TO:  ALL EDITORS     EMBARGO: IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 23 MARCH 2007

RE:   Preparatory Conference Of the 4^th World Congress of Rural  Women

The Northern Cape’s Department of Agriculture and Land Reform will be hosting this Monday, 26 March 2007, 09h00, a Preparatory Conference of the 4^TH World Congress of Rural Women under the aegis of the Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (WARD). The 4^th World Congress of Rural Women will be held in Durban, 23-26 April 2007. Over 200 district-drawn delegates of WARD and representatives from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), sector-stakeholders and other civil society formations will dialogue on the Northern Cape’s input to South Africa’s stance at the 4^TH World Congress of Rural Women.

In her keynote address on Monday, Northern Cape Premier Dipuo Peters is to flag the performance of government in making policies work for women in agriculture and rural development. The Conference will in the main focus on universal and wide-ranging issues confronting rural women such as; globalization, sustainable development, gender equality, food security, the impact of new technologies on rural women and empowerment and public policies supporting rural women.

Key institutions in the area of gender transformation, the Office on the Status of Women (OSW) and the Commission on Gender Equality will also be airing perspectives around methods of harnessing the socio-economic situation of rural women. The theme for the 4^th World Congress on Rural Women is “United in Our Diversity: Working Together Towards the Total Emancipation of Rural Women from Poverty and Hunger.”

For more information on the 4^TH World Congress of Rural Women please visit: www.4thworldcongressofruralwomen.co.za

For more details on Monday’s Provincial WARD Conference, please call: Thabo Mothibi – 083 255 8840 tmothibi@agri.ncape.gov.za; Jacquiline Maisela -083 451 1056  rmaisela@agri.ncape.gov.za