Women¹s Rights on Danish Church Aid (DCA) & MECC Meeting Agenda
A DCA delegation of five met with MECC staff in the MECC office in Damascus , Syria on March 4 2007, to discuss DCA¹s project regarding the promotion of women¹s rights in the region. DCA plans to map out main actors in Lebanon and Syria working with women¹s rights issues; the challenges faced by organisations working on the protection and promotion of women¹s rights; to uncover the way local organisations and actors address these challenges; to discuss and identify potential areas of work for a regional thematic programme on women¹s rights and equal opportunities based on the needs expressed by the Lebanese and Syrian women¹s organisations, and the relevance and feasibility of ideas and concepts as a potential thematic frame and components of such a regional programme; finally, to initiate contacts and dialogue with women¹s organisations/associations in Lebanon an d Syria and to identify potential Lebanese and Syrian partners for the regional program.
MECC staff informed the group about the aims and activities of the MECC Women¹s Program in general, and in Syria in particular; underlining that th e MECC was the first to initiate a process of awareness building about women¹ s rights, gender and violence issues.
The meeting ended with the understanding that communication between MECC an d DCA will be sustained, regarding MECC Women¹s Program plans and activities. MECC and DCA will exchange information about the progress of DCA¹s initiative and plan regarding women¹s rights in the Arab countries. MECC will be considered as one of DCA¹s local partner in its future plan and action. For more information, kindly contact Mr. Razek Siriani at: rsiriani@scs-net.org
Middle East Council of Churches Office of International Ecumenical Relations P.O. Box 5376, Beirut, Lebanon
Guirgis Ibrahim Saleh, General Secretary
mecc@cyberia.net.lb or guirgissaleh@cyberia.net.lb
+961-1-353-938 http://www.mec-churches.org/