Issues, Analysis and Appeals

2008 is an important year for development financing and an opportunity to move the international community to a more equitable, people-centred and democratic governance system.

On the 30th August 2008, more than 200 women’s rights organizations, women’s empowerment organisations, gender advocates and experts from all regions of the world attended the Accra International Women’s Forum to discuss the implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

Interview: Ines Alberdi, UNIFEM Executive Director speaks to IPS Editor in Chief Miren Gutierrez about the role of UNIFEM.

Human rights activists regarded the recently concluded Olympic Games as opportunity for China to improve its human rights record. Women’s rights, however, hardly featured in the activism.

By Kathambi Kinoti

Alejandra Sardá is Coordinator at Mulabi – Espacio Latinoamericano de Sexualidades y Derechos. Alejandra began working for lesbian Rights in 1990, and since 1997 her work has expanded to include LGBTQI rights more generally, and she currently conceives of her activism in a ‘sexual rights’ framework. Alejandra started the first support group for bisexuals in Argentina, and served as Women’s Secretary for ILGA (1997-1999) and Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean at IGLHRC (1996-2006). She has been part of many feminist initiatives both regionally and internationally, and currently serves as an advisor for the Campaign for an Inter-American Convention on Sexual and Reproductive Rights. She is also a member of the recently established coalition of organizations advocating for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression issues in the Inter-American Human Rights System, a coalition of Southern and Northern organisations working on the UN Human Rights Council. With respect to religious fundamentalisms, as the issues that Alejandra works on are a constant target, she has never had the luxury of ignorance. Thus, although she has never specifically studied religious fundamentalisms, she has always been aware of them and taken them into consideration when planning her work and responses to be as effective as possible.

Interviewed by Juan Vaggione; edited by Saira Zuberi

Copyright: AWID

AWID interviews Christine Grumm, President and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network (WFN), about her perspective on funding trends for women’s rights work.

Nira Yuval-Davis is a founding member of Women against Fundamentalism (WAF) and has published widely on the subjects of nationalism, racism, fundamentalisms, citizenship, and gender relations. She is Professor and Graduate Course Director in Gender, Sexualities and Ethnic Studies at the University of East London. Her geographic areas of specialisation are Britain, Europe, Israel, and other settler societies; the main areas of focus in this interview are Israel and the UK.

Interviewed by Cassandra Balchin; edited by Saira Zuberi

Copyright: AWID

The launch of the Southern African Development Community Protocol on Gender and Development may not have been accompanied by a snazzy PowerPoint presentation like that of the free trade area, but its reach extends far beyond anything the 15 men who lead the region could ever have imagined.

By Colleen Lowe Morna

It's hard to talk about people in Hebrew. What gets in the way is gender.

A study recently published by the Kenya-based Institute for Economic Affairs shows that gender disparities in Kenya persist despite numerous interventions. This comes as no surprise, but provides an opportunity for introspection for the women’s movement in the country. By Kathambi Kinoti.