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March is a month which is celebrated as “Women’s History Month” where we recognize and honor women who have been changemakers and improved the lives of communities they lived and work in. The 65^th Commission on Status of Women was held virtually from 15 to 26 March 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.   

The Priority theme: Women's full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

Review theme: Women's empowerment and the link to sustainable development.

The various events organized by the Member States and UN agencies were attended by Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world .

The NGOCSW Executive committee in New York organized a virtual NGO forum with over 700 parallel events during the two-week period which covered a wide range of issues related to the priority and review themes. Please see the unedited draft of the CSW 65 HERE.

And please take a look at these two videos:

By Padmini Murthy MD, MPH Professor / Global Health Director, New York Medical College School of Health Sciences and Practice; 1^st Vice Chair, GNEC; Global Health Lead, American Medical Women’s Association.

Read The Rest, With Further Links, HERE

Submitted by By: Emma Santini, NGO Youth Representative

and suggested by Nadine Clopton, GNEC Board of Directors

All three events were sponsored by the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), an NGO affiliated with DGC and in consultative status with ECOSOC, and were inspired by their participation in the graduate school course at Columbia University Teachers College on “Psychology and the United Nations,” taught by the first author, Dr. Judy Kuriansky who represents IAAP at the UN.

Read the rest of this report by Dr. Kuriansky and her Team, HERE

An Extensive Report, By Dr. Judy Kuriansky, Sadikchhya Khanal, Julia Pearce,

Film Launch: Glimpses into the Spirit of Gender Equality

In commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Baha’i International Community (BIC) has

launched a film titled Glimpses into the Spirit of Gender Equality .

The film seeks to instill a sense of hope and optimism at this time when the international community recommits its efforts towards the vital requirement of gender equality. In doing so, the film reflects on the Anniversary’s significance as well as its impact at the international and grassroots levels.

By Saphira Rameshfar, Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, with thanks to Carl Murrell, GNEC Board of Directors and Baha'i Representative

READ MORE HERE

A Report on the Foundation's Goodwill Activities between March 27 to 29, 2021

The following report summarizes the relief activities of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation (BTCF) in response to the Susan’s Bay fire incident in Freetown, Sierra Leone, last Wednesday.

On the evening of March 24, an unexpected huge fire swallowed more than 500 houses in one of the most crowded and poorest slums in Freetown, Susan’s Bay, causing more than 1,597 households or 7,093 persons affected, and 409 persons injured (as of March 30). Among those, children, lactating mothers, pregnant women, elderly, and disabled persons are the most affected and in desperate need of assistance including food, water, shelter, and clothes.

Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation’s (BTCF) local partner, Caritas Freetown, has been placed into the working clusters of the disaster management team along with the government authorities and other non-governmental organizations to lead the registration and relief support. On top of that, BTCF made commitments to support food and non-food items including rice, blanket, water, and clothes and has organized hot-meal distributions on the site for more than 2,000 affected persons, in collaboration with its long-term partners including Caritas Freetown, Healey International Relief Foundation, and Lanyi Foundation, as well as Red Cross volunteers.

Gathering the volunteers from the local community, BTCF and its partners set up seven relief stations to cook and provide hot rice and dishes to the affected persons to ensure they have sufficient food after the devastating fire. The hot-meal distribution was planned to be held for 21 days on the site.

READ MORE DETAILS HERE

Secretary and Officer

GNEC Board of Directors

Dr. Alexander M Ross’s vocal and vigorous views on vaccines led to his styling himself the “only doctor who had dared to doubt the fetish” of vaccination during the epidemic (even though, as was subsequently discovered, he had taken good care to get himself vaccinated), critical of the “senseless panic” caused by health officials (whose “tyranny” he described as second to none), physicians and the media in fanning the flames of fear as part of a “mad” campaign he insisted was only for gaining money, infringing the rights of citizens and lengthening - and strengthening - the arms of government power.

That was in 1885, the epidemic was smallpox, its venue Montreal. As I write this, it’s been a year since the word “infodemic” was used in the context of misinformation, or disinformation, about a pandemic; over the last week, two pivotal pronouncements were made in its context; one a resolution of the General Assembly establishing a “Global Media and Information Literacy Week” at the end of October each year and the other a political declaration on equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines which committed itself to “addressing misinformation and countering vaccine hesitancy” in cooperation with the Secretary-General’s “Verified” initiative. Both timely in a very human sense, the humanity of health in its most vulnerable forms, of living and livelihoods, of solace in solidarity. A need mirrored in the haunting image Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared on Monday when she said “I know what it's like as a physician to stand in that patient room -- gowned, gloved, masked, shielded -- and to be the last person to touch someone else's loved one, because they are not able to be there.”

That same day, Foreign Policy Insider published a report which quoted a RAND study putting “the economic damage of unequal COVID-19 vaccine allocation at $1.2 trillion per year, with losses coming heavily from contact-intensive sectors, like tourism, travel, and transportation, compared to equitable global vaccine distribution. Conversely, according to the Eurasia Group, equitable distribution could generate an estimated $153 billion in economic benefits by the end of this year, which could triple to over $460 billion by 2025 when accounting for just 10 major economies. The transnational reality of the virus and stark costs of vaccine nationalism make greater multilateral collaboration on global vaccine deployment an imperative as gaps in distribution will allow for further spread and increase the risk of additional mutations.”

“Bluff erosion”, the warning sign on a waterside cliff, pictured above, suggests how misinformation,whether deliberate or unintended, is ultimately a lie which, slowly and insidiously, wears down the shores of trust to which we referred last week, shores which provide the only secure mooring, in the phrase of the declaration, where “no one can be safe, until everyone is safe…the forum to promote cooperation is the United Nations.” In an article published on Wednesday, Matthew Parish contends that “if anyone doubts whether 2.75 million deaths globally in the course of a year constitutes a threat to the peace, they should look back over the history of the twentieth century. It is not just the deaths, but the violent economic contractions and personal desperation of a substantial proportion of the world’s population, that creates the ruminants for conflict.” And, in a reflection of the line on safety in the Declaration, “every step we continue to take in the darkness is a step we take on our own. Despite all the failings of the United Nations over its history, now is the time to turn to multilateral cooperation. All of a sudden, the world really needs it.”

Read the rest of this masterwork, online HERE

The best part about my introductory interview with the new UNDGC Chief of Civil Society and Advocacy, Outreach Division, Ms. Andi Gitow, is that she agreed to write an article herself for the NGO Reporter. Possibly in the fall, we can expect to hear from the award-winning journalist and new DGC outreach leader in her own words. And that will be fine. She is a seasoned professional with a deep, rich knowledge and first-hand experience covering natural and man-made disasters, across the globe.

Ms. Gitow has been instrumental in helping us understand the statistics of the day in human terms. “A million people affected is a statistic,” she told me, “one person relaying their own story is what is compelling.”

An amateur volunteer is in awe of the professional journalist with a world of credits that are as meaningful to our goals and mission in civil society as they are compelling for any viewer or reader. Two-time Emmy award-winning journalist, filmmaker and communication expert, Ms. Gitow’s previous experience with the United Nations is broad, covering many important assignments. She was deputy director of the UN office in Washington, DC where she served as a key liaison with the White House, State Department, Pentagon and U.S. Congress, as well as with civil society. She also served in the UN Media Division as Head of Partnerships and as Executive Producer, overseeing the creation of award-winning films, broadcast, and digital content.

She told me that her interest in the humanization of statistical facts began with her early work as a trauma specialist. From there, she spent a decade of stints that took her out of her home for some eight months at a time. In areas of conflict, famine, at refugee flash points and into war itself, she has been there to help tell the human tale, one life at a time.

Most recently, our new Chief of Civil Society and Advocacy has worked on UN Media Partnerships. Her team worked to get impactful digital content onto a wide band of major networks. From work that began with the large, NBC television network, through her work in the media division, she has helped bring NGO programming to life and advocate for greater inclusion, interest, or action as required to seek relief for those often severely or mortally affected by the crises at hand.

More ... read the rest of the interview HERE

THEIR SDG INITIATIVES

Through the Global NGO Education Committee (GNEC) and Rutgers Preparatory School, the Innovation Academy is offering a variety of programs that address both global and local challenges that should be of interest to you. It provides NGOs a virtual platform for online courses and programs from top schools and other organizations, designed for every grade level, from world-class educators. For the first time, NGOs now have a virtual site to post and access educational materials and from which to globally engage students and educators. Take advantage of this amazing opportunity to expand your knowledge, be connected, and be inspired by NGO leaders and educators.

For more information, contact Dr. Kevin Merges at: ia@rutgersprep.org or Dr. Rose Cardarelli at: rcardarelli@email.wm.edu.

LEARNING MORE ABOUT YOU - Associated NGOs Media Releases are WELCOME

The NGO Reporter requests information from YOUR NGO on upcoming events of community interest. The following is an opinion piece By Ms. - with information on upcoming national changes and addresses anticipated at United Nations Headquarters.

As the world begins to re-open in 2021, there is further optimism and hope by the leadership under the Biden Administration. Not only has the United States returned to the UN and recommitted to critical global efforts like the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the U.N. Human Rights Council, the leadership of the United States at the UN is more diverse than ever. Specifically, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, are both the first Black women to represent the United Stations in their seat on the global stage.

My personal connection to the United Nations started on my first visit to New York City over a decade ago when I toured the UN and was amazed to see the diversity and beauty of both staff and appointed leadership. I later returned to serve the UN as a member delegate to the 58th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58) where I served alongside our current Poet Laureate, also history-making as the first Black female to hold her role, Amanda Gorman. So much of Amanda Gorman's historic poetry recital at the Biden Administration reflects the dignity, hope and value the UN holds in esteem for all people, regardless of their status, gender identity, or country of origin.

Shortly after my delegate experience at CSW58, I was inspired to start my non-profit WomenWerk which celebrates the global power of women of color who are often underrepresented as leaders in key institutions. I returned to the UN again last year as Global Goal Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goal 5 calling for global advocacy to empower all women and girls. I am excited to return for the 65th Commission on the Committee on the Status of Women (CSW65) set for March 16, this time as a CSW delegate with the United Nations Association and representative of UN Women. In a critical time where global conversations about race, bias, and privilege to be heard, I look forward with excitement to the historic opportunity to hear from both a Vice President and UN Ambassador. Each woman has broken glass ceilings to show that Black people do belong in all institutions and should be celebrated as equal leaders dedicated to the work ahead for us all.

Ms.Nekpen Osuan Wilson is Co-Founder and CEO of WomenWerk and a United Nations Global Goals Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goal 5. She is committed to empowering women globally as the Principal Consultant for Small Business Wins and a career coach at SEO Scholars, The Muse and WIN Summit.

1. Show your support for #FightRacism by sharing your picture.

Visit https://share.ohchr.org

3. Share it on social media using #FightRacism and #StandUp4HumanRights

Publishers of the NGO Reporter, the recently renamed Global NGO Executive Committee, was founded in 1962 to create a link between the United Nations and the Non-Governmental Organizations associated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications UNDGC (formerly: Public Information). It is composed of eighteen elected members and encourages and assists NGOs, as members of civil society, to communicate their interests throughout the United Nations system and to support United Nations' goals and objectives.  In partnership with the United Nations Department of Global Communication, the Global NGO Executive Committee co-produces the UN Civil Society Conference and affiliated activities for the 1500+ DGC-associated NGOs around the world. 

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Please refer to the article submission guidelines for the NGO Reporter. SEE DETAILS

Exhaustive investigations demonstrate that a Volume of the NGO Reporter, under Founder and former Editor Dorrie Weiss, was in its fifth year in 1997. Begun in 1992, then, that would make 2021 its 29th consecutive year of publication. Its free subscriber list includes NGO leaders associated with UNDGC (see above), as well as UN and other media, and all those interested in UN-related, NGO activities at UNHQ and worldwide that are created or promoted by the Global NGO Executive Committee, editor, staff.

Prior to her passing, Ms. Weiss mentored Patrick, as Editor, who later invited Dr. Lester Wilson. They became its co-editors for nearly two decades, assisted in large measure by the dearly departed Joan Levy, and former site manager Isaac Humphries. Currently, Ms. Annie Deng has become a Contributing Editor and Ms. Dakota Silver, the GNEC Webmaster, has assisted with online placement and social media relations. To all our volunteers, especially those on the NGO Reporter Sub-Committee, we remain eternally grateful.

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Visit the Global NGO Executive Committee website Here

NGO Reporter Queries: 

E-mail: Patrick@vnclm.org

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Communications Workshop for Civil Society, we want to hear from you!

Let us know the areas of communications your NGO would most benefit from learning in completing this short survey HERE.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, in cooperation with the Space Generation Advisory Council, just launched the third edition of the Space4Youth Competition!

More details are available in the call for essays

The deadline is 26 April 2021.

NGO REPORTER 

NGO Reporter 

President, Global NGO Executive Committee

NGO Reporter Site Technician

Members NGO Reporter Subcommittee

 Nadine Clopton

* UN Department of Global Communications (UNDGC; previously UN Department of Public Information, UNDPI).