UNESCO-IHE and Women for Water Partnership
form alliance
UNESCO-IHE and the Women for Water Partnership (WfWP) have agreed to jointly enhance women's participation in achieving sustainable
With the launch of this strategic partnership, UNESCO-IHE and the WfWP will work on UNESCO-IHE’s Waters & Society Programme, on the World Water Development Report of the United Nations and on the follow-up of the outcomes of World Water Forum 5.
Co-convenors
WfWP and UNESCO-IHE were co-convenors of Topic 6.1 'Education and Capacity Development Strategies' at the World Water Forum, at which their creative approach in highlighting the issues drew many accolades. The strategic partnership is intended to broaden the joint efforts towards inclusion of gender issues and women's empowerment in the water and sanitation sectors.
Scholarship
Besides this, UNESCO-IHE will facilitate the WfWP's participation in technical and high-level events; a future scholarship and internship programme. This also will be aimed at enhancing women's participation and practice on the ground components in UNESCO-IHE's education programs and with its academic partners. The new partners will disseminate each others material at events and will fundraise together.
Women for Water Partnership
The Women for Water Partnership is an international network of women's organisations with presence in approximately 100 countries of the world. They contribute to women's empowerment and combating poverty taking water and sanitation as a point of entry.
UNESCO-IHE website
Women for Water Partnership website
Monday 22 March 2010
World Water Day - 22nd March 2010
This is a United Nations Day.
The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.
UN-Water has chosen ”Communicating Water Quality Challenges and Opportunities” as theme for World Water Day 2010. The overall goal of the World Water Day on 22 March 2010 campaign is to raise the profile of water quality at the political level so that water quality considerations are made alongside those of water quantity.
The 2010 World Water Day 's theme; ‘It’s a Water Celebration’. During the 2010 World Water Day Celebration there shall be the launch of the Community Health Education and School Sanitation (CHESS) Africa Project, which aims at not only at helping communities and schools understand the importance of water but actually working in collaboration with these communities and schools to provide them with clean/safe water and adequate sanitation.
Your guide to the world’s longest toilet Queue
World Water Day, 22 March 2010, is a crucial
moment in the fight to tackle the global
sanitation and water crisis.
Just one month later, politicians from across
the globe will gather to discuss what they need
to do to fulfil some of the most basic rights of
the world’s citizens - access to a safe toilet and
clean water. they must act, and so must we.
The world’s longest toilet Queue is a global
mobilisation bringing together thousands of
campaigners from across the world to demand
real change. we need your voice too.
Become part of a global movement this world
water day. this toolkit will tell you how.
EARTH HOUR - 27th March 2010
EARTH HOUR - 27th March 2010
Join thousands of people around the world in doing a little bit to help mitigate the effects of Climate Change.
SI/E has signed up - why don't you?
Go to http://www.earthhour.org/and add your name.
Don't forget - 8.30pm wherever you are in the world. Mmm... a candlelight dinner sounds nice!
Soroptimist International Incentive Prize
The Soroptimist International Incentive Prize was awarded at the International Women’s Day in Berlin.
The SI German Union hosted the event in the federal State building of Nordrhein-Westfalen.
This was the second time the German Union presented this prize.
The prizewinner Prof. Dr. Dagmar Schipanski received a cheque of € 20,000 for her project to which inspires and stimulates women and girls to study science and physics; to increase the number of women in the world of science.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Gender, Family, Women and Integration of the Federal State, Dr. Marion Gierden-Jülich and Union President Sibylle Lindenberg presented the prize to Prof. Schipanski
The prize giving ceremony which was was sponsored by the Federal State and Henkel was attended by many Soroptimists and guests.
The goals of Soroptimist International were clearly stated by IPP Mariet Verhoef-Cohen and Union President Sybille Lindenberg.
The prizewinner, Prof. Dr. Schipanski presented her winning project and emphasized how important it is for a sustainable future that women are interested in science and physics and how vital it is for them to enroll and complete these studies.
It was an uplifting ceremony of high-quality and brought home how active Soroptimist International of Europe really are in inspiring women in all fields.
Prof Schipanski in the middel and Union president Sybille on the left.
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Anna Tibaijuka / Sanitation in the Urban Millennium / PART 6
Anna Tibaijuka talks about sanitation issues, at the Soroptimist International of Europe Water Congress, held in Amsterdam, 2009.
Water is Life, Sanitation is Dignity.
Anna Tibaijuka is the Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. (www.unhabitat.org)
http://www.soroptimisteurope.org
http://www.soroptimistsgoforwater.nl
webclips by http://www.buzzmedia.net
Sylvia Borren / So Much We Can Do / PART 4
Water is Life, Sanitation is Dignity
http://www.soroptimisteurope.org
http://www.soroptimistsgoforwater.nl
webclip by: http://www.buzzmedia.net
Sylvia Borren is co-chair of the Worldconnectors and GCAP (the Global Call to Action against Poverty), chair of the EEN campaign, and Project leader of Quality Educators for All, a project of Education International labor union and Oxfam Novib.
Old Cell phone for WATER
Dear all,
water is precious, as we all know.
However there is more we can do than taking shorter showers or brushing teeth without running water.
An initiative that goes along with the "World Water Day / Weltwassertag 2010" is aimed at helping those people that have no or bad access to clean water:
http://www.wasserfuerafrika.de/
I would like you to help me supporting one of the projects:
Every old cell phone, old, not in use, that is sent to Vodafone, results in a donation of 3 Euros. The money will be used to support the water projects in Africa.
--> If you have any old cell phone, that is broken or just not used, please give it to me. I will organize the shipment to Vodafone and will keep you updated on the amount of money we were able to collect. Just put it on my desk or send it via Hauspost (M02) please.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR COOPERATION !!!!
http://www.wasserfuerafrika.de/index.php?option=com_ content&view=article&id=47& Itemid=55
Kind regards, Ulla
Ulla Hüppe
International Brand Management
- Gliss Kur
Tuesday 9 March 2010
International Women's Day 2010
International Women's Day 2010
Monday, 8th March 2010
International Days
Even though it may not be considered fashionable these days, I have to confess that I am a feminist. Originating from the suffragettes who chain-linked themselves to lampposts and the bra-burning hippies from the seventies, feminism is now considered slightly ridiculous and outdated. The young women of today either think that women have equal rights or that the good old days of being a housewife were not that bad after all.
For me, feminism simply means that a woman has the same rights as a man, has equal access to health services and education and can function as a responsible, leading person in her community. Those minimal rights are still a utopia for millions of women and girls today. We, as Soroptimist, must empower women and girls to become equal partners in their communities and show our solidarity to the women all over the world by celebrating March 8, International Women’s Day
Education is the key to a better life; literacy enables women to know and defend their rights and opens the road to self-improvement. To be educated and to go to school, girls must have the time and be in good health. Freeing them of water-fetching chores gives them time. Having access to clean water and adequate sanitation helps preserve their health.
That is why World Water Day on March 22nd is so important and must remind us of the 2.5 billion people who lack these basic services. Soroptimist can help by supporting and implementing water and sanitation projects.
In most communities, women are responsible for providing and managing the water supplies. By setting up practical and sustainable water projects and teaching the women to manage them, we empower the local women to be responsible and respected members of their community.
Women’s emancipation and access to safe water and sanitation are both basic human rights that SI/E has pledged to sustain.
So, with all this in mind, I encourage you to be an old-fashioned feminist like me: stand up for women and their rights (no handcuffs or bra-burning needed) and campaign for access to safe water and sanitation for all – but especially for women and girls. If you need inspiration, please go to our water website www.soroptimistsgoforwater.nl or go to the SI/E web site www.soroptimisteurope.org and learn about the latest projects and events .
In friendship,
Eliane Lagasse
SI/E President 2009-2011
Video Message from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
The fight for women’s rights is central to the UN’s global mission.
Fifteen years ago, in Beijing, Governments committed themselves to equality, development and peace for all women, in all countries.
The Beijing Declaration was a landmark on the road to women’s empowerment.
It has guided policy making.
It has inspired women and girls to strive for equality and opportunity, and reminded everyone that this is their right.
We have seen progress.
Girls are now more likely to receive an education.
Women are now more likely to run businesses or participate in government.
But much work remains.
Death in childbirth is still too common. Too few women have access to family planning.
Violence against women remains a cause of global shame, and sexual violence in war is endemic.
I have just appointed a special representative to mobilize international action to address these crimes.
At the United Nations itself, we have more women in senior posts than at any time in history.
Securing women’s rights is central to all our hopes for peace, security and sustainable development.
As we look back on 15 years of achievement, let us look forward to a world of equality and progress for all.
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too
source: National Geographic News
Published March 2, 2010
Billions of bits of plastic are accumulating in a massive garbage patch in the Atlantic Ocean—a lesser known cousin to the Texas-size trash vortex in the Pacific, scientists say.
"Many people have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch," said Kara Lavender Law, an oceanographer at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. (See pictures of the Pacific Ocean trash vortex.)
"But this issue has essentially been ignored in the Atlantic."
The newly described garbage patch sits hundreds of miles off the North American coast. Although its east-west span is unknown, the patch covers a region between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude—roughly the distance from Cuba to Virginia (see a U.S. map).
As with the Pacific garbage patch, plastic can circulate in this part of the Atlantic Ocean for years, posing health risks to fish, seabirds, and other marine animals that accidentally eat the litter.
For entire article, visit National Geographic
Cousteau webclip by Soroptimist International of Europe / Buzzmedia Network
Tuesday 2 March 2010
Writing Women Back into History
March is Women’s History Month!
Check out the National Women’s History Project’s
"Writing Women Back into History."
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