Noeline Razafindradera, 16, wishes she had listened to the warnings of her mother and her teachers. Instead, she went out with one of the boys she met at school and became pregnant. After going into labour, she waited two days before leaving her village of Ambongabe and then travelled two more days by ox-cart to reach the Baptist Good Hope Hospital in the town of Mandritsara. By then, the baby was dead and it had to be removed.

Three months later, Razafindradera is back at the hospital for a procedure to repair an obstetric fistula – a severe medical condition in which a hole (fistula) develops between the bladder and the vagina, or between the rectum and the vagina – caused by difficult delivery. The surgeon performs the operation for a subsidized price of 10,000 ariary (US$5 dollars).

To view the full article, please see IRIN humanitarian news and analysis website

Please note, IWDA does not necessarily endorse all the information contained in the newsletter, it is provided as an intended source of reference.

International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) is committed to collaborating with project partners and stakeholders to promote and support dialogue in relation to women, gender and development. As part of our ongoing strategy to advocate for best practice in the sector, we are pleased to bring you E-Gender – a mechanism for Australian and international readers to share information on their gender and development work, both nationally and internationally, as well as sharing international resources and items of interest.

Thank you for your feedback to date, and we encourage your ongoing input in this initiative. IWDA is keen to feature information about resources, events and opportunities in Australia and invites you to contribute. Please send information to be included to egender@iwda.org.au

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International Women’s Development Agency is the only Australian development organisation entirely focused on women’s rights and gender equality. IWDA’s vision is for a just, equitable and sustainable world where women have a powerful voice in economic, cultural, civil and political life. IWDA is secular, not-for-profit and works in partnership to create positive change.

IWDA is currently seeking applications for a full-time Program Manager, Thai Burma Border. This position is part of the International Programs Team and takes key responsibility for the coordination and implementation of the Thai Burma Border program partnerships. The Thai Burma Border emphasises women’s safety and security and civil and political participation through a portfolio of projects and is currently under review in relation to the medium term strategic plan, given the emerging social and political changes within Burma. In addition to partnership and project coordination, the Program Manager will also contribute to wider program development at IWDA including organisational monitoring, evaluation and learning, working groups, funding submissions and public communications.

This position requires a dynamic and resourceful program manager with skills and experience in the development sector, including in project design, management, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation, and risk assessment. Applicants should have excellent inter-personal skills, an enabling and facilitative approach to leadership and an understanding of gender equality, cultural, and development issues.

Please note: International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) has an EEO exemption (A381/2003) and requests applications from women only. IWDA has a Child Rights and Protection Policy and any offer of employment will require a National Police Certificate and endorsement of IWDA’s Child Rights and Protection Code of Conduct. Applicants must be fluent in reading and writing in English. Only applicants legally entitled to live and work in Australia will be considered for this position. IWDA is not in a position to reimburse or organise the relocation of prospective staff members from outside Melbourne, Australia.

To apply confidentially, please download and complete the application form and email with a cover letter and copy of your resume to Sally Horne at jobs@iwda.org.au by 9am on Tuesday 12th June 2012. For enquiries please contact (03) 9650 5574 or the email above.

Program Manager, Thai Burma border Position Description

 Program Manager, Thai Burma border Application Form

She was featured in the 1995 futuristic movie “Strange Days,” starring Angela Bassett and Ralph Fiennes. She has also authored a book of poems, “To Soar without Leaving the Ground.”
Despite her achievements, Bello was desperately unhappy for many of these apparently successful years. She had a horrific youth hidden deep inside her. Often, to block it out, she numbed herself with drugs and alcohol. She fought the impulse to take her own life.

Bello had been one of the millions of women and girls in the U.S. and internationally who are abducted, duped or coerced into selling sex for their “owners’” profit.
For years she said nothing, but now she’s going as public as she can.

For more information, please see the Women’s eNews Website

Please note, IWDA does not necessarily endorse all the information contained in the newsletter, it is provided as an intended source of reference.

International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) is committed to collaborating with project partners and stakeholders to promote and support dialogue in relation to women, gender and development. As part of our ongoing strategy to advocate for best practice in the sector, we are pleased to bring you E-Gender – a mechanism for Australian and international readers to share information on their gender and development work, both nationally and internationally, as well as sharing international resources and items of interest.

Thank you for your feedback to date, and we encourage your ongoing input in this initiative. IWDA is keen to feature information about resources, events and opportunities in Australia and invites you to contribute. Please send information to be included to egender@iwda.org.au

#egender

Upon hearing the confirmation of Dame Carol’s retirement, IWDA Executive Director Joanna Hayter said, “.”

In a separate incident on Saturday, May 12, Dame Carol was protesting the illegal eviction and partial demolition of Paga Hill Settlement in Port Moresby when she was confronted by police. According to a statement from her daughter Dobi Kidu, the police, “told her she was obstructing justice and two policemen held her by the arms and started dragging her. She told them to let her go as they were hurting her only to be shouted at that she was resisting arrest.”

Read more about Dame Carol Kidu’s retirement from politics at the Radio Australia website

To read a press release on the Paga Hill Settlement incident with police, please visit the website of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development.

You can also read a transcript of the Pamela Denoon lecture given by Dame Carol Kidu on International Women’s Day 2012 in Canberra to learn more about her recent work in PNG.

To view the full article, please see UN Women South Asia website

Please note, IWDA does not necessarily endorse all the information contained in the newsletter, it is provided as an intended source of reference.

International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) is committed to collaborating with project partners and stakeholders to promote and support dialogue in relation to women, gender and development. As part of our ongoing strategy to advocate for best practice in the sector, we are pleased to bring you E-Gender – a mechanism for Australian and international readers to share information on their gender and development work, both nationally and internationally, as well as sharing international resources and items of interest.

Thank you for your feedback to date, and we encourage your ongoing input in this initiative. IWDA is keen to feature information about resources, events and opportunities in Australia and invites you to contribute. Please send information to be included to egender@iwda.org.au

#egender

Filizarda Moniz da Costa. Photo credit: Georgia Ride.

Filizarda Moniz da Costa had been an elected member of her Village Council for years, but only after becoming the leader of rural women’s group and participating in leadership training supported by the Taking Steps project, did she gain the confidence to perform her role.

“I have been a member of the Village Council twice—once as the youth representative for four years and now I am the women’s representative for a six-year term. Despite having this position, I have never had the confidence to be able to speak out in front of people. I was always given opportunities to speak, but I wasn’t brave enough to say anything. I was so happy in the leadership training that I cried. I finally felt that I could speak out, and I had the skills and strength to do so. Since the training, if the Village Chief is not around, I feel confident enough to speak in his place.” said Filizarda.

Filizarda is the leader of a group called Halibur Aihan Local or ‘Halal’ (meaning ‘making local foods’). The group formed in February 2011 and currently has 10 members who live in a small village called Lalawa in the south-west of the country. Halal is one of seven groups supported by Covalima Community Centre (CCC), who have provided start-up materials, opportunities to learn from other groups through the Women’s Exchange, links to markets, trainings and ongoing mentoring to rural women through the Taking Steps project.

Halibur Aihan Local. Photo credit: Georgia Ride.

The women in Halal come together twice a week to make banana chips, which they sell for 25c a bag at CCC and the nearby youth centre. Through the Women’s Exchange, they have also learnt how to make woven plates, which they have started to sell. The income received through this micro-business has enabled Filizarda, like other women in the group, to contribute to the schooling costs of her four children, as well as buy basic household necessities.

Like Filizarda, women involved in the group say the increased income, confidence and skills they have gained from their involvement in the project has benefited them. However, they also point out the challenges they still face.

As Women’s Representative on the Village Council, Filizarda is well-aware of these.

Approximately half of the adults in the community (those above 15 years of age) are illiterate and a third have never been to school. Only a quarter of births in the village are attended by a skilled birth attendant, contributing to Timor’s high maternal mortality rate.

Filizarda says she aims to use her new-found confidence and her position as women’s representative on the Village Council to start tackling some of these issues within the women’s group and in the wider community.

The KWO runs the Karen Young Women’s Leadership School (KYWLS), a skills and leadership development program for young refugee women between the ages of 18 and 25. In this video, students from the KYWLS describe the influence the school has had on their lives:

IWDA has worked in partnership with KWO and other women’s organisations along the border for over a decade. The combined impact of protracted armed conflict, economic isolation and political oppression has severely limited women’s voice and influence—power structures are hierarchical, patriarchal and chauvinistic. In this context, initiatives such as the Karen Young Women’s Leadership School are crucial to a sustainable and peaceful transition to democracy.

In 2010, journalists from The Age travelled to the KYWLS to document its activities for a piece in The Age. They also produced this video using photos by Angela Wylie and story by Liz Minchin to tell the story of the school.

IWDA has worked in partnership with KWO and other women’s organisations along the border for over a decade. The combined impact of protracted armed conflict, economic isolation and political oppression has severely limited women’s voice and influence—power structures are hierarchical, patriarchal and chauvinistic. In this context, initiatives such as the Karen Young Women’s Leadership School are crucial to a sustainable and peaceful transition to democracy.

The Senior Manager is responsible for: 1) providing technical leadership to the implementation of the GBV work under the new Project for Local Empowerment in migrant communities, in support of a national GBV manager; and 2) providing on-going technical support to Caring for Child Survivors Program; and 3) providing capacity development and ongoing technical support, particularly on response to GBV, across multiple sites

For more information, please see the IRC Website

Please note, IWDA does not necessarily endorse all the information contained in the newsletter, it is provided as an intended source of reference.

International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) is committed to collaborating with project partners and stakeholders to promote and support dialogue in relation to women, gender and development. As part of our ongoing strategy to advocate for best practice in the sector, we are pleased to bring you E-Gender – a mechanism for Australian and international readers to share information on their gender and development work, both nationally and internationally, as well as sharing international resources and items of interest.

Thank you for your feedback to date, and we encourage your ongoing input in this initiative. IWDA is keen to feature information about resources, events and opportunities in Australia and invites you to contribute. Please send information to be included to egender@iwda.org.au

#egender

The successful applicant will receive individual support and mentoring related to their current research and future careers from their host institution. National ATN networks such as WEXDEV may also provide appropriate support.

The Scholarship was established by the five universities of the Australian Technology Network: Curtin University, Queensland University of Technology, RMIT University, University of South Australia and University of Technology, Sydney.

For more information, please see the Australian Technology Network of Universities Website

Please note, IWDA does not necessarily endorse all the information contained in the newsletter, it is provided as an intended source of reference.

International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) is committed to collaborating with project partners and stakeholders to promote and support dialogue in relation to women, gender and development. As part of our ongoing strategy to advocate for best practice in the sector, we are pleased to bring you E-Gender – a mechanism for Australian and international readers to share information on their gender and development work, both nationally and internationally, as well as sharing international resources and items of interest.

Thank you for your feedback to date, and we encourage your ongoing input in this initiative. IWDA is keen to feature information about resources, events and opportunities in Australia and invites you to contribute. Please send information to be included to egender@iwda.org.au

#egender