The Campaign Company Blog

So its good bye from me

Well, that's it folks!  I'm off, and very very sad I am too.  My time at the Campaign Company has been wonderful...you're all fantastic, and thanks for putting up with me.

Never give up your campaigning spirit!

Good 'elf from Sarah

As Sarah is saying goodbye to the company this week she wanted to show off a usually well hidden talent.

Please click the link below and enjoy...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=bae9927f0435cfe5fc22d40G06122004

True or false? Christmas facts

Below are statements about Christmas - can you work out if they're true or false?  (Some of them aren't directly related to Christmas, but interesting anyway)

Saint Nicholas of Myra, the original Santa Claus, was the patron saint of children, thieves and pawnbrokers.

A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

On Christmas Eve in 2001, the Bethlehem Hotel had 208 of its 210 rooms free.

On Christmas Day in Belgium, it is legal for police officers to throw bananas at children

Cows don't have upper front teeth

The word 'mistletoe' means 'dung on a twig' in Anglo-Saxon

It was illegal to celebrate Christmas in England during the mid fifteenth century.

The Canadian Post Office has given Santa Claus his own official postal code at the North Pole.

NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracks Santa and his sleigh every year on radar.

Festive Fun in South Kilburn

The South Kilburn Youth Board had an evening of festive fun earlier this week at their Christmas Party.  We all had a great time.  The second Youth Board, who only took their seats in September, have worked really hard in preparation of the South Kilburn

show case, planned for February next year.  I’ve had a brilliant time working with them on this and other projects, its been challenging, fun and I cant believe how much they have already achieved in just a couple of months.

And, since I’m leaving I will look forward to reading these pages for updates on their future work and seeing how they will contribute to changing the lives of young people in South Kilburn.

Ingredients for Community Engagement

IPSOS Mori have recently published their report on community engagement - Ingredients for Community Engagement: The Civic Pioneer Experience. It considers the necessary ingredients for successful community engagement and concludes that the 9 key ingredients are: Community Driven; Single Issues; Local Involvement Structures; Leadership/ Champion; Organisational Culture;  Agency Partnership Working;  Targets;  Stability

Download the report here

Petition the PM!!

The new online petitions facility on the Number 10 Downing Street website has just reached the first month of its public beta test.

The first month review has reported that:

There have been nearly 2000 petitions submitted

There have been over 200,000 signatures.

Over 1100 petitions are active and available for signing

After an initial spike, around 50 new petitions are now being submitted and processed per day.

The figures seem to suggest that this is a very popular way for the public to express their view.

The litmus test will be how the website actually responds to the petitions, especially the more popular ones, otherwise the danger is a very good idea will be just seen as a bit of "spin"!

If you have any comment as to how to improve the petition site, you can email them to:

team@petitions.pm.gov.uk

You can also express your views on the value of such sites as a comment to this posting as well.

Blogging all over the World!

An article from the cutting edge technology magazine Wired shows again that Blogging can act as a powerful advocacy tool.

The article refers to the work of Sami Ben Gharbia who is the creator of the Tunisian Prison Map which instead of showing government figures on crime, displays where the government was imprisoning political dissidents for daring to speak out.

It then goes on to talk about the work of Global Voices Online, an international citizens' media group that held its second annual summit in India last weekend.

The website was launched in 2004 as a way to get people talking to one another across cultural and lingual divides. A project of The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, it is described in the article as a kind of Reader's Digest of noteworthy or interesting blogs from non-Western countries. It's mission statement says it is: committed to developing tools, institutions and relationships that will help all voices everywhere to be heard.

Whilst Blogging started off in the west, Global Voices shows that new media technology can increase dialogue across many different cultures and act as a form of social glue that makes us all understand the similar challenges we face, whilst being able to celebrate the differences that add to diversity.

Recycling's not just for Christmas...

...but most households are likely to generate more waste than usual over the festive season. This week's Environmental Tip of the Week is therefore all about planning now to eliminate waste, unwanted presents, and to recycle rubbish after Christmas. Go to www.growupgreen.org.uk for ideas about how to get started.

Web 2.0 - The Guardian picks the Best

Today's Guardian technology section has an article featuring the 100 most useful sites.

It's well worth reading and the Public Action section recommends some sites that we have previously covered in this Blog such as Pledgebank.

The development of Web 2.0 applications is having a profound effect on how people engage and democracies work. The fact we are nowadays able to Blog about it illustrates the interconnections between all this new media and the possibilities for the future.

My son at Christmas.............

Just recieved this email from my son Matthew who is volunteering at an orphanage on the Thailand/Burma border:

Hi Dad,

Will ring tonight to talk but this is a small plea for funding for anybody you can think of that might want to help. The website address of the organisation i am with is below.

http://www.childlife-maesai.org/

The english version is out of date (eg there are 128 children at the

shelter now) but is still roughly accurate.

Below is a short extract, from the website and from me along with a photo you can choose to print or not.

'Childlife is a non-government funded organization, whose mission is to help children at risk through intervention, accommodation, and education, and to prevent child labor, human trafficking, and commercial sexual exploitation of children by increasing public awareness.

Childlife, "Baan-Nana" in Thai, was founded in 1999 and is located in the far north of Thailand in Maesai, at the border to Myanmar (Burma). Childlife cares for all children in need, regardless of ethnicity, nationality or religion.'

Hello. I am currently volunteering in Northern Thailand on a project providing shelter and education for children, either orphaned or unwanted. A large proportion of the childrens parents are dead or addicted to opium, a problem endemic in the 'golden triangle' area. Most have come to Childlife after being forced to beg, as young as 2 years old, to feed their parents addictions.

The shelter is a fantastic place where the children receive the love and attention they so desperately need and as Christmas is approaching, it would be fantastic to give them an experience they will never forget. The project itself receives no direct government funding so money is extremely short. Anything you can give would be much appreciated and I will be taking lots of photos so you can see directly, the impact your money will make!

Thank you

Matthew

Thanks dad, speak to you soon and  you dig into your pockets.....