Civil society representatives gathered in Perth today for the start of the three-day Commonwealth People’s Forum to discuss and debate key issues facing Commonwealth People. The Forum was officially opened by the Hon. Julia Gillard MP, Prime Minister of Australia in a ceremony also addressed by Premier of Western Australia, The

SI's UN Representative to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, Cinzia Palmi, attended the Committee on Food Security, 17 - 22 October 2011. This session coincided with World Food Week. During the World Food Week several meetings were held, mainly on food price volatility, voluntary guidelines on land tenure and natural

A recent global forum on schools and education for girls was held in New York, sponsored by a world renowned school for girls, The Emma Willard School of New York. Successful programmes, best practices and educational policy were presented by leaders in education, technology, media and government. The chair persons

Observance of the 2011 International Day of Older Person* was held in conjunction with the Department of Public Information (DPI), on October 6 in New York. The meeting underscored the progress made in changing attitudes, policies and programmes for older persons during the 10 years after the Madrid International Plan

Dr. Mussaret Anwar Sheikh, Chairperson Education, Associate Professor, Fatima Jinnah Women University and Federation Executive Councilor (FEC) Pakistan for Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (SIGBI) has won an award  in the Asia Best Business School Awards held at Suntec, Singapore. She is the first woman of Pakistan

By 2025 two-thirds of the world population could be living under water stress, creating conditions where water becomes an impediment to socio-economic development. Over 800 million people around the world lack access to a safe water source. 2.5 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. Poor or no access to

Dr Talat Pasha, Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland Assistant Programme Director for Goodwill and and Understanding, reports from Karachi. With many children still recovering from last year's devastating floods, up to 2.5 million children in Sindh have now been affected by the unusually heavy monsoon rains and floods

The Nobel Peace Prize 2011 has been awarded jointly to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work". Nobel Committee chairman, Thorbjorn Jagland, said: “We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace

WAGGGS is on the road to Rio+20 via the Climate Change Conference COP17 in Durban. To ensure the voices of girls and young women are heard in the negotiations on climate change and sustainable development, WAGGGS have launched the ‘we can save our planet’ campaign'. The campaign pulls together community

Today is Soroptimist International’s Club Friendship Day, celebrating the day that the very first Soroptimist Club was established in Oakland, California in 1921. Together, across continents and cultures, Soroptimists transform the lives of women and girls in need through local and international projects, friendship links with other clubs, and partnerships