Prize for Women's
Creativity in Rural Life

Prize Award Ceremony 2003 - 10th Anniversary

33 Laureates received Prize for women's creativity in rural life in 2003
bringing the total number of prize winners to 280 since inception in 1994

The necessity of empowering rural women remains undisputed and has been recognized as
a central objective in poverty alleviation strategies and programs.

On 15 October – World Rural Women’s Day - the Women's World Summit Foundation WWSF convened for the 10th consecutive year an award ceremony to honor the Laureates of the Prize in 2003. The ceremony took place at the Palais Wilson in the presence of Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan.

Four prize Laureates selected from among 32 winners attended the event:

• Betty Makoni from Zimbabwe who fights for children's rights in the village of hope
• Marta Benavides from El Salvador who creates a culture of peace
• Theresa Secord Hoffman from the USA who revives native indigenous basketry
• Association of Austrian Mountain Farmers who educate via a cabaret on rural development

The passionate presentations of the Laureates' grassroots projects to improve the quality of life in rural communities were well received and participants were moved to tears hearing about the challenges in rehabilitating 20'000 abused girls in Zimbabwe, soil management, maintaining water quality, organic farming and conflict resolution in El Salvador, the revival of ancient tribal basketry, the renaissance of tribal languages and the culture of the Penobscot Nation, and educating on rural development in Europe with humor.

In his keynote speech, Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Bertrand Ramcharan, emphasized "… You, who are active in government, in international activities and in civil society organizations, fighting for human rights or rural development, are the key partners in our struggle. Only you can figure out what will be the best strategies in each local community that will allow women to address the problems and build upon their strengths to claim their own rights. You already know about the human rights that the world has long agreed should be enjoyed by every woman - and every man. …Human rights is something that we must all "learn" and cannot easily be "taught"… Gender discrimination in access to land, credit, marketing services or modern technology is not only a factor in keeping women and rural families in poverty, bit also a major obstacle in the preservation of the environment and to sustainable development…"

Representing the Geneva State Government, Minister Micheline Spoerri, in her address honored the late High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio de Mello, for his commitment to the rights of women and children which needs to be pursued.

Musician Christoph Erard and his Mongolian partner delighted the audience with mostly traditional music from Mongolia which gave a spirit of celebration to the award ceremony.

Gilles Roch, WWSF member and friend, offered fresh fruit and vegetables for decoration and to the delight of participants who could help themselves, thus marking World Rural Women's Day - 15 October.

The Geneva Farmers' Women Union graciously offered the Reception following the award ceremony with delicious home made bread, vine, cheese and vegetables.

A special dinner in honor of the Laureates was co-hosted at the Hotel Beau-Rivage by the Geneva Diplomatic Club and WWSF, giving another opportunity to prize winners to share their work with donors, Ambassadors and members of the Club attending the dinner.

A 3-day Training Workshop on "How to create and maintain Circles of Compassion" (17-19 October) was offered by WWSF to Laureates and participants from 13 countries, introducing the ancient circle methodology for community building, decision making and program management and in the implementation of the UN Millennium Development goals.

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