About MIWA
The Montevideo International Women’s Association is a network of women in and around Montevideo who have lived extensively abroad. We support local communities through volunteer work and project funding, and we give one another somewhere to land.
How it started
On 6 February 2019, three women in Montevideo had a conversation about starting something. One of them proposed a name, the Montevideo International Ladies Club, and a model: the Lions Club, adapted to their own circumstances. A place where people with shared values could meet, and contribute something to the community around them.
The first committee met on 13 May 2019, and MILC was founded that day. The logo followed on 31 May. The first official monthly meeting was on 5 June. That September there was a first coffee morning, at a member’s house, and a first newsletter went out on the 25th.
On 16 November 2022 the club changed its name to MIWA, the Montevideo International Women’s Association.
The coffee mornings have been running ever since.
The dates
- 6 February 2019The first conversation about starting a club
- 13 May 2019First committee meeting. MILC is founded
- 31 May 2019The logo is created
- 5 June 2019First official monthly meeting
- September 2019First coffee morning
- 25 September 2019First newsletter
- 16 November 2022MILC becomes MIWA
Who we are now
Around thirty members, from fifteen countries. Some were born in Uruguay, most were not. Some have been here for decades, some arrived last month.
What members have in common is not a nationality but an experience: having lived a substantial part of life somewhere other than where you started, and knowing what that asks of you. We keep the membership mixed on purpose. A group of women all from one country would be a different and much smaller thing.
Our working language is English. It was chosen so that an international membership could talk to each other easily, not because we are indifferent to Spanish. Many members are fluent, some are learning, and a few are teaching.
We are non-religious and non-political, and we do not fund projects with religious or political objectives.
How MIWA is run
MIWA is run by its members. There is no staff and no office.
A Steering Committee provides direction and makes decisions when they are needed. It approves budgets and the calendar of events, keeps activities aligned with the association’s purpose, and acts as the link between members and the organisations we work with. It has five roles:
President
Overall leadership and direction, and responsibility for making sure the association does what it exists to do.
Treasurer and Membership
Looks after the accounts and the membership register, and is the first point of contact for anyone thinking about joining.
Events
Plans and runs the calendar of workshops, tours, coffee mornings, lunches, dinners and outings, and tells members what is coming.
Communications
Keeps members and the wider community informed about what MIWA is doing.
Chair of the Committee on Community Outreach
Leads the committee that finds, checks and supports the projects we fund. See Community Outreach.
Positions are held for at least one year and normally no more than three, and members are encouraged to move between them. One person may hold more than one role when that is what availability allows, which in a volunteer association of this size is often. Only members serve on the committee.
Who does it
The roles above are filled by members, and they rotate. MIWA does not publish who currently holds which one, in the same way that it publishes nothing else about any individual member. If you need to reach a particular role, about joining or about a project, the form on the contact page goes to the board and gets to the right person.
The bylaws
Everything above is set out properly in MIWA’s bylaws: the purpose, the mission, the committee roles, the dues, and the rules governing which projects can be funded and which cannot.
They are short, and they are worth reading before you join.