Newsletters

 
IN THIS EDITION:
Women Leading Change
South Sudan Workshops
Social Media Workshop
The New HCH Blog
Community Profile: OSG
We've Been Reading...
Upcoming Events
Volunteer With Us!
FROM THE DIRECTOR:

Over the past few months, the Humanitarian Crisis Hub has been quite focused on women’s contribution to peacebuilding, human rights and development in conflict-affected countries, and it seems many other organisations are too.

The Australian Afghan Development Organisation hosted an inspiring roundtable which brought Afghan MPs and leaders to Australia to discuss women’s rights in Afghanistan. Then, in April, the Australian Government held a consultation with civil society on Australia’s National Action Plan (NAP) on Women Peace and Security. During the workshops HCH held with South Sudanese organisations, from March to May, we also met with some inspiring women who are working on women’s rights in South Sudan. And finally, HCH’s Women Leading Change network has been established in Melbourne (see below). Plans are also afoot to start up a network in Sydney, as we know there are many active women in NSW.

We plan to keep up this momentum, because it’s very hard to imagine real peace without women’s involvement, so please do get in touch if you are doing any work on women’s rights in conflict.

Best wishes,
Denise Cauchi (Director)
 
One Saturday each month HCH hosts a women’s gathering ‘Women Leading Change’ at Ross House in Melbourne.
 
One Saturday each month HCH hosts a women’s network ‘Women Leading Change’ at Ross House in Melbourne. The women who attend come from around the world – they bring different experiences and work with different organisations, but are united by a passion for women’s role in peacebuilding, development and promoting human rights in war and conflict.

HCH Director Denise explained that the gatherings “are about building a network of strong women in Australia who are working for positive change in war-affected countrries.”



On 6 April Manon from the International Womens’ Development Agency (IWDA) shared the story of the organisation’s humble beginnings, outlined current projects and discussed options for community organisations to engage with development agencies. A representative
of the Ogaden Youth and Student Union shared the powerful story of the Ogaden people and the work the diaspora is doing here in Australia. 

On 4 May Carol from ActionAid flew down from Sydney to speak at the gathering. Carol introduced ActionAid to the group and shared personal stories from Kenya and the strong women in her family who looked out for her future.
 


At the June gathering Shanta Perera of Diaspora Lanka spoke about the post- conflict context of Sri Lanka and the factors that influence Diaspora Lanka’s work. The second half of the session was the group discussed what could be offered or done in the meetings to support eachother’s work.

If you are a woman from a diaspora community organisation, active in promoting human rights, peace building and women’s role in your country of origin, you are welcome to join us. Build your skills in developing campaigns, communication strategies and network with other women activists. For more information, please email info@crisishub.org.au.
 
Beginning in February 2013, HCH ran a series of six workshops for the Melbourne South Sudanese community and in April and May ran two workshops for the community in Sydney. Funded by AusAid and Oxfam, the workshops were attended by people dedicated to supporting the development of South Sudan.
The final Melbourne workshop was attended by the Deputy Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan, Mr Toby Lanzer, who discussed diaspora engagment in development. The Sydney South Sudan workshops recieved media coverage in Sydney and Canberra. Read Lisa's blog to find out more about the workshops!
 
On 20 April HCH ran a workshop on ‘Social Media for Human Rights’ as part of its workshop series.  The workshop – facilitated by HCH communications volunteers Belinda, Chris and Saheem – covered how to use social media, Facebook, Twitter and MailChimp to connect, campaign and raise awareness about 
human rights issues. Attendees came from many communities, including Oromo and Baha’I, and it was a great group of new and familiar faces who came to learn about harnessing social media for human rights campaigning and advocacy. These are some thoughts participants had on social media:
The interactive sessions often led to fascinating discussions as wide-ranging experiences with social media were shared. 
For photos and social media tips from the workshop, click here to read Belinda’s blog post.
 

HCH IS BLOGGING!
In January of this year HCH added a blog to its website. The blog is updated every Tuesday and it is a place where staff and volunteers share their writing about diaspora activity, HCH happenings and world issues. Click here to read and subscribe. Is there anything you’d like us to blog about? Let us know at comms@crisishub.org.au.
 

COMMUNITY PROFILE: OROMIA SUPPORT GROUP

The Humanitarian Crisis Hub works with the Australian branch of the Oromia Support Group (OSG). Before one of their planning meetings at HCH, we spoke to OSG for this community profile.

About the Oromia Support Group
The Oromia Support Group was established in London in 1994 by Dr Trevor Trueman. We raise awareness of human rights abuses in the Oromo region within Ethiopia. The branches are linked
via the internet, sharing their stories, press releases and stories of Africa all around the world.
There is a lot of torture, violence and killing going on there, so OSG takes any chance to explain to
the world what’s going on there. We’re speaking
for the people who have no voice.

Reactions from people learning about OSG
We get very big reactions from people when they learn about Oromia. Sometimes they ask, ‘Where is Oromia? We thought you were Ethiopian!’ It’s hard to explain that Ethiopia doesn’t let Oromo people go back to Oromia but once they get it, once they understand, people are shocked. They ask, ‘How come we didn’t know? Why doesn’t the world know this is going on?’ Especially with the evidence about how many people have been killed and are in prison. It’s big shock for everybody.

OSG's work in Australia
Our link with the Humanitarian Crisis Hub is ongoing but most of the time we work with communities. We’ve got two branches of the same Oromo community. Any chance we get we try show that we exist. We’ve been in local newspapers two times, as well as radio. We thank HCH for the networking, the training, linking us with other communities and for helping us get our voice out there.
 

WHAT WE'VE BEEN READING
Some interesting articles from around the web and related to what we do:
 

UPCOMING EVENTS
JUNE
Sunday 16 to Saturday 22: Refugee Week 2013, Australia-wide.
Wednesday 26: Foundation House Oration ‘What Prospects for the Pursuit of Global Justice?’
Friday 28: Film screening: No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka (24-20th June Australia wide)
JULY
Saturday 06: Women Leading Change Gathering, Ross House, Flinders Lane, Melbourne.
Saturday 13: Fit for Funding workshop 2: Finance & Budgets, Ross House, Flinders Lane.
AUGUST
Saturday 03: Women Leading Change Gathering, Ross House, Flinders Lane, Melbourne.
Monday 19: World Humanitarian Day, Global.
SEPTEMBER
Saturday 03: Congolese Culture & Care4Congo Community Awareness Night: Live Congolese Music, Great African food (Contacts: 0418630817/0437724469/clydesha@gmail.com). Venue TBC.

For more information about any events, please email info@crisishub.org.au
 

VOLUNTEER WITH US!
People with activist backgrounds, refugees, and migrants from countries experiencing conflict/humanitarian crisis are especially encouraged to apply. If you would like us to keep you in mind for future openings, please send your resume to our volunteer coordinator Nicky at nicky@crisishub.org.au
 
 
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