Women, Peace and Security Calendar
2009

2009 Calendar Index

september

Asia-Pacific Women's Conference on Peace & Security - Visions for a New World
September 8-10, 2009 - Manila, Philippines

Women are at the center of conflicts and wars, both overt and silent. They bear the brunt of violence in different forms, whether in their personal lives or from armed conflicts within their own communities or among nations of the world.

Yet women have not been mere victims or casualties of war. Women have always struggled and survived over experiences of violence. They continue to work for peace and build secure communities. Women have been mostly invisible, however, in peace negotiations and policy making in many countries.

The Conference aims to bring women of the world together to discuss critical issues on women’s peace and security in Asia and the Pacific:

• Women are not mere victims but survivors who can live through and heal beyond all forms of violence – from nuclear bombing and testing, to rapes in war, and even sexual assault within the confines of our own homes.

• Women create our spaces and communities every day despite poverty and exploitation in a globalized world order that converts our labor and our own bodies to mere commodities for sale;

• More and more women are becoming aware of the new fronts of silent wars being waged against us through the artificial technologies that would fragment our bodies and turn us into mere wombs for bearing babies; while the crops that are being genetically modified are poisoning us.

• Women are caretakers that protect ecosystems from being destroyed by the greed of industrialized farming, militarism and corporate exploitation; as we endeavor to restore balance in our farms and communities.

• Women are healers, peacemakers, and negotiators in the midst of conflicts within our tribes, communities and nations.

For more information, please click HERE

Women and politics in asia: A Springboard for Democracy?
September 30 -October 2, 2009, University of Hildesheim, Germany.

The conference is organized in cooperation with the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation and with the support of the University of Hildesheim, ZIF - Centre for Interdisciplinary Women and Gender Studies at the University of Hildesheim and the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony*.

The conference series “Women and Politics in Asia” started 2003 in Sweden, at Halmstad University, and was continued 2004 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and 2005 in Islamabad, Pakistan. In 2009, the fourth international conference of its kind will be convened by the Institute of Social Science at the University of Hildesheim, Germany.

Building upon “Women and Politics in Asia 2005: Discovering the Gender Face of Politics”, Women and Politics in Asia: A Springboard for Democracy? aims to reflect upon the links between

- democracy and the feminisation of the halls of political power
- gender and (power) politics
- gender relations and gender ideologies and their impact on specific socio-political systems, modes of interaction / participation and citizenship discourses
- gendered forms of political participation and agency within Greater Asia in an integrated comparative perspective.

For more information, please click here.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: AFRICA REGIONAL WOMEN PEACE MAKERS PROGRAM
September 14th-18th, 2009
Johannesburg, South Africa

The Africa Regional Women Peace Makers Program (ARWPP) a Program of International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) is committed to projecting Africa as a beacon for peaceful co-existence by enhancing the capacities of Africa women peace makers to promote gender sensitive active non-violence.

GOAL
The WPP- Africa Desk intends to hold one-week Training in Advocacy skills for African women peacemakers /activists to enhance their skills in advocating for gender and nonviolence and, to strengthen their capacities to influence public policy at all levels so as to re-define peace on the continent. Advocacy is a skill that can be learnt, hence WPP’s desire to organize the training.

SPECIFICS
The training has space for only 20 participants. To ensure fairness and equity, 4 spaces will be allocated to each of the five regions of Africa The training comes off in Johannesburg, South Africa from 14th to 18th September 2009.

REQUIREMENTS
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
• Come from an environment of violent conflict or an environment prone to violent conflict in Africa
• Be involved in gender and non-violence peacebuilding
• Be a peace activist
• Have strong communication and inter-cultural skills
• Be commitment to promoting active non violence as a way of life
• Fluency in English or French is required

If you satisfy these requirements, please proceed to answer the questions on the next page and return your application to the address below latest by July 30, 2009.

Africa Regional Coordinator Women Peacemakers Program (WPP) West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP)
P. O. Box CT 4434 Cantonments, Accra - Ghana
Tel. +233-21-775977 / 21-775975
Fax +233-21-776018
Email: edzathor@wanep.org or wanep@wanep.org

For more information, please click HERE

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