International President Ann Garvie, and International
Programme Director, Hilary Ratcliffe, joined SI UN Representatives
Marie-Christine Gries de la Barbelais and Rina Dupriet at UNESCO in Paris for
the International Conference of NGOs, 15-17 December. The message from the
conference was clear – NGO must ensure that governments ‘Think Global, Act
Local” when implementing programme for development.

 

Photo: the newly elected President of the NGO Liaison Committee Martine Levy with International Programme Directory Hilary Ratcliffe and International President Ann Garvie (left to right).

“The NGO community in Paris is clear on its purpose and
direction”, reports International Programme Director Hilary, “We are very proud
to be a part of this community, and of the input of SI’s UN Representatives
here in Paris. Without them SI would not have this international voice, be
involved in the organisation of forums on themes like ‘water and development’,
and not be able to advocate for the needs of women and girls at the UN.”

350 members of the NGO community gathered in Paris to attend
the International Conference of NGOs, with an aim of looking forward to the
Post-2015 Development Agenda. Members of UNESCO stressed the importance of
culture and education as a cross-cutting issue for future sustainable
development. Furthermore, the role that women’s rights has in sustainable
development was widely supported by NGOs and UNESCO staff.

 

Photo: the Soroptimist International Stand at the International Conference of NGOs at UNESCO.

“The importance of education is not new to Soroptimists and
it is good to hear that this is being taken on-board”, says International
President Ann, “We need a goal on education in the new development agenda, and
we need that goal to reflect that women are continuously put at a
disadvantages, do not have equal access to education, and are discriminated
against. As Soroptimists, we need to lobby governments to make what we know is
needed for education is included.”

SI UN Representatives Marie-Christine and Rina have
significantly contributed to ensuring that needs and voices of women and girls
are heard at UNESCO. This was acknowledged that the International Conference of
NGOs as Marie-Christine was invited to speak about the NGO-UNESCO Forum on Access
to Water for All that was hosted in the Côte d’Ivoire, as she had been a member
of the Forum’s planning committee.

 

Photo: the Soroptimist International stand at the NGO-UNESCO Forum on Access to Water for All in the Côte d’Ivoire.

“It is essential that we move forward in how we reveal,
consider and solve problems”, explains Marie-Christine, “UNESCO, decision
makers and NGOs must exchange ideas in order to develop the most effective
answers to our problems. We have seen improvements, but we need more. The role
that women have in this is very important. Regarding women, it is clear that
women have knowledge; they collect the water in Africa, they do most of the
cooking and cleaning. But they are very rarely involved in decision making
about water provision so effective action is not implemented properly and the
best solutions are not found.”

NGOs like Soroptimist International have a very clear role
to play moving forward. It is organisations like SI who are able to hold
governments accountable by playing an active role in monitoring and by giving a
global voice to women and girls.