Montréal
Workshop Programme: Inspiration into action!
Anna Aiken, SI Programme Officer, reports
The workshop programme aimed to showcase the best of what it means to be international. We certainly felt like we’d been round the world twice by the time Convention closed; with Soroptimists from Norway, Zimbabwe, India, USA, UK, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Kenya, Nigeria, Canada, Australia, Rwanda and Belgium, an amazing array of workshops emerged. The theme of advocacy ran
through several workshops. “SI, the UN and other Global Acronyms” sought to clarify the confusing world of the UN. Margaret Cook and Lois Beilin explored how SI advocates at this level and how SI’s UN work could inform the work of your club. “Your Voice at the UN”
and products makes a difference! Cathy Standiford, Liv
was about CSW. Dawn Marie Lemonds and Yoko Komori Olson led UN caucus style sessions to give Soroptimists a chance to comment on the theme of CSW 2012: Rural Women. These ideas will be used in SI’s CSW statement next year. “Fairtrade and You”, presented
by Ruth Bruce and Morag Rennie from SIGBI, looked at Fairtrade and the rise of the Fairtrade town. Women are the primary food producers, yet have the least control over prices and are at the greatest risk of poverty. Never forget the strength of Soroptimist buying power! Supporting Fairtrade initiatives
Handeland, Sue Riney and Carell Wingrave from SIA and SIE presented a powerful discussion on “Soroptimist Strategies to STOP Trafficking”. This produced some great notes which you can access in the members section of the SI website, including template petitions, tips for awareness raising and papers to expand your knowledge. It was a privilege to have so many workshops from African Clubs. “A Changing Climate” was co-hosted by SI Denmark and SI Kenya. This showcased strategies for adapting to and mitigating climate change, demonstrating how cleaner production practices are applied in industries employing many Kenyan women. SI Zimbabwe presented “Talking Photos” which explored the life of a girl child in Zimbabwe through photos and posters. “Land Rights and Economic Empowerment: Stories from East and West Africa” was a partnered workshop by SI Kenya and SI Nigeria. They considered economic empowerment and the vulnerabilities faced by women, particularly widows, prevented from inheriting land. Films were a popular format.
SI India had been in film production mode for several months before Convention and the result was an outstanding
film exploring education and leadership, Soroptimists in India and the history of the women’s movement. The film is now available in three parts on the SI website, through the resources page. We also showed “Voices Unveiled: Turkish Women Who Dare” which explores the clash of East and the West through the lives of three modern Turkish women, and “Fight for Life” which chronicles the difficulties experienced by women giving birth in Bolivia, Mongolia, Uganda, Malawi and Bangladesh. It was an honour to see Senator Mobina Jaffer at the Fight for Life screening – she subsequently borrowed the films! Skill Up! Project Management
Skills was a two part workshop run by SIE Federation Programme Director Ulrike Neubert, and SI Programme Director Reilly Dempsey, covering project design, stakeholder needs analysis and monitoring and evaluation. This workshop was very popular and we will soon be making a tool kit available on the website. We welcomed external
from the Masculinities Research Team at Quebec University held a session on their specialism: male centred interventions to tackle domestic violence in Quebec. And if all of that sounded
like too much sitting (!), there was a dance workshop to get you moving! The Joy of Living dance workshop was run by Jacky Simpson, a qualified dance teacher from SIGBI, who runs dance classes for older ladies. Her Convention dance workshop was a big hit - much fun was had attempting the Charleston! Last but not least, International
speakers to two workshops. Leslie Moreland, Programme Officer for WaterCan (a Canadian NGO), joined SIE’s session to share her experience in helping the world’s poorest people gain access to clean water, basic sanitation and hygiene education. Valerie Roy and Jocelyn Lindsay
President Alice, IPD Hilary and IAPD Anusha held an afternoon ‘meet and greet’ session where they shared their vision for the future and answered questions. Phew! What a programme! The programme team would like to thank all those who helped to make this ambitious workshop programme a reality – particularly the amazing women from all Federations who hosted the sessions. Thank you for the many hours spent making films, designing presentations, planning dance workshops, writing handouts, and connecting with Soroptimist friends all over the world to bring the best of SI to Montréal!
And thanks to the hundreds of Soroptimists (and Soroptimisters!) who attended the sessions – we hope you enjoyed the experience as much as we did!
Cathy Standiford
Margaret Cook
Dawn Marie Lemonds
Hilary Ratcliffe TIS September 2011 Page 9
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