International

One of the most fundamental stumbling blocks encountered and reported by the project partners of the WRRC-SWG was the difficulty of adequately addressing the many and diverse issues around the denial and oppression of women’s rights in sexuality, especially in the context of fundamentalist and anti-women ‘religious’ interpretations and practices, which are spreading in many parts of the globe, in particular, in Asian and African countries, with disastrous consequences for women’s rights and well-being.

While the first face-to-face WIPR meeting in June 2009 in Dakar, Senegal, had included only working group members, the second face-to-face meeting included working group members and representatives of eight organisations, which had been selected as project partners. In late 2009, in response to a call for proposals, the proposals of these eight organisations had selected through a rigorous review process, out of a total of sixteen proposals received. A second face-to-face workshop was thus organised to build the capacity of these partners to support the implementation of their projects.

This book is an integral part of the WRRC Programme. It presents the  strategies used by project partners to advance women’s rights in the face of culturally justified disempowerment anddiscusses their implementation in different contexts and in different thematic areas. This compilation is intended as a living resource, which will be amended and added to as women and organisations apply the strategies listed here to their own contexts, or try out new ones.