FAWCO's Report to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations for the Period 1997 through 2000
The Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (FAWCO) was founded in 1931 with the belief that enlightened women working together in different countries throughout the world could do much to achieve peace. FAWCO is today an international network of 77 independent clubs with a combined membership of over 17,000 women in 35 countries worldwide. It serves as a support network for American women living and working abroad and is particularly active in the fields of education, environmental protection, literacy, women's and children's rights, and U.S. citizen’s concerns. FAWCO is a not-for-profit corporation, and a founding member of the World Federation of Americans Abroad (WFAA). It is an international networking organization made up entirely of volunteers. Members are mainly American women, living and working abroad, some temporarily and some permanently.While each member club is independent and operates within the local community of its country, the FAWCO organization is incorporated as a not-for-profit, non-partisan, umbrella organization with its own officers, administration and philanthropic endeavors, and works in concert with the local member organizations. For more background information, visit FAWCO’s website at www.fawco.org.
Participation in ECOSOC and other UN Conferences
FAWCO has had an interest in international, social and community activism since its founding. After receiving NGO DPI status in 1995 and ECOSOC status in 1997, it has subsequently had regular representatives at UN headquarters in New York. These representatives have attended the 49th, 50th, 51st and 52nd annual DPI/NGO conferences, including Building Partnerships (1997), the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights (1998), the Globalized World: Finding New Directions (1999) and Global Solidarity (2000).
FAWCO representatives have also attended meetings on human rights during observation of International Women’s Day programs in 1998 and 1999 in NYC. In addition, representatives have attended meetings on the Commission on Population and Development in 1998 and the Hague Appeal for Peace in 1999. The ECOSOC representative also attended a UN conference on the question of Palestine in 1998.
The NYC representative attends the regular weekly briefings for NGO representatives reporting back on issues of interest on women, children, the environment, education and micro-development.
Besides NGO representatives in New York, FAWCO also has NGO representatives for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia/Pacific Region. The European representative attends regular meetings and reports on the activities of the Council on the Status of Women in Geneva. The FAWCO representative for the Middle East disperses information from the UN office in Vienna on issues related to justice, crime and the trafficking of women and children.
The NGO representative in NY attended the UN Millennium Forum for 2000. Attendance at the November CONGO meeting in Geneva by FAWCO’s current President, resulted in FAWCO joining CONGO in 2001.
ECOSOC Related Activities
Since 1967, the philanthropic arm of the Federation, the FAWCO Foundation, has diligently fulfilled its mandate to raise funds and administer them for charitable, scientific and educational purposes. It administers a Relief and Development program of grants to projects proposed by the individual member clubs to benefit mainly women and children in developing countries. Since 1997, these donations have grown from $5,000 to over $20,000 a year. These grants are in addition to fundraising for local projects in the member clubs countries.
In 1997, the FAWCO Foundation Relief and Development grants were awarded to: a photo-tracing project in Tanzania for refugee children; AMICA - a special project for refugee women and children in Bosnia; DESA - a refugee project in Croatia; and a locally sponsored reading and literacy program assisting women in the rural area of Tinzouline, Morocco.
In 1998, funds went to: a Kurdish women and children refugee center in Greece; a home for the disabled in Antigua; an orphanage project in Burkina Faso; and Children in Need - a Dutch charity helping children who were victims of Chernobyl.
In 1999, the grants were awarded to: a children's hospital in Russia; the Bellhouse Academy - a literacy project in Thika Kenya; Operation Angel - a humanitarian health center in Bajram Curri; a women's center in the Congo; the Philani Nutrition Center in South Africa; and Ripples and Rainbows - a resource center for street children in Calcutta.
In 2000, the Relief and Development awards went to: hospitals in Uganda to assist with the aids epidemic; the Monze mission in Zambia; a shelter for battered women in Madrid; and a micro-economic development project training tailors in Kenya.
The variety of the projects reflects the diversity and the wide interests of FAWCO's membership In addition to these Foundation sponsored activities, individual FAWCO member clubs around the world have contributed not only funds but countless volunteer hours to activities in the following areas.
Children's Rights
Donations to children's welfare organizations have always been a high priority for FAWCO members. Local clubs support nearby children's charities, orphanages and health care organizations such as Children in Crisis in the UK, Save the Children in Sweden, Children's Cancer Relief in Warsaw, Toys for Tots in Luxembourg and Aids and Children in Zurich.
Women's Rights
As a women's organization, women's rights have always been at the forefront of FAWCO's activities. Local clubs have raised money for many different projects related to women's rights and women's economic welfare. Clubs in Barcelona, Madrid, Surrey (England), Dublin, Dusseldorf, Austria, Denmark and The Hague regularly donate money and volunteer time to crisis centers for battered women.
Education
FAWCO's interest in multi-cultural education and literacy goes back to its earliest days. The FAWCO Foundation administers an awards program through which scholarship awards of hundreds of thousands of dollars have been granted for study to FAWCO members and their children in recognition of their academic excellence and all round achievement. Certain clubs award scholarships for local women to study in the USA.
The promotion of literacy has been part of FAWCO activities since its founding. FAWCO has a special committee, Peace through Knowledge, which strives to coordinate literacy programs in FAWCO clubs around the world and promote involvement in women's micro-development projects.
Another FAWCO committee, Educational Support, investigates services and options for overseas students with special challenges and learning disabilities, while lobbying to improve conditions for learning for these children with special challenges. The FAWCO Foundation also offers a special scholarship award for "Children Who Learn Differently".
Environment
The FAWCO environment committee has long promoted environmental awareness and responsibility by informing member clubs about environmental issues and encouraging member clubs to learn about and protect their own local environment. The committee offers "Starter Pack" to help clubs to set up their own environment committee locally. In addition the FAWCO Environment committee has been responsible for planting thousands of trees around the world, including over 2000 fruit tress that were planted in the FAWCO Millennium Forest in Morocco in October 2000 in conjunction with the Peace Corps. Many FAWCO clubs support tree planting and other environmental projects in their local communities.
The American Women's Club of Greece has for many years sponsored a beach cleanup program in Syros and a the Turtle Protection Project. Many FAWCO clubs are actively involved in The Clean Up the World effort on the third weekend in September each year and in local environmental awareness days.
Disaster Relief
Since the 1980's, FAWCO has had a Relief Fund to deal with world emergencies and disasters. Today the Emergency Relief Fund enables FAWCO to react quickly to any disaster, usually with the help of a local club. Special relief funds were granted in 1998 to assist victims of the bombing of the American Embassy in Kenya, in 1999 to Medicins sans Frontiers for refugees in Kosovo and again after the recent, devastating earthquake in India, FAWCO members immediately responded with donations knowing that their contributions could be administered quickly and efficiently. FAWCO member Clubs regularly support other UN NGO organizations by donating to the Red Cross, UNICEF, Oxfam and other institutions handling disaster relief situations.
Publications
The FAWCO Forum, the newsletter of the Federation, is published twice a year. It is sent to all 79 clubs for distribution to key people in local communities, embassies and consulates. It is also used for display in clubhouses and local libraries. It includes updates on regular UN NGO activities and related FAWCO committee issues and activities. In addition, the President of FAWCO sends out a 'Letter from Headquarters' to all clubs quarterly. Notices of UN conferences, local club fund raisers or up-coming events are listed. Individual clubs also publish monthly newsletters about what is happening in their local area and forwards these to the other FAWCO member clubs.
Internet
FAWCO is upgrading its communication system to the digital age. Much of the information which was previously sent by mail is now being received by email and via the organization's new website, www.fawco.org. The FAWCO NGO site will allow FAWCO to bring more up-to-date news to its 17,000 members around the world and to enhance the participation of members and member clubs in NGO-related activities.
Submitted May, 2001