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Dr. Frank Simpson
Coordinator, International and Developent Research, Education and Training (IDRET) Phone: (519) 253-3000 Ext. 2408 Email: This section is about reducing risk in international and development projects. Forecasts of the future are an important part of project design. Yet these frequently must include the evaluation of circumstances, beyond the control of project participants. Critical assumptions must be made about these circumstances, now and for the future. The links to Web sites that follow are intended to spur creativity in this area of project design. ENTERWeb is an information gateway to sources on entrepreneurship, small business, finance, international trade and the economy for both developed and developing countries. It has search engine and business travel portals. The ENTER-L Discussion List deals with enterprise development in developed and developing countries. There is a focus on micro-scale and small enterprises. Please see: http://www.enterweb.org/ The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) consists of public, private and not-for-profit organizations. It is committed to sharing information, experiences and resources to promote the use of knowledge and information for sustainable and equitable development. The Global Knowledge for Development (GKD) Internet List facilitates discussion of the role and impacts of knowledge in development. There is a focus on the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs), especially among the poor. http://www.globalknowledge.org/ Climatic change receives attention on a large number of Web sites. The scales of the changes under consideration range from local to global; the time frames from a day to centuries. The selection of sites, listed below, gives a variety of Canadian, U.S. and multilateral perspectives: http://www.ec.gc.ca/climate/index.html http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/climate.htm http://climatechange.nrcan.gc.ca/ http://www.noaa.gov/climate.html http://www.gcrio.org/ http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/pointers/glob_warm.html http://www-esd.worldbank.org/cc/ http://www.unep.org/SGE Disaster Management and Surveillance programmes of the Canadian Space Agency are geared to prediction, mitigation, management and assessment of natural disasters, as well as near real-time surveillance, particularly of the marine environment. They employ the RADARSAT system of satellites. The Solid Earth and Natural Hazards Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) maintains the search service, Disaster! Finder. The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) maintains a Disaster Information Server, as a contribution to the management of natural and technological disasters on a worldwide basis. Its Disaster Management Support Group (DMSG) fosters improved utilization of data from existing and planned Earth Observation (EO) satellites. The European Space Agency maintains an Earth Remote Sensing portal, with a worldwide perspective on disaster management. The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, provides comprehensive coverage of crisis awareness and preparedness. http://www.space.gc.ca/csa_sectors/earth_environment/radarsat/disaster_man/about.asp http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/ndrd/disaster/links http://disaster.ceos.org/ http://earth.esa.int/ http://travel.state.gov/crisismg.html Up-to-date information on disasters in progress is at: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/index.html http://www.who.int/disasters The Travel Warnings, issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), include country information on conditions that could adversely affect the success of international and development projects. The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia also provide such services for their nationals. Some differences in emphasis may be of interest. http://voyage.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/destinations/menu_e.html http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html http://www.fco.gov.uk/travel http://www.dfat.gov.au/consular/advice These last-mentioned links include considerations of public health that could impact on project activities abroad. Additional perspectives are presented at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pphb-dgspsp/new_e.html http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/hiv_aids/can_strat/international/index.html http://www.who.int/home-page/ On occasion, world events have taken abrupt turns, because the right word was lacking! Some international and development projects too will require participants to confront problems of communication, arising from the lack of a common language. In some respects, the roles of translator and interpreter are made easier, through ready access to online resources. For example, project participants now can interact more effectively with providers of language services, by selecting appropriate online glossaries and dictionaries of specialized terminology. The following Web sites present a wide range of language services and related links, including aid software, databases, glossaries and dictionaries, publications, educational resources, specialist discussion groups, and miscellaneous resources. http://accurapid.com/journal http://www.ilovelanguages.com http://www.xlation.com http://www.rahul.net/lai/companion.html http://www.translation.net http://www.freetranslation.com These general themes, for consideration in the design of international and development projects, will see periodic revision, to meet the changing needs of Windsor researchers. Please send comments to Frank Simpson, Tel. 1 519 253 3000, x2487 E-mail frank@uwindsor.ca |