As an active Haiti Advocacy Working Group (HAWG) member, Gender Action co-sponsored an advocacy week that featured vibrant Haitians who voiced their nation's post-earthquake priorities. Energetic Haitian grassroots, civil society and Diaspora activists convened in Washington, D.C. to take part in advocacy training and strategizing sessions, and present their concerns to U.S. Congressional members, administration officials, and World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) staff. Elaine accompanied several Haitian activists to meetings with Representative Barney Frank's office, including Haiti's only advocacy organizations for LGBT and Haitians living with HIV; the State Department's Global Ambassador for Women at Large, Melanne Verveer, and Special Assistant for Violence Against Women, Sandrine Rukundo; and meetings with World Bank and IDB staff.  

   

"If I had stayed in Haiti I would have continued to believe that no one outside of Haiti and no one in a position of power in the U.S. cared at all about what has been happening to us there. And then I came to this week of advocacy in Washington and discovered all these people who care. Congresspeople and their staffs actually listened, asked questions, and took notes. They want to help." (Haitian Activist)

 

In addition, HAWG organized a moving three-day photo exhibit on Haiti's devastation and recovery in the House Rayburn Building, a Congressional briefing on gender-based violence in Haiti, and an inspiring reception featuring: Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY), Chair of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; American Jewish World Service President Ruth Messenger; and Haitian activists Marie Charles Juste-Luce (IDP camp leader) and Rosy Auguste (National Human Rights Defense).

"Valuing Care Work: How can we make care more visible in national accounts?"

Unpaid care work, primarily done by women to enable paid work and economic development, is largely ignored in national statistics and economic performance indicators.  To draw attention to the omission of women's vital contributions, Gender Action, ActionAid International and the Center for Partnership Studies co-sponsored a panel discussion at the 55th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in February entitled, "Valuing Care Work: How can we make care more visible in national accounts?"  Speakers included Gender Action Board Member and Executive Director of Women for Change in Zambia, Emily Sikazwe; Kimberly Otis from the Center for Partnership Studies, U.S.A; and Rachel Moussie from ActionAid. 

 

Gender Justice and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs): Presentation at Colorado State University

Gender Action President Elaine Zuckerman engaged university students - the generation charged with carrying women's rights forward - when she spoke on the need for gender justice in IFI investments at Colorado State University's April 2011 "International Development Studies - Gender & Development Speaker Series."   

 

Civil Society Activities around the Annual World Bank/ International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings (April 2011):

 

Gender, IFIs and the Global Food Crisis    

In light of the urgent need to address the global food crisis, Gender Action, along with ActionAid International and the Henrich Boell Foundation, co-hosted a dynamic panel discussion on the ways in which IFI investments in agriculture and rural development exacerbate food insecurity and negatively impact women's livelihoods. Speakers included Marie Brill of ActionAid, Zaamu Kaboneke of Solutions for Women Development in Uganda, and Elizabeth Arend of Gender Action. View the video of our panel on our youtube page.

 

Roundtable on the 2012 World Bank Gender World Development Report

Gender Action and the Bretton Woods Project (BWP) facilitated a roundtable for members of its online discussion forum to brainstorm a strategic civil society response to the World Bank's 2012 World Development Report (WDR) on gender. The "flagship" publication is scheduled to be released in 2012.     

 

World Bank, Energy Finance, and Climate Change: Something Old. Something New  

Because addressing climate change remains a global imperative and a critical gender justice issue, Gender Action co-sponsored a panel at Friends of the Earth International to examine energy access and World Bank energy financing. Gender Action arranged for Tito Soentoro of the Philippines based NGO Forum on the ADB to address the gender impacts of energy finance and climate change. Speakers included Tito Soentoro, Elizabeth Bast of Oil Change International; Sunita Dubey of groundWork/Friends of the Earth South Africa; of Lidy Nacpil of Jubilee South - Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development; Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth U.S.; and Titi Soentoro NADI Indonesia and the NGO Forum on ADB.

In March, Gender Action partnered with the National Association for Women's Action in Development (NAWAD) in Uganda to share tools on IFI gender analysis and advocacy. Gender Action's Programs Coordinator, Elizabeth Arend, discussed the workshop in a Gender Action video.