August 2001

MWI’S Reach To Canada And The World

The Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada (FWIC)

FWIC is a federation of provincial Women’s Institutes. The objectives of the Federation are:

• to provide a united national voice for all Women’s Institutes in Canada;
• to initiate national programs and provide resource material;
• to provide a medium for communication and cooperation among the units of the federation;
• to provide leadership in the promotion of Canadian agriculture and community living and,
• to develop responsible citizens through the study of issues of national importance.

The day-to-day business of the federation is governed by an Executive Council with representatives from provincial women’s institutes. Each provincial women’s institute elects a representative to the executive while provincial presidents serve as senior officers.

Triennial conventions sponsored by FWIC allow MWI members the opportunity to meet and share concerns with women from across the country. The next triennial convention will be held at Bishops University, Lennoxville, Quebec in 2003.

Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW)

ACWW, from its head office in London, England, is affiliated with rural women’s organizations in over 70 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, North America, the Pacific Rim and the South Pacific.

ACWW works closely with the United Nations and has consultative status with some of its agencies. ACWW’s Project Committee encourages member societies to support each other through educational project development. The committee oversees projects and trust fund allocations. By matching funds and working with UN agencies, ACWW has undertaken a number of projects including, to name only a few:

• co-action programs with UNESCO including;

• childcare programs in Brazil
• skills training in India

Members of provincial Women’s Institutes through the FWIC have helped fund several international projects and have made in-kind contributions. This quote from a letter of thanks received recently by the FWIC is just one example of how members of Women’s Institutes across Canada work internationally.

ACWW operates on a "shoe-string" and raises money for its administration and projects through donations from its member societies. Members of MWI are encouraged to donate "Pennies for Friendship."

ACWW holds a world conference every three years, which sees women from around the globe meeting to discuss issues of common concern to all women and to work for positive change. The last world conference was held in Hamilton, Ontario.  Manitoba Women's Institute was represented by 5 voting delegates and several other individual members.

Some of the resolutions made or sustained at the 22^nd ACWW Conference in Pretoria in 1998 include:

• Female circumcision: to ban genital mutilation in order to make the practice of female circumcision unacceptable.
• Sexual harassment: legislation should be introduced in the criminal laws of all countries against sexual harassment, be it physical or mental.
• Preservation of fish species: to take action on the issue of the preservation of fish species in the global coastal waters.
• Literacy: to eradicate illiteracy by establishing fully funded national literacy projects, implemented by partnerships of non government organizations (NGOs) and educational institutions.
• Women’s rights: to ensure that religion and culture not be misused to withhold from women and girls their basic rights to food, healthcare and self-determination.
• Land-mines: to support the world-wide campaign to ban the manufacture and use, storage and trade in anti-personnel land-mines, and to seek further progress in removing mines already laid across the world.
• Iodine deficiency: ACWW to investigate establishing a project to which worldwide membership could contribute to supply iodine to areas of the world where there is an iodine deficiency.
• Rural environment: to develop and implement policies to maintain the vitality of the countryside.