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Welcome to GIF's
New Electronic Newsletter!
We are a group of
girls and adults who are interested in
improving the rights of girls all around
the world. We are based in the United States, and
we aim to improve girls' rights
internationally. Girls
International Forum (GIF) received a matching
grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs to hold an
International Girls Summit to call attention to
the global issues facing girls and
women.
GIF is actively
preparing to host the International Girls
Summit in July 2006. We are seeking the
support of our local communities as we
work with girls and organizations
globally. This newsletter is
designed to be an opportunity to share ideas and
update current projects.
Our Summit will take place in St. Paul,
Minnesota in July 2006. Twenty teams
of 5 girl delegates from countries all over
the world will be gathering to discuss global
issues and learn leadership, advocacy, and
mentoring skills. Delegates will
also ratify a Girls Platform for
Action. The teams will prepare to go
back to their respective communities and countries
to initiate action projects dealing
with major issues facing girls in their
area.
Leading the planning for the Summit are the
Girls Summit Leaders, a group of 15 girls (ages
12-18)from the United States and
Canada. Over the past 18 months, they
have participated in three planning retreats and
worked together between retreats to prepare for
the Summit.
International Team
Updates
Currently, Girls International Forum
is working with teams in India, Nepal,
Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Indonesia, China,
Canada, Israel, Uzbekistan, and the United
States to plan for the International
Summit. Reshma Pattni, a GIF intern,
traveled to South Africa in July to work with
our team there. Reshma spent a month working
with the South African team's two women mentors
and meeting with girls involved in the
project. She also distributed surveys that will
be used in drafting the Girls Platform for
Action.
Report from the
Girls Summit Leaders
Katie's Retreat
Reflections
In March 2005, Girls International Forum
obtained five Non-Governmental Organization passes
to “sit in” on the U.N. General Assembly meetings,
panel discussions, and other events taking place
during the Commission on the Status of Women,
Beijing Plus 10 Summit. To even walk through
the United Nations building is an inspiring
experience. Our experience, however, was
much more than the typical tour.
With our official passes we were able to sit in
the balcony of the General Assembly Hall. We
listened (often times through the translation
earpiece) to updates from dozens of countries
concerning their progress regarding the Beijing
Declaration and the Millennium Development
Goals. We exchanged information with women’s
groups from China, Japan, and India to name only a
few.
At the United Nations we learned the realities of
the world. Starvation, AIDS, inequality,
natural disasters, lack of education, these
seemingly insurmountable problems which afflict so
many people and places. But, in conjunction
to the realizations we faced, we found incredible
hope. Every person at the summit wanted
change, and every person was working to achieve
it. The United Nations provided a forum for
women (and girls!) the world over to join
forces. After so much listening, we wanted
to do our part and add to the amazing progress so
many groups and nations have made. I realized that
our Summit could help. We could actually
accomplish change in the world. Because of
our three days at the United Nations Commission on
the Status of Women summit, I became impassioned,
empowered, and informed.
-Katie, Retreat Reflection
Mai Chong's
Retreat Reflections
In March, I attended the U.N.’s
Commission on the Status of Women meetings. I
remember my time there clearly. I was walking to
the UN with two other Women Mentor Leaders (WML),
Reshma and Meredith, and two other Girls Summit
Leaders, Katie and Yezenia. I didn’t know what to
expect because I was very unaware of what the UN
was and what it did. I was overwhelmed with
excitement and curiosity.
As I sat through the meetings, I
heard women from all parts of the world speak of
the issues that they face. They’re not just
fighting for women’s rights, but they’re fighting
for human rights. I was deeply touched as I sat
through one of the meetings and heard a women
speak of another woman’s experience losing her
child. The woman lost her child when she had to go
to work and leave her child behind alone in the
slum. The child was hungry and started a fire to
cook, but unfortunately ended up burning himself
and his house down. No one was able to help
because there was no source of water around to put
out the fire. Even if the fire trucks got there,
they wouldn’t have been able to help just because
there was no water. Those tragedies are far
from what I'm used to.
-Mai Chong, Retreat
Reflection
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Summit Advisory
Committee
The Summit Advisory
Committee has been hard at work helping
to plan the International Girls Summit.
Thanks to all the girls and women who have been
able to come and
help!
We will post a list
of committees soon and invite you to
join! We will need a lot of help
preparing to welcome the international delegates
to Minnesota!
Information packets about
the Summit can be picked up at the GIF office in
St. Paul or mailed to anyone interested in helping
us fundraise to meet our matching
grant.
Check out our website for more
information about Girls International
Forum!
Encourage the girls you know to
take our survey!
Click on Donate Now!
to be connected to our website where you can
support the Summit project by making a quick,
easy, and tax-deductible
donation!
You can also choose
from a list of 20 fundraising ideas to get others
involved in supporting GIF,
too!
Upcoming
Events
The Summit
Advisory Committee will be
meeting on Thursday, December 15,
2005 from 6-8 pm at the GIF office at
2324 University Avenue West in St. Paul.
Anyone interested in volunteering to help with the
International Girls Summit is welcome to
attend!
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