Against the context of the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine, Former GFW Board Member Olena Suslova was interviewed last week in AWID. Read the interview that focuses on the status of women’s rights in the country. Read More

Activists from 17 countries across the Arab region met in Cairo last month for a two-day pathbreaking conference highlighting the widespread prevalence of sexual harassment. This is an issue that is rendered highly invisible through lack of laws and Arab women's silence abuse and harassment that they frequently face in public and in their private lives. In some countries like Yemen and Egypt, the rates of prevalence are more than 80 percent of women surveyed on sexual harassment.  Read a news report including insights from our advisor Nehad Abul Komsan from the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights. Read More

An exciting end to a two-year discussion (2006-08) on a new European Feminist agenda culminates in a new book downloadable online. The book is a collaborative feminist project by the European Feminist Forum between women from all over the small but politically and historically diverse European continent and includes GFW grantee partners like the Babaylan (The Philippine Women's Network in Europe), Federa (The Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning), the Karat Coalition (a network of Women's NGOs from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and NEWWN (The Network of East-West Women).

The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)'s, published an interview with Gjuner Nebiu, GFW's Advisor in Macedonia. This insightful piece on a country rarely covered in the mainstream media was written by Friday File correspondent Masum Momaya with inputs from Betsy Hoody, GFW's Program Associate for ECIS and focuses on women's rights in current Macedonian society. To date, the Global Fund has supported 12 groups in Macedonia to the tune of $200,000. Read the interview

Lebanese grantee partner Meem is out with a powerful book entitled "Bareed Mista3jil," or Arabic for "Mail in a Hurry." A collection inspiring short stories by Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered and Questioning (LBTQ) women, the book recently hit stores across Lebanon and is already garnering popular and critical acclaim. Read a news highlight detailing the book's popularity and  Meem, a support group for LBTQ women in Lebanon.

Find out about book events in the US the Global Fund is co-sponsoring.

Ashoka Fellow Sandra Aguebor of the Lady Mechanic Initiative in Nigeria is among the changemakers featured in a new electronic book titled ‘Stories of Change.’ Established in 1997 in Lagos, LMI is a Global Fund grantee partner since 2005 and trains women in auto mechanics – an unconventional field for women in Nigeria, as in many countries where auto mechanics is a male dominated vocation.

On November 9, a diverse group of organizations will stage bold actions in 11 countries to promote human rights. As part of the historic international campaign “One Day One Struggle” organized by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR), a Global Fund grantee partner. 

During the campaign that promises to be a milestone event in the history of the sexual and reproductive rights movement, hundreds will gather in university campuses in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lebanon and the Sudan, at press conferences in Cyprus, Egypt and Malaysia, in conference and concert halls in Tunisia and Pakistan and on the streets of Turkey and Palestine, to assert that sexual and reproductive rights are universal human rights based on the inherent freedom, dignity and equality of all human beings. Read the full news release

Global Fund is excited to announce that two of our grantee partners have won this year’s prestigious Gruber Women’s prize. The two recipients are Leymah Gbowee, from Women in Peace and Security Network – Africa; and Women’s Legal Centre (WLC) – a nonprofit law center based in South Africa and a Global Fund grantee since 1999.
Read the Gruber news release

The Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF) awarded Womankind Nigeria, a GFW grantee, the Woman Creativity in Rural Life award.  The organization works with women living with HIV/AIDS in rural Nigeria and improves the stigma surrounding those living with HIV/AIDS. 

Executive director, Assumpta Ngozika Reginald, has increased community understanding while promoting prevention techniques, and her organization gives women access to psychological support, referrals and life saving skills training.  

WWSF is an empowerment agency for women and children that helps implement their rights.  The organizations aims to hold political and economic leaders accountable to the promises they have made at UN summits and international conferences.  Read more on the 2009 laureates.

CNN recently featured a video on women's shelters run by Women for Afghan Women (WAW), a Global Fund grantee partner.  WAW is one of the few organizations in Afghanistan providing refuge for women and girls who have resisted domestic abuse, rape and violence. Watch the video

Formed in 2001 as a women's collective, WAW networks with activists and scholars to further the human rights of Afghan women.  The group is active in education, cultural empowerment and political advocacy.  Learn more on their web site.

Watch the CNN video.
Read more about WAW on the New York Times.

On Monday, women’s groups in Latin America and the Caribbean mobilized for a “Day to Decriminalize Abortion.”

Brazilian Global Fund grantee, Rede Feminista de Saude coordinated seminars, film screenings, debates and public rallies around the country to raise awareness and support. Abortion is currently illegal in Brazil; Latin America has one of the highest rates of unsafe abortions in the world.

With just a day’s notice, organizers of the Belgrade Pride March that was slated to happen on September 19th -- including GFW grantees in the region -- were informed that the march had been called off by the Ministry of Interior and Serbian Police. The purported reason: “high security risks.” This comes after months of planning and assurances from the government that the event would be secure and marchers protected. Global Fund supported the Pride with a grant of $7,000 for the march.

Organizing committee members say homophobia and lack of cooperation from the state and police are the culprits. Read more

Read the GFW Solidarity Statement sent to the Belgrade Pride organizers

Read BBC’s news update on the pride cancellation. 

An Iraqi version of an underground railroad headlines the Ms. Magazine summer issue. Led by GFW grantee, Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), MS chronicles the ways Iraqi women are resisting the U.S. occupation of their country. Founded by feminist activist Yanar Mohammed in 2006, OWFI is working to end all forms of violence against Iraqi women. Read this powerful story.

The latest issue of NY Times Magazine turns its attention to women's rights - from philanthropy to fighting fundamentalism, the issue covers a rich array of ways women around the world are making a difference.

This special edition was inspired by Nicolas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn's new book Half the Sky. The book will hit the stands September 8th, and among the extraordinary women-led organizations profiled is the Afghan Institute of Learning, founded by Global Fund Board Member Sakena Yacoobi. Read the special issue that also lists the Global Fund as one of the organizations working for women's rights. Read the Issue

Global Fund grantee partner Abantu for Development was featured in an article on Individual.com about increasing women's participation in decision making in Africa.  Founded in 1991, ABANTU strives to bridge the gap between people and government. One way the group does that is by bringing women into political discussions and offices. ABANTU's networking and advocacy efforts have contributed to significant milestones for women. This article describes recent efforts and challenges. Read the article

Young lesbians in Honduras, Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip, and Erumanen Menuvu tribal women in the Philippines are among the courageous recipients of grants from the Global Fund for Women’s June 2009 docket, which totals more than $1.8 million. Many of these women are living and working in situations that are in the midst of, or recovering from conflict. Yet, undaunted they strive to promote women’s political and civic participation.

Recently, a Lithuanian anti-gay law passed with a second round vote of 87-6 to override former President Valdas Adamkus’ veto.  During Parliamentary voting, mass protests were held outside of government buildings, some of which were organized by GFW grantee partner New Generation of Women’s Initiatives (ngoWI) , a group that focuses on LGBTIQ as well as straight women’s gender-identity issues. 

The new law bans public materials that are deemed to be detrimental to the mental health of minors, and anything dealing with homosexuality or bisexuality is listed as one of the 19 categories of banned materials.  Through correspondences with grantee partner ngoWI, the GFW team has learned that the new president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, who was elected on July 12, is speaking out against the law and has emphasized that it is very shameful and it negates human rights.  Grybauskaite has promised that she will do everything she can do within the realm of her constitutional rights to overturn the law.

Global Fund grantee leaders from the groups Catholics for the Right to Choose (CDD* ) and Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE** ), were interviewed in an article about anti-abortion laws on the rise in Mexico.  Twelve of Mexico's 32 states have given fetuses legal rights, and Maria Mejia, head of CDD, and Maria Luisa Sanchez, director of GIRE, believe that the new legislation is a reaction to a recent federal law that decriminalized abortion .  Sanchez says, "These reforms are absurd and put women at risk."

Please donate to the Global Fund for Women. 

*Spanish acronym for Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir - Mexico
**Spanish acronym for Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida

Photo caption: GIRE received an award for women's human rights work.  Photo courtesy of GIRE.

Visaka Dharmadasa still hopes that her son will be found alive, despite the high likelihood that he was killed in Sri Lanka’s civil war between the national government and the Tamil Tigers.  In 2000, Dharmadasa’s grief led her to reach out to Sinhalese and Tamil women on both sides of the conflict who shared the same loss.  She founded the Association of War Affected Women (AWAW) , a GFW grantee partner that aims at bridging ethnic divides in Sri Lanka.  Now that the war has ended,  AWAW wants to see more women in elected positions in the Sri Lankan Parliament and also in the Tamil-dominated north.  Dharmadasa is also the founder of Parents for Servicemen Missing in Action, which pushes for the Sri Lankan government to be held accountable for missing soldiers.  Read a CS Monitor article about Visaka Dharmadasa .

Sign an urgent petition to stop threats and attacks to Sisters in Islam (SiS) called on by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). SiS is an organization of progressive Muslim women in Malaysia, which seeks to articulate women's rights in Islam by interpreting the Qur'an and Hadith in their proper historical and cultural contexts. Read the statement by SiS in response to this threat and sign the petition.

Visit the web site of Sisters In Islam: http://www.sistersinislam.org.my/

By Hibaaq Osman, founder of Karama ('Dignity') and the Arab Women's Fund
Cairo, Egypt

In the Middle East, people are used to good words not amounting to anything, so we have to be careful with our expectations. However, if there is one man who is going to change the relationship between the Muslim world and the US, everyone is now betting on Obama.

I have been working on human rights and US foreign policy in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, from one Bush to another Bush, Clinton and now Obama—four presidents in all during my adult life. Today, Barack Hussein Obama eclipsed all the presidents of the past.