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<h1>The Associated Country Women of the World - ACWW - the largest international organisation for rural women.</h1>
<p>NEWS: World President's Message | Featured Project I Membership Dues | Resolutions and Recommendations | WORLD PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE, A bustling Central Office in February and March, with Executive, Board and Committee members at work seemingly in every corner, reminded us all that ACWW is well into the first year of its 26th Triennial. I am delighted to tell you how purposeful was all the activity.
New ideas for raising our international profile were aired, as were plans for streamlining the organisation s administration and communications. ACWW is keenly aware of technology s potential. The web site can be the key that opens up to newcomers a window on ACWW s mission to the rural women of the world. 'Lucky me! My school got water,' says this girl in Chennai, India. Supply of fresh, safe water is one of the priorities of ACWW and invariably features among the wide variety of development projects supported each year by the Projects Committee. Proposals are carefully assessed - and monitored on the spot - to ensure that they are effective and represent value for money.
(Photo: Ursula Goh). Other ACWW projects can be viewed via the projects map. Support The Associated Country Women Of The World by making a single or monthly donation. ACWW Press Release, May 2008
INTERNATIONAL AID'S GOOD HOUSEKEEPERS
ACWW has for a second time in less than six months backed overseas aid projects to the value of around £100,000. Though operating on a smaller scale than the giant fund raisers, the organisation and its member societies are extraordinarily effective in seeing programmes through to a successful conclusion.
Among a record 25 programmes funded at the Projects Committee's spring meeting was one to enable Ugandan grannies caring for children orphaned by HIV/Aids to become self-supporting.
Other recently approved projects included a scheme to provide sun shelters for Indian women employed in the backbreaking occupation of stone-breaking; another is to enable families in Mongolia to gain income through training to grow and sell tree cuttings.
The secret behind ACWW's achievement lies in its intimate involvement with communities in more than 70 countries, from Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific, through Asia, to the newly emergent Baltic states of the north.
Women's organisations worldwide are found within ACWW: besides many in the UK and Europe, they include others in countries such as Australia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada and the United States as well as women's groups, large and small, in developing countries.
Housewives who band together in a tiny disease-ridden sub Saharan village with no safe water supply can join the ACWW ranks and apply for a grant that will pay for a life-saving well to be bored.
The variety of projects funded is immense, and each is carefully assessed for its suitability to the location and is then run by the very women who made the application. Who better to know the precise nature of what is needed and the sources of skills and materials to bring it about?
Countrywomen are helping countrywomen: and the rural donors are no less severely practical than the applicants. ACWW's world is divided into nine areas, each with its resident Area President. It is these women in the region or experienced senior ACWW officials -- who monitor progress on the spot, while London staff receive regular reports from the programme organisers as part of the agreement.
ACWW was founded more than 75 years ago to encourage international friendship and unity between women in an age when the rights of millions were a fraction of those most hold today. Through its Projects Committee it also holds out hope to sisters who still struggle in a harsh world.
<p>RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
PASSED AT THE 2007 TRIENNIAL CONFERENCE
Resolutions
FOCUS ON WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
In order to keep rural areas alive, be it resolved that ACWW and its member societies focus strongly on women entrepreneurs, small businesses and income-generating activities for women, and encourage international bodies and national and local governments, when working with rural development across the world, to actively promote this method of empowering women.
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
To further promote community action as the key to long-term environmental change, be it resolved that the Associated Country Women of the World encourage all ACWW member societies to urge each individual to become actively involved in protecting the environment through education, research and promotion of activities that promote a sustainable future.
WATER AND POVERTY
Be it resolved that ACWW and their member organisations urge the United Nations and their national governments to create a new culture: the internationally agreed principles of Integrated Water Resources Management, including sanitation, access to safe drinking water and water for food and ecosystems based on cooperation with all stakeholders.
ENERGY FOR THE FUTURE
Be it resolved that ACWW and their member organisations urge the United Nations and their national governments to include energy in all (national) development strategies, to invest in modern and clean energy.
OBESITY AWARENESS
Be it resolved that ACWW member societies urge their governments to raise the awareness of obesity and the ensuing harm to physical health.
UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION FOR MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Be it resolved that ACWW and its member societies urge governments, who signed the United Nations Declaration for the Millennium Development Goals, to act upon and work towards meeting their commitments by 2015.
Recommendations
FIGHT AGAINST TYPE 2 DIABETES
Be it recommended that ACWW member societies will encourage their national governments to:
Ensure that consumers have sufficient information about the importance of making nutritionally informed choices and their links to health.
Develop legislation on food labels in order to make information about energy and nutrition contents easily comprehensible and comparable.
Recognise physical activity as an essential element in prevention and treatment for obesity and closely linked non-communicable diseases.
WOMEN'S ROLE IN DECISION MAKING
Be it recommended that ACWW focuses strongly on the importance of empowering women to take part in decision making. Through active participation women will contribute to sustainable development and have an important influence and impact on society..
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