To: All CULE Members
The CULE Solidarity Committee is asking members to submit projects for funding consideration to our CULE Solidarity Fund. Requests are reviewed quarterly, the next deadline is August 31st.
To know if your project is appropriate for the Fund, please review the mandate and terms of reference:
Mandate
As an initiative that began in 2004, the CULE Solidarity Fund and the CULE Solidarity Committee (which is a sub-committee of the CULE Executive) has as its mandate to help reduce poverty and social injustice in many parts of the world. To this end the CULE Solidarity Committee provides support and funding to initiatives which develop linkages to other worker and labour organizations in other countries, better the quality of life of majority world workers, and assists children of CULE members to participate in solidarity initiatives at home and abroad*.
Terms of Reference
To develop linkages with worker and labour organizations in other countries, especially majority world countries so as to foster a spirit of solidarity and thus better an understanding of each other and the workers represented;
To assist in various ways to better the quality of life of majority world workers;
To co-ordinate among CULE members fundraising, funding and donations (both in dollars and in-kind) to other worker organizations in majority world countries (this would include organizing the gathering of used clothing in offices for donation to organizations in other countries for example); and
To assist the CULE Convention Committee in the role of establishing linkages to worker/labour organizations in the host country and to co-ordinate the effort to bring various supplies to that country during the convention period.
Each year the CULE Solidarity Fund is to be used to support the mandate and terms of reference as noted above. For more on the application process please go to http://cule.ca/fund-mandate/ Applications can be sent to solidarity@cule.ca
Note: Some may not be familiar with the term “Majority World.” As defined by Appropedia “it is a term used instead of largely inaccurate and out-of-date terms such as ‘developing countries’ or ‘South’,” and that it “represents what has formerly been known as the ‘Third World’. The term highlights the fact that these countries are indeed the majority of humankind.”
CULE Solidarity Fund projects from recent years include health and safety education to workers in Honduras; bringing clean water, building school libraries and more to communities in Central Ethiopia; and providing support to volunteer union organizers in the Philippines.
In Solidarity,
CULE Solidarity Committee