If you’ve been inspired to get active for One World Action, click here for details of other events you could take part in!
Breaking Barriers, Building Change is an exhibition of ground breaking photographs of working women in India. In spite of India's economic growth, majority of its 1.1 billion population live on less than £1a day. Women workers bear the brunt of this poverty and are amongst the most exploited of India's poor. These photographs show them as they go about their work as vendors, construction workers and other jobs in India's informal economy.
The photographs were conceived and shot by Sanjay Kumar, Co-ordinator of SEWA Bharat. SEWA is the Self Employed Women's Association, a trade union movement of women workers in India and a partner of One World Action.
Co-ordinated by One World Action and funded the Department for International Development (DFID), the exhibition runs until June 6 at the House of Commons. Upon launching, it was viewed by Jeremy Corbyn MP (top photo, shown with One World Action chair Maureen Donnelly). On the right, One World Action volunteers Anne Mosley and Aad Wielaard explain the situation of women workers in India to Emily Thornberry MP.
To view these powerful photographs online, please click here.
_________________________________________________
One World Action partner COWLHA wins UNDP Red Ribbon Award
The Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS-Malawi (COWLHA) is among the 25 organisations to receive the Red Ribbon award for 2008 given out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The award is in recognition of COWLHA's exceptional work to empower and address the needs of People Living with HIV/AIDS. 
COWLHA has a membership of 20,000 women and girls in Malawi. One World Action supports them in their struggle to address the widespread stigma and discrimination they face within their families, communities and workplaces and in accessing healthcare and other government services. "They operate out of a one-room office with no telephones and a mouldy roof that is caving in, but this acknowledgement bears witness to their strength as a collective," says Wendy Ngoma, One World Action's Regional Co-ordinator for Africa. Please click here for more information on COWLHA.
The Red Ribbon award will be given out at the AIDS Conference to be held in Mexico in August 2008. The representatives from all winning organisations will host a Community Dialogue Space at the Global Village during the Conference.
_________________________________________________
MANET+ launches AIDS Candlelight Memorial
The 25th Annual International AIDS Candlelight Memorial will be launched in Malawi on May 18. One World Action partner MANET + (Malawi Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS) is part of the National Steering Committee in Malawi organising this global event.
The Candlelight Memorial is meant to remember those who have died of AIDS, raise awareness about the epidemic and support the rights of those who live with it. Initiated by the Global Health Council, this year's theme is "Never Give Up, Never Forget".
In Malawi, over 500,000 people have died of AIDS and and about 1 million live with HIV. Globally, over 28 million have died of the disease since 1981, and 42 million are living with HIV and AIDS.
MANET+ works to improve the quality of live of PLWHA (People Living With HIV AIDS) and to create an environment free of discrimination and stigma attached to HIV/AIDS. One World Action supports the preparatory activities for the Candlelight Memorial, through its partnership with MANET+.
For more information on the Memorial, please visit the MANET+ website and the Candelight Memorial website.
The photo in this article was taken from the MANET+ website and the image of the candle on the Homepage was taken from candlelight memorial.org.
_______________________________________________________________
International Women's Day 2008
One World Action took part in the celebrations for International Women's Day.
On Monday, March 10, we launched the report women's political participation at a reception at the House of Commons hosted by Baroness Margaret Prosser. The report, entitled Just Politics: Women Transforming Political Spaces, is based on the outcome of a dialogue among women leaders and politicians organised by One World Action in November 2007.
Guest speakers at the March 10 reception were Gillian Merron MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the DFID, Renana Jhabvala, President of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), and Maureen Donnelly, chair of One World Action's Board of Trustees.
Gillian Merron spoke of the need to make political spaces conducive for women's participation. She stressed the need for more women to be in key decision-making positions, which was crucial to tackling global poverty. She also expressed appreciation for One World Action's work in "championing women's rights and women's political participation in developing countries".
Meanwhile, Renana Jhablava recounted SEWA's struggles for recognition in India. "Women workers in India's informal economy are right in front of everyone--she is the street vendor, the construction worker, the home worker--yet they were invisible and not even considered as workers because they had no employers." Renana emphasized that the struggle for women's rights began by affirming the existence and importance of women.
SEWA is a trade union of informal workers in India, the largest membership organisation in the country with 1.1 million members. Renana and two other officers of SEWA were in London in the week leading up to International Women's Day for a series of meetings organised by One World Action. SEWA is a partner of One World Action.
