Collaboration of Resources for Women Across Boundaries

The following post filled me with pride. Collaboration is a powerful thing! Sisterhood is Powerful!
The Commander of Indian female UN police unit arrives in Liberia with advance teamSource: UN News CenterJanuary 22, 2007 - The commander of an all-female Indian United Nationspolice unit has arrived in Liberia as part of an advance team that willpave the way for the landmark deployment of a 125-strong force later thismonth, the first time the world body has sent an all women specializedpolice unit to a peacekeeping operation.Commander Seema Dhundiya, who will head the Formed Police Unit (FPU),arrived in the capital Monrovia on Sunday along with logistics andengineering specialists who will prepare for the rest of her unit, which isexpected to arrive around 29 January, said UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) spokesman Ben Dotsei Malor.The FPU contingent will consist of 125 personnel, made up of 103 femaleofficers and 22 male staff serving in logistics roles. The women will beformed into three platoons of 30 women each, comprising one platoon leaderand 29 officers, and while the contingent will be based in Monrovia theymay be deployed anywhere in the country.India's decision to send the all female officers to assist the UNMILoperation was announced last September and over the past few months theteam has been undergoing intensive training. The UN has had increasingsuccess with FPU's over the past few years as a means of bridging the gapbetween regular and lightly armed police and fully armed blue helmets.The FPU, which will be better armed than a regular unit, will providegeneral support to UN police activities in Liberia, including protecting UNofficials and civilian police as they perform their duties, plus also actingas a rapid reaction force for crowd control and helping train local policeofficers, the world body said.The female FPU represents further effort by the UN to attract women policeofficers into their peacekeeping operations worldwide, because as of theend of 2006 while there were around 8,482 staff serving worldwide, only 454? around four per cent ? were women officers.In a related development, the Secretary-General's Special Representative inLiberia Alan Doss today urged all young women who are interested in joiningthe country's police to apply to a UN-backed programme that aims to bringthe educational level of potential recruits up to a high enough standardthat they can apply to join.To access the complete article, please visithttp://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21303&Cr=liberia&Cr1=_______________________________________________________________________20) At the World Social Forum: Fight for your rights, despiteglobalisation, women urgedSource: IRIN News