NAIROBI KENYA - JULY 1985: the place and time of the next World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women and of the Non-Governmental (NGO) Forum.
Women in Action will bring you news and information on preparations and activities around the Conference and NGO Forum in each forthcoming issue. These pages are open to all of you who want to share information, exchange ideas about what you would like to see happen in Nairobi and get into contact with each other in preparation for the Conference and Forum. At the time of the Women's Decade Conference and Forum in Copenhagen in 1980, many of the smaller women's organizations and feminist groups especially would have liked to have had more information earlier in order to better prepare for these events. This time around special efforts are being made by the UN and the NGO Forum planning committee and. others to get information out more widely and quickly. A very good source of news on Decade plans and preparations is:
The International Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC)
777 United Nations Plaza
New York, New York 10017, USA
They are publishing Decade Update, an occasional newsletter of news, notes and ideas. The IWTC quarterly The Tribune has dedicated two issues to the Nairobi Conference and Forum, and will continue to bring information on these events. These publications are available in English, Spanish and French.
A Little History
1975 World Conference for International Women's Year, Mexico City. 100 nations attended the official UN conference and 6000 women participated in the NGO Tribune ("the largest consciousness-raising session ever held"). The Conference adopted the World Plan of Action and the Decade for Women (1975-1985) was launched.
1980 World Conference for the UN Decade for Women, Copenhagen: 145 nations attended and 8000 women participated in the concurrent NGO Mid-Decade Forum ("the largest women's networking event in recent history"). The Conference adopted the Programme of Action for the Second Half of the Decade for Women.
TO END THE DECADE - AND PLAN TO THE YEAR 2000
Governmental: The World Conference to be held 15 to 26 July 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya will review and appraise progress achieved and obstacles encountered in attaining the goals and objectives of the Decade for Women. It will be attended by member states of the United Nations.
Preparations are coordinated by the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
The secretariat for the Preparatory Committee is:
The Branch for the Advancement of Women Ms. Chafinka Sellami-Meslem, Director Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs Box 500, Vienna International Centre A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Preparatory Meetings of the Committee have been held in Vienna in February 1983, February-March 1984 and will he held again in Vienna in February 1985.
Regional Meetings:
AFRICA
Date: 3-7 September, 1984
Place: Arusha, Tanzania
Contact:
Ms. Mary Tadesse
African Training and Research Centre for Women (ATRCW)
Economic Commission for Africa P.O. Box 3001 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
ASIA/PACIFIC
Date: 26-30 March, 1984
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Contact:
Ms. Nancy Viviani
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
United Nations Building
Rajdamnern Avenue Bangkok, Thailand.
LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN
Date: November, 1984
Place: Havana, Cuba (tentative)
Contact:
Ms. Vivian Mota
Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLA)
Edificio Naciones Unidas
Avenida Dag Hammarskjold
Casilla 179-D, Santiago, Chile
WESTERN ASIA
Date; December, 1984
Place: Baghdad, Iraq
Contact:
Ms. Thoraya Obaid
Economic Commission for Western Asia (ECWA)
P.O. Box 27
Baghdad, Iraq
EUROPE/NORTH AMERICA
Date: 15-19 October, 1984
Place: Vienna, Austria
Contact:
Ms. Lorraine Ruffing
Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Non-Governmental: The NGO Forum to be held in July 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya is an open conference, coordinated by a Planning Committee of representatives of NGOs in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).
The NGO Planning Committee is arranging for the space, facilities and time for the NGO Forum in Nairobi. The NGO Forum is not funded by the United Nations and must raise its own funds. It is coordinating requests from organizations and groups worldwide for time and space to hold workshops and other activities at the Forum and is organizing panels and plenaries during the Forum. A daily newspaper is also being planned. The Planning Committee has developed a questionnaire to allow NGOs to give their input into recommendations that will go to the UN World Conference. A Pre-Conference Consultation of NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC will be held in Vienna, 22-25 October 1984. In addition, NGO sessions are being held during the regional meetings to prepare the UN World Conference (listed above).
To obtain more information, NGO Forum Activity Request Forms, NGO questionnaires, or to send in your ideas, suggestions and requests, write to:
Ms. Virginia Hazzard,
Coordinator NGO Planning Committee
777 United Nations Plaza, 11th floor
New York, New York 10017, USA
FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR SMALL WOMEN'S GROUPS
Special funds are available from the Skaggs Foundation to stimulate activity before, during and after the NGO Forum. They state:
We welcome proposals from smaller and newly forming NGO's which are working in their own countries to promote the goals of and participation in the United Nations Decade for V/omen and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. In addition to supporting organizing toward the third Decade for Women Conference, we will also make small matching grants for travel expenses to bring leaders and organizers to the Conference. Finally, the Conference itself will obviously generate new organizations which will nee3 seed funding to get off the ground. We will entertain requests from such organizations following the Conference.
The special funds will be available beginning March 1984 and will run through August 1986. There are no geographic limitations on this fund. Grants will be made ranging from $500.00 to $15,000.00.
For application forms, write to:
The L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation, 1330 Broadway, Suite 1730,
Oakland, California 94612 - U.S.A.