GOAL
To have healthy, improved and
sustainable human settlements for women in low-income communities. HIC-WAS
works world-wide for the same goal, each region focusing their work according
to their own priorities.
Africa
1. Equal right of women to access to and control
over land and property ownership
2. Equal right of inheritance by men and women
Strategies:
- lobbying for change of laws which discriminate
women
- conducting campaigns, seminars/workshops
for awareness creation among women and men
- supporting networking through exchange visits
newsletters and meetings
3. Poverty eradication
Strategies:
- encourage savings among women
- establish credit facilities/schemes
- encourage women to start small businesses
and/or work on their farms and have control over their products’ earnings
4. Training to increase women’s access to construction
and other related skills
Strategies:
- provide technical assistance / encourage
development of special construction skills training for women
- help create job opportunities for women
in the field
5. access to safe drinking water, sanitation and
other basic services
Strategies:
- encourage young girls to study subjects
related to construction environment infrastructure
- conduct campaigns for safe drinking water
i.e. train/encourage proper community management of water sources
Asia
1. Monitoring of evictions due to infrastructure
/ speculation in urban areas displacing thousands of families
Strategies:
- emergency relief for women headed households,
destitute families
- legal/media assistance
- organising committees to negotiate for in-city
relocation
- support to network/federations in negotiations/mass
actions to pressure government to refrain from evictions where there are no
resettlement or livelihood/ school/ health/ water/ sanitation/ facilities
2. support people’s organisations livelihood credit/
savings initiatives via capability building, finance networking, to expand livelihood/
credit facilities
3. support for local national exchange among
grassroots organisations through visit, new settlers, support and upgrading
of communication facilities
4. support for Gender Agenda Advocacy with league
of city mayors/ local authorities
strategies:
- materials, publications, seminars/workshops
for local executives in supporting/ developing gender sensitive policy mechanisms,
program practice
Caribbean
1. Equal right of women of access to and control
over land and property ownership
2. Right to housing and fight against evictions
3. Access to safe drinking water, sanitation
and other basic services
4. Savings and credit facilities by and for
women
5. Local governance and local power with a gender
perspective
6. Economic models and poverty eradication
Latin
America
1. Right to adequate shelter
2. access to credit for the construction and
improvement of housing specially focused to low income women that are heads
of households, widows, single women and women who have been victims of forced
eviction due to violent situations.
3. impact of the economic and structural adjustment
policies on the women living in poverty, specially the impact of the privatisation
process to the access to basic services such as water and sanitation
4. the participation in the decision making
processes specially at the local level