Spring GWI E-Blast — May 16th, 2025

• GWI Triennial Planning
• CAMEUS
• International Service Project (ISP) in Zambia

• Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69)

• International Awards

It is my pleasure to forward this GWI E-Blast featuring items of interest relating to the GWI and CFUW connection as well as other international work being engaged in by CFUW. This edition will deal with the GWI Triennial in some detail.

The current area of concentration is the GWI Triennial being held at Lusaka, Zambia September 11-13, 2025. The GWI Triennial Planning sub-committee of the CFUW International Relations Standing Committee was formed September 2024 with Chair Joy Hurst (Past President), and members; Grace Hollett, Lynne Kent, Pat Patton, Tamara Stomp, Kathryn Wilkinson.

Knowing the certain submissions to GWI would require approval at the IR Committee and Board levels, we checked the GWI Constitution and GWI Triennial Circulars of  2022 to estimate dates for the IR work plan, and deadlines  for submissions to GWI. This proved to be very helpful as some deadlines were as close as 12 days from the notification e.g., Constitutional Amendments. CFUW has, however, responded to GWI on all calls for action. Although information has been distributed as received from GWI, a full record of items relating to the Triennia is contained in this GWl E-Blast.

• Resolutions:  Four previously accepted CFUW Resolutions were modified for global applicability and approved by the CFUW Board for forwarding to GWI. Those, (familiar to you from CFUW Policy Sessions of 2023 and 2024) are International Trade, Prevention of Maternal Death, Peatland Preservation and Deep Sea Ecosystems.

Currently, we are working with the GWI Resolutions Committee Convenor, Cats Sutherland on final wording that conforms to GWI’s requirements without compromising the CFUW thrust of the Resolutions.  in due course all proposed Advocacy resolutions accepted by the GWI resolution committee will be circulated and NFAs will be given an opportunity to provide feedback and propose amendments, much like the CFUW process, with proposers having the opportunity to modify the proposed resolution prior to the Triennial General Assembly meeting. GWI supporting clubs will be asked to provide feedback and the International Relations committee will co-ordinate and consolidate a CFUW response for submission prior to the GWI deadline for NFA response.

• Constitutional Amendments: Circular 7 was issued on March 29, 2025  calling for proposed amendments to the GWI constitution. A smaller group of the Triennial Committee, headed by Pat Patton, had reviewed the GWI constitution and   developed a list of proposed amendments which was taken to the IR committee. Those were approved by the CFUW Board and submitted by the deadline of April 10, 2025. A response was received, May 16, 2025 from GWI in the form of Circular 8.

The full list of CFUW’s proposed GWI constitutional amendments is here.

• Triennial Agenda: The draft agenda was circulated by GWI in Circular 2 on March 11th with a response date of April 30th.  The Planning committee reviewed it and submitted new items and other suggestions for the order of agenda items.  We are most concerned that an opportunity be available for NFA discussion ensuring GWI’s sustainability into the future. We asked that the budget and financial session be moved to earlier in the GA agenda. We also proposed that time on the agenda be dedicated for facilitated dialogue regarding NFA priorities and discussion about how GWI headquarters can advance those priorities and how NFAs can work together to further common areas of focus and action.

GWI released its 2024 Annual Report which included a financial section

Within CFUW we have found that the pre-AGM finance webinar has been well received and gives adequate time for member’s questions and dialogue regarding CFUW’s financial status. We have asked that GWI provide a pre-triennial finance workshop

• Call for Nominations to GWI Board and Committees:  GWI circular 3 speaks to Board eligibility and circular 4 outlines the process. We revised the Nominations form being submitted to CFUW and published it in Club Action News. The following nominations, all well-known members, had been approved by their Clubs and endorsed by CFUW National President, Linda Sestock. All nominations were approved for forwarding to GWI.

Note that on receipt of nominations, the GWI Nominations Committee interviews nominees, and works to have nominations in place for all positions, which may involve negotiating with nominees and others.

In the next E-Blast we will look more closely at the involvement CFUW have had in GWI committee work since the Triennial of 2022.

• Call for Delegates. We updated the form to be completed by delegates and other attendees, pointing out that only members from GWI-supporting Clubs should apply to be a delegate or alternate but a CFUW member from any Club may attend the Triennial. We asked all who plan to attend to complete the appropriate sections of the form and to pay close attention to the health information for travelling to Zambia.
• Registration information for GWI Triennial in Lasaka, Zambia Sept. 11-13: The registration information was received from GWI International News as an unnumbered circular on May 9th and was published same day in Club Action News. The online registration form is easy to complete.  The registration fee is 350 Swiss Francs and does not include food. This is $581.73 in Canadian dollars as of May 14, 2025. This correspondence includes tours. (See below.)
• Tours: A list is included along with the Registration information. However, before booking flights and a hotel room, you may need the dates and costs of the tours if you are considering spending additional time before or after the business meetings and conference. This information has been requested.
• Rooms: Hotels were selected by the Local Arrangements Committee. See their information here. Attendees must book their own rooms. The Local Arrangements Committee has been attempting to negotiate a conference rate but no news of this yet,
• Workshops and Interdisciplinary Seminar Papers: Workshops are allocated 90 minutes, Interdisciplinary Seminar Papers 20 minutes.

The themes for both types of presentation are:

1. Education and empowerment for women in diverse contexts: Pathways to a sustainable future.
2. What is a future context in which education, culture, gender and the economy will operate?
3. Gender-based cultural issues and barriers in education in relation to gender equity.
4. How relationships including intergenerational and community enable growth and sustainability.
5. Technology, AI, and Innovation: Relevance to Empowering Women for the Future.

Please see Circular 5 Workshops and Circular 6 Interdisciplinary Seminar Papers for additional details and submission process.

•  The time is very short as applications must be received by GWI by June 1st. Prior to that, applications to do a workshop or an Interdisciplinary Seminar Paper must be received by CFUW at execdir@cfuw-fcfdu.ca and vpinternational@cfuw.ca by May 28th Workshop applications will be forwarded directly to GWI by CFUW as required. Applications for the 20 minute Interdisciplinary Seminar Papers will be returned to the applicant for forwarding to GWI.

The CFUW lead and Chair of CAMEUS is Barbara DuMoulin, (Past VP International Relations 2022-2024). The information below is from her report.

Overview

CAMEUS, the North American regional affiliation of GWI members from CFUW, WG-USA, and FEMU of Mexico, focuses primarily on issues that migrant women and children face in our three countries due to social, political, and climate changes.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing our partnership was signed in March 2023 at the Mexican embassy in NYC while we were attending CSW67.

Recent Activities

We hold monthly meetings on Zoom. Our focus each fall is preparation for CSW and our own virtual presentation. This involves research, discussion about, and refinement of the topic, followed by a search for speakers from our respective countries.

• AT CSW69: In March 2025, CAMEUS presented a CSW69 virtual parallel session titled Recognizing Qualifications for Employment of Women Migrating to North America;. This focused on issues faced by educated migrant women in having their professional credentials accepted by host countries. This topic encompasses two perspectives—the necessity for host countries to ensure immigrants are competently trained, and the experiences and frustrations of individual migrants as they prepare for employment aligned with their qualifications.

The session is available on our CFUW YouTube channel HERE

• Follow-up to CSW69: CAMEUS Members will review the session. prepare summaries of the credential issues and discuss potential follow-up actions
• CSW70: Planning for the CAMEUS CSW70 presentation in March 2026 has begun. A preliminary topic under discussion is “The Impact of Immigration Policy on the Delivery of Health Care Services within our Three Countries.”
• Statement: We are working on a draft statement by CAMEUS to express our concerns over the political instability and hardships caused by changes in USA Government policies policies.

Future Possibilities for Research and Presentations

Due to the impact of international trade agreements on countries and individuals, we are considering hosting a webinar focusing on general trade agreements, with a specific emphasis on the USMCA.

Legislation and Advocacy

CAMEUS members regularly monitor actions and legislation within their countries affecting women and girls and share research through email.

• Zambia, location of the 2025 GWI Triennial, is also the location of the new ISP for 2025-2027.  CFUW is partnering with the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) in a school project, Young, Happy, Healthy & Safe (YHHS). This project will support girls learning about sexual and reproductive health in rural Eastern Zambia through health and rights information that can help protect them from early marriage and pregnancy, gender-based violence, HIV infection, caregiving responsibilities etc.
• The YHHS project works with whole communities, and is accessed primarily through close collaboration with schools, to encourage students to value and protect girls’ education. YHHS’s work advances the status of women and girls in rural Eastern Zambia by addressing the multifaceted barriers that prevent girls from accessing and completing their education. This area is one where child marriage rates are high.
• The full details for the project are currently being confirmed with the Stephen Lewis Foundation and a comprehensive overview of the project will be released later in May. We know, however, that we will be funding period supplies for girls and also clothing and school supplies for 60 girls and 60 boys.
• Pat Patton, chair of the CFUW ISP sub-committee and her committee members Larisa Hutcheson and Grace Hollett, are expecting this new project will garner Club support as did the 2024-2025 project in Nepal which exceeded the goal of $15,000 to purchase Mobile Learning Labs.

In March CFUW ‘s delegates, mainly self-funded, joined with thousands of other women around the globe to attend CSW 69 in New York City for in-person sessions during week one, and then followed up back home with virtual sessions during week two. Delegates attended a series of preparatory meetings with input from Mary Scott (attendee at Beijing 95), and received current materials from Sandra Thomson, CFUW’s UN Observer. This provided, also, opportunities to meet other women, including the evening   with those from other NFAs and the GWI President, Patrice Wellesley-Cole. We attended GWI’s presentations, and their networking breakfasts and evening dinner as well as the networking lunch hosted by WG-USA. The days were filled with sessions and all this is found in the report of CFUW at CSW69.

The CSW Planning committee with chair Dr. Linda Coles included representatives from WG-USA as they were hosting the presentation along with CFUW. In discussing the overall theme of the progress made and challenges remaining in fulfilling the Beijing 95 Program for Action, it was decided to focus on Education and the topic chosen was Educating Women and Girls: Advancing their Empowerment and Equality”.

Both WG-USA and CFUW found panelists and held a Zoom meeting with them to get acquainted and refine which aspect of the topic each would address. Before leaving for NYC a final practice was held. We were delighted to have such a group of knowledgeable panelists.

The presentation room was filled to capacity with over 125 attendees, when our session was presented. The attendance sheets showed that over 37 organizations, mostly international, were represented. In addition, several Canadian Senators were in attendance. Emails have been saved for future contact.

The committee will meet later this month for preliminary planning for CSW70 in March 2026. Committee members are Dr. Linda Coles, Dr. Elise Russo, Dr. Fay Weber, Barbara DuMoulin, Sandra Thomson, Grace Hollett (VP International) Heather Oxman (VP Advocacy)

Please check this week’s Club Action News for information about an extended deadline for applying for awards for international programs and activities your Club may have undertaken. The members of this sub-committee are Phyllis Scott (chair), Niki Carlan, Fiona Morrell Lhotka and Grace Hollett.

While the year’s program in many Clubs is beginning to wind down, the International involvement in the startup of a new ISP in Zambia continues, as does preparations for GWI Triennial of September 11-13 Triennial.

Please watch for updates in Club Action News.

Thanks to all who have contributed to the international outreach of CFUW!

Grace Hollett,

VP International