|
Nicola Bailey-Wood (Brackla/Bridgend WI) |
|
|
Nicola Bailey-Wood (Brackla/Bridgend WI) |
Public Affairs remit
The Public Affairs sub-committee has a remit to "keep members informed of issues
which relate to rural affairs,
social policy,
health policy,
consumer affairs, citizenship issues,
international affairs,
sustainable
development and the environment"
- Quite a wide range of topics!
(Click on underlined words to go to
relevant paragraph)
Obviously, a lot of these are addressed at a national level and we can all read
about these in the WI Life magazine.
However sometimes there are more local issues, concerns and actions that
we want to be able to share with you, so we have set up a Public Affairs Network
to help this happen.
Public Affairs Network
More than half of
We send out a quarterly newsletter to highlight:
For this to work effectively, there needs to be a 2-way flow of information and
ideas, and the Network acts as a channel for this. In this way we can all share
the best ideas and really make a difference.
Nationally,
the Public Affairs Department carries out the campaigning, lobbying, policy and
research work of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and NFWI Wales.
Our Public Affairs committee supports the work of these departments at
|
Women Reaching Women:
WRW is a three year project which the NFWI Public Affairs Department has
developed together with Oxfam and the Everyone Foundation, in response
to member's wishes that we widen our work on international issues. It is
part funded by the Dept. for International Development (DFID) and the
Co-operative Bank.
(click on picture for link to NFWI website) |
This 'awareness raising' project focuses on world poverty and gender inequality.
In the first year of this 3 year project the focus was on highlighting the
disproportionate effects of climate change on women. Climate change is already
making the lives of the world's 1.3 billion poorest people even more difficult,
and over 70% of these are women. Their traditional roles of providing and caring
for their families (fetching the water, finding the food etc) makes them even
more vulnerable to the changing climate. To bring these issues to the attention
of the members and the general public in Glamorgan, there was a launch event in
June 2009 at the Taliesin Theatre in
In 2010 the focus shifts to raising awareness of the
United Nations Millennium
Development Goals
These are
the eight goals:
Goal 1
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2
Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3
Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4
Reduce child mortality
Goal 5
Improve maternal health
Goal 6
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7
Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8
Develop a global partnership for development
The event is to be at the High Tide in
Porthcawl on Tuesday 16th March 2010 (close to International
Women's Day)
health policy
-
Science and Health
SCIENCE MADE SIMPLE –
many will remember last year’s event which combined an interactive demonstration
of
'How science helps us from the cradle to the grave' from
 |
remedies, Future hope'. Jayne Milner, historical re-enactor, clinical herbalist & roving apothecary talked about historical herbal remedies, highlighting how many of them are still effective today. Our other speaker was the Chief Exec of Alzeim Ltd, a company growing Welsh daffodils to produce an enzyme called galanthamine which is used in drugs to slow the progress of memory loss. Check out their work at www.alzeim.com Jayne's website is www.jaynemilner.com |
 |
* * * * *
|
Bees:
|
This
link
to the national website will remind you of the issues and of the actions
you can take.
In addition, Public Affairs have developed some quizzes,
especially for children, to help spread awareness of the problem – feel
free to copy these for your own family use – but don’t forget to test
yourself on the grown-up version. |
Wind Farms:
|
In July 2008 the GFWI Public Affairs sub-committee
organised
a visit to
the NPower Renewables
Ffynnon
Oer Wind Farm, Resolven, Neath.
The purpose of the visit was for the WI members to see
for themselves, the impact that wind-farms have on the environment. This
visit was linked to the WI's campaign on climate change.
The sixteen wind turbines supply enough power for
17,000 homes every year and save on average, 67,000 tonnes of carbon
dioxide emissions. There is a 'Habitat Management Plan' in place to
increase the biodiversity of the site and the turbines were surprisingly
quiet. |
|
 |
Say NO to plastic bags! 480 million single-use carrier bags were handed out in |
 |
The Wales Assembly Government has been consulting on its proposals to
introduce a charge for such bags. When
Local
|
- follow the link to read about their high-profile blitz in the town
centre. |
Go to
plasticbagfree.com to find out how Modbury in Devon became
REDUCE -
RE-USE - RECYCLE and
BAN PLASTIC BAGS IN YOUR LOCALITY !
|
'No More Violence Against Women' Campaign:
Full details of this extensive national campaign can be found on the NFWI website, along with details of actions that you can take. |
NFWI Wales is also actively involved and the full report of recent research into
whether women in rural areas suffer equally includes a separate analysis of the
responses from women in
Link
to the NFWI-Wales 'news and campaigns' page on the WI website. From this link
you can download the Wales Public Affairs Bulletins and keep up-to-date with how
national projects are dealt with in
* * * * *
Useful Websites
Link to the
Welsh Assembly Government Public Appointments
site
These web-pages are worth browsing through as there just might be a suitable
post for you!
* * * * *
|
E-mail glamorgan@btconnect.com |
