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- By Julie Steinbach, Co-Chair, ICUUW Outreach Committee, USA
Around 120 pilgrims - in person or online - attended the 36th Congress of International Association of Religious Freedom (IARF) in Cluj/Kolozsvár, Transylvania, Romania, September 4-6, 2023.
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- By ICUUW Staff
10 October
In observance of Hispanic Heritage Month – an annual celebration of the history and culture of the U.S. Latinx and Hispanic communities – we have invited Laura Molinar, co-founder and co-director of Sueños Sin Fronteras de Tejas (SSFTX) to talk about SSFTX’s work for immigrant and undocumented communities in San Antonio, TX, and about their newest grassroots organizing initiative for immigrant, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, currently being implemented in partnership with the International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women.
In addition, you will hear from Andrea Székely, board member of Gondviselés (Providence) Charity Organization of the Hungarian Unitarian Church. She will speak about Gondviselés’s work for Ukrainian refugees in Cluj/Kolozsvár, Transylvania, especially about their groundbreaking Ukrainian kindergarten and elementary school program.
Inclusive pricing allows you to register at the economic tier that honors your resources and this offering. Selecting the tier that is right for you ensures we can make this event accessible for all while compensating speakers and organizers for their labor — and for their work on behalf of women and girls. 80% of proceeds from all registration contributions will go to the work of ICUUW and 20% to the work of SSFTX and Gondviselés. Thank you for your support!
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- By ICUUW Staff
By Leaders of Sueños Sin Fronteras de Tejas, San Antonio, USA
Sueños Sin Fronteras de Tejas (SSFTX), a women-of-color-led collective based in San Antonio, TX, has embarked upon an impactful project titled "Building BIPOC power in San Antonio, TX: Justice, Healing, and Resistance," thanks to funding made possible by IWC via a UU Funding Program grant.
In spring of 2023, SSFTX hosted three participatory workshops focused on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) for the immigrant community in San Antonio, TX.
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- By Beth O’Connell, ICUUW Vice President, France
Two billion beverage bottles are used and discarded around the world every day, flooding the land and choking the waterways with plastic pollution. With dire messages from ecologists, it’s time to “turn off the tap” of this constant polluted flow of plastic, Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) told delegates at a meeting to develop a legally-binding instrument to end plastic pollution.
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- By Gizella Nagy, IWC Board Member, Romania
On 13 April 2023, I joined the Ukrainian aid shipment program of the Providence Organization of the Hungarian Unitarian Church, for the second time. This was Providence’s 8th aid mission since the outbreak of the war: since March 2022, the organization has been delivering humanitarian aid to Transcarpathia (southwest Ukraine) and the war zone (Odesa and Mykolaiv area). This time we came to Berehove, the Diaconal Coordination Center of the Transcarpathian Reformed Church. The shipment included an 18-kW generator, a pallet of canned food and cooking oil, 30 tourniquets, and 400 wax candles.
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- By Karen Kortsch, ICUUW President
Dear Members and Friends,
As I prepare to go to the UUA General Assembly in Pittsburgh, PA this month, I hold in awe our accomplishments around the world. We had our first post-pandemic in-person gathering at the UN for the 67th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March, filed our first quadrennial report to the UN Economic and Social Council, and we are planning our first in-person Convocation since 2017. We have so much to celebrate, and yet the struggle for gender equality continues, complicated by many setbacks during the pandemic.
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- By Noel Lutomia, Founder of Tunawiri Pamoja, Kenya
The Tunawiri Pamoja's Young Women's Business Program in Mumias (Western Kenya), implemented in partnership with the International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women, is focusing on building young women’s capacities in the informal economy for long-term success.
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- By ICUUW Staff
On-the-Ground Partner
ICUUW's main partner in Romania is UNOSZ, the National Association of Unitarian Women of Romania; and in Hungary, MUNOSZ, the National Association of Unitarian Women of Hungary. In August 2013, ICUUW signed a formal agreement with UNOSZ, laying out areas of collaboration and specific organizational sharing.
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- By Noel Lutomia, Project Manager, Tunawiri Pamoja
Tunawiri Pamoja’s “Young Women's Business Program” in Mumias town, Kakamega county, Western Kenya aims to develop young Kenyan women’s capacities for long-term success by providing knowledge, skills, resources, and tools regarding land and property rights, family planning, as well as basic business and leadership skills.
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- By Debra Pritchard, ICUUW Board Member, USA
The meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP) is held yearly for two weeks. It is a multi-level event and the culmination of a year’s work by hundreds of thousands of people; about 30,000 representatives attended the 27th meeting in November 2022 (COP 27).COP 27 was held in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
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- By Peg Swain, ICUUW Board Member, USA
The UU Funding Program awarded a $10,000 grant and a $5,000 challenge grant to IWC for a project in collaboration with Sueños Sin Fronteras de Tejas (SSFTX), a Latinx, WOC-led advocacy collective.“Building BIPOC power in San Antonio, TX: Justice, Healing, and Resistance” promotes reproductive, immigrant, healing, and economic justice through community-led practices that support the livelihoods, visions, and leadership development of low-income, immigrant, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in San Antonio, TX.
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- By Karen Kortsch, ICUUW President
Beloved Members and Friends,
We at IWC are working in many different ways to bring us closer to a more gender-equal world. Gender inequality is a multifaceted issue; finding solutions requires an intersectional approach so that no one is left behind.
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- By Karen Kortsch, ICUUW President
Greetings, Members and Friends,
Whether the result of war, climate change, restrictive reproductive health and rights, or gender-based violence, women’s basic human rights are being violated around the world at an alarming rate.