. One of the main challenges of VC’s work on the island is understanding issues that are not related to formal education but that may constitute obstacles for students to enter the workforce or higher education upon graduation. The intern will conduct research that provides better understanding of these issues.
Global Potential
Global Potential (GP) is a non-profit organization that empowers low-income, urban youth in the U.S. to create positive change in their lives and communities. For 12 weeks, youth participants from New York area high schools engage in an intensive social entrepreneurship and leadership training program where they gain skills and knowledge that will prepare them to live and volunteer for six weeks in a rural village in the Dominican Republic where they engage in community service and internships, gaining practical experience with local professionals.
Description of the Positions:
The CUPID Summer Fellows will work with community members from poor, rural communities in the Dominican Republic and with at-risk youth from Brooklyn high schools as they engage in a collaborative service project. Within the Dominican Republic, the interns will work with a range of individuals ranging from Directors of NGOs, government and other public officials, local pastors, community leaders, youth, children, parents, and individual community members. This interdisciplinary project has already had CUPID Fellows and their positive experiences are the evidence of the great opportunity GP represents for all who want a professional internship for this coming summer.
3. CUPID Review: Call for submissions
CUPID Review is an annual online publication showcasing Columbia students’ experiences with international development through different media and disciplines of study.
2010 Inaugural Theme: Party like it’s 2015: Progressing Toward the Millennium Development Goals
Invited submissions include both academic and creative forms of writing, artwork and visual media. This may include, but is not limited to: scholarly research, project proposals and evaluations, policy analysis, personal reflection essays, poetry and short stories, short video clips, visual art, and photography. For visual pieces, please provide a written description of how your work contributes to the Review Theme.
Submissions are due March 15, 2010. Papers/links to visual media files should be emailed to cupidjournal@gmail.com.
4. Blinded by Open Arms Film Screening
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Time: 8 – 10 PM
Location: Roone Arledge Cinema, Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia University
Come join CU Global Brigades and CUPID for a FREE film screening of the 2008 documentary Blinded by Open Arms! Blinded by Open Arms shows the tragic situation currently present among Honduran youth and their struggle for survival. Family disintegration, poverty, poor education and lack of employment lead the youth to drug use, gang involvement, and homelessness. The film captures the deteriorating situation in Honduras by showing the deplorable conditions through the stories that are told on screen. Then, learn how you can help create sustainable projects to address these critical issues. RSVP here!
Time: 1-8pm (TBC)
Place: Columbia University, International Affairs Building, Room 1501
Itinerary:
1-1:30 Welcome and Introductions
1:30-2:30 Keynote Address, Emi MacLean, US Director of the Access to Essential Medicines Campaign, Doctors without Borders
2:30-2:45 Break
2:45- 4:15 Microinsurance: The Key to Improving Health in Developing Countries?
4:30- 5:45 Speed Presentation Session
5:45-6:00 Break
6:00-7:00 Debate: Is the World Spending too much on HIV/AIDS?
7:00-8:00 Wine and Cheese Reception
1. General body meeting
Date: January 25, 2010
Time: 8pm
Location: TBA
Spotlight Group: Community Lab with the Earth Institute
Committee breakout sessions* begin after 8:30pm
*The Journal Committee is looking for editors and interested students to help on the committee. Please come to our general body meeting Monday evening or contact cupid@columbia.edu for more information.
2. Human Rights Informatics Discussion
Date: January 28, 2010
Time: 4pm
Location: TBD
Speakers: Dr. Patrick Ball
Join us for a lecture and discussion around human rights monitoring based on databases of knowledge collected from witnesses and investigations, using real life examples from Guatemala, El Salvador, Kosovo, Columbia, Timor-Leste, and Sierra Leone. Dr. Ball has designed information systems and conducted analyses for large-scale human rights data projects used by truth commissions, NGOs, tribunals and United Nations missions around the world.
Co-sponsored by:
Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI)
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)
3. Development Dialogue hosted by CUSSW
Date: February 4, 2010
Time: 6-8pm
Topic: AIDS Work in Uzbekhistan, Kazikstan, Brazil
Speakers: Drs. Rogério M. Pinto, Susan Witte and Marion Riedel
Existing models for international research focus exclusively on one country at a time, thus providing little insight into the collaborative process in diverse contexts. We will present a tested five-step framework for international research. One project will examine how female health workers prioritized prevention services in Brazil. The other will examine the development of an intervention for female sex workers in Mongolia. We will show how Motivational Interviewing can be helpful in different cultural contexts. The 5-step framework embraces the tenets of social work, public health, and participatory-action research and can guide all phases of collaborative international research.
4. Health: A Universal Dialect(ic)? Access to Health in the Developing World: CUPID’s Annual Conference
Date: February 12, 2010
Time: 1-8pm
Location: Columbia University, International Affairs Building, Room 1501
Preliminary Schedule (TBC)
1 – 1:30pm Introduction
1:30 – 2:30pm Key-Note
2:30 – 2:45pm Break
2:45 – 4:15pm Micro-Insurance Panel
4:15 – 4:30pm Break
4:30 – 5:45pm Speed Conference
5:45 – 6pm Break
6 – 7pm Debate
7 – 8pm Reception
Next General Assembly Meeting/Happy Hour
December 7, 2009
The Village Pourhouse (982 Amsterdam Ave., b/t 108 & 109)
Starts at 8PM
CUPID’s Co-Sponsored World AIDS Day Event
TWO MEN TALKING
Paul Brode and Murray Nossel
Directed by Dan Milne
World AIDS Day 2009
Date: Tuesday, December 1
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Miller Theatre, 2960 Broadway (at 116th Street)
FREE ADMISSION
In Johannesburg, a teacher asks two rival schoolboys to tell each other a story. Decades later, they meet by chance in New York and begin a lifelong friendship. Part story telling and part conversation, Two Men Talking is an unscripted performance that shares their real stories of harassment, homophobia, racism, and HIV/AIDS. Audience members are invited to share as well.
Hosted by ICAP and Rockafellar Foundation.
Is your organization looking for graduate interns or volunteers?
We have the answer for you. CUPID is seeking professional partnerships for its 2010 Summer Fellows Abroad Program and its year-round CUPID in NYC Internships.
For more information on the programs, click here!
“Microfinance, Social Enterprise, and the Law” Symposium
Date: Tuesday, November 17th
Time: 5:30 to 9:00pm
Location: JG Annex
As part of a 2-day collaboration with NYU’s Law & Social Entrepreneurship Association, social entrepreneurs, lawyers from Chadbourne & Parke, Latham & Watkins, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and students will discuss microfinance from a legal point of view. These professionals will describe their experiences and debate the merits of microfinance. Wine and cheese will follow.
This Symposium is co-hosted by the CSIL, CUPID, the Reynolds Program, Career Services, CBLA, InSite, and Student Senate.
Children on the Front Line: An Evening With Ishmael Beah
Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Time: 6:00pm
Location: Faculty House – Columbia University, 64 Morningside Drive, New York, NY 10027
Columbia University’s UN Studies Program Working Group with the Human Rights Working Group invites you to an event on child soldiers and children in armed conflict. The event celebrates the passage of Security Council Resolution 1882, which addresses the continued use and abuse of children in armed conflict globally, urges all parties to conflict to respect the rights of children and further calls on states to end impunity and prosecute those who are responsible for the egregious crimes committed against children.
Panelists:
Ishmael Beah: Former child soldier, acclaimed author, and Board member of Play31
H.E. Ambassador John McNee: Permanent Representative of Canada to the U.N.
H.E. Ambassador Shekou M. Touray: Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the U.N.
Jo Becker: Advocacy Director for children’s rights for Human Rights Watch
Jimmie Briggs: Journalist, Goodwill Ambassador and Special Envoy for Children and Armed Conflict
Master of Ceremonies: Elisabeth Lindenmayer – Director of the UN Studies Program at SIPA
Co-sponsors:
UNSPWG, HRWG, CICR, CRWG, CUPID, EPD Concentration, HAWG, Human Rights Concentration, SPAN
November 9, 2009
CUPID’s General Body Meeting
Time: 8-8:30 pm: General meeting with Student Group Spotlight
8:30 to 9pm: Committee breakout sessions
Location: Room 420, Pupin Hall
Student Group Spotlight: Society for International Education at Teachers College
If you have been to a meeting yet, don’t be shy and come check us out! Everyone is welcome!
October 23, 2009
“Gender, Peace, and Security”: A Conference
Friday, October 23rd, 12-7:30 pm in Room 1512, International Affairs Building, Columbia University
At this critical time, with conflict on the rise, there are growing concerns over how gender is being considered, or sometimes overlooked, in issues of global peace and security. As this October marks the 9th Anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325, it is nearly a decade since the participation of women in peacebuilding and negotiation has been formally and internationally recognized and encouraged. The hosts and sponsors of the conference on “Gender, Peace, and Security” feel that it is timely and important to mark this important anniversary with an event addressing the changes that have been made as well as those that have yet to be addressed involving both the inclusion of women and gender minorities and the inclusion of gender-related issues into the foreground in the field of peace and security.
Conference admission is free and lunch will be provided, as well as snacks throughout the day.
Feel free to check out the facebook page for updated information. Pre-register to reserve a spot by sending your RSVP email to GenderConference2009@gmail.com.
Conference schedule:
12:00: Arrival and lunch is served
12:15: Gender & Militarism Panel
–Christine Cynn, Africana & Women’s Studies Departments, Barnard College
–Marlisa Grogan, former US Marine, Student SSW, Columbia University
–Helen Benedict, Journalism School, Columbia University
–Dr. Mike Anastario, Cicetelli Associates
–Sam Cook, PeaceWomen
–Paula Ioanide, Ithaca College
1:45: Gender-Based Violence in Conflict Settings Panel
–Marianne Mollman, Women?s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch
–Jocelyn Kelly, Harvard University
–Victoria Sanford, Lehman College & The CUNY Graduate Center
–Mendy Marsh, UNICEF
3:00: Women’s Leadership Locally & Globally Panel
–Cynthia Rothschild, Center for Women?s Global Leadership
–Jennifer McCarthy, The Women Leaders Intercultural Forum
–Julia Greenberg, AIDS-Free World
–Nidhi Srinivas, Milano, The New School of Management and Policy
4:15: Keynote Address by Anne-Marie Goetz, Chief Advisor on Governance, Peace & Security, UNIFEM
5:15: A Round-Table Discussion on A Gendered Approach to Refugee & IDP Issues with Professor Jose Moya, Barnard College
6:15: Gender & Conflict Resolution Panel
–Cora Weiss, President of the Hague Appeal for Peace
–Hagar Kotef, Institute for Research on Women and Gender
–Luc Ngowet, Africa Division, Department of Political Affairs, United Nations
7:15: Closing Remarks
7:30-10:00 pm: Happy Hour at Haakon’s Hall
1187 Amsterdam Ave. at 118th St.
(Drink specials until 10 pm for conference guests!)
This conference is being hosted by the Gender Policy Working Group of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Co-sponsors of the event are GLIPA, the Conflict Resolution Working Group, the Economic and Political Development Concentration, the Center for International Conflict Resolution, the Gender Policy Program, and the Humanitarian Affairs Working Group of SIPA; CUPID of Columbia University; UNICEF and UNIFEM.
October 19, 2009
Anti-Trafficking Policy and its Effects at Home and Abroad
Date: October 19th
Time: 5-7 pm
Location: Room 1512, 15th Floor of International Affairs Building, SIPA, Columbia University
Please join us for an enlightening discussion on Monday, October 19th from 5-7 pm withDr. Melissa Ditmore, a post-doctoral fellow in Behavioral Sciences Training at National Development and Research Institutes in New York. She has written about US policy, trafficking in persons and sex work. She is a member of the board of directors of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects.
Dr. Ditmore will be discussing US funding policy on trafficking and HIV, the Traffic in Persons Report, examples of US pressure on other countries and their responses, and the consequences for sex workers and people in extremely abusive working conditions in a variety of industries.
Panelists also include:
Clara Sommarin- Child Protection Specialist – Exploitation and Violence at UNICEF headquarters in New York.
Anke Strauss-Liaison Officer to the Office of the IOM Permanent Observer to the UN
Hosted By: The Migration Working Group and Gender Policy Working Group of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs
Sponsored By: The Urban and Social Policy and Economic and Political Development Concentrations at SIPA; The Asian Pacific Affairs Council and Human Rights Working Group at SIPA; CUPID.
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED
