The 2016 International Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) will be held from 12 to 14 December 2016 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The 2016 Conference will focus on the theme ‘The challenge of the digital revolution for NGOs’ and will be organized around four subthemes: ‘The digital revolution and its impact on the diversity of cultural expressions’; ‘The challenge of access to digital information’; ‘Does e-learning address challenges of education systems worldwide?’; and, ‘Science and the digital revolution: which ethical implications?’. Soroptimist International’s UN Representatives at Paris, Marie-Christine Gries and Rina Dupriet, along with International Director of Advocacy, Pat Black and President Elect Mariet Verhoef-Cohen will attend this three-day conference.

 
The Conference is a key forum for Soroptimist International to meet with other UNESCO official NGO partners to review the state of cooperation with UNESCO. This year’s Conference will provide a welcome opportunity to examine collective NGO action carried out in 2015 and 2016, and will adopt the main lines of collective cooperation for 2017-2018.
The International Conference of NGOs gathers every two years, and in December participants will be called on to elect a new Chairperson for the Conference, as well as a new NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee, which is made up of 10 NGO partners, representing all regions of the world.