What We Do As Consultants & Campaigners

• We act as an umbrella organisation for the various, diverse widows associations and organisations within their countries.
• We establish networks in partnership with them to exchange information and “best practice”.
• We raise awareness of the complex issues of widowhood with the UK government, the EU and the UN
• We explore all avenues to highlight the roles / needs of widows in each country and lobby governments, donors, big NGOs and the international community to address their issues.
• In the context of the UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008), on women’s roles in peace-building and the elimination of sexual violence, we support efforts of widows’ organisations in the country – e.g. Nepal & Sri Lanka – to have their voices heard at international conferences (e.g. UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the UN Human Rights Commission, Wilton Park, DFID workshops).
• We actively encourage the establishment of national federations of widows’ groups in every country where widowhood is a problem. The support and training we give empowers these federations to found their own regional groups giving widows a voice at local, national, regional levels. This enables them to monitor the implementation of international and national laws relating to their status, and campaign for law reforms within their own jurisdictions.
• Our mission is to ensure that widows have a voice at peace negotiation tables, since widows and wives of the disappeared confront specific problems vastly different from those of other women.
• We believe that “women” are not an “homogenous group” but are composed of many different categories among which the most vulnerable are widows, and are not readily represented by traditional women’s NGOs.
• We provide training on how to utilise the international and national laws to protect and promote the human rights of widows.
• Our WIDOWS’ CHARTER provides leverage to inform and influence law reform and the drafting of new constitutions in the post-conflict transition period.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE

• The first priority is to gather reliable statistics on the numbers of widows & wives of the disappeared, as this is essential for effective policy development. Statistics must be collected on ages, the number of children or dependents, circumstances of widowhood, social support systems (family, state, NGO), economic and health status, legal status, status under customary law, experience of violence, and “coping strategies”.
• Conventional methods of gathering data (census, household & demographic surveys) are inappropriate methodologies for countries in the aftermath of war. Widows are often homeless, or wandering between one relative’s household to another; furthermore, widows, if able to be interviewed on their own, are reluctant to divulge information to strangers.
• Support and training must be given to widows’ organisations on the ground to undertake simple surveys in a sample of cities, towns, villages and refuge/IDP camps which will reveal the realities of widows’ lives at the grassroots. These mapping & profile projects (already successfully implemented by the widows’ group in Nepal) should be developed in collaboration with the relevant government Ministries.
• This “capacity building” exercise empowers the widows enhancing their value and status, and builds up their confidence to articulate their needs and participate in decision-making at all levels.

• It is essential that widows “band together”, given their vast numbers, complex / multiple disadvantages, crucial roles as restorers of the family / social structures, and as carers of children, the old and sick.
• WPD supports widows’ associations to lobby governments, donors, and the international community to focus on this most neglected of all gender and human rights issue.