Monday 14 March

“Well that beautiful weather didn’t last long! Woke up to grey skies and rain which hasn’t stopped all day.  I, like many others, have been moving from building to building today so have been drenched several times. And then there is the problem of all those umbrellas!

Today has been one of logistics. The morning briefing for the core delegation was held in a very comfortable suite of two delegates. It is so good to see everyone working together as an international team. Our exciting news was that International President Yvonne has been invited to participate in the Ministerial dialogue later this week which means that Soroptimist International will be able to present its views on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals to Government Ministers in the formal CSW setting.

Even more exciting is that Soroptimists have been invited to meet with their country missions early tomorrow morning to present the Soroptimist view as well.  So Soroptimists from Norway, Italy, and New Zealand will be meeting Government ministers armed with the information in their Advocacy packs. Working together is very important for NGOs especially at
CSW, so a meeting of SI, Zonta International, International University Women, 5 ‘0’ and Girls not Brides met courtesy of the Danish mission to discuss the commonalities of our work. We often support each other’s statements to UN Committees but is there more we can do? Are we all working in the same direction to see the implementation of the SDGs? We had a very useful ideas session concluding that our voices could be stronger if we are able to support each other, identifying that our common direction is the implementation of Goals 4 and 5.

Many Soroptimists braved the weather to attend the SI reception this evening, where we all shared a great deal of friendship and laughter together.  We were sad to say goodbye to
UN Representative New York Angelina Akhvlediani, who is intending to devote more time to her delightful family. It was an occasion to thank the SI representatives at the UN in New York for all the hard work they do throughout the year on behalf of all Soroptimists. Along with
their colleagues in other UN centres they provide the global voice for Soroptimism at international level.

Tomorrow we will be presenting our own SI event so I am looking forward to seeing a packed room and listening to each of the Federation Presidents present the work which has been done for women following crisis events in their countries”.