Water and Pads is an excellent example of sustainable education

By Dr Sibylle von Heydebrand, Executive Vice President of the International Alliance of Women IAW

In November 2024, I was invited to give a special address at the Global Sustainable Education & Leadership Conference 2024 at the University of Greenwich, UK, focusing on sustainable education for girls.

After the conference, I was honored with the “Outstanding Leadership Icon Award” at the House of Lords in London in recognition of “her tireless efforts and impactful leadership in advocating for girls’ education and global gender equity”.

The speech emphasized the grassroots IAW project “Water and Pads for Schoolgirls”, highlighted global challenges faced by girls, and outlined strategies to promote sustainable education for equity and justice.

Key Issues:

1. Global Discrimination Against Girls: Girls face malnutrition, lack of education, child marriage, and violence. Over 96 million girls are illiterate, compared to 57 million boys, while 12 million girls marry annually. Educating girls reduces poverty, improves health, and fosters economic growth.
2. Sustainable Education: It ensures fairness by removing barriers, promoting gender-responsive curricula, and combating stereotypes, enabling girls to enter male-dominated fields like STEM.
3. Barriers: Cultural norms, economic constraints, child marriage, and lack of menstrual health resources hinder girls’ education.
4. Gender Gap in Literacy: Women comprise two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population.
5. Engaging Boys and Men: Boys must be educated about gender equality to foster societal change.
6. IAW Grassroots Project: The “Water and Pads for Schoolgirls – Empowerment for Life!” project addresses menstrual health in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

I called for global financing, political action and the reduction of inequalities, and I appealed to the world to ensure that no girl is left behind, in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda. My urgent message: “Leave no girl behind” was met with great applause.

The post Sustainable education for girls appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

A Summary of Pertinent Events
at the July 2023 UN High Level
Political Forum on Sustainable Development

I.   Good News and Bad News about the Agenda 2030 Deadline

II.  Synergy Between SDG 11 and Cities for CEDAW

      A.   Localization of SDG 11

      B.   Cities for CEDAW Exemplifies the Pillars for Acceleration of SDG 11

I.   Good News and Bad News About the Agenda 2030 Deadline

What do you want first: the good news or the bad news? This was the question on the minds of many speakers at the start of the July 2023 High Level Political Forum (HLPF) at UN headquarters in New York City. Many speakers started with the bad news, including H.E. Maria-Francesca Spatolisano[i] and H.E. Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif[ii] who proclaimed that we were nowhere near reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Their conclusion was reinforced by Dignitary Nikhil Seth[iii] who presented a doom and gloom scenario of a world that was planting the seeds of its own destruction by failing to fulfill the promise of the 2030 Agenda.[iv] Only 12% of the agenda’s targets are on track at the halfway point.

Indeed, the world has seen progress toward the goals reversed in many instances. Worldwide hunger and poverty increased over the prior four years. “Gender equality is some 300 years away.” [v] H.E. Seth spoke about the recent tectonic shifts in the world that had set us back: the shock of Covid-19; the brutal shock of war and conflict (primarily Russian Federation aggression against Ukraine), the likes of which have not been seen since WW II.

“The 2030 Agenda is an agenda of justice and equality, of inclusive, sustainable development, and human rights and dignity for all.”[vi] At the half-way point of Agenda 2030, most governments admit that

they need to step up to the plate, commit to bold strategies for implementation of the universal and inter-related goals, and focus on gender equality. [vii]

Rescuing the SDGs will require meaningful participation by all stakeholders. If we are to LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND[viii] then all stakeholders must commit time and support to the implementation of policies that keep people at the center. To paraphrase U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (MA 7^th District), the people who are closest to the pain need to be driving and informing the policymakers. Participation in policy making is a right of all people and a means to change the outcome, but participation should not be allotted to those who seek to participate for the mere sake of inclusion. Instead, participants need to devote time to listening sessions, storytelling and organizing to earn the trust of one another.[ix]

Business as usual will not get the job done. Instead, accelerated action is called for, including transformative actions for vulnerable populations such as gender equality initiatives. Gender equality will be a driver of sustainable development.[x] Equality initiatives uphold the inherent dignity of each human being[xi] and raise awareness of fundamental human rights. They promote solidarity over segmentation.[xii]

The good news is that localization of SDG implementation has proven to drive success. Localization of the SDGs uplifts the most vulnerable segments of the population. The ones who survive are the ones who adapt to change and not the strongest or most intelligent. [xiii]

Other good news is the world leader’s commitment to securing a massive surge in innovative and restructured global financing that will be directed to developing nations and trickle down to local communities. It is also thought that known debt reduction strategies will accelerate attainment of the SDGs. [xiv]

The September 2023 UN Summit for the Future is on the horizon. It will be a moment of peak political attention. World leaders will gather at the UN, with the intent of kickstarting Agenda 2030. We are at a moment of reckoning for the salvation of our planet. We want a world where mothers and babies are healthy, children learn skills for success, parents feed their children, we all breathe clean air and drink clean water, and enjoy our fundamental and universal human rights. [xv] It is time to put long-term thinking at the heart of sustainable development policies. We must fight back against the gravitational pull of short-term thinking. [xvi]

We already know how to achieve the SDGs and we have the tools to achieve the goals. We simply must secure the political will. Political will is urgently needed to combat the complex crises facing our world and rescue a sustainable future. [xvii] [xviii] How will WE make the moment count for gender equality? [xix]

The July 2023 High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development focused on SDG’s 6,7,9,11, and 17. There is much to read and view (UN web tv) on the daily sessions for each one of these SDGs. However, this report focuses on SDG 11 and highlights selected HLPF sessions that seemed to suggest synergies between SDG 11 and the Cities for CEDAW movement. II.   Synergy Between SDG 11 and Cities for CEDAW        A.   Localization of SDG 11 SDG 11 calls for making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.[xx] It sets targets that community leaders strive to reach in areas such as affordable housing, safe roads and public transportation, involvement of civil society organizations in urban planning, safeguarding of cultural and natural heritage, reduction of economic loss due to natural disasters with a particular focus on vulnerable populations, air quality and waste management and, accessible green spaces. The three targets for SDG 11 that pay particular attention to the needs of women and other vulnerable groups address transportation, natural disaster recovery and accessible green spaces.[xxi]

The message of inclusion infiltrates many venues, including the July 2023 women’s FIFA World Cup Soccer stadium in Auckland, New Zealand which posted the rolling script “Unite for INCLUSION.”

Progress toward SDG 11 is too slow, and Member States will not reach the targets by 2030 if they continue with business as usual. Progress has been derailed by recurring natural disasters, political crises, and growing inequalities, to name only a few setbacks. Inequalities increased by 1.2% between 2017-2021 (the first such increase since a generation.) [xxii]

Local momentum must be leveraged to catalyze change and rescue Agenda 2030. Sixty-five percent of the targets around SDG 11 are dependent on local action. [xxiii] Local government action, in tandem with national government action, can make a significant impact on the achievement of the SDGs, especially SDG 11. The US is modernizing its local institutions to become more accessible, responsive, and accountable to communities.[xxiv]

The 2023 edition of the Global Sustainable Development Report will be released in September 2023. It is anticipated that the report will identify urban development as one of the six entry points through which we will accelerate progress toward the SDGs. [xxv]

Urban populations are expected to increase, and even higher percentages of people are expected to live in slums. As of 2020, only 56% of the world’s people had access to transportation/roads and less than 20% had access to dedicated open spaces.[xxvi] This is bad news for women’s empowerment. [xxvii] Girls and gender diverse individuals continue to be overlooked. [xxviii]

Localization of the SDGs is critical[xxix] and inspirational leadership is key to driving attainment of the SDG’s.[xxx] Who is better than cities to implement the SDGs? Cities create concrete solutions and are part of the solution to achieving the SDGs.[xxxi] City leaders are leading reforms, and the feminist movement is pushing the SDGs.[xxxii] Equity and women needs to be addressed seriously.[xxxiii] Local leaders from all private, public, and volunteer sectors have been likened to industrious hummingbirds.[xxxiv]  

Community leaders continuously seek to prioritize constituent’s access to services and housing. They advocate for policies of inclusion over exclusion from services, resilience over vulnerability, prosperity over deprivation and stability over insecurity.[xxxv]

Cities are the epicenter of innovation. They test strategies on the ground and challenge one another to do better. The Global Mayor’s Challenge is one way that cities are recognized for thinking outside the box, accelerating recovery from COVID 19, and accelerating strategies to reach SDG 11. In 2022 an award was given to the city of Hermosillo, Mexico for its green employment program for women, who were negatively impacted by COVID 19 at a rate 2x higher than men.[xxxvi]

Data collection accelerates local action[xxxvii] and is essential to informed decision-making.[xxxviii] Urban data disaggregation is key to leaving no one behind and no place behind. Participation in decision-making by people of all genders, disabilities, ages, cultures, socioeconomic status, etc. are essential to change the discriminatory rhetoric that harms progress toward the goal.[xxxix]

Multinational groups and Member States support localization of the SDGs. The European Union calls for more LOCAL voluntary reviews. The UN Representative for ECOSOC in the Asia Pacific Region calls for local voluntary reviews that engage women and other marginalized groups. [xl] UN Habitat claims that humanity’s future is urban and that we need increased efforts to localize SDGs.[xli] The Council of Europe calls for localization for implementation of the SDGs because local initiatives uphold democracy, rule of law and human rights. [xlii]

Volunteers are powerful partners and an accelerating force in policy decision-making in many urban communities. Volunteers contribute to social cohesion and a stronger, more resilient community. Trust in government diminishes when community leadership fails to reach out to marginalized groups and excludes volunteers from decision-making. [xliii]

Communities that reduce inequalities show promise for all people in the community, especially regarding improved education and health laws, access to nondiscriminatory legal processes, equitable access to digital technology, and galvanized will to “leave no one behind.” [xliv] In many urban communities’ migrants and displaced persons comprise the largest minority group. Their voices are needed to develop an inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable city. [xlv] Women’s voices are heard in Canadian municipalities, partly because of its national initiative to increase women’s participation in municipal decision-making [xlvi] and, partly to effectuate an Early Learning and Childcare Initiative that ensures women have real choices about how and when to work. [xlvii] But alternative voices counter those of marginalized individuals and raise the specter of outdated and unjust beliefs.

By way of example, the speaker from C-FAM drew attention to the mural on the wall in the UN Security Council Chamber and argued that it stood for the principle that a family is only comprised of a man, woman, and their children.

 The C-FAM speaker claimed that binding international human rights laws should not be interpreted to meet today’s inclusive and just societal norms, but rather followed by the exact text of the document. [xlviii] 

 

A.   Cities for CEDAW Exemplifies the Pillars for Acceleration of SDG 11

The three pillars underpinning acceleration for achieving the SDGs are: economic, environment and social justice reforms.[xlix] Cities for CEDAW provides advocacy tools and educational materials targeting these pillars. Cities for CEDAW mobilizes local political will to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment. These initiatives are critical now. There has been backsliding on democracy and human rights and opportunities for women and girls over the past several years as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic, political crises and lack of political will to make sure that no one is left behind. Gender equality targets set forth in SDG 5 are the farthest behind of all 17 SDGs. [l]

Cities for CEDAW adopts the premise of the HLPF on Sustainable Development that localization of SDG initiatives drives success. Cities for CEDAW highlights the prophetic words of Eleanor Roosevelt, the Chairperson of the first UN Human Rights Commission, who said “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home-so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in, the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” [li]

Cities for CEDAW recognizes that inclusive and sustainable development cannot be achieved without the full participation and empowerment of women. City and county resolutions and ordinances in support of CEDAW across the US call for gender equity studies to assess the degree of discrimination and exclusion of women from employment, decision-making bodies, scientific and technological advances, health care, housing, safe and affordable transportation, justice reforms reducing violence, green spaces, clean water, and sanitation management. Cities for CEDAW spotlights women and girls advocacy at the center of the green and blue movements.

Countries that focus on gender equality have stronger economies and stimulate economic growth, boost public and private sector performance, and reduce income inequality. [lii] Cities for CEDAW highlights this conclusion in its local educational and advocacy initiatives, most of which are driven by outstanding dedicated volunteers working in tandem and trust with elected leaders.

Respectfully submitted by:

Jill Follows

IAW UN Representative to the July 2023
High Level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development

All photos on this page attributed to Jill Follows

[i] Assistant Secretary General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/profiles/maria-francesca-spatolisano

[ii] https://www.google.com/search?q=maimunah+mohd+sharif&rlz=1C1JSBI_en&oq=maimunah+mohd+sharif

[iii] UN Assistant Secretary-General, Executive Director, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) https://unitar.org/about/unitar/executivedirector

[iv] 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda

[v] https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-04-25/secretary-generals-remarks-launch-the-special-edition-of-the-sustainable-development-goals-progress-report

[vi] https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-04-25/secretary-generals-remarks-launch-the-special-edition-of-the-sustainable-development-goals-progress-report

[vii] UN Assistant Secretary General, Executive Director, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)

[viii] LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND is a universal value and transformative promise of the UN Sustainable Development Goals https://unsdg.un.org/2030-agenda/universal-values/leave-no-one-behind

[ix] Maryann Broxton, Main Representative to the United Nations from the International Movement ATD Fourth Movement (All Together in Dignity-ATD) https://www.atd-fourthworld.org/

[x] Coordinator of 5 Regional Commissions for Sustainable Development and UN Representative ECOSOC for the Asia Pacific Region, 14^th and 15^th meetings of the HLPF Side Event-Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, July 18, 2023

[xi] USA representative statement during the High-Level segment of ECOSOC, 2023 Session on Tuesday July 11, 2023

[xii] Minoru Takada, Team Leader (Sustainable Energy), Division for Sustainable Development Goals, UN DESA https://sdgs.un.org/panelists/mr-minoru-takada-29255

[xiii] Confederation of NGOs of Rural India, statement at the 41^st ECOSOC General Session of the UN  HLPF on Sustainable Development, July 20, 2023

[xiv] https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-04-25/secretary-generals-remarks-launch-the-special-edition-of-the-sustainable-development-goals-progress-report

[xv] https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-04-25/secretary-generals-remarks-launch-the-special-edition-of-the-sustainable-development-goals-progress-report

[xvi] Statement of Assistant Secretary General for Policy Coordination and Interagency Affairs ECOSOC,(Maria-Francesca Spatolisano)  speaking at the 42^nd meeting of the High Level Segment of ECOSOC, 2023 Session, July 2023

[xvii] Statement on behalf of the Group of 77 (G77) and China by H.E. Mr. Alejandro Gil Fernandez, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning of the Republic of Cuba, at the General Debate of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development Under the Auspices of ECOSOC ( July 17, 2023) https://www.g77.org/statement/getstatement.php?id=230717 ; statement supported by the Representative from Belize, speaking on behalf of the 14 Member States of the Caribbean area (CARICOM)

[xviii]   Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism supports this concept in its statement to the 41^st ECOSOC General Session at the HLPF on Sustainable Development on July 20, 2023

[xix] H.E. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, Former President of the 73^rd UN General Assembly and Executive Director of GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion, https://gwlvoices.com/ ,

Co-chair Coalition for the UN We Need, https://c4unwn.org/ ,

at the HLPF Session Wednesday July 12, 2023 “Toward the Summit of the Future: Aligning Agenda 2030 to Agenda 2063 https://www.un.org/pga/73/about/biography/

[xx] https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11

[xxi] https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11

[xxii] Remarks of Executive Director of UN Human Settlement Program at the July 2023 HLPF 6^th Local and Regional Government Forum

[xxiii] H.E. Ms. Amelia Saiz, Secretary General UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) Statement during the UN HLPF on Sustainable Development Side Event-Rescuing SDG 11 for a Resilient Urban Planet on Friday July 14, 2023, https://uclg.org/

[xxiv] Delegate from the USA speaking on July 18, 2023 at the 39^th Meeting of ECOSOC Ministerial Meeting on the HLPF for Sustainable Development

[xxv] Remarks of UN Deputy Secretary General at the 6^th Local and Regional Government Forum convened during the July 2023 HLPF

[xxvi] Speaker representing the Statistics Division (UN DESA) during the HLPF session on Thursday July 13, 2023 on SDG 11

[xxvii] Representative from SLOCAT (the partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport) during the HLPF session on SDG 11 on Thursday July 13, 2023. https://slocat.net/about-slocat/

[xxviii] Women’s Major Group, statement at the 41^st ECOSOC General Session at the UN HLPF on Sustainable Development, July 20, 2023

[xxix] Ambassador Njambi Kinyunga, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kenya to the UN speaking at the HLPF session on Wednesday July 12, 2023, on “Toward the Summit of the Future: Aligning Agenda 2030 to Agenda 2063.”

[xxx] Chiagozi Udeh, Member of the African Union ECOSOC Infrastructure and Energy Cluster Committee speaking at the HLPF session on Wednesday July 12, 2023, on “Toward the Summit of the Future: Aligning Agenda 2030 to Agenda 2063.”  https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/profile/chiagozie-udeh/

[xxxi] Representative from Switzerland speaking at the 39^th General Session of the July 2023 HLPF on Sustainable Development, July 18, 2023

[xxxii] Dr. Soon-Young Yoon, UN representative of the International Alliance of Women, speaking at the HLPF session on Wednesday July 12, 2023, on “Toward the Summit of the Future: Aligning Agenda 2030 to Agenda 2063. https://womenalliance.org/author/soonyoungyoon/

[xxxiii] Ms. Amelia Saiz, Secretary General UCLG, UN HLPF on Sustainable Development, Side Event on Rescuing SDG 11 for a Resilient Urban Planet, Friday July 14, 2023

[xxxiv] The female ruby-throat hummingbird builds the nest and feeds the babies on her own. https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attracting-hummingbirds/the-life-of-a-female-hummingbird/

[xxxv] Comments by the representative of UN Habitat at the HLPF side event on Thursday July 13, 2023

[xxxvi] https://bloombergcities.jhu.edu/mayors-challenge/2022/hermosillo-mexico ; https://bloombergcities.jhu.edu/mayors-challenge.

[xxxvii] Comments from the speakers from the World Blind Union and Sweden during the HLPF side event on SDG 11 on Thursday July 13, 2023.

[xxxviii] Ms. Aissata M.B. Camara, Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Strategic Initiatives, Chief of Staff NYC Mayor’s Office for International Affairs statement at the UN HLPF on Sustainable Development Side Event – Rescuing SDG 11 for a Resilient Urban Planet on Friday July 14, 2023

[xxxix] Representative from Thailand during the HLPF side event on SDG 11 on Thursday July 13, 2023.

[xl] UN Representative for ECOSOC for the Asia Pacific Region, statement at the 14^th and 15^th meetings of the July 2023 HLPF-Regional Forum on Sustainable Development

[xli] Representative from Poland, speaking on behalf of the 50 Member States affiliated with UN Habitat, at the HLPF side event on SDG 11 on Thursday July 13, 2023.

[xlii] Representative from the Council of Europe during the July 2023 HLPF session of the 6^th Local and Regional Government Forum

[xliii] Representative from UNV (United Nations Volunteers) during the HLPF side event on SDG 11 on Thursday July 13, 2023.

[xliv] Representative from Cuba speaking on behalf of Pathfinders at the July 2023 HLPF General Session on Monday July 17, 2023

[xlv] Representative of the Volunteers Stakeholder Group during the HLPF side event on SDG 11 on Thursday July 13, 2023.

[xlvi] https://fcm.ca/sites/default/files/documents/resources/tool/increasing-womens-participation-in-municipal-decision-making-strategies-for-more-inclusive-canadian-communities-wilg.pdf

[xlvii] Canadian Minister of Families, Children and Social Development speaking at the July 2023 HLPF General Session on Sustainable Development on July 17, 2023

[xlviii] C-FAM representative, 41st General Session ECOSOC, UN HLPF General Debate July 20, 2023

[xlix] International Labor Organization Statement at the 41^st Meeting of ECOSOC General Session at the UN HLPF July 2023, Thursday July 20, 2023

[l] Statement of Iceland’s Representative to the 39^th ECOSOC General Meeting at the July 2023 High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development on July 18, 2023.

[li] https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/10-inspiring-eleanor-roosevelt-quotes/

[lii] Statement of Finland’s Representative to the 38^th ECOSOC General Meeting at the July 2023 High Level Policial Forum on Sustainable Development on July 17, 2023

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A Tale of Two Summits

Facilitators:
Bahá'í International Community; Coalition of the UN We Need; and Stimson Center
Wednesday July 26, 2023
Hybrid event: In person; Virtual via Zoom

Two global summits will be held on sustainable development over the course of the next fourteen months. Both summits will prioritize strengthening the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The first summit, “SDG Summit”, takes place on September 21, 2023. It marks the midway point to the deadline set for reaching the mission of Agenda 2030 and its 17 SDGs.

It signifies a new phase of turbocharged change and actions needed to reach the SDGs. The “SDG Summit” will hand off the baton to the “Summit for the Future”^[1] which takes place one year later, on September 22-23, 2024. It is hoped that the second summit will reenergize the SDGs by breathing new life into the agenda.

Speakers at today’s discussion distinguish the two summits.  The first summit focuses on identifying WHAT has been achieved to date. The second summit focuses on HOW we create systems change by strengthening multilateral cooperation.

Today’s session (the 10^th in a continuing series) titled “A TALE OF TWO SUMMITS” was co-facilitated by the Bahá’í International Community,^[2] Coalition for the UN We Need^[3], and the Stimson Center^[4]. More than 150 viewers participated virtually, and 50 individuals attended in person at the Bahá’í headquarters in New York City. The discussion highlighted the coherence between the two summits and raised awareness of the SDG Political Declaration which is the anticipated actionable and flexible outcome document of the “SDG Summit” in September 2023.

Today’s meeting co-facilitator, H.E. Ms. Antje Leendertse, Permanent UN Representative of Germany, emphasized the need for local cooperation to achieve the SDGs. The ingredients in her new recipe for attainment of the SDGs include trust, cooperation, and transparency. She acknowledged the participation of civil society in discussions to date and called for a follow-up UN Civil Society Conference in 2024. She referenced the Interim People’s Pact for the Future^[5]. It identifies seven thematic areas for further discussion at UN gatherings: development of the SDGs; environmental governance; human rights and participation; the global digital compact; the global economic and financial architecture; peace and security; UN and global governance innovation.

Specific discussion addressed establishing accountability and monitoring measures, accelerating reforms of global financing, sharing technological advances with all people, aligning any subsequent unilateral trade agreements with the UN Charter, respecting diversity, and securing solidarity in order to prevail in achieving sustainable development for our planet.

 

Scaling up implementation of the SDG’s requires stakeholders to look at new approaches to reaching the SDG’s. Jake Sherman, US Mission to the UN, suggested we investigate and leverage the authority granted to the UN Secretary General by the UN Charter as well as mandates from UN Member States. Mr. Sherman also suggested that stakeholders may derive a boost from a review of ongoing processes, such as the 2025 Peacebuilding Review and climate architecture measures. He also emphasized the importance of civil society inclusion to assure implementation of the SDGs.

As the session wound down, a youthful participant asked for increased participation of young people at the Summits. She pointed to SDG 5 (gender equality) as an example of a goal that already had targets and indicators identified. She justified an increased focus on youth participation at the expense of gender participation because women’s empowerment policy was already written down on paper. The opposition statement came a few minutes later when the German Ambassador, H.E. Leendertse remarked that the targets and indicators for SDG 5 are unmet and that it is especially important to boost efforts globally to achieve SDG 5, as it is the farthest behind of all the SDG’s.

Significant attention was paid to a note posted by IAW President Alison Brown in the online chat box. The note read: “I would be content if there were not a single new declaration until 2030 but only detailed factual reports on progress and activity towards the realization of those promises made heretofore.” The chat box note was read aloud by the session leader and shortly thereafter received affirmation by Georgios Kostakos (FOGGS) Executive Director Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability who called on persons to “put all energy into coherent implementation.”

Closing Remarks by H.E. Ms. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces implored stakeholders to build trust at the summits, raise awareness of the benefit of multilateralism and keep political steam going to move us closer to a more sustainable future.^[6]

Jill Follows
IAW Representative at UN Headquarters

IAW Attendees at the virtual session: 
Alison Brown, Jill Follows, Dr. Ernestine Ngo Melha in her capacity as President of Association d’Aide à l’Education de l’Enfant Handicapé, an IAW Associate

Photos attributed to J. Follows

^[1]https://www.un.org/en/common-agenda/summit-of-the-future/
^[2]https://www.bic.org/
^[3]https://c4unwn.org/
^[4]https://www.stimson.org/
^[5] https://c4unwn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Interim-Peoples-Pact-for-the-Future-Compressed.pdf
^[6] https://www.un.org/pga/73/about/biography/

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Natalia Fischer
Fair Fashion Enthusiast
wearing her leased dress from unown fashion

The picture on top of the page shows a textile factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Photo by NaZemi, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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The 2030 agenda recognizes the crucial importance of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in sustainable development (goal5) as essential for achieving all the interconnected goals ant targets.

One way of doing that is by using infrastructure as a driver for change to improve women’s lives by reducing the demands of household and care work, increase the productivity of their enterprises and enable them to move into better jobs or more profitable markets.

Infrastructure consists of high cost investments that if done well can raise economic growth, productivity and land values and contribute to poverty reduction.

Women’s economic empowerment is about economic equality such as closing the gender pay gap, increasing job opportunities etc. But it is also about breaking down barriers that hold women back: from discrimination laws to unfair share of home and family care.

Empirical evidence on women’s time allocation shows clearly that women bear the brunt of domestic tasks processing food crops, providing water and firewood and caring for children.

How can infrastructure enable women’s economic empowerment? Infrastructure provisions can reduce the time women spend on domestic tasks and free up time for productive economic activity.

For example, mobility improvements in transportation infrastructure can have significant effects on women’s physical mobility leading to higher paid jobs for women and new opportunities for business expansion.

Moreover the construction of new transport, ICT and energy facilities can create new job opportunities as for example jobs for women in the transport sector taking on roles as bus drivers, ticket collectors and taxi drivers or in the construction business which increasingly involves women as constructors, semi-skilled and skilled workers, supervisor engineers.  However, in this context women have to break through gender barriers and enter traditionally male dominated sectors.

Unsafe market spaces, transport and public spaces expose women workers and traders to gender based violence and limit their economic opportunities. The perceived and the actual risk of gender based violence have a significant impact on women’s economic participation. Road, rail and port projects can do their part to narrow the gender gap by featuring well lit roads, women only carriages and resting and waiting areas.

It is important to note that infrastructure investment by itself does not result in inclusive growth. The quality and cost of access to services are critical to the potential of these investments to impact low income and marginalized groups whose members are disproportionately women.

We also have to note that most infrastructure is gender blind thus empowering men and reinforcing women’ s role as one which is primarily with household tasks.

In order to engender infrastructure projects women need to be part of the decision making in all phases of these projects. Giving them a voice will help to reduce gender inequality.

Women are usually at the household nexus of water, food and energy and they often know first hand about the challenges and potential solutions in these areas.  So, women are the most convincing advocates for the solutions they need so they should be at the forefront of decision making in sustainable development.  A precondition for engendering infrastructure projects is to amplify women’s collective voice to demand access and use infrastructure and services.

The process of demanding improvements in infrastructure by low income women especially in urban areas can by itself be empowering. This is a key strategy and precondition for engendering infrastructure which can have potentially transformative impacts. At the global level we have a number of women led community driven demands by networks of urban poor that have been very successful in negotiating collectively with municipal authorities for improved infrastructure. They have also transformed women’s involvement in municipal government processes.

We should also monitor the gender outcomes of infrastructure projects and build a database for successful gender approaches that can be replicated or scaled up. We should also elaborate and adopt outcome indicators such as income change for female workers etc.

Unfortunately, most infrastructure is seen to help women deliver outcomes that benefit their family, community and state rather than address their own individual needs. In other words, gender remains framed within an economic empowerment approach where women’s work matters not for women themselves but for their ability to participate in markets. This is a pro market approach that we should reject in favour of an approach that is based on the human rights of women.

So, an important precondition for engendering infrastructure projects and facilitating access to and use of them by women is the adoption of a strategy aiming at challenging social norms that are based on gender stereotypes and influence women’s ability to access and use infrastructural resources at all levels.

Another obstacle to engendering infrastructure projects is the fact that this sector is usually run by people that have technical expertise and are unfamiliar and not sensitive to gender equality or the tools used by gender equality specialists. States should undertake efforts to reconcile the two approaches.

Another constrain to effective mainstreaming has to do with traditional practices like child marriage that perpetuate disparities and violate human rights. Very often the practices of child marriage continue in many countries because there is no capacity of the state to deal with it by employing social workers and elaborating policies to deal with gender based discrimination as well as proceed with structural changes to end this harmful practice. The states should also try to demystify all myths and cultural beliefs surrounding traditional practices.

Finally, the most important question to be asked is whether it is possible to use infrastructure as driver for change as long as neoliberal policies dominate in parts of the world. When subsidies are cut from poor and marginalized groups in rural and urban areas, when funding for social services and social infrastructure especially education and health services are cut, then we should question whether neoliberal approaches to development policies can bring about change. We should also question, whether infrastructure provisions that free up time of women in the developing world for labour force participation in the formal sector is a step forward in empowering these women.

Numerous evidence based on research demonstrates how markets themselves seem to be structured to perpetuate and exploit economic inequality. This model relies heavily on women’s wage labour, especially low wage work in service and manufacturing. The reality that underlines this new model is depressed wage levels, decreased job security, declining living standards, steep rise in the number of hours worked for wages, exacerbation of the double shift and rising poverty increasingly concentrated on female headed households.

How can this process represent empowerment for women? Governments, the private sector, women’s NGOs and feminist groups should work for a new development model that prioritizes people over profits. Equal societies do better on just about every available metric: health, crime rates, education etc.

Recommendations:

Governments should:

• Implement infrastructure projects to reduce the time women spend on domestic tasks and free up time for productive economic activity.
• Implement infrastructure projects that create new job opportunities and that protect women workers and traders from gender based violence.
• Engender infrastructure projects by having women participate in the decision making process in all phases of them.
• Monitor gender outcomes of infrastructure projects and adopt and implement relevant indicators.
• Elaborate infrastructure projects that look after women’s unique needs and experiences.
• Implement strategies aiming at challenging social norms that are based on gender stereotypes and influence women’s access and use of infrastructural resources.

Finally Governments, the Private sector, Women’s NGOs and Feminist groups should work for developmental policies that prioritize people over profits.

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Human activities that harm marine life are degrading the ocean, undermining coastal communities’ livelihoods, and having a negative impact on human health. Every year more than 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into the ocean. Pollution of oceans includes toxic chemicals from industries (including oil, lead, and mercury), land run-off (including fertilizers, petroleum, and pesticides), wastewater, oil spills, and littering. Pollution of oceans has a negative impact on human health, through contaminated water supplies and food chains through affected marine life. The call for action promotes waste prevention and minimalization, as well as, implementation of long-term strategies to reduce the use of plastics and microplastics.

Our ocean is losing its marine life at a rapid rate. Due to overfishing for human consumption, the population of several species, like Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, have declined so much that their survival is at risk. The call for action commits to enhance sustainable fisheries management, including to restore fish stocks and end destructive fishing practices.

Our ocean plays a crucial role in the water cycle and the climate system and acts as a climate regulator. Climate change has negative impacts on the ocean, including a rise in ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, deoxygenation, sea level rise, the decrease in polar ice coverage, coastal erosion, and extreme weather events. Species are in danger, unable to adapt fast enough to ocean warming and acidification. The call for action recognizes the Paris Agreement and calls to develop and implement effective adaptation and mitigation measures to address harmful impacts of climate change on the ocean. At the UNFCCC COP 23, Fiji Presidency launched The Ocean Pathway strategy to ensure the ocean is an integral part of the UNFCCC process by 2020.

The call for action recognizes the importance of gender equality and the critical role of women and youth in the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Women are leaders in the sustainable use and management of marine and coastal resources. Women in small-scale fisheries are in charge of fish processing and small-scale fish trading; valuable to coastal communities’ livelihoods and food security. Small-scale fisheries’ access to marine resources in compromised due to infrastructure gaps, and competition with large-scale fishing operations, and other sectors, including tourism, aquaculture, agriculture, and energy. Small-scale fisheries also suffer high post-harvest losses due to low investment, low-level technology, and contamination from land-based pollution. The call for action strengthens capacity-building and technical assistance to small-scale and artisanal fisheries in developing countries. Although not stated in the call for action, capacity building has to target women specifically, to address the structural, legal management and cultural barriers that prevent women from full access to fisheries and resources.

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At the opening on November 6, 2017, the Prime Minister of Fiji and COP 23 President H. E. Frank Bainimarama and the Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of Germany H.E. Barbara Hendricks presided over a traditional Fijian ceremony, the Qaloqalovi, with the presentation of the Tabua, the tooth of a sperm whale, singing, and drinking of kava, a traditional Fijian drink. The UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa called for great urgency and increased ambition on climate change.

Fiji is the first Small Island Developing State (SIDS) to preside over climate change COP. Fiji, comprised of more than 300 islands in the South Pacific Ocean, along with other SIDS, are among the most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts. At the same time, SIDS are the smallest contributors to global carbon emissions. Many low lying SIDS are slowly sinking; coupled with extreme weather conditions, some parts of islands are becoming inhabitable, creating waves of climate refugees. Fiji has experienced many negative effects of climate change including extremely intense storms (Tropical Cyclone Winston in February 2016 causing over $1bn in damages), sea-level rise (causing the relocation of 80 villages to higher ground), and warming seas (causing changes in fish populations and bleaching of coral reefs).

COP 23 made history when Parties recommended for adoption the first Gender Plan of Action (GAP) for the UNFCCC on Tuesday, November 14, 2017.

The GAP seeks to advance women’s full, equal and meaningful participation and promote gender-responsive climate policy and the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the implementation of the Convention and the work of Parties, the secretariat, UN entities, and all stakeholders at all levels. The GAP contains five priority areas, with activities that will drive the achievement of its objectives, and timelines for implementation between 2018 and 2019.

Priority area A: Capacity-building, knowledge sharing, and communication, with two activities:

A.1 Workshops and technical assistance to enhance the capacity of Parties and stakeholders to develop gender-responsive climate policies, plans, and programmes

A.2 Submission and dialogue on the systemic integration of gender-sensitive and participatory education, training, public awareness, public participation and public access to information into all mitigation and adaptation activities implemented under the Convention and the Paris Agreement

Priority area B: Gender balance, participation and women’s leadership, with four activities:

B.1 Promotion of travel funds to support the participation of women in national delegations at UNFCCC sessions, including from grass-roots, local and indigenous peoples, developing countries, and SIDS

B.2 Include in regular notifications to Parties at the time of nominations to UNFCCC bodies the latest report on the gender balance

B.3 Organize and conduct capacity-building training on leadership, negotiation, facilitation and chairing in the context of UNFCCC process for women

B.4 Cooperate in, promote, facilitate, develop and implement education and training programmes focused on climate change, targeting women

Priority area C: Coherence, with three activities on consistent implementation:

C.1 Dialogue for Parties and observers, with the chairs of UNFCCC bodies to discuss outcomes of the technical paper and recommendations

C.2 Provide capacity-building to chairs and members of UNFCCC bodies and technical teams of the secretariat, supporting the integration of gender into their work

C.3 Promote efforts and share information to support synergies with other processes, especially 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Priority area D: Gender-responsive implementation and means of implementation, with three activities:

D.1 Invite the Standing Committee on Finance to host a dialogue on the implementation of its commitment to integrating gender considerations into its work

D.2 In cooperation with UNEP DTU Partnership and the Climate Technology Centre and Network, invite interested stakeholders to share information on the incorporation of gender into technology needs assessments

D.3 Strengthen the capacity of gender mechanisms, including for parliamentarians, the IPU, commissions, funding ministries, NGOs, and CSOs, for the integration of gender-responsive budgeting into climate finance

Priority area E: Monitoring and reporting, with four activities:

E.1 Make a submission, including sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis:

(a) Information on the differentiated impacts of climate change on women and men

(b) Integration of gender considerations into adaptation, mitigation, capacity-building, Action for Climate Empowerment, technology and finance policies, plans and actions

(c) Policies and plans for and progress made in enhancing gender balance in national climate delegations

E.2 Prepare a synthesis report on the submissions under activity  E1

E.3 Update report on how the Climate Technology Centre and Network, working with the Technology Executive Committee, contributed to accelerating the development and transfer of technology with gender considerations

E.4 Encourage knowledge exchange activities among the secretariat staff across all thematic areas to update on gender work

The recommendation for adoption of the GAP coincided with the Gender Day at COP 23 on Tuesday, November 14, 2017, that included networking breakfast on capacity building, and a high-level event on making the economic case for gender-responsive climate action. COP 23 featured many events on women and climate change organized by Parties, women’s groups, civil society, and other stakeholders, that included frontline conversations with Pacific women, and recognizing women human rights and climate defenders.

A highlight was an aerobics class, organized by the Women and Gender Constituency, on Tuesday, November 7, 2017, to call on COP 23 delegates to “mind the gap” of gender inequality and “reach” for a gender action plan. The aerobics class lightened the mood in often testy climate change negotiations, facing polarizing issues and difficult constructive discussions on the way forward.

The Women and Gender Constituency advocated for the Key Demands at COP 23, including the GAP, loss and damage, finance, rights-based platform for indigenous peoples and local communities, rules for community consultation and consent, gender justice, ecosystem-based approaches, ocean, water, and health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights.

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• Words of welcome by the OIF (International organisation of French-speaking people)
• Introduction by Mrs Nicole Ameline , French deputy , former chairperson and member of the CEDAW
• Pierrette Pape (EWL) European women’s lobby
• Moïra Sauvage (Genital mutilation- let’s talk about it)
• Gwendoline Coipeault ( Femmes solidaires)
• Joanna Morganara (IAW)

During the workshop Françoise Morvan,  President of CLEF launched a call  for women’s right to have control over their bodies.
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It is by no way possible, today, to achieve sustainable development. This is just hypocrisy, simply because women can never become full economic agents if they can’t choose the number and the spacing of the children they want.

Recognition of women’s right to have control over their fecundity, abortion included, is felt essential to guarantee their autonomy and their dignity as CEDAW recommends: in other words   the right to control their bodies

Sustainable development cannot be attained because women, who  make up half of humanity are victims of discriminations such  as the ones described above and of many others, sometimes extremely severe.

Article 16 of CEDAW, demands that state parties should take all measures to ensure that women should “decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and have access to information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights”, A principle which was reaffirmed at the International Conference on Population and Development- Cairo, Egypt (1994) and at the Beijing 4th World Conference on Women  (1995)

More generally, the Beijing platform, after having underlined that “women having control over their fecundity is an important basis for enjoying other rights”, suggests, among other measures, “to reinforce laws in order to eliminate discrimination against women, to ensure full respect of the integrity of the individual, and realise the conditions necessary for a woman to exercise her rights in procreation and eliminate coercive laws  and practices .

It is high time now, to make an effort on the follow up to these measures, which governments have to take. Feminine organisations must draft shadow reports to be submitted to the CEDAW committee. In these reports, organisations can describe the situation concerning women’s empowerment, as it is in reality; that is to say if women have the possibility to have control over their body.

Then, it is necessary to disseminate the observations made by the CEDAW committee, on the government reports of women’s rights of control over their   body.

As Anand Grover, special rapporteur for the Human Rights Council, whose approach is based on women’s reproductive health and rights, said ” it is necessary to lift the obstacles that limit Women’s personal decisions when health is concerned. Obstacles to health services fit for women and girls’ diseases must also be lifted.  When the obstacle is set by law or by any other legal Instrument States have to lift it.

According to Anand Grover, States must engage in reforms evolving  towards  the  elaboration and application of politics and programs relating to sexual and  reproductive health, as the right  to international  human rights requires. In this context, the special rapporteur invites States to:

• work out comprehensive family planning politics and programs offering a large scale of goods, information and services relating to Make them available, accessible, and of good quality.
• Decriminalise the supply and use of all forms of contraception and voluntary sterilisation to control    fecundity and remove obligations of parental or spousal consent.
• Take measures to ensure availability, access and quality to a complete set of contraceptive, pharmaceutical and surgical methods
• Decriminalise Communication on sexual and reproductive health information. Proof of education of this type of health included.
• Formulate policies aiming at ensuring that laws like the one on pornography should not to be used to limit access to information and to education on sexual and reproductive health, or to punish those who provide access to it
• Decriminalise abortion and the laws referring to it, especially those inclining to its use.

Governments must be invited to adopt all measures necessary to this end, and especially to repeal the laws on abortion and to ban genital mutilation, so as to enable women to enjoy fully their sexual and reproductive rights, without delay or reservations.  Moreover it is necessary to follow this process by reports and other means.

New York – 14 March 2016

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A woman’s right to control her own body is a pre-condition for sustainable development

Without women’s contribution, it will be impossible to achieve sustainable development, which implies a three-pronged demand for social equity, economic efficiency, and environmental quality, and imposes respect for fundamental principles, including solidarity and participation by everyone in the collective effort.

The fact that women, who constitute half of humanity, are the object of discrimination and of sometimes extreme violence is one of the main obstacles to a sustainable development as defined above.

This is a question not only of justice, but also of efficiency, in that women have the primary responsibility for the care of children and, moreover, in many societies they play a major social role in managing natural resources such as water and energy, and in agriculture.

Consequently, it is essential to implement programmes to eliminate such discrimination and situations of violence so that women can become full economic players.

We cannot side-step the essentials

The complexity of the cultural, social, economic and legal implications of action programmes dealing with gender relations in society leads us to fear that future conferences on these subjects will merely produce a rash of proposals similar to those already put forth in the past. The risk is that they will overlook an essential requirement that precedes all the others: the immediate and unreserved recognition of a woman’s fundamental right to control her body.

As has already been stressed in a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council (Anand Grover, Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions 15/22 and 6/29 —report presented to the United Nations General Assembly A/66/254: distributed on 3 August 2011/Sixty-sixth session), what is at issue here is a right to health, which States have a duty to respect:

“Realization of the right to health requires the removal of barriers that interfere with individual decision-making on health-related issues and with access to health services, education and information, in particular on health conditions that only affect women and girls. In cases where a barrier is created by a criminal law or other legal restriction, it is the obligation of the State to remove it. The removal of such laws and legal restrictions is not subject to resource constraints and can thus not be seen as requiring only progressive realization. Barriers arising from criminal laws and other laws and policies affecting sexual and reproductive health must therefore be immediately removed in order to ensure full enjoyment of the right to health.”

Rights and sustainable development go hand in hand

It is clear that women cannot become full economic players unless they are able to choose the number and the timing of the children they will bear.

Today the link between demographics and women’s education level is recognized in Europe, where the decline in demographic growth has been brought about by access to contraception and abortion, linked to the education level of girls. The reverse side of the coin is that when demographics are not controlled by the women concerned, this leads to the abandonment of studies.

When it comes to the environmental aspect, the latest UN projections of the world population place it at 10 billion human beings by the year 2050. While we know that the ecological footprint of a Bengali baby is much smaller than that of a French baby, there is no denying that demographic growth and population imbalances have a severe impact on the environment. Moreover, many international reports show that, in most developing countries, these imbalances associated with climatic disruption are exacerbating women’s poverty, their food insecurity, and the violence committed against them.

In conclusion, while recognition of women’s right to control their fertility, including through resort to abortion, seems essential in order to guarantee their autonomy throughout the world, this issue is in fact underestimated, marginalized and even excluded from the matters debated in many international meetings, under cultural, religious or geopolitical pretexts.

In the end, there can be no sustainable development without respect for the fundamental rights of individuals, starting with the right of women to exercise free control over their body.

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