At CSW55, DAWN brought together four young women activists who have either participated or will be participating in our regional trainings cum consultations interlinking Gender, Economic & Ecological Justice (GEEJ). These processes draw on seasoned activists and policy makers while engaging and training young women activists in this dialogue and debate. In 2010 DAWN convened two regional GEEJ workshops in the Pacific in collaboration with the Pacific Network on Globalisation and in Africa in collaboration with Third World Network Africa. In 2011 we will convene one in Latin America and the Caribbean with the International Council on Adult Education and the last in Asia which will also be a cross regional process.
One of our key objectives is to break the fragmented, siloized approaches to funding, programs and advocacy. A regionalized, south-south process led by global South women is essential to such feminist interlinkage work. We are also linking activists engaged in this process to various national, regional and global policy development and advocacy processes, including this CSW 55, COP 17 and Rio+20.
The average age of the panelists (see below) was 27 years of age, which is likely the lowest of any panel at this CSW!
1. Implications for PACER Plus on Women, Economic, Social and Climate Issues in the Pacific by Lice Cokanasiga
Lice from Fiji is PANG’s (Pacific Network on Globalisation) Trade Justice Campaign. PANG is one of the most outspoken CSOs in the Pacific on free trade, economic reform policies, regional policy-making processes, and the agendas of multilateral and biliateral donors. At PANG, she has researched the impact of free trade on customary land rights. Lice participated in the GEEJ Pacific training/consultation held in Fiji September 2010.
2. Market Reform and the Food Crisis in Africa: Locating Women as Agents of Change by Hibist Kassa
Hibist from Ethiopia and based in Ghana is graduate student of Political Science at the University of Ghana and a writer on Elevate Difference. She is a member of the Inter Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), the Student Worker Solidarity Society (SWSS), and manages a facebook group called “Lets Talk Gender Equality”. Hibist participated in the GEEJ Africa training/consultation held in Accra last November.
3. The Paradox of Growth and Persistent Inequality Under Latin American Progressive Governments by Nicole Bidegain Ponte
Nicole from Uruguay is a youth activist from Uruguay, works with the International Council on Adult Education (ICAE) and is also part of the Latin America chapter of the International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN). Nicole participated in the 2007 DAWN Training Institute and is the co-author of the concept note shaping the GEEJ training/consultation for the Latin America and the Caribbean region.
4. LBT Rights in Relation to Militarization and the Post-Conflict Context in Sri Lanka by Jayanthi Kuru Utumpala
Jayanthi from Sri Lanka works with both the Women and Media Collective (a women’s rights organization) and the Women’s Support Group (focused on the rights of lesbians, bisexual women and transpeople in Sri Lanka. She also works with the Asia Pacific Women’s Watch Secretariat.