INFOCON Newsletter # 5

Contents:

  1. Welcome to the about-once-a-month INFOCON newsletter
  2. Fieldwork preparatory phase
  3. INFOCON researcher back from Rwanda
  4. INFOCON/DIASPEACE cooperation
  5. Other news

1. Welcome to the about-once-a-month INFOCON newsletter

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to the last INFOCON newsletter in 2008! After the next consortium meeting, which will be held the 15th & 16th of December, in Duisburg, Germany, the Management Team will leave on holidays for a few days, but we will be back at the very beginning of 2009, bringing the latest news from the research fieldwork, from January 2009 onwards.

The INFOCON Management Team thanks all partners for the hard work done since April 2008. You are the project’s chief asset!

2. Fieldwork preparatory phase

On the 31st of October 2008, INFOCON researchers met in London, in order to, among other several subjects, prepare the fieldwork, foreseen from January 2009 onwards. The meeting was hosted by the Minority Rights Group, member of the INFOCON consortium.

A roadmap on important documents to be prepared was agreed, defining the tasks of each research performer as for the interview grids to be used in the field, the description of the list of transnational community actors & organizations focused within the project, the methodology which will insure the comparability of the project findings, and more.

Now, the Civil Society Organizations involved in the project are analyzing the content of the working material and will offer their feedback and inputs, which will be discussed more in-depth at the next consortium meeting, scheduled for mid-December.

The INFOCON coordinators thank everyone for all the commitment shown, specially the Minority Rights Group and our colleague Marusca Perazzi for all the support.

3. INFOCON researcher back from Rwanda

Marieke van Houte reflects on a fruitful and inspirational trip to Rwanda. The researcher from the Center for International Development Issues at the Radboud University Nijmegen visited the country between the 7th and the 26th October.

In her own words:

“Through talks with many representatives of the civil society, academics and governmental institutions, I managed to get a good impression of the important actors and the contextual issues to be taken into consideration during the fieldwork that starts from January 2009 onwards. I look forward to going back and continue the research in the complex, but fascinating setting of the Great Lakes region.”

We will keep on posting feelings and impressions from our researchers on the field so our readers could follow up on their quest.

4. INFOCON/DIASPEACE cooperation

On the 13th of November 2008, Andrea Warnecke and Bettina Conrad, colleagues from the BICC (Bonn International Center for Conversion), came to Brussels and met Felippe Angeli, the INFOCON project manager, and Thomas Blumenfeld, the project’s IT manager, for continuing the discussion on how both projects can enhance the length and the effectiveness of the internet platform, aimed to promote a better knowledge on transnational communities, their work and their networks.

By the beginning of December, the INFOCON management & dissemination team will meet the DIASPEACE consortium in Bonn to pursue these objectives.

5. Other news

At the 16th of December 2008, Stephan Kampelmann, from the Internationalist Foundation, will attend a workshop on Human Rights in European and Global Perspective: Taking Stock of Human Rights Research and Moving towards a New Research Agenda, organized by The Justice and Home Affairs Section at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), in collaboration with the European Commission, DG Research.

He will deliver a speech on the Panel ‘Mobility and Minorities: Rights and Freedom’, representing the INFOCON project. In case the INFOCON colleagues wish to submit relevant information on that theme, please contact him at stephan@internationalistreview.com

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The INFOCON management and research leaders, with the active collaboration from Oana Tranca (Université Laval – Canada) and Pierre Mathiot, director of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Lille, have begun to organize the first INFOCON conference, under the title Transnational communities and conflict: a civil society approach – Conflict resolution from below?

The conference will be held in Lille, France, the 7th & 8th May 2009, at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques. More information on the conference will be made available in the next newsletter editions.

On behalf of the INFOCON Management Team,

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Felippe Angeli