Soroptimist International Soloman Islands launches its 2011 Hapi Helti Family Calendar

Soroptimist International Solomon Islands, a global women's network, yesterday launched its 2011 Hapi Helti Family Calendar.

With the focus on topics on health related issues of interest to women, the Hapi Helti Family calendar first emerged in 2003 with support from the New Zealand High Commission and has been seen as gradually growing from strength to strength.

Click HERE to watch a video about the work and to learn more!

A Report for SI UN Representative to Geneva, Sina Stiffler: Inclusion, Participation and Equality.

SI UN Representative to Geneva, Sina Stiffler, recently reported back from a Civil Society Development Forum at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). She attended a session on Women’s Rights and Development: Inclusion, Participation and Equality (30 Sep – 1 Oct).

The Forum reviewed the outcome document of CSDF 2010, the New York Component, in conjunction with the conclusions and recommendations of ECOSOC’s Annual Review. It focused on the implementation of the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to gender equality and empowering women.

The core claim by various panellists was that although the “gender” concept is accepted worldwide and various laws have been created to protect and to further women’s rights, practice lags dramatically behind. Implementation and enforcement are often missing. However it is difficult to give overall explanations that are true for all countries.

Here are some problems that were identified:

• Distribution of wealth is not balanced between men and women;
• Women often don’t claim their rights;
• Governments don’t always implement laws;
• Women often don’t claim their rights due to fear of being stigmatized.

The action points as drafted in New York were discussed in light of these discussions. No significant changes were made.

I am happy to highlight that Suba Parthiban, Programme Officer of Soroptimist International of Europe and part of the Programme Team of Soroptimist International, was given the floor to speak about women and sustainable development on the final day. She clearly pointed out that the Soroptimist ‘grassroots’ approach to women’s development and using  women as critical agents of change was a successful way to move forward. Soroptimists empower women, especially local women, to design their own projects, making use of local knowledge and resources for community development. Suba provided examples of Soroptimist projects in Africa and Eastern Europe as well as a water and sanitation project in India which was implemented in partnership with the SIGBI Federation. She concluded by saying “empowerment is the key! Women are capable of unbelievable courage. With just a little help, women will turn obstacles into opportunities!”

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.