World Rural Women's Day
15 October

Poster 2004

To see and print poster A4, click here (700 Ko)

The logo of the poster is Trademark Registered T and may be reproduced for information purposes without removing logos and names of the organiser and sponsors. The use for commercial purposes needs prior permission in writing from the campaign organizer. Reproduction of the Open Letter is permitted provided the source is mentioned.
Copyright WWSF 2004

 
see and print Open Letter (.pdf - 600 Ko)

Open Letter to Rural Women of the World - 2004
"Claim your right to decision-making!"

Dear Sisters,

We thank all who sent us a brief report of last year’s activities organized on the World Day 2003. Your organizations are featured on the 2004 poster and on Internet. We invite you to continue to mark the World Day and to register your participation with the attached form.

This year, we wish to empower you in claiming your right to decision-making at the legislative level so that your voices are heard both locally and in society at large. Until you are fully represented at senior levels of public, professional and economic leadership, you neither enjoy equal rights nor have an equal voice. The undervaluing of your contributions to development and your under-representation in decision-making are the source of much of your marginalisation. Your social and economic advancement has to be promoted within the framework of national development plans.

	Rural development is primarily the responsibility of each country’s government, its civil society and the people directly involved – and is predicated on an enabling national environment, which combines effective and coherent policies, good governance and accountable institutions. At the 1995 United Nations Beijing Women’s Conference (where the World Rural Women’s Day was launched) your government committed “to ensure your equal access to and full participation in structures and decision-making, and increase your capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership”.

Your voice can promote accountability and combat neglect from your government and donors. We encourage you to claim your right to participate in implementing and evaluating rural development programs, patterns of international trade and that external investments are adjusted. You play a very special role as users and managers of natural resources which derives from the primary responsibility you have for food security, water, fuel and family welfare in your households. You have therefore the right to co-create with men the space in which you live and decide for the future of society to which you give birth.

With the vast majority of the poor living in rural areas (three-quarters of the world’s poor), you are key to ensuring that your government listens to your call to put in place the right policies and services without which no farmer, entrepreneur or donor for that matter will be willing to invest. We, therefore, urge you to claim your right to be part of designing your development process and evaluate for yourself what you need and what you can contribute. You must be accorded the right to own and inherit land, and the system of land distribution must be transparent protecting the rights of the poor and weak in your societies.

What can you do ? Get involved, demand that your government

• Empower you by giving you a larger voice in decision-making processes on resource allocation and in the design, development and implementation of rural development strategies and programs
• Keep its commitment in giving you an enhanced role in all aspects of rural development, including agriculture, nutrition and food security, and in ensuring that your work is recognized and valued
• Provide you equal access to education, skill training, health care, property, credit and inheritance, and that local, national and international institutions advance your status and mainstream gender
• Establish and strengthen rural financial institutions, including micro-finance, savings and insurance facilities and cooperative ventures for your development and the development of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises
• Expand your access to safe drinking water and to basic sanitation
• Accelerate the process and facilitate implementation of information and communication technologies to help you be informed of vital issues concerning
• Give priority attention to policies and legislation to achieve well-defined and enforceable land and water use rights and the promotion of legal security of tenure, and guarantee your enhanced access to social services
• Strengthen rural health systems with particular attention to reducing maternal and infant mortality, infectious diseases, and provision of family planning
• Mainstream HIV/AIDS concerns into rural development planning, including poverty eradication and food security strategies.

	We hope this letter empowers you in claiming your right to decisionmaking and in lobbying your government to proclaim a National Rural Women’s Day on15 October, a Day for you to present your assessment and needs and request an annual rural development progress report.

Dear Sisters, remember : you are one among 1.6 billion rural women and represent about a quarter of the total world population. You produce on average more than half of all the food that is grown : up to 80 % in Africa, 60 % in Asia, between 30 and 40 % in Latin America and Western countries. You own only 2 % of the land, and receive only 1 % of all agricultural credit.
Your number living in poverty has doubled since 1970. Your voice needs to be heard NOW !

Elly Pradervand, Campaign coordinator - World Rural Women’s Day/
WWSF Executive Director

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