wfn.org | Women's Agenda for Action

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org]

"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3497 notes).

Note 3494 by UMNS on March 17, 1997 at 15:40 Eastern (3462 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Bloom                             140(10-71B){3494}
          New York (212) 870-3803                   March 17, 1997

New resource available
on U.N. conferences

                    by United Methodist News Service

     A new resource, "Women's Agenda for Action," is available for
individuals and groups wanting to help promote and implement
priorities established by recent United Nations conferences.
     The 70-page book was a project of Alternative Women in
Development (Alt-WID) of Washington, D.C., according to Pamela
Sparr of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries' Women's
Division. Sparr, the division's executive secretary for
environment and justice, is a member of the Alt-WID and one of the
project writers and editors.
     The United Nations convened a series of seven international
conferences from 1990 to 1996 on topics ranging from human rights
to the environment to the needs of women. Sparr notes in the
book's introduction that while affluent countries tend to focus
each conference's recommendations on poor nations, "the promises
made ... can offer hope and concrete paths to improve conditions
dramatically in our own nation."
     Issues raised by three of the conferences -- the September
1994 International Conference on Population and Development, the
March 1995 World Summit on Social Development and the September
1995 Fourth World Conference on Women -- have been selected for
analysis and advocacy.
     Those issues are work and employment, poverty, community
development, immigration, health, violence and the environment.
     Common messages raised by the conferences included the
following:
     * government can play an important role in bringing about a
society which meets people's basic needs and is just, peaceful and
environmentally sound;
     * civil society -- citizen groups and individuals -- must
help define the common good and bring it about;
     * government structures and processes must incorporate new
values;
     * government needs to be reshaped at many levels, with more
effective international public decision-making bodies;
     * a new vision of development is needed;
     * gender analysis is "hot" and racism is an under-developed
theme.
     Sparr said the Women's Agenda for Action can serve as a
resource both for the Women's Division, which had representation
at all three conferences, and for individual units of United
Methodist Women.
     Units studying issues of poverty, homelessness or health
care, for example, could use the book "to see what the U.S. has
promised to do and what they might do to make that promise a
reality," she said.
     On the environment, the United Methodist Women's Action
Network currently is doing mailings regarding the upcoming
Congressional vote on renewal of the Clean Water Act, according to
Sparr.
     The Women's Division also is trying to develop its own
policies for sustainable development, such as using only chlorine-
free paper. "Many countries are ahead of us in using alternatives
to chlorine for bleach, which are much safer," she explained.
     For information on the Women's Agenda for Action, write Alt-
WID, 3700 13th St. NE, Washington D.C. 20017 or fax (202) 832-
9494.
                              #  #  #

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 To unsubscribe, send the single word "unsubscribe" (no quotes)
 in a mail message to umethnews-request@ecunet.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------