Day 4

Day 4

Action planning! Our post it notes from the previous evening had been arranged into order so that we could create our way forward- which were:
Action now - immediate needs
Teacher capacity buildIng invest in teachers so they can empower students
Empowering students giving students the knowledge, understanding and skills to shape their own future
Capacity building - local grow momentum, commitment locally
Capacity building - global big picture projects we can do together
Global networking and support sharing expertise as a whole
Partnerships and actions at a higher level engaging with people organisations who can make a difference
Policy/political working locally and nationally to create and implement laws/policies

Each grouping was taken by a set of interested members, who started to tease out actual activities and a plan for the next 12 months and what we need to do in the next 90 days. The difficulty clearly, was that although many of us represent an association (such as me representing GSA), very few of the members had any power, other than awareness raising and in our own schools. ICP which represents Principals across the globe is an association also, which has little in the way of monetary resources. Clearly there is no quick fix, but the willingness to make the small changes and raise awareness across the world should create a momentum. ICP is planning its next conference in Cairns, Australia in 2013 and the next stages of the process will be taken up there, but it was clear that some key partners should be invited so that some strong partnerships are formed. It was suggested that ICP needed a communications officer on the executive, to be able to create and maintain a website which acts as both a resource and networking vehicle.

Some other good ideas discussed included:
- a mission statement from the conference
- a strap line and logo about gender equity (such as Free Trade endorsing products)
- collating the research that is already available
- promotion in the media (using contacts such as Oprah Winfrey, Michelle O'Bama, Hilary Clinton) with reference to creating a press release for each of us to use on a local level.
- staff professional development through linking schools together
- role of the media in dictating gender models, local radio and community papers

We also had a resource poster, where everyone could write down websites or books which they thought would be of benefit to the rest of the group with regards to gender equity. It was good to know that in GSA we have an excellent grasp of what is available and we felt we added a good number of resources to the collective group.

We finally said goodbye to each other; we had swapped email addresses, made a promise to not forget what we had learnt and to promised to ensure our action plans were fulfilled.

A worthwhile experience for all involved: very humbling and a salutary lesson in commitment across the globe.