In March 1999, at the first PrepCom for Beijing Plus Five in New York, three NGO working groups were formed to discuss:

• the Beijing Plus Five overall framework;
• NGO access and participation problems;
• NGO alternative or shadow reports on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.

Project Structure and Participants

WomenAction is a coalition network of members from around the world. Its operational and decision-making structure is composed of:

Global Membership

African Gender Institute/South Africa
ALAI/Ecuador
APC Secretariat/Canada
APC Women's Networking Support Programme /GreenNet/UK (WomenAction Lead Coordinator)
Asian Women's Resource Exchange (AWORC)/Philippines
Asian-Pacific Research and Resource Centre for Women (ARROW)/Malaysia
Asian-Pacific Women's Information Network Center (APWINC)/Korea
CAFRA Info/Trinidad and Tobago
Centre de documentation sur l'ducation des adultes et la condition feminine (CDEACF)/Canada
Civil Ombudswoman Programme Office/Hungary
Community Communications Online (c2o)/Australia
ENDA SynFev/Senegal
European Women's Lobby/Belgium
Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA)/Canada
GreenNet/ UK
IIAV/Netherlands
International Women's Tribune Center/USA (WomenAction Co-Coordinator)
ISIS International/Chile
Isis International-Manila/Philippines
Langafonua 'a e Fefine/Tonga
Les Penelopes/France
Pacific Regional YWCA/Fiji
Sri Lanka Women's NGO Forum and the Women and Media Collective/Sri Lanka
US WomenConnect Women's Project/USA
WomensWeb/Web Networks
Women's Feature Service/India
Women'sNet/South Africa
Women'Space
World YWCA/Korea

Lead Coordinators

• IWTC
• Association for Progressive Communidations (APC) Women's Networking Support Programme

In addition to the lead project coordinators, the WomenAction 2000 Network is guided by a steering committee composed of regional and international network representatives. The Steering Committee's mandate and responsibiity is to guide project development, project staff and the various WomenAction working groups. The current Steering Committee includes:

• APC Women's Programme in Africa/ENDA-Synfev/Senegal
• Isis-Wicce/Kampala
• Isis-Internacional/Santiago
• Isis-International/Manila
• ALAI/Ecuador
• Asian Women's Resource Exchange (AWORC)
• IIAV/Knowledge Sharing Project/The Netherlands
• Women's Feature Service/India

Key Strategic Allies

The WomenAction 2000 initiative aims to cooperate and build on existing networks and collaborative partnerships. To this end, we have a pro-active policy to outreach to and work with important UN and NGO networks -especially those who are critical to the Beijing+5 Review Process:

• WomenWatch
• CONGO/Committee on the Status of Women and Beijing Plus Five Coordinating Committee
• Emerging Regional and National Beijing Plus Five Review Networks

To be a global information, communication and media network that enables NGOs to actively engage in the Beijing+5 review process with the long term goal of women's empowerment, with a special focus on women and media.

WomenAction 2000 Project Goal:

To develop a communications network and information-sharing strategy that allows women in every world region to participate in and impact on the 5-year review of the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action.

WomenAction 2000 Project Objectives

• To establish a global network of regional and sub-regional focal points who will act as animators for the Beijing+5 Review Process.
• To broaden women's participation in the Beijing+5 Review Process through online and offline information and experience sharing and facilitated discussion of the key issues by means of global and regional web-sites, global and regional online discussion lists, and activities to bridge participation with offline media (radio and press).
• To conduct a comprehensive monitor and review of Section J: Women and Media, in the Beijing Platform for Action.