VI International Meeting held in Peru report

 
ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE 5TH INTERNATIONAL MEETING IN RWANDA

The minutes of the 5th International Meeting of the WMW held December 4-12, 2004, in Kigali, Rwanda, were tabled and presented by Awa Oeudraogo.

The delegates adopted the minutes of the 5th International Meeting of the WMW held December 4-12, 2004, in Kigali, Rwanda, as presented.


PRESENTATION OF THE 2005-2006 ACTIVITY REPORT AND DISCUSSION

Diane Matte presented the 2005-2006 Activity Report. This report presents an account of international activities only. This is the report of the International Committee; it was recommended that another form of report be considered for presentation every two years during international meetings to present national and regional activities.

Emilia Castro proposed the adoption of the 2005-2006 Activity Report, seconded by Josée Kusinza. The proposal was adopted unanimously.


STRATEGIC PLAN REGARDING THE PURPOSE, GOALS AND VALUES

The 2010 vision and two development focuses were adopted as presented.

The meeting adopted a final version of the purpose and goals 1 to 3, as modified.


STRATEGIC PLAN REGARDING THE PURPOSE, GOALS AND VALUES (CONT.)

The delegates adopted the remaining goals and the values of the WMW.

During the discussions on the goals, delegates remarked that concerns had been brought forward that were not sufficiently covered by the text of the goals as adopted at this meeting. These concerns require further discussion and could be raised again at a future IM. This is the case, for example, of lesbians and indigenous women who do not seem themselves as being sufficiently represented by the two themes of the March, poverty and violence against women, and would like to see expressly formulated in the goals the struggle against inequalities and discrimination.

It was agreed that the two themes would be maintained and that women would continue to search for ways to integrate the struggles against various forms of discrimination and inequality, in particular, within the NCBs.

The point concluded with a discussion and the adoption of several changes to the text on the values of the WMW.


Strategic Planning of Areas of Action

The leaders and secretaries of the workshops on the four areas of action met to summarize the workshop discussions. Comments were included in the four tables on the areas of action and were presented to the delegates as amended. The amended tables were discussed in plenary sessions. More changes and suggestions were made and are to be included in the tables after the International Meeting and before the strategic planning for 2006-2010 is submitted to the national coordinating bodies for approval. Once they receive the final version of the strategic planning, the national coordinating bodies will have a few months to consult their respective groups.
2010 ACTIONS

The suggestions for actions may be grouped mainly around the themes of one or more marches and the themes of the Charter.


STRENGTHENING OUR MOVEMENT

Nancy Burrows presented this item. She discussed the make-up of the working groups and collectives, and membership, among other points.

·    Collectives and Working Groups

They face major operating problems such as working in several languages and the fact that their members live in different countries and even on different continents. The women need to speak several languages, or the same one, to facilitate the work; electronic chatting had to be strongly encouraged since the working groups and collectives don’t have the financial means to meet in person apart from at big meetings or international events where they can tack on their own meeting. A suggestion was made to use a translation program during chat sessions, along with a recommendation to continue to look for funding for these groups’ meetings.

Interpretation and translation into the March’s three languages are a major concern for the WMW since they ensure the circulation of information, exchange and transparency. To deal with the challenge, the long-standing translators and interpreters working with the March said they would set up a team to facilitate communication. The delegates thanked them. If some of them know women in other countries who could join the team, they were asked to give their names and these women would be contacted.

The existing working groups and collectives and the national coordinating bodies in charge of them are as follows:

 

Working group	NCB in charge	Mandate
Feminist economic alternatives	Peru	Follow-up of area of action on women’s work
Violence against women	Philippines	Follow-up of area of action on violence against women
Common good and access to resources	To be confirmed	Follow-up of area of action on the common good and access to resources
Lesbians	Peru	Circulation of the manifesto and discussion of same
Collectives
Peace and demilitarization	Great Lakes of Africa (Rwanda, Burundi and Congo)	Follow-up of area of action on peace and demilitarization
Alliances and globalization	Brazil	Work with March allied organizations and participation at the WSF

 

Since a new area of action was added¾on the common good and access to resources¾it was agreed that a new working group be set up. However, at the International Meeting, no national coordinating body offered to take charge of it.

The communications collective was not renewed. No national coordinating body was in charge of it and no body was ready to take charge.

·    Consolidating Membership

The work on membership wasn’t aimed only at revising the list of participating groups, but also at making a distinction between active groups and sympathizers and increasing WMW membership, especially in regions of the world where there are gaps, namely, Asia, the Middle East/Arab World and English-speaking Africa.



·    The Place of Young Women

The young women present at the 6th International Meeting met during the event and agreed on an informal process whereby they can stay in touch all year long. Two of them were given a mandate to examine the final version of the strategic planning document, and therefore the International Committee receive comments from a group of young women who belong to the March.

The young women also want to enlarge their circle and asked the delegates to give names of young women whom they could add to their list to Manuela Nicodemos Bailosa, a delegate from Brazil (manumulher_me@yahoo.com.br).


MEMBERSHIP AND AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS

Nancy Burrows, from the International Secretariat, presented the proposed amendments to the Constitution and By-laws. They concern membership in the March.

The amendments to the Constitution and By-laws were adopted by the delegates without change.

In the section on national and regional coordinating bodies, the word “membership” was added to the paragraph on the coordinating bodies’ autonomy. The amended text reads as follows (amendments are in boldface):

“National and regional coordinating bodies constitute the foundation of our organization; they are autonomous with regards to their membership, functioning, policies and actions. Still, like all the bodies of the March, they must act in conformance with the principles and values of the World March of Women. The International Committee and the Secretariat would only intervene if there were a major contravention of the principles and values of the World March of Women, or at the request of participating groups in the country/territory concerned. A committee would define when and how to intervene.”

Additions were adopted in the paragraph on the national coordinating bodies’ responsibilities. The amended text reads as follows:

“In addition to their national and regional work, national coordinating bodies have the following responsibilities:
- to coordinate active participating groups in their country or territory and stimulate their participation in the democratic process at the national level;
- at the national level, to carry out popular education, mobilization activities and actions adopted by International Meetings of the March;
- to adopt public positions on political questions;
- to communicate with participating groups (in coordination with the Secretariat);
- to implement the decisions made by International Meetings (with the Secretariat and the International Committee);
- to participate in working groups and collectives formed at the international level;
- to update the list of active participating groups in their country/territory (in coordination with the International Secretariat);
- to participate in the WMW’s democratic life (for example, participating in and preparing International Meetings, involvement in working groups and collectives, etc.);
- to communicate regularly with the International Secretariat to share information on their World March of Women actions and activities;
-to assume responsibilities for fundraising for national actions and activities.”

The section on participating groups was replaced with the following text on active participating groups:

“To be an active participating group, the group must meet the following criteria:
-  be an autonomous women’s group, a women’s committee within a mixed group (for example, the women’s committee of a trade union) or a mixed organization (associations, committees, unions, non-governmental organizations) that does not have a status of women committee but within which a women's group holds leadership for the March;
- subscribe to the objectives, values and world platform of the World March of Women;
- be ready to take part in the actions of national coordinating bodies, to incorporate the March’s actions in its activity program or to promote the World March of Women.

“The March is particularly interested in reaching women from grass-roots groups. Governments and governmental institutions may not be members of the World March of Women. Active participating groups relate to the international structure through their national coordinating bodies. To be an active participating group, a group must belong to the national coordinating body of its country or territory, or work to create such a body if it does not exist.

“Applying for membership in the WMW is through the national coordinating body if one exists (except when the national coordinating body tells the International Secretariat that it wants the latter to manage memberships for the country) and directly through the International Secretariat for countries and territories without a coordinating body. These two entities will ensure that news and documents about the March are circulated.”

Last, a new section called “Sympathizers” was proposed, as follows:

“Individuals and groups who are interested in receiving information about the March but are unable to engage in organizing actions in connection with the March may become sympathizers. To do so, they must register on the March’s international Web site to be included on a distribution list of information, news and calls to action of the World March of Women.”

The subject of political parties’ participation in some national coordinating bodies provoked a lot of discussion at the International Meeting. A suggestion was made to add political parties to the groups that couldn’t become active participants, but it was not accepted.

It was agreed that, because of their autonomy, national coordinating bodies may accept or refuse political parties as active participating groups. However, to specify the criteria of membership for political parties, it was also agreed that a document would be written on national coordinating bodies’ autonomy and their membership.

Moreover, it is stipulated in the Constitution and By-laws that groups must subscribe to the goals, values and platform of the WMW. The International Committee was given the mandate to write the document.


ADOPTION OF THE WMW DECLARATION

Emily Naffa read the final version of the declaration of the delegates present in Lima at the 6th International Meeting, in the three languages of the March.


FUNDING

Diane Matte presented the financial report for the year ending March 31, 2006. 

It was agreed that the WMW Web site be used to trade ideas on funding challenges and to offer suggestions.

Last, Diane reminded everyone of the decision to have national coordinating bodies make a voluntary contribution. It ranges from $100 to $200 per national coordinating body, depending on each one’s financial capacity.


DATE AND LOCATION OF NEXT INTERNATIONAL MEETING

If the 7th International Meeting were not held in Europe, it was suggested it be held in Brazil since the International Secretariat will be there for the coming years.


INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS

Considering the move of the International Secretariat and the need to ensure continuity for the transition to be successful;
It was agreed that, exceptionally, the terms of half the IC members be extended. 

In keeping with IC members’ availability and length of service, the IC members proposed that:

Africa: Awa Ouedraogo, from Burkina Faso, finish her term, and the term of Wilhelmina Trout, from South Africa, be extended until the 7th International Meeting;
Americas/Caribbean: Miriam Nobre, from Brazil, finish her term, and the term of Rosa Guillén, from Peru, be extended until the 7th International Meeting;
Asia/Oceania: Shashi Sail, from India, finish her term, and the term of Caridad (Jing) Ynares, from the Philippines, be extended until the 7th International Meeting;
Europe: it hasn’t been decided which of the two members for this region will have her term extended;
Middle East/Arab World: Emily Naffa, from Jordan, finish her term and her position be up for election.
Native Women of the Americas Network: This position has been vacant since the last International Meeting.

The eleventh position is reserved for the International Secretariat coordinator.

The International Committee members elected are:

Africa: Aïcha Cisse, from Mali. She wasn’t at the International Meeting due to visa problems, but the Mali national coordinating body put forward her nomination and the African caucus delegates supported it.
Americas/Caribbean: María del Rosario Quispe Nepo, from Mexico. The delegates from the Americas and the Caribbean elected her in their caucus meeting.
Asia/Oceania: Saleha Athar, from Pakistan.
Europe: The European caucus proposed that the election of the two IC members representing Europe be confirmed at the next meeting of the European regional coordinating body in October. In the meantime, Teresa Cunha, from Portugal, will be the acting member.
Middle East/Arab World: Farida El Nakash, from Egypt.

The IC has a position reserved for the Native Women of the Americas Network (ENLACE). The purpose of reserving the position was to recognize the presence of Native women. However, the ENLACE representative has never participated to date.

It was agreed that the International Committee be given a mandate to find the best way to consolidate ties with Native women around the world. The IC shall contact ENLACE and then see to working with Native women who are active in the WMW in a number of countries.




Extract of Minutes written up by Andrée Savard