Welcome to DPI NGO! This is the fourth in a series of special
blog reports about the 64th
Annual DPI/NGO Conference: Sustainable Societies, Responsive Citizens.
Here, International President Alice Wells, shares
her experiences.
Sustainable development is
about “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.”
Balanced development lifts people out of poverty while protecting the
natural systems that support economic growth.
This is how the DPI/NGO conference defined sustainable
development during the three day I spent in Bonn last weekend. The
2011 conference focused on sustainable development as well as volunteerism –
Something all Soroptimists can get behind! If there is one thing I think we all took away from the conference it was this – never underestimate the power of a volunteer!
This conference provided a wonderful opportunity to network with a wide
variety of NGOs and civil society
participants from throughout the world, share our ideas, concerns and passions. There were representatives from the UN system
and member states, the media and academia, in addition to the private sector.
One of my favorite workshops was on gender equity policies and
action plans. Below are some of the key
points that were part of this valuable workshop:
Population issues
o
1 in 7 women live in extreme
poverty;
o
Low household income equals
lack of food security;
o
In population and climate
hotspots, 5 children per woman is the average;
o
In 1950 about 2/3 of the
world’s population lived in rural areas; by 2050 the opposite will be true.
Family planning issues
o
Family planning is a human
right that is 40 years old
o
In Kenya,
the poorest women would like to have 5 children but the reality is they have 7
children on average, and sometimes as many as 14!
o
High maternal mortality rates
persist in developing countries.Raising the skill levels of midwives is
recognized as a critical point in helping to reverse this. This is
why this years December 10th Appeal ‘Birthing in the Pacific’ is so important. Find out more here.
A key goal for all women is having the
right and ability to decide on the timing, the number, and the spacing of their
children which is recognized as a central element for human well-being and sustainable
development.
The UN/DPI Conference provided a valuable opportunity for
Soroptimists and our programme staff to come together to share the work that we
do for women and girls and to contribute to the outcome document that will later be
published and presented to the United Nations General Assembly by the German
Government. Our Soroptimist delegation, along with SI Programme Director Reilly Dempsey, and SI Programme
Officer Anna Aiken were very involved in the development of the Draft
Declaration statements and offered suggestions in wording, all of which we feel
confident were accepted.
All in all, the conference was a wonderful experience! The crucial
importantance of volunteers in ensuring that sustainable development becomes a
global priority was repeated again and again. Truly, organizations like SI
provide the energy or ‘spark’ which has the potential to bring about far
reaching change to all corners of the globe.
As Flavia Pansieri, the Chair of the
Consultative Form for the Heads of UN Agencies in Germany,
put it: “The planet’s single most
precious resource is its people – we must be a source for good”.
Image: IPD Hilary and IAPD Anusha at the DPI NGO Reception – "We have the whole world in our hands – literally!"