PURPOSE OF THE HIC WAS WEBSITE

The Habitat International Coalition Women and Shelter Network website has been developed in order to take advantage of new information and communication technologies to promote the HIC WAS network and to facilitate the sharing of information between HIC WAS members. Rather than replacing traditional methods of communication, the HIC WAS site has been designed to compliment and reflect current methods of information sharing.

As such, the HIC WAS website contains background information on the network and HIC WAS regional priorities as well as electronic versions of the current and back issues of the HIC WAS newsletter, an electronic version of the Habitat Agenda Booklet and information on women and shelter issues by region. HIC WAS members are encouraged to print or save this information and to distribute it freely. Please note that instructions on printing and saving information from a website are available from the home page.

Visitors to the site will also find notices of upcoming events and announcements around issues of women and human settlements development and a list of useful links to other internet sites. Those who would like to post announcements or provide new links should contact the HIC WAS secretariat (contact information listed below).

Finally, the HIC WAS website also contains a list of current HIC WAS members and their contact information, including some descriptions of individual organizations. Members who do not find their contact information listed or who would like to provide a short description of their organization should do so through the HIC WAS secretariat. New members are always welcome to the network. To this end, a registration form is available and HIC WAS members are encouraged to print and distribute it as they see fit.

It is the sincere hope of the secretariat that HIC WAS members visit and make use of the HIC WAS website. Please feel free to contact us with your questions, suggestions and comments.

HIC WAS Secretariat
Women Advancement Trust
PO Box 5914,
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania

Oct 2001

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would also like to offer my sincere thanks to all the staff at Women Advancement Trust for their insight and suggestions, and to the Canadian International Development Agency and Rooftops/Abri International whose partnership with Women Advancement Trust has made this project possible.