INSTRAW is currently running a programme on "Men's Roles and Responsibilities in Ending Gender-Based Violence", consisting among other activities of a number of Virtual Seminars. Seminar One (with Robert Connell) was finished last week. The discussion - including a summary - is archived and can be reviewed at
Seminar Two - Building Alliances - begins Monday 23 July and will highlight examples of men and women working together to end gender-based violence. New participants are welcome!

On behalf of the Feminist Activist Coalition (FemAct), we are pleased to announce the 2001 Gender Festival, formerly popularly known as the Annual Gender Studies Conference (AGSC). The four-day event will take place on the 10th to the 13th of September, Dar es Salaam. The theme of this year’s Gender Festival will be focused on: Gender, Democracy, and Development: Transformative Approaches for Challenging Impoverishment.

The National Land Committee is a network of land reform NGO's providing assistance and support to rural communities across South Africa who are seeking access to land. The national office of the NLC, which is based in Johannesburg, is seeking a person to coordinate its National Gender Programme.

The Women's World Congress is seeking papers, projects, posters and exhibitions about the status of women and gender equity over the past few decades of its 8th International Interdisciplinary Congress Conference "Gender Worlds: Gains Challenges", at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, from July 16-21, 2002.

The prize for women's creativity in rural life honours creative and courageous women and women's groups around the world for their contributions to improving the quality of life in rural communities. Seven of this year's winners are from Africa. For information on how to nominate candidates for the year 2002, and to read about the 179 laureates awarded since 1994, please visit our Internet site or email us at the Women's World Summit Foundation.

Southern African media systemically ignore or victimize women, argues a persuasive and practical guide to changing the system.

This event, which now takes place once every two years, is an open space for bringing together members of organizations, institutions and all development actors at various levels. It provides a major opportunity for gender and development activists to convene, share, take stock of achievements and constraints and foster joint action plans to further the civil society development agenda.

Winrock International: Maggie Range with Phoebe Omondi. Inspiring and empowering, this richly-illustrated training package includes a trainer’s manual and a free-standing pocket folder with a lively Participants’ Action Workbook, ready for easy photocopying, and a set of quotations, ready for posting. It is designed to train women leaders––individually and as a group––to move forward in their own professional development, build bridges with men, plan future gender activities and act as advocates for other women.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is currently meeting in New York to review the reports of States Parties on their compliance with CEDAW, -also known as "the Women’s Convention". At this session the Committee is considering the reports of eight States Parties –-Andorra, Guinea, Singapore, Guyana, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Sweden, and VietNam. For daily press releases, visit the CEDAW section of the website of the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (UN/DAW).

The Association of Uganda Medical Women Doctors (AUMWD) is a finalist in the 2001 Stockholm Challenge in the category of 'Health and Quality of Life'. AUWMD's project titled 'Providing information electronically on reproductive health' aims at disseminating information on reproductive health to women NGOs connected electronically so that they can use the information in their advocacy and other related activities. For more information on the project submission, visit their website.

Lack of access to information and technology affects Africa in general and women in particular. However, through the efforts and co-ordination of many government and NGO agencies, that essential access to information is slowly progressing throughout southern Africa.

The newly established African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) is a fundraising and grant-making fund which aims to support the work of the African women's movement. The beneficiaries of the fund will be local, national and regional African women's organisations. The AWDF will raise money and make grants for the support of non-profit African women's organisations working for social justice, equity and peace.

Women & Politics in Uganda, which won a 2001 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award, explains why the women's movement in Uganda has made its presence felt so forcefully and quickly in this country since 1986. Unlike women's movements in other African countries, the Ugandan women's movement has distinguished itself by establishing greater autonomy from the state, suggesting that societal autonomy is critical to its efficacy, although other key factors are also discussed.

The United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) has announced a new Gender Awareness Information and Networking System (GAINS). This internet-based system will serve in the production, management and dissemination of gender-related knowledge and information on critical world issues and trends. GAINS includes a global electronic platform of research and training organizations, networks and individuals with expertise on gender related issues. Organizations and individuals are invited to join the Platform, and/or to be included in the directory of gender research and training organizations in the database.

In January 1998, Singer Rankin, along with other members of the WWF Board of Directors, visited Tanzania. While there, they were introduced to the Udzungwa Mountains Women's Development Project. Started a few years before, this program has grown from an endeavor to introduce fuel-efficient stoves to local women, to a women-based enterprise that includes a restaurant fueled by such stoves and an outreach program that includes helping women learn how to run businesses. Local women are now conserving a biological treasure, protecting their source of water, and generating income for their families. WorldWomen-Work is providing general funds to support this successful win-win program.

Over 50 religious, women's rights and human rights groups- from the National Coalition of American Nuns to the Feminist Majority Foundation to BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights, Nigeria-have issued "The Call to Accountability Campaign" to raise public awareness about sexual violence against women in the Catholic church and to hold accountable the individuals and institutional leadership involved or complicit in this problem. For more information on the campaign, and further action steps on how you can take a stand for women, visit the Catholics for Free Choice website.

Postgraduate Training Fellowships for Women Scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at Centers of Excellence in the South

The Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, while acknowledging that his country has achieved some success fighting HIV/AIDS, insists it is far from enough. At the forefront of that battle, Wade considers, are the women of Senegal. "Take any given woman in any given neighbourhood," he said. "If she gathers together a group of ten or twenty women and she talks to them - without fanfare, without drums or trumpets - and explains the problems of AIDS so that it sinks in, then we will make progress. And that is possible in Senegal."

Ugandan Feminism: Political Rhetoric or Reality? discusses the issues involved in constructing feminisms in a global context, while recognising women's diverse cultural backgrounds and local priorities. Focusing on the Ugandan context, the relationships between feminisms at local, national, and international levels are explored.

This programme focuses on human rights and gender issues; international standards of equality; and policies aiming at enhancing gender equality. During this three-week course, human rights protection of women are covered in all pertinent areas, thus encompassing civil and political as well as social and economic rights.
Deadline of application: 13 July 2001