Weblogs
July 5th 2010
Blog by Irina Bazarya, Program Officer: Realizing Rights believes decent work opportunities are key to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). That is why we have been supporting over the past year a project by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) in Ghana aimed at "Enhancing Women???s Economic Empowerment for Self Reliance". Some of our staff traveled there recently to see how small changes make a big difference in the lives of women...
May 10th 2010
Mary Robinson shared a dream with Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary of the World YWCA, to bring a group of women leaders to Zimbabwe to show solidarity with women there working to foster democracy and human rights. After connecting with African women who shared that same dream, they led a mission to Zimbabwe in April 2010. Read her reflections on what turned out to be a historic visit.
September 13th 2009
Realizing Rights has been supporting the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in Ghana on a project aimed at "Enhancing Women???s Economic Empowerment for Self Reliance." The initiative seeks to improve the socio-economic status of women and provide them with tools to contribute more effectively to national development efforts. This involves equipping women with business skills and resources for empowerment such as establishing micro-credit loan schemes and promoting functional literacy.
August 17th 2009
Heather Grady, Director of Policy and Strategy and the Trade and Decent Work Program, reflects on her recent visits to Ghana and Liberia where she visited some of the partners and activities Realizing Rights supports in these countries.
March 6-9, 2009
Extract: Over 1500 Liberian women gathered in Monrovia???s football stadium to launch Liberia???s National Action Plan for the implementation of UNSCR 1325. Market women, rural women, girls, young students???they all came in support of women???s leadership and security. At one point, President Ellen John Sirleaf invited Ruth Dreifuss, the former president of Switzerland, and me to step out into the hot sun and to review the security forces and women in the protective services with her.
January 24-27, 2007
Extract: There have been many complaints over the years that the plenary meetings are not balanced, even in the narrow context of those fortunate enough to be invited to Davos. I have learned to be pragmatic and take the World Economic Forum for what it is - essentially a membership group of corporate leaders, who want to benefit from interaction with political figures and to have some wider intellectual stimuli.
January 20-23, 2007
Extract: My three days at the World Social Forum were a lesson in the challenge of turning ground-level initiatives and energies into these realised rights. On day one, I participated as a speaker in the opening plenary on "Human Dignity and Human Rights: Measures for a just world." It was an opportunity for us to reflect on the status of human rights in the post 9/11 world and the opportunity presented by the sixtieth anniversary of the universal declaration...
July 16-17, 2006
Extract: Part of what we try to do in Realizing Rights is to link women leaders at grassroots level with high level women leaders in the political, business and academic fields. So I was looking forward to this opportunity to listen and learn. At a dinner with Yassine and other Board members, including Amina Ibrahim, special advisor of President Obasanjo on MDGs, I learned about the background to the course for the young women, which was co-organized by the Young Women's Leadership and Knowledge Institute (YOWLI)...
May 5-9, 2006
Extract: Early next morning I flew to Lusaka to spend the next few days as guest of the Irish Embassy in Zambia, which had prepared an intensive but very welcome program that included site visits to projects supported by Irish Aid. The first meeting was with the following group of remarkable women representing women's organizations working on education, health and income generation...
March 6-10, 2006
Extract: After our meeting with the President, the Realizing Rights team was hosted by Technoserve's Ghana office on a trip to a pineapple farmer's cooperative called Farmapine, located 35 kilometers outside Accra in Nsawam. We learned how Technoserve has assisted the farmers in forming an association where they have access to managerial and farming skills training, as well as to additional advice on agricultural techniques as needed...
February 20-24, 2006
Extract: This morning the team and I flew across the vast Serengeti, spotted with Masai mud huts, to the Arusha region of the North of Tanzania. We were lucky to have a beautiful day with perfect visibility, and once met by our TechnoServe hosts, enjoyed a long drive in the shadow of Mt. Kilamanjaro. The rocky and hilly dirt roads we travelled to the coffee farm were the same the coffee farmers must use to transport their produce to the auction houses, and it was clear how much of an obstacle they presented to doing efficient business...
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