by Pat Black Soroptimist International Director of Advocacy

“Sunday saw us at the NGO CSW Forum Consultation Day in the historic 92Y theatre, listening to the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and the current Chair of CSW, H.E. Ambassador Antonio de Agular Patriota. Exciting also to see SI representative to the UN in New York Bette Levy co-chairing the proceedings on behalf of the NGO CSW Committee. She is truly inspirational in her work both as an advocate on behalf of women and girls as well as her unstinting voluntary work with the NGO Committee.

Sunday morning is passive with participants sitting back and listening, and this may be an excellent move on the part of the Committee since the clocks went forward this morning so we all lost an hour of sleep.

Executive Director Phumzile states in relation to the SDGs it is all about  “Implementation, implementation, implementation”.  Phumzile feels there is a need to build alliances in every direction in order to push forward.  Of very high priority will be data collection which will be needed to demonstrate that investing in women gives the highest benefits. Resourcing for implementation will also be vitally important, as will peace and
security.  In all of this the role of civil society has to be strengthened. Civil society has a fundamental role, particularly in monitoring, evaluation and in holding those Governments which do not fulfill the commitments to the 2030 Agenda to account. Civil society organisations should monitor and raise awareness of inaction, since they are the ones closest to the ground. We need to preserve what has been achieved so far, fill in the gaps and follow the road map for the way forward which we now have.

A panel of strong women discussed and debated the concept of “No one left behind”.  Some of this was challenging, especially when we are told there will always be some left behind – the invisible, the vulnerable. It is up to the NGOs working on the ground to make sure these voices are heard. Two strong tools are available voices and choices – and we have to make sure all women and girls know about them, as well as using them ourselves to achieve the 2030 agenda.  Bandana Rana, Women of Distinction Awardee, one of the key leaders of the women’s movement in Nepal founded the National Network against Domestic Violence when domestic violence was not recognised in Nepal, refusing to be ignored. Bandana described the sad reality of many and said “I want a future without violence, where every household rejoices at the birth of a girl”.  It is wonderful that she has accepted an invitation to speak about her work for the SI event on Tuesday 15 March.

The overall impression from Phumzile, the Ambassador and the entire Consultation day was that there was empathy with NGOs and CSOs, and most certainly a strong commitment to ensuring Goal 5 is achieved.

The afternoon was a very different matter with everyone taking an active part in workshops. And since the participants are strong women’s leaders they are
very vocal!

I attended the training session on advocacy and how to make the best of your time at CSW”.

The training guide is available on line at http://www.ngocsw.org/archive/news-you-can-use/advocacy-training-negotiations-womens-human-rights