Please join the upcoming ECOSOC High-Level Event on Gender Equality: Leadership, decision-making, and participation of women and girls in humanitarian settings this Friday, 25 June 2021 at 10:00-12:00 GVA (New York 04:00 - 06:00 | Dakar 08:00 – 10:00 | Nairobi 11:00 – 13:00 | Bangkok 15:00 – 17:00 | Sydney 18:00 - 20:00). The event will be broadcast live on webtv.un.org.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the disproportionate socio-economic impacts on women and girls, and amplified the importance of women’s meaningful participation, leadership, and decision making. This has been confirmed by the recent system-wide Interagency Humanitarian Evaluation (IAHE) on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls (GEEWG) in emergencies tells us that resources, leadership, accountability, and gender expertise are critical to translate aspirations on gender equality into reality in humanitarian emergencies. And further, that women’s leadership is a critical area that must be urgently addressed.

The ECOSOC HAS is an opportunity to illustrate what is possible when there is leadership, collective action, and engagement and leadership of women themselves in driving this participation agenda.

This high-level event on the occasion of the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment will serve to showcase emerging good practices, examples of working with refugee women and girls, and impacts of their engagement in humanitarian decision making, and good practices of leadership of women’s rights and women led organizations in humanitarian action.

The panel discussion will be hosted by Her Excellency Pascale Baeriswyl, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations, and ECOSOC HAS Vice President for the HAS and will feature remarks from H.E. Ms. Sally Mansfield, Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations and Ms.  Kelly T. Clements, UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner.

Panelists will include:

• Her Excellency Madame Irène Esambo, Minister in Charge, People with Disabilities and other Vulnerable Persons, Government of Democratic Republic of Congo
• Ms. Naima Ismail, Focal Point for UNSW Global Compact on Refugees Project and President of Somali Women’s Association, Malaysia
• Ms. Leena Al Mujahed, Focal Point for UNSW Global Compact on Refugees Project,  and Founder of the Yemeni Refugee Women Association, Malaysia
• Ms. Jigyasa Gulati (Global Youth Compact Champion) – South Asia
• Ms. Alice Shackleford, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Honduras
• Ms. Ghofran Al-Shayeb,  Global Network of Women Peacebuilders

The event will be moderated by Ms. Wafaa Saeed, Director of Coordination Division, OCHA.

The event will be broadcast live on webtv.un.org and those viewing the webcast will have the opportunity to interact through a moderated pigeonhole. The event passcode will be made available during the meeting.

For more information, please contact toni.stewart@un.org.

This event has been organized with the support of the IASC Reference Group on Gender and Humanitarian Action (RG/GRG), UNHCR, UNICEF, UNOCHA, UNWOMEN, Action Aid, CARE, Feminist Humanitarian Network, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, Oxfam, and the University of New South Wales, Australia.  

The concept note, as well as details of other relevant and interesting ECOSOC HAS side events, please see https://www.unocha.org/ecosoc-2021

Warm regards,

April & Anu

GRG co-chairs