Event Tomorrow: Investing in Every Last Girl

WAGGGS is co-hosting an event tomorrow (March 15, 2017) at 10:30am on investing in girls. The event will highlight necessary steps to ensure fair financing and gender-responsive, equitable investment in girls.

Following a musical performance, there will be an interactive discussion with representatives from Save the Children, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Women Deliver, and Women, Business and the Law, Development Economics, World Bank Group. Please RSVP here.

 We hope you can join us and do feel free to share the event with your colleagues and networks!

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Events

For two weeks, the United Nations holds a major conference on gender issues and successes. While many events are closed to the public unless you apply for a conference pass, non-profits hold hundreds of public events around NYC between March 13 and March 23. The list of events can be found here and the locations given in the document correspond with the following locations:

Girls are not only allowed to attend, they are encouraged to! It's a great opportunity for a girl to learn about organizations working on gender issues, find out about topics being addressed internationally, and for them to raise questions or comments about issues that girls face specifically. It's also a great way to learn about Gold Award topics/ideas! (Girls under 18 should bring a parent/guardian/adult with them!)

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is hosting a parallel event on March 14 at the Armenian Convention Center at 4:30pm, titled Girls' and Women’s Economic Empowerment: Addressing Gender Norms and Stereotypes. Please do attend! It will be led by Girl Scouts/Guides from around the globe!

Again, these events are free and open to the public! Check out the full list of parallel events here.

Opportunity to have YOUR Voice Heard at the UN!

This March, the U.N. will host the Commission on the Status of Women, or CSW, which brings together nations and "civil society" (or nonprofits and individual citizens) to review the current state of women and girls worldwide. For the first time ever, there will be a Youth CSW event. At the end of Youth CSW, a document will have been created to analyze the status of gender--by youth and for youth. This will then be read to key policymakers and UN representatives from around the globe to bring a voice to young people who often are not present and are unable to advocate at the UN!

YOU can be a part of this!

Join the CSW Youth Online Consultation

An online consultation will provide an opportunity for youth who are not able to attend the Youth CSW event to have their voice heard and presented in this document! This consultation will allow the voices and perspectives of diverse youth from all walks of life to be heard during CSW60. Youth will discuss the issues they face on local, regional and global levels and form a declaration to be read at CSW60. If you are interested in contributing, join us during the Youth CSW online consultation here featured on the World We Want website. Please register and contribute by 10 March 2016.

Participate on Social Media

You can contribute to the discussions on social media:
Facebook: CSW60 Youth Forum (https://www.facebook.com/CSW60/)
Twitter: @YouthforumCSW
Instagram: csw60
The following hashtags can be used:

• #YouthCSWForum 
• #YouthCSW 
• #Youth4GenderEquality 
• #genderequality 
• #High5 
• #SDG5

A Public Forum on: “The Privatization of the Post-2015 Development Agenda"

There is an open event to the public to discuss the augmentation of partnerships with private companies to help achieve social justice goals set by the UN member nations. This is a UN Side Event-- it is an event hosted by a non-governmental organization on a subject related to UN policy.

The following information was sent in an email by IBON International:

A Public Forum on “The Privatization of the Post-2015 Development Agenda Issues and Challenges in Partnerships with the ‘Private Sector’”
8 April 2014, 1:15 – 2:45 PM
2nd Floor Conference Room, UN Church Center

“Partnerships” for sustainable development are increasingly being promoted as a major, if not the primary, enabler for the implementation of the successor international sustainable development goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. However, a growing number of civil society groups warn against a partnerships approach that places primary emphasis on enticing private sector partiipation and investments as this risks reinforcing the corporate capture of the post-2015 agenda. This one-and-a-half hour Public Forum seeks to provide critical perspectives on the major issues and challenges associated with partnerships with the “private sector” for sustainable development.

 The event is co-organized by Bread for the World, the Campaign for People's Goals, Center for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Board of Church and Society-UMC, Global Policy Forum, IBON International, Misereor, Social Watch and Third World Network.