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IAWRT CONFERENCE 2007 PREPERATIONS
OCTOBER 2007, NAIROBI

The 32nd IAWRT biennial conference will be held at
Hotel La Mada, Thika Road, Nairobi, Kenya between
29 September and 3 October 2007.

The leader of the organizing committe, Mary G Onyango, also head of IAWRT Kenya Chapter, hopes for many participants coming for professional exchanges,sharing of experiences and ideas, and for discussing current trends in radio, television and allied media during the conference. The theme – Women Building peace – is reflected both in the conference program and the programme awards competition.

Registration form and additional information can be found in the members room. Click here

The most important receiver of the registration form is of course the organizers in Kenya, lead by Mary G Onyango, IAWRT Kenya Chapter leader. But I would appreciate if you also could send me a copy, for the record and for updated information regarding contact details. About the conference fee – do not send any money to IAWRT treasurer Elizabet Roxas, the conference fee should be payed upon registration in Nairobi. Observe that the conference venue has been changed to Hotel La Mada, Nairobi (www.madahotels.com)

Application form – travel scholarship (for the Nairobi konference – attached) This is only for IAWRT-members. More details in the Members' Room

Deadline for application is August 25

The conference program (also in members' room)
The program is still preliminary, some issues and changes may appear. Note that the important Members Meeting/General Meeting is planned to take place Day 5, Wednesday October 3. Experiences from earlier conferences are that this meeting will take time, and must take time, since it is the IAWRT's most important forum for democratic decisions, evaluation and future plans. Not to mention election and proposals.

See you in Nairobi!

Gunilla Ivarsson, Sweden
IAWRT Secretary
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If you have questions and input - please email marygonyango@yahoo.com  or iawrtkenya@yahoo.co.uk

Note: if you need a visa for entering Kenya, we suggest you get an invitation letter signed by Mary, who is Head of the organising committee. This can be attached to your visa application.

CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIP
Like earlier conferences, IAWRT has been given the possibility (from
FOKUS) to fund a few scholarships for travel, accommodation, conference fee etc to expand the possibilities for members in the south to come to the conference. A form for application will soon be distributed, as well as a registration form for the conference.

THERE IS STILL TIME
To send in nominations for the board elections and to send in entries to the IAWRT Radio and TV- Awards! This also goes for proposals to be taken up during the Members Meeting that will be held during the conference. This is the meeting when elections are held and organizational matters, formal or informal are being discussed.
Proposals must be sent to the Board three months before the members meeting.

Gerd Inger Polden, Norway, proposes two amendments to the general meeting at the 2007 IAWRT conference in Nairobi:

Change in article 4 in the Statutes
In the 2nd chapter I propose that the following sentence be removed:
However, any member of the Board who is elected President, may serve up to two-2 year terms as President.
The chapter will then read:
An elected member of the Board may serve no more than three 2-year terms.

My reasons: In Williamsburg 2005 we had a long discussion on this point, and several members found the possibility of people serving up to 10 years on the board too long. However it was too late to propose a change in the statutes then, because changes must be submitted to the Board three months in advance of the general meeting.

With this amendment the maximum members can serve on the board is 6 years. This ensure continuity as well as renewal of the board.

Change in article 10:
Amendments to the Statutes shall be approved by 2/3 vote of the members with voting rights at the general meeting.

The actual wording is ? vote

CLARIFICATION REGARDING BACKGROUND IAWRT ELECTIONS
A couple of weeks ago information about the up-coming IAWRT elections was distributed to the membership by e-mail. Just for clarification about the description on how the Board is organized with regard to the existing statutes. The Board can co-opt two members.

This term the 2 co-opted members are Kirsten Braathen, Norway and Mary Onyango, Kenya.

Inger Polden, Norway was mentioned in her capacity of Awards co-ordinator and Mal Johnson in her capacity of UN-representative.
The deadline for nominating to the up-coming elections is June 15.

Jai Chandiram, India is the leader of the nomination committee. Other members are: Oona Solberg, Nonée Walsh, Gundel Krauss-Dahl, Nana Awindor. The nomination committee can be contacted on jai.iawrt@gmail.com  Gunilla Ivarsson, Sweden, IAWRT-secretary.

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PLANNING IAWRT CONFERENCE 2007
NOVEMBER 2006, NAIROBI

A regional workshop was held in Nairobi after which
planning commenced for the 2007 conference.

About 40 media women, including the IAWRT board, attended a workshop at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies near Nairobi. The group of women - including citizens of Ethiopia, Uganda and Cameroon - discussed their experiences in TV and radio in plenary sessions and group debates. Presentations were made on topics such as Community radio and Conflict Resolution / Peace Building Initiatives. Awards co-ordinator Gerd Inger Polden from Norway delivered a video-training session. Board member Kirsten Brathen, Norway, told us about IAWRT's relationship with FOKUS, our main funder, and expressed the need to find more donors.

The head of IAWRT Kenya, Mary Onyango, was seconded to the International Board to ensure top level planning for the conference, which is to be held in Nairobi from September 29 to October 3. IAWRT President Frieda Werden, Canada, honoured Mary Mamati, former chairperson and founder of IAWRT Kenya Chapter, for her contribution.

During the workshop about 20 new members were recruited from the media, as well as training and research institutes. After the workshop, the IAWRT Board and IAWRT Kenya planned the 2007 conference. Promising discussions were held.

The regional work-shop and pre-conference meeting was a great experience. It was well organized by IAWRT Kenya and we look forward to a successful 2007 biennial conference. IAWRT Kenya is working on a more formal report on the conference, which will be available soon.

Gunilla Ivarsson, Sweden
IAWRT Secretary

More 2005 conference pictures