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Advocacy

Oct, 26

Advocacy, Dining For Women

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Dining for Women Advocacy Update

Advocacy, as I heard recently in a webinar on human migration and child health, is no longer an elective pursuit. It is the positive actions we take to make change. Right now, public health is our priority as the world is facing a once-in-a-generation pandemic. COVID has and will continue to change the world as we know it, and the most marginalized— women and girls—are suffering the most. As the Gates Foundation said recently in its 2020 Goalkeepers Report: “We’ve been set back about 25 years in 25 weeks.” It further states that “What the world does in the next few months matters a great deal.” Details

27
Aug

Advocacy

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Congress Left DC: Time to Make Noise in the Media!

By Ken Patterson, Director, Grassroots Impact for RESULTS, DFW’s Advocacy Partner

Congress left DC for the long August recess with no agreement on a Covid-19 supplemental spending bill. This has left millions of people in the U.S. and around the world in dangerous predicaments. Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in low- and middle-income countries are struggling to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on regular efforts to combat diseases, vaccinate children, provide basic maternal care, combat malnutrition, and provide basic education. (See graphic on COVID-19 impact on global health.) Some are projecting that progress on global health could be set back 10-20 years. And women and girls are impacted the most! Details

31
Jul

Advocacy

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A DFW Member’s Advocacy Experience

By Tonnie Cummings, member of WA, Vancouver-1

 

I have been a member of the Vancouver, WA chapter of Dining for Women (DFW) for 10 years. A couple of months ago, I decided I wanted to take a more active role in helping marginalized women and girls. I looked at the DFW Advocacy Chapter webpage, where I learned about DFW’s partnership with RESULTS. RESULTS is a grassroots organization that promotes policies to end global poverty. Their goals dovetail nicely with DFW’s. I participated in the June DFW Advocacy Chapter meeting and a RESULTS orientation call, and then I joined my local RESULTS chapter. My timing was perfect! Details

Jun, 25

Advocacy

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Raise Your Voices for a Global Response to the Global Pandemic

June has been a very busy month for our DFW Advocacy Chapter with RESULTS. On June 17, we had our chapter’s monthly webinar and learned about giving an “EPIC Laser Talk” when talking with our members of Congress. The EPIC format is used effectively by our partner, RESULTS, and stands for:  Engage, Problem, Illustrate or Inform, and Call to Action. Details

May, 27

Advocacy

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Update: DFW Advocacy Chapter with RESULTS

By Leslye Heilig, DFW Advocacy Committee Chair

 

We have now held our third monthly advocacy meeting since we launched our partnership with RESULTS. I am so encouraged by the interest and the active participation. We can change the world, now with one letter to the editor at a time. Advocacy is a positive and rewarding activity, one that holds more value with each additional day of this pandemic and new world we are navigating.  Details

28
Apr

Advocacy

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Advocacy Chapter with RESULTS Update

When Rep. William Timmons (SC-4) signed a letter supporting an additional $1 billion in funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, it sent minor shock waves among groups that advocate for Global Fund support. Rep. Timmons’ participation was important because he is a newcomer to these types of letters and could help influence other SC representatives. People were asking around DC, “Who got Timmons to sign on?” and the answer came back to them: “It happened because of DFW members working with RESULTS!” Thank you to Rep. Timmons, and a huge THANK YOU to the DFW members who contacted and encouraged their local representatives to urge them to take action. Details

1
Jun

Advocacy

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Millions of Women and Girls Are Threatened by Cuts to U.S. Foreign Aid

By Betsy Dunklin, Chair of Dining for Women’s Advocacy Committee

Experts on the well-received advocacy panel at our National Conference (see photo) emphasized that NOW is the perfect time to add your voice to your dollars to help impoverished women and girls in developing countries.

Action on the just-passed FY2018 and proposed FY2019 budgets is taking place in both the House and Senate over the next month or so. The Administration has proposed a more than 30% cut to the International Affairs (IA) budget for FY2019. The IA budget is historically just 1% of the total US budget. Details

Apr, 26

Advocacy, Dining For Women

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Act Now to Impact the 2019 Foreign Aid Budget

By Betsy Dunklin, Advocacy Committee Chair

 

Support is growing internationally to put women and girls at the core of a country’s foreign aid to end extreme poverty.  Will you add your voice to keep the U.S. moving in this direction? Now is a perfect time to tell your representatives in Congress how you feel. It is especially important to counter the administration’s renewed proposal to slash programs aimed at global poverty reduction. Details

Oct, 26

Advocacy

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U.S. Foreign Aid, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

Dining for Women is collaborating with Oxfam America to elevate the importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment in U.S. foreign aid. Oxfam, a global social justice organization working to end extreme poverty, offers resources and a depth of experience in this field that is valuable to Dining for Women as we develop our Grassroots Advocacy Program. We, in turn, have an extensive network of members passionate about improving the lives of women and girls in developing nations. By combining forces, we can increase the emphasis on U.S. foreign aid focusing on gender equality.

Details

27
Sep

Advocacy, Dining For Women

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Understanding the International Affairs Piece of the Federal Budget Pie

By Nancy Jacobsen, member of DFW’s Advocacy Committee and the CA, Tiburon-1 chapter

Remember the pie chart from the Advocacy Committee blog in the September issue of The Dish? Many of you may have been surprised to learn that only 1% of the U.S. federal budget goes to international affairs. This month, we are going to dive more deeply into how that 1% is broken down and how the federal budget, including the amount designated for international affairs, is determined. It is important to know how this process works if we are to understand how we, as DFW members, can make an impact on behalf of women and girls. Details

28
Aug

Advocacy, Dining For Women

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U.S. Foreign Aid: Dispelling the Myths

In Tajikistan, Mahkfirat Saidrahmonova is showing other women in her community what it takes to successfully run subsistence farms thanks to a program called Feed the Future.

In Afghanistan, a challenging but rewarding internship program is providing Sayeda Korga with job skills that will give her independence and economic security as part of a program called Promote: Women in Government. Details

May, 30

Advocacy, Dining For Women

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U.S. Foreign Assistance: An Issue for Women and Girls

By Betsy Dunklin, Dining for Women Advocacy Committee Chair

Did you see that ecstatic dance of joy at the end of the video on Mali Health, our May grantee? It epitomizes what Dining for Women members often note, that despite extreme poverty and oppression, these women find happiness from their new-found skills, their support of one another, and, perhaps most of all, a sense of power and control over their own lives. And they use this to change the power dynamics within their families, their communities, and their nations. Details

29
Mar

Advocacy, Best Practices, Chapters, For chapters, For leaders

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Advocacy: A Best Practice to Change the World

By Betsy Dunklin, DFW Advocacy Committee Chair

When our board of directors adopted advocacy as one of DFW’s four programs, it put into place something that many members have been requesting for years. In fact, at DFW’s national conference in 2013, members called for a plan to add our voices to our dollars. They wanted DFW to have a larger role, through advocacy, in setting U.S. public policy related to poverty and inequality for women and girls in developing nations. Making advocacy part of DFW’s 2020 Vision is exciting because it means we can make an even bigger impact — by combining our collective donations, our collective knowledge, and our collective voices! Details