Welcome to April newsletter. It has been such a privilege to represent Soroptimist International over the past two months while the Programme Team has kept home fires burning for SISEAP. A summary of the 52 days of reality check, enlightenment, and inspiration will be shared on the website
I acknowledge quality time spent with Soroptimists from North Vancouver, CSW67 delegations, Sweden – Goteborg team, Bangkok (45th anniversary), Singapore club with Garden City and Orchid Club, Malaysia with Johor Bahru, Iskandar Putri, Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam, Bangsar, Damansara, Ampang, Sentul, Petaling Jaya, Ipoh, and Penang-Georgetown.
We were still celebrating IWD last newsletter, so it is still worthwhile to share some more photos of outcomes across our Federation. Highlights for me included 15 days of CSW67 in New York where kindred spirits met, and advocated for changes. In the final hours at 3.46am on Saturday, we lost ground. Now rely on other UN declarations and resolutions to advance our comprehensive sexual education (WHO), technology facilitated violence against women - abbreviated to TFVAW, which has expanded from our concern about cybersecurity to hate mail, reputation damage, stalking, grooming children, scams, and school students’ behavior online. A crime online is the same as a crime in person (despite hiding behind avatars) in some countries. In Asia, Taiwan has a humanitarian approach to perpetrator treatment where mental health processes are applied. As an optimist, I saw the vast opportunities for efficiency, effectiveness and impact of digital technology to leapfrog capability for the most vulnerable, remote, people with disability for education, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, medical, quality of life, community empowerment, and for resilience when facing disasters. The report on our parallel event ‘Digital Democracy for Disasters’ will be available soon, so we can priorities our work and have greater impact. We will advocate for better early warnings, apps with infrastructure, and 12 other initiatives. I am so proud of all Soroptimists who participated in person and online, and especially those providing blogs to update us. I attended at least 4 sessions per day and sat in the general assembly (to listen to Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and Ministers for women’s portfolios), and finally the Town Hall session with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The next step is a draft Global Digital Compact (planned for May 2023) where the UN will manage terrorism-free technology so we leave no one behind.
Another major achievement was to attend UNESCAP APF10 (our Asia Pacific Region) for roundtables on SDG 6 water, 7 energy, 9 infrastructure, 11 cities, 17 partnerships. Overall, during covid no advancement was made on any SDGs, however, in South East Asia Pacific our only positive result was in digital infrastructure. I specialized in SDG 11 and SDG 9 Roundtables, but I attended other sessions on energy finance for women, Pacific Climate loss and damage, anti-corruption efforts so we leave no one behind, and public participation techniques, and more.However, most inspiring for me is the ability for Soroptimists to build partnerships to support women and girls at risk. One such project was a shelter for Rohingya and other survivors of modern slavery, where girls and young women were cared for while they await their court decisions (usually without immigration documentation) - either be deported back or allowed citizenship. Girls are gaining important life skills, some education, as well as some entrepreneurial skills. Another project was teenage survival training, and I learned a few things from different perspectives. Other special achievements are schools for children who fall through the cracks, and programs for children to be safe after school hours. The volunteers with some meagre-salaried staff, along with no or low-rent premises, and donated materials make such a difference to these vulnerable lives. The success factors include attitude to education, practical skills, confidence and ongoing relationships with the schools. Other initiatives for women as head-of-households retraining, and aquaponics at another shelter were sensible, practical and positive.Although we read reports when they are submitted to the database, those few paragraphs are insufficient to describe the positive impacts and the important roles that Soroptimists play.
Dr Donnell Davis,
Programme Convenor 2022-2024
swpprogramme2020@siswp.org
