Pine Lake History - 1976 - 1989

              FHF
. ESTERN PRODUCER, THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1986
Canadian Ellen
McLean
continues as
president of the
Associated
Country
Women of the
World ( top).
Beth Brandys, President,
Canadian UNICEF Committee
An international UNICEF Week to be cel-ebrated
by rural women around theworld?
This is the dream of one of UNICEF's
chief boosters, Dr . Ellen McLean of Eureka,
` Nova Scotia, international president of the
Associated Country Women of the World
( ACWW), an organization of nine million
women in 68 countries and the international)
body of the Women's Institutes .
" Of course, we could start the UNICEF
Week here in Canada," Dr . McLean com-ments.
" The Women's Institutes ( WI) have!
always had such close ties with UNICEF
Canada, that strengthening international
bonds is a natural progression ."
Actually, WI collaboration with UNICEF
predates the Canadian Committee. Prior tol
` UNICEF Canada being founded in 1955,
Women's Institutes in many provinces col-lected
for UNICEF and sent the money
dttr . tk to UNICEF Headquarters in New
lbrk . WI branches still continue to raise
fund, lot UNICEF through the provincial
committees and the FWIC, Federated " om-en's
Institutes of Canada is a corresponding
organization of the Canadian UNICEF
Committee, and has co- operated with
UNICEF on many development projects .
Recently re- elected for her second three-
~ ear term as president of the ACWW', Dr.
\ Ll can has been active with the Women's
Institutes since 1953 . She was president of
the Nova Scotia Women's Institutes from
1963 - 65, and national president of the FWIC
from 1973 - 76 .
A native of Manitoba and a graduate of the
McGill Library School, Dr. McLean is fluent
in five languages, including English, Danish,
French, Spanish and German . Before her
marriage, she worked with the ILO, Interna-
! ional labor Organization, in Geneva .
~ hc and her husband, John McLean, who
" h- e, ident of the Nova Scotia Federation of
\_ nculture, live on a fifthgeneration family
t. cm in Pictou County, Nova Scotia .
Dr. EllenMcLean: ~
Speaking for 9 million women
By LIZ DELAHEY
KILLARNEY, Ireland ( Staff)
- Stop the navel gazing and get
on with the work of ACWW was
Ellen McLean's call to action at
the 18th triennial conference of
the Associated Country Women
of the World.
The Nova Scotia farm woman
was unopposed for her second
term as the president of the nine
million member organization link-ing
rural women and homemakers
in 300 societies in over 60 coun-tries
of the world.
The sprawling organization
works for improved rural condi-tions
by promoting leadership
training courses and assisting
member societies with income-generating
projects, water
projects, literacy training and
nutrition education . Through
consultative status with a number
ofUN bodies it keeps the agencies
informed about the needs and
concerns of rural women.
Streamlining of the organiza-tion
began in McLean's first term
with a move to a more modern
office building in London, acquisi-tion
of a computer and develop-ment
by the general purposes
committee of a plan of work for
the next three years.
Restructuring the organization,
an attempt that failed at the
strife- ridden 1983 conference,
took a major step forward as dele-gates
at the 1986 conference con-sidered
50 amendments to the
constitution .
McLean said in an interview
that she was pleased with the
move to a board of directors for
the association . She said it will
make the group more representa-
Yolande Calve is Canada's new
area vice- president for the Asso-ciated
Country Women of the
World.
Born, raised and married in
Maniwaki, Que., she has been a
member of La Cercles de Fer-mieres
de Quebec for 43 years.
She has served as provincial
director, secretary and is now
treasurer of the 67,597- member
organization . She was treasurer
for the Canadian Conference
Committee that looked after local
arrangements for the 1983
ACWW conference .
Calv6 said she hopes to develop
better contacts with the 14
ACWW constituent societies in
Canada through a newsletter or
other means because members are
often unaware of each other's
activities .
Leda Jensen of Hussar, Alta.,
Evelyn Potter of Biggar, Sask .,
and Doreen MacInnis of Prince
Edward Island were also in the
running for area vice- president of
Canada . Calve replaces Sen .
Martha Bielish of Warspite, Alta .
Irene Spry of Ottawa was made
a member of honor of the associa-tion
in recognition of her work as
a former member of the executive
committee and council of the
Associated Country Women of
the World.
tive with members from around
the world making the decisions.
But she recognized the increased
financial burden .
It will cost about $ 60,000 more
over the next three years of
administration to bring in mem-bers
for meetings . That means
people will have to dig that much
deeper into their pockets to pro-vide
Pennies for Friendship, the
voluntary fund that covers
administration of the ACWW.
The financial committee has
come up with a scheme that
would cover the increased costs.
she said . Each member will be
asked to add to their annual con-tribution
an amount equal to one
loaf of bread.
At the conference opening,
McLean queried whether a
change in format - with meet-ings
and a seminar rather than a
seven- day conference - would
make it easier for those from
developing countries to get travel
assistance from their govern-ments.
And she scolded some
member societies who collect
Pennies for Friendship and then
skim some off the top for their
own organization . She questioned
l11aill1v ` uou
why some member societies don't
work through ACWW for their
international development
projects .
Asked about the greying of
ACWW members, McLean said it
is naturally of concern to her. The
program has to be attractive to
young women, she said, and
another problem is the difficulty
for younger women to give time to
voluntary organizations because
so many of them are employed
full- time.
As for future goals, McLean
plans leadership training for the
officers in September. Most of
them have had no training in set-ting
up projects, writing propos-als,
monitoring and evaluating
projects .
And they'll be doing more
training for women in managerial
and marketing skills . To help
women take the recommendations
from the conference to their own
governments McLean would also
like to see lobbying workshops.
" We're partners in action with
our member societies. We need to
strengthen the partnership and
speed up the action ."