In the thirty-first episode of  Battle Rhythm, Season 2 with co-host Linna Tam-Seto, Assistant Professor Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy within the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Steve and Linna discuss her presentation on how men exposed to sexual trauma in the military access support services for that trauma at CIMVHR, the Meeting of MINDS event organized by the CDSN for the nine networks and ADM Policy, the Ombudsman criticizing Ottawa for not supporting military advisers and CSIS chief raises concerns about China's interest in Canadian universities.

For our Feature Interview, Steve speaks with Matt Malone, Assistant Professor at Thompson Rivers University, and he researches the laws that protect secret information, especially trade secrecy, confidential information, access to information, privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity. They discuss Matt’s recent project, the Open by Default Project.

Episode 2.31:  Open by Default Project

AfricaNow! May 8, 2024 Media’s Challenges and Responsibilities

Topic and Guests: Since 1994 May 3 has been commemorated yearly as World Press Freedom Day, following the proclamation by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1993 that every May 3 would be World Press Freedom Day.  May 3 is the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek of May 3, 1991, where (in Windhoek, Namibia) African journalists put together principles for an independent, pluralistic press reaffirming that freedom of information is a fundamental human right.  This year the theme is A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the face of the Environmental Crisis.

Today the show features recent conversations with journalists about issues concerning the media: 1) the challenges such as financial constraints, attacks and killings of journalists, political interference and more; 2) the responsibilities such as disseminating accurate information, professionalism and more.  Joining the show from Lilongwe is Chisomo Ngulube, Vice Chairperson of Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Malawi.   Chisomo Ngulube has over 20 years’ experience in various media capacities and is a 2017 Harvard University Nieman Journalism Fellow. Currently she is head of broadcasting at the Malawi Parliament.  Also featured from Washington, DC is Abderrahim Foukara, Washington Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera who has over 30 years’ experience in journalism in various positions at the BBC and Al Jazeera.  During the conversation with Abderrahim Foukara, Washington Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera features comments from South African journalist Thembisa Fakude of the Mail & Guardian on SABC TV program Media & Society, “High journalist deaths in Gaza war” January 14, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlVyl4ZIxm8&t=569s. 

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“EYE OF THE HURRICANE” BY HERBIE HANCOCK TRIO FEAT. HERBIE HANCOCK, RON CARTER & BILLY COBHAM commemorating Ron Carter’s birthday (May 4, 1937—); break--“ALL THE WAY FROM AFRICA” BY KETURAH; sign-off--“BAOBAB SUNSET” BY MANU DIBANGO; closing song--“MY MOTHERLAND AFRICA” BY LAWI.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW. Donate online visit pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! May 8, 2024 Media’s Challenges and Responsibilities

In the third episode of the governance building block we move on to the discussion of legal frameworks and social protection.
How can legal provisions of participation, access to information, transparency and equality be leveraged to include those workers into social protection systems? What are the main legal frameworks? How does administrative justice work for this end and how it can be used a tool for informal workers in their advocacy efforts? To help us understand these questions we invited Pamhidzai Bamu. 

Pamhi holds a masters and a PhD in Labour Law from the University of Cape Town. She is currently the President of the African Labour Law Society. She has consulted for the International Labour Organisation and the Southern African Development Community on various projects. She is currently the Africa Coordinator of WIEGO’s Law Programme.

***

References

Social Protection for Self-Employed Informal Workers in Sub-Saharan Africa: A rights-based assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis https://www.wiego.org/publications/social-protection-self-employed-informal-workers-sub-saharan-africa-rights-based 

R202 - Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202) https://normlex.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID:3065524 

C189 - Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) https://normlex.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C189 

African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
 https://au.int/en/treaties/african-charter-human-and-peoples-rights

*Our theme music is Focus from AA Aalto (Creative Commons)

#41 Governance, Social Protection And Law

Globally, 2 billion people work in the informal economy. This means that 61% of workers rely on work that offers little pay and few protections. Women informal workers, such as domestic workers, home-based workers, street vendors and waste pickers are at the base of the economic pyramid with the highest risk of poverty.  Public policies and social protection schemes often do not consider these  workers, leaving them vulnerable to income losses and struggling to cope after an event or shock. In this monthly podcast we will discuss some of the most pressing issues related to social protection from the perspective of informal workers, including debates around the future of work, demographic changes and the informal economy, as well as  social services, like child care and health that can protect informal workers’ incomes. Subscribe to the “Informal Economy Podcast: Social Protection” to learn more about WIEGO’s cutting-edge research and hear from informal workers organisations about the debates, policies, successes and challenges they face in accessing and reforming social protection systems.

We now have 5 network podcasts: 
1. Battle Rhythm is hosted by Stephen Saideman, Anessa Kimball, Artur Wilczynski, Wendy Wong, Thomas Hughes and Linna Tam-Seto, and released every second Wednesday, features timely discussion on the defence and security issues of the day, as well as feature conversations with experts.
2. Conseils de sécurité hosted by Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé and Laurent Borzillo, comes out the corresponding Wednesdays that Battle Rhythm doesn't and is completely en français.
3. SecurityScape is a monthly podcast produced by graduate students from the Centre of Military, Security, and Strategic Studies. Each episode highlights scholars and students and the important research they are conducting relating to security.
4. The NATO Field Report will bring you field reports via a ‘special’ (occasional) podcast featuring the NATO Field School staff, students, and guest speakers. Each episode will be moderated by NFS staff and students and themed to a particular topic, discussing key takeaways and unique perspectives while discussing this topic with experts and decision-makers in the field. https://www.sfu.ca/politics/natofieldschool.html
5. Resilience Plus is a unique, evidence-based, bilingual program at RMC and RMC Saint-Jean hosted by Meaghan M. Wilkin & Lobna Cherif

New tracks tagged #Access to Information