[Discussion] CONF.- AWID Int'l Forum on Women's Rights & Development, Oct. 27-30, Bangkok

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From: AWID Forum <awidforum@awid.org>

CONF.- AWID Int'l Forum on Women's Rights & Development, Oct. 27-30, Bangkok

The 10th AWID International Forum on Women's Rights and Development:
How does change happen?
October 27-30, 2005
Bangkok, Thailand

Registration Closes: October 14, 2005

Web: www.awid.org/forum

Join us for the 10th AWID International Forum on Women's Rights and Development:
How does change happen? Learn about how others are making real change in their
regions, and share with others the changes you have made in yours. Analyze your
successes and failures, and participate in what many are calling the most
important global agenda-setting meeting for the women's movement this year. Be
stimulated, be provoked, be inspired. Become involved and be transformed.
Because the AWID Forum is not just another conference ...

>From October 27-30, up to two thousand activists, academics, policy makers,
funders, students, researchers and practitioners working for women's rights
and gender-sensitive development will converge upon Bangkok in an unprecedented
global meeting to discuss the urgent question, How does change happen?

What is AWID? The Association for Women's Rights in Development is an
international membership organization that connects, informs, and mobilizes
people and institutions committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable
development, and women's human rights.

What is the AWID Forum? The AWID International Forum on Women's Rights and
Development is both a conference and a call to action. The largest recurring
event of its kind, the AWID Forum brings together women's rights leaders and
activists from around the world every three years to strategize, network,
celebrate, and learn in a highly charged atmosphere that fosters deep
discussions, sustained personal and professional growth, and unprecedented
opportunities for alliance-building and global networking.

Delegates to the Forum participate in four days of plenaries, interactive
sessions, workshops, debates, and creative sessions geared to powerful thinking
on gender equality and women's human rights. These sessions delve deeply into
the issues affecting women today - from HIV/AIDS and trafficking to reproductive
rights and poverty - in order to deepen analysis and develop solutions that not
only work, but are realistic and sustainable.

Who can participate? Participation in the AWID Forum is open to anyone who has
an interest in women's rights, international development, and social justice.
AWID particularly welcomes women and men from the global south, young and
emerging women leaders, and marginalized groups and organizations that have had
difficulty getting their agenda heard on an international stage.

The AWID Forum is anchored by daily plenary sessions with big ideas to provoke,
stimulate, challenge, enlighten and inspire. Each plenary offers new visions and
strategies from some of the most dynamic and innovative leaders in the global
women's movement today, in dialogue with each other and with a vibrant group of
emerging leaders, supporters and their allies.


Plenary Sessions

Day 1: What have we changed and how? The Forum will open with a plenary that
takes stock of what we, as women's movements and feminist activists, have
achieved so far through our work and our activism. Speakers will reflect not
only on the successes we've had, but they will also probe our key failures and
some of the unintended consequences of our work. The best strategies will be
highlighted and explored, and mistakes and challenges will be examined with an
eye to avoiding the same mistakes and pitfalls in the future.

Day 2: What is the change around us? Most of us are so occupied with day-to-day
challenges that we are ill-prepared to face the future. The second plenary will
begin with a screening of AWID's "future trends" documentary, which will open
participants' minds to some of the biggest and most daunting challenges we will
face together in the future. The screening will be followed by a wide-ranging
discussion that spans everything from the emergence of new global governance
regimes to the problems of climate change and its fallout.

Day 3: How should we change? While celebrating our achievements is important,
analyzing our challenges and shortcomings is even more critical. This plenary
will focus specifically on the sustainability of our movements, with an emphasis
on financial sustainability and leadership. During this plenary, AWID will
launch its new "Where's the Money?" campaign, followed up with a frank and
thoughtful critique of our current leadership capacities, intergenerational
challenges, and organizational development needs.

Day 4: How does change happen: wrap-up. What have we learned at the Forum? What
were the big ideas that emerged, and what was everyone talking about in the
hallways? AWID will have "trackers" working throughout the Forum, noting and
analyzing the big conversations, ideas, meetings, and events. These trackers
will close the Forum with their insights and findings, so that everyone leaves
with not only their own experiences, but the fullness of having been a
participant in a collective learning and growing process.

Breakout Sessions + Workshops

In addition to the plenary sessions, the AWID Forum also hosts over a hundred
different breakout sessions and workshops on provocative and urgent issues for
women's rights and development. Some examples of sessions include:

Examples of General Sessions on Change:

 - Theories of change: what theories of change are most useful for our practice,
and how does feminism fit in?
 - Histories of change: how have different regions and organizations created
change, and what can we learn from their successes and their failures?
 - Strategies for change: how can we translate the gains we've made on paper
into tangible gains in women's everyday lives?
 - Alliances for change: how do we use our alliances with men and other social
movement to further our work?
 - Building a movement for change: what critical elements do women's movements
need to succeed in the future?
 - Examining the changing future: what new forces, structures, and technologies
will have an impact on women's rights work in the future?


Examples of Issue-based Sessions:

 - Law and policy reform: using the courts and other international institutions,
instruments and conventions to further women's rights.
 - Religion, extremisms and secularisms: engaging religion to further our work,
resisting extremisms and conservatisms, (re)secularizing the state.
 - Labour rights: home based workers, migrant workers, garment workers working
for change.
 - Trafficking: evaluating strategies, debating theories, speaking about
successes and failures, moving forward.
 - HIV/AIDS: strategies for change, using microbicides, AIDS and economics,
young women and HIV/AIDS around the globe.
 - Gender mainstreaming: moving beyond the pitfalls of mainstreaming to new,
cutting-edge tools for institutional change.
 - Fundraising: changing attitudes, gaining skills, and mobilizing new
resources.
 - Sexuality: debating lesbian/gay/bi/trans/intersex rights within the women's
movement, examining sexuality- based violence.
 - Poverty: strategies for alleviating poverty, from microcredit and social
entrepreneurship to grassroots capacity-building programs.
 - Sexual and reproductive rights: women's health, sex selection, the right to
decide, abortion.
 - Economics and trade: the gendered impact of trade policies, understanding
economic theory, the impact of international financial institutions.
 - Media and public outreach: using the media, doing public relations,
successful outreach strategies.
 - Rural women: new strategies for empowerment, successful pilot programs, case
studies from around the globe.


Examples of Regional Session:

 - New revolutions, old sexisms: Learning from the experiences of Central and
Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States.
 - Changes in Afghan women's rights: Before, after, and during the Taliban.
 - The politics of abortion and the right to decide in Latin America.
 - Feminist leadership in Africa: established and emerging leaders share stories
and strategies.
 - Transforming religion, tradition and culture in Muslim societies.
 - Understanding femicide across the Americas.
 - The politics of tsunami disaster relief in Southeast Asia.
 - The women's movement in the North: where has it gone?


Note: Sessions are subject to change without notice.


Members' Meeting: An opportunity for AWID members to meet each other and AWID
staff, to contribute to discussions on AWID's work, and to participate in
discussions that will determine AWID's organizational direction in the years
ahead.

Orientation: A pre-Forum orientation session will help veterans and new
delegates alike find their way around the Forum and get the most out of it. The
Forum orientation will be scheduled for the afternoon or evening of
Wednesday, October 26th.

Roadside Consulting: This is an opportunity not to be missed. Expert consultants
in everything from fundraising to organizational development will be on hand for
one-on-one, private consultations with AWID Forum participants.

Playcare: Forum participants traveling with children will be able to leave them
at the AWID Forum Playcare, where they will be cared for by qualified staff and
volunteers.


Funding your Participation:

AWID recognizes that the cost of attending international events like the AWID
Forum poses a considerable financial challenge for many participants To help,
AWID will be posting funding information and contacts to our website leading up
to the Forum, with information on creative ways to fundraise to attend the
Forum.

Cost to Attend the Forum: Flights to Thailand are frequent from anywhere in
the world, but ticket fares vary widely, from $500-$1,000 USD in Asia,
$1,000- $2,500 USD in North America and Europe, and $1,500- $3,000 USD in
Latin America and Africa. Other Forum costs include: Tourist Visa $25; Airport
Transfers $20; Meals (on average) $2-$5; Hotel (per night, based on the hotels
AWID has blocked for the Forum) $13-$91.

Fundraising Ideas: Contact your organization's donors and ask if they have funds
for conferences or professional development. Make sure you inquire about your
participation as soon as you can, as funds are often allocated well in advance.
If you work for an international NGO or donor agency, ask for money to be set
aside for your participation in the AWID Forum as an important component of your
professional development. If you work for a local or regional NGO, ask your
donors' regional offices for discretionary travel funding to attend the Forum.
Ask your friends and colleagues about ways they have found funding for
international conferences. Follow their suggestions. Finally, consider raising
money for your participation through a personal fundraising effort using your
personal and professional networks.

Tools on the AWID Website: Basic information on how to put a funding proposal
together; A comprehensive list of funders and their contact information; Sample
budgets to help you more accurately estimate attendance expenses; Volunteer
registration application form, for those willing to volunteer during the Forum
in exchange for a reduced registration rate; Internet roommate message board to
help you find someone to share your
accommodations.

Funding from AWID: Given the number of requests, AWID is unable to provide
funding for all Forum participants. Partial assistance from AWID will be
available to a limited number of presenters whose proposals have been selected
for the Forum.

Thai Participation: A limited number of free registrations (100) will be
available to participants from Thailand. If you are living in Thailand and
are interested in attending the Forum, contact awidforum@awid.org for more
information and to obtain an application form.

Registering for the Forum:

After Aug. 15, 2005:

Member Rate: $390 USD

Institutional Member Rate: $360 USD
(Institutional members may send up to four members at the discounted rate.)

Non-member Rate: $450 USD

Student Rate: $180 USD

Volunteer Rate: $100 USD

Companion Rate: $125 USD

We encourage all participants to register online using our easy, online
registration system at www.awid.org/forum. Participants have the option of
registering and paying by credit card online, or registering online and paying
later by wire transfer.

If you are interested in registering as a volunteer, please note that you must
submit an application and be approved before you register. An online application
form is available at www.awid.org/forum.

You may also request a registration form at awidforum@awid.org.

For more information:

AWID Forum website: www.awid.org/forum
Email inquiries: awidforum@awid.org
Telephone inquiries: +1.416.594.3773
Fax inquiries: +1.416.594.0330

Inquiries by Post:
AWID, 215 Spadina Ave., Suite 150
Toronto, Ontario M5T 2C7
Canada

The Association for Women's Rights in development is an international
membership organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable
development and women's human rights.




Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian Studies