Brahma Kumaris at United Nations

Financing the Empowerment of Rural Women - Rural Development Leadership Network

I really loved this session and particularly the general tone of the event. There were 6 speakers, each from very different contexts sharing very different ways in which rural women have succeeded. One of the speakers said that “it is very difficult to get people to invest in themselves when they have spent such a long time NOT investing in themselves. ” This really emphasized for me, the importance of realizing one’s own worth in the process of empowerment, because without this, no matter how much you help a person with physical resources, they will not be able to use them effectively and sustainably.

Another speaker demonstrated how even the poorest women can be philanthropists, if not in monitory terms, then in time, wisdom, care and support. This for me is the key to real empowerment . . . showing a women that she has something meaningful to offer, no matter the circumstances. The final speaker shared how, in working with the Belize Rural Women’s Association, they had been determined that “with or without money, they were going to break this cycle of the poverty of women.” I really loved this point because it’s saying that we are even MORE powerful than money, we have power despite it . . . and that power comes from who we are and not what we have. Very inspiring!

Gaby, NY

Financing for Women’s Mental Health and Gender Empowerment - World Federation for Mental Health & International Association of Schools of Social Work.

Something I particularly enjoyed about this session was a talk by Mr Daniel Melchor who runs a micro-credit program in Mexico for Low-income women. He began his talk by sharing that it is in fact a myth that poor people cannot save, cannot pay back loans and cannot become entrepeneurs. He demonstrated through a number of moving examples how the micro-financing program he has been working on has helped many women start small businesses or improve on already existing ones. The key aspect that makes this project work is the formation of what they call a “solidarity group” which consists of a group of women who take mutual responsibility for repaying the loans. They meet once a week to collect the payments and support each other in an all-round way. It was very interesting for me to learn more about the logistics of micro-financing and also have practical examples of how it works, as well and some of the challenges involved.

Girls Worldwide Say - World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts

Another great session I attended was held by the Worldwide Girl Guides Association.     I especially liked a project they shared called “Sangam” which is happening in India, in which girl guides from the US worked together with girl guides in India. Their motto was “peace begins with me” and that of course resonates very closely with the idea of using inner resources as a means to bring about change. When I identify my own inner resource as peace, only then does it become possible to sustain the peace around me.

Gaby, NY 

Today all member state delegates concerned with Gender Equality and Women’s Rights gathered together at the United Nations to share their progress in policy, budget and field development for the advancement of women in their own countries. There were many encouraging statements from all around the world, and one such statement was made by the Hon. Mrs. Indranee Seebun from Mauritius.

She spoke of a number of positive developments happening in Mauritius for women including an increased budget of Rs 5 billion for the Women’s Empowerment Fund in order to “encourage a culture of entrepeneurship”, as well as a campaign against violence proclaiming “2008 - a year of non-violence”. She emphasized women as “agents of peace” and that “peace starts in the womb”.

However, what made Mrs. Seebun’s statement distinct from many of the others, was her conclusion in the form of an appeal. She addressed the room: “Sisters, you are putting your heart and soul in this venture for gender equality - so let your convictions guide you” . . . “NOW is the time for healing wounds, time for action and NO more rhetoric”. . . “Sisters, we share a common dream. May God bless our common dream.”

It was very uplifting and inspiring and changed the the whole tone in the room. Thank you Hon. Mrs. Indranee Seebun! 

Gaby, NY 

Tuesday 26th: Parallel Event

Today we held our workshop on “Women’s Empowerment: Exploring Inner Resources and the Way to Finance Them Through Spiritual Development.”

It was a very enjoyable afternoon.  Approximately 40 participants attended, many of which stayed right until the end, even though it was a late session and there was a reception happening at the same time. Nalishha began the workshop by introducing the Brahma Kumaris and giving a brief background to the project itself and how it all began.  This was followed by Paola who shared very beautifully about the workshop conducted in Mexico with women volunteers from an NGO working with breast cancer patients. The title of the workshop was: “Identity, Dignity and Spirituality: Meeting again with myself.”  She explained a little bit about what they did and how it went and also showed a brief slideshow of pictures from the workshop. I spoke next about my experience of working with young women volunteers for the South African Red Cross. The title of that workshop was: “I Am Already: When I realize that I am already everything I need to be, I become all ready for everything I need to do.” Both workshops focussed on finding ways of tapping into our inner resources as a means to empower ourselves. After a brief slide show of the Red Cross workshop the participants broke up into pairs to share with one another a time when they had felt strongest or happiest, and what they thought the inner resources were that had contributed to that experience.  When the group came back together many women shared wonderful stories of powerful moments in their lives when they were able to draw on their inner strengths and their unique qualities. After a lovely time of sharing we then did a visualization exercise focusing our minds on our inner resource of peace and power, and deepening the experience of that feeling.  We then opened the floor for people’s comments, ideas and suggestions about the process and this idea of “inner resources.” Many of the participants said that it was a very refreshing experience after the many statistical and financial sessions they had been attending, and they recognized the value of this work.  We were invited by a women from ZONTA International to share briefly at their event next week, which was a sign of the positive responses we received. Finally we closed the session at 18:30 and felt very inspired to continue this project further!

Gaby, NY 

This coming week the 52nd Commission on the Status of Women begins at the UN Headquarters in New York. This is a 2 week conference , 25 Feb to 7 March, where over 2,000 women from all over the world will be attending to discuss the status of women. The key theme for this commision is: Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The Brahma Kumaris delegation includes a group of 4 young women from South Africa, India, USA, and Mexico. Gabriella Havard, B.A Psychology and English Literature; Madhavi Patale, M.B.A (Finance and HRM); Nalishha Mehta, M.A (International Affairs) Paola Cubas, B.Sc Mathematics and Economics. We attended last year’s CSW with the aim to learn and experience what is happening in the world of women. We then went back home and used our experiences to create a new way of sharing what we had learnt to empower other women like ourselves. This year we are returning to share with you what we learnt from them! Apart from taking part fully in the commission and listening to and meeting with many of the women attending, we will also be facilitating a workshop called Women’s Empowerment: Exploring Inner Resources And the Way to ‘Finance’ them through Spiritual Development‘, on Tuesday, 26th February 5:00pm—6:30pm, Church Center, 10th Floor. In the next 2 weeks we will be sharing with you our experiences, stories and reflections on this blog.

Gaby, Madhavi, Nalishha and Paola.

On Sunday 24th February, approximately 700 women attended the “Consultation day programme: Financing for succes and security” . We received a welcome by the chair person of the NGO CSW, NY, Vivian Pender followed by H.E. Ambassador Olivier Belle, Ms. Rahcel Mayanja and Ms. Carolyn Hannan addressing major themes for women at the UN, and finally a very energizing and inspiring talk by the keynote speaker, Professor Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak. Professor Spivak spoke very earnestly and entertainingly, highlighting the fact that finicing for womens empowrment is necessary but not an end in itself. She emphasized mind-changing as the core factor to be addressed, saying that we need to “re-arrange desires of the hearts of grass-roots”. She also spoke about the necessity to address the lower levels with an attitude of learning, rather than as a ‘benefactor’ come to ’save’.

After lunch we attended breakout sessions discussing some of the major themes of the conference. The aim of those sessions was to get together women from diverse NGO backgrounds (i.e. funds, think-tanks, NGOs with grassroots work, etc) to make suggestions for amendments to the document of ‘Agreed Conclusions’ submitted by the Bureau of the CSW entitled “Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women “. We ended the day with report backs on the breakout sessions and a networking reception during which we met and chatted to a large number of women from different organizations about each other as well as the Brahma Kumaris approach of “Financing Inner Resources”.

Gaby and Paola

The working Group “Women for the World” an NGO-Committee on the status of Women, under the auspices of CONGO, of which the Brahma Kumaris are Co-Chairs, are hosting a panel discussion and workshop called Let’s celebrate International Women’s Day: “Celebrating Women” On the Friday, 7 march 2008, 14:00 - 18:30 - at the Centre International des Conférences, 9 Rue de Varembé, 1202 Genève.

Valerianne, Geneva

Thursday Briefings to NGOs  are about to start at Headquarters in New York.  The first one for this session is on Thursday 14 February - Valentine’s Day! A provisional Winer/Spring 2008 Briefing and Events Calendar has been published - from February to June. Please note that this Calendar is subject to change. Provisional Winter/Spring 2008 NGO Briefing and Events Calendar

On Thursday 30th January over 100 NGOs gathered in Conference Room 3 of UN Headquarters in New York for the second planning meeting for the NGO/DPI conference to be held in September this year. Because of extensive renovations going on at headquarters (they have started putting up the temporary conference rooms in the gardens of the UN this week). The conference will be held for the first time out of New York, in Paris.

This year’s theme will be in sync with the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, - “Dignity and Justice for All of Us” - and will be held in Paris, where the original declaration was signed. It will be hosted at UNESCO and the planning committee is working closely with DPI, UNESCO, the Human Rights Council and the French Government.

The New York planning committee (there are also planning committees in Geneva and Vienna) has identified working groups or subcommittees which will be doing most of the practical work and will come together as a whole once a month. The Brahma Kumaris have volunteered for one of these subcommittees.

Some interesting comments that came out of the general discussion are as follows:

“You cannot have human rights in a place of violence and so there is an interconnection between peace and human rights.”

“Civil Society is the unarmed Super Power!”

“ Realization into Activism – the human rights discussion should not be just about violations - it is also our response to violations that overcome these violations – This is an area we should develop - even as we engage with our constituents our efforts should not be just to focus on the violation but to focus on it as path to realization.”

“Next year, 2009 is the International Year of Human Rights Learning and we should start this action with a holistic vision as human rights as a way of life.”

The above comments fit closely with the focus the Brahma Kumaris with regard to celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and also our participation at the conference.

The actual title of the conference has yet to be decided, all suggestions have to be in by February 15, and so if you have any ideas you can send them to our BKUN office at bkun@bkwsu.org.

Julia, New York

2007: Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change and Al Gore

2005: Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency

2001: Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the UN

1988: UN Peackeeping Forces

1981 & 1954: UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

1969: UN International Labour Organisation

1965: UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

1961: Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold

1950: Under-Secretary-General/mediator for Palestine Ralph Bunche