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- By Gail Sandlin, USA, Communications Committee Co-Chair
What does it mean to work for peace in a world that can feel increasingly divided and uncertain? Perhaps it begins closer to home than we imagine.
In this issue of the ICUUW newsletter, we encounter our members creating peace and possibility in many different ways: from dancing together, cultivating community gardens, caring for mental health and finding healthier ways to navigate the demands of our digital lives. We also learn the similarities of nurturing gardens and our own budgets! These may seem like very different activities, yet each reflects something essential to our work: the recognition that our local and extended communities are built through relationships, care, creativity, and the everyday choices we make about how we live with one another.
Our stories begin with the local and then extend far beyond our immediate communities. The United Nations remains an important arena in which women’s voices, leadership, and commitment to peace and justice can shape global priorities. In this newsletter we look at developments within the UN, including the recent activities concerning nomination of the next Secretary-General. We also look ahead to the upcoming 2027 Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), where women from around the world will again gather to address the challenges and possibilities before us.
For ICUUW, these dimensions are not separate. Peace is both a global aspiration and a daily practice. It is found in the ways we care for ourselves and one another. Take a few minutes to scan our library of recently categorized YouTube videos and discover ICUUW members creating resilient communities, protecting the earth, nurturing dialogue, and insisting that women have a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape our shared future.
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- By Sylvie Nyiramana, Canada, ICUUW Board member
When I moved from Africa to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada about two and a half years ago, as a newcomer, everything was new to me, and I wanted to find a place where I could meet people and feel welcome.
Soon I learned about The North Grove, a community whose vision it is to create a safe and inclusive space that fosters community connection, well-being, and support. A place where the sounds, smells, and feel tell people they belong. Joining North Grove gave me a sense of belonging. It was nice to be part of a friendly community in a new country.
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- By Sally Mabelle, New Zealand
During the closing ceremony of ICUUW’s 4th convocation 2024 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, we endorsed a Peace Declaration and committed ourselves to personal and institutional actions towards peace. Sally is a Universalist Sufi minister and Dances of Universal Peace leader. She explains how Dances of Universal Peace contribute to peacebuilding.
There is something almost impossible to explain about the Dances of Universal Peace until you have experienced them. They are not performances, and there is no audience. We stand in a circle, move together, sing sacred phrases from different spiritual traditions, and allow the music and movement to connect us. The simplicity is part of the magic.
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- By Oltean Annamaria, Transylvania, Romania
While organizing the ICUUW video library, I had the chance to go through the different videos and discover more about the work that ICUUW has been doing around the world. There are so many different topics, projects, events and stories in the library that it is impossible to choose only a few videos and say that these are the ones everyone should watch. Instead, I started thinking about the library from the perspective of someone who is discovering ICUUW for the first time. If I were a new visitor, which videos or topics would help me understand who ICUUW is, what we do and what kind of issues we work on?
Who we Are
The first video I would recommend is, naturally, Who We Are. I think it is a great starting point because it gives you an introduction to ICUUW and presents the organization in a very visual and interesting way. Before discovering all the different projects and activities, I think it is important to understand who is behind them, what ICUUW represents and what brings all of these different people and initiatives together. The video gives you a nice overview of the organization and, for someone who has never heard about ICUUW before, it is an easy way to start learning about who we are.
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- By ICUUW Staff
In ICUUW, we’ve been concerned with women’s mental health for some time. Depression, anxiety, and panic attacks are still often unspoken concerns, despite significantly impacting our overall well-being. These conditions are not gender-specific; they are global public health issues and the WHO has noted that globally, over 1 billion people are living with mental health conditions. Research has shown that women experience depression and anxiety at twice the rate of men. Every day, millions of women navigate stress, anxiety, grief, and trauma alone and in silence--without much support at home or outside, despite available resources. The situation is even more serious in remote and underserved communities, where professional services are scarce or carry significant social and cultural stigma.
In July 2021, we hosted an international roundtable of U*U women leaders discussing the losses and traumas generated by the COVID pandemic, offering coping and healing strategies for individuals and communities alike. Panelists included members from the Philippines, Romania, India and USA. This roundtable was taped and made available on our YouTube channel with the title Healing from Trauma across Cultures. Even five years after COVID, the strategies for coping are still good reminders.
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- By Karen Kortsch, USA, and Adél Nagy, Transylvania, Romania - co-chairs Programs & Partnerships Committee
From its early beginnings, ICUUW has been supported by members of the European Unitarian Universalists. Recently, the two organizations partnered to donate a printer to KAMEA, a women’s business organization in Kasese, Uganda that facilitates group savings, micro lending and other activities that support women’s small enterprises and startups. In its recent committee meeting, the Programs & Partnerships Committee decided to develop closer relations with the women in KAMEA.
We have women entrepreneurs in our organization located in different countries, and we know how important leadership is to help women achieve their goals. We’ve dreamed about providing online leadership training since UNOSZ and ICUUW collaborated on leadership training in Transylvania about 12 years ago and with Seng Kynthei in India shortly after. In 2022 we provided leadership training to women entrepreneurs in Bolivia.
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- By Gail Sandlin, USA, CSW71 task force of the ICUUW Advocacy Committee
It’s never too early to look ahead to March in New York City! The 71st Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW71) will once again call the world together to accelerate gender equality and empower women and girls. Grounded in the 2030 Agenda, the UN blueprint designed to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace by 2030, this CSW gathering centers on driving progress across its five core dimensions: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership. By positioning women as architects of global solutions, CSW71 demonstrates how gender equality reinforces each pillar to build resilient, flourishing communities worldwide. At its core, this gathering seeks to elevate women and girls as the catalyst for sustainable development, moving it beyond an abstract policy goal to a living practice, proving that long-term social, economic, and environmental progress is only achievable when women are engaged.
ICUUW will be there, grounding these global challenges in the lived experiences of women from Kosovo to Kenya, and communities across the globe. Together, these efforts reflect a central truth: women are far more than victims of crisis. They are leaders, knowledge-holders, peacebuilders, innovators, and architects of practical solutions. In the coming months, we will have more detailed information about our own ICUUW events at CSW71.