Meeting Today

My apologies for not being able to make it to toay's conference call. I am traveling to DC for a Conference and will not be available before Monday.

I did want to follow up on our discussion last week and provide some clarification on my position as we move into today's meeting agenda. I simply wanted to elaborate on my comments regarding our relationship as an organization to Haitian women's voices in Haiti. I believe strongly that, as we carve out our mission and goals, we must take some time to consider the process of involvement and communication with our colleagues in Haiti. We should not rely on adhoc communications with women we know, but should establish some form of structure that goes beyond personal connections so as to include a network that is systemic/systematic in nature. Not sure if that makes sense. I understand that this is a difficult undertaking, but when you create new modes of engaging the world -- it never is. It also does not mean that there will always be agreement or that our interests will always be the same. But, by first having the guarantee of a structured presence by women on the ground in Haiti in our decision-making process, we will at a minimum be able to claim a different form of legitimacy vis a vis the other constituencies we will be engaging.

On the media front --which we will probably be discussing on Monday -- I see two priority goals and/or functions (some were already discussed at our last media meeting)

1. Our important role in telling and proopagating marginalized stories to consituencies in the international and US arena.


2. Media training of women in Haiti and providing tools and technical support to build strong media advocacy on the ground for their work.

MS