Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives
 MWI’S Reach To Canada And The World |
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 The Federated
Women’s Institutes of Canada (FWIC)
FWIC is a federation of provincial Women’s Institutes. The objectives of the Federation are:
The day-to-day business of the federation is governed by an Executive Council with representatives from provincial women’s institutes. Each provincial women’s institute elects a representative to the executive while provincial presidents serve as senior officers. Triennial conventions sponsored by FWIC allow MWI members the opportunity to meet and share concerns with women from across the country. The next triennial convention will be held at Bishops University, Lennoxville, Quebec in 2003.
ACWW, from its head office in London, England, is affiliated with rural women’s organizations in over 70 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, North America, the Pacific Rim and the South Pacific. ACWW works closely with the United Nations and has consultative status with some of its agencies. ACWW’s Project Committee encourages member societies to support each other through educational project development. The committee oversees projects and trust fund allocations. By matching funds and working with UN agencies, ACWW has undertaken a number of projects including, to name only a few:
Members of provincial Women’s Institutes through the FWIC have helped fund several international projects and have made in-kind contributions. This quote from a letter of thanks received recently by the FWIC is just one example of how members of Women’s Institutes across Canada work internationally. "It is almost 3 3/4 decades now. You might have forgotten, we will never! In 1971 you donated a Landrover to us - Lesotho Homemakers Association (LHA). You replaced it after ten years. We still have it...Because of the selfless, generous, dedicated, thoughtful, Lord-guided, humble and loving you (Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada), ...the 12,000 women who constitute the LHA daily, benefit from knowledge, training and skills imparted by the Executive that has been made mobile by your generous hand...The desperate poorest of the poor have risen an inch above the poverty line, while the several luckiest poor mothers have educated their offspring up to the university by producing and selling crafts, products, produce which they learned from the LHA clubs. We and our great grandchildren will never forget this noble gesture and history." ACWW operates on a "shoe-string" and raises money for its administration and projects through donations from its member societies. Members of MWI are encouraged to donate "Pennies for Friendship." ACWW holds a world conference every three years, which sees women from around the globe meeting to discuss issues of common concern to all women and to work for positive change. The last world conference was held in Hamilton, Ontario. Manitoba Women's Institute was represented by 5 voting delegates and several other individual members. Some of the resolutions made or sustained at the 22nd ACWW Conference in Pretoria in 1998 include:
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