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Report on Regional Conference"Advocacy Strategies for Women's Economic and Political Empowerment"June 29 - July 2, 2000World Learning STAR Network and the Porec Center for Citizen Initiatives co-organized this regional conference that brought together 70 women from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The conference, supported by Freedom House and Open Society Institute, included participants from Central and Eastern Europe and North America. The goal of this forum was to help build and strengthen cross-border and cross-sector women's networks in the region. To develop discussions among the participants, STAR Network held a series of workshops divided into thematic groups (Women on the Labor Market, Women in Business, Women and Social Welfare and Women and Politics) and sectoral groups (NGOs, politicians, businesswomen, labor unionists and media). In addition, a donor roundtable involving representatives of USAID, Freedom House, STAR Network, UNIFEM, Kvinna til Kvinna and the Global Fund for Women provided a rare opportunity for women to pose cutting-edge questions to donors.
The conference culminated in the adoption of the Porec Platform of Action for women's economic and political empowerment through regional and cross-sectoral cooperation. The Platform is now widely publicized in each country. The conference succeeded in building effective collaboration among women leaders from all three sectors -- civil society, government and business. Participants made specific suggestions for programs in retraining, credit and women's entrepreneurship, which were seen as essential policy initiatives in the face of the economic transition's negative effects on the female labor force. Regional collaboration among women from the YSS was strengthened and expanded by new ties with women from other countries in CEE. One major point of agreement for future regional action, which is already underway, was the determination to raise women's economic issues before the Stability Pact and other international policy bodies for the region. In her opening address at the conference, Fuada Stankovic, a STAR Network Board member from Vojvodina, Serbia, articulated the collective goal of STAR Network and regional women's groups:
"We live in a part of Europe that is going through turbulent processes, and as women of Southeastern Europe, we should invest our energy, motivation, intelligence and leadership to build a just society in which people, regardless of their gender or nation, will have equal opportunity to affirm themselves and live in dignity." |
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