Seventh Women's Global Leadership Institute
-------------------------------------------
Source: Bol! <sushma@mos.com.np>
Seventh Women's Global Leadership Institute
"Challenges of the New Millennium"
June 7-18, 1999
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
As the year 2000 approaches, the international women's human rights
movement can look back with a sense of pride at its accomplishments. To
name just a few:
- the recognition by the international community in the Vienna Declara-
tion and Program of Action (June, 1993) that "women's rights are hu-
man rights" was a pivotal moment for the movement and was the result
of important advocacy and education work by women from all over the
world;
- the recognition that violence against women is not just a private is-
sue but a matter of public concern as a violation of a woman's funda-
mental human rights has changed the terms of the debate on women's
issues in every country;
- the raising of awareness about the connection between health and re-
productive issues and women's human rights added an important dimen-
sion to the understanding of the scope of women's human rights;
- the movement's strong advocacy efforts at United Nations world con-
ferences and international fora have helped to put in place a series
of international commitments by governments to recognise and promote
women's human rights.
However, it is clear that major challenges lie ahead if these promising
gains are to be built upon and strengthened. The movement will need to
develop new strategies that move beyond governments' and communities'
rhetorical acknowledgement of women's human rights to institutionalisa-
tion of systems of accountability to assure the protection of these
rights. Secondly, if the movement is to make further gains it will need
to develop strategies to counter the backlash that its advances have
generated. Finally there are many areas of women's human rights that
require greater visibility and articulation such as women's social and
economic rights, indigenous and migrant women's rights among others.
These challenges will require innovative and courageous women's human
rights leaders committed to a vision of women's leadership that is ac-
countable, democratic and inclusive.
The Seventh Women's Global Leadership Institute will explore the con-
cepts, strategies and practices by which the understanding of human
rights has been expanded to more comprehensively incorporate women's
lives and gender differences. It will analyse and build upon the meth-
ods by which women have taken leadership to increase awareness of the
promises made by governments to end human rights abuses of women and
will explore ways to utilise a women's human rights framework in di-
verse communities. The Institute will strategize about critical areas
of action for the decades ahead.
This year's Institute, "Challenges for the New Millennium," June 7 -
18, 1999, will bring together leaders who have been working on issues
of women's human rights including local and national organisers, public
officials, policy makers, researchers, and activists working on varying
aspects of the topic. We welcome women from all regions of the world
who have taken leadership in various fields to make the abuse of female
human rights visible and unacceptable.
The Women's Global Leadership Institute is a two-week intensive working
session of approximately 24 women representing diverse regions, cul-
tures, and interests. Participants will spend time sharing their re-
flections on the fundamental feminist values that inform the movement
and strengthening the skills needed to carry out the work of women's
human rights. They will work on cross-cultural collaboration and plans
for influencing local, national and international community approaches
to these issues. They will also learn and exchange leadership skills
and organising techniques. Participants will meet with resource people
from the UN, non-governmental organisations, and foundations in the
USA.
Participants must stay for the entire two week period. They should
bring materials, resources, and documents from their region. They
should have worked on these issues or related concerns for at least two
years in either professional or volunteer capacities. Applicants should
have clear plans to take the skills and contacts gained at the Insti-
tute back to their own projects, networks, governments or regions.
Since much of the work is informal and we do not have funds for exten-
sive interpretation, the sessions will be conducted in English, and
fluency is a must for effective participation.
The Center for Women's Global Leadership is in the process of fundrais-
ing to cover travel and accommodations for participants. However, In-
stitute participants are expected to explore local and other donor
sources to assist with these costs. Due to the high volume of applica-
tions anticipated, early application is encouraged. Applicants are en-
couraged to submit letters of endorsement from their organisation
and/or networks if their participation is on behalf of the groups. For
more information or to request an application, please contact:
Institute Co-ordinator,
Center for Women's Global Leadership,
Douglass College,
Rutgers University, 160 Ryders Lane,
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8555, USA
Tel: +1-732-932-8782
Fax: +1-732-932-1180
mailto:cwgl@igc.org (subject: WGLI '99).
Application Deadline: January 4, 1999
Anticipated Notification of Selection: Early March 1999
--
Send mail for the `AFRO-NETS' conference to `afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org'.