HELLO ALL! After an action-packed first twelve months Young UNIFEM Perth has had a slight changing of the guard and is ready to launch into an even bigger and better year in 2010-11. For those of you interested in reading about Young UNIFEM Perth (…let’s face it, who isn’t?!) check out our 09-10 Annual Report, which is attached to this email. At this point I’d like to say a BIG thank you to all of our inaugural Committee and to the huge number of fantastic volunteers who assisted us over the last 12 months- we are so grateful for your contributions and so proud of what we have collectively been able to achieve!
GEAR up for some BIG changes to UNIFEM ! BIG changes are afoot at the United Nations and UNIFEM over the next 12 months will be transitioning to UN Women- the new agency for gender equality at the United Nations. WHY? To bring together the functions of UNIFEM, OSAGI, DAW, INSTRAWthe existing gender agencies, to create a ‘super agency’. This move places increased importance on gender and development at UN level and is a reflection of the fact that more needs to be done to achieve gender equality and that high level leadership is needed to prioritise the needs of women and girls in order to achieve human rights, promote economic security and eliminate poverty. WHAT’S IT MEAN FOR UNIFEM AUSTRALIA? Our Executive Director, Julie McKay, is currently at the UN Headquarters in New York to be part of further discussions as to the role of National Committees in the new organisation, however we know already that:
• The resolution supports an increased operational presence at country level, which means UNIFEM’s programmatic work will be expanded on. • We anticipate that the move to UN Women will only strengthen the role of National Committees. Donations and funds will continue to support UNIFEM projects as per the organisations commitments until we transition to the new agency, at which point funds will go to supporting UN Women projects. WHAT’S IT MEAN FOR MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF YUA PERTH? That you’re part of an incredibly exciting time as we see the biggest reform in the area of gender and development at UN level since UNIFEM was first established! This is truly a historic time for gender and development! We’ll be keeping you informed regularly as more information comes to hand and seek your patience as we go through the process of rebranding as UN Women. For more information on GEAR, check out the attached factsheet.
READY TO GET YOUR BLOG ON? UNIFEM Australia is proud to launch our first ever
Federal Election
Platform! UNIFEM
Australia remains dedicated to the realisation of gender equality and the continued empowerment of women both here in Australia and in our region. Therefore, we are committed to maintaining a high level of engagement throughout the upcoming election campaign to ensure that women’s concerns are the subject of discussion and action for all candidates. We are extremely grateful for the hard work of our Young UNIFEM Australia committees who are the primary authors of this election platform. UNIFEM Australia’s areas of concern for the 2010 Federal Election are: • Pay Equity • Asylum Seekers and Refugees • Violence Against Women • Aid and Development • Paid Parental Leave So, JOIN US online next Wednesday and be part of the Young UNIFEM led campaign to see more Federal Government attention devoted to gender and development!
If you have any questions or suggestions with regards to Young UNIFEM Perth, please contact:
Holly Ransom Chair, Young UNIFEM Australia's Perth Committee holly.ransom@unifem.org.au www.unifem.org.au
FIND US ON FACEBOOK !
YOUNG UNIFEM PERTH WANTS YOU TO
BE INVOLVED IN 2010-11
Keen to help out in 2010-11 or to continue assisting YUA Perth? EVENTS: Like organising events of all varieties and sizes? Keen to build your experience in Events Management as an Event Coordinator or just looking to be part of an Events Team? With everything from a White Party through to the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, leadership forums and informs sessions already pencilled into our calendar, we’ve got LOADS happening, so sign up to work with our phenomenal Coordinators, Nicky and Tegan!
MEDIA AND COMMS: We are looking for any eager young things who would like to join our Marketing and Media team this semester! If you tell us your interests and talents, we can tailor-make an internship, work experience placement or volunteering role to suit you to suit you. Whether you are a budding PR lady or fella, are interested in events organization, marketing, graphic design, photography, or fancy yourself in blogging or online communications, we can offer you something that you feel comfortable with, and that will give you lots of incredible experience. And did I mention how much fun it is? For more information you should get in contact with the lovely Martina. Send your CV to martina@pigeonhole.com.au to get started! FUNDRAISING: Want to gain experience in fundraising, grant proposal work and sponsorship development? Got a knack for gathering support for important causes? Then we’d love you to join our excellent Coordinator, Sally, and be a part of making our events and campaigns in every corner and to be a part of sponsorship and fundraising development for national campaigns.
SCHOOL, UNI AND WORKPLACE AMBASSADORS : Keen to help Young UNIFEM Perth out by being our ambassador at your place of study or work? We’d love to hear from enthusiastic guys and girls who’d like to help out YUA Perth!
POLICY: Keen to get your voice heard on important issues regarding gender and development? Got something to say about the Millennium Development Goals, pay equity, women in decision making and many more topics? We’re looking for three Policy Officers to work with our fantastic Policy Coordinator, Jen, to develop Young UNIFEM policy in relation to gender and development issues, advocate for important issues, organize policy events and draft government
To get involved send us an expression of interest to :
stfox@gmail.com