WOCAN Director Jeannette Gurung conducted a Research Feedback and Planning Workshop for the project “Institutionalizing Gender-responsive Research & Development in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management through Women’s Networks” in collaboration with the CGIAR System-wide Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PRGA) partner in Kathmandu, Nepal, from July 17-24, 2006. Project participants from Laos, Sikkim, NE India and Nepal drew on their organizational analyses of gender in their agriculture and NRM organizations to develop plans for organizational change and the integration of mechanisms to respond to rural women’s needs for food security and agro-enterprise development. WOCAN and PRGA held meetings with staff and directors of partner organizations in Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nepal and Laos to gain their support for the Action Plans (pictured here at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Shillong, India).

WOCAN organized and facilitated the panel discussion on "Women's Leadership for Sustainable Rural Development" on 8th March 2006 for the International Conference in Agrarian Land Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD), in Porte Alegre, Brazil. Rosalud Jing de la Rosa, WOCAN Chairperson chaired and moderated the panel discussion while Everjoice Win, Magdalena Kropiwnicka, Eve Crowley and Kanchan Lama participated as panel speakers.

The session emphasized ensuring the rights of rural women to productive assets as well as promoting women leadership to advocate on sustainable development and policy adoption. Nepal's experience from the IFAD-supported leasehold forestry project illustrated how to create opportunities and space for women through strengthening women's leadership, networking, mentoring and building solidarity among women at all levels. Women's leadership has to deal with new challenges in the changing context and women must be equipped with new information, new technologies, and modern skills in order that they can equally compete with the rest of the world. Developing women as leaders needs to be built upon the concept of equality. WOCAN was also represented by Kanchan Lama in a side event sponsored by the Adelboden Group (Mountain Forum) where she advocated on the issue of mountain women's lack of access to land and other productive assets for meeting the bare needs of livelihood. She advocated on the need for ensuring women's access to land and productive assets through agrarian land reform and rural development interventions. WOCAN also participated in FAO organized SARD initiatives session where a review of SARD impact was held.

We are thrilled to re-launch the WOCAN website at www.wocan.org! The WOCAN website has been rebuilt to provide members with improved member services. Besides providing access to more information and resources, the website allows members to log-in and learn about each other through the Member Database, which is searchable by region, gender, age, language, field (sector), degree, needs and contributions to WOCAN. Members can read about the skilled women and men from over 70 countries who form our network, communicate with them directly to share research results or pose questions, or search for a partner for a collaborative initiative. The Members Only section of the site is the space available for members to post announcements, events, and publications that are relevant to the goals of WOCAN.

This summer WOCAN welcomed two interns into the organization. Annie Benko and Sabrina Kay worked with the Executive Director on a number of projects including the new website, a funding campaign and associated PR materials, a Communications Strategy and the WOCAN Strategic Plan. Annie is currently a Master’s Candidate in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Sabrina is an undergraduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA.

Thank you to our members for contributing the following news items:

• Master's Course: Larenstein University in the Netherlands offers a professional Master’s course with a specialization in Gender and Agriculture. The course is of interest for consultants who want to address gender issues in their work. The new academic year starts October 1, 2006. See http://www.larenstein.com/index.cfm? id=1030 for more details.
• New IFPRI Publication: Food Security in Practice: Using Gender Research in Development (Agnes R. Quisumbing and Bonnie McClafferty, 2006). This new practitioners' guide from the International Food Policy Research Institute bridges the gap between research and practice by providing up-to-date, relevant information on why and how gender issues, when taken into account, can improve the design, implementation, and effectiveness of development projects and policies. To download or order a copy, go to: h ttp://www.ifpri.org/pubs/fspractice/sp2.asp
• Classes at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival in Fletcher, NC in October. The three classes are condensed versions of Concord University’s Rural Tourism Development course and are entitled How to Increase Farm Income. The classes are targeted specifically toward women, hobby and small family farmers. The courses (1. Increasing Farm Income: Introduction & Overview; 2. Increasing Farm Income: Hard Copy Writing & Promotions; 3. Increasing Farm Income: Tourism Trail Development) are intensely hands-on and include resource materials, sources, etc.
• New e-magazine: Fiber Femmes, a new e-magazine was launched Jul/Aug 2006. Fiber Femmes will feature women across the world who are actively involved in fiber pursuits. The first three issues will feature women in the USA, Canada and Romania. www.fiberfemme s.com/ - www.fi berfemmes.blogspot.com/

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