Under the threat of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Sandy, preparations continued for the arrival of seventy civil society and government representatives from twenty-two countries in the Broader Middle East and North Africa (“BMENA”) region to participate in the Sub-Ministerial Meeting of the 9th Forum for the Future on November 1-2, 2012, in Washington DC.
The League of Women Voters and its Tunisian partners—Association des Responsables de Formation et de Gestion Humaine dans les Entreprises (ARFORGHE) and the Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce—welcome civil society representatives from the broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) to Washington, DC, to draft a declaration on issues that are currently impacting civil society, particularly in the areas of women’s empowerment, freedom of expression, and economic governance and entreprenurship.
The days of fighting an issue of a global proportions from a silo perspective can’t be effective with limited resources. We need to find ways to work together, work smarter with ways that are proven. Trafficking is a $32 billion industry and even if we rescue all the girls today—tomorrow a new crop will be in place. Therefore the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations, the Working Group on Girls, PPSEAWA and the League of Women Voters of the United States co-sponsored a panel discussion on "Best Practices: Preventing Child Exploitation at Major Events." Speakers provided ins
There has been great uncertainty about the future of the 9th Forum for the Future after the recent unrest in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, and, in particular, the attack on the U.S.
The Second Preparatory Meeting of the 9th Forum for the Future will take place in Amman, Jordan, October 1-2, 2012. This second meeting which focuses on Economic Governance presents an opportunity to bring together governments and private sector/civil society representatives to discuss critical economic governance and growth issues and identify concrete steps to improve the business and investment climate, create jobs, and encourage entrepreneurs. Among the themes that have been identified as possible agenda topics are: entrepreneurship (with a sub-focus on women), transparency, includin
The League team has just returned from El Jadida, Morocco, site of the first preparatory meeting of the 9th Forum for the Future. The two-day session focused on empowering women, however, not all 76 attendees were women. In fact, a good percentage of the participants were men who work on economic, legal, and social issues that impact women’s lives. Twenty countries were represented by members of civil society organizations, including one representative from the West Bank/Gaza area.
After weeks of diplomatic conversations and hours of hard work to make it all come together, the First Preparatory Meeting of the 9th Forum for the Future will take place in El Jadida, Morocco, September 3-4, 2012.
The official briefing to the diplomatic corps about the objectives of the BMENA NGO Initiative took place on Wednesday, May 30th at the George C. Marshall Center of the U.S. Department of State.
As we continue to prepare for the First Regional Workshop on Women’s Empowerment of the 2012 G8 Broader Middle East and North Africa (“BMENA”) Initiative, the League of Women Voters invites you to better get to know our BMENA nation co-chair, Tunisia.
As part of our current work towards the 9th Forum for the Future scheduled to be held in Tunisia in December, I traveled last weekend to Tunis-Carthage, Tunisia to meet the leaders of the nongovernmental organization that will be our partners in this endeavor.
