Women's Federation for World Peace
The Women’s Federation for World Peace, USA is a dynamic organization that is committed to providing women with the opportunity to create lasting peace in the world, through talks, forums at the United Nations, luncheon programs, projects, national and international conferences, benefits, and service projects.
WFWP, USA asserts that the family is the cornerstone for peace in the world, and that mature couples are the foundation for strong and loving families. WFWP, USA encourages every woman to become a "woman of peace" through cultivating her heart, the mother’s heart, to care not just for her own children, but for the children of others, the children of other nations, the children of the world, by developing and expressing the qualities of empathy, forgiveness, and unconditional love.
WFWP, USA was established in 1992, by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon. Dr. Moon and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, are a remarkable couple who have worked together, for almost fifty years, to pioneer a way for peace. A nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, WFWP, USA's national office is located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. WFWP, USA has twenty-four (24) regional chapters, and is supported financially through a membership program, as well as donations.
Programming is ongoing in six areas: Bridge of Peace Ceremony; Interracial Sisterhood Project; NGO Networking; Women of Faith; Benefits for the Schools of Africa; and the Women’s Middle East Peace Initiative.
Bridge of Peace Ceremony
In 1994, the "International Women’s Friendship Conferences" brought together more than 169,000 Japanese women to Korea as ambassadors for peace and good will between the two historical enemies. A profoundly healing "Bridge of Peace Ceremony" was introduced as a way to create "sister-pairs" between the women. In 1995 and 1996, more than 20,000 pairs of women from Japan and the US came together to participate in 129 "International Friendship Conferences" in the US. Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II, these conferences successfully introduced the Bridge of Peace Ceremony to Americans. Using a real bridge, this ceremony brings elements of sincere repentance for wrongs in the past, together with the sincere desire to create a new sisterhood relationship, centered on heart.
Interracial Sisterhood Project
The Interracial Sisterhood Project (ISP) holds a strong belief that women have a vital role to play as leaders and peacemakers to change the painful history of destructive racial disharmony by actively leading their families and communities to transcend racial lines. In 1996, The ISP grew out of the desire to expand the sisterhood experience to benefit women who represent the many different racial backgrounds in America. Using WFWP, USA’s signature project, the "Bridge of Peace Ceremony", more than forty ISP programs have been held around the country over the past eight years. In July of 1996, the ISP was honored in its selection as a "Promising Practice", by the administration of President Clinton, and was included in the President’s Initiative on Race, "One America in the 21st Century."
NGO Networking
WFWPI is an "NGO in general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations", having first received this designation in 1997. Leaders, members, staff, and guests of WFWP, USA benefit from this affiliation through networking with like-minded ngos at UN briefings, programs, and conferences. WFWP, USA has worked closely with WFWPI to organize forums at the United Nations on the topics of the Eradication of Poverty, as well as the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. WFWP, USA works closely with the United Nations Association in various parts of the country, with WFWP leaders serving on several of their governing boards.
Women of Faith Project
The Women of Faith Project was established in the summer of 2001, to bring women of different faith backgrounds together for the purpose of greater understanding and respect. Women are endowed with those qualities that enable them to go beyond the boundaries and barriers that have traditionally divided the human family. With an open heart, empathy, and sensitivity, women are uniquely qualified to bridge differences. Women are provided the opportunity to explore the faiths of others through testimonies, through the sharing of similar passages from different sacred texts, as well as through the moving experience of sisterhood, by participating in the Bridge of Peace Ceremony.
Benefits for the Schools of Africa
WFWP, USA is committed to financially supporting the seven schools that were established, and developed, in Africa over the past ten years by her parent organization, WFWP, International, located in Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Uganda (2). WFWP, USA regional chapters have held benefits to raise funds to help maintain, as well as expand, these schools. Types of benefits have included: concerts, a fashion show, dinner programs, afternoon teas, and raffles. Scholarship programs have been established for two of the schools, providing much needed ongoing support for tuition. Approximately $100,000 has been raised over the past four years.
Women’s Middle East Peace Initiative
In January of 2004, WFWP, USA established the "Women’s Middle East Peace Initiative" (WMEPI) and, understanding the importance of that area in history, as well as in current affairs, determined to focus its attention on the Middle East. A Declaration for Peace was drafted. WMEPI was formally launched with events in Los Angeles and Washington DC, entitled, "Women as Peacemakers: Building Bridges of Peace in the Middle East." The Declaration traveled "around the world in 28 days", with Norma Foster, WFWP, USA National Advisor, as she took it to international conferences in Switzerland and Israel. WFWP, USA co-sponsored the "Women of Peace" program, in May of 2004, which brought together 526 women from 41 nations. During the Fifth Annual WFWPI International Leaders Workshop, held in Austria, in September of 2004, a decision was made to collect one million signatures worldwide for the Declaration for Peace. This campaign aims to turn the minds and hearts of women throughout the world to focus their support on the Middle East; to highlight the need for women to be more involved on all levels of the peacemaking process throughout the world; as well as to encourage women to use their God-given nature to advance peace in the Middle East and throughout the world.
For more information on any of these programs or projects, email us at info@wfwp.us or call us Monday through Friday at (203)333-5572.