Areas of Work

CAFRA serves as a facilitator of the regional women’s movement, responding to the needs of the movement and seeking to encourage regional collaboration and solidarity.

Our areas of work include:

*Research/action projects on issues of relevance to the regional women’s movement.

Past and current research projects include:

• Women in Caribbean Agriculture (ongoing)
• Women’s History and Creative Expression (ongoing)
• Women and the Law (1989-1993)
• Surveys on the incidence of violence against women (Suriname, 1994; Trinidad, 1998)
• Tourism and the Sex Trade in the Caribbean (1997-1999)
• Access to Health Care by set workers (2004-2005)
• Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Jamaica’s poor (2004-2005)

*Regional conferences on issues of importance to the women’s movement.

Past conferences include:

• Regional Meeting to Present the Findings of the Women in Caribbean Agriculture Project (Barbados, 1989)
• Regional Meeting on Women, Violence and the Law (Trinidad and Tobago, 1991; with ECLAC and the Rape Crisis Society of Trinidad and Tobago) Critical Perspectives on Human Rights in the Caribbean (Trinidad and Tobago, 1995)
• Strategies for Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action: Bringing Beijing Back (Curaçao, 1996)
• Regional Workshop on Domestic Violence (Suriname, 1997)
• Caribbean Consultation on the Future of EU-ACP Development Co-operation from a Gender Perspective (Dominica, 1998; with WIDE)
• Impact of Geopolitics on the Women’s Movement in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, 1998)
• Challenges and Perspectives for Women’s Leadership in the 21st Century (Grenada, 1998; with UNIFEM and HIVOS)
• Integrating Gender Issues in Participatory and Collaborative Natural Resource Management (Port of Spain, 1999; with CANARI)
• Economic Literacy/Trade Liberalization (2000)
• Women and Globalization and Fair Trade (2002)
• Gender and Trade in the Caribbean (2003)
• Mobilizing Grassroots Women (2004)

*We develop and implement educational and training programmes based on needs identified by our membership

• Popular Theatre Methodologies (1988)
• Creative Writing (1989; 1994)
• 35mm Photography Workshop (1990)
• Participatory Methodologies for Legal Education (1992)
• Summer University in Feminist Theory (English-speaking Caribbean,1992; Spanish-speaking Caribbean, 1995)
• Intra-regional Language Exchanges
• Regional Training Programme on the Use of National and International Human Rights Instruments (1996)
• Advocacy and Lobbying Skills Training (Port of Spain, 1999)
• Caribbean Regional Domestic Violence Training Programme for Police Officers and Social Workers (2000) HYPERLINK TO MEDIA RELEASES "DV Pilot Course"; "DV ToT TT"; and DV ToT JM"
• Beijing+5 Alternate Report (2000)
• The Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Jamaica’s Poor (2004)
• Beijing+10 Alternative Report - "Beijing Betrayed" (2005)
• Beijing+10 Meets WTO+10 (2005)

*We publish a magazine, CAFRA News twice yearly, in English and Spanish

*We operate a Documentation Centre

*We network with regional and international organisations such as:

• Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development (CNIRD)
• Caribbean People’s Development Agency (CARIPEDA)
• Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) and
• Windward Islands Farmers’ Association (WINFA) on a process of functional co-operation.
• Caribbean Reference Group on Trade (CRG)
• Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
• Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Network against Domestic and Sexual Violence
• United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
• Women in Development Europe (WIDE)
• Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice in the International Criminal Court
• Women’s Environmental Development Organisation (WEDO)
• World Association for Christian Communication (WACC)

*We provide technical and financial assistance to support the work of CAFRA National Committees and developing women’s organisations, as well as personal development linked to organisational work.

*We collaborate on campaigns and projects to ensure that women’s concerns are not marginalised or ignored.

• Global Media Monitoring Project
• "See Change" Campaign
• UN Inter-Agency Campaign on Women’s Human Rights

*Other Programmes

• Compilation of Pathways to Feminism, an anthology about CAFRA
• DFID/OXFAM Programme for Strengthening Civil Society Organisations in the English-speaking Caribbean

• Regional Conference Port of Spain, 26-28 January, 1995 Co-sponsors: CAFRA and the Caribbean Human Rights Network

Funded by: