gender justice

Women on the Front Line: Healing the Earth, Seeking Justice

Women are on the front line of the climate emergency so therefore they need to be at the forefront of the climate response. This is a critical year both for climate justice and for progressing a just recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. We must seize the opportunity to address these intersecting crises through transformational action to protect both the planet and the people who live upon it. We need a renewed global social contract that delivers on the Paris Agreement, human rights, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Christian Aid’s new report calls for a feminist and decolonial approach to climate change that shifts power and resources to women and the Global South, and delivers co-benefits for gender, climate and environmental justice. Please join our event and hear inspiring speakers who are making this change happen, including:

  • Amanda Mukwashi, CEO, Christian Aid
  • Kavita Naidu, human rights and feminist climate justice advocate
  • Ikal Angelei, politician and environmentalist
  • Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance General Secretary

We will also be showing a short film about women’s climate activism in Kenya, and recorded messages from climate activists in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea

Please note, tickets for the live event are limited, but you can also join online. Links will be shared with people registered for the online event before the meeting.

Register here: eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-on-the-front-line-healing-the-earth-seeking-justice-tickets-194519772877

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women – Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. 

Preventing and Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) as a Tool of War

Dear Colleagues,

Search for Common Ground invites you to join us for a UNGA side-event focused on conflict-related sexual violence as a mechanism of war. This event is hosted in collaboration with the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security.  Against the backdrop of events transpiring in Afghanistan, this panel discussion seeks to showcase the imperative need to prevent and address conflict-related sexual violence around the world, to promote the safety, security, and prosperity of all people.

The panel will cover historic and present-day examples of CRSV; policy and programming approaches to preventing and addressing CRSV; and lessons learned from civil society representatives in conflict-affected countries on the impact of CRSV interventions.

Please use the following link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUlc-ChpzwtEt171qKG-jP4sgpcZViJVUf2

We look forward to your participation and encourage you to share this invitation with your partners. For questions about the event, please contact Anna Crouch at acrouch@sfcg.org.

Thank you,

Search for Common Ground

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bknotts@uua.org or bobbinassar@gmail.com. 

20th YMCA World Council: “Ignite”

On 3 July 2022, the 20th YMCA World Council will begin. For the first time ever, it’s going to be a hybrid event. We will meet in person in Aarhus, Denmark, and online. We continue to monitor the COVID situation, and try and do the right thing. The priority is for as many as possible to meet, one way or the other, at another vital moment for the global YMCA Movement. Why?

Because our world and our YMCA has been turned on its head by this pandemic, and we need to reconnect: we’ve missed each other. We’re ready to respond to new learning, new imperatives, new roles, and new methods in supporting young people and their communities.

Which is why the World Council theme in 2022 is simply ‘IGNITE.’ It’s a moment to provide the spark and light the flame to take us forward. Specifically, we’ll be igniting our vision, our collaboration, and our solutions. The World Council itself is the global YMCA Movement’s highest decision-making body, bringing together all 120 National YMCA Movements. More than that, it’s the biggest and most important shared space we have.

What do we hope to achieve? At least four things:

First, agreeing and adopting a new Movement-wide strategy, as we look towards a 2030 horizon. Imagine: wherever we are in the world, we all agree on a common vision, mission and goals. Our ‘North Star.’

Second, showcasing ‘solutions’, and specifically ‘youth-led solutions, sharing what we’ve done in identifying, supporting and seed-funding young people’s responses to their own challenges in their own communities, in areas like climate, jobs and mental health and working together – ‘collaborating’ in ‘co-labs’ across the generations – to develop and launch new youth solutions in line with Vision 2030.

Third, strengthening our governance as we elect new officers.

And fourth, just enjoying ‘family’ and fun, as we celebrate and enjoy who we are and where we’re from. Imagine: the ‘great global good’ of the YMCA at play. We really do refuel at World Council….before we ‘IGNITE.’

In person, we’ll do all this in Aarhus, Denmark’s second city. A green and beautiful place, an old city with a young population, a port city with a view on the world, and the stunning conference facilities of the city’s world-famous Concert Hall. We’ll keep you posted about all the practical details. Register from 1st November here.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on CoNGO–the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations, visit www.ngocongo.org. For specific information about how CoNGO and its substantive committees (also known as NGO Committees) work on matters related to the subject of the event on this page, visit NGO Committees. 

Religious Actors: Ally or Threat for Achieving Gender Equality? 

You are warmly invited to a pre-Event to Generation Equality Forum and the High Level Political Forum

Religious Actors: Ally or Threat for Achieving Gender Equality? 

 Register via Eventbrite

Program:

  • Opening remarks: Khushwant Singh, Head of Secretariat, PaRD
  • Launching new report: Dr. Nora Khalaf-Elledge, Post-Doc Fellow, Joint Learning Initiative

Looking Back to Look Forward: The Role of Religious Actors since the Beijing Declaration

  • Zainah Anwar, Executive Director, Musawah
  • Karin Ericsson, Programme Specialist Gender Equality, Sida
  • Umyra Ahmad, Advancing Universal Rights and Justice Coordinator, AWID
  • Dr. Nontando Hadebe, International Coordinator, Side by Side

Moderator: Shahin Ashraf MBE, Head of Global Advocacy, Islamic Relief Worldwide

Launching a new report co-published by ACT Alliance, Act Church of Sweden, Side by Side, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Joint Learning Initiative on Faith Communities, SVRI, Goldsmiths and PaRD. With live illustrator and Q&A. 

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com.

[NGO CSW-NY monthly mtg] Driving Change: A Look at Intergenerational Activism

Join us for our June Monthly Meeting for a special intergenerational program! We’ll be announcing the winners of the NGO CSW65 Young Feminist Awards, having a panel discussion on widows, and announcing the new NGO CSW/NY Executive Committee! Register here.

Please note that this will be our last monthly meeting until September.

Agenda:
8 – 8:45AM: NGO CSW65 Young Feminist Awards
Meet the five winners of the NGO CSW65 Young Feminist Awards! Learn about their organizations and innovative projects. Read about the award winners here.8:45 – 10AM: Beyond the Loss: Widows’ Resilience
Learn about the unique experiences, challenges, and inequalities widows of all ages face globally. The panel will include the following speakers:

  • Moderated by: Pamela Morgan, NGO CSW/NY Member-at-Large, and Susan O’Malley, NGO CSW/NY Ex-Officio
  • Yasmin Juso-Sheriff, Vice President of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone
  • Marijke Kremin, Program Manager, Global Fund for Widows
  • Margaret Owen, OBE, President of Widows for Peace Through Democracy (WPD)
  • Lily Thapa, Founder of Women for Human Rights-Single Women’s Group

Read the full program with panelists’ bios.

10 – 10:30AM: NGO CSW/NY Updates
Executive Committee election announcement by Erica Higbie, Election Committee Chair and Updates from Houry Geudelekian, NGO CSW/NY Chair

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch.

The MenEngage Ubuntu Symposium

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to announce that the Closing Event of the MenEngage Ubuntu Symposium will take place on Tuesday 22 June. As with the Opening Event back in November, the event will take place live from Kigali, Rwanda and online from across the globe.

Register here http://bit.ly/UbuntuCloseEvent

Time: 2:00pm (Kigali), 5:30pm (New Delhi), 10:00pm (Sydney), 9:00am (Montevideo), 8:00am (Washington DC)
Click here to see when the event starts in your timezone

Where: It will take place online – and live from Kigali, Rwanda

The MenEngage Ubuntu Symposium continues to be the most ambitious collective activity to have been embarked on as a global alliance for transforming patriarchal masculinities and engaging men and boys for gender equality, social justice and climate justice. Members and partners of MenEngage Alliance have been hosting Ubuntu Symposium sessions over an 8-month period since November 2020.By being part of this ongoing effort, many of you have contributed to an unprecedented level of discussion, reflection, knowledge building and renewed commitment to action across MenEngage Alliance and beyond.

The closing ceremony will be a celebration of the unity, diversity, expertise and learning you all have contributed during these 8 months as participants, session organizers, facilitators, and speakers. It will be a unique opportunity to reflect on the symposium’s goals and the Ubuntu Symposium journey we have been on together.

The event will set out pathways for the future of our shared work – to make it more accountable, more intersectional, transformative, political and impactful for gender, social and climate justice.

Registration for the Closing Ceremony is currently open and free to members and non-members of MenEngage Alliance. Please note, the start and end times shown above are preliminary and may be subject to change.

If you have any questions or need clarifications, please don’t hesitate to contact: symposium@menengage.org

Thank you,
UN Women

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women Vienna, please visit  ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. 

NGO Committee on Social Development [monthly meeting]

The NGO Committee on Social Development will hold their regular monthly meeting at 10:00 am EST on May 19. Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwrcOqqpj8uHtHqW8yFsbkrjk4wp3k-jSYv

About:

The NGO Committee for Social Development, is dedicated to promoting a People-Centered Development through the United Nations. We are dedicated to raise awareness on social development issues taken up by the United Nations (UN) System and in particular by the UN Commission for Social Development.

In partnership with UN DESA and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foundation, the NGO Committee on Social Development hosts the Civil Society Forum which creates a special space for Civil Society to interact with states members of UN Commission on Social Development and other multi-stakeholders.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org.

Bridging the Gap: Fiscal Justice for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa

Christian Aid invites you to join our webinar on Wednesday 5th May, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm BST.  We’ll have a panel of experts from UNFPA, FEMNET, ACT Alliance and World YWCA join us to discuss how fiscal justice can help overcome barriers to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).  In 2019, we brought together advocates of fiscal justice and of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in researching how progressive fiscal policies can help close the gaps in financing and delivery of SRHR.  We’ve published the findings in this briefing: Bridging the Gap.

Now, at a time when access to SRHR is needed more than ever, there are concerns that limited resources are being redirected to other priorities, exacerbating the gendered impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Please join us to discuss what can be done.

Please circulate this to your networks and register for our event here to receive the zoom link:

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch.

CSW 65: How to Challenge and Change a Social Norm?

Gender injustice is deep-rooted in social norms. Social norms are the values defined by a group and to which members of the group are expected to comply, otherwise risking disapproval, marginalization and/or exclusion. Religion and culture have a strong influence on the definition of social norms, including those relating to gender. At any given moment, many social norms are presented as fixed. Our event brings together gender advocates, who are challenging and changing social norms, to achieve gender justice. Tackling social norms related to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Women in Leadership, Child Marriage, Political Voting, Masculinities, FGM and Social Protection.

To register for “CSW 65: How to Challenge and Change a Social Norm,” and to explore other upcoming events on gender equality, click here. 

Organized by: Side by Side, Islamic Relief Worldwide, ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation, Religions for Peace, All Africa Conference of Churches, World Council of Churches, Christian Aid

Religions for Peace’s Co-Moderator, Dr. Vinu Aram, will be a speaker at this event.

Please note that you must have a profile on the NGO CSW65 virtual platform to register for this event. You can register as an NGO CSW65 Virtual Forum Advocate for free here: NGO CSW65 Forum Advocate registration page link.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org.

Are women making any progress in participation in leadership and decision-making? Three NGO leaders ask on the eve of 2021 International Women’s Day

New York, 5 March 2021 (CoNGO InfoNews) – “Women enable a just, equitable and peaceful world,” said the presidents of Soroptimist International (Sharon Fisher), International Alliance of Women (Cheryl Hayles), and Associated Country Women of the World (Magdie de Kock) in a joint statement they issued on the occasion of the 2021 International Women’s Day on March 8.

“Women and girls of all ages deserve a seat at the table in public life, leadership and decision-making. Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. To make that a reality, all states, the private sector, civil society, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders must work in collaboration,” the women leaders asserted.

The statement also called on the sixty-fifth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) to take leadership in the development and implementation of new laws, regulations and social justice programmes that respond to women’s and girls’ under-participation and under-representation in leadership. The theme of CSW65 is focused on women in public life and equal participation in decision-making.

The joint statement was warmly received by Liberato Bautista, the president of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO), who helped produce it. The three organizations issuing the statement are full members of CoNGO. Soroptimist International and International Alliance of Women are current members of the CoNGO Board.

“Joint statements are an effective means of conveying to the United Nations our collective understandings of, and agreements and unities, as segments of civil society, on substantive issues that are on the UN agenda,” Bautista said. “Consultation and collaboration are valued good NGO practices,” he added.

Other CoNGO members that have issued statements on the International Women’s Day include the International Council of Women and the Universal Esperanto Association.A statement issued on November 15, 2020 and submitted to the CSW65 by members of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women Vienna, underscored many of the points raised by these statements.

NGO concerns on the overall agenda of gender equality, equity and justice are highlighted once again this year at the NGO CSW FORUM65 with varied program offerings starting on March 14 and ending on March 26.

See related story by International Alliance of Women here and by Soroptimist International here.

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