The 11th Working Committee Meeting of the Tibetan Women’s Association

July 18, 2013

Today, the Tibetan Women’s Association held its 11th Working Committee Meeting at Dhondenling settlement, Kollegal.

115 regional executives from 27 regional Tibetan Women’s Association chapters in different parts of India and Nepal gathered to attend the meeting.

For the function, we were honored to have Ken Rinpoche of Sera Jey as the chief guest as well as GMB5Zogchen Tulku Dhonga Nyima of Zogchen Monastery, former TWA president and current member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile Dr. B.Tsering, and the head of the local assembly Passang Dorjee as special guests.

Ken Rinpoche said, “Unity is the strength of our struggle; we must work in unity to achieve our common goal, and never be discouraged. Our youth must take responsibility for the future.”

The first Working Committee Meeting took place in Dharamsala in 1985, the year after the re-establishment of Tibetan Women’s Association in exile. Midway through the term, executive members of the central and regional chapters of TWA congregate to assess the initiatives undertaken since the prior meeting and strategize for future endeavors.

During the first two days of this year’s Working Committee Meeting, executives from the central and regional chapters will give briefings on the various activities their respective chapter has spearheaded over the past 18 months since newly elected executive members have assumed leadership. In keeping with the principles of transparency and accountability, representatives will disclose their project and financial activities and open the floor to questions from their peers.

In addition, the meeting attendees will review and evaluate the progress of resolutions made during the 10th General Body Meeting (GBM). TWA’s General Body Meeting is held once every three years, and brings together members of TWA to democratically elect the executive members of the Central TWA office for a term of three years.

The final three days of the Working Committee Meeting will serve as a period of envisioning and planning, where participating members will discuss the agendas that Central TWA has procured. Then through consensus, they will pass new resolutions to be implemented for the next twenty months of their tenure.

TWA’s president Tashi Dolma stated, “There are lots of women’s organizations around the world, but TWA GMB4is the only women’s organization in exile. Every organization has different goals and purposes. We are quite different from the other organizations because we are an organization of a nation which lost its independence. The purpose of the re-establishment of this NGO is to continue the struggle for freedom of the Tibetan people and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and also to empower Tibetan women in exile. What TWA stands for in the exile community today is all thanks to the hard work of the previous executives and we promise that we will continue to work hard for the future development of this organization.”

TWA has 57 regional chapters spread across the globe and over 16,000 members outside Tibet. Today, TWA is the second largest Tibetan NGO and the only women’s NGO in exile that advocates human rights for Tibetan women in Tibet and works to empower Tibetan women in exile. TWA’s slogan is ‘Advocacy for home, Action in exile.’

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