FPCD Suports the Gender Equality Principles Initiative

New Gender Equality in the Workplace Tool: http://www.genderprinciples.org/




The Gender Equality Principles Initiative (GEP) is a project to help businesses around the world achieve greater gender equality and build more productive workplaces. The GEP Initiative provides companies with a web-based self-assessment tool and extensive resources that can be used to improve gender equality from the factory floor to the boardroom on 7 fundamental issues.
 
The GEP is a partnership among the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women, Calvert Group, Ltd., and Verité who joined together in 2008 to draft the Gender Equality Principles based on the Calvert Women’s Principles® and the human rights treaty, CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women).
 
The Calvert Women’s Principles and GEP are the basis for the UN Global Compact Women’s Empowerment Principles. All materials and resources have been created with direct input from a range of companies, non-governmental organizations, and experts in gender, human rights, labor, employment, and legal issues. The interactive GEP website, http://www.genderprinciples.org/ was just launched in June 2010 - please check it out and let us know what you think.
 
 
 
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Monaco Boys Choir Concludes USA Tour: 3 Concerts Benefit Timor-Leste

Monaco Boys Choir Concludes USA Tour: 3 Concerts Benefit Timor-Leste

(The Monaco Boys Choir, Maestro Pierre Debat, FPCD Executive Director Claudia Abate; Metropolitan Club, Washington DC)

New York, New York – July 28, 2010 – The Monaco Boys Choir, under the direction of Maestro Pierre Debat, traveled to the United States to perform a concert tour beginning 5 July in New York City and ending 26 July in Miami, Florida. With Monsieur Debat’s initiative and under the High Patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II, it was decided that a selection of the 2010 concert series in the United States will benefit a project in Timor-Leste. These concerts took place in St. Bridget’s Church in Philadelphia, thanks to Mr. John B. Kelly III, Holy Trinity Church in Washington, D.C., thanks to H.E. Ambassador Gilles Noghes, and in the Florida International University Wertheim Concert Hall in Miami, thanks to Honorary Vice Consul in Miami Tomas Abreu.

Formed in 1974 by His Serene Highness Prince Rainier III and Monsieur Philippe Debat, the Monaco Boys Choir has always been linked to humanitarian causes. Following in the footsteps of their Philanthropic Prince Albert II, the youth perform concerts to raise necessary awareness about important humanitarian needs. During the selected concerts, it was the honour of Executive Director Claudia Abate to speak to the audiences about the special project the choir in engaged in: the building of a youth center in Maubara, Timor- Leste.

Youth compose nearly 60% of the population of Timor-Leste. After suffering through years of conflict and poverty, these youth lack locations to engage in positive activity and are therefore in dire need of youth centers. Ms. Abate and Monsieur Debat have worked hard over the last year to help this project flourish by creating a “concept that would bridge cultural divides, educate, create responsible citizenship, and build upon the little known history between Monaco and Timor-Leste,” said the FPCD Executive Director and added that “these concert are the culmination of those efforts.”

Pierre Debat recalls how he was marked by the event that united for the first time the Monaco Boys Choir and FPCD in Singapore in July 2009, stating that the discovery of the action taken by Claudia Abate in Timor-Leste led to his proposal to offer Les Petits Chanteurs' participation in a project uniting children in Monaco and Timor. "The Youth Center project is humanitarian, educational and artistic which I'm happy to associate the Choir in the framework of our programs for needy children. It is essential to convey to younger generations the fundamental values of generosity, selflessness and interest in others to guide them towards finding a better world. I believe in our common will to that effect and I can only rejoice" said Mr. Debat.

While on tour, the members of the Monaco Boys Choir were able to take a break and have fun visiting historical sites, playing soccer, going swimming, and learning cultural norms of each city. It is both their hope and the FPCD’s that their efforts can help create opportunities to do the same for children in Timor-Leste.

As one 15 year old Petit Chanteur put it, “it is good that we are able to sing, not just for the public, but for children on the other side of the world, children that we have not even met.”


The Foundation for Post Conflict Development (FPCD) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information dedicated to assisting post conflict countries with projects essential to their reconstruction, including the demobilization /disbanding of child soldiers, reintegration of war veterans, the creation of meaningful employment and cultural preservation. Through direct education, action and development (or the promotion of global partnership for such efforts), the FPCD’s mission is to fulfill the Millennium Development Goals set forth by the UN. The FPCD’s landmark project is the Prince Rainier III Maternity Clinic, the first of its kind in Timor-Leste.



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CONTACT INFORMATION:

Arielle Messuti, Director of Public Relations
245 Park Avenue, 24th Floor
NYC, 10167 USA
Tel.: (212) 643. 5467
E-Mail: amessuti@postconflictdev.org
Website: www.postconflictdev.org



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