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The only international women's
news/features syndicate, Women's Feature Service produces
crisply-written features and opinions on development from a gender
perspective. WFS has a global outlook, with writers from 40 countries
and media clients all over the world. The articles brought out by WFS
are published by small and large newspapers, magazines, journals and
newsletters across the globe. WFS' wide range of clients ensures
penetration at the grassroots, in small towns as well as metropolises,
providing a wide coverage of issues and dissemination of
information.
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As of April 2001, WFS has launched its
own website, which can be viewed at www.wfsnews.org. WFS features are
also used by several websites.
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WFS articles are also useful as reference
material for researchers, academics and specialist publications. With
archives going back 10 years, WFS has a rich collection of articles that
can help trace developments and trends.
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WFS is upgrading its photo bank with the
objective of offering this as an independent service.
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As part of the NGO community, WFS
frequently collaborates with other organisations. Recent examples
include contributions to initiatives such as Best Practices Surveys, a
report on 'The World and Its Peoples', strategies to bridge the digital
divide, preparation of a gender-sensitive media tool kit, and so on. WFS
is on the Executive Committee of Women Action, an international network
of women's groups.
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WFS is headquartered in New Delhi, India,
and is staffed by an all-women team.
History
WFS began in 1978 as an UNESCO-UNFPA
initiative to create "Women's Feature Services" with the specific purpose
of impacting mainstream media. With funding from UNFPA, for a five- year
period, UNESCO contracted five news agencies for this work designed to be
controlled and operated by women within existing news agencies. >From
1978 to 1983 UNESCO played a major role in supporting the feature services
both programmatically and financially.
Today, of the five women's feature services
initiated, the Inter Press Service exists as also the WFS connected to it.
WFS has been a completely independent organisation since 1991 and is now
headquartered in New Delhi, India. |