News

Networking Event: Are cities safe and inclusive for women?
The event, Are Cities Safe and Inclusive for Women, was organized Red Mujer y Hábitat de América Latina, Rede de Desenvolvimento Humano, Women in Cities International, Espaço Feminista, and the Huairou Commission. Participants included Bethania Ávila, SOS Corpo - Instituto Feminista para a Democracia/ Articulação de Mulheres Brasileiras, as the moderator;  Kathryn Travers of Women in Cities International, Canada; Lise Burcher, Federation of Canadian Municipalities; Marisol Dalmazzo, Women and Habitat Network of Latin America, Bogota, Columbia; Fernando Patiño, UN Habitat Colombia; Shipra Narang Suri, Consultant, JAGORI, New Delhi, India; Elza Santiago, Bordadeiras da Coroa/ Articulacao de Mulheres Brasileiras; and Elizete Maria da Silva, Women’s Center of Pombos/ Women’s Forum of Pernambuco. The panelists examined how women have varying levels of access to the city, with relationships to class, race, age, in an analysis of urban planning, human rights and what strategies are working to make cities safer for women. Read More here...

“Democratizing Decentralization: Women take the lead”
“Democratizing Decentralization” was hosted by the Huairou Commission in partnership with Cordaid, UCLG and IDRC, as an event that highlighted the mechanisms that have increased the quality and quantity of women’s participation in local decision-making and debate implications for resource and power shifts towards women’s programming and leadership. The panelists included Winrose Nyanguthie of GROOTS Kenya; Lucy Meija of Rede Lima Este, Peru; Marguerite Djouzo of RNHC Cameroon; Francisco Cos-Montiel of IDRC, and Olenka Ochoa of FEMUM Peru as the moderator. The panelists provided case examples of the initiatives their groups have created under decentralized systems that have opened space for women’s participation in decision-making and led to improvements in citizen engagement, transparency, accountability and service delivery.  Read More here...

Securing Assets: Grassroots Women Success for land in Ponte do Maduro, announced during the GLTN official WUF Round Table
The GLTN Roundtable was a space where the comparative analysis of the pilot experiences of three Huairou Commission network grassroots organizations came together and opened an exciting discussion on how the lessons of the pilot can be used to further develop land tools that help to bridge the urban divide, the gender divide and contribute to more sustainable cities. Espaco Feminist evaluated the gender-responsiveness of Master Plans within Brazil, and they were able to increase the gender accountability of local authorities an stakeholders and increasing women's capacity and knowledge in meetings with stakeholders, knowledge sharing, and assessing master plan in these areas. Read More here...

Community Resilience: Local Leadership Priorities, Practices and Partnerships for Building Resilient Cities: Driving the Local Implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action
Arvinn E Gadgill, Political Adviser and Junior Minister from Norway framed the event by giving an excellent analysis on the state of political and institutional arrangements, stating that "they do not currently exist to address local community priorities or women's issues and capacities." He spoke of the need to develop new policies and tools to adapt to new contexts and inter institutional coordination that links to the communities. He closed by saying that grassroots women's groups are an untapped resource in this process and can drive the demand for disaster risk reduction. Read More here...

Community Resilience: Reducing Vulnerabilities to Climate Change, Thematic Open Debate
Relinda Sosa, a community leader from Lima, Peru, President of CONAMOVIDI, Confederacion Nacional de Mujeres, Coordinator of the GROOTS Peru network and member of the Huairou Commission, was featured as a 'local champion' central to resilience building in the high level roundtable. Relinda spoke about her twenty years experience, working with 15,000 women across 60 communities in 16 regions of Peru on issues of food security, reforestation, community hazard mapping and access to basic services to reduce communities' vulnerabilities from disasters and climate change. Read More here...

Land & Housing: Official Round Table 'Piloting of a GLTN Land Tool: A Practical Way to Ensure Gender Equality
March 26, 2010
The GLTN Roundtable was a space where the comparative analysis of the pilot experiences of three Huairou Commission network grassroots organizations came together and opened an exciting discussion on how the lessons of the pilot can be used to further develop land tools that help to bridge the urban divide, the gender divide and contribute to more sustainable cities. The Global Land Tools Network was established in 2006, as a global partnership of key actors working together, including the Huairou Commission, to promote the MDGs on poverty alleviation and secure land tenure. GLTN partners, who value pro-poor and gender sensitive land tools, in 2007-2008 developed a series of criteria on what makes large-scale land tools gender sensitive. Read More here...

Safer Cities: Official WUF Round Table: Towards Safer Cities for Women
March 25, 2010
The Gender and Women Roundtable, "Towards Safer Cities for Women," acted as a platform to highlight suc­cesses of the work being done around creating gender-inclusive cities, discussion of present challenges, and touched on concrete ways forward.Panelists included an important range of actors, from Brazilian Ministry, women's networks, academic institutions, local authorities, grassroots organizers, with opening remarks from Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. Participants spoke of women's participation in urban life and the subsequent restrictions to women's movement in cities as a result of insecurity, violence and perceptions of violence, and what elements are needed to make the public space safe and accessible for women. Read More here...

Grassroots Women Claim Their Roles and Cities at the Grassroots Academy in Rio de Janeiro
March 19, 2010
From March 15th to March 18th 2010, 100 women from over 20 countries exchanged their practices and experiences in the "Claiming Our Cities, Claiming Our Roles" Grassroots Academy around building and maintaining women's power and leadership, strengthening partnerships that support grassroots women's organizing, and securing resources to sustain community development. The participants also prepared and formulated collective advocacy messages to influence policies and resource allocation to reflect the needs of poor women at the Fifth World Urban Forum, taking place from March 22nd-26th 2010. Read More here...

Advancing Grassroots Women Leadership in Community Resilience Building in Southeast /East Asia
February 12, 2010
Thirty women from South East Asian countries held an intimate gathering in the Philippines this week to build their relationships as women leaders working toward increased ongoing networking in their region, with a focus on community resilience work.  The meeting began by focusing on the accomplishments and challenges for grassroots women leaders of grassroots organizations or people’s organizations. Read More here...

South Asian Network of Grassroots Women's Leaders for Community Resilience formally launched in Kathmandu, Nepal
Fenruary 11, 2010
A South Asian network of grassroots women's leaders for community resilience, and a national grassroots women's network in Nepal were launched last week in Kathmandu following a four day workshop on advancing and supporting the leadership of grassroots women in sustaining and scaling up their capacity to reduce risks and vulnerabilities in their communities and build a culture of resilience. Read More here...

Grassroots Women Exchange Land & Leadership Tools in 5-Day Peer Exchange in Zambia at a part of the Women’s Land Link Africa (WLLA) Initiative
February 5, 2010
A Women’s Land Link Africa (WLLA) grassroots leadership team took part in a series of Peer-to-Peer Exchanges in Zambia with the Katuba Women’s Association, and People’s Process and Homeless and Poor People’s Federation of Zambia, from February 1st through 5th.  The exchanges were held just prior to the 2010 WLLA Land Academy.
Read More here...

REPORT ON THE WOMEN’S SESSION IN THE 5TH AFRICITIES SUMMIT, MARRAKECH, MOROCCO, ORGANISED BY HUAIROU COMMISSION
December 17, 2009
The chair, Ms. Assadi, started off the session by introducing the session, she mentioned that this is a critical meeting because it highlights women’s participation in decision making processes as this is very vital to development of communities and nations.  She mentioned that women face challenges in effectively participating in decision making processes and this is a human rights issue because women are citizens just as men are, and women have capacities, interests, abilities to participate in decision making but have been constrained by social, cultural, economic, environmental and political factors within our communities. Read More here...

Women’s Land Link Africa (WLLA)  Initiative Conducts Peer Exchanges and Pilots Peer Monitoring & Evaluation Field Visits in East Africa
December 11, 2009
For the first time since its inception, the Women’s Land Link Africa (WLLA) project launched the first of a series of grassroots-led Peer Regional Exchange and Peer Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) field visits in three countries in East Africa. Three grassroots women leaders (representing Western, Eastern, and Southern Africa) were nominated in October to represent their regions to participate in a series of Peer Field Visits, and to pilot a participatory peer monitoring and evaluation process to help establish a framework for participatory monitoring and evaluation for the WLLA. The grassroots team was made up of Fati Alhassan, founder of Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation in Ghana, Emily Tjale, community leader and leading member of LAMOSA (Land Access Movement of South Africa), and Hellen Kamiri, a home-based caregiver, watchdog member and community leader of GROOTS Kenya. Read More here...

World Habitat Day 2009
October 5, 2009
The Obama Administration will co-host with UN-HABITAT the global celebrations of World Habitat Day in Washington, D.C. on 5 October 2009. Cabinet Secretary Shaun Donovan, who heads the US Department for Housing and Urban Development, confirmed the decision saying he welcomed the event as an opportunity to foster collaboration between the two agencies. Read More here...

‘Chair of the Secretariat of the Huairou Commission honored at World Habitat Day’
October 5, 2009
Jan Peterson, Chair of the Secretariat of the Huairou Commission, will be awarded the prestigious UN Habitat Scroll of Honour award at the World Habitat Day celebrations in Washington, D.C. on October 5th, 2009. The event takes place from 9 - 11am at the National Building Museum. UN Habitat stated, "It was our unanimous opinion that you should receive the award for championing the rights of grassroots women and their movements for better human settlements." The Obama Administration will host the official celebrations for World Habitat Day this year.Read More here...

‘Investing in Grassroots Women for a Safer Tomorrow: GROOTS and Huairou Commission Make High Level Impact at UNISDR’s Global Platform on DRR’
June 6-19, 2009
The opening statement of John Holmes at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva (June 16- 19) speaks to the centrality of women’s community based organizations as leaders and innovators of resilience strategies and practices.  He stressed the Platform is an opportunity to set up structures for citizen participation & partnerships with government authorities.  Echoing these remarks, the 13 person, 10 country delegations of GROOTS International and the Huairou Commission, supported by UNDP Gender Team, pressed a pro poor grassroots women’s agenda to implement the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) by ensuring that local communities disaster risk and vulnerability reduction strategies are recognized and integrated into core decision making processes. Both the Huairou Commission and GROOTS will be developing three year plans to further the gains we have achieved in Geneva. Read More here...

Indigenous Women Peer Exchange: Building a Global Indigenous Network
May 3-13, 2009
Indigenous women have played a crucial role in preserving their traditions and ancestral knowledge to develop strategies to overcome poverty in their communities, yet their efforts often go unrecognized.  Due to persistent social, political, economic marginalization and legal discrimination, which continue to make indigenous women more vulnerable to a wide range of human rights violations, a peer exchange was held to address their needs and priorities, identify resources and develop strategies to improve their livelihoods and scale up their capacities, in the first Indigenous Women’s Peer Exchange held in Honduras from May 3rd through the 13th. Read More here...

Huairou Commission Makes Strong Impact at the UNHABITAT 22nd Governing Council
April 17, 2009
This year’s Governing Council [1] theme “Promoting affordable housing finance systems in an urbanizing world in the face of the global financial crisis and climate change” resonated with grassroots women all over across the globe. Women, especially poor women, living in cities and communities throughout the world, struggle with the lack of affordable housing. Compounded with negative effects of the financial crisis, grassroots women must find alternative housing, housing that is rarely secure or safe.  Climate change has increased the rate of natural disasters- community based women are at the forefront of fighting this struggle as well. Read More here...

Huairou Commission Holds Second Annual Grassroots Women’s Land Academy
April 1, 2009
Grassroots women have made significant accomplishments in improving women's access to land and housing in their communities, as part of the Land & Housing Campaign's Women's Land Link Africa (WLLA) joint regional partnership initiative.These accomplishments were shared from March 23rd to March 27th 2009 during the Grassroots Women's Land Academy, held in Accra, Ghana. The Land Academy used the methods of experience-sharing and peer learning to look at the positive impacts they have had in grassroots communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. Read More here...

Building Grassroots Women’s Leadership, Community Organizing and Good Governance through Learning the Local-to-Local Dialogue Process
March 25, 2009
What is the Local-to-Local Dialogue process?  How can it be used to build women’s voice and leadership in the community and enhance local governance?  Who is it that takes this process forward?  Last week over forty women leaders, representing grassroots women’s self-help groups, and women-focused CBOs and NGOs from twelve countries across West, East and Southern Africa took up these questions and others during the Community Facilitators Training on the Local to Local Dialogue. Read More here...

Grassroots Home-Based Caregivers and their partners press for resources and involvement in decision-making at the United Nation’s 53rd Commission on the Status of Women
March 5, 2009
Unpaid HIV/AIDS home-based caregivers from around the world are urgently warning governments and donors of the dangers of ignoring much needed infrastructure and salary investments in community-based initiatives that deliver the vast majority of life-saving care and support to millions of people infected and affected by the pandemic, including orphans and vulnerable children. Read more here...

Women of the Brazilian Landless Movement Build Unity at the World Social Forum
February 1, 2009
Grassroots women leaders from different urban and rural organizations in various land movements in Brazil came together to unite as women at the World Social Forum last week.  The Huairou Commission served as a linkage space for these groups to unite.  They shared knowledge and strengthened a process of discussion, exchange and action on land and housing at the local, national and regional levels. Together as women, they are building a stronger, more participatory landless movement.  Feminist Space for Democracy (Espaco Feminista) and Human Rights and Union of Housing Movements of Sao Paulo (UMMSP), a member of Women and Habitat Latin America cooperated in joint events as part of the Huairou Commission’s Land and Housing Campaign. Read more here...

Panel Session on “Securing Grassroots Women’s Access to Land and Housing in the Context of the AIDS Pandemic” promotes dialogue and exchange at the 15th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA)
December 7, 2008
The Huairou Commission, in collaboration with UNDP Equator Initiative, held a panel session on Friday, December 5th at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) entitled “Securing Grassroots Women’s Access to Land and Housing in the Context of the AIDS Pandemic.”  In this session grassroots women from 5 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa addressed how women’s secure tenure and access to land and other core productive assets are central to any effort to address gender inequalities, poverty, and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Read more here...

The First Asian Grassroots Women's Academy on Resilience in Cebu City Begins
October 24, 2008
On the night of October 22nd, the Mayor of  Cebu City  inaugurated the Grassroots Women’s Academy, “Empowering Grassroots Women to Build Resilient Communities at a special dinner hosted by the City for participants of the Asian Grassroots Academy on “Empowering Grassroots Women to Build Resilient Communities.” Read more here...

Whose Vulnerability Counts? Grassroots African and Central American Women Leaders Call for Development Investments to Support their Community Efforts to Fight AIDS
September 3, 2008
Within a conference bringing together 25,000 people from around the world, the Huairou Commission strategically worked with its partners, in particular the Stephen Lewis Foundation and CORDAID, to ensure that the issues and priorities of grassroots women were voiced within the Conference, and to ensure that like-minded partners and organizations were able to come together to discuss these issues and forge plans for a way forward to ensure that they would remain on the global agenda. Read more here...

"Report on Satellite Sessions from the International AIDS Conference, Mexico City"
August 6, 2008
The Huairou Commission opened its participation at the International AIDS Conference this week with two Satellite Sessions. Our delegation consists of 20 grassroots women and NGO partners from Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Honduras and Guatemala, who have come to Mexico City to advocate for greater recognition for grassroots women’s contributions to mitigating HIV and AIDS, decreasing stigma, and reducing women’s multiple vulnerabilities through empowerment processes. Read more here...

"Learning from the Experiences of Africa: Grassroots women share their knowledge and strategies for responding to HIV and AIDS"
August 4, 2008
From July 28-31, an historic peer exchange was held in Livingston on the coast of Guatemala, bringing together 26 women from Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Kenya and Uganda. The women came from diverse communities and cultures ranging from rural Mayan communities in Guatemala and Belize, Garifuna from isolated coastal communities in Honduras and from townships of Guatemala, and rural and urban Kenya and Uganda. The women and youth (girls and boys) who participated were leaders of self-help groups, networks and support groups of women living positively, home-based caregivers, nurses, leaders of women’s associations, students and promoters of AIDS awareness. Read more here...

“International Youth and Crime Prevention Summit,” Durban, South Africa 17-21, June 2008
June 22, 2008
The International Youth and Crime Prevention Summit, held in Durban, South Africa in June, 2008 and sponsored by UN-Habitat and the Government of Kwa-Zulu Natal, brought together representatives from governments, international institutions, universities, civil society and youth groups to share their work and discuss the pressing issues of youth and crime that impact the safety and harmony of cities.  The Huairou Commission, invited as a partner to the UN-Habitat Safer Cities Program, was represented by Sarah Silliman, coordinator of the Huairou Commission Governance Campaign, and four youth leaders from member organizations of the Huairou Commission.   Read more here...

Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges: The Huairou Commission Constructs Partnerships with the European Union
May 15, 2008
The Huairou Commission delegation made their voices clear in May, holding for the first time in the history of the network a Public Hearing at the European Union Parliament. Endorsed by two leading Members of Parliament, Ria Oomen-Ruijten of the Netherlands and Edit Bauer of the Slovak Republic, the Huairou Commission used this opportunity to present results generated at the community level and dialogue with the EU on how to ensure institutions support community-led development. As part of a long-term relationship-building effort with the EU, the Huairou Commission brought a dynamic delegation of leaders to present community development initiatives from Turkey, India, Russia, the Czech Republic, Kenya and Guatemala that are empowering women to lead change and exchange lessons community to community, from their next door neighbors to partners across oceans. Read more here...

Grassroots women's perspectives on financing for women's empowerment and equality: the Huairou Commission at the 52nd Commission on the Status of Women
March 5, 2008
In spite of the lack of institutional resources and policy support, grassroots women's organizations have been steadily advancing and scaling up creative solutions to problems faced by their communities. In developing and scaling up these solutions grassroots women have emerged as leaders and innovators whose participation is vital to setting the policy and program agendas for advancing effective gender equality and women's empowerment. Read more here...

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