South Asian Coordination Committee for the Political Empowerment of Women (SACPEW)

At a meeting of the South Asian Women’s Action Group, held in Manikgunj, Koitta, Bangladesh on December 1st to 3rd 1994, it was agreed to establish a Regional forum to work for the political empowerment of women. Since then, a series of meetings has been organized in the region, in recognition of the importance of political empowerment for women in South Asia. In 1995, a milestone regional seminar "Towards Equal Political Power, South Asian Women’s Voice" was organized in Nepal, coordinated by ABC Nepal. The major objective of this seminar was to finalize a lobby document for women's political participation, and to pressurize governments in South Asia to implement its recommendations. Six major resolutions came out of this meeting: -

1. Reservation of seats for women at all levels of decision making bodies
2. Electoral reform and state funding of elections
3. Creation of a national network of women’s organizations to communicate and initiate dialogue on the alternative “clean and green ”politics
4. Mobilization of women to seize the opportunity provided by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment and join mainstream politics
5. Action by the women’s movement towards establishing women as a constituency
6. Formation of women’s networks and support groups                               

Six years later, in January 2002, ABC Nepal organized a regional consultative meeting in Kathmandu. This meeting revisited the issues discussed and resolutions made in 1995, and reviewed the progress made since then. It was concluded that there has been progress in some areas, as a result of the untiring efforts of many women activists in the different countries of the region, and also as a part of the general climate of global change. However the pace of change has been very slow, because the challenges and barriers are so large, and thus efforts need to be redoubled in order to increase the rate of progress. Women must work together and seek support from other organizations in order to achieve an audible political voice, and thus to improve the lives of women in south Asia.
The main objective of this meeting was to identify strategies, which would bring about real change in the political arena, and promote moves towards transformative politics, in order to empower women politically. Participants were asked to generate practical ideas for initiation and implementation in the near future.

Goal: The creation of a support group for women in politics in South Asia, which will:

• Ensure equal participation of women in political and other decision- making bodies.
• Work towards “clean and green” politics and thus create a political culture which is not based on criminal activities.
• Fight against cultural attitudes and customs that create barriers to the full and equal participation of woman in political processes.
• Strengthen the women’s movement and its link with women in politics to ensure gender equality throughout society.
• Integrate women’s concerns into all public issues.

Objectives:

• To strengthen solidarity among South Asian women’s organisations working for the political empowerment of women.
• To put pressure on political parties and the government to increase quotas for women in all South Asian countries.
• To enhance the capacity of women leaders by organising training and interaction programmes.
• To share useful information and activities on women’s political participation.
• To create wider awareness about the importance of women’s role in politics

Pledge:
" We the women of South Asia, while pledging our faith in democratic principles, endeavour to attain gender equality and women’s perspectives in politics. We believe that government and non-government organisations, the private sector, and individuals should renew their commitment to: Equality, Development and Peace".

Strategies:
SECPEW will adopt the strategies outlined by the regional representatives in the regional consultative meeting on political empowerment of women, held in January 2002. These are:

• Formation of caucuses and sharing of information
• Formation of alliances/networks
• Setting up of platforms
• Interaction with constituencies
• Establishment of relations with policy-makers
• Education and training for elected parties
• Establishment of resource centres.
• Capacity building for women who are interested in participating in politics.

Major Activities:

• Establishment of an information and documentation centre
• Research and documentation
• Publication of a newsletter
• Creation of an inventory of organisations working for the political empowerment of women
• Development of advocacy materials
• Personal profiling
• Capacity building of women who are elected representatives
• Provision of training in public speaking
• Provision of gender training
• Organisation of training for trainers (ToT)
• Fund raising for political campaigns
• Interaction programmes with various groups working for the political empowerment of women
• Pressurisation of political parties to increase women’s participation at decision making levels
• Drafting of gender responsive bills.

South Asian Coordination Committee for
Political Empowerment of Women
(SACCPEW)
Koteshwor, Kathmandu
Email: sacpew@mail.com.np
Estd. 2002


National Network Against Girl Trafficking (NNAGT)

National Network Against Girl Trafficking/NNAGT is an organization working sincerely and rigorously for the prevention of girls trafficking, since 1990. It extends its performance on the area of lobby,advocacy, and awareness programs and information dissemination at the national, regional and international level. Realizing the urgent need of strong approach and joint effort towards the preventive direction of this inhuman issue of trafficking and sexual exploitation, a group of concerned individuals, journalists, lawyer, doctors, professor, students, human right activists and NGOs joined hands together. The network consists the  members/representatives from all parts of Nepal.

OBJECTIVES:

• To unite NGOs from grassroots to national level for the social revolution against trafficking in women and children.
• To work as a pressure group at different level against trafficking.
• To promote and extend lobby/advocacy among networking organizations and concerned stakeholders for policy reform.
• To develop a full-fledged Resource Center for documentation and information sharing on trafficking, violence and overall women issues.
• To uplift the morale of the victims, who are facing social boycott and help to rehabilitate them in their families and society.
• To create nationwide awareness among different segment of the society to prevent trafficking and violence in women.
• To support the grassroots initiatives for the prevention of trafficking.
• To stand and act as a strong advocate for the protection and promotion of women’s right.

ACTIVITIES:

• NNAGT works to put an end violence and discrimination against women and children.
• NNAGT conducts workshops, awareness program and various income generation programs for empowerment of women.
• NNAGT extends lobby and advocacy to reform the discriminatory laws related to women.
• NNAGT organizes various training & orientation programs on trafficking and violence in women and children  among networking members and concern stakeholders at various levels.
• NNAGT has developed a national level Resource Centre having networking with leading regional resource centre in South Asia for documentation and dissemination of information and resources on women & children issues with special focus on trafficking and violence in women and children.
• NNAGT organizes various capacity building programs to strengthen the capacity of network members and other organization for sustaining anti-trafficking intervention from grassroots to national level.
• NNAGT maintains a wide range of networking and coordination at national, regional and international level. It formulates preventive strategies to combat trafficking and violence in women and children.
• NNAGT has been launching programs to pressurize all the concerning sectors including political parties for giving national priority to the issue of trafficking in women and children.

Prevention of Trafficking in
women and children
NETWORK SECRETARIAT
Janakmarg - 82, Dillibazar, Kathmandu
Phone/Fax: (977-1) 4422595
P.O. Box 15142 KPC 285
Email: nnagt@wlink.com.np
Website: www.nnagt.org.np
Estd. 1990