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Dear Sisiters of Burma, please read



	Dear Sisters, (brothers also can join)

	Please read the following posting and if you have some 
	time join the working group!!!

	If you have got no time, please ... make a priority 
	for this issue! Because it is an ISSUE.

With metta and solidarity,
NiNi
 ....................................................................


            WELCOME TO THE <end-violence> INTERNET 
                   WORKING GROUP DISCUSSION
                 October 7 - November 30, 1998

(Please keep this message for future reference)

On 24 November 1998, the United Nations Development Fund for Women 
(UNIFEM), in collaboration with other UN agencies, will host a landmark 
event on the most effective strategies being used at local and national 
levels to end violence against women. The event - a global 
Videoconference - will link advocates in the field with co-sponsoring UN 
Funds and Programmes and delegates from UN member states.  Human rights 
advocates, government representatives, parliamentarians, academics, 
media representatives and others will meet with UN decision-makers via 
live, two-way video to discuss critical policy directions, steps that 
must be taken, and successful experiences in eradicating violence 
against women.

UNIFEM is committed to ensuring that the Videoconference furthers the 
agenda of advocates working to end gender-based violence around the 
globe.  The event will:

* showcase success stories and future challenges to achieving women's 
human rights and eradicating violence against women
* share effective strategies to end gender-based violence 
* honor human rights defenders who have made significant contributions
to eradicating violence against women
* help to build a global partnership to end violence against women 
* challenge the international community to commit increased resources to 
end violence against women

In preparation for the Videoconference, the World Bank, the Global 
Knowledge Partnership, and UNIFEM are sponsoring a "Virtual Working 
Group," <end-violence>.  The Working Group, which will begin 7 October 
1998, will discuss:

* Policies, legislation, strategies, and partnerships that will help end 
violence against women around the world
* Case studies, best practices, and other examples representing 
successful government and civil society efforts to overcome challenges 
and help to eliminate violence against women
* Ways in which new information/communications technologies can be used 
to support efforts to end violence against women

The results will feed into the Videoconference, become part of the 1999 
review of the International Conference on Population and Development, 
and be a permanent, publicly available reference.

UNIFEM extends a special invitation to those in the South, and 
especially to grant recipients from UNIFEM's Trust Fund in Support of 
Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women -- we hope
you will share your experience and express your needs! The Trust Fund, 
launched in 1997, has made grants of US$2 million to 59 innovative 
projects focused on prevention and elimination of violence against women 
world-wide. Projects apply a variety of strategies using different tools 
and methods and focusing on a wide range of target groups including 
women, men and youth, national, community and traditional leaders, law 
enforcement, judiciary, health workers and other service providers, as 
well as the media.  

A TRAVEL GRANT WILL BE AWARDED FOR THE WORKING GROUP MEMBER
who contributes the most striking example of an action or strategy that 
has helped to prevent and/or eradicate violence against women. The 
member who is selected will be invited to attend UNIFEM's 
Videoconference in one of the participating sites (New York, Brussels, 
Washington, DC, and a site in Africa, Asia and Latin America).
All travel expenses for the selected member will be covered by 
UNIFEM.

The Working Group will be facilitated by UNIFEM and Education 
Development Center, Inc., to maintain focus on the specific objectives 
of the videoconference. 


RULES OF THE WORKING GROUP DISCUSSION

In order to achieve the objectives of the Working Group, the List will 
be moderated in accordance with three rules.

1. Messages should provide concrete suggestions and information drawn 
from field experience, related to Conference themes, including:

- Cases that offer "best practices" and other "lessons learned" 
- Policies, strategies, tools, and partnerships that support 
efforts to eliminate violence against women
- "Success stories" of efforts to end violence against women 
- Ways that new information/communications technologies have 
been used to support efforts to secure women's human rights 
- Research results
- Sources of information, e.g., research papers, WWW sites, NGO 
activities 
- Government, NGO, and donor programs

2.  Profanity and personal attacks are not acceptable.

3. English will be the working language. Messages can be posted in any 
language that uses the Roman alphabet; however, messages will not be 
translated, so only those who can read the language of the message will 
respond. (Note that accented characters may not be handled properly by 
many members' email systems, so please do *not* use them).  The weekly 
thematic summaries will be translated into French and Spanish.

Messages that violate these rules will *not* be posted to the Working 
Group.


REQUESTS

1. Please briefly introduce yourself in your first posting, including 
such information as experience with development, activities in related 
groups, etc.

2. Please tell others about this Working Group.  If you are an NGO 
umbrella organisation, please inform your members of the Working Group. 
Also, let us know of others we should inform about the Working Group.

3. For our members in developing countries, access and down-loading are 
expensive.  Therefore, please do *not* keep the body of the original 
text in your replies, except when absolutely necessary.

4. Make the subject header as descriptive as possible about the message 
content.  In that way, people can more easily decide what messages they 
want to read. When you respond to a message, keep the original subject 
heading intact unless it is no longer 
relevant to the message content.

5. This Working Group has a global membership.  Please exercise 
tolerance and respect toward other participants whose views may differ 
from your own. Please remain courteous at all times.

6. When you would like to have a personal discussion, or feel offended 
by a particular message, please send a message to the individual 
involved only.


POSTING TO THE WORKING GROUP

To post to this Working Group, send your message(s) to:

    end-violence@xxxxxxxxxxx

Messages can be posted in any language that uses the Roman alphabet. 
However, messages will not be translated, so only those who can read the 
language of the message will respond.


UNSUBSCRIBING FROM THE WORKING GROUP

To unsubscribe from the Working Group, send a message to:

     majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx

Do *not* enter a subject.  In the body of the message, type the text:

     UNSUBSCRIBE end-violence

Do *not* put anything after <end-violence>. 


WORLD WIDE WEB SITES FOR THE WORKING GROUP

The Global Knowledge for Development Web site 
<http://www.globalknowledge.org> provides information about the 
<end-violence> Working Group, as well as archives of <end-violence> 
messages. The WomenWatch Web site <http://www.un.org/womenwatch> provides 
the <end-violence> archives and information about the videoconference. Also 
UNIFEM Web site <http://www.unifem.undp.org> links to the <end-violence> 
Working Group and gives a wide range of information on efforts to end 
violence against women and related activities. In addition, the Development 
Forum, a global discussion space opening early October 1998, on the World 
Bank's Web site <http://www.worldbank.org>, will provide access to the 
<end-violence> archives as well as related material and presentations.


WORKING GROUP ADMINISTRATOR 

This Working Group is administered and moderated by Education Development 
Center, a nonprofit organization.  EDC is working collaboratively with 
UNIFEM and is directly supported by the World Bank, the Global Knowledge 
Partnership, and UNIFEM for the activities in this project.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 

For further information about <end-violence>, please contact:

Janice Brodman
EDC
JANICEB@xxxxxxx  

***************************************************************** 
Your answers to the following questions are very important to
helping us make <end-violence> successful. Please be sure to complete 
the questions and send them to <end-violence-mod@xxxxxxxxxxx>
as soon as possible. Please note this information will be confidential.

1. Please provide your full name.

2. What is your gender? 

3. What is your home country? What country do you currently live in?

4. Do you have difficulties getting Internet access? If so, what are 
they?

5. Are you a member of a NGO? Business? Government agency? If so, what 
is the organization?

6. Have you ever participated in a UNIFEM-supported project or 
programme? If so, which project? In which country?

Thank you.