ICUUW Calendar of Resources for Share-the-Plate Presentations
Please note: Share-the-plate (STP) funds will support the International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women (ICUUW), strengthening its capabilities and enabling the organization to implement its programs and services effectively.
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You can easily make your congregation’s donation online on our website!
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Send check donations to: ICUUW, 6141 Beachway Dr., Falls Church, VA 22041.
The STP year-round calendar focuses on global celebrations or other events; the specific programs highlighted below are examples of projects already funded or completed, relating to the monthly focus area.
January: Reproductive health and justice
On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, protecting a woman’s constitutional right to choose. On June 24, 2022, this decision was overturned. The U.S. joins Poland, El Salvador, and Nicaragua as the only countries to roll back legal access to abortion in the past 30 years. Reproductive Justice for All
ICUUW has worked with Sueños Sin Fronteras de Tejas (SSFTX) to support their work on sexual and reproductive health services, resources, and education in their community. In October 2023 we invited Laura Molinar, SSFTX co-founder and co-director to talk about their work for immigrant and undocumented communities in San Antonio, TX, and about their newest grassroots organizing initiative for immigrant, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, currently being implemented in partnership with ICUUW thanks to generous funding from the UU Funding Program.
February: Social Justice
20 February is World Day of Social Justice. In 2007, all the UN country members signed the declaration based on “the need to consolidate further the efforts of the international community in poverty eradication and in promoting full employment and decent work, gender equality and access to social well-being and justice for all.” More than 60% of the world’s employed population put food on their tables by working in the informal economy. That represents around 2 billion people.
ICUUW has collaborated with local partners on projects in Bolivia:
A comprehensive leadership development training in Bolivia rose out of ICUUW's 2015 Gathering in Bolivia. Practical skills-building workshops were complemented with training sessions on leadership skills, entrepreneurship, prevention of violence, and environmental education.
ICUUW has implemented several projects in Kenya in collaboration with:
Tunawiri Pamoja (“Let’s Grow Together”), a women-led community-based organization in western Kenya addressing unending challenges facing young women: child marriage, child pregnancies, menstrual health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, poverty, and gender inequality. Tunawiri Pamoja founder Noel Lutomia is a former member of the ICUUW board of Directors (2021-2023).
Acacia in Kenya (AIK), an NGO that partners with community leaders in Mumias (Western Kenya) to care for, shelter, and educate young women who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend high school. AIK Project Coordinator Noel Lutomia is a former member of the ICUUW board of Directors (2021-2023).
And a project in Uganda in collaboration with:
African Rural Schools Foundation (ARSF), a unique collaboration between several UU congregations in the USA and committed leaders in Uganda, whose purpose is to build schools for children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.
March: Women’s rights, gender equity, gender equality
8 March: International Women’s Day.
Check out International Women's Day resources from previous years and information on this year's International Women's Day UN theme.
April: Activism at the UN, climate change, women’s leadership for climate justice
22 April is International Mother Earth Day. Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet - and its people. Restoring our damaged ecosystems will help to end poverty, combat climate change, and prevent mass extinction. Enhancing women’s leadership in the service of ecosystem restoration is key to tackling climate change in equitable, healthy, and sustainable ways.
We've partnered with groups working in Guatemala:
Guatemalan women with tree plantings
ICUUW, Ecosystem Restoration Camps USA (ERC USA), and Contour Lines supported women-led tree planting efforts in Chinabenque and Socela, indigenous communities in the mountainous region of Guatemala. A historically persecuted group, the Q’eqchiʼ Maya have been actively resisting a foreign-owned mine that has polluted nearby waterways.
ICUUW is at the forefront of championing gender equality and climate activism at the United Nations:
ICUUW delegation at the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, July 2023
As an international organization in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), ICUUW contributes to the accomplishment of the goals and mission of the UN, advancing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal #5 (SDG5): “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Last year, we submitted our first quadrennial report to ECOSOC: 2023 UN ECOSOC Report
ICUUW takes part in the yearly sessions of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the UN’s principal body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and has participated in several recent UN conferences: the Climate Change Conference or COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt, the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York, USA, a conference on developing a global treaty on plastic pollution in Paris, France, and a UN High Level Political Forum. Several ICUUW members attended events virtually during UN General Assembly sessions.
May: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), women’s health
28 May is International Women’s Health Day and Menstrual Hygiene Day.
Participants and resource persons at the first mental health training, November 2023, Marosvásárhely/Târgu Mureș, Transylvania, Romania
Our most recent project focuses on enhancing women's mental well-being and resilience. The first event of the joint International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women - Unitárius Nők Országos Szövetsége (UNOSZ) project was held in November 2023. The project proposes to create a handbook based on the materials and learnings, which will be translated into English and hence can be used in or adapted to other U/UU communities around the world.
In 2020-21, Seng Kynthei Women's Wing of the Unitarian Union of North East India and ICUUW joined hands to address the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative provided mental health support, COVID-19 education and prevention, advocacy to reduce coronavirus-related stigmas, and prevention of teenage pregnancy and child marriage exacerbated by the prolonged government-imposed lockdown. Please see reports below:
June and December: Work with refugees, asylum-seekers, immigrants
June 20 is World Refugee Day. December 18 is International Migrants Day. December 10 is Human Rights Day. Global forced displacement is at an all-time high, with the number of forcibly displaced people doubling over the past decade. Today, the global figure exceeds 110 million people forced to flee from persecution, conflict, violence, and human rights violations. The Russian invasion of Ukraine caused the fastest and the largest forced displacement crisis since World War II — and other emergencies and climate-driven events pushed the figure over the dramatic milestone of 110 million by May of 2023. While war and conflict inflict suffering on everyone, women and girls are disproportionately affected: they are often targeted for sexual violence, as a "weapon of war."
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Laura Molinar, co-founder and co-director of Sueños Sin Fronteras de Tejas (SSFTX) and Andrea Székely, board member of Gondviselés (Providence) Charity Organization of the Hungarian Unitarian Church. |
In April of 2022, the Gondviselés (in English: Providence) Charity Organization of the Hungarian Unitarian Church launched a kindergarten class for 22 Ukrainian refugee children in Kolozsvár/Cluj, supporting their education. |
From the onset of the war in Ukraine, our partner, Gondviselés (in English: Providence) Charity Organization of the Hungarian Unitarian Church has responded to the needs of refugees and those internally displaced.
In January 2022, ICUUW completed its first U.S. project focusing on building capacities and resilience of asylum-seeking women and their children, in partnership with with the Asylum-Seekers Sponsorship Project.
July: human trafficking, sexual exploitation, forced labor
30 July is the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. Women make up 46% and girls 19% of all victims of trafficking. 50 % of detected victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation, 38 % were exploited for forced labor. Globally, one in every three victims detected is a child.
In observance of 25 November 2022, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, we invited Cheryl Thomas, founding director of Global Rights for Women, and Philippine gender activist and advocate Cecilia Hofmann, co-founder of Gender Watch against Violence and Exploitation (GWAVE), to speak about their work.
August: Intergenerational solidarity: creating a world for all ages
12 August is International Youth Day. Action is needed across all generations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and leave no one behind. Ageism is an insidious and often an unaddressed issue in health, human rights and development, and has bearings on both older and younger populations around the world. In addition, ageism regularly intersects with other forms of bias (such as racism and sexism) and impacts people in ways that prevent them to reach their full potential and comprehensively contribute to their community. Solidarity across generations is key for sustainable development.
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Read about ICUUW's recently completed Young Adult Network project
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Read about our Fourth Convo in 2024
September: Indigenous women and girls
5 September is the International Day of Indigenous Women. Indigenous Women’s Day honors the Aymara warrior Bartolina Sisa, who led a rebellion against Spanish colonizers in Peru in 1780 and was killed in 1782. This day also recognizes the role of indigenous women in preserving their culture, biodiversity, and ancestral knowledge, as well as their fight against violence and discrimination. Indigenous women are movement builders, system shakers, stewards of ecosystems, and community caretakers.
ICUUW supported women-led tree planting efforts in Chinabenque and Socela, two indigenous communities in the mountainous region of Guatemala. The meaningful forest-based agricultural activities have served as models for enhancing women’s leadership in the service of ecosystem restoration.
A complex leadership training program in Bolivia, identified as a key need at ICUUW's 2015 Gathering, enabled 49 women from marginalized communities to become a force for change. The training enhanced participants' income-generating and leadership skills and developed their capacities for long-term success.
Bolivian Carmen Capriles, member of ICUUW's UN Advocacy Committee and a delegate at COP 28 in Dubai, spoke about Climate Change and Sustainable Development at several ICUUW-hosted virtual events. Watch videos of Carmen's workshops about engaging with the UN and read about her Climate Advocacy at COP27.
October: Girls’ human rights, girls’ empowerment
11 October is the International Day of the Girl Child. This day aims to raise awareness about the discrimination and violence experienced by girls and advocates for their rights including access to education, health care, protection from child marriage, and protection from gender-based violence.
Visit ICUUW's Kenya page to find out more about ICUUW's partners working to empower girls and about current and past collaborative efforts:
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Tunawiri Pamoja (“Let’s Grow Together”), a women-led community-based organization in western Kenya
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Acacia in Kenya (AIK), an NGO that partners with community leaders in Mumias (Western Kenya)
Romania: In the spring of 2021, ICUUW partnered with the Unitarian Providence Charity Organization to provide high-quality laptops for six vulnerable and marginalized girls in Transylvania. Read more.
ICUUW is currently supporting Providence's educational program for Ukrainian refugee children in Kolozsvár/Cluj, giving children the opportunity to learn, thrive, and begin to recover and heal. This one-of-a-kind program will also help them integrate seamlessly into the Ukrainian school system once the war is over.
Ukraine: On 24 October 2023, ICUUW Executive Director Zsófia Sztranyiczki accompanied Rev. István Kovács, the bishop of the Hungarian Unitarian Church and the staff of Gondviselés (Providence) Charity Organization on its tenth aid shipment delivery to the Diaconal Coordination Center of the Transcarpathia Reformed (Calvinist) Church in Berehove, Southwest Ukraine.
25 laptops benefiting students of the Hungarian-language Reformed School of Tiachiv, Ukraine.
Please see the following video and photo reports of this humanitarian action:
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ICUUW Executive Director Zsófia Sztranyiczki speaking in Berehove, Ukraine
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A photo report that appeared in the Kolozsvár/Cluj Hungarian-language daily newspaper
November: Gender-based violence
25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls.
Through UU Funding Program grants, ICUUW supported the violence prevention programs of the UU Women’s Association of Philippines. These awareness seminars were critical, for all genders, to grasp and deepen the understanding of the root causes of violence in the family, institutional structures, and society at large.
In India's Khasi Hills, Seng Kynthei has implemented violence against women programs in honor of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25). To date, about 1,000 schoolchildren, youth, and adults have taken part in these trainings.
In Transylvania and Hungary, some leadership school sessions focused strictly on gender-based violence, particularly intimate partner violence. One in 10 women in Romania is a victim of domestic violence. A woman is beaten every 30 seconds, and 200 die of abuse, yearly. More than half of Romanians think domestic violence is normal – and most cases of intimate partner violence remain unreported.