Message from the CEO
It seems such a long while since I have written a message for our newsletter and there is much I would like to share with you. IWDA is in a promising and powerful space, and I believe this is because we have sustained our energy and commitment to tackling the issues on gender equality that are ignored by the mainstream development agencies. You have been vital to this because you choose to support our vision and strategy. I can never say thank you enough.
IWDA’s new Strategic Plan is now in place and it takes bolder steps still. We are embracing global feminist thinking to ensure we both advance and protect the rights of women and girls in all our diversities. We are deliberately aligning ourselves with the Global Goals for Sustainable Development (the SDGs) in Australia and the region to both contribute to, and hold others accountable to, the gender equality targets we expect to reach in the next fifteen years.
We have now specified systemic change as a goal because we know that women’s rights and equity for all will never emerge until the systems and structures, attitudes and behaviours of our institutions change dramatically.
Our partnerships and investments will stick firmly with organisations in our region whose primary motivation is the promotion of women’s leadership and participation in both civil and political spaces. We will resource and join organisations, programs and coalitions who are strengthening women’s safety and security, knowing that this sees us addressing the ugliest expressions of human abuse or the most complex and difficult dialogues around definitions of security, conflict prevention and response. We will continue to ensure diverse women have both the power and opportunity to make and act on economic decisions and share in economic benefit, regardless of whether our work and roles are paid or unpaid.
We are proud of the impact and influence our movement building brings and we intend to expand our work in this area. Our research will continue to be game changing – just like the Individual Deprivation Measure which is now positioning for global use by some of the largest institutions in the world. We will continue to ask the hard questions and address the gaps in evidence and gender sensitive analysis. Our website gives you a full and colourful picture of what this all looks like in action. Please take a look.
IWDA will be vocal and visible in Australia, in the region, and in the world. I know you will be at our side. Thank you so much for your ongoing support. Here’s to the next magnificent chapter in IWDA’s herstory. Call us anytime.