About Beijing+10

What

The “B Plus Ten” cyber dialogues are a series of seven real time, online “global citizens chats” during the review of the Beijing Platform for Action (link to press release Beijing at ten) taking place at the United Nations in early March. The cyber dialogues will be linked to “GEM News”, the daily conference newspaper being produced by Gender Links (GL) from South Africa and the African Woman and Child Feature Service (AWC) from Kenya

Who

The core partners in the project are GL, the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network, the AWC, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the World Bank and Microsoft. Over fifty networking partners around the globe will facilitate daily discussions and Internet access to “chatters”. These include World Bank Public Information Offices and UNIFEM regional offices list of partners.

Why

The cyber dialogues aim to:

• Provide daily news and in-depth features on the Beijing Plus Ten Review.
• Encourage women, especially in Africa and in the South, to make their voices heard on key themes.
• Empower women in the use of ICTs and strengthen networking.
• Facilitate coverage of the review in the mainstream media through providing facts, figures, expert opinion, as well as diverse views and voices.

Dates and themes

The cyber dialogues will take place from 8am to 10am NEW YORK time each day

• Wednesday 2 March: Women’s rights, including reproductive health and education
• Thursday 3 March: The economy and sustainable development, including the impact of natural disasters.
• Friday 4 March: Gender and governance, including the 50/50 campaign; women’s leadership and women in peace building.
• Monday 7 March: HIV/AIDS including its links to gender violence and HIV/AIDS; prevention, treatment and care.
• Tuesday 8 March: International Women’s Day – Gender violence, including sexual violence as a weapon of war and trafficking of women.
• Wednesday 9 March: Media and communication, including the gender digital divide and challenging gender stereotypes through the media.
• Thursday 10 March: Looking ahead, including government structures; the women’s movement; young women and feminism and addressing backlash.

How to get involved

• Join the list serve by sending an e mail to kubi@genderlinks.org.za
• Read the highlights of GEM News: You will receive an e mail news summary before the chat begins on the main news of the day and key facts for the theme of the day fact sheets.
• Have a real chat: Get together with a group of people and have a live chat where you work, or where you can find access (e.g. the World Bank Public Information Centre in your country) before or after the start of the global Internet link up; or simply log in on your own wherever you may be.
• Chat in cyber space: Log onto www.cyberdialogue.org at the equivalent time to 8 am New York time (for example in Johannesburg this will be 3 pm; in Nairobi 4pm and in Mauritius 5pm). PLEASE CHECK WHAT TIME THIS IS IN YOUR COUNTRY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT. Please note that you can log on at any time during the two hour period from 8 am to 10 am New York time. Go to the chat room that is centrally displayed on the website and join the chat!!
• Make your voice count by voting in the poll question each day on www.cyberdialogue.org.
• Post a message on the bulletin board: At any time of the day from 2-10 March, you can post a message on the bulletin board by going to www.cyberdialogue.org.
• Read a summary of the day’s discussion: Later each day you can read a summary of the day’s discussion by going to the summary section of the cyber dialogues website.
• Read the full newspaper: During the conference you can read the full version of GEM News @B Plus Ten by going to www.genderlinks.org.za.
• Get the media interested: Get your local media interested in receiving stories tailored to their needs from the GEM News Service by sending an e mail to janmoolman@mweb.co.za.