NGO Consultation Day

NGO Consultation Day - 21 February 2011

Consultation Day for the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in NYC for the UNCSW55 Session began with a walk through the snow to the General Assembly building, past the UN flag that flies alone on days when the UN is not in session, for passes to tomorrow's meetings.

Secondary passes need to be obtained prior to any events that will be held in the UN buildings, and today it was necessary to sign in for the passes to the Opening CSW session. These passes can be picked up only during registration hours - times that conflict with other events.

A taxi ride with Renee Girard (IFUW, France) from the GA Building to the Salvation Army where the NGO Consultation Day events were being held was quick, but too late for us to hear most of the keynote address by Michelle Bachelet, the new Under-Secretary-General of UN Women. The ten minutes that we heard on the themed priorities for the new Gender Entity revealed Dr. Bachelet as an articulate spokesperson, attentive to the input from civil society.

Dr. Kaosar Afsana, Associate Director Health Programme BRAC from Bangladesh spoke on "Mobile technologies helping poor urban and rural women - lessons learned." The technology that we take for granted is often not available to marginalized women in the developing world or even in developed nations.

The panel that followed had four excellent speakers on the topics:

Increasing women's access to the use of technology including more gender-responsive products

Increasing women's access to and participation in science and technology education and training and

Eliminating barriers to women's participation in science and technology employment.

The last speaker was the dynamic former President of the Fiji Association of University Women.

The next panel of three women representing GEAR (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) spoke of the next steps to be taken now that UN Women has been established. As always, Charlotte Bunch spoke clearly and succinctly as did Bani Dugal and Rachel Harris.

Project Girl, a group of five young women, gave a dramatic and moving performance on the theme of violence against the girl child in the Congo.

Over our boxed lunches next door there was an opportunity to connect with the rest of the Canadian delegates and other attendees before heading back for the afternoon break-out sessions, pre-selected at registration and ranging from the topics of the first panel to recommendations to the UN on the 2007 CSW theme on the Agreed Conclusions on the elimination of violence against the girl child.

FAFIA and the trade unions hosted a reception at the hotel in the evening - a further chance to meet new and returning delegates. This year the only MP in attendance was Anita Neville, Status of Women critic for the Liberal Party.  One attendee with whom I exchanged business cards and information is planning to join CFUW.