PPSEAWA concluded a very successful 25th International Conference held in Suva, Fiji August 24-31, 2013, with the theme “Managing the Environment for a Sustainable and Peaceful World“. It was attended by 13 National delegations comprising over 200 women.
PPSEAWA International also celebrated its 85th birthday at this time. In this regard, first and foremost I would like to thank PPSEAWA Fiji for hosting and organizing this event, which permitted all of us to experience the warmth, friendship and hospitality not only of PPSEAWA Fiji but of the Fijian people. In addition, PPSEASAWA International acknowledges the generous support of the Government of Fiji through the Ministry of Women, Social, Welfare and Poverty Alleviation.
I also would like to thank the outgoing Council for their cooperation and diligent work during the last three years, without which we would not have been able to amend our by-laws and move forward.
I greatly appreciate the support of the PPSEAWA National organizations who supported my reelection for a second term, 2013-2016, in order to enable me to continue to work on behalf of PPSEAWA.
We have evolved and expanded the role of younger PPSEAWA members, with the assistance of our Youth Representatives, by appointing them to various International Council Committees, as well as by having a Youth Workshop at the Mid-Council meeting in Taipei in 2011 and by helping to fund a web site Goodness Inc., to create an online presence for the organization and to profile projects initiated and implemented by young women.
In addition, PPSEAWA sponsored a young woman from American Samoa to come to the Conference and present a paper “Deep Sea Drilling vs. Protection of the Marine Ecosystem”.
PPSEAWA has 16 active National Organizations and I was able to visit nine of them in the past three years. I will endeavor to continue to make personal contact with additional Organizations if time permits.
PPSEAWA’s position in the UN is the highest in our 85 years of existence, due to the dedicated work of PPSEAWA UN representatives at UN entities in New York, Bangkok, Geneva and Vienna on behalf of women and girls in order to make a difference in their lives.