A Women's Human Rights Agenda for the G8: Our Vision in Action
To build the world we want—one where policies protect the rights and well-being of women and families—we need more than our dreams. We need to build concrete solutions.
Every day, in communities across the world, MADRE partners with grassroots women to put our vision into action. Even as we demand change from the G8, we’re not waiting for them. We’re making that change real.
Poverty and Economic Injustice
This Is Our Vision. Women Demand G8 Policies That:
- Support proven strategies to end poverty—including girls’ education.
- Ensure that aid delivery is effective, transparent and boosts local efforts.
This Is Our Vision in Action. MADRE Partners with Grassroots Women to:
- Offer shelter and schooling to Kenyan girls escaping genital mutilation and forced marriage.
- Pressure big international humanitarian agencies to purchase food aid locally, boosting support for women organic farmers in places like Sudan.
Food Sovereignty
This Is Our Vision. Women Demand G8 Policies That:
- Promote small-scale, sustainable agriculture. This will meet basic needs while reducing climate change.
This Is Our Vision in Action. MADRE Partners with Grassroots Women to:
- Work with Indigenous women in Nicaragua to farm organically and raise livestock sustainably .
Health
This Is Our Vision. Women Demand G8 Policies That:
- Protect and implement the right to health worldwide, as a priority over protecting corporate profits.
- Recognize that the right to health—including reproductive and maternal health—is inalienable and non-negotiable.
This Is Our Vision in Action. MADRE Partners with Grassroots Women to:
- Provide reproductive health services for women in a poor neighborhood outside of Guatemala City who have no other source of healthcare.
- Ensure safe and healthy childbirth for mothers living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, by supporting a group of Palestinian and Israeli midwives.
Public Services
This Is Our Vision. Women Demand G8 Policies That:
- Reserve basic necessities like water as public goods to be managed collectively and democratically.
This Is Our Vision in Action. MADRE Partners with Grassroots Women to:
- Repair wells, maintain latrines and teach children to care for local creeks and rivers in Nicaragua.
The Environment and Natural Resources
This Is Our Vision. Women Demand G8 Policies That:
- Promote the sustainable use of resources, and provide access to financing for climate change adaptation at the grassroots level.
This Is Our Vision in Action. MADRE Partners with Grassroots Women to:
- Help women in Kenya plant a tree nursery to protect water sources and combat deforestation.
Democracy and Accountability
This Is Our Vision. Women Demand G8 Policies That:
- Stand with women leaders worldwide against rightwing backlash.
- Commit to democratize global policy-making spaces. The G8 is not an alternative to the United Nations.
This Is Our Vision in Action. MADRE Partners with Grassroots Women to:
- Mobilize a global response to intimidation and brutal attacks against Iraqi women who stand up for their rights.
- Create a space for women’s voices in local and global institutions where policies are made that will affect their lives and their communities.
Peace
This Is Our Vision. Women Demand G8 Policies That:
- Embrace a definition of peace and security that protects human rights. This must include economic security, as well as an end to violence against women—in times of war and peace.
This Is Our Vision in Action. MADRE Partners with Grassroots Women to:
- Support women leaders who demand human rights for themselves and their communities; who help rebuild through conflict and offer food, shelter and education to displaced people; who raise their voices to counter discrimination; and more.
