To kick off International Human Rights Day December 10th,
Mama Cash, an international foundation that funds women’s organisations and
groups worldwide, is initiating a campaign of its own to keep the focus sharply
on women’s rights. Spanning 88 days—from 10 December 2006 to 8 March 2007,
International Women’s Day—the campaign aims to raise awareness and funds for
women’s groups which globally, are receiving significantly less funding than
they did 5 years ago.
Via the website 88days.mamacash.org, visitors can choose a
number of ways to make a contribution. They can send an e-card to friends, vote
for their favourite women’s project for the (she changes the world) award, take
a quiz over women’s rights or even make a personal campaign page to raise money
for women’s projects. Mama Cash encourages all her donors, relations and
everyone concerned with women’s rights to participate. The website will be
online as of December 10, and be up for 88 days—enough time to change the world
for the better.
Based in the
Netherlands, a country known for being socially bold, Mama Cash hopes its
campaign will bring to light a wider trend: at a time when $900 billion is being
spent annually on weapons and war, women’s organisations are suffering a funding
crisis. This dilemma knows no national boundaries. In England, the Women’s
Resource Centre launched a campaign “Why Women” in March to highlight the
worsening crisis. In Canada, the government pulled financial backing for women’s
groups that do advocacy or lobbying in October. And in America, the Bush
administration has continued slashing funds to vital programs that benefit
women, including a $19.5 million cut to programs aimed at preventing domestic
violence and the total elimination of the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA),
an initiative funding programs to expose girls to careers in math and
science.
Clearly the money is
there, but the question is where is it going? Mama Cash sees this lack of
funding for women’s initiatives as a troubling development, especially as
women’s rights continue to be violated on a global scale. The need for
sustainable funding is crucial. By launching its Campaign 88 Days, Mama Cash
aims to raise money and awareness to continue funding women’s initiatives around
the world. This Campaign is running globally via Internet and e-mail.
Mama Cash believes that
investing in women also means simultaneously investing in their children and
entire community. The United Nations and the World Bank are also now promoting
this fact. According to the World Bank: ‘Education for
one woman equals education for an entire family. Health care for one woman is
health care for a family. A woman with financial security means a family with
financial security.’ To realize a better world for everyone, governments,
public institutions, development organisations and funding groups should be
making more money, not less, available for women’s rights.
88days.mamacash.org launches on December 10th,
2006.