● Appointment of MWO-GEMSA office administrator. March 2007
●. In collaboration with the United Nations Development Program, we presented and launched three books, namely, Les Leker Koze/Speak Out/La Parole Libératrice – a series of true stories on survivors of gender violence and abused children , Zanfan Lalimier/Children of Light- a book with DVD on an empowerment programme through art therapy
for needy and vulnerable children and Mirror on the Media- Monitoring the media from a gender perspective during the 16 days campaign against gender violence. April 2007
● MWO organised a SADC Protocol on Gender and Development- Consultative meeting with Civil Society
There were 21 participants, coming form different NGOs, the ministry of women’s Rights, the UNDP and other partners. June 2007
● MWO-GEMSA Institution & Capacity Building Workshop
This 1 ½ day workshop was organized for the MWO-GEMSA members, to review the constitution and develop the organisation’s vision & mission statement, to discuss about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of MWO-GEMSA. And to set up an action plan for 2007/2008. The facilitators were Colleen Lowe Morna & Loga Virahsawmy.
● The launching ceremony of ‘At the Coalface, Gender & Local Government in Southern Africa. This ceremony was organized by MWO-GEMSA & Gender Links in collaboration with The Ministries of Local Government and Women’s Rights and was followed by a cocktail.
●Mainstreaming Gender in Local Government Workshop
This strategy workshop was held for councillors & high officials of Local Government to mainstream gender in local government. The facilitation was carried out by Colleen Lowe Morna, Susan Tolmay & Loga Virahsawmy. The participants were able to discuss about the presence and participation of women in local government and drafted a strategy for local government which was then, forwarded to the Minister of Local Government for adoption. Loga Virahsawmy and Saskia Naidoo had a meeting with the Minister of Local Government who promised to give a reply as soon as possible on the strategy. July 2007
● Exhibition on ‘Egalité des Sexes face aux Métiers’ in collaboration with Charles Baudelaire Cultural Centre & Chancegal (Reunion). It was an exhibition of 50 women and men pictures from Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Reunion Island. The aim of the exhibition was to break the stereotypes about ‘men’s and women’s’ work. The pictures are being used by Industrial and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Women’s Rights, Child Development, Family Welfare & Consumer Protection, whenever there is a symposium.
● Information Technology & Communication Training Course
The course was organised in collaboration with the Charles Telfair Institute for the local government councillors. The aim of the workshop was to familiarize the participants with the use of computers. Anushka Coy, lecturer of Charles Telfair Institute and member of MWO-GEMSA facilitated the workshop.
August 2007
●MWO-GEMSA was invited by Gender Links to form part of the delegation of NGO’s meeting in Lusaka, Zambia prior the Heads States Summit. Ameenah Sorefan who joined the SADC Protocol Alliance in Zambia reported that the SADC Protocol has been deferred to the next summit 2008 at the SADC Heads of States Summit. September 2007
● Finance and Budget Workshop
The ½ Day Workshop was held at Centre de Solidarite and the target group was mainly for women councillors and officers from local Government. The objective of the training was to get them accustomed with the finance world and thereby empowering them. The training was carried out by Saskia Loga Virahsawmy-Naidoo, fellow of the Chartered Association of Accountants, holder of a Masters in Business Administration and member of the Media Watch Organisation.
● MWO-GEMSA signed a memorandum of understanding with Women In Networking (WIN). It has been agreed that MWO and WIN will collaborate on project, but, each partner will keep its own independence and specificity. October 2007
●Launch of the groundbreaking study on Gender and Advertising in Southern Africa in the presence the Editor, Colleen Lowe Morna, the researchers and the Association of Advertising Agencies (AAA).
● Workshop with the AAA members and researchers. The objective of the workshop was to develop a gender code of ethics in advertising. Alerts and Complaints
MWO-GEMSA also sent complaints against sexist advertisements on billboards as well as a song, inciting violence against women, to the concerning authorities. As a result, the advertisements and song, have been removed and banned respectively. Sexual Offences Bill
A special Executive Committee of MWO-GEMSA prepared a memorandum on the gains and weaknesses of the Sexual Offences Bill and made some suggestions for amendments/additions to the bill which was then sent to the Select Committee appointed by the Speaker of the Mauritian General Assembly.
●MWO-GEMSA now forms part of the Multi-Sectoral Technical Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS which fights against discrimination and stigma on people living with HIV/AIDS. Loga is representing MWO on the Prime Minister’s Committee on HIV and AIDS. She has attended two meetings chaired by the Prime Minister. At a Validation Workshop in August 2007 the Ministry of Women and the UNDP officially announced that they have integrated the Action Plan against gender violence of MWO-GEMSA into the National one on “Domestic Violence”. The Plan will now go to cabinet. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in October 2007 with Women in Networking which is henceforth a partnership of the UNDP, Soroptimist International, Association des Femmes Chef d’Entreprises, Jeune Chambre Internationale and MWO-GEMSA. These five organisations will work together on projects. WIN has over 400 members.
21 May and 15 June 2016
POST 2015 Consultation Meeting
The Mauritius consultation meeting on the Post-2015 SADC Protocol on Gender and Development ahead of the SADC Gender Ministers meeting from 20th to 22nd June 2016 in Gaborone, Botswana, and SADC Heads of State Summit in Swaziland in August 2016 was held on the 21st May 2016 and 15th June 2016 respectively. The meeting was organised by the Mauritius SADC Gender Protocol Alliance under the aegis of Media Watch Organisation with support from Gender Links. The consultations are being convened by the Southern African Gender. Protocol Alliance country networks in partnership with Gender Ministries as part of a strategy to ensure a strong Post 2015 SADC Gender Agenda, based on Action and Results. The meeting aimed at position the Alliance network to lobby for a strong instrument that will make gender inequality history by 2030. November 2016
Participate in the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance workshop
Nesha Ramen the current SADC Protocol Alliance Focal person represented Mauritius in the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance meeting which was held in Harare Zimbabwe from 15th November 2016 to 17th November 2016. The main focus of the meeting was on the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance through capacity building for the economic justice and sexual reproductive health and rights clusters. The aim of the cluster meetings was to strengthen the Alliance’s work as it repositions itself for the Post -2015 agenda through bringing into effect the reviewed of SADC Gender Protocol. It was also to leverage on the expertise of cluster leads to provide overall guidance to strengthen the implementation of the Alliance economic justice and SRHR targets in the SADC Gender Protocol. This was being done in line with the recently adopted Protocol providing a springboard for the Alliance to mobilise, monitor and track its implementation. The cluster meeting was also to reinforce the Alliance by building a strong economic justice working group in the region which will overarch with the SADC regional strategy on Economic Empowerment of Women. Moreover, the cluster meetings were to promote a strong women’s movement around the theme areas of the Protocol, including Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR); monitor implementation of the Protocol through research. The outcome of the meetings was to build the capacity of civil society to engage with governments; advocate for the implementation of the Protocol, including now its alignment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
