Conferencia "Mujeres de Montañas"

Nos complacemos en informarles que la Conferencia "Mujeres de Montañas" se realizará del 7 al 10 de marzo del 2007 en el campus del Utah Valley State College en Orem, Utah - USA.

El resultado esperado del programa es incrementar la conciencia y movilizar los recursos de las instituciones para el desarrollo sostenible de comunidades de montañas del mundo, particularmente en mujeres y niños.

Queremos resaltar que el Mountain Forum estará representado por el Amy Krause, Líder del Nodo Norteamericano; y posiblemente, por la Dra. Sonia Salas, miembro del Consejo Directivo y representante latinoamericana del foro. Además, Michela Zucca, miembro de la Alianza para las Montañas y representante del Centre for Alpine Ecology será una de las expositoras

The first Women of the Mountains conference will be held March 07 – 10, 2007 on the campus of Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah, 35 minutes south of Salt Lake City. (A school of about 25,000 students near Brigham Young University – www.uvsc.edu.). The call for papers and registration have began December 01, 2006. All submission and registration will be via the web.

OBJETIVES

The intended outcome of the program is to raise awareness and mobilize support from institutions within the U.S. mountain states and global mountain entities to assist in the sustainable development of the mountain communities of the world, particularly as it applies to women and children. The recommendations and report from the conference will constitute a major section of the United Nations" Second Global Mountain Summit in Kyrgyzstan, “Bishkek+5,” in October 2007. This web site is hosted on UVSC servers to propagate information and stimulate dialogue. The program will address the critical issues impacting women and children in a conference held in the United States in odd numbered years and abroad in even numbered years. It is expected that the program will lay the cornerstone for a proposed “Regional Educational and Informational Network for the Rocky Mountains” which will cooperate with mountain institutes world-wide seeking sustainable development.

Women and Children"s ISSUES

For convenience sake the issues addressed by the program are broadly, but not exclusively, catalogued into six topics:

• Transmitting Family Values, Heritage & Culture: The role of women in the sustaining of family values, heritage and culture in mountain communities. Modern challenges to traditional family values, generational communication of culture and similar issues in the region.


• Health of Women & Children: Challenges of high rates of disease and mortality for mothers and children in mountain communities. New threats in the mountains: HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and other women"s health issues. Dealing with the problems of malnutrition, mutilation, abuse and the aftermath of terrorism.


• Education of Women & Children : Women"s and children"s education in highlands. Development of political, legislative and technological framework for the betterment of quality and availability of education. Practical implementation of the framework for the mountain communities. Technology, including use of modern ICT and distance education in remote regions.


• Economic Issues of Women & Children: Economic development in local communities. Family and gender policies of the regions. Women"s rights to property: issues of equal gender access. Environmental issues and poverty. Also, micro-credit issues and drug production / trafficking.


• Human Trafficking and Exploitation : Migration in the mountain areas and mistreatment of women and children. Measures for fighting human trafficking and sexual exploitation in mountain areas.


• Leadership for Women: Women in leadership roles in contemporary mountain regions. Developing women"s leadership capacities, women leadership in entrepreneurial development and governance.