نشرة رقم 8 / يوليوز / تموز

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

This month we lost a courageous and inspiring leader. Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo was an activist, a scientist, a scholar, a socialist, a practicing Roman Catholic, and the only woman ever to serve as Prime Minister of Portugal. She held several ministerial posts and served as Portugal's Ambassador to UNESCO and a member of the European Parliament. Maria was a widely read writer who brought a feminist perspective to a range of issues from economics to religion. She maintained close ties to civil society organizations, especially feminist groups. We served consecutively as President of the Sisterhood is Global Institute and continued our collaboration in the years following as Co-Chairs of the Commission on Globalization. She helped me during the process of founding the Women's Learning Partnership as I worked with partners and colleagues to conceptualize our leadership program. I was proud to call her my friend. Maria's wisdom, dedication, and courage will be missed by the women's movements across the world. Her memory will be an inspiration to all who knew her.

Maria's life and work will live on in the struggles and aspirations of others. During the week of her passing I was in Beirut, Lebanon to participate in the meeting of the UN regional conference on Beijing+10 for Western Asia organized by ESCWA. Governmental and non-governmental delegations from countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia recounted their achievements during the decade since Beijing and the challenges they face in the years to come. Maria would have been proud and pleased to see that women, some of whom had not had the right to vote when she became Prime Minister in 1979, now hold significant government portfolios and work closely with non-governmental activists to overcome extraordinary impediments to change not only the status of women in their countries, but the very nature of socio-political and economic interaction in their region. Her wisdom and her example will be missed.

In this issue of Women's Learning Partnership's eNews we are pleased to report on the success of our recent week-long technology institute in Kabul, Afghanistan, "Information Technology Training for Women's Empowerment and Capacity Building," and to announce our newest publication, the Hausa edition of the "Leading To Choices" leadership training handbook.

Warmest Regards,

Mahnaz Afkhami
President
Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace

In this Issue

• Articles
• IT Training for Women’s Empowerment and Capacity-Building in Afghanistan
• Leadership Workshops in Morocco and Nigeria Create Hope for Social Change

• Latest News
• Arab Regional Conference Ten Years After Beijing
• WLP Partner Awarded 2004 Women’s Rights Prize
• New: Hausa Edition of WLP’s Leadership Handbook
• "Clash or Consensus" Human Security Conference Papers Now Online