CAFRA’s Fifth General Assembly

SUMMARY OF CAFRA’S FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY HELD AT THE TORARICA HOTEL, PARAMARIBO, SURINAME 23-30 MAY 2002

INTRODUCTION

It is a cause for celebration and thanksgiving that CAFRA held its Fifth General Assembly and Conference over the period 23-30 May 2002, under the Theme “Women, Globalisation and Fair Trade”.

The CAFRA Village was spread over the Eco Resort and Torarica Hotel, Paramaribo, Suriname.

PARTICIPANTS

There were eighty (80) participants from the countries of Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Croix, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Curacao, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

Included in this number were representatives of collaborating organisations, the Caribbean Policy Development Centre, the Caribbean Gender and Trade Network, KULU – Women in Development, Copenhagen and partner agency, OXFAM.

The Assembly and Conference was also graced with the presence of Asha Leelawatee Manoo-Rhaming, the winner of the 2001 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and Professor Rhoda Reddock, winner of the Seventh CARICOM Triennial Award for Women.

FUNDING

The funding for this Assembly and Conference was obtained through OXFAM, UNIFEM, Commonwealth Foundation, The Caribbean Policy Development Centre, DAWN Caribbean, Caribbean Gender and Trade Network and KULU Women in Development, Copenhagen.

OPENING SESSION

The Opening Session was chaired by Jeanne Henriques and Carla Bakboord. It received a message of support from the Minister of Gender Affairs, Suriname.

His Excellency Kingsley Layne, Ambassador to the Organisation of American States delivered an address, which spoke to the impact of Globalisation and Trade Liberalisation on Women, and linkages with the work of the Inter American Commission on Women and CAFRA (attached).

Chairperson, Margarette May Macaulay presented highlights of CAFRA’s operation over the period 1997-2002 (attached)

HONOURING OF PROFESSOR RHODA REDDOCK

Professor Rhoda Reddock is the recipient of the Seventh CARICOM Triennial Award for Women. The occasion of the Assembly was used for CAFRA to publicly celebrate this achievement, through presentation of a plaque and intricate Surinamese craft. The citation is attached.

OUTCOMES AND RECOMMENTATIONS OF THE WORKING SESSION

1. The Chairperson’s report for the period 1997-2002 was adopted. It was however recommended that the Report be circulated fifteen days before the Meeting, and translated into the CAFRA Official Languages.

2. The financial Report would be approved at the Regional Committee Meeting since the 2002 statements were unaudited.

3. A Committee Representative of the language areas was selected to consider recommendations from the seven areas of concern identified in the Report of the survey on CAFRA, namely:

• Structure of the Board
• Membership
• Communication
• Relations between Board and Staff
• Projects
• Monitoring the work of National Committees
• Relationships – exchange of ideas.

4. Inclusion of Martinique as another focal point to be represented on the Regional Committee. Due to the work of Christaline Merrifield and Flavia Cherry, a National Committee now exists in Martinique.

5. The Reports of the National Representatives were adopted and would form an integral part of the Report of the Meeting.

6. The Training Tools produced by CAFRA should be used for capacity building

• Manual for Training of Board Members
• Leadership Training Manual
• Manual for Training in Advocacy and Social Marketing

7. Election of the Regional Committee

Sixteen National Representatives were elected prior to the General Assembly	Country
1. Lynn Sweeting Graham	Bahamas (new)
2. Michelle Barrow	Barbados (new)
3. Gilda Lewis/Lillette Barkley Waite	Belize (new)
4. Elpidia Moreno	Cuba
5. Anita Joseph	Dominica (new)
6. Sergia Galvan	Dominican Republic (new)
7. Sarah Malavé Lebrón	Puerto Rico (new)
8. Patricia Hackett	Guyana
9. Carline Giscombe	Jamaica (new)
10. Veronique Mortjean	Martinique (new)
11. Flavia Cherry	St. Lucia
12. Nartel Green	St. Croix
13. Ancelma Morgan Rose	St. Vincent
14. Geraldine Archer	Curacao (new)
15. Sandra Chr. Clenem	Suriname (new)
16. Gabrielle Henderson	Trinidad and Tobago (new)

The General Assembly elected the seven additional members as follows:

Name	Post	Country
Margaret Gill	Chairperson	Barbados (new)
Carla Bakboord	Deputy Chairperson	Suriname (new)
Rita Pereira		Cuba (new)
Michelle Golding		Jamaica (new)
Ife Harris		Barbados
Christaline Merrifield		Dominica (new)
Jeanie Ollivierre		St. Vincent (new)

RESOLUTIONS

Five resolutions were passed.

1. Be it Resolved that the necessary steps would be taken to make it mandatory for the immediate past Chairperson to be a member of the Regional Committee.

2. Be it Resolved that the Regional Committee take the necessary steps to appoint a Liaison Officer and a Projects Officer within CAFRA.

3. Be it Resolved that CAFRA support Belizean women in their determination to preserve the right to keep their national boundaries.

4. Be it Resolved that CAFRA supports the struggle of the people of Puerto Rico for the U.S. Marine to abandon the Island of Vieques and to liberate the people imprisoned for defending this just cause, which is peace.

5. Be it Resolved that CAFRA demands the immediate suspension of the illegal economic and financial blockade imposed on Cuba.

PROJECTS

Thirty- two(32) priority areas were approved for action by the new Regional Committee.

• Women and Reproductive/Sexual Health
• Situation of Drug “Mules – Trafficking in Drugs”
• Position Paper on CAFRA Barbados/Political role of CAFRA was not as strong as it needs to be
• The effects of Religion/Religious Fundamentalism
• Backlash on male marginalization
• Race and ethnic relations/conflict
• Public Relations Campaign within the organisation
• Study on Status of Women – What progress we have made or not made.
• Women and Political Participation
• Solidarity to women in the Middle East who are being affected by the region.
• Collaborate with St. Croix that has done some substantive work on Woman in Politics
• Gender issues
• Popular Education, Literacy Methodology as a Feminist Intervention
• Participatory Action Research
• Consciousness raising issues/social and political levels, discussion on feminism
• Exchange projects especially for young women
• Integration of youth in all our programmes
• Use the Media effectively to publicise CAFRA, particularly in the light of the present political situation, taking into account the visit of Carter and emergence of Bush’s perspective we would like the Cuban women’s perspective and analysis of the situation
• Make projects holistic, extend regional to national and vice versa
• Use different methodology – get matrix of type of activities and the scope that is necessary
• The project on the geopolitical situation should be continued.
• The project on peace should be continued on the work on violence
• Domestic Violence should be approached from another point of view, e.g. violence from the state
• Analysis of feminism in the region, and what is the focus, diversity, methodology and ethics of feminism.
• CAFRA is about Feminist Research and Action and “Action” must be a balanced component of its work
• Work with rural women, in the South – South Women’s Network
• Support women involved in farming and cottage industries, with a special focus on globalisation
• Locate and work with women who have contributed to development. Gaynor Ferguson Palacio will give support to the Secretariat in finding these women with a view to reporting progress at the next General Assembly
• Situation of older persons, for example discrimination in age of retirement
• Collaborate with Centre for Gender Studies on their project “Making of Feminisms” meant to document the Women’s Movement. CAFRA should take this on as a long-term project, creating a Caribbean Feminist Archive to cover last century. Collaborate as well with the Women’s Archive in Amsterdam
• Research and Action concerning women in prison, addiction, mentally challenged and sex workers
• Focus on the girl child with emphasis on socially challenged girls between the ages of 11to 15
  
  

These proposals would be discussed at the Regional Committee with a view to grouping and elaborating, as necessary.

SEVENTEENTH REGIONAL COMMITTEE MEETING

The seventeenth Regional Committee Meeting was held, at which the Continuation Committee was elected as follows:

Name	Post
Margaret Gill	Chairperson
Carla Bakboord	Deputy Chaiperson
Gilda Lewis/Lilette Barkley Waite
Geraldine Archer
Christaline Merrifield
Rita Pereira
Jeanie Mc Donald
Ife Harris	Alternate

TRADE CONFERENCE

The Trade Conference was facilitated by Shantal Munro Knight of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre, Sheila Stuart on behalf of the Caribbean Gender and Trade Network and Jeanne Henriquez of CAFRA.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Ms Eline Graanoogst, Deputy Director in the Ministry of Trade, Suriname, delivered the Keynote Address. She began by quoting the preamble to the WTO Agreement, and situating Globalisation and Trade Liberalisation and the impact on our region.

“The Parties to this Agreement, recognizing that their relationship in the field of trade and economic endeavour should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand, and expanding the production of and trade in goods and services, while allowing for optimal use of the world’s resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, seeking both to protect and preserve the environment and to enhance the means for doing so in a manner consistent with their respective needs and concerns at different levels of economic development”.

The Preamble further recognizes “that there is need for efforts designed to ensure that developing countries, and especially the least developed among them, secure a share in the growth in international trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development”.

With this in mind, our Heads of States or representatives abroad, signed the WTO Agreement in 1994/1995, together with over 120 country representatives from other developing countries as well as developed countries.

By doing so, they deliberatively directed the global economic environment, as the process of liberalisation was further set into motion.

At the same time, countries in this hemisphere, including the Caribbean, Latin American and South American countries, the USA, Canada and Mexico, at the Summit of the Americas in Miami, agreed upon a process of forming a Free Trade Area of the Americas, the so called FTAA.

And by signing on to these agreements, our governments plunged us into a serious adventure. Because, in essence it was agreed, that members would open up their markets and economies for each other, without discrimination, for trade and investments, rules should be more transparent, the removal or restriction of trade and non trade barriers etc. etc. And we, the individuals, national of the Caribbean were hardly aware of what was coming onto us.

Since then, the global economic order is thus dominated by two concepts and their practical application, namely liberalisation and globalisation.

Though they are different things, for liberalisation is a global policy prescription and globalisation is a phenomenon that stems partly from the application of that prescription as well as from other causes like the information and technology revolution, these two concepts are interrelated”.

She went on to say that the gap in living standards has widened between the rich and the poor, and Caribbean people are experiencing a threat to our small societies and fragile economies at the level of bananas, rice and sugar. Within this, women are in a disadvantaged position when it comes to access to jobs, access to financing, land, property, knowledge, research and technology, the factors that constitute economic development.

She said that Caribbean women need to have something to trade, and put out of the following challenging questions, and recommendation "What do we have as Caribbean women to trade. How will we deal with this problem of trade. We will still stick to our banana, rice, sugar, handicrafts and be entertainers and servants for the developed countries, as we have been for centuries now. Or don’t think that it is time for a somersault in our thinking and that we need to transcend. Don’t we need to transcend our level of creativity and go beyond the destiny that our colonial masters moulded into us, namely producers of basic and primary products.

I feel that it’s time to think about our destiny as Caribbean people and Caribbean women in particular, and redesign our destiny".

OVERVIEW OF TRADE LIBERALISATION AND THE IMPACT ON SMALL ECONOMIES

Shantal Munro Knight, in a spirited address, traced the origins of globalisation, and the formation of the World Trade Organisation and the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

She said that there is a global consensus on Free Trade. This has started a process through which nations are opening up their domestic markets by reducing tariffs and other barriers on foreign goods and services coming into the economy. This is trade liberalisation. It is enforced by a network of multi-lateral financial and trade institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Band and the World Trade Organisation.

Trade Liberalisation impacts at the macro level, or level of the national economy since it involves some re-orientation of the productive sector of the economy, i.e. from traditional agriculture to non-traditional and commercial agriculture, change in technological patterns and modernisation of the agriculture sector with particular implications for women and small farmers.

Globalisation is not new. It is the integration of international trade, investment and finance and the internationalisation of production, resulting in the restructuring of the national and global economy. It has political, economic, social and cultural dimensions. Its current manifestation is the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

THE WTO

The World Trade Organisation is the only international organistion dealing with the rules of trade between national economies. Central to this organisation are Trade Agreements: the legal ground rules for international trade and policy-making. The Trade Agreements have three main objectives: to help trade flow as “freely” as possible; to achieve further trade liberalisation gradually through negotiation rounds; and to set up a body for setting trade disputes between countries.

The WTO replaces the former GATT institution, which used to deal only with trade goods. Now, the international agreements under the WTO also include services and intellectual property rights.

THE FTAA

The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a grouping of the 34 democratic countries of the western hemisphere (or western half of the world), which will have a single free trade arrangement. They are in the North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. The aims and objectives are summarised below:

Aims

• To remove barriers to trade and investment over time and thereby increase world trade.

• To avoid policies or measure that will have a negative effect on trade and investments in the hemisphere.

Aim of Negotiation

• To create a Free Trade Area that will follow what is set out by the WTO

Objectives

• Improved living standards and work conditions of all peoples in the Americas, and to better protect the environment.

• Full participation of all countries of the hemisphere.

• Recognising the differences in development and size of the economy
• Seeing to it that they receive the treatment that they deserve and desire

• Strengthen cooperation among the principal international institution in the hemisphere.
  
  
  

THE ISSUE

According to recently concluded research, “fifty years of trade liberalisation, under the aegis of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have led to unprecented increase in world output and greater economic integrated. These global gains, however, have not resulted in sustained increases in income per head in all countries. The theory of free trade predicts these gains, but as well points to the inevitability of losers in the process: that, under the certain circumstances, some factors of production and their owners will not be favoured by comparative advantage based trade and exchange. Political and social opposition to these losses, including sectoral dislocation and greater unemployment, have grown as world trade has grown, and has been heightened by the perception that the process of trade liberalisation is undemocratic in its governance and unbalanced against developing countries”. The present system does not focus on promoting justice, fairness or equity.

Trade has become an end in itself and promotes poverty for several sectors of the population.

GENDER IMPLICATION OF TRADE/LIBERALISATION

There are many problems with trade policy when looked at from a gender perspective.

Trade policy and trade liberalisation will have different implication for women and men in terms of social burden, earning, employment, poverty, survival and wealth generating strategies. The exact nature and future consequences of the effects of a particular trade regime on gender inequality and gender biases and the impact on women’s role in social reproduction and women’s position in labour markets as well as the business (entrepreurial) sector requires detailed examination.

The facilitator gave an overview of the negotiating process and the inability of Caribbean governments to have good representation, due to lack of personnel and finance. There was also reluctance on the part of governments to use the expertise of the NGOs.

GENDER AND TRADE INVESTMENT ISSUES – LITERATURE REVIEW

Sheila Stuart shared a very scholarly presentation on Gender and Trade Investment Issues resulting from a Literature Review on the subject.

The research revealed much of the available literature on trade and the Caribbean focus on the challenges facing the region, the economic vulnerability of Caribbean countries vis a vis their small size, the loss of preferential trading arrangements (particularly for bananas), the need for the Caribbean to become more competitive in the changing world economic order, the lack of financial resources and the technical capacity to adequately participate in the three major trade negotiations directly involving the Caribbean, namely the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the European Union – African, Caribbean and Pacific States Agreement (EU – ACP) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The glaring gap revealed in the literature reviewed is the almost total omission of gender analysis of the trade liberalisation process. Data on this area is therefore very scanty, although for a number of years several regional and international organisations have agreed that proposals submitted under the new trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA).

World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), are likely to increase women’s work loads and lead to a deterioration in their standard of living. The literature on gender and trade in the Caribbean is also extremely sparse. The major studies are the UNIFEM studies on the impact of regional trade agreements on women in the Caribbean, and studies carried out by CAFRA.

While some studies show that trade liberalisation has brought new economic opportunities for women in terms of employment, these benefits are often short-lived, and serve to worsen the situation of women. Trade liberalisation exploits gender inequalities, which is particularly evident in the employment sector where the wages paid to women are extremely low, with little or no benefits, working hours are long and the work environment contributes to ill-health, with little or no legal regulations to protect them.

A UNIFEM study on St. Lucia found that the negative impacts of the fall-out from the removal of the preferential trading arrangements for bananas resulted in the reduction in the spending power of both women and men, however, it was women who were disproportionately affected because they were the ones ho had the responsibility for the household in a way that men did not, and in many instances were the sole breadwinners of the household.

It is therefore important for policy makers, trade negotiators and all relevant stakeholders in the trade liberalisation process, to understand that trade policies are “neither gender blind nor gender neutral in their impact on women” in terms of employment, poverty, or on women’s overall social and economic circumstances.

GROUP WORK

Following a lively discussion on the presentations and the sharing of national experiences related to trade liberalisation, participants went into groups to come up with strategies for re-shaping the Agenda as follows:

1. What are the strategies that women’s organisations can employ to counteract the negative impact of trade liberalisation at the national, regional and international level?

2. How do we want international trade processes to be restructured?

3. How should gender-related concerns be integrated into the agenda of international trading processes.

The outcomes of the group reports would form the basis for a CAFRA statement on Globalisation and Trade Liberalisation, as a practical outcome of the Meeting.

NATIONAL/REGIONAL COMMITMENTS

Participants made individual commitments to carry forward the work, then sat in groups to develop national plans.

ECONOMIC LITERACY

Each participant was given a copy of the Economic Resource Kit on Trade Liberalisation produced by the Caribbean Policy Development Centre, as part of its work within the Caribbean Reference Group on Trade. This Resource Kit will be a tool for mobilizing and training around the issue.

SOUTH – SOUTH RURAL WOMEN’S NETWORK

A highlight of the Conference was the launching of the Caribbean Chapter of the South – South Rural Women’s Network. Each CAFRA Member country named an individual or organisational focal point for the Network. The background to this initiative is as follows:

Rural women from all regions of the South: Asia, Africa, Caribbean and Latin American, participated in both the NGO Global Forum and the UN FFD Conference in Monterrey, Mexico from March 14-22. Their activities included workshops, meeting and dialogue with officials from the World Bank and IMF. During these processes the following decisions came out:

• Formation of a South – South Rural Women’s Network

• Representatives of the Network plan to participate in the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002

• The Rural Women’s Network will develop project proposals in each region to seek donor funds to support representation in Johannesburg.

• A steering committee made up of one woman from each region in the Network will guide the process.

• Rural women in the Network will trade their products with each other.

• In Johannesburg each region will bring samples of their products for sale.

• The Rural Women’s Network will promote the concept of a Rural Women’s Development Bank. Women from each region will contribute $1 each and ask the World Bank to match the funds ten times as the initial capital for the Bank.

• The Network will work out the mechanisms for each region during the workshops in Johannesburg with the objective of ownership and partnership.

• The Women’s Bank in Venezuela, COWAN in Nigeria and SEWA in India will be asked to give technical assistance.
  
  
  The steering committee is comprised of:

  Name	Region
  Chief Bisi Ogunleye	African Region (Coordinator)
  Pam Rajput	Asia Region
  Nelcia Robinson	Caribbean Region
  Dora Avila Betancourt	Latin American Region
  Rosa Lizarde	Liaison

  FOLLOW – UP ACTION
  

  The Conference Declaration would be used at simultaneous activities in each of the CAFRA Member countries prior to the CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting scheduled for July 2002 in Guyana.

  Nelcia Robinson
  Coordinator
  CAFRA
  
  
  

  REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR KINDSLEY C.A. LAYNE, C.M.G.
  

  I bring you greetings and best wishes for a successful General Assembly on behalf of the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), which is the specialised agency representing the interests of women in the Inter-American System.

  Since its foundation at the Sixth International Conference of American States, held in Havana in 1928, the CIM has become an increasingly effective voice of the women of all the Americas. It has fought for their rights, guarded their interests, and promoted their progress, in cooperation with national, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations.

  The theme chosen for this General Assemble, “Women, Globalisation and Fair Trade”, is very germane at this period of our history. Indeed, terms like globalisation and trade liberalisation reflect the zeitgeist, and their ramifications affect the lives of all people, whether they are active participants in the processes or not. They are pervasive.

  In this hemisphere governments are engaged in an historic process, initiated at the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami, to establish the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), stretching from the Yukon in Canada to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, a territory over 40 million square kilometers, 800 million people and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over US$11 trillion. This is a monumental undertaking aimed at increasing the well being of all the people of the hemisphere. Mindful of historical experience, member states of the OAS are taking due precautions in the FTAA process to protect the best interests of the most vulnerable in our societies.

  At the First Ministerial Meeting on the Advancement of Women in Member States, April 27-28 2000, Washington, D.C. responsible ministers renewed their determination to combat all forms of discrimination and to promote equal rights and opportunities for men and women, for which measures must be taken in the area of gender equality, consonant with the progress made by the Fourth World Conference on Women and the organs of the United Nations. These initiatives constitute and integral and essential part of the Summits of the Americas Follow-up mechanisms.

  In June 2000, the OAS General Assembly approved the Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women’s Human Rights and Gender Equity and Equality. Among other things, this program calls for the 34 OAS member states to promote gender mainstreaming in their policies and programs, and for the OAS General Secretariat “to adopt, in coordination with the CIM, the measures needed to integrate the gender perspective in the execution of programs and activities by all organs, agencies and entities of the OAS.”

  The Secretariat will provide all organs of the OAS system with the training to incorporate the gender perspective in their work and to prepare suitable tools for attaining the goal of this program, which is to help ensure that projects and programs funded by the OAS benefit women and men, girls and boys, equally, equitable and appropriately – and that inequality is not perpetuated. On Wednesday, May 22nd in Washington, D.C. the OAS, through the CIM and the Canadian Agency for International Development (CIDA), launched a Gender Mainstreaming Project to address these mandates from the General Assembly. At the launching, the Secretary General of the OAS, César Gaviria, declared the project to be “imperative for building stronger, more prosperous democracies in the Americas”. He elaborated, “If the woman of the Americas don’t have the same access to opportunities as men, then we are failing in the responsibilities of democracy.” Initially, 200 OAS professionals at headquarters and 40 abroad, will be trained in the integration of a gender perspective in all phases of OAS projects.

  Currently, here in Suriname, as part of its gender mainstreaming activities, the Ministry responsible for women’s affairs, is conducting a series of training programs, through the OAS financed project, “Effective Personal Leadership for Women Managers in Government.” This project is aimed at enhancing the confidence, image and performance of qualified women in the workplace.

  Ladies and Gentlemen, CAFRA and the CIM are engaged in a common mission to improve the lives of our people.

  For my own part, I wish you much success in your deliberations, and some time to enjoy the offerings of this special country.

  ---

  CARIBBEAN ASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST RESEARCH & ACTION (CAFRA)

  CHAIRPERSON’S ADDRESS TO THE OPENING SESSION OF CAFRA’S FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  INTRODUCTION
  

  The story is told of the young man who came to an old woman with a bird in is hand. In an attempt to test her wisdom, he said “Tell me, Mother, is the bird living or dead? After thinking for a while, she said “The power is in your hands whether the bird lives or dies”. Well she knew that if she said “the bird is alive he would kill it; and if she said “the bird is dead”, he would let it fly.

  In the lecture on the occasion of her acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Toni Morrison interpreted this analogy as “language that has been lost to women, and the continuing attempts to deny women their voice”.

  In the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, there have been many manifestations and facilitation of that voice, both at individual and organizational level. Such a manifestation and facilitation is the Caribbean Association for Feminism Research and Action (CAFRA).

  Over the years, on this journey to social justice, from all walks of life, we are re-discovering language and using our voice.
  
  
  

  BACKGROUND
  

  CAFRA is a regional network of feminists, individual researchers, activist and women’s organization, which define feminist politics as a matter of both consciousness and action. Our membership spans the English, Dutch, French and Spanish Speaking Caribbean.

  We are committed to understanding the relationship between the oppression of women and other forms of oppression in the society, and we are working actively for change.

  CAFRA’s mission is to celebrate and channel the collective power of women for individual and societal transformation, thus creating a climate in which social justice is realized.

  Programmes, throughout the years were sustained by our Partners HIVOS, OXFAM, UNFIEM, Heinrich Boll Foundation (HBF), Women in Development Europe (WIDE), Inter-American Development Bank, British Department for International Development (DFID), the Caribbean Development Bank, and KULU Women in Development.\
  
  
  

  CHALLENGES
  

  The challenges over the years remained:

  (a) Accessing necessary human, financial, technical and physical resources

  (b) Harnessing the expertise of the membership and enhancing their capacity

  (c) Identifying and implementing projects for social transformation

  (d) Establishing strategic linkages at national, regional and international levels
  
  
  

  STRENGTHENING OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION
  

  In 1998, Women’s NGOs identified capacity building as an area of need. Since February 1999, CAFRA was part of a process with OXFA and the British Development Division for a Capacity Building Project for Civil Society Organizations. As a result of this process, CAFRA received resources for the following activities to be completed over a 4-year period:

  (a) Training in Governance, Social Marketing, and Advocacy, for replication among members.

  (b) Production of Manual for Board Members

  (c) Production of a Leadership Training Manual.

  (d) Translation of the Web site into, English, French, Spanish and Dutch

  All CAFRA National Committees have been involved in and benefited from these activities.

  This project has and Advisory Committee comprised of representatives from several regional NGOs and CAFRA holds the Chair.
  
  
  

  DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION TRAINING PROGRAMME
  

  The Domestic Violence Intervention Training Project for Police and Social Workers was implemented. The project is being implemented in three phases.

  Phase I involved production of the Training Manual. The process combined material from the CAFRA/UNIFEM Manual produced as part of the Campaign Against Violence to Women and Girls, and the Manual used by Suriname in that country’s training programme. The new Manual was then tested in the training of twelve Trainers.

  Phase II, these twelve training of two hundred police and social workers, from nineteen (19) Caribbean countries – Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Cayman Islands, St Lucia, St Kitts/Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos, Tortola, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Curacao.

  The training was done in two batches of 100 each in Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica, during June and July respectively.

  In Phase III of the Project, these new Trainers are undertaking the training of approximately 26,000 Police and Social Workers in the respective countries. Each country has an in-country coordinator and a National Steering Committee. All CAFRA National Committees in countries benefiting from the training are involved in delivering of the training wither as Coordinators or part of the Steering Committee. This phase is funded by the Caribbean Development Bank.

  The project is monitored by a Committee of Stakeholders, comprised of representatives from the Inter-American Development bank, Caribbean Development Bank, Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP), UNIFEM and CAFRA.
  
  
  

  BEIJING +5
  

  With the support of UNIFEM and OXFAM, CAFRA participated in the Beijing +5 process, and produced and NGO Alternative Report for submission to the United Nations Special Sessions.

  Two regional consultations were held in April and May to sensitize Directors of women’s Bureaus, and representatives of Women’s Organizations.

  CAFRA facilitated a one-day meeting in Antigua, with the Directors of Women’s Bureaus to critically examine the Draft Outcomes Document and prepare themselves for the negotiating process.

  The consultation with Women’s Organizations was held in St Kitts, and updated participants on what the implementation of the Platform for Action really meant for women.

  Following Beijing Special Session, CAFRA held a Regional Consultation in October to plan the way forward. There was need for continued public education on the twelve critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action, and in particular research on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Rights, and the impact of Migration.

  Other recommendations for future action were:

  • Lobbying Governments to move towards Poverty Eradication instead of Poverty Alleviation.
  • Exploring the Theorizing on Male Marginalization
  • Research the factors inhibiting women’s political participation, and how can CAFRA meet this challenge.
  • Discussion on Abortion and Sexual Orientation
  • Prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS
    
    
    

  ECONOMIC LITERACY
  

  Since, 1996, CAFRA has been involved in research and action around Trade Issues.

  One important activity in the year under review was an Economic Literacy Workshop to better equip the CAFRA staff, Board and general membership to better deliver information and training at national level. The main training tool was an Economic Literacy Manual, which includes:

  • A Facilitators Guide
  • Four Modules on
    • The Political Economy of the Caribbean
    • The Nuts and bolts of the Economy
    • Economic Policy Issues
    • Trade Liberalization and Globalization

  UNIFEM and the Caribbean Policy Development Center have committed to collaboration with CAFRA in further training. The possibility of establishing a Training Course through the UWI School of Continuing Education is also being explored.

  As part of the Caribbean Reference Group on Trade, CAFRA organized a Regional Consultation on the Free Trade Area of the Americas, involving the OECS countries. This consultation allowed CAFRA to strengthen links with the Leeward Islands, Grenada and St Lucia.
  
  
  

  NATIONAL COMMITTEES
  

  The National Committees are the veins and the arteries of the Association. They have in different ways kept the fires burning in their respective countries, and initiated or replicated important projects. I will highlight two activities from each country.

  Barbados:

  • (a) A Women in Politics Roundtable to reflect on how women in politics can be catalysts for transforming the politics, economics and sociology of Caribbean societies.
  • (b) Promoting Literacy through a Children’s Reading Club

  Belize:

  • (a) A Study on Domestic Violence in the Belize District
  • (b) A Public Forum on Older Persons in recognition of the International Year of the Elderly

  Bahamas

  • (a) A Campaign to make women aware of Breast Cancer prevention, detection and treatment, and the need for all pregnant women to take and HIV/AIDS Test
  • (b) A discussion series on Violence, Men and Women at the College of the Bahamas

  Cuba

  • (a) Research on the incidence of HIV/AIDS
  • (b) Research on Teenage Pregnancy

  Netherlands Antilles
  

  Curacao

  • (a) Course on Women and Political Decision making in Curacao
  • (b) Exhibition on the work of Women Artists

  Dominica

  • (a) Research on the Impact of Trade Agreements on Women
  • (b) Project for the supply of school uniforms and books to children in the Carib Territory

  Guyana

  • (a) Production of publication of a Reader for Women’s Studies
  • (b) Hosting a Conference on the Theme “Exploring the impact of Trade Liberalization on Women”.

  Jamaica

  • (a) Skills Training for economic development, parenting, domestic violence intervention and lobbying of government and other policy makers.
  • (b) Hosting the training of 100 trainers for Domestic Violence Intervention/Prevention Project.

  Puerto Rico

  • (a) A training programme for fifteen (15) young mothers in production and sale of medical plants.
  • (b) A Legal Training School for women to provide them with the skills to analyze and reflect on the traditional legal system.

  St Croix

  • (a) Activism on HIV/AIDS Prevention/Intervention
  • (b) Research on the Status of Women in the Virgin Islands in the area of Political involvement, HIV/AIDS and mental health

  St Vincent

  • (a) Workshop to discuss continuing education for girls whose primary and secondary education was interrupted due to pregnancy.
  • (b) Training for crop diversification to reduce dependency on bananas

  Dominican

  • (a) Organizing the 8th Feminist Encounter for Latin America and the Republic Caribbean
  • (b) Discussion Sessions ranging from Women and the Law to Creative Expression

  Suriname

  • (a) Seminar on Building a Culture of Human Rights
  • (b) Training of Police in Domestic Violence Intervention/Prevention Strategies

  St Lucia

  • (a) Research on the Impact of New Trade Agreements on Women.
  • (b) Forum on HIV/AIDS Prevention/Intervention

  Trinidad & Tobago

  • (a) Young Women’s Leadership Project and Production of a book on Tobago their mentors.
  • (b) Exchange project with Canada.
    
    
    

  ACHIEVEMENTS
  

  CAFRA can be justly proud of the boundaries it has crossed, by its very formation. Women did not see language, geography, geopolitical situations, culture or colonial status as barriers to women working together. They saw these challenges as reasons to work together.

  To address language, a Translation Technician is on staff, and the organization has just acquired the translation equipment you are now using. Our magazine is published in Spanish and English. Efforts are being made to include the other languages, Dutch and French. Progress is being made as the website is in the four languages.

  RESEARCH
  

  The Research Projects over the five-year period were:

  1. Tourism and the Sex Trade
  2. Incidence of Domestic Violence in Belize and Trinidad & Tobago
  3. Impact of Trade Liberalization on Women
  4. Women and the Lome Convention
  5. Teenage Pregnancy as a result of knowledge groups at the level of the health sector
  6. Risky Behaviours leading to HIV/AIDS Prevalence in Guyana and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
  7. NGO Alternative Report on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action
     
     
     

  FLAGSHIPS
  
  

  1997 Violence Against Women in the Caribbean

  A Policy study of state and non-state responses to violence against women.

  1998 Strengthening Leadership in the Women’s Movement.

  In collaboration with UNIFEM and HIVOS, CAFRA held a successful 2-day workshop in Grenada, on the Theme “Challenges and Perspectives for Women’s Leadership in the 21st Century”. The need for an value of research on the women’s movement in individual countries emerged as a key element in leadership for transformation of society, coupled with training for capacity building of the women’s organizations, Training needs identified were in the areas of organizational development, human resource management, proposal writing, fund raising, membership, negotiation skills and conflict resolution.
  
  

  1998 Women in Politics

  “Women in Power and Decision-Making” was the theme of a regional meeting held in Port of Spain, Trinidad from 15 – 19 may 1998. The meeting which brought together women leaders and activists from the Caribbean and the United States to share their personal experiences of being in positions of power and decision-making was hosted by CAFRA, the Network of NGOs for the Advancement of Women, the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Women’s Affairs and the United States Information Service.

  Participants reviewed regional developments in women’s political participation since the 1995 Beijing Conference on women, and shared experiences of leadership and power, and constituency building. The programme also included a satellite teleconference featuring prominent women politicians and activist from the Caribbean and the USA, and a public forum on the theme “Why Women? What Politics?” A major outcome of the meeting was the launching of the Caribbean sub-regional chapter of the Global network of Women in Politics with CAFRA as a member of the Steering Committee.
  
  

  1998 Meeting of Presiding Officers of the ECLAC AdHoc Committee on Population and Development

  The purpose of this meeting was to consider the draft report on the situation, and the action taken in Latin America and the Caribbean with respect to the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Programme of action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD-1994). CAFRA was privileged to be the NGO selected to participate in the meeting and as a resource person on gender and women’s empowerment because if its role in the preparatory process in ensuring that women’s empowerment remain priority with Caribbean Governments.
  
  

  1998 Trade

  Research was carried out in the Windward Islands of Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines on the impact of new trade agreements on the living conditions of women. Research was also conducted on how women had benefited from the Lome Convention, with a view to influencing the new agreement.

  Two significant Lobby Papers were produced:

  • The future of EU/ACP Development Cooperation
  • Women in the Windward Islands – Their stake in the banana industry.
    
    

  1999 Advocacy and Lobbying Skills Training

  With funds accessed trough the European Commission, Women in Development Europe (WIDE) supplied CAFRA with funds to conduct a Training Workshop in Advocacy and Lobbying skills to enhance their capacity to implement the Beijing Platform for Action. The project included training membership in computer technology, and a special session on political activism among young women.
  
  

  1999 Transformational Leadership

  CAFRA serves on the Advisory Committee of UNIFEM’s project on Transformational Leadership. This is a follow on to the Women’s Leadership workshop held in 1998 where the need for research on the women’s movement was identified. This project is designed to document the elements of transformational leadership.
  
  

  2000 Domestic Violence Intervention/Prevention

  The Domestic Violence Intervention/Prevention Training Project commenced and will ultimately train 26,000 Police and Social Workers in seventeen English-Speaking Caribbean Countries. The project is supported by UNIFEM, OXFAM, IDB, CDB, DFID and the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP)
  
  

  2000 Peggy Antrobus Symposium

  CAFRA co-hosted the Peggy Antrobus Symposium in November 2000.

  This symposium examined the work of Peggy Antrobus with a view to honoring her achievements, and drawing valuable lessons for the women’s movement. The opportunity was also used to recognize the contribution of other warriors in the women’s movement
  
  

  2000

  The CARICOM Secretariat invited CAFRA to participate in the Fourth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development held in Guyana from 4 – 6 October 2000. CAFRA successfully led an argument for retention of the Triennial Award for Women.
  
  

  2001

  Publication of CAFRA News focusing on HIV/AIDS Intervention/Prevention.

  Production of a CAFRA Position Paper on HIV/AIDS

  Production of a Manual on HIV/AIDS Prevention for Children from age 10 –

  Research on Government Trade Policy in the Caribbean.

  Launch of a Public Relations strategy including publication of a calendar, greeting cards, radio programme, community radio station, exhibitions.
  
  

  2002

  Publication of CAFRA News focusing on Feminism, and the involvement of young women.

  Purchasing of a permanent Secretariat for CAFRA

  Development of Gender Indicators for Projects and Programmes

  Hosting of the (Triennial) General Meeting

  Project designed to "Enable Sex Workers to realize their Human Rights through strategizing for access to adequate Health Care, including HIV/AIDS Intervention/Prevention".
  
  
  

  CONCLUSION
  

  As the 21st century unfolds, so do the critical issues affecting women and their communities. The social economic framework built by male-dominated structures is giving birth to cures that affect humanity, and an environment in which the male feels threatened. This has given rise to a backlash on women’s advancement.

  In addition to misinterpreting gender mainstreaming, women’s bureaus are undertaking work, which should be done by women’s NGOs, instead of focusing on policy matters.

  It is therefore critical that the Regional Women’s Movement be vibrant and focused, and herein lies the challenge Joann Kerr of AWID put it very clearly “The women’s movement has never been one singular movement, but multiple movements based in different realities, with their own local struggles. In an era of globalization, widening disparity and loss of local control, women are faced with the prospect of finding common solutions and creative models to advance women’s human rights”.

  Despite the studies we have made and the successes we have achieved, there is a tremendous amount of work to be done in order to ensure the enjoyment of equal rights and justice by all women, because the corridors to power are being even more jealously guarded by men now, because of what we have gained to date.

  We need to attract strong and committed young women into the movement and particularly into CAFRA to carry on the struggle into the future.

  We must continue to engage in all issues in the governance of our countries and within the region, our human and legal rights, our economic policies, budgetary allocations, conflict resolutions, health, crime and violence in all their forms, etcetera, etcetera. And must particularly, we must engage in the issue of the rights, care and protection of the children of the region, who must ensure are socialized, educated and sensitized with a deeply embedded sense of respect for each sex. We must do this in order to break the cycle of the continuing discrimination and endemic violence in our societies.

  We must not be despondent about our roles and the demands made on our time, we should rather, look forward with enthusiasm to each challenge. There is not much time left for a lot of us, so let us try to make each day count in our commitment to the goals of our Organization and thereby effect the individual and societal transformation which we seek for to create a just and peaceful world.

  ---

  Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action
  
  
  

  TRIBUTE TO PROFESSOR RHODA REDDOCK RECIPIENT OF THE CARICOM TRIENNIAL AWARD FOR WOMEN

  The Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) is pleased to pay tribute to Professor Rhoda Reddock, a Caribbean woman who has broken barriers for women, on being the recipient of the Seventh CARICOM Award for women.

  Rhoda Reddock is noted for her Scholarship and Leadership. She received a B.S. in Social Administration at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine and Mona and pursued her Masters Degree and Doctorate at the Hague, between 1980 and 1984.

  Her employment has been in the Teaching field at the tertiary and university level in Trinidad and Tobago where she encouraged critical thinking in her students. The experience has spanned Trinidad and Tobago, The Hague and the U.S.A.

  Rhoda’s Administrative experience has devised and supported research within the Institute of Social and Economic Research, which resulted in her expertise being in demand at the national, regional and international levels. She has given service on such prestigious Boards as the International Sociological Association (ISA), the Global Fund for Women and WADA Bagei, a journal of the Caribbean and its Diaspora. Her work has broken geopolitical barriers extending into all the regions of the world.

  She has readily shared her expertise in numerous lectures on behalf of UNDP, FAO, IICA, UWI, CARICOM, HIVOS and European Union. It is in the area of History and Research that Rhoda has broken some of the most significant barriers for women.

  She has brought women’s contributions out of the closet through brilliant works such as “Women, Labour and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago; Clotil Walcott and the Struggle of the Working Class Woman in Trinidad and Tobago; The Indentureship Experience; Indian Women in Trinidad and Tobago; Feminism and Feminist Thought”. A recent Claudia Jones visiting professor in African, New World Studies, Rhoda has to her credit five- book publications, and over 60 articles and book chapters.

  With this impressive background, her research led to an action of lasting significance for the region. Between 1980 and 1985, following attendance at a Seminar o Women and Social Reproduction in the region, Rhoda joined with Sonia Cuales, Honor Forde-Smith, Cynthia Ellis, Peggy Antrobus and Joan French in advancing the idea of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA). They wanted an organisation that would challenge the status quo and be a change agent for social justice.

  Rhoda spent time building this organisation, while she continued to achieve scholastic excellence. She became the organisation’s first Chairperson, being elected at the Third General Meeting held in Guyana in 1993.

  In almost a decade since then, she has walked with the organisation, steering it through a series of growing pains while establishing her own self as an institution in the region and internationally.

  In 1998 she was honoured by the Business and Professional Women’s Club of South Trinidad, and in 1992-1993, recipient of a Rockefeller Residency Fellowship to the Women’s Studies Programme, Hunter College of CUNY. Her book “Women, Labour and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago”, was named a Choice Magazine Best Academic Book for 1996.

  In 2000, five years after Beijing, when the Peggy Antrobus Symposium was held, she was one of the women honoured by the UN System for her walk with Peggy Antrobus and contribution to work for the advancement of women.

  CAFRA observed with pride Rhoda’s continuing leadership, as she was elevated to the position of Professor in 2001, and emerged with the U.W.I Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Administration, Research and Public Service, indeed for the relevance and dynamism of the programmes in her department the Centre for Gender and Development Studies. This is a staggering achievement for one who is not yet fifty!!

  In 2002, she is the recipient of the CARICOM Seventh Triennial Award for Women. CAFRA is justly proud of this Caribbean woman who has excelled, and we look forward to more from Rhoda, as “In womanhood she strides, one sure step at a time”

  ---

  CARIBBEAN ASSOCIATION FOR FEMINIST RESEARCH AND ACTION (CAFRA)
  DECLARATION ON WOMEN, GLOBALISATION AND FAIR TRADE

  We the members of CAFRA gathered at our 5th Triennial General Assembly in Paramaribo Suriname wish to register our concern with the current process of trade liberalization and the impact it is having on our societies.

  We believe that currently this process lacks transparency, is undemocratic and most of all creates an artificial division between social development concerns and trade. In particular we are concerned that these international trade processes do not explicitly take into consideration issues of gender and the differential impact that trade rules have on different sections of the population

  Further, CAFRA believes that these international trade processes must be reformulated and restructured to ensure sustainable development, poverty reduction and equity in and among countries.
  
  

  We the members of CAFRA therefore call for:

   Institutionalized entry points for the participation of civil society at the national, regional and international level. In particular recognizing that women are specially disadvantaged in the process, resources must be allocated to facilitate the participation of women and women’s organizations

   The dissemination of all positions taken by our national leaders as well as final positions adopted in the negotiations of these trade agreements

   Resources to be made available at the national level to facilitate public education and mobilization

   Governments to honor all the UN commitments made and ensure their inclusion in the trade agreements, specifically in relation to promoting women’s leadership and women’s participation in decision-making.

   The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to increase Special and Differential concessions to smaller economies

   Provide resources for the training of negotiators and civil society activist.

   National governments to support the development of alternative development strategies.
  
  

  As CAFRA we commit ourselves to ÇÇ
  

   Struggling against trade rules designed to have a negative impact on the vulnerable sectors within in our societies

   To provide grassroots education and awareness raising.

   To encourage the development of a fair trade initiative principally of women in the region

   Bridling alliances with other like organizations

   Contributing to furthering research on the impact of trade policies

  CAFRA also endorses the work and positions of the CPDC, CRG and CGTN on the impact of trade in the region.