ACWW is now a partner of the ‘Save Food – Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction’ of the Food and Agriculture Organization. Save Food involves awareness raising, collaboration, policy making and investment to reduce food waste. This is hugely important considering that 30-40% of all food produced is wasted, either because it never reaches consumers (due to transport, storage and other difficulties) or because it gets discarded before consumption. This has negative effects on food availability, the environment and farmer income. As Save Food is relevant to the Agriculture Committee’s interest in food security, the committee will be sharing information about the initiative as well as food waste and ways to reduce it. For more information, visit the Save Food website at http://www.fao.org/save-food/en/. Also, look out for a related article by the Agriculture Committee Chair in the July-September issue of The Countrywoman.

Related link: Global initiative on food loss and waste reduction

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development is a UK cross-party group that explores agriculture, nutrition and food security in developing countries. On 19th March 2013 it held a seminar titled ‘Transforming lives through improved access to agricultural education in Africa’. Under discussion were the benefits to African farmers of open educational resources (OERs), which are teaching and learning documents that are freely available for everyone to use.

The OERs developed by the Open University and Natural Resources Institute contain generic content that can be customised. The materials are designed to be flexible and accessible even to those without technology. The aim is to make them available to the traditionally disadvantaged, including women, youth and people in challenging educational settings.

These OERs can cover basic business topics like accounting as well as specific agricultural matters like value chains. Common themes that emerged from the discussion were: Partnerships (with academics, governments, NGOs, the private sector, etc.) are key to OERs for African agriculture. Content should be developed with local experts. Materials should be a combination of global and local, so that they can be used widely and adapted. OERs can be used alongside or instead of a more traditional form of spreading farming information in rural areas: agricultural extension workers.

A Zimbabwean researcher spoke of his childhood wonder at his village’s extension worker. This ‘man on the motorbike’, as everyone had called him, had impressed the boy with his vast knowledge and tendency to pop up at nearly every local gathering.

Extension workers are thus very valuable as they are embedded in local communities. But the speakers noted the changing roles of these workers, due largely to the possibilities presented by mobile technologies. Whether information is delivered by print, radio, mobile phone or computer, increased education increases the money farmers make as well as the food they produce. OERs can be hugely useful to rural areas in this regard.

Sharon Hatten, ACWW UN Committee Chair; Anushka Wirasinha, ACWW UN representative; Valerie Stevens, member of ACWW UN Committee.

From the Pulmonary Consultant at a hospital just north of Anchorage in Alaska, working with those with lung damage caused by excessive smoking and poor diet, many of them First Nations People, to the Ukrainian-born member of the New York NGO CSW Executive Committee who had been presented to the Queen Mother at Kensington Palace and still treasures the hand-shake;

From the Ethiopian-born inspirational activist who has earned international respect
for her campaign against Female Genital Mutilation over more than twenty years, to the ‘Woman of Distinction’ award winner, Bineta Diop, who has led peace-building in the most fragile states, including Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But above all, from the people I sit next to – we share the same values and seek the same outcomes, no matter our nationalities, ages, beliefs, economic or social backgrounds.  I have been humbled and admiring, conscious that I am only an observer while they participate on the world stage.

Olga Mun	US Marine Cadet

Hazel Armstrong third from the left

The annual UK Charity Staff Foundation Awards took place on 7th March 2013 in Central Hall Westminster. The awards celebrated outstanding dedication and achievements made by charity staff and volunteers across the UK. ACWW are delighted to announce that Hazel Armstrong, ACWW Representative and Projects Resource Person, was shortlisted for the ‘International Aid Courage Award’.
Hazel was one of just 3 shortlisted nominees in a competitive category and we are delighted that her work for ACWW has been recognised in this way. Hazel has worked tirelessly to monitor and evaluate projects on behalf of ACWW, in countries such as India and Bangladesh and does so in her own time, using her own resources. She asks searching questions and does not just accept what she is told by the beneficiaries at face value. Without Hazel’s dedication, the effective monitoring of projects, often in isolated and difficult areas, would not have been easy and ACWW is delighted that Hazel’s hard work and courage has been recognised. The award went to Stuart Palmer of Cure International for his excellent work in Malawi.

Women Walk the World is happening again on or around 29th April. As the South Pacific Walk was so successful in 2012, raising approx. $35,000, half of the amount that was raised across the world, maybe we can double that amount this year.

This occasion is to promote the work of ACWW and also to collect some funds so our work can continue.

“Walk” is the word that we use for this event. Walking is great for publicity but also great for your health. It is often a great way to not only meet with your members on a casual basis but can be the catalyst to get people in your community to take part as well, and maybe gain new members.

Most of you have schools in your community. Maybe the schoolchildren can be encouraged to walk around the sports field, walk to school, and this would give you the opportunity to raise the awareness of our work, through the schoolchildren to parents at home. Children love to be involved in activities that assist other children across the world so use some of our projects to publicise what we are about.

Don’t despair if you can’t physically do the walk- if you “think outside the square” there are many activities that can be used instead.

CWA of Vic produced some badges, designed by their junior members, and sold them to raise funds. CWA of Vic are happy to organise the production of these badges. These badges are for sale from Victoria CWA at $2 each. CWA of Vic will pass on the profits to SPA so you can either give them away or sell them and keep the funds or sell them and add the proceeds to your Women Walk the World funds. If you wish to purchase some badges, you will need to place your order with me by end of February. The badges will then be posted to you so I will need a name and address for delivery. There will be a small charge for postage!

At your meeting place or in the local shopping centre, place a globe on the floor and ask people to “Walk around the World” for us.

If you live near the border/edge of your state, shire, etc sell visa’s, passports etc to cross the line. There are a number of songs that include “walking” in the lyrics. The one that comes to mind is “These boots are made for walking” Play the song continuously at home, or meeting or wherever and maybe people will pay you to turn it off.

Make up a trivia quiz with the answers all containing the words “women, walk and world”
If there is a shop, restaurant or other place in your community that is “International” then walk from your meeting place to that place and you can promote this by saying you walked from Dubbo e.g. to Japan.

As you can see, with a little thought there are many options to take part so I hope many more branches etc take part this year.

For Australian societies, it is much easier to manage the funds going to London if they are all sent to me and then there is only one transfer fee.
I would like to have the funds sent to me by the end of June so that all of this can be in the report for the World Conference in September.

Remember, many people across the world only have walking as a form of transport. By taking part in this event we can continue to carry out the invaluable work we do as an organisation.

I would love to hear of all your events so please either email or post your stories and pictures to Central Office, so it may be included in the July-September 2013 issue of The Countrywoman.

Ruth Shanks,AM South Pacific Area President

Being invited to speak about ACWW to a new WI, which meets in a pub and where there's no tea to be made or washing up to be done, was an invitation not to be missed.
‘WeyBay’, on the seafront in Weymouth, turned out to be a marvellous addition to ACWW’s friends. 

There were between 60 and 70 ladies there and, once the drinks had been bought and friends met, they proved to be a most attentive audience. It’s easy for me to talk about meeting the world at the Triennial Conference, visiting friends and their women’s groups in Hungary, Belarus and Germany; about raising money for projects and monitoring them; and about the work of the UN committee and its representatives in New York, Geneva and Vienna. 

They listened with interest to accounts of our workshops at the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN in 2011 and 2012, as well as to stories told there of women from all round the world living with violence, fear, poverty and hunger.

I had taken two jars, one full of sweets and the other, empty.  I asked them to take a sweet and put their small coins in the empty jar, suggesting that it could be filled at their convenience and sent to Dorset’s contribution to ‘Pennies for Friendship’.  I came home with a full jar of coins, the raffle money and a cheque.  I was able to send ACWW £100 as a result of an excellent night out.

In addition, I met a young woman from Chile who is personally acquainted with Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director for UN Women, who wants to get involved.  Four other ladies took copies of ‘The Countrywoman’ magazine to find out more and to see what they can do.  I am confident that the evening will be good for ACWW.

Valerie Stevens
ACWW UN Committee member

From the 14th January 2013, over 200 women including delegates have been attending ACWW's South East and Far East Asia Area Conference, which is being held in Miri a city in northern Sarawak, Malaysia.

Some of the delegates in attendance represent the nine areas of ACWW – namely Canada, USA, Europe, East, West and Central Africa, Southern Africa, Central and South Asia, Caribbean, Central and South America, South East and Far East Asia, as well as the South Pacific.

Among those present is ACWW World President, May Kidd. In her speech May called for a joint effort from everyone and every country, to help ease suffering of those less fortunate in the world and to make the world a better place for everyone.

Related link The Borneo Post Online