Month of Love and our Impactful PIE committee Meeting

The PIE Committee Meeting introduced and welcomed new members Kabahenda and EJ.

We then proceeded to discuss the importance of solidarity and funding in the face of reduced US aid to all countries, especially important being Africa. Point worth noting is, our 70 percent Funding for AIDs comes from UsAID and as i write this we have been stopped from receiving funds in South Africa.

Key points of our discussion included the need for alternative funding sources, recruitment of new members, and building a grievance redressal mechanism. Committee Members shared personal experiences through summing up their week in a single word, guided by Tamarack..

We are deeply sorrowed and stand with Sherna on the loss of her brother, just a day before the meeting.

The highlights were the election of Namibia's female president and the discussion around the challenges of geriatric caregiving. It brought up the general ignored topic of unpaid labor, rigors of being a primary caregiver and the experiences and issues being faced by our members.

The meeting emphasized the importance of using technology in empowering women and the need for a clear conflict resolution policy. The group agreed on a sequence of action plans. This included recruiting new and willing members for the steering committee of 2025

Another point worth noting is how we are often asked to speak about our advocacy/activism/leadership experiences at many forums and how people are learning from the mapping we follow. But we are not offered any gratuity or grant for that, even.

We also look forward to future sessions of brainstorming on ways to prioritize funding discussions. It is all the more essential that we take more proactive action and results in an organized way, for which sub committees were proposed. This will result in us responding quicker in real time, rather than waiting for the monthly reporting meetings.