For information, contact us at: mail@babaylan-europe.org.

Austria Pilipina Sa Austria is a civic and charitable organization formed on July 11, 1996 with 20 Filipino women ratifying its constitution in Vienna. In September of 1996, it was registered as a member organization of Babaylan Europe, correspondingly named Babaylan-Austria. As such, it is the umbrella organization of all women’s groups in Austria under Babaylan. One of its primary objectives is to promote the upliftment of the Filipina woman, and ultimately of womanhood as a whole, in the educational, economic, cultural and social spheres to enable her to fully share in the development process of society. Its main activities are media work, networking, education and skills trainings, fund raising, counselling and referrals and charitable support to projects. Contact e-mail: a.chech1@chello.at Website: http://babaylanaustria.tripod.com/index.html Denmark Babaylan-Denmark was formally organized in Copenhagen on May 1997 by a few women who together believed in organising Filipinas in Denmark towards uplifting their conditions. A couple of women started a telephone network to assist victims of violence. Babaylan-Denmark was established on May 17, 1997 as a response to thwart the problems and negative publicity surrounding Filipinas in Denmark. Babaylan-DK formally joined the European network in October 2001. It provides a forum for Filipino women in Denmark, offer opportunities to the Filipino youth to develop and integrate into Danish society, and establishes links and support with women's group of other nationalities and ethnic backgrounds in Denmark and internationally. Babaylan-DK publishes a newsletter called ABAKADA. Contact e-mail: babaylanes@yahoo.com website: http://www.babaylan.dk France Babaylan-France is a working group of committed Filipinas (about 10) who come together and meet regularly. It is a not a mass organisation of Filipina migrant women, however, it welcomes all members of the Filipino community, particularly women, to participate in its activities. It has been a member of Babaylan since its founding. Babaylan France has four major activities – Information through seminars/sessions and newsletter; direct assistance such as medical or health care, legal help and assistance to Filipinas married to French nationals; cultural activities and networking with European and international organisations. Contact e-mail: sally.rousset@wanadoo.fr Germany Philippine Women’s Forum (PWF) is a response to the need for a concerted effort to address the problems and issues of Filipinas in Germany. It is a network of Filipinas who are members of various Philippine organisations and/or German institutions in various cities of Germany. Presently PWF is officially recognized as a registered non-profit association in Germany. Membership is categorized into Active Members and Supportive Members. Main activities of the association is celebration of IWD in March, cultural and social gathering in summer and info evening in November for International Day against Violence against Women. Recent initiative of the association is the organization of Babaylanes Internationales, a small group of international women interested in situation of migrant women, cultural exchange and bi-national relationship and other gender related issues. Contact e-mail: babaylanes@gmx.de website: www.babaylanesinternationales.blogspot.com Greece Diwata which stands for Determined Women in Action for Total Advancement was formed and launched in March 1993. It is an organisation of Filipina migrant workers based in Athens. It was organised after a training on basic women orientation conducted by the Kasapi-Hellas Women’s Committee right after the founding of Babaylan in Barcelona. Together with Kasapi, Diwata helped in setting up Munting Nayon day-care centre in 1995 to provide early childhood education and care for children of migrant women. In 1999 Diwata formed a savings and credit cooperative. Recognising that women migrants in Greece have a more difficult situation than their sisters in other European countries, they came to realise that to overcome the situation of powerlessness, they have to organise themselves. Aside from fighting for women’s rights, they wanted to do something to bind them together and make them strong. The idea of a credit cooperative was born as a response to their problem of cash flow. Diwata stresses on the importance of education for the empowerment of its members. Education in a cooperative system places importance on a collective and cooperative way of doing things affecting changes in our lives. Today, Diwata has around 60 members and solidly united and actively participating in their cooperative. Contact e-mail: kasapi@hol.gr Italy Babaylan-Italy is a network of four women’s organisations – Alay sa Kababaihang Pilipina (AKAP), Malayan, CFMW-Italy and Filipino Women’s Council (FWC). The major activities of the four organisations are social services, counselling and referrals; seminars and workshops on migrants’ rights and welfare; religious and pastoral services; cultural activities; skills trainings; and, networking and advocacy. Awareness-raising activities for women are organised on various women issues i.e. upbringing of bi-cultural children. It has a youth and adolescent activities, also for young people of other nationalities, on issues such as aids, drugs and alcohol. A multi-ethnic day care centre, Munting Tahanan was established for children up to 3 years old, while a summer school Munting Paaralan is organised for Filipino children only from 6-15 years of age. There are also skills trainings and information sessions for multi-ethnic youth. Several cultural activities are organised such as introduction of the Filipino culture to the Italian public, cultural animation (song and dance) of Filipino children at elderly and nursing homes (i.e. during Christmas season). At the same time, it has links with government offices on the national and local level and strong network and advocacy work on European and international level i.e. UN bodies. Contact e-mail: mindoro@tiscali.it and cfmwitalia@libero.it Netherlands Diwang Pilipina or Diwa, established in 1993, is a network of three Filipina organisations (Alab, Bayanihan and Kapit-Bisig) and individuals involved on migrant women issues. It serves as an action forum, a pool of resource persons and a coordinating body for women-specific activities. Diwa’s main objective is to develop a gender-friendly perspective towards issues concerning the integration and participation of Filipinas in the Dutch society. Its activities are information gatherings and campaigns, specifically during the International Women’s Day, education and skills trainings, networking with other women (migrant) organisations, and lobby and advocacy. One of its members, Bayanihan, offers all forms of social services and counselling, telephone help line and crisis intervention. It also organises empowerment and skills trainings and is actively involved in networking and advocacy on migrant’s issues. It has a support and advocacy service for the rights and welfare of au pairs. Kapit-Bisig, on the other hand, undertakes similar activities but on the local level. Contact e-mail: bayanihan.nl@planet.nl Spain Amistad de Mujeres Filipinas is one of the founding members of Babaylan which saw its birth in Barcelona in 1992. Its main activities are promotion of rights and welfare of Filipina migrants through information gatherings and awareness-raising, networking with other migrant organisations, and lobby and advocacy towards local government officials. Amistad also gives support and assistance to Filipinas who need help or in crisis situation. It participates actively in the Filipino chaplaincy through its pastoral care and community-building programmes and promotes women’s issues within the church community. Through Centro Filipino, Amistad is involved in activities for children and youth. Amistad women are also members of a savings and credit cooperative. Contact e-mail: amistadbentinig@yahoo.es Switzerland Babaylan-Switzerland, founded in 1992, is a network of organisations and individuals. Its members include Samahang Pilipina Zürich, Samahang Pilipina Bern, Samahang Pilipina Luzern, Tuluyang Pinoy, and Balikatan. Its main objective is consolidate effort of the different orgs and centres towards empowerment and better integration of Filipinas in Switzerland through information campaigns, education and trainings, networking and lobby, cultural activities, social services and counselling. It has a newsletter which publishes updates of its activities and issues of interest. Contact e-mail: balikatan@datacomm.ch United Kingdom Babaylan-UK is a network of four organisations and individuals: Lingap, for children and youth: Bahay Kubo, housing cooperative; Igorot-UK, an indigenous people’s organisation; and, Kanlungan, a service centre. Together they give social services and referrals; skills trainings and awareness-raising on migrants rights and welfare; cultural and theatre activities; housing assistance; and networking and advocacy with other organisations. Contact e-mail: estelavn@hotmail.co.uk