AWID Look Back At The 2009 Parliament Of The World’s Religions.
In December 2009, Melbourne, Australia hosted the Parliament of the World’s Religions, a global dialogue of faiths. Sister Joan Chittister,
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During the 16 Days of Activism,Asia Pacific Breakthrough: The Women, Faith and Development Summit to End Global Poverty will take place in Melbourne on 2nd – 3rd December 2009. For the first time, women’s organisations, faith communities and development agencies will come together in the common call to eliminate poverty, and the feminisation of poverty, by empowering women and girls.

At the Breakthrough Summit, a new Alliance will be launched to catalyse an Asia Pacific-wide movement to increase investment in women and girls.

Our vision for Asia Pacific Breakthrough is that it will catalyse a new movement of collective action and investment for women and girls in the Asia Pacific Region. We are focusing our efforts on the support of women in the Pacific, South East Asia, Indigenous women and refugee women of Australia and New Zealand.

Last week I gave a presentation on IWDA’s work to a Board room of women lawyers who were considering giving us a grant for a program. After telling them about some of our current programs I mentioned another initiative we’ve catalysed – Asia Pacific Breakthrough: The Global Summit to End Poverty, which will take place at Federation Square from 2-3 December this year. The summit aims to build new commitments, alliances and collaborations to promote gender justice among women’s organisations, development organisations and faith-based agencies.

It’s extraordinary to look back and see what a journey we’ve been on since we committed last year to creating an Asia Pacific Breakthrough initiative, on the eve of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Asia Pacific Breakthrough: The Women, Faith and Development Summit to End Global Poverty will take place in Melbourne on 2-3 December at Federation Square. Women’s organisations, faith communities and the international development community will come together to take action on the common goal of eliminating global poverty and the feminisation of poverty by empowering women and girls with an eye on Millennium Development Goals 3 and 5.

Asia Pacific Breakthrough: The Women, Faith and Development Summit to End Global Poverty will take place in Melbourne at Federation Square on 2-3 December 2009. This ambitious global Summit is an initiative spearheaded in the Asia-Pacific region by the Melbourne-based International Women’s Development Agency, in collaboration with key faith, women’s and development organizations from both the government and non-government sectors.