Global Fund for Women Weblog

The Ability to Walk Endlessly Without Being Stopped

Dear Friends,

Last week, as US President Bush reaffirmed his commitment to universal freedom in the State of the Union Address, I reflected on what freedom means to the women of the world. I’d like to share with you the wise words of Maha Abu Dayyeh Shamas, the Director of the Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, a Global Fund grantee in Jerusalem: “Freedom, for me, is the ability to walk endlessly without being stopped. To be able to keep moving forward. For me this ability is physical and also mental. To think without being restricted.

Around the world millions of women and girls are routinely denied this freedom of movement and mind. Yet, with amazing courage, it is women themselves who are dismantling the walls of discrimination that rob them of their human rights. In Iraq, despite threats to their own safety, women seized their right to vote as an opportunity to play a role in shaping the future of their nation. In the regions devastated by the tsunami, women’s groups are playing a vital role to ensure that relief efforts address the particular needs of women and children, the disaster’s most vulnerable survivors.

In early March, hundreds of women’s groups, including dozens of Global Fund grantees, will arrive in New York to mark the 10th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action and to attend the 49th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. On March 8, International Women’s Day, Global Fund for Women supporters from across the United States will host house parties to raise funds for the Investing in Women Campaign. On that day, we will be celebrating the extraordinary achievements of women in solidarity with women’s groups around the world.

Global Fund Awards Tsunami Recovery Grants

Since the tsunami, the Global Fund has awarded $65,000 to seven women's groups in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia working to rebuild their communities. These groups are providing basic necessities and trauma counseling to women, and building homes and community facilities. Global Fund board member Lin Chew is working with organizations on the ground to determine how Global Fund support can most effectively provide long-term reconstruction to women and children, who are being underserved by international disaster relief efforts. For more information http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/1work/programs/tsunami-grantees.html

The Global Fund at Beijing +10

The Global Fund for Women has awarded over $286,000 in grants to 22 women's groups to attend the 49th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations in New York from February 28 to March 11. Ten years after the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, an international agenda for women's empowerment, Global Fund grantees, board members, advisors and staff will join women from around the world to demand accountability from governments and officials whose promised commitments to women's rights have not materialized. Women everywhere who cannot attend the meeting in New York can support women’s voices at the Commission by organizing actions and workshops in your own village or city. Join the Global Week of Action: Beijing and Beyond http://www.beijingandbeyond.org/