DPI/AP Reports 2011

Asia Pacific Feminist Forum This is what Feminism Looks Like!

Date: 12-14 December, 2011

Venue: Chiang Mai, Thailand, Furama Hotel

APWLD will celebrate women and feminism this December!

APWLD will hold the first ever Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF) on 12-14 December 2011 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This event will bring together 100-150 activists- women lawyers, academics, advocates and youth leaders. It will be an occasion to celebrate our collective achievements, reflect on our challenges and political climates, deepen feminist knowledge and analysis, strengthen our sisterhood, solidarity and collaboration, and reaffirm our resolve to advance womenโs rights.

The APFF will focus on movement and skills building, it will provide space for sharing of issues, struggles and strategies. The forum will be participatory and workshop based, plenary sessions will be limited โ as will powerpoint! It will be a great networking opportunity for our members and partners, a venue to exchange ideas, to learn about different advocacy strategies and to hopefully encourage more collaboration within the region.

This forum and celebration of women in the Asia Pacific region aims to give due recognition, re-energize and strengthen the movement in the region. We hope participants will go back to their countries and communities filled with greater hope, a strong sense of belonging, increased skills, renewed and stronger determination.

There will also be the display and sale of crafts and native food, a mini-concert and a solidarity night of songs and dances. A wifi-enabled cyber room or IT hub will allow participants to immediately share photographs and videos and be able to report on the different activities and their experiences using blogs and/or tweets and uploading on websites.The IT hub will also enable prompt postings on the web of papers and presentations.

APWLD will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2011 as will a number of our members. It is also the Centennial Year of International Womenโs Day.Our opening evening will include a birthday party for APWLD.

Objectives

To build knowledge and practical skills of women in the Asia Pacific region that advance womenโs rights;
To strengthen and encourage more collaboration between womenโs organisations in the Asia Pacific region;
To map out what different organisations in the Asia Pacific region are doing, to see where overlaps happen and where collaboration can start;
To energize the womenโs movement in the Asia Pacific region (with a particular focus on bringing in young women, women with disabilities and women who are new to the movement)
To deepen feminist knowledge and analysis

Profile of Participants:

100-150 women from the Asia-Pacific Region. The participants will be a mix of lawyers, activists and academics. The five sub regions will be included (Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Pacific). Grassroots women will be prioritized for funding support. Thirty percent of the participants will be young women under 35 and members who have never attended an APWLD training or conference. Women with Disabilities (WWD) will are also invitedโ APWLD has earmarked specific funding to support the participation of WWD. We have also allotted slots for participants who would like to self-fund.

Workshops:

Workshops will be divided into four categories:

Knowledge building: to share new scholarship, analysis, and understandings in key areas of challenges confronting the womenโs movement in the region.
Skills building: to share successful strategies and skills in advocacy for reform.
Movement building: to share successful efforts at building our movement across nations or regions. Discussions on what has worked for the movement.
Our Well-being: Massage, dance, song writing workshops, and other creative workshops for our well being.

Author:
Language: English
When: 16/10/2011