Women coming together to mobilize for action

At the gathering, titled Mobilizing for Action, the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA), in Jordan, and the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), in the United States, will jointly launch The Global Women's Action Network for Children.

The conference, which will be co-hosted by the NCFA and CDF, will be held under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah.

Conference participants include President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, CEO of Vital Voices, Melanne Verveer, The First Lady of Ukraine, Kateryna Yushchenko, Director of World Learning Partnership Mahnaz Afkhami and Nobel Laureate for Peace, Dr. Shirin Ebadi. Whether political leaders, journalists, scholars, non-governmental activists, or artists these influential and inspirational women leaders will come together on behalf of women’s rights and children’s future to mobilize global action to stop:

• A mother dying from childbirth every minute – including an estimated 70,000 adolescents who die each year bearing children while they are still children themselves – and millions more suffering complications that put their health at risk;
• Sixty newborn babies dying each hour from mostly preventable causes;
• A child under five dying every three seconds – and more than 10 million dying each year.

Background
The Bellagio Study and Conference Center is aimed at disseminating new ideas as well as collecting knowledge to improve the lives of poor people and advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities which they live in.

The Rockefeller Foundation supported the Children's Defense Fund through a two-year grant to convene a series of meetings to explore how to build a better world for children. This convening phase culminated in February 2004 at the Rockefeller Foundation Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy when 35 women leaders from every continent met to form a new Global Women's Action Network for Children to unite the voices of powerful advocates for women with advocates for children to make change in the life of powerless women and children. In the words of Marian Wright Edelman founder and president of Children Defense Fund, "If we make the world better for women and children, we'll make it better for everybody." (Link to the 2004 Bellagio Report)In recognition of the role of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah in supporting women and children's issues, an international conference will be held in Jordan under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah where global woman figures will meet to launch the Global Women's Action Network for Children from June 11-13 , 2006 to address girl's education and newborn mortality.

The Global Women Action Network for Children
How can a new network of women leaders make a difference? The group who met in 2004 agreed that together its members had enough clout to make the concerns of women and children a much higher priority in the halls of power. "Social development for women and children remains a marginal issue to those in power, and we need to bring it into the centrality of political decision making," said Melanne Verveer, former chief of staff to First Lady Hillary Clinton and chair of Vital Voices Global Partnership.

The founding members of the Global Women's Action Network for Children were able to develop the vision, mission, and principles for action as well as criteria to decide how to choose among potential projects. The founding members of this network are Madeleine Albright, Mary Robinson, Mahnaz Afkhami, Melanne Verveer and Marian Wright Edelman.

The vision
A just and equitable world where the needs and rights of women and children are met and assured.

The mission
The members of the network will commit to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. To seize the extraordinary opportunity and responsibility to make a measurable difference in the lives of women and children. To build bridges between advocates for women and children, and powerful leaders and organizations. To build a bold and persistent global voice for women and children across all sectors to carry the concerns of women and children into the halls of power.

The criteria

• Advocates for both women and children's issues.
• Offer potential to leave an impact in an area where there is obvious need.
• Have achievable and measurable goals.
• Are sustainable and scalable, and
• Allow for participation at every level, from grass roots to leadership, and on local and global stage.

As a result, the group identified two initiatives that will allow the network the opportunity to make a real difference; reducing maternal and new born mortality and improving girls' access to education. Girls' education is one of those rare social pivot points upon which an astonishing array of other social indicators can turn: Educating girls can cut infant mortality and improve child health, increase a woman's workforce participation, improve her own health, reduce the transmission of AIDS and elevate family income. Maternal mortality in particular is an area that falls between the boundaries of most women's and children's group.