ACCION International

March 8th is International Women’s Day – a global day to celebrate the past and future achievements of women.

Will you join us in celebrating this important day by urging Congress to pass the GROWTH Act? This innovative bill would empower millions of women worldwide with the economic tools to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

Our goal is to flood Congress with 10,000 letters by March 8th. Please fill out the fields below to ask your Senators to co-sponsor the GROWTH Act now.

Dear Wikigender friends,

We are pleased to invite you to an International Workshop on “Gender Equality and Progress in Societies”, organised jointly by the OECD Development Centre and UNESCO, on Friday, 12 March 2010 Room (tbc),
OECD Headquarters,
2 rue André Pascal,
75016, Paris (FRANCE)

The workshop will provide an excellent opportunity to improve our understanding of the linkages between gender, culture and progress in societies, as well as to take concrete next steps in this regard. It will be attended by high-level policy makers and government representatives from around the world as well as leading academics, gender equality experts and development practitioners. We believe that this will allow for a very rich exchange of experiences and viewpoints.

A preliminary programme is available at www.oecd.org/dev/gender/progress. Should you wish to attend, we would be grateful if you could please register by filling in the registration form that you will find on the website and by returning it to Mrs. Pamela Marqueyrol (tel: 01 45 24 82 86, e-mail: pamela.marqueyrol@oecd.org). As places are limited, we will confirm your registration as soon as possible.

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Chers amis de Wikigender,
Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter à l’Atelier International sur « L’égalité des genres et le progrès des sociétés », co-organisé par le Centre de Développement de l’OCDE et l’UNESCO, le
Vendredi 12 Mars
Salle (à confirmer), Siège de l’OCDE,
2 rue André Pascal,
75016, Paris (FRANCE)

Cet atelier sera une occasion exceptionnelle d’améliorer notre compréhension des liens existant entre les questions du genre, de la culture et du progrès des sociétés, ainsi que d’envisager des suites concrètes au débat. Participeront à l’évènement des représentants des gouvernements du monde entier ainsi que des chercheurs, des experts en genre et des praticiens du développement. Cet évènement permettra ainsi un riche échange d’expériences et de points de vue.

Vous trouverez un programme préliminaire à l’adresse suivante www.oecd.org/dev/gender/progress. Si vous souhaitez assister à cet atelier, nous vous serions reconnaissants de bien vouloir vous inscrire en remplissant le formulaire d’inscription que vous trouverez sur le site et en l’envoyant à Mme Pamela Marqueyrol (tel: 01 45 24 82 86, e-mail: pamela.marqueyrol@oecd.org). Les places étant limitées, nous vous confirmerons votre inscri[tion dès que possible.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Life is full of surprises. Much that I expect is usually incorrect and the eye can be misleading. Yesterday, a Workshop launched here on this portal with waited anticipation from its management. It seemed to be the only anticipation that was peaked until the problems began to show themselves. Much like a well rehearsed wedding event this launching had its own unique problems that made this a memorable moment. Problems with a participant not seeing the course or being able to enter, or having sign up problems. It is such problems that make this a very memorable moment for everyone. Nevertheless, the problems were resolved in a hopeful and timely manner.

There was even a request for an extension of this workshop by someone in Moldova. The extension has been granted for an indefinite period of time. See the eye can be deceiving. The "proof was in the pudding" or put another way, "live in the moment". Hope can be defined as, "An expectation and a desire combined"; however, faith is hard to define except that, "its believing without seeing", and reality is best defined as, "Seeing is believing". So with hopefully a little bit of everything in the mix good things will happen.

A Two-Day Workshop for people interested in Rural Women and Business.

Beginning 12 am February 20th and Ending 12:00 am 21st Register by February 19th, 2010 The3rdGoal’s mission is to explore, help, and facilitate if possible the 3rd Millennium Development Goal: Gender Equality and Empowering Women. The purpose of this workshop is to raise awareness, have men and women speak out – highlighting the problems they encounter in regard to accessing business partnerships, financial resources, and developing business or new clients. Allowing men and women to discover business resources by research and making use of Moodle technology computer program application.

Interested participants can register on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=247483076263&ref=mf ) until the time for the event. Registration is on ( http://the3rdgoal.org ) website by February 19th, 2010; where the Workshop will take place. This online portal is making use of Moodle technology which is based on a pedagogical format, as well as, being collaborative and interactive in nature. This workshop will make use of a peer assessment, chat room, and other activities that will allow participants to interact, as well as, communicate with each other. Moodle allows participants to assess each other’s projects, as well as, the start of exemplary projects, in a variety of ways.

There are no pre-conceived expectations or outcomes about this workshop or what will be produced from this interaction online. This is our first scheduled attempt at an asynchronous event.