Message from the organizers

Our hearts tug with pride, and a fierce sense of kinship and purpose from having organised the Kampala Know How together in the way that we have. Few of us get the opportunity to be challenged with a task much greater than ourselves, and pull through, I would say, remarkably well - I am grateful for such an opportunity. It has been a privilege to work with all these wonderful people from three corners of the world, bringing together women from all over, and we feel it has been highly relevant and highly effective.

The Know How Conference: A place where powerful new relationships between women's information specialists were forged, causing the expansion of the enjoyment of their human rights by women throughout the world.

This seems like a brash statement but it is quite simply the logical outcome of a meeting of specialists whose task is to make information on the position of women visible and accessible. Why is it logical? Representatives of women's information centers from 100 countries in the world came together in one room and immediately started working out ways of collectively making the information they have more available. They looked at how to increase the access of rural women to information on their human rights, sustainable development, peace, poverty alleviation. They looked at how to make information on women accessible to public policy makers. They looked at how they can work together to ensure that women can participate in information processes at national, regional and international levels.

The conference was designed to enhance the development of cooperative projects. Many of these people have already shared ideas with each other in the months preceding the conference, through the Know How Conference listserv. The meeting in Kampala was a tool for facilitation, a catalyst for action.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who made this conference a remarkable event. The challenge now lies in keeping up our promises and ensuring that the Kampala Declaration reaches further then our own desks!