As part of the Capacity Building activity of the WSIS Gender Caucus to ensure that the lobbying and advocacy geared to mainstreaming gender in the WSIS process is increasingly more effective, an Orientation Session was held last Saturday 13 September 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland.

With participants from all over the world, the orientation session had a practical focus with group sessions for developing strategies and enhancing skills needed for timely and effective lobbying and advocacy interventions. A major objective of the day centered on building teamwork across diverse networks of gender advocates.

The session was open to women and men who work on advocacy issues for social justice and change. The organisers hoped that after the one-day event, the participants would be equipped with:

• practical and theoretical understanding of team work, advocacy and lobbying as ways to achieve development and social justice goals, particularly as these intersect with gender equality goals and a gender mainstreaming approach,
• new strategies for integrating teamwork, participation, human rights and advocacy into development initiatives, considering concrete tools and basic practical approaches within the context of the WSIS process.
• a comprehensive report of the session's achievements

The WSIS Gender Caucus was formed during the African regional preparatory conference (Barnako 2002) which took place in Mali from 25-30th May 2002. With membership from more than 100 institutions and individuals worldwide coming from a diverse sector of society and specialisations, the Caucus aims to ensure that gender dimensions and women's participation are included in the WSIS process and follow-up programmes.

For more info on the WSIS Gender Caucus, visit http://www.genderwsis.org
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