NCB Questionnaire: Monitoring WMW Fields of Action Activities
Summary
On the 13th March 2008, we sent out questionnaires to 72 National Coordinating Bodies (NCBs). Having sent out reminders on the 29th April and again on the 16th June, in total 22 NCBs returned filled-in questionnaires: 8 from Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique), 6 from the Americas (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Mexico), 2 from Asia (Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Pakistan), and 6 from Europe (Basque Country, Catalonia, France, Galicia, Greece and Portugal).
This questionnaire has been an important tool in the collective monitoring of the Strategic Plan 2007-2010, prepared at the last WMW International Meeting, held in
Violence Against Women as a tool for controlling women’s bodies, lives and sexuality
All NCBs reported that they work on this issue.
Most NBCs work in partnership / alliance with other movements, organisations, and networks, and organise demonstrations on this subject, for example, the demonstrations on 25th November in
Many activities were held, such as: the discussions and seminars “How to save women from sexual violence” in Pakistan; the “Not One More” campaign in Portugal and the Basque Country, with the objective of raising awareness and denouncing violence; support to other organisations that receive women in situations in violence and training of activists involved in this work in Mozambique, and radio programmes, TV ‘spots’, and short film diffusion on TV in Burkina Faso. Materials produced by NCBs to accompany their activities have included videos (
In many countries, the main objectives of these activities were to raise awareness of, generate public opinion about, and denounce violence against women in the struggle for prevention of this extreme form of control of women’s bodies, lives and sexuality. The NCBs of Benin, Bolivia, Burundi, Catalonia, Cuba, France, Ghana, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Portugal all stated similar objectives along these lines. Other activity objectives included the development of a grassroots reporting channel for women in situations in violence (Ghana), a law on violence against women in the family, society and workplace (Greece), free and relevant medical attention for women in situations of violence (Kenya), and the involvement other organisations and institutions in the debate (Bolivia). In
The questionnaire also asked about the biggest achievements and problems related to activities organised to denounce or prevent violence against women.
Based on the activities reported by the NCBs, the best way to prevent violence against women is to work with grassroots women. And the best way to denounce it is through forums, debates, workshops and manifestations, and also to work with grassroots women.
On the subject of prostitution, 12 NCBs answered that they have been working on the issue and most of them (10) think they still need to continue the debate on this issue. Some NCBs consider themselves abolitionist, others struggle for the legalisation of prostitution and yet others consider artificial the distinction between these two extremes of position.
The Common Good and Access to Natural Resources (water, land, environmental protection, food sovereignty)
Some examples of the activities held were: a workshop on the implications of land and natural resources management in rural areas, in April
One of the key themes of this Action Area is food sovereignty, and this being the case NCBs have organised various types of activities: discussions among WMW activists, such as the European Coordination meeting in Toulouse, France in 2007; public debates, such as those at the Burkina Faso Social Forum on “Gender and Food Sovereignty”; the including the theme in WMW national demands.
Examples of materials produced by NCBs in relation ‘Common Good and Access to Resources’ have included national WMW newsletters, radio programmes on CD and 17th October leaflets (Brazil), websites such as www.feminismo.info and http://feminismo-galego.blogspot.com (Galicia), and texts such as “ASPAN, Women and Food Sovereignty” (Mexico). In
Women’s Work
In this Action Area we questioned the NCBs about their work on several different issues. The results were that 12 NCBs work on Employment and Women’s Labour Rights, 12 on Free Trade Agreements, 6 on International Bodies (IMF, WB, etc), 5 on Transnational corporations, 7 on Solidarity economy and 8 on minimum wage.
The method most used to struggle for Employment and Women’s Labour Rights is work with grassroots women and through forums, debates, workshops and work in partnership with other movements, for example, the collaboration with the National Rights of Women Collective in
For the theme of Free Trade Agreements the most common methods of work used was activities with grassroots women and forums, debates, workshops – such as those organised during the Hemispheric Encounter in the Struggle Against FTAs in Cuba in April 2008 – and public conferences, such as the “Europe-Africa: What Alternatives?” summit in Portugal. Other activities were held, like the Political lobbying for “No” to EPAs between Africa and EU in Burundi and Mali, and the “Don’t owe, won’t pay” campaign in Kenya.
Internal discussion is the preferred method for debating International Bodies, Solidarity Economy and Minimum Wage, including those on the “Background to Financial Institutions” discussion in
8 NCBs reported that they had knowledge of concrete cases of subcontracting and other forms of exploitation of women by transnational corporations. Examples include the Walmart and Blue jeans Maquila workers in
To support the struggle against neoliberal policy and for women’s economic autonomy and labour rights, several NCBs have produced varied written materials. In
Peace and Demilitarisation
13 NCBs reported that they work on this Action Area. Most of them reported working through Discussions, dialogue, and other forms of internal discussion and Forums, debates, workshops, seminars and public conferences. Other methods used were demonstrations and the publishing of material.
Some of the activities organised in relation to this Action Area were:
· Video forums and mobilisations on 24th May – the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament – using the slogan: “Neither war that kills, nor peace that oppresses” (
· Several meetings and debates with Amnesty International, such as the Round table on “VAW in armed conflict” in March 2008; texts, petitions and news of mobilisations in the regular WMW newsletter (
· A big mobilisation of women to welcome the arrival of the WMW Quilt in the Great Lakes region in the week leading up to 8th March 2008 (Burundi), together with women from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda;
· Press Conference about the situation in Darfour – September 2007 (
· Mobilisations against the war in
· A national radio programme about the dangers of small arms in residences, February – June 2007 (
· Concerning the conflict in
We asked if the UN Resolution 1325 (2000), which addresses the participation of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in building peace, been useful in this work. 6 NCBs responded “Yes” and 7 of them did not know of the resolution. The Burundi NCB said that for them the Resolution 1325 is a planning and awareness-raising tool and that their collective has developed a project to put the resolution into practice at the national level, and a plan of action will soon be written by
We also asked about how the NCBs have been working to communicate to the external public and to society in general the contents of each theme. The most frequent responses were through newsletter and other printed material, commercial media broadcasting (radio, TV, newspapers, internet) and Alternative media broadcasting.
NCB Challenges
When asked to comment on the specific challenges they face, the replies of the NCBs were varied, ranging from financial and administrative issues to organisational and mobilisation issues. Here is a selection of their answers:
- To make our membership more dynamic in the provinces, to decentralise our interventions to the regions, organisation issues, fund-raising (
- Due to past experiences, many have lost faith in women’s organisations, especially the grassroots (indigenous) women. So it is challenging to mobilise women for activities. The handout syndrome in one thing that has hindered us tremendously. Women are so used to getting handouts when invited for meetings by NGOs, they don’t see the WMW as any different (
- To improve contact with other NCBs (via workshops, conferences, etc) (Lao People’s Democratic Republic);
- Fund-raising (
- To make the WMW more known and visible, and deepening links with grassroots organisations (
- To organise spaces for contact and debate at the national level; better networking between the different WMW groups in the country (
- Internal expansion; discussion and deepening of themes and areas; better capacity for intervention and public visibility; cohesion and collective spirit (
Last modified 2008-09-29 02:25 PM
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