SoroptiVoiceBLOG

In the Italian capital Cinzia Palmi, SI representative at the UN organisation FAO in Rome gave an interview to Christina Höfferer, this week´s SoroptiVoice blogger. Christina is a Soroptimist from the Viennese Club Vivata. In her job as a radio and culture journalist she combines her twin passions: travel and communication. Christina is an expert on Italian literature and culture, she has written a book called "Bella Arcadia" and has recently set up an office in Rome, dividing her time time between the two UN centres in Rome and Vienna!

"What I particularly like about Soroptimists is their way of facing life,“ says Cinzia during our interview at the Club evening of Roma tre. We meet in a beautiful flat on Corso Vittorio Emanuele in the heart of Rome. Cinzia remembers that it was her mother who brought her to the Club, together with a Soroptimist friend twenty years ago. Cinzia joined the Club, became Delegate, Vicedelegate and finally President of the Club Roma Tre.

"Is there a special project in your presidency that you particularly like to think of?“, I ask Cinzia in the exquisitely furnished room with its homely atmosphere so favourable to our conversation. "My focus was on education and culture,“ Cinzia replies, "in the two years of my presidency we would, for instance, give scholarships to female students of the European University of Rome on Soroptimist Friendship Day.“

Cinzia (right) with SI Programme Director Reilly (left), who was visiting during my interview.

Three years ago the three Roman Clubs agreed that Cinzia, who oozes enthusiasm and energy, should be SI representative at the FAO. How does Cinzia feel about this important task? "I like it a lot and find it very stimulating. It is not easy to understand the rules of the United Nations, there is a written protocol and – maybe even more important - a non written protocol. They never say 'No' at FAO – maybe you do not get an answer. Maybe the person you are looking for is not available for you on the phone. But you will never hear 'No' from anybody at the FAO.“

"Rural Women“ is one keyword of Cinzia´s work at the FAO, as the agency is very concerned about the vital role of rural women in the world. "The use of land is in many countries a big source of discrimination against women,“ Cinzia explains. "In many countries in Africa and in Asia, women can only access land as wives or daughters or sisters of a man. When the man dies, the woman loses everything. This is where we now put our focus at the FAO.“ Interestingly enough, Cinzia who is a lawyer and used to work as a professor of legal studies and economy, has also private experience with the use of land: Her mother  was an owner of olive trees and vineyards in the Italian region Puglia.