What venue is the forum being held at?

The forum is being held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), located at Convention Square, 1 Lower Long Street. For more information about the CTICC, visit www.cticc.co.za.

How many sessions were submitted, and how were the final sessions selected?

This year, we received over 1,100 session proposals for 140 session slots. The submissions were reviewed by an International Planning Committee (IPC) comprising women’s rights leaders from around the world, who met in Cape Town in February to make decisions. Criteria for the decisions included the quality of the proposal and its relevance to the theme of movement-building, balanced with the need for regional as well as issue representation. The IPC also considered diversity of ages, perspectives, and populations, as well as local, national and international organizations.

The decision-making process was exceedingly difficult, and we regret that many excellent sessions had to be rejected due to limited space availability.

When will you have a final forum program?

We expect to have a draft final program by the end of September. The full program, however, won’t be finalized until right before the forum begins. This is because there are always many last-minute changes to the schedule for conferences of this size, as people add/remove presenters and make final changes to their sessions.

Why is the registration fee so high?

We recognize that for many people, the registration fee is very high. However, it represents only a fraction of the approximately $1,200 per person that it costs to hold the forum (this amount does not include staff or other overhead costs, only direct forum costs). These costs stem from the fact that the AWID forum is multi-lingual and therefore requires a significant investment in interpretation equipment and interpreters, as well as the fact of its logistical complexity, with multiple concurrent sessions that require many different levels of logistical support. To offset the registration fee, and in recognition of the fact that the fee is not affordable to many, we are offering $100 volunteer and student registrations, as well as 200 free registrations for participants living in South Africa.

Do presenters have to pay registration?

Yes, presenters are expected to pay a registration fee of $225. This special presenters’ registration fee represents a $75 discount off the lowest member fee, in recognition of presenters’ contributions to the forum.

What languages will be included in the forum?

All plenary sessions and selected breakout sessions will have simultaneous interpretation into English, French, Spanish and Arabic. If there is interest from other language groups wanting to attend, we will also consider those requests and see if we can provide whisper translation to those groups.

Why are the hotel prices so high? Aren’t there less expensive alternatives?

The hotels around the Convention Centre in Cape Town are very high, even by international standards. This is because of the recent hike in conference business to Cape Town, coupled with the FIFA World Cup coming to South Africa in 2010 and the increasing tourism business. AWID blocked off as wide a range of hotel options as possible close to the CTICC (no more than a half hour transfer), but we do recognize that the availability is limited at the lower-cost end of the spectrum. To assist with these costs, particularly for people travelling alone to the forum, we have set up a Roommate Message Board on our hotel site to give people the option of sharing a room with another delegate. We are also providing shuttle transfers from all hotels so that delegates don’t incur additional transportation costs in order to take advantage of lower-priced hotels that are farther away.

In addition to the hotels blocked by AWID for the forum, there are other, lower-cost options like Bed & Breakfasts that are both nearby and farther away. AWID, however, cannot guarantee the quality of these B&Bs or the safety of the neighbourhoods, and cannot provide transfers as we do from the hotels. However, for intrepid travelers who have experience with cities like Cape Town that are dispersed and don’t have much of a transit infrastructure, B&Bs as well as other types of non-traditional accommodations are a viable option and worth looking into. We do not, however, recommend this option for inexperienced travelers.

Many activists will not be able to afford the cost of the forum – is AWID doing anything to provide assistance?

AWID is concerned about accessibility and has put a number of measures in place to assist with the costs of attending the forum. The registration fees have been subsidized by $800-$1,100 per person (the actual cost of the forum is $1,200 per delegate, not counting overhead costs). In addition, through our Access Fund, approximately 200 presenters will have their airfare, hotel and visa costs fully funded. We are also providing 200 free registrations to South Africans, which is double the number of free registrations that we normally provide to the host country. And finally, we’ve established reduced volunteer, student and presenter registrations. We hope that these measures will provide some assistance to those interested in the forum but unable to attend without financial support. We also provide fundraising tips on this site for those looking for travel grants.