Dutch journalist Aldith Hunkar will reprise her role as co-host of the World Conference of Women’s Shelters at 4WCWS in Kaohsiung, Taiwan this November. Aldith is an experienced presenter, broadcaster and reporter with a passion for social issues.

The former anchor for the Dutch national news channel NOS is known for her warm personality and cool sense of control. She currently runs her own multi-media company, where she combines her talents with her passion for travel.

As a child Aldith led an ex-pat life. Her father’s career for the Dutch government and the United Nations took the Hunkar family from Suriname, to Malaysia, Brazil and Tunisia. Aldith attended different educational systems and learned to express herself not only in Dutch, but English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.

She decided at a young age that her heart was in journalism. She started in the 1980s at the first commercial radio station in the Netherlands, Radio 10, before moving to the national broadcasters. Her alternative Top 40 program and her talkradio show established her as a conversation partner and a fresh and sharp interrogator.

In 1994, Aldith was invited to anchor the NOS news program for children. During the six following years the daily show won many awards, and Aldith was voted Female Television Presenter of the Year 1998.

In 2000, she made the switch to regular news, and became the first camera-journalist in the Netherlands. Not director and interviewer, she was also camera operator, sound engineer, and editor. Her most memorable reports were filmed in Pakistan, Mozambique, Morocco and her country of birth, Suriname.

Her talent for improvisation and her obvious ease during live shows meant Aldith was asked to present a host of high-profile TV programs. As her career developed, she focused on longer productions with a social or cultural character. Her love for and knowledge of music was manifested in a popular weekly jazz show.

Travelling has always remained an important part of Aldith’s life and she now lives part-time in Jamaica, the Caribbean island that stole her heart some twenty years ago, when she first visited as a tourist.

#2 Powerful speakers
4WCWS will feature leaders from civil society, government, the corporate sector and academia to present cutting-edge practices and visions for the future.

Please visit our official website for the application. More information on https://buff.ly/2KtYxyG

#4WCWS #16Days

16 reasons to go to the 4th World Conference of Women’s Shelters (4WCWS) for 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence. Reason number one: Solidarity building. With 1,500 leaders on the front-line of ending gender-based violence, #4WCWS will be a great opportunity to network on a global and regional level. #16Days worldshelterconference.org

There is ONE YEAR to go until the 4th World Conference of Women’s Shelters! As the countdown officially begins, it’s time to start making plans by signing up, submitting a workshop proposal, raising funds, and spreading the word among your networks! #4WCWS

The details on the procedure to participate/sign-up or submit proposals can be found in the 4th World Conference of Women Shelters website ( http://www.worldshelterconference.org/).

Key dates

• October 5, 2018: Call for proposals opens
• October 5, 2018: Scholarship applications open
• November 2018: Registration opens
• January 7, 2019: Deadline for proposals and scholarship applications
• March 2019: Early early-bird registration closes

Shelter Voices, Women’s Shelter Canada’s fifth national survey of Violence Against Women shelters and transition houses, has just been released!

For this one-day snapshot, 215 transition houses and shelters were housing and helping a total of 3,613 women and 2,244 children fleeing violence.

47% of responding shelters were full on their snapshot day. The turnaway rate for women and children seeking shelter was 75%. These numbers suggest that a significant proportion of shelters are chronically over capacity, and staff testimony corroborates these numbers.

This edition of Shelter Voices focuses on the growing interest in offering pet sheltering programs for women leaving abusive relationships. In a recent study, researchers found that while threats to the safety of a household pet increased women’s desire to leave, 56% delayed leaving due to concern about a pet’s safety. 47% would have left earlier if they could have brought their pet to a shelter with them.

The Garden of Hope Foundation in cooperation with other Taiwanese partner organizations held a press conference in Taipei today(July 18, 2018. Taipei) to announce the dates and the venue of the 4th World Conference of Women’s Shelters (4WCWS) and launch the new website for the conference.

Held at the beautiful Rose Historic Site in central Taipei, the press conference was attended by representatives from the Taiwanese government as well as the Canadian, US and Dutch trade offices to hand the torch from the host nations of the previous three World Conferences to Taiwan.

The 1st World Conference was held in Edmonton, Alberta in 2008, the 2nd took place in Washington DC in 2012, the 3rd World Conference was held in the Netherlands in 2015, and 4WCWS will be held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on November 5-8, 2019.

Because all four hosts are baseballing nations, the press conference had a baseball theme, with representatives of the four countries walking around a mini baseball diamond in a symbol of bringing the 4th World Conference of Women’s Shelters to Taiwan on the home plate.

Michael McCulloch, General Affairs Director of the Canadian Trade Office led the batting, followed by American Institute in Taiwan Consular Section Chief Lara Harris in second, Netherlands Trade and Investment Office Representative Guy Wittich at third bat, and representing Taiwan at fourth bat the Garden of Hope CEO and Chairperson of the Global Network of Women’s Shelters Chi Hui-Jung, Political Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lu Pau-Ching, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hsu Szu-chien.

Chi Hui-Jung said, “4WCWS will bring together governments, corporations and NGOs to discuss the latest developments in shelter services and violence prevention programs. A strong network of women’s shelters helps pool knowledge, resources and information, and builds the capacity of organizations working to end violence against women and achieve justice for survivors.”

4WCWS is jointly hosted by the Garden of Hope, the Global Network of Women’s Shelter, the Asian Network of Women’s Shelters, and other Taiwanese NGOs. The event will bring together 1,500 to 2,000 leaders and practitioners from 120 countries, who are working on the frontline of ending gender-based violence.

Website: www.worldshelterconference.org

Contact:

Anthony Carlisle
International Affairs Supervisor
The Garden of Hope Foundation

T +886-2-8911-5595 ext. 517 | F +886-2-8911-5695 | M +886-931-357-130 | Skype: garden.hope, anthonycarlisle
1F., No.2-1, Shunan St., Xindian Dist., New Taipei City 23143, Taiwan
goh.org.tw | twitter.com/gohfoundation | facebook.com/thegardenofhope

Women’s Shelters Canada is hosting its first national conference June 13-15, 2018, in Ottawa! Bringing together 600 people, this will be a unique opportunity for shelter and transition house (TH) workers to share and learn from their peers. It is also a chance for partners, policy makers, researchers, activists, and others to engage with the shelter sector. The conference will offer practical opportunities for learning, knowledge sharing, and collaboration via workshops, panel presentations, and forum discussions.

In March during the meeting of Global Network of Women’s Shelter Bandana Rana stepped down as chair of GNWS and Chi Hui-Jung was chosen as the new chair.
Chi Hui-Jung is the CEO of the Garden of Hope Foundation and a well-known Taiwanese activist, who pioneered advocating for the establishment of laws to prevent gender violence, initiated plans to build shelters for domestic violence survivors, and founded the Formosan Daughter Awards to encourage girls to challenge gender stereotypes.

Statement from Chi as the new chair of GNWS:

‘I would like to thank Bandana Rana for her leadership. She has been a wonderful ambassador for GNWS and a great leader for not just the shelter movement, but for women all over the world. Although she is stepping down in her official position as GNWS chair, we know that she will continue to work for shelters and fight to end violence against women. As the new chair of GNWS I will continue to strengthen GNWS as a networking platform for shelter organizations and domestic violence protection and prevention organizations. Actions will continue to focus on three main interlocking areas: advocacy, research & development and networking.’

We know that – although Bandana is stepping down in her official position as GNWS chair, she will continue to work for shelters and fight to end violence against women.

GNWS will continue to work as a networking platform and peak body for shelter organizations and domestic violence protection and prevention organizations. Actions will continue to focus on three main interlocking areas: advocacy, research and development and networking.

In the next two years as we lead up to the 4th World Conference of Women’ Shelters, GNWS will provide networking opportunities to members through the conference, and strengthen distribution of research tools and resource materials to make knowledge available to members.

GNWS advocacy will be informed by research and development to help member organizations effectively use international platforms and human rights instruments to campaign for structural reform in their countries and regions. GNWS will also continue to promote shelter services at CSW and other global gatherings.

I look forward to working closely with the new co-chairs – Cindy Soutworth from USA and Julie Oberin from Australia – and the rest of the board of directors, and meeting and learning from other members of the GNWS family in the lead up to and beyond the 4th World Conference.

In Canberra (Australia), a micro-finance scheme has been established to offer no-interest loans to survivors of family violence, -with a focus on those who earn too much to qualify for government assistance but too little to manage essential costs-. Canberra coordinators raised $275,000 to support the program.

Research from the Domestic Violence Crisis Service has revealed that a large number of domestic violence victims lost their homes after leaving their abuser. As a result, there is a need for small loans to support victims of domestic violence in getting their lives back to normal.

“People who work in retail and hospitality and the community sector, they’re on lower wages but you try finding rentals and all that sort of stuff and paying your bills in Canberra, let alone also having to leave a domestic violence relationship.” told Marcia Williams, the Women’s Centre for Health Matters chief executive

About 10 people have received $30,000 in loans since July last year. About 40 percent of successful loan applicants have been Indigenous, and the majority aged between 35 and 44. Loan recipients have used the funds for school fees, buying furniture, legal fees, rental bonds and car repairs and registration.

[Click here to read the full article]

In Canberra -Australia’s capital-, there is a one-on-one program called EveryMan aiming to rehabilitate domestic violence perpetrators. The voluntary program is targeted at men who have expressed commitment to make a genuine change.

EveryMan has been running by Simon Port, who is a violence prevention services co-ordinator. The organisation has been funded through the ACT government and reaches on average 25 men each year. However, Mr. Port said that number is incredibly small for those men who need the service in Canberra.

“We strongly believe that men putting their hand up for help is a rare opportunity. It’s something that firstly we need to cherish, and we need to work as quickly as possible with these men whilst they’re in that mindframe.” Mr. Port explained.

Through their link with ACT Policing, EveryMan is able to see how many of their clients return to court on domestic violence charges. Indeed, they have a recidivism rate of less than 7 per cent, Mr Port said. Following a violent attack to his wife, Alan was recommended to EveryMan’s program by his lawyer, and was keen to attend it. He expressed how,

“I personally decided to change and say I’ll take full responsibility for my actions and accept that”

[Click here to read more]