Mississippi advocates for women’s economic empowerment will be in Brazil this week as part of a global initiative to strengthen the movement for gender justice and women’s rights.
Cassandra Welchlin, director of the Mississippi Women’s Economic Security Initiative (MWESI), said she and a team member are joining thousands of others from around the world at the 13th International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development being sponsored by the Association for Women in Development (AWID). The four-day AWID conference, being held Sep. 8-11 in Bahia, Brazil, will bring together global women’s rights leaders, donor agencies, human rights practitioners, journalists and grassroots activists.
“This is an incredible opportunity to build alliances, have deep discussions about cross-movement collaboration, share innovative strategies, bear witness to each other’s stories of success and defeat, and establish new agendas for local, national, and regional women’s rights/platforms,” said Welchlin.
Joining the effort is important for the MS Women’s Economic Security Initiative because it helps to support the work undertaken by the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative (MLICCI), Welchlin said. The Biloxi-based MLICCI launched the women’s advocacy program last year to build a policy agenda for women in Mississippi so they have a voice in the policy-making process, she said.
“Ultimately, we want women to have better economic outcomes so that they can take care of themselves and their children,” Welchlin said. “My hope is that this forum will connect our women’s stories and experiences to the global communities while also providing networking opportunities to discuss igniting long-term, structural change in communities in which we care about.”
The AWID conference is held every three to four years in a different region of the world. Previous forums have been held in the United States, Mexico, Thailand, South Africa and Turkey.
Organizers said the event gives participants an opportunity to network, build alliances, celebrate, and learn in a stimulating and emotive atmosphere that dissolves national borders, fosters deep discussion, personal and professional growth, and strengthens our movements for gender justice and women’s rights.
There are more than 200 speakers this year. About 1700 activists, allies, and movements from over 140 countries across all regions of the world are expected to attend, including:
- Activists resisting mining and extractive industries
- Activists from different social movements
- Black/Afro-descendant women
- Brazilian feminists
- Caste and class equality activists
- Digital rights / internet governance/security activists
- Domestic workers
- Economic justice and corporate accountability activists
- Environmental / Ecological / Climate Justice activists
- Environmental/ecological and climate justice activists
- Indigenous women
- Labor activists/trade unionists
- Lesbian activists
- Migrant workers
- Palestinian women
- Peace and security / anti-militarists activists
- Reproductive rights and justice activists
- Rural/Peasant women
- Sex workers
- Trans activists and intersex activists
- Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs)
- Women with disabilities
- Young Feminist Activists
For details on the AWID conference, visit http://www.forum.awid.org/ forum16/
To see live updates from Brazil this week, follow on Twitter via @mlicci1
For more information about MLICCI, contact Pamela Berry-Johnson, MLICCI director of communications, at johnsonp@mschildcare.org or visit www.mschildcare.org