On October 25, the United Nations Association of Maryland and Towson University's International Studies Program and Women Studies Department held an upbeat forum on "Enhancing the Health, Education and Well-Being of Women Around the Globe: The Key to Meeting the Millennium Development Goals." Four women spoke about how they are helping women around the world and in our own communities overcome the social, health, and economic hurdles associated with poverty.

The speakers at the forum provided many insights to the audience.

Keynote speaker, Yolonda C. Richardson, CEO and President of the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), spoke about her organization's role in training women around the world to assume leadership roles in their communities. She emphasized that when it comes to women's issues, we finally have the rhetoric right; but that when it comes to implementation at the programmatic level, much remains to be done.

Many students from Towson University, the event host, were in attendance.

Ann Flagg spoke about the work that the International Rescue Committee does to help refugees around the world as well as refugees that the IRC is helping settle right here in Baltimore. She also talked about the many opportunities that exist for those who would like to help women refugees adjust to their new lives here in our own community. For more information about these volunteer opportunities, please email Ann Flagg at annf@theirc.org.

UNA-MD members Ruth Smith and Ken Allen chat with the League of Women Voters.

Nancy West, an American Red Cross Disaster Volunteer, spoke on "Women and Poverty: Lessons Learned in the Aftermath of Katrina." She stressed the need for outsiders to recognize how being poor and especially being poor and female reduces one's crisis response options. Programs designed to help these individuals must take these option deficits into account.

Audience members paid careful attention to the experiences of the speakers.

Dr. Cholpon Imanalieva, currently a Humphrey Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, discussed the progress being made to improve maternal health in her homeland, the Kyrgyz Republic. Dr. Imanalieva serves as a consultant for her country's National Health Care Reform Program. She noted how funds received from various UN agencies are helping the Kyrgyz Republic meet its health challenges.

A guest and UNA-MD member Ken Allen discuss the night's event.

In keeping with the upbeat theme of the evening, we distributed a handout entitled "WHAT YOU CAN DO to help improve the lives of women living in poverty." (This handout is available for download, or if you would like us to send you a copy, please call Ruth Smith at 410 821-5487). If we all pitch in, we can win this battle against global poverty.