Day: November 19, 2021

SYDNEY, – Night-sky gazers in Australia are, weather permitting, in for a visual treat this evening, with the longest partial eclipse of the Moon in almost 600 years.

 

The rare celestial sight will be caused by the Earth casting a shadow, which will shroud more than 97 percent of the full Moon’s face.

 

Lunar eclipses can usually be observed somewhere on Earth about twice a year. Normally the Moon’s orbit is either above or below the Earth’s shadow, but during an eclipse the full Moon travels through the shadow.

 

Professor Tim Bedding, from the Sydney Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney, said, by the time the Moon rises today, just after 7:30 p.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT), it will already have started moving through that shadow.

 

“Over the next hour or so, it will move deeper into the shadow and reach maximum eclipse at 8:03 p.m., before gradually emerging from the shadow,” Bedding said..

 

He said, light from the Sun would reach the Moon by “bending through the Earth’s atmosphere” creating a reddish or pink hue on the Moon’s face.

 

“The eclipse will also be visible over the Pacific and Southeast Asia, including most of China, giving millions a nice chance to enjoy an unusual celestial event.”

 

Tanya Hill, the astronomy senior curator for Museums Victoria, said, Brisbane, in the state of Queensland, would have the best view of all the Australian capital cities, as the “moon will be fairly high by the time of the maximum eclipse.”

 

“The moon will be very low in the sky for much of the eclipse, meaning you’ll need an unobstructed view towards the east northeastern horizon, perhaps with the aid of an elevated viewing position,” Hill wrote in the website of Conversation.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Introducing the story of two young communication students from Viet Nam, Vi Nguyen Nhat Hoang and Quang Vinh Pham, who strive to find solutions for the impending issue of plastic waste caused by the rise of online shopping. They were one of the selected participants of the 2nd ASEAN Youth Social Journalism (AYSJ) 2021 and created an impactful online campaign – Flatten the Plastic Curve – that helped raise awareness on how to reduce plastic waste from online shopping.

How would you describe your experience in AYSJ 2021?

“Thought-provoking”. That is how we summarized our AYSJ 2021 experience in one word. For both of us, two young communications students from Viet Nam, ASEAN has been a dynamic region and an inspiring community to explore and challenge ourselves. Participating in AYSJ 2021 as the Vietnamese finalists, we run Flatten the Plastic Curve, a social media campaign to encourage the Vietnamese youth to reduce plastic consumption, as online shopping increased substantially in the COVID-19 lockdown. These practices seem to have remained, even with the easing of social distancing policies.

 

What are the most important lessons you learned from the workshop?

4-day workshop = 1 highlight in the semester break

The four-day workshop was a highlight in our semester break. Although it was online, the workshop was interactive and action-focused as if we were sitting in the same room! We love how Horea, our trainer, delivered the message in concise and bite-sized takeaways.  In those four days, we had a chance to better understand the ASEAN communities, cultivate our knowledge about social journalism and connect with other like-minded young activists in the region.  Two key lessons we could not forget after leaving the training workshop are the importance of credibility and concrete content.

Firstly, for journalists, credibility is key.  Therefore, whenever we find a   piece of information from the news, make sure we could go to the ultimate source of the information. Newspaper articles are simply reporters’ points of view, in which information has been filtered to support their communication message. With this in mind, we learned to source the data in the right way without being affected by anyone’s point of view, hence, delivered a more accurate and credible social campaign after the workshop.

Secondly, be concrete.  As journalists, we need to speak in a language that is straightforward and easy-to-chew for our audience. Giving them too much information, in other words, confusion, would not benefit our campaign but cause a counterproductive effect. This became fundamental for our content strategy of the campaign: using a friendly tone of voice to call for online shoppers to reduce as much as they can during the pandemic.

What are your tips for running a successful campaign?

Resilient, resilient, and resilient.

In Viet Nam, if something is important, we will say it three times.  Flashing back to our first days of the campaign, we could say that our resilience made up for 50% of the campaign’s success. Running a new Facebook page was not all roses. It was not simple as ABC, believing that when you posted content consistently, page followers and comments would increase significantly. In the first two weeks, the average reach of our posts was just around 500, mostly from friends and family members. To be frank, we were pressured and disappointed with the results, but we knew that we would not quit. We revised our strategy, reached out to environmental experts, and published content in minimalist and green living communities. Earned media took time, but it was worth the wait in the end. After one month of the campaign, we could reach up to 40,000 young people with our print ads,  receive organic shares and have our campaign mentioned in 4 Vietnamese macro influencers’ Facebook pages. Especially, there was a group of students who asked if they could volunteer for us as part of their university project. At that moment, we realized that we started to have an impact on the community. Without resilience, none of these results will ever happen.

How did people react to and support your campaign?

We would like to express gratitude to our university lecturers, family members, friends, Vietnamese youth community page and key opinion leaders. They’re the other 50% leading to Flatten the Plastic Curve’s success.  Without their mental support and guidance, we could not smash the goals and sustain the campaign until now. And if you are reading until this very last part of our reflection, thank you so much and please continue to support us in creating a more sustainable and greener “new normal” life.

 

Source: ASEAN Foundation

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA— The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Mongolia today marked the 30th anniversary of the Mongolia–ADB partnership with a dialogue with project beneficiaries, executing agencies, representatives of the civil society, private sector, and other development partners at a high-level event. The event provided an opportunity for stakeholders to examine the partnership over the past 3 decades, acknowledge achievements, learn from experience, and discuss future partnership goals.

 

“30 years is a very short time in history for major transformation, but the last three decades have witnessed quite extraordinary change in Mongolia. We’ve seen the creation of a thriving private sector, and an economy now based on market principles,” said ADB Vice-President Ahmed M. Saeed. “As we look to the future, ADB will remain steadfast in its commitment to support Mongolia’s drive to create a competitive, green, and sustainable economy which will benefit all of its members, while protecting its diverse and stunningly beautiful land and natural resources.”

 

More than 150 high-level representatives from parliament, government, the private sector, civil society, and youth participated and shared their insights on the country’s development progress. A TED Talk-style speech by the author of the book History of Mongolia, Batbayar Bat-Erdene (Baabar), and a keynote speech by Mongolia’s Minister of Finance and ADB Governor Javkhlan Bold highlighted key milestones in the country’s transition journey.

 

“Since Mongolia joined ADB in 1991, our partnership was vital in promoting development in many areas,” said Mr. Bold. “ADB has been a reliable and constant partner supporting our country through economic cycles, global financial and economic crisis, natural hazards, and challenges arising from the coronavirus disease pandemic.”

 

Green Climate Fund Director of External Affairs Oyun Sanjaasuren emphasized the importance of sustainable growth and green financing in her presentation on fostering sustainability.

 

Panel discussions continued the dialogue on aspects of economic and social progress, private sector and civil society participation in the past 30 years, and lessons from this path. Panelists of the private sector session emphasized the importance of financial products that meet business needs, capacity of the supply chain, and infrastructure networks in successful value-added production.

 

During the “Knowledge Sharing from the Field” session, various stakeholders involved in the implementation of ADB-funded projects shared lessons learned and provided recommendations that can be replicated in future projects. Beneficiaries of ADB-supported projects also shared their stories with the event participants.

 

At the event, ADB launched its new publication Moving Forward Together with stories highlighting achievements of selected projects financed by ADB. This publication aims to encourage discussion on how the country can continue to advance.

 

ADB has committed more than $3.6 billion in loans, grants, and technical assistance to the Government of Mongolia between 1991 and 2020. In addition to sovereign financing, ADB works directly with Mongolia’s private sector, having provided loans to the energy, finance, and agri-industry enterprises, as well as trade financing through local partner banks under the Trade Finance Program.

 

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

 

Source: Asian Development Bank

Are you a young graduate interested in international relations? Are you curious to learn more about work of a diplomatic mission and how the EU Delegation represents EU interests and values in Indonesia, Brunei and ASEAN?

 

We offer:

A traineeship of minimum 3 to maximum 6 months within the following Sections of the EU Delegation to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, and the EU Delegation to ASEAN, starting in April 2022, subject to availability of the budget.

 

The Political, Press and information section (PPI) is responsible for domestic and foreign policy political issues, including human rights, as well as for coordinating the Delegations’ press and media activities.

The Economic and Trade section (TRADE) is in charge of trade, investment and economic issues, notably in the context of the ongoing negotiation of the EU-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEPA).

The Cooperation Section (COOP) manages a comprehensive portfolio of development cooperation programmes with Indonesia and ASEAN.

The ASEAN core team (ASEAN) leads and coordinates all activities and engagement with ASEAN, with the input of all sections of the Delegation.

A dedicated Counsellor on Environment and Climate (ENV/CLI) feeds on substance and coordinates the engagement on key issues such as climate change, renewable energy, circular economy and biodiversity.

Main tasks:

 

Support to monitoring, analysing and reporting on the political and economic situation in Indonesia, both on domestic and foreign and security developments; conducting research and drafting briefings;

Attend and report on external conferences and seminars as well as internal meetings of the EU Delegation to Indonesia and Brunei, and of the EU Delegation to ASEAN;

Support to press, information and public diplomacy activities and projects

In addition, each intern will carry out a specific research project on a theme relevant to the EU relations with Indonesia and ASEAN, to be delivered by the end of the traineeship.

 

We look for:

Qualifications or special requirements:

 

Due to the very evolutive context of the COVID-19 breakthrough, applicants currently residing in Indonesia or in the nearby of Jakarta will only be considered.

Written and oral fluency in English. Knowledge of Bahasa Indonesia is an asset.

How to apply?

Candidates must apply to the e-mail address

 

DELEGATION-INDONESIA-INTERNSHIP@eeas.europa.eu(link sends e-mail)

 

and send the following documents:

 

A detailed standard Europass curriculum vitae (CV) (CVs in other format will not be considered)

a cover letter describing why you want to participate in a EU traineeship

and an application form

Please mention in the subject of your e-mail: Funded Traineeship – Name/Acronym of the Section (you may only apply to 1 traineeship per delegation, however based on your profile, the delegation could offer you a traineeship in another section).

 

Important information to read before applying

Before applying you are requested to examine the dedicated website as well as the general eligibility criteria for a paid traineeship (Article 8 of the Decision ADMIN(2017)28 – Paid traineeship)

 

Each selected trainee will receive a monthly grant to cover living expenses. All costs related to travel inside the country of residence, visa, insurance, accommodation must be borne by the trainee.

 

Applications from non-eligible candidates will not be considered. After the evaluation of all applications, shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited for an interview. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified by email. In case the selected candidate is not able to present the required documents, his/her candidacy will be rejected.

 

EU candidates currently residing in Indonesia must provide proof that they will be covered against the risk of a pandemic and the costs of repatriation.

 

The traineeships can only be offered in compliance with the local legislation as well as the legislation of the country of origin. In assessing the applications received, account will need to be taken of the COVID-19 situation and its possible effects on access possibilities to the country of assignment and thus candidates currently residing in country of assignment might be preferred.

 

The Delegation informs that even if our Headquarters confirm the eligibility of the selected candidate, traineeships could be postponed, suspended or even cancelled considering the very evolving context of the COVID-19 outbreak in the host country as well as in the country of origin. The same rule apply if a selected candidate is unable to reach the country of assignment.

 

 

Source: Delegation of the European Union to ASEAN