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About the Feminenza Conference
Humanity and Gender:
A Gathering of Vision in a Time of Change
Hosted by Feminenza with the support of UNESCO PEER Culture
of Peace Network for the Great Lakes Region, Africa
10-13 January
2006 in Nairobi, Kenya
Two-year
Programme in Kenya
Conference
Overview
Feminenza's Aims
The Conference
List
of organisations actively involved
Donations
and Sponsorship
Creating a Culture of Peace Through Inter-Gender Harmony
Feminenza hosted its first world conference,
entitled: Utu na Undugu - Humanity and Gender,
at the United Nations campus in Nairobi, Kenya. Organised with
the support of UNESCO
PEER (Culture of Peace Network), the gathering, subtitled: A
Gathering of Vision in a Time of Change, addressed traditional
and contemporary attitudes of men and women and the challenges
they face in forging
progressive partnerships to become leaders in tomorrow’s
Africa, and agents of change in a world in need of peace and environmental
security.
The four-day conference, held from Tuesday 10th Jan to Friday
13th January 2006, was based on the understanding that men or women
alone cannot solve the problems of the world, and that regenerative
change is sustained as one overcomes the issues, attitudes and
behaviours that are a departure from humanity. Only by working
together (Undugu) can humanity’s needs be served. However,
this view requires that the genders redefine and improve the way
we perceive and value this earth, and each other (Utu). It is against
this premise that the Humanity and Gender Conference was conceived.
About 240 people from 25 countries took part in the Conference,
amongst which Kenya, the Democratic Republic Congo, Rwanda, Burundi,
Somalia, the US, Australia, Israel, New Zealand and a large number
of European countries. Together they represented more than 30 organisations
and dealt with subjects
such as Re-defining Femininity, Positive Masculinity, platforms
of new
communication between the genders, and alternatives to traditional
behaviour and rites. Agnes Pareyio, UN’s “Person of
the Year 2005” and founder of the Tasaru Girls Refuge Centre,
gave a talk about the necessity of education in FGM (female genital
mutilation), and introduced a rite that already serves girls very
well without the
need of
FGM.
Mary Noble, co-founder of Feminenza, in her introduction
asked the question:
“Why focus on humanity and gender?"
" Because
the human race is at a critical crossroads: on the one hand,
a new global consciousness is beginning to emerge, a feeling for
one
another that surpasses race, creed or gender; a knowing that
we
are in truth brother and sister. This arising feeling is calling
for a different response and responsibility about creating a
global community in which the values of respect, care and dignity
due
to each life, regardless of gender, are integral to the fabric
of every community. On the other hand, there is a huge cry of
desperation in nations around the world as we search for new solutions
to escalating
poverty, disease, war, terrorism, and environmental degradation. “
The proposition of this conference on Humanity and Gender was
that as a human race, we cannot address the problems of the world
without addressing the issues, attitudes and behaviours that are
a departure from humanity, that still hold us back from becoming
part of the solution rather than continuing to be part of the problem.
Within this context, the gathering served as an opportunity to
share visions concerning the challenging issue of redefining and
improving the way men and women perceive and value each other.
“One
gender on its own cannot solve the problems of the world. The
two genders coming together to serve humanity itself may have a
chance”,
says Marion Verweij, Feminenza Africa Desk.
Humanity and Gender was designed to be an arena
in which representatives from schools, UN agencies, and NGOs can,
together with global
experts, create a new vision of the future. Rev Emmanuel Muamba
- Director of UNESCO PEER Culture for Peace Network, Michael
Onyango - Director, Programme for Capacity Building, Movement
of Men Against Aids in Kenya, and Prof Kande Matungula (Grapedeco)
amongst others, presented evidence showing how simple changes
to education and partnership with women has pivotally addressed
some of the wreckage from AIDS, armed conflict and environmental
ruin in the Great Lakes Region.
The initial idea for the conference was the result of various
meetings held between Feminenza and a number of Kenyan and international
NGOs during the course of two visits that were made to Kenya in
2004 and June 2005. At that time Feminenza was, and still is, involved
with a Computers for Africa project through Kenyan contacts in
the Netherlands and, although the visits were in part related to
the computer project, it quickly became apparent that something
else wanted to happen. The theme for the conference – "Humanity
and Gender: A Gathering of Vision in a Time of Change" emerged
over time as a result of the visits and has been embraced by the
many NGOs who plan to attend. These NGOs mainly address the challenging
issues of HIV/AIDS, female genital mutilation and oppression of
women in certain sectors of society, and have a sound track record
for being effective and innovative, especially with regard to
fundamental changes of attitude that are needed to bring about
change. In many
cases, there seemed to be a natural synergy between the work of
the NGOs and the work of Feminenza. Together all recognise that
assistance is needed in evolving rural and urban attitudes beyond
traditional perceptions of gender, both in a Kenyan but also in
a wider context.
36 Different organisations attended some of which were: The Tasaru
Girls Refuge Centre, The Youth Empowering Kenya Association (YEKA),
Agent for Change Youth Group, Youth Foundation, Soroptimists International
Kenya Chapter, Movement of Men Against AIDS in Kenya (MMAAK), Association
of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK), Coalition on Violence Against
Women (COVAW), Womankind Kenya, Education Centre for Women in Democracy
(ECWD), Computers For Schools in Kenya (CFSK), Family Planning
association of Kenya, GRAPEDECO INTERNATIONAL - Culture of Peace
Network Program, UNESCO PEER Culture of Peace Network for the Great
Lakes Region project leaders, UNICEF and UNILAC.
“A theme of the gathering was that each of
us is an agent of change and that whilst one can always point to
changes that are needed
in the governance of any situation, something is calling for an
acceptance of responsibility at the personal level, that is just
as important if not more so than the collective level, if we are
to connect to the current of what is now possible for humanity
and gender”, Joanna Francis, Director of Feminenza International,
said.
“We sought to discover some of the ingredients that
can support a new vision about what it means to be a man or woman.
And we aimed to crystalise a vision of a partnership between
the genders: one that honours the strength, richness and nobility
that
is inherent to both . The world and we the human race urgently
need peace and peace of mind. It is our hope that this gathering
will contribute towards that peace and towards a better inheritance
for the children of tomorrow.”
Follow this link for more information on the follow-up two-year
Programme in Kenya
Follow this link to read the conference
press release (.pdf) and an article
from the Sunday People published in Nairobi after the Conference (.pdf).
For more information please email our Conference Facilitation
team at
.
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