The DPI/NGO Section held its first Communications workshop of the year on the subject of Addressing Gender Issues with the United Nations: Present and Future.

The panel was composed by Carolyn Hannan, Director of Division for the Advancement of Women; Shamina de Gonzaga, Special Adviser on NGO relations in the Office of the General Assembly President; Barbara Adams, Chief, Strategic Partnerships and Communications, United Nations Development Fund for Women; and Maria Jose Alcala, Senior Technical Advisor, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, United Nations Population Fund.

The discussion focused on the work of the above-mentioned offices and how they interact with NGOs on issues relevant to their areas of expertise.

Carolyn Hannan began by stating her commitment to women’s rights issues as well as gender mainstreaming. She made a brief tribute to Angela King, the former Special Adviser to the Secretary General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. Ms. Hannan explained that what had been achieved in the area of women’s rights was due to NGO-UN Collaboration. She went on to describe NGOs as a voice, which made issues heard, as watchdogs at the national level who held governments responsible and as monitors and reporters. Ms. Hannan expressed the importance of partnership with NGOs. She went on to express the need to develop a more creative strategy to approach women’s rights and find new ways to revitalize relationships within this field. There had been many significant achievements at the global level for women’s rights, Ms. Hannan said, adding that now there was a legal framework in almost all countries in the world to achieve women’s rights and that there were mechanisms set up to bridge the gap between policy and groundwork. Ms. Hannan suggested that NGOs follow the recommendations made by the Commission on the Status of Women and then work to ensure implementation at the National Level and encourage dialogue between countries. Ms. Hannan also remarked that greater resources were needed to enable the United Nations to fulfil its mandate for gender mainstreaming.

Shamina De Gonzaga began by talking about how ground work was still a challenge and articulated that it was important for NGOs to be involved in a creative way. Ms. de Gonzaga mentioned the Cardozo Report of 2004 that investigated the UN’s relationship to civil society, and added that the recommendations put forward in that report were largely put on the shelf. However, there were people, like H.E. Mr. Eliasson and H. E. Ms. Al-Khalifa that were trying to revitalize interest in those recommendations, by encouraging dialogue.

It was difficult --- she said --- because Member States didn’t really understand how NGOs worked and governments like NGOs and United Nations offices had their own agendas. She announced a thematic debate that would take place on 6 and 7 March 2007 to discuss women’s participation in decision-making and economic empowerment.

Barbara Adams started her presentation by giving examples of the work already achieved by NGOs towards women’s rights. She mentioned the World Conference on Women in 1975, which clearly emphasized the need for institutional measures to support women’s rights. She discussed the need to create strategies that included the resources to continue the work after the meetings were completed. Ms. Adams informed the participants of the 1996 Trust Fund, managed by UNIFEM, to provide grants for women’s development and for ending violence against women. She also mentioned the vast work that UNIFEM did for women’s rights in post-conflict situations.

In addressing the areas where NGOs had been particularly successful, Ms. Adams noted the value of the Women’s Caucus and the “16 days of activism” campaign. She also mentioned the input from NGOs in the Summit Outcome document and the report of the High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence. Ms. Adams closed by emphasizing the enormity of the problem and the importance of pushing the agenda to stop violence against women.

Maria Jose Alcala outlined the important issues that UNFPA focuses on, such as the reproductive rights of women , gender equality, gender based violence, the feminization of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, child marriage, refugee women, and women’s rights after conflict. She said one of the main focuses was on empowering women through education. Ms. Alcala outlined the importance of having the necessary qualitative and quantitative data to convince Member States to give women’s rights the attention it deserved. She also mentioned the importance of bringing men on board and properly socializing boys to promote women’s rights and end the impunity of violence against women. She added that her office had long standing relationships and collaboration with NGOs, which had been embedded in their mandates and policies. NGOs were invited to participate in consultations to provide their expertise when policies were discussed

The panel discussion was followed by a question-and-answer session.

During the question and answer period, it was suggested that one way to make countries implement these programs was through publicity and making women’ issues a more commonly understood topic. It was suggested that if a big enough publicity push occurred it could be used as leverage. An example was given of how publicity concerning obstetric fistula was “blanketed’ in the London Tube. All panellists agreed that the proposal to consolidate three bodies into a new larger one for women could increase the effectiveness of addressing women’s issues.

A screening of the video presentation, “Snap Shots of Change”, was shown prior to the panel’s discussion.

The panel discussion was attended by about 80 representatives of NGOs, and United Nations staff.

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