MMM Activity Report 2015

 Activity Report 2015

Editorial

MMM’s mission is to promote the importance of the role mothers play in the economic, social and cultural development of their society. Despite the fact that they face serious difficulties, MMM is convinced that mothers can play an active part in resolving many problems when they are considered as stakeholders when they are supported, informed and motivated to act.

2015 was a year when we planned how we might better implement this mission. Three main thrusts became clear: listen to mothers (federate), give mothers a voice (communicate), strengthen the teams (motivate). We are targeting these three main goals.

1. Listening to mothers gives MMM the authority to speak in their name. To this end, MMM federates each year a growing number of mothers and grassroots associations throughout the world, with whom we develop a close working relationship. The MMM Mothers’ Workshops and new member associations feature in this Report.
2. Giving mothers a voice is to get the message over. Getting the message over about mothers and to mothers by every means at our – and their – disposal. Getting the message over in advocacy work with the international authorities – the United Nations, UNESCO and the European Union – and with policy makers and national governments. Ensuring that mothers are involved in so many areas means that our advocacy work is limitless. At the same time, we must continue to pinpoint specific areas for intervention and coordinate our activities to enhance our impact. This is why – as you will see in this Report – our work has been focussed on three subjects: the economy, health, and peace.
3. Strengthening our teams is a necessary requirement to enable us to fulfill our mission. Our human and financial resources are currently too limited: practically all of our MMM teams are volunteers. The personal commitment, availability and the quality of the work of our volunteers are truly remarkable. Nevertheless, to ensure the continuity of our activities into the future, we must recruit younger team members with new skills. For this, we need funding – because of the way society is evolving we must be in a position to pay some of our key team members.

In 2017, MMM will be celebrating 70 years of working for mothers! With that in mind, we plan to build on the work launched in 2015, so that by the end of 2016 we will be well on the way to achieving the goals set out above – and ready to make 2017 a new beginning.

I give my heartfelt thanks to all those of you who give their skills and time to MMM. Thank you to those who support us. And special thanks to the graphic artist, Françoise Ernst, who has set out many MMM publications during this year, including this Activity Report.

Anne-Claire de Liedekerke