Final report from the SI delegation at the DPI/NGO Conference in Melbourne

DPI Summary Report from Dawn Marie Lemonds, International Programme Director

Since DPI came to a close at the beginning of September, the Soroptimist International delegation has been reflecting on their experiences and all that was achieved. During the three day conference the Soroptimist delegation attended all of the keynote addresses, 4 High Level Round Tables and many of the 54 workshops presented throughout each day. SI was privileged to once again be invited to present a successful workshop with WAGGGS.

Soroptimists, with our WAGGGS partners, worked together to take our agenda of women and girls related issues to every possible arena at the conference with other participating NGO partners. We also contributed greatly to the Conference Declaration that resulted from this conference. This declaration was presented by the NGO/DPI Executive Committee two weeks later at the MDG Conference with the General Assembly in New York.

An important message from the conference was the affirmation from all major presenters: “investing in women and children reduces poverty”.

Clubs all over the world are investing in women and girls and making a difference! As a result of DPI the following suggestions for Soroptimist Action and Advocacy have been suggested by the Soroptimist DPI delegation.

•  Promote awareness of the MDGs in your neighborhoods to support Soroptimists and partner agencies as they work together with their governments to ensure that gender is part of all projects implemented locally, nationally, regionally and globally.
• The MDG where the least progress has been made since 2000 is in Maternal Health. It is imperative that Soroptimists are aware of this issue and where needed, develop programmes in response to this problem.
• All clubs should work to ensure that eradicating violence against women and girls is recognized as a serious priority in every part of the world.
• Make certain that projects developed to help women and girls include the participation of the beneficiaries at all stages to ensure that their needs are addressed and to make them feel an important part of the solution to the problem.

In 2011 the 64^th Annual United Nations Department of Public Information/ Non- Governmental Organizations Conference will be held in Bonn Germany.