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Meeting of the FSM National Women Planning Council Scheduled

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services): April 8, 2009 - The FSM Department of Health and Social Affairs and the FSM National Government Women Employees Working Group are organizing a meeting for a Planning Council to deliberate on the agenda for a proposed 2010 FSM National Women Conference. The meeting of this Planning Council is scheduled for April 20-24, 2009 in Pohnpei and representatives from each of the four FSM States are being invited to come to Pohnpei and participate. In a letter to all four governors, President Mori invited the nominations from the governors and billed this meeting as "an important FSM initiative on the importance of understanding gender issues as they relate to our own cultures and to support the productivity of women and their roles in our socio-economic development."

The objectives of this Planning Council will be to plan for a 2010 National Women's Conference by having each state delegation bring with them the top 3 priority women's issues to present to the other participants. From these lists, a national platform on women's priority issues will be made and discussed for practical ways of handling them and how to resolve them, if possible. The group will also have sessions on promoting healthy family lifestyles and to review and update the outstanding sections of CEDAW and its applicability to the women of FSM.

Although each state has an allotted number of funded participants, they may send more participants at their own cost and women from other states residing in Pohnpei may be invited to join the off-island delegations. FSM women living in communities outside of FSM are invited to attend, but due to limited funding, the national government will not be able to fund their travel to the meeting. Anyone having questions on this meeting may contact the Department of Health and Social Affairs at (691) 320-2619 or email them at health@fsmhealth.fm.