UNPAC and Beijing: UNPAC grew out of the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing

Our Work

Becky and Jennifer, UNPAC staff



Most of our work today focuses on promoting women's economic equality. Our popular education workshops educate and engage women on the economic issues at play in their lives and give them skills and knowledge to promote their own and all women's economic equality. Our advocacy work promotes public policy that guarantees all women and their families an adequate standard of living and the programs and services they need in order to contribute to society at their fullest potential.

 

Women's Mentorship Project
The Women's Mentorship Project builds on the success of the Gender Budget Project whle continuing to promote women's economic equality. There are two aspects of the project. The first is offering workshops to diverse groups of women in Manitoba, primarily through community organizations. We offer a broad range of workshop topics from how to organize a campaign to working with the media to meeting with government decision-makers to how to be involved in an election. We recognize that women are finding creative ways to make change despite the financial constraints in their lives. Our workshops provide women with a forum to exchange ideas and learn new tools and knowledge to create positive change in their own lives and in the lives of their communities. The second aspect of the project is a year-long mentorship program called Change Makers. We work with a number of selected individuals - from both urban and rural Manitoba - to develop their leadership and facilitation skills. We offer bi-weekly workshops on topics such as workshop facilitation and design, conflict resolution, self-care and how to organize a grassroots community group. We support women as they work towards a project of their own choosing. Mentees receive ongoing instruction as a group, as well as one-on-one support and coaching.

For more information about our Women's Mentorship Project contact Jane Leverick, Project Coordinator, at inquiries@unpac.ca.

To see who is involved in our Women's Mentorship Project visit Project Credits.

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Gender Budget Project gender budget logo

One in five Manitoba women is living in poverty. At the same time, fewer than one-quarter of Manitoba’s Members of the Legislative Assembly, are women. As a result, not only are women in Manitoba on average poorer than men, they have fewer opportunities to participate in public processes, such as budgets, which can improve their condition. Inspired by the Beijing Platform for Action, UNPAC’s Gender Budget Project (2004-2007) continued the work of promoting women’s economic literacy which we began in our Women & Economy Project. During the course of the project we facilitated workshops with nearly 500 Manitoba women from diverse backgrounds. We taught women the basics of the budget process, learned what their budgetary priorities were and discussed ways to take action. We also worked with the Government of Manitoba and succesfully promoted gender analysis of the budget.

« Did you know that UNPAC’s Gender Budget Project was profiled at the World Urban Forum in Vancouver in June 2006 thanks to GROOTS Canada (Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood)?

Check out the link for more info and some great photos…


For more information visit Gender Budget Project.

To find out who was involved in our Gender Budget Project visit Project Credits.

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'Women and Economy' logo

Women & Economy Project

UNPAC initiated the Women and Economy project in May 2001 in response to the fact that, “There are considerable differences in women’s and men’s access to and opportunities to exert power over economic structures in their societies” (Beijing Platform for Action, 1995). The project worked to promote women’s economic literacy in Manitoba and beyond while making links between the global and local economic realities that women face. In June 2003 we launched (Photos of our Launch) our Women & Economy resources including the Women & Economy website, the 26-minute video Banging the Door Down: Women and the Economy, and a two volume resource book based on the website. For background and an overview of the Women & Economy project read the preface of our Women & Economy Resource Books. Since our launch we have continued to promote and distribute our resources and have begun work on our follow-up project on Gender Budgets.

To hear what others have to say about our project visit What the Critics are Saying.

To find out who was involved in our project visit Project Credits.

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Conference Reports

Facilitating a gender budget workshop
Facilitating a gender budget workshop

Communication with Government

Group intent on presentation
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Banging The Door Down: Women and the Economy [video]Women & the Economy [Resource Book]

Our Resources

UNPAC is happy to share our work with other organizations and individuals working for change. Our Gender Budget Workshop materials including many hand-outs and a large facilitation guide are available for other groups and individuals engaged in similar work to use. Download our resources here.

Our Femme Fiscale postcard series is available in hard copy by post.

UNPAC’s Women & Economy Video/DVD and Resource Books are a fabulous resource for teachers, community centres, libraries, and individuals who want to promote women’s equality.

To order our video, resource books or Femme Fiscale postcards download our Resources Order Form.

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