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- By ICUUW Staff
In-Country Partners
In the Philippines, ICUUW has partnered with the Women’s Association of UU Church of the Philippines (UUWA of UUCP) and Buhata Pinay (in English: “Do It, Filipina”), Inc., an NGO that focuses on micro finance, health, and education for women of Negros Island. In April 2019, the Philippine UU Women’s Association and ICUUW signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining key areas of collaboration.
Filipinas for Strength and Self-Determination Project (2021-22)
In June 2021, thanks to a grant received by ICUUW from the UU Funding Program, the UUCP has embarked on a project titled Kababayin-an alang sa Kalig-on Og Kabubut-on (Women for Strength and Self-Determination). The project strengthened women’s leadership in UU congregations in the Philippines and built the organizational capacity of the UUWA of UUCP. Monthly congregational visits provided a series of trainings on women’s rights and response against gender-based violence, discussions on organizational goals and objectives, and the creation of a new set of Bylaws. A progress report was published in our 2021 fall newsletter: Filipinas for Strength and Self-Determination
The new Bylaws were drafted by former ICUUW board member Roby Jean Ponsica and adopted in March 2022 at the UUWA General Assembly. New officers were subsequently elected.
The UUCP is restructuring (2022-24), and ICUUW looks forward to working with the UUWA or its equivalent in the future.
Violence Prevention (2016, 2019)
Violence against women is deeply entrenched in Philippine culture and society. Patriarchal beliefs of male dominance and unequal gender relations lie at the root of gender-based violence. Women are looked upon as second-class citizens, whose sole responsibilities are to stay home and take care of the house and the children. Awareness seminars and workshops are critical, for both women and men, to understand and deepen the understanding of the root causes of violence in the family, institutional structures, and society at large.
Through UU Funding Program grants, the UU Women’s Assn of Philippines conducted “Awareness of Violence Against Women and Children” (VAWC) programs in four UU communities in 2016: Banaybanay, Aquino, Ulay, and Nagbinlod. In 2019, two more congregations – Siapo and Kalumboyan – were involved in the training seminar titled “Awake Women & Men through Knowledge & Education” (AWAKE), thanks to a Faithify campaign that raised approximately $2,500 for this project.
UU women leaders Rev. Rebecca Sienes and former ICUUW board member Rev. Elvira (Elvie) Sienes designed the AWAKE program based on Elvie’s ideas and work experience with Tuburan, an NGO focusing on rural women’s empowerment.
Topics included an overview of the pre-colonial and colonial history of the Philippines to make participants aware about the status of women during the pre-colonial period and the subsequent foreign (Spanish and American) rule, when patriarchy became a dominant system.
Interactive sessions addressed Philippine culture and women’s and men’s self-perception, in gender-specific groups. Participants were acquainted with the 2004 Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act (VAWC) or RA 9262 is the legal act that defines violence against women and their children, provides for protective measures for victims, and prescribes penalties. This law has been significant in the protection of the rights of women and children against gender-based violence. For example, VAWC reports to the Philippine National Police have increased (49.4%) from 1997 to 2013. RA 9262 brochures as well as the form for requesting Protection Orders were distributed.
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- By ICUUW Staff
From the onset of the war in Ukraine, the Hungarian Unitarian Church and its charity organization Gondviselés (in English: Providence) have responded to the needs of refugees and those internally displaced. This is the fall 2022 update.
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- By ICUUW Staff
"We must all do more to lift up women and girls in every walk of life” (António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, 19 September 2022)
During the global health crisis, many women informal workers in Kenya - relying on daily wages - lost their livelihoods. COVID-19 has also exacerbated gender-based violence and health inequalities. In October 2022, ICUUW teamed up with Kenyan NGO Tunawiri Pamoja, founded by ICUUW board member Noel Lutomia, for a Faithify campaign to help 25 marginalized young Kenyan women thrive.
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- By Rev. Carol Huston, Chair, IWC's UN Advocacy Team, USA
As an organization in special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, IWC has been involved with the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) since 2017. CSW meets for two weeks in March, with a vibrant schedule of sessions, pre-COVID times in person, now in virtual space. This year we have been exploring ways to expand our interest in UN meetings at other times of the year. Carmen Capriles – an active UN civil society advocate from Bolivia and part of IWC’s Advocacy Team – is encouraging us to do this, first through sessions at the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) in July and then through UN General Assembly in September 2022.
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- By Debra Pritchard, ICUUW Board Member, USA
Climate change never affected my daily life until I lived for a decade on a Philippine island ...
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- By ICUUW Staff
From July 4 to 8, 2022, the Hungarian Unitarian Church – through its charity arm Gondviselés (in English: Providence) Organization – organized a summer camp for 21 Ukrainian children at the Unitarian Parsonage of Săndulești/Szind, Cluj/Kolozs County, Romania. The colorful program was led by three Ukrainian camp leaders and Rev. Zsolt Elekes, teacher of Unitarian religion at the Unitarian High School in Cluj/Kolozsvár.
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- By Zsófia Sztranyiczki, ICUUW Executive Director
Based on articles in two Hungarian-language newspapers in Romania.
© Photos by Iván D. Rohonyi and Iringó Tóth Gödri
On April 5, 2022, the Hungarian Unitarian Church – in collaboration with its Gondviselés (Providence) Charity Organization and the János Zsigmond Unitarian High School – launched a kindergarten class for Ukrainian refugee children within the premises of the Hungarian Unitarian Church's day care. This initiative is the first of its kind in Kolozsvár/Cluj, the third most populous city in Romania and the headquarters of the Hungarian Unitarian Church (HUC).
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- By Karen Kortsch, ICUUW President
Greetings, Members and Friends,
As we prepare to hold our Annual Meeting of Members on June 14, there is a lot of buzz about our membership program. It became apparent, through brief discussions at our Tuesday Gatherings, that not all of our friends understood how the membership program works. We encourage you to read our Membership Policy and fill out a membership form. We would like to have each of you a member of the ICUUW family! If you are not yet a member, please complete the online form and commit to supporting us in all the ways that you are able.
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- By the leadership of the Providence (Gondviselés) Charity Organization and the Cluj Refugee Task Force
From the onset of the war in Ukraine, the Hungarian Unitarian Church and Providence (Gondviselés), its charity organization, have responded to the needs of refugees and those internally displaced. Below we present the development of this charity work in recent weeks (17 April–28 May 2022).
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- By Zsófia Sztranyiczki, ICUUW Executive Director
On April 5, 2022, the Gondviselés (in English: Providence) Charity Organization of the Hungarian Unitarian Church launched a kindergarten class for 22 Ukrainian refugee children within the premises of the Hungarian Unitarian Church's Nursery School in Kolozsvár/Cluj. The contributions that Gondviselés received from various donors following the onset of the war – including funds raised by ICUUW through Faithify crowd funding and share-the-plate contributions – covered the cost to hire a certified kindergarten teacher and to provide a daily breakfast and warm lunch for the children.
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- By the leadership of the Providence Charity Organization and the Cluj Refugee Task Force
From the onset of the war in Ukraine, the Hungarian Unitarian Church and Providence (Gondviselés), its charity organization, have responded to the needs of refugees and internally displaced people in Ukraine. Below you will find the summary of their activities during the first month of the war and the development of their charity work in recent weeks (23 March - 17 April 2022). Donations to ICUUW's second round of fundraising effort will supply further assistance to families fleeing the war in Ukraine. We ask you to join our call for action to help ensure that women and children fleeing war in Ukraine know they are not alone at the most perilous moment of their lives.
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- By Jan Meslin and Zsófia Sztranyiczki
A Message of Welcome, Hope, and Resilience
In January 2022, ICUUW successfully completed its first U.S. project, focusing on building capacities and resilience of asylum-seeking women and their children. Funded in part by the UU Funding Program, the project also created tangible opportunities for UUs to build and continue the relationships with asylum-seeking families and to learn more about the U.S. immigration (deportation) system.
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- By Calixta Choque Churata and Zsófia Sztranyiczki
ICUUW’s project in District 7 of Viacha (near La Paz, the Bolivian capital) – supporting marginalized Bolivian women in becoming a powerful force for change in their families and communities by building income-generating and leadership skills as well as developing capacities for long-term success – resumed in October 2021, following a hiatus of 18 months brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.