Early 2006, the Commonwealth Women's Network (CWN) secretariat was moved to Uganda from Trinidad and Tobago. The CWN is a network bringing together women's and gender-focused civil society organisations from around the 53 Countries of the Commonwealth. It is commonly hosted in the same country where the Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting (WAMM) are held every three years.
In Uganda the CWN is currently hosted by the Eastern African sub Regional Support Initiative for Advancement of Women (EASSI) based in Kampala . EASSI was selected by the women NGOs in Uganda because of its regional focus (it covers eight countries in the Eastern African sub region, three of which are Commonwealth countries), as well as its focus on policy monitoring, analysis and advocacy on implementation by governments on gender specific policies.
The role of the CWN is to organize civil society participation in the Partners Forum that is held in the wings of the Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting (WAMM). This year, the Partners Forum will take place at the Speke Resort Munyonyo from 8th to 10th June just three days prior to the 8WAMM which will be held from 11th to 14th June 2007 at the same venue.
CWN Website
CWN upgraded its website on March 15th 2007. The website is a highly interactive and has a discussion forum where participants can comment on issues affecting as well as news feeds on all activities leading to the 8WAMM.
A Workshop on Realising Women's Potential in Transforming Commonwealth Societies through financing Gender Equality Work, November 20, 2007
A workshop on realising women’s potential is being organized around the themes of the CHOGM ‘Transforming Commonwealth Societies to achieve Political, Economic and Human Development’ and the Commonwealth People's Forum (CPF) theme of “Realising People’s Potential”. The workshop is scheduled for Tuesday 20th November, 2007 from 12.00noon - 7.30pm at Hotel Africana Kampala Uganda. The workshop will be underpinned by a debate on financing gender equality work with specific objectives as;
To facilitate policy dialogue on the importance of resource allocation for promoting Gender Equality specifically focusing on the need for engendered policy making processes in resource allocation for economic and human development spheres of the commonwealth society.
To identify and discuss the centrality of financing gender and in particular promotion of women’s rights to achieving targets that will be set in CHOGM Declaration and CPF statement.
To take forward discussions of financing gender equality work and to identify key massages from civil society for upcoming review of Paris declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2008 in Accra Ghana
To devise strategies for working towards the implementation of the commonwealth plan of action for Gender Equality.
The workshop will officially be opened by Hon. Syda Bbumba Namirembe, Minister for Gender Labour and Social Development, Republic of Uganda. We shall be joined by several other Commonwealth delegates. For the resource persons, we shall have a key presenter on the topic Ms. Zawadi Nyong’o who will also give the global experiences on aid effectiveness.
Ms. Elizabeth Eilor will give the African regional perspective of aid effectiveness,
Ms. Rae Julian will present on the Caribbean perspective
Ms. Paulette Senior will give the Canadian perspective and
Ms. Doris Bingley is to present on the European experience.
Ms. Nelcia Robinson from the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) will facilitate the group report back session. All the above attended the 8WAMM Partners Forum.
Kindly click link to obtain the Workshop Programme (PDF format) for your guidance.
For more information, contact Ms. Florence Kebirungi, Coordinator, CWN at cwn@eassi.org/