FAWG Council meetings
Greetings from the FAWG Council as we gear up for another event-filled year in 2009. The FAWG Council held its first meeting on 12 February 2009 and has agreed to continue meeting every two months, making more use of electronic communication in between meetings. Meetings will be held on the second Thursday of the month. The next meeting will fall on 9 April. The venues will change so please contact a Council member if you wish to attend a meeting.
Changes to Council members
Emily Hazelman and Fulori Sarai have resigned from their positions of Vice-President and Secretary respectively due to work commitments and we thank them for their contribution to FAWG.
The Council invited the Young Members to nominate a Vice-President and we are happy to welcome Annabel Boud to the Council as the second Vice-President. We thank Membership Convener, Senimili Vukikomoala for agreeing to take on the Secretary position. In the meantime, FAWG Treasurer, Zakia Chand will share the Membership Convener responsibilities with Seni.
We farewell Young Members Convener, Ronna Pastorizo who is leaving Fiji at the end of February. A function to farewell Ronna will be held on Monday evening 23 February at the Golden Palace, Suva. Please contact Seni (vukikomoala_s@usp.ac.fj) and Ilana (ilana.burness@undp.org) for more information on this.
Ronna has been instrumental in re-energizing the Young Members and we thank her for her dynamic leadership, hard work and friendship during her stint with FAWG. We wish her every success in her future endeavours.
A big welcome to Ilana Burness, the new Young Members Convener. Ilana has already begun meeting with her Young Members Group and they have mapped out a series of activities for this year: film nights; a grassroots project to assist single mothers by facilitating free workshops on basic skills; internship programme at Fiji Water Foundation for FAWG scholarship holders; updating of the FAWG website, and of course the popular Quiz Night to be scheduled later in the year.
Film night (s)
As part of the celebrations for International Women’s Day on March 8th and in conjunction with various High Commissions and Embassies based in Suva and the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, the Young Members have organized a series of FREE film screenings. The first of these films, Whale Rider, is being shown on Thursday, February 26th at the FIT Raiwai campus and is being sponsored by the New Zealand High Commission.
The other films will be screened on 5 & 12 March and include: ‘Educating Rita” sponsored by the British High Commission and “Amelie” sponsored by the French Embassy. A further movie “The Biography of Amelia Earhart” has been secured from the US Embassy. The sponsors will provide refreshments and introduce the films.
Monthly luncheons
The FAWG luncheons will continue to be held on the last Thursday of the month. The first one for 2009 will be held on 26 March. The venue and speaker will be communicated to members as soon as the details are finalized.
Organisers for this event are: Mary Montu, Seni Vukikomoala and Lily Vesikula.
FAWG Triennial conference and BGM
FAWG President, Winifereti Nainoca has set up a Conference Planning Group to work on the Triennial conference and BGM which falls this year. The tentative dates are end of June. More information on this will be circulated soon. For more information contact wunainoca@hotmail.com or vuatalevu_al@fit.ac.fj.
PGWNet
The new President of PGWNet is Jennifer Strauss (Jenny) from the Australian Federation of University Women. The next meeting of the PGWNet Council will be held at the end of November in Sydney in conjunction with the AFUW triennial conference.
IFUW News : from Leigh Bradford Ratteree, Secretary General
New IFUW Higher Education Network - highered@ifuw.org
Members are invited to join IFUW's newest member email network - highered@ifuw.org. This network will link professors, lecturers, researchers, women active in higher education governance, and others interested in issues concerning women in higher education. From February through June 2009, the network will offer members an opportunity to share concerns, ideas, experience and information to help prepare IFUW's participation in the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education. IFUW has been asked to contribute on two themes: "Equity, Access and Quality: Women in Higher Education Governance" and bringing a gender perspective to "The contribution of higher education to a sustainable future through education, research and innovation". Members interested in joining the network can subscribe by sending a message stating their name, city, country and national affiliate (or independent member number) to highered-sub@ifuw.org.
Women & Employment:Women working in a globalized world
For three weeks, from 2 to 26 February 2009, the discussions@ifuw.org network will look at aspects of employment and the labour market as they affect women in a globalized world. Members will share their own experiences in the job market, look at how globalization impacts our individual lives and how we can work toward a more just process of globalization. Members who wish to join this discussion can subscribe by sending a message stating their name, city, country and national affiliate (or independent member number) to discussions-sub@ifuw.org.
IFUW Working Group on Education Advocacy Appointed
The IFUW Board of Officer has confirmed the appointments of the following members to the Working Group that will develop an Education Advocacy Handbook to be used by NFAs to improve education in their respective countries: Evelyn Aremu (USA); Alice Baucom (USA); Christine Bucher (Switzerland); Marianne Haslegrave (England, IFUW Vice-President); Tangul Hincal (Turkey); Madeleine Mattarozzi Laming (Australia); Dorothy Meyer and Alice Kagoda (Status of Women Committee); Marianne Haslegrave and Phyllis Scott (IFUW Vice-Presidents). The Handbook is expected to be completed by March 2010.
IFUW EMPOWERING WOMEN POSTER COMPETITION - DEADLINE 28 APRIL 2009
IFUW is seeking submissions of graphic art for a series of postcards and posters to raise awareness of the challenges facing women and girls in accessing education and leadership positions in today’s world. All IFUW members – both members of NFAs and independent members – are automatically eligible to participate. Artists who are not members may participate if sponsored by one of IFUW's national federations or associations. Entries are sought in the categories of education for the girl child, adult literacy for women, gender equality in higher education, empowering women for leadership and decision-making, and gender equality and peace. The grand prize for the overall winner will be a choice of a paid conference enrolment fee for the 30th IFUW Conference in Mexico City or a cash prize of 500 Swiss francs. A prize of 100 Swiss francs will be given to the first place winners in each of the other four categories. Encourage your own members or artists in your local community to take part. One art school is using IFUW's competition for a class project. Complete competition deadlines and entry forms can be found at http://www.ifuw.org/postercomp/. The deadline for submission is 28 April 2009.
IFUW joins European Initiative to Strengthen the Role of Women in Science
IFUW has joined the Hellenic Association of University Women (SEE) and other partners in submitting a multi-faceted project proposal to the European Union for funding. The project seeks to strengthen the role of women in scientific research and scientific decision-making. If accepted, the project will open a Europe-wide dialogue looking at factors limiting the participation of women in research and research decision making. Proposed activities include public events to bring women scientists close to the general public, networking and the development of guidelines for a gender policy for research centres and universities. IFUW's contribution will be to organize a session during the 2010 Conference where outcomes from the project can be shared. The proposal is currently under consideration by the European Commission. Willemijn van der Meer, President of the University Women of Europe, is our liaison. The Hellenic Association, IFUW's former affiliate in Greece, is in the process of re-affiliating to IFUW
Changes in IFUW staff
IFUW's Finance Officer, Christine Marijan will retire on 7 February after 35 years of service. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Christine for all she has contributed to the Federation. Our new Finance Officer is Elly Fischer. She may be contacted at elly.fischer@ifuw.org. Elly brings a strong background in both accounting and financial analysis.
UNAIDS Special Youth Programme
The UNAIDS Special Youth Programme seeks to recruit young people aged 20-24 from developing countries with some programme experience in HIV related issues. Please note that we can share this outside FAWG, especially if we do not have members under the age of 25.
It is a 9-month remunerated fellowship and is divided into two sections: an initial fellowship in UNAIDS Geneva, followed by a continued fellowship in the UNAIDS country office in the fellow's country of origin. The deadline is: 5 March 2009.
For more information on how to apply see: http://www.ifuw.org/docs/temp/TOR_UNAIDS_SYP_fellows.pdf
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