Soroptimist International Launches New Website and Blog!

Soroptimist International is very pleased and excited to announce the launch of our new website, monthly newsletter, blog and social media!

Please visit http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/ and spend some time exploring the new site. The site will continue to be improved over the coming weeks as we develop the pages further and add more information so keep checking back. We hope the new site will be a great resource for Soroptimists all over the world!

We have also launched a new SoroptiVoice Blog as part of the new website which means that this blog will be closed down shortly.

The new SoroptiVoice Blog will feature guest reporters every Friday, as well as more regular contributions from the SIHQ team. These special guest blog spots will explore, share and celebrate Soroptimist Voices from all around the world, showing our on the ground work as well as our views on issues relevant to our Soroptimist mission.

We are busy lining up a guest blog spot schedule for the coming months and we would love to hear from anyone who would like to contribute! Please email hq@soroptimistinternational.org if you would like to be a guest reporter - we look forward to hearing from you!

Finally, we are excited to announce the new monthly newsletter from SIHQ, Global Voice! From March, Global Voice will be sent on the last Friday of the month, providing a summary of all the most important SI news with a particular focus on our international advocacy work and actions you can take.

The first issue of Global Voice can be found here or accessed through the home page via Facebook and Twitter - look for the Global Voice launch announcement and link.

To sign up to receive future issues of Global Voice direct to your inbox, please visit the home page of the website to subscribe.

Thank you for reading!

1 Billion Still Hungry

The Human Rights Advisory Committee published the findings of a study into the right to food in January. The report is very informative, providing some concise and powerful insights into the challenges facing women and girls - in particular, rural women.

Despite global efforts to combat extreme poverty through the Millennium Development Goals, one billion people continued to suffer from undernourishment, unable to realise their right to food due to underlying discrimination. For example, one case given is article 139 of the Labour Code of
Guatemala describes rural women as “helpers” of the male agricultural workers, rather than as workers entitled to receive their own salary which significantly impacts upon the ability of these women to feed themselves and their families.

States must ensure that all individuals have equal access to adequate food and to the means of its procurement, including women and girl children. However, this is still not the case and women and girls are disproportionately affected by hunger, malnutrition and associated diseases. A global increase in food prices in 2010 has made women and girls even more vulnerable to hunger with the FAO food price index reaching its highest level since 2008.

80% of the worlds hungry are believed to live in rural areas – subsistence farmers, landless workers, indigenous peoples and fisher folk suffer the most and again, women and girls are disproportionately affected. Women cultivate more than 50% of food globally, yet the report finds that “women account for 70% of the world’s hungry and are disproportionately affected by malnutrition, poverty and food insecurity. Governments are not living up to their international commitments to protect women from discrimination, as the gap between de jure equality and de facto discrimination continues to persist and resist change”. Furthermore, women own only 5% of land despite forming the majority of the agricultural workforce.

The report also finds that women’s role in the economy has been underestimated and their work in agriculture has long been invisible due to it being outside of the ‘formal’ economy. Women have been ignored as economically productive agents: “While policymakers have targeted population, health and nutrition programmes to women in their reproductive roles, they have neglected women as productive agents. Rural women have the world’s lowest levels of schooling and the highest rates of illiteracy in all developing regions; twice as many women suffer from malnutrition as men, and girls are twice as likely to die from malnutrition as boys”.

SI has been a supporter of the 1 Billion Hungry Campaign since its launch and our UN Representative to the FAO in Rome, Cinzia Palmi, has been proactive in advocating for the rights of women and girls within this sector. In November, SI was represented at a panel discussion where we were invited to share with delegates some of the many fantastic campaigning and practical actions Soroptimists have taken in support of the 1 Billion Hungry Campaign and Programme Focus Objectives 5 and 6. Visit the UN pages of the website to read more from the FAO and SI’s statement.

The FAO have announced that the theme for the 2011 council meeting will focus on the role of rural women in agriculture. Cinzia Palmi will be chairing an ad hoc NGO group who will host a side event drawing attention to the plight of rural women.

To support the 1 Billion Hungry Campaign please visit www.1billionhungry.org/

To read the full report please Click Here

E-discussion on Education: Closing the Gap

An e-discussion on Education: Closing the Gap is being held from 1 February to 4 March, organised by the Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Development Group’s MDG-Net forum.

The e-discussion is an open, multi-stakeholder forum for academia, policy-makers and practitioners to discuss a series of questions pertaining to the achievement of education and learning for all and for formulating concrete, actionable recommendations for consideration by the Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) Annual Ministerial Review. If you are Soroptimist with this skill set, this may be of interest to you.

The e-discussion will focus on the following three topics:

1. Quality in Education and Learning
2. Access to Education
3. Innovation in Education

An outcome document will be prepared summarising the ideas and action agenda produced by the e-discussion, which will be presented at the Global Preparatory Meeting (April 2011) and ECOSOC’s Substantive Session in Geneva (July 2011).

For all the details and information on how to participate, please CLICK HERE.

Getting Our History Right - Women and the UN

Torild Skard, Senior Researcher and Chair of the Norwegian Association of Women’s Rights has published a great article on the history of the UN, gender equality and inclusion called 'Getting Our History Right'. For those who want to know more about the history of women's issues at the UN and the establishment of CSW this is a must read!

Click this direct link to access the full document: Getting Our History Right: How Were the Equal Rights of Women and Men Included in the Charter of the United Nations?

(Painting by SI UN Representative to New York, Yoko Komori Olson)

Live Webcast from the UN Headquarters New York - Global Aging Issues

The United Nations University Office at the United Nations is broadcasting a Live Webcast as part of the Current Affairs Series entitled "2011 AARP-UN Briefing Series on Global Aging" on key global aging issues from February 8-9, 2011.

Date: 8th and 9th of February, 2011
Time: 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm EST / 6:30pm - 8:00pm GMT
Venue: Live Webcast from the UN Headquarters New York
Register here: http://aarpwebcast.eventbrite.com/?ref=ebtn

The fifth annual AARP UN Briefing Series will commemorate the UN Commission for Social Development 49th session (February 8-19, 2011), which will devote its priority theme to "Poverty Eradication". Soroptimist International UN Reps Lois Beilin and Carol Themm are attending the Commission for Social Development on behalf of SI. This webcast gives all Soroptimists a chance to be part of the important debates this commission will be looking at.

To inform the discussions of the commission, innovative ideas in combating poverty along with the opportunities and challenges of global aging will be discussed. Madame Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and current Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women will deliver the keynote address at the briefing.

This event will be held over two days and broadcast live on both the 8th and 9th of February 2011.

After Cancun: Where do we stand on Climate Change?

Soroptimist International New York Representative to the UN, Yoko Komori Olson, attended a DPI briefing on the climate change debate post Cancun.

"After the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009 and the Cancun conference in 2010, the UN has made no new decisions regarding the stance towards climate change. The climate continues to rise above normal temperature.

According to Mr. Daniel Shepard, who is currently the Focal point for Climate Change and sustainable Development in the Strategic Communication Division of the UN DPI, the Cancun conference could not reach a scientific result agreement. The “Green Climate Fund” (Climate Change Financing, has set a goal of raising $100 billion annually by 2020 to help developing countries, but surprisingly, no decisions have been made on how use this money.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, binding targets were set for 37 industrialised countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This expires in 2012.

Developed and developing countries must work to ensure that the Earth temperature does not increased by more than 2 degrees Celsius. Which countries have responsibility for stopping Climate Change? According to Ms.Kate Horner, a policy analyst at Friends of the Earth, the responsibility lies with all countries. Unfortunately, not all countries hold the same level of importance for this issue. For instance, the priorities of developing countries usually are more focused on issues that are closer to home such as their economic development, population health, and education.

How do we move forward?

NGO’s can keep the pressure on Government and UN delegates, to reduce the gap between Developed and Developing countries.

Climate Change is important for our future generations. Negotiation and agreement between 194 countries is not easy, but it is critical to reach the goal of cleaner air, and reduced CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, many developing countries did not attend the Cancun Conference."

What is the Kyoto Protocol?

The Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement under which industrialised countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990 (but note that, compared to the emissions levels that would be expected by 2010 without the Protocol, this target represents a 29% cut). The goal is to lower overall emissions from six greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs - calculated as an average over the five-year period of 2008-12. National targets range from 8% reductions for the European Union and some others to 7% for the US, 6% for Japan, 0% for Russia, and permitted increases of 8% for Australia and 10% for Iceland.

100 Day Action Plan Launched by UN Women

The head of the new United Nations agency promoting women’s rights and full participation in global affairs laid out a 100-day action plan last week, embracing a full spectrum of issues from supporting national partners to promoting coherence within the UN system.

“Women’s strength, women’s industry, women’s wisdom are humankind’s greatest untapped resource,” the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile, told the first regular session of the agency’s executive board. “The challenge then for UN Women is to show our diverse constituencies how this resource can be effectively tapped in ways that benefit us all.”

Stressing the need to “balance ambition with common sense,” Ms. Bachelet said UN Women would focus on five core principles: enhancing implementation of international accords by national partners; backing intergovernmental processes to strengthen the global framework on gender equality; advocating gender equality and women’s empowerment; promoting coherence with the UN on the issue; and, acting as a global broker of knowledge and experience.

UN Women – known formally as the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women – was established by the General Assembly in July last year, with the merger of four former UN agencies and offices: the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW).

UN Women will be formally launched on 24 February during the 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women. Soroptimist International will be there, posting daily onto the blog!

“I am determined that UN Women will be a catalyst for change, offering new energy, drawing on long-standing ideas and values, and bringing together men and women from different countries, societies and communities in a shared endeavour,” Ms. Bachelet said.

She noted that UN Women’s approach will be a global one, though its impact will be experienced primarily at the country level, “thus UN Women’s technical support and expertise will be available, on request, to all countries, developed and developing countries, alike.”

Ms. Bachelet also laid out five thematic priorities in the country-specific context: expanding women’s voice, leadership and participation; ending violence against women; ensuring women’s full participation in conflict resolution; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and gender equality priorities central to national, local and sectoral planning and budgeting.

Soroptimist International fully embraces the above priorities and we look forward to supporting UN Women as their work gets underway. SI will be at the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW) from February 22nd until March 4th where lots more information about UN Women will be forthcoming so remember to keep checking the blog to read daily reports from our CSW delegation in New York!

Visit the UN Women website: http://www.unwomen.org/

Competition to find the most influential female agents of Change!

The theme of Commonwealth Day 2011 is ‘Women as Agents of Change’. Women and girls make up over half of the world’s population. In the Commonwealth, that’s over one billion women and girls! As part of the events taking place throughout the year to celebrate this theme, the Commonwealth is running a competition to find the Commonwealth’s most inspiring women agents of change and we want to make sure Soroptimists are represented!

Every day, Soroptimists in Commonwealth countries work to improve the lives of women and girls in communities all over the world. Some of these women work all day to ensure that there is food on their family’s table. Others are campaigning for political, social and economic rights. Many are setting examples to others, pushing through vital reforms in public services or running community projects.

To celebrate and highlight the achievements of these inspiring women, please forward any nominations you may have to your Federation. They will then send you a nomination form and further details. Nominees may come from any walk of life, social background or profession. SI can enter three women into the competition. A shortlist of the nominations will go to a judging panel who will decide on the Commonwealth's most inspiring agents of change based on the strength of their achievements in making a positive difference to the lives of others.

The Commonwealth's most inspiring agents of change will be featured in a special publication, which could be presented at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October 2011 in Perth, Australia.

The countries eligible for this competition, by Federation, are:

SIA:
Canada

SIE:
Cyprus, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda

SIGBI:
Antigua, Barbados, Cameroon, The Gambia, Grenada, India, Jamaica, Malawi, Malta, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, UK

SISWP:
Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands

All entrants must be aged 18 or over and any winners must be willing to participate in publicity surrounding the competitions including the publishing of their details, photographs and any video footage which will be made available in all media, including on the internet.

Please visit the women as agents of change website for more information about the Commonwealth theme.

SI must recieve all nominations by March 9th. We look forward to receiving nominations!

UNESCO - Rape as a Weapon of War

SI UN Representative, Marie-Christine, attended a UNESCO synposium on the topic of rape as a weapon of war at the end of last year.

The symposium was organized with UNESCO by the Catholic Relief Services - Caritas France and the “International Observatory of the use of rape as a tactic of war” with the support of several other organisations. The main objective was to refine and clarify the concepts related to rape in wartime.

During recent conflicts (Bosnia, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar) women have endured unprecedented levels of sexual violence and assault, leading to consequences including HIV infection, pregnancy and other health complications, as well as possible stigmatisation and exclusion from their communities. During the symposium, particularly courageous women victims provided damning testimony against the perpetrators of these acts in Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar.

In the past, there were also rapes committed by fighters against civilian enemies. But in the recent conflicts, it has been proved that these rapes were not accidental and sporadic. The rapes were a systematic integrated strategy of war, and even staged in front of civilian population attacked to annihilate the opponent by reaching deep into the social order of the community (read this story from the bbc).

Furthermore, among the heavy and lasting consequences of these abuses, it has been found that these crimes committed during war time persist in peace time: after the cease-fire, violent behaviours are entered in the customs and in particular, rape become much more frequent in these populations than in the others. These war actions lead to a real social breakdown.

These violent abuses are war crimes. Through four roundtables, the symposium approached the problem through the prism of history and geopolitics, anthropology, accompanying the victims and justice.

Soroptimist International has been campaigning on issues of gender based violence for many years. Clubs are urged to raise awareness about the increasing use of rape as a weapon of war and to lobby those in government who are in positions of influence. Marie Christine will continue to follow the debate at UNESCO so keep checking the blog and the members section of the SI website for more updates and reports.

Cooking with the Sun Saves Women's Lives

SI UN Rep/NY Lois Beilin reports on a recent session she attended, hosted by Solar Cookers International:

Cooking with solar cookers is a powerful tool for saving women and girls from dangerous and time consuming forays to collect fire wood, for curbing the smoke inhaled from wood fires, for saving the forests, and allowing girls to attend school and women to engage in other useful activities. It saves WOMEN AND GIRLS AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

The sun may be available in many countries for nearly 3/4 of the year and in some, every day of the year. For example, a project in Kenya, Traditional Birth Attendants which provides care during pregnancy and childbirth, uses simple cookers to provide hot water and pasteurization of drinking water. Countries that suffer from severe deforestation, such as Haiti, are finding a way to feed vulnerable people while using the sustainable technology of a solar cooker. World Central Kitchen has organized projects in the villages of Haiti.

This powerful simple tool is comparable to the malaria NET in alleviating serious problems for women and girls in developing countries, allowing time for school attendance and other productive activities. Costs of the simplest form of solar cooker start at $25 and go up to $280. for a deluxe model. For examples and additional information on solar cookers see: www.solarcookers.org

“It is not bigness that should be our goal."

The sun has been shining brightly in Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) for the past few days and the river levels have dropped. This has assisted greatly in trying to get things cleaned up and help people to get back into their homes/ businesses.

Some areas are still without power and it is likely that it will take several weeks before the lines can be rebuilt. Roads are starting to reopen however there will be a lot of work to repair the damage caused by the floods. Public transport is slowly reconnecting and most of us that work in the inner city should be able to get back to work on Monday.

Some people will have no jobs to return to though and this will be a big problem in how these families survive over the coming months/year in trying to pay their bills and keep a roof over their head. Families have lost their cars, homes and all their possessions but the outpouring of support from ordinary people within the community to help each other has been overwhelming. People have opened their hearts and their homes to strangers and are sharing everything they can.

I am sure that you have seen some of the personal stories of survival and also the sad stories of those that have lost their loved ones – many tears have been shed just realising how hard it is going to be for these people to overcome their loss and grief. Support personnel and counsellors are being made available to assist these people and there are also others that have not been personally impacted by the floods but have been traumatised by what they have been watching.

Our new school year starts in a couple of weeks and there will be a lot of work to be done to clean the schools and get them ready – this may be an area where some of our SI support can be directed but we will have to wait to identify the needs and where our SI assistance can best be utilised. As mentioned previously our SISWP President Yvonne Simpson has a special appeal that clubs / federations can support. Once things settled down a little, our SI Clubs will be able to identify specific projects and we will keep you all informed however monies can still be forwarded to our SISWP HQ or Federation Offices.

It will take a long time for people to recover from these floods - especially our industry and businesses. Food supplies are being flown in to remote and rural areas around Queensland by our defence forces and now that the main highway between Brisbane and Cairns has reopened, food and other supplies via trucks will commence bringing in more supplies. It is really hard to believe that over 75% of Queensland has been impacted by these floods in one form or another.

The use of social networks like facebook, twitter, SMS and mobile phones has helped to keep people in touch with loved ones and to keep them updated on what is happening. Local radio stations have also been very helpful in relaying messages from people who have been isolated without power but still have mobile phone access and battery radios. Basic things like battery operated radios are probably one of the most useful items in a crisis such as this as it can provide much needed information about the weather and where help is available.

I know that many of you will have seen lots of pictures and media coverage of the floods however there are some great photo’s posted on this webpage of the floods and also the recovery efforts – if you scroll down on this site you will see a man in a boat filled with small wallabies (similar to kangaroos). They all look very comfortable with each other – the bonds of all living things hoping to survive perhaps. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/01/australian_flooding.html

Help is also being provided throughout Australia to support other areas affected by bushfires and floods and many charity organisations are at the front line providing food, clothing, shelter, counselling and support – I have no doubt that our SI Australia members will be there lending a helping hand wherever they can.

Simple things like getting daily mail delivered will be virtually impossible for many people for a while and those that had to flee their homes in a hurry do not have their credit cards or banking cards to be able to access funds (assuming that they had savings in the bank). Trying to gather all their personal documents (ID) etc will also take some time and involve many organisations so it is probably a good reminder that we should all keep a copy of important documents and details in another location other than our homes in case of emergencies like this.

We have also seen the devastating impact of flooding in Brazil and Sri Lanka – so many more lives have been lost and many more families displaced – they will require a lot of support from the global community. I hope that our Soroptimist members in these countries are safe. It really does personalise these tragedies so much more when you have family and friends in these parts of the world.

I guess to sum it all up - there is a beautiful quote from a speech by Robert Kennedy that was written by in 1966 as part of his Rebuilding a Sense of Community – it is one that I have used often and really seems to be appropriate now in how our community is responding to this emergency.

“It is not bigness that should be our goal. We must attempt, rather, to bring people back to... the warmth of community, to the worth of individual effort and responsibility ... and of individuals working together as a community, to better their lives and their children’s future”.

Often many people in our society feel quite isolated and alone and it is situations like this that bring out the best in our human spirit – for those that need help, it is at hand, for those that have not had a chance to get involved in their community – they now can. People will make life- long friends as they help each other through these difficult times and as a community / global society we can only hope to be better prepared in the future to respond to such emergencies.

These floods were a natural disaster and one that we will recover from in time. As I visited Sierra Leone last year and the many people from Sierra Leone that I have met since returning home it really brought home to me how difficult it is for people who have had to flee their country because of civil war / conflict and try to make a new life in another country after spending years in refugee camps. Some of the media were using the term “refugees” during the peak of the flood crisis to describe the situation here in Brisbane but it cannot compare to what our refugees have suffered around the world and the many millions that are still living in appalling conditions when they have been forced to leave their countries with little hope of ever returning.

I am very proud to be a Soroptimist and to belong to an organisation that extends its support to people all around the world in times of crisis and in times of plenty.

Chris Knight, SI Moreton North Inc.

SISWP President's Appeal for Flood Victims in Australia

SISWP President Yvonne Simpson has announced an appeal for the flood victims in Australia:

Dear Soroptimist sisters

You will see on the news the terrible devastation occurring and predicted to occur in Australia with flooding. We have three areas affected - Western Australia, Riverina and now Queensland, where the worst flooding is occurring as I write this. I know you will want to help - the magnitude of the devastation means that there will be much to do.

At this stage I am requesting donations of funds. Once the waters have subsided we can look more closely at where to focus our efforts. We are investigating what projects we can best support. The funds will be for Soroptimist projects.

Please forward your donations to your Federation HQ clearly marked “SISWP Appeal for Flood Victims.”

Yvonne Simpson, SISWP President

On a personal note, this was shared by Soroptimist Chris Knight:

"I have been in touch with our closest Club SI Toowoomba - the members and their families are all OK.

Toowoomba was inundated with an inland tsunami yesterday the like we have never seen before. 9 lives have been lost so far and 66 people are still missing. I am sure that many of our international members have seen some of the footage on TV.

I have just spoken with one of our members and good friend from the SI Toowoomba Club Alison Langdon - all their members are OK thankfully. The club hasn't decided what they will do to help others yet as it is still too early to decide what the greatest needs are going to be in providing assistance to local communities.

The flood waters are now flowing down river through Ipswich and Brisbane tonight and tomorrow - we do have the majority of our SI members in our region living in these areas so hopefully they will be OK.

I opted to work from home today - a sensible decision it turned out as the Brisbane River broke its banks in several places and much of the transport and roads in and out have been affected with closures. It takes me around three hours every day to travel to work so it would have been difficult getting home.

I live on the northside of Brisbane about 55kms away and while our home is OK, the roads are cut off around Caboolture about 12 minutes from where I live and the highways in and out are closed. Everyone is trying to stay off the roads and those people in Brisbane and the surrounding areas have been advised to keep off the roads, keep out of the water and find shelter on higher ground.

The rain is only a light shower at the moment but the concern is the flood waters that are still flowing though at a rapid speed. It will be a long night tonight for many people and we have king tides due tomorrow so this will be another complication in dealing with the water and the debris that is floating down stream for the next couple of days.

It is really tragic to see what is happening to some of our communities, businesses and families and it will take many months and perhaps even years to be able to rebuild the infrastructure etc but at the moment our emergency services are working very hard and doing all they can to support people. Australia has a rapid response at both a state and nation level in helping out in these situations which is wonderful.

Maddie Wright and I are very grateful for your love and support that you have all sent us here in Queensland and our hearts and thoughts are also with our Sister Soroptimists in New South Wales and Western Australia."

(photos provided by a Soroptimist in Australia)