Face to Face with President Clinton
	Ballet: Face to Face
	The Women's Association of Bougoufe
	SINOPIA
	About the International Foundation for Population and Development ...

Washington, D.C, April 7, 2000-World Health Day-nearly 200 policymakers, researchers and activists attended a White House event on the critical role that international family planning plays in saving women's lives and protecting women's health.

President Clinton was joined on the program by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Representative James Greenwood (R-PA) to stress the importance of restoring U.S. leadership in support of international family planning programs. Also speaking was Dr. Enyantu Ifenne, Nigeria Country Director for the Centre for Development and Population Activities, who emphasized the impact these programs have on the health of women and children around the world.

UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and Face to Face Campaign Chairperson Linda Gray was joined by three other actresses, Blythe Danner, Alexandra Paul and Mimi Rogers for World Health Day events in Washington, D.C. Linda Gray participated in the Congressional Forum on international family planning programs sponsored by the bi-partisan Congressional Women's Caucus and select Senators. She called on key congresspeople to discuss Face to Face Campaign related issues.

For a full text of the remarks presented at the White House ceremony, please contact the Communications Consortium Media Center (CCMC) at e- mail: info@ccmc.org

"Instruct a man, you instruct an individual.
Instruct a woman, you instruct a nation." -- By Moroccan Proverb

So believes Etienne Frey, the Swiss choreographer who has created a unique ballet for the Face to Face Campaign that portrays the status of women through dance and music.

Etienne Frey's vision of the Face to Face ballet is that "it takes us by the hand and helps us to remember the true history of our origins."

Etienne Frey and his associates reflected on Face to Face Campaign issues in order to choreograph the ballet. As artists, they concluded that whatever the problem-inequality of women, sexually transmitted diseases, domestic violence-the basic source of the problem is always the same. It is simply, but profoundly, the lack of real communication between two or more individuals. This failing makes it difficult to recognize, identify and express desires, needs and feelings.

In Etienne's own words . . .

Only a huge lack of love and respect for oneself and one another could have brought us to such a state.

Only a profound misunderstanding of one another could generate and feed fear, hate, racism, mistreatment, submission, gender bias, exploitation, banishment and execution.

Only a profound misunderstanding of ourselves keeps us from communicating with and knowing one another.

After (or perhaps, because of) years of sensitization, education and re-education, gender inequality, abuse and violence persist.

What if we fed our intellect, but starved our emotions, when they were the source of the solution all the time?

The Face to Face ballet also demonstrates that dance is a powerful tool of communication, even beyond the pleasure, beauty and inspiration that dance provokes.

Having preceded the development of verbal language, dance is one of the rare forms of universal human expression that knows no linguistic barriers. It communicates far beyond the color of the skins that produce it.

The ballet premieres at the B‰timent des Forces Motrices in Geneva, Switzerland on the evening of June 27th as the main cultural event of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Summit for Social Development. This is only the second time in history that the United Nations will hold a General Assembly Special Session outside of its New York headquarters. The audience for the Face to Face ballet will include UN delegates, UN Goodwill Ambassadors, NGO Campaign partners, donors and the general public.

For the first time in this international city of Geneva, a human rights campaign integrates into its global communication strategy the art of choreography. Here the message of the Face to Face Campaign will be transmitted to a live audience without the use of words.

And instead of speaking only to the mind, it will speak to the heart as well.

Over the next year - in countries where the Face to Face Campaign is engaged - fundraising ballet performances will be accompanied by workshops involving the local dancers and the general public.

The International Foundation for Population and Development (IFPD) is the Face to Face campaign partner in Switzerland and the originating organization of the Face to Face ballet.

All of the proceeds from ballet ticket sales and items sold at the event will be used for an IFPD project in Mali. For the women in Mali, one of the poorest countries in the planet, life is very often a hardship. In the south Sahara, as in many countries in the world, women are the first victims of poverty, even more so when they have to support the whole family. With no reliable health care, and with traditional social rules, women cannot face their many responsibilities in an autonomous, independent way. Only 28.3% of women receive primary education as compared to 43.1% of men. Women often do not have the option of income- generating activities that secure financial independence and reduce their level of poverty. Their children suffer the consequences with a high mortality rate, bad health and lack of education.

IFPD supports the Women's Association of Bougoufe (in the town of Segou), which aims to break the vicious cycle of poverty by empowering women who are alone - widowed, divorced or single mothers - and who are the first to suffer extreme poverty. This project helps them to acquire the necessary competence to develop income-generating activities with basic training in literacy, learning a craft, or education in health and nutrition. The project also offers technical and financial assistance to access micro-credits at favorable interest rates at local banks.

It was in 1985 that Etienne Frey and Jean-Claude Pavailli, soloist dancers from international companies, created SINOPIA to live and share their passion for dance with the Swiss and international public.

From "Underground" to "Altair", first-prize winner at the International meeting in Vaison-la-Romaine, to "Harold and Maude", with the extraordinary appearance of Yvette Chauvire, Prima Ballerina Assoluta for the Paris Opera, and Rosella Hightower, star of "Les Ballets du Marquis de Cuevas", - to the reconstitution for the Swiss Italian TV of "Skating Rink", created for the famous Swedish Ballet in 1922-to "Romeo and Juliet", created in collaboration with the International Red Cross,- to "Farewell", "Esquisse Opus 24", or "L'Audacieuse", there are more than 30 productions that this Swiss company, established in La Chaux-de- Fonds, has performed throughout the world.

Their unique undertaking continues in Geneva. They aim to encourage the development of their original choreographic style, promote the art of dance by way of parallel activities (conferences, festivals, school shows), and spread their specialized teaching style that has inspired a new method of pedagogy and movement, conceived for use in different sectors of our society (schools, hospitals, conservatories, etc.) The universal vision of choreographer Etienne Frey has been the underlying energy to Sinopia writing one of the richest pages to the contemporary history of dance in Switzerland.

Established in 1999 at Lausanne, the International Foundation for Population and Development (IFPD) is the first Swiss non-governmental organization to work specifically in the fields of population and reproductive health, to promote economic empowerment for women and to support income-generating projects in developing countries. IFPD is not affiliated with any governmental, religious, political or ideological body or institution. As a non-profit organization, it depends on donations for the financing of all its projects.

The aims of IFPD are: (1) to make the general public and political authorities aware of the challenges that the current demographic evolution raises for individuals, families and societies in developing countries; and (2) to support projects that promote quality of life and public health for people in developing countries and offer all individuals, especially women, an equal opportunity to participate in the political and economic life of their communities with total respect for their basic human rights.

To support these objectives, IFPD offers complete and current information on all population issues. It identifies and supports projects that improve domestic and social conditions for women and the welfare of their families: education and training, equal rights and economic opportunities for women, and access to primary health services, including sexual and reproductive health. IFPD works in close collaboration with local partners to develop programs in the best interest of the population and individuals concerned. It creates innovative partnerships among governmental institutions, international organizations, NGOs and the private sector, in order to mobilize resources, as well as implement programs.