Ladies and Gentlemen,

Four reasons have pushed the UNESCO-PEER Culture of Peace Network programme to support and present FEMINENZA as a good partner to you today.

The first reason is that FEMINENZA’s ideas are timely in terms of the UN millennium goals. The UN has set 8 millennium goals that should be achieved between 1990 and 2015. I have found that FEMINENZA’s ideas support millennium goals 1, 3, and 6. The first says “Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger”. The third says “Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women”. The sixth UN Millennium development goal says, “Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases”. These millennium goals come from the millennium declaration that was signed in September 2000, by 189 countries including 147 heads of State.

The second reason that pushed UNESCO to support the FEMINENZA endeavour is the presence of many other UN instruments that advocate for the betterment of the lives of women. I could quote here resolution 1325 that was adopted by the UN Security Council at its 4213th meeting on October 21st, 2000. The Dar Es Salaam Declaration on Peace, Security, Democracy and Development in the Great Lakes Region is another very important UN and African Union instrument. Heads of State signed this declaration during the first summit of Heads of State, which was held from 19-20 November 2004 in Dar-Es Salaam. 41 UNESCO authorities and experts including Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO, strongly recommended to UNESCO the implementation of the Dar Es Salaam Declaration. This declaration also insists on implementing ways to stop violence against women and any human rights abuse, on education for a culture of peace, and millennium development (arts. 56, 65, 67, 71, 72, 73).

The third reason for the UNESCO-PEER Culture of Peace Network’s support of FEMINENZA is the existence of common views between the two organisations (UNESCO and FEMINENZA). As I already said at the January 10-13, 2006 conference, FEMINENZA has practically come up with a timely vision and belief that a woman has a huge part to play in the future of our common world. To fulfill that wonderful vision and belief, a woman should know herself better and act. Through this awareness, women according to FEMINENZA should push back the barriers of understanding the feminine gender and its possibilities as a positive force in the world. To achieve its goals, FEMINENZA is strongly involved in educational endeavours through workshops, seminars, courses, talks, retreats and sometimes material support.

The fourth reason is the outcome of the FEMINENZA UNESCO-PEER Conference held in January 1013, 2006. Mr Paul Gomis, From Monday October 2-4, 2006, FEMINENZA and I decided to go to Kisumu (500 Kms from Nairobi) and especially to Kisii (420 Kms from Nairobi). The purpose of the trip was two-fold. First of all we went to do the follow up of the January meeting. And secondly, we went to evaluate the educational impact of the conference at the grass-root level. During this trip, it was amazing and wonderful to hear from the grass-root level that the conference had had a very strong impact in a very creative way. People from the grass-roots addressed a lot of thanks to FEMINENZA and UNESCO- PEER for having supported the FEMINENZA conference. This explains why UNESCO, which is the UN agency dealing with Science, Education, Culture and Communication has to support FEMINENZA in any little, but possible ways. FEMINENZA is aware that UNESCO PEER has no money to help financially. It needs itself help for fund raising. But UNESCO PEER also has its power as one of the UN Agencies. Its friends can also become FEMINENZA’s friends. Because in Africa we say, “The friends of my friends are also my friends”. I believe that through that cooperation and collaboration, we will succeed and achieve our common objectives. Based on what I have said, I then recommend total cooperation and collaboration between UNESCO and FEMINENZA International and especially by signing today this MOU.

Thank you very much indeed. Emmanuel Muamba Kamuanga The UNESCO-PEER CPN Coordinator.