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June 2, 2004Highlighting the Leadership of South Asian Women
SOUTH ASIA PARTNERSHIP CANADA NEWSLETTER
June 2004
Highlighting the Leadership of South Asian Women
SAP Canada serves as a coalition of Canadian organizations that
together and with South Asian partners,
works for sustainable human development in the region.
How does the newsletter work? Links in this email go to items on SAP Canada’s web site. Click on the story links which interest you and enjoy.
Index
Coming Events
Recent Events & Reports
Member Spotlight
SAP Canada in the Media
Connect with SAP Canada
SUPPORT SAP CANADA
Help grassroots workers have a voice! Grassroots workers who work with children in South Asia often are not heard. SAP Canada and SAP Nepal want to ensure that these workers have an opportunity to make their voice heard in Canada through the World Fit For Children list-server. This list-server will accompany the “Canada Fit For Children – A South Asian Plan of Action” conference on September 13-14, 2004, hosted by SAP Canada and its partners in Ottawa, Canada. On-line discussions and recommendations of these grassroots workers would be published for conference participants, government and other relevant agencies and posted on SAP Canada’s website. We need your help to ensure this exchange can take place. To help support this list-server, donate on-line.
Index
COMING EVENTS
June 5, 2004: Presentation on South Asian Women Accessing Political Power meeting in Toronto, Canada. Veena Gokhale of SAP Canada, Dr. Amali Philips of Wilfred Laurier University, Penny Ramdeo of Toronto Women’s Call to Action, and Soni Dasmohapatra, Council of Agencies Serving South Asians, will speak on the challenges facing South Asian women to gain access to political power. The event is in Toronto, Canada.
June 8, 2004: Seminar on the Canadian Delegation Report Back: UN Commission on the Status of Women in Ottawa, Canada. Canadian delegation officials and civil society will share their experiences negotiating on the themes of ‘Women’s Equal Participation in Conflict and Peacebuilding’ and ‘The Role of Men and Boys in Gender Equality’ at the 48th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in March 2004.
June 16-18, 2004: Women, Security and South Asia: Developing Strategies for Regions of Conflict – South Asian Regional Workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka. SAP Canada in collaboration with DFAIT, International Alert, SAP International and the Canadian Committee on Women, Peace and Security are providing this opportunity for selected South Asian activists, advocates, academics, journalists and conflict survivors to assemble to discuss issues of concern, to share experiences, and draft a common “Plan of Action” for peace and security in the region. The participants are selected and a report on the event will be made available.
July 12-14, 2004: SAP Canada sponsors Canadian delegation to the Regional Conference on Women and Local Governance in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The three Canadian delegates will be Joan Lougheed, Kokila Jacob and Bauni MacKay. Ms. Lougheed is a City and Regional Councilor, Burlington and Chair of the Task Force on issues for Canadian Women in Municipal Government at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). Ms. Jacob is a journalist with international experience and a member of the EqualVoice Steering Committee . Ms. MacKay is a retired teacher and former Board Member of the Canadian Teacher’s Federation, who is presently on the Board of YWCA Edmonton and the One Woman One Vote Committee. She was an Alberta Liberal Party candidate in the 2001 election. The delegation will participate in the Governance Forum and meet local NGOs and women politicians in Dhaka to learn about women’s empowerment initiatives in Bangladesh, while providing information on the women and governance issue in Canada. The three-woman delegation is part of SAP Canada’s Canada-South Asia linkage program, Daughters of Democracy, which promotes connections between civil society organizations on the women and governance issue.
2004: Canadian Roundtables on Women, Peace and Security in Sri Lanka, in Canada. These roundtables will invite women from Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities in Canada to express their opinions about women’s role in the Sri Lanka peace process. The goal is to create an opportunity for women living in Canada to participate in consultations regarding the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Sri Lanka. This roundtable series is organized in collaboration with Foreign Affairs Canada, the Forum of Federations, the Canadian Committee on Women, Peace and Security and the International Centre for Criminal Justice in Vancouver. For more information please contact Isabelle Valois by email or telephone 613-241-1333 ext. 227.
September 13-14, 2004: Canada Fit for Children Conference – A South Asian Plan of Action in Ottawa, Canada. SAP Canada and its partners will host a participatory conference to outline a South Asian strategy as part of Canada’s National Plan of Action. The keynote speaker is the Honourable Senator Landon Pearson. This conference will address the Canadian Government’s A Canada Fit For Children, presented on April 22, 2004 as Canada’s official response to its commitment for a National Plan of Action for children made at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in 2002. An important feature of this plan is what Canada will do internationally to help children. This participatory conference will focus on South Asia, where there is the greatest concentration of people – and children – in poverty. Register for the conference today. For more information, visit the conference web page or contact by email the Conference Organizer or at 613-241-1333 ext. 223.
September 15-16, 2004: SAP Canada Annual Meeting will bring together its 27 member organizations to review the past year’s activities, weigh directions for the future and elect the Board of Directors. Join SAP Canada today and participate!
Index
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
USC Canada recently welcomed its new Executive Director, Susie Walsh. She assumed her position on May 1 after several years as a program manager with another SAP Canada member, the Canadian Lutheran World Relief in Winnipeg, Manitoba. SAP Canada joins others in welcoming Susie back to Ottawa, where she had worked previously with USC Canada and as Executive Director of the World Food Day Committee.
On June 11, 2004, The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI) celebrates its 35th Anniversary with a gala at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, Canada. SICI is the latest applicant to become a SAP Canada member.
June 17-18, 2004, Canadian Crossroads International is hosting a conference on capacity building, “Global Partnerships For Local Change” in Montreal, Canada. The key themes of this event will be: Building international community partnerships, Tools and strategies for capacity building, and Capacity building in action.
On June 29, 2004, World Literacy of Canada presents an Evening with David Suzuki, hosted by Heather Reisman, in Toronto, Canada. All proceeds support World Literacy of Canada’s education and community development programs for families in Canada and South Asia. Call 416-977-0008 for more information.
Index
RECENT EVENTS & REPORTS
Roaring India: A Dialogue on India-Canada Relations on March 1, 2004 in Ottawa, Canada. SAP Canada brought together 25 prominent Canadians from civil society, academia, business, the Indo-Canadian community, culture and government sectors. Read the Summary or the Full Report on-line.
Women’s Political Empowerment Day Celebrated in India with SAP Canada partner, the Institute for Social Sciences in New Delhi, India. Read the report where 1,500 elected Indian women representatives call for increased quotas for women in government. The report is now on-line.
Women Decision-making: India-Canada Experiences. Read the report from the March 5 seminar on “Women Decision-Making: A Cross-Cultural Linkage, Learning and Celebration”, which provided an opportunity for Ottawa women to discuss and explore some of the innovations, successes and barriers for women involved in local governance in both India and Canada. The report is now on-line.
Gun Wars and Drug Deaths in South Asia with Ms. Binalakshmi Nepram. Ms. Nepram spoke at a lunch seminar on the impact of narco-trafficking, the spread of small arms and ethnic conflict combine in North-East India. The report is now on-line.
Index
SAP CANADA IN THE MEDIA
Lethbridge Herald reporter Dave Sulz covered the local leg of SAP Canada’s tour to highlight the gains of women due to political reforms in India designed to give women at all levels of society a stronger voice in local government.
National Post Apologizes to SAP Canada member, Human Concern International. On April 23, 2004, The National Post newspaper corrected the record, confirming Human Concern International’s record as a charity “supporting the needy both in Canada and elsewhere”.
Index
CONNECT WITH SOUTH ASIA PARTNERSHIP CANADA
Keep learning about South Asian development. Subscribe to one or more of SAP Canada’s list-servers:
- Afghanistan, a list-server that shares information on developments in and on Afghanistan and Canada.
- Communication for Social Change, a list-server that discusses the practice and theory of using communication techniques for international and community development. This discussion is hosted on the South Asia Human Development Forum Network.
- South Asia Human Development Forum is an on-line platform to strengthen regional dialogue among development stakeholders – civil society, networks and donors in South Asia, among others – to engage in discussion and share information about human development in South Asia. This site is open to all participants who want to read or post information and build links and support for issues such as democracy, governance, conflict, and justice.
- SAP E-Link: Receive periodic notices of opportunities to participate, report releases and web site updates by email.
- YouthAsia, a list-server for young Canadians and South Asians to discuss issues, share career information and keep in touch.
Khoj India Directory: A Directory of Canadian Organizations Working on Indian Development Issues. This directory features the work of 48 Canadian non-government organizations and civil society organizations, eight private sector organizations and 22 academics on development issues in India.
Contact our Communications Coordinator by email or by telephone 613-241-1333 ext. 228.