E-discussion on Education: Closing the Gap

An e-discussion on Education: Closing the Gap is being held from 1 February to 4 March, organised by the Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Development Group’s MDG-Net forum.

The e-discussion is an open, multi-stakeholder forum for academia, policy-makers and practitioners to discuss a series of questions pertaining to the achievement of education and learning for all and for formulating concrete, actionable recommendations for consideration by the Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) Annual Ministerial Review. If you are Soroptimist with this skill set, this may be of interest to you.

The e-discussion will focus on the following three topics:

1. Quality in Education and Learning
2. Access to Education
3. Innovation in Education

An outcome document will be prepared summarising the ideas and action agenda produced by the e-discussion, which will be presented at the Global Preparatory Meeting (April 2011) and ECOSOC’s Substantive Session in Geneva (July 2011).

For all the details and information on how to participate, please CLICK HERE.

Getting Our History Right - Women and the UN

Torild Skard, Senior Researcher and Chair of the Norwegian Association of Women’s Rights has published a great article on the history of the UN, gender equality and inclusion called 'Getting Our History Right'. For those who want to know more about the history of women's issues at the UN and the establishment of CSW this is a must read!

Click this direct link to access the full document: Getting Our History Right: How Were the Equal Rights of Women and Men Included in the Charter of the United Nations?

(Painting by SI UN Representative to New York, Yoko Komori Olson)

Live Webcast from the UN Headquarters New York - Global Aging Issues

The United Nations University Office at the United Nations is broadcasting a Live Webcast as part of the Current Affairs Series entitled "2011 AARP-UN Briefing Series on Global Aging" on key global aging issues from February 8-9, 2011.

Date: 8th and 9th of February, 2011
Time: 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm EST / 6:30pm - 8:00pm GMT
Venue: Live Webcast from the UN Headquarters New York
Register here: http://aarpwebcast.eventbrite.com/?ref=ebtn

The fifth annual AARP UN Briefing Series will commemorate the UN Commission for Social Development 49th session (February 8-19, 2011), which will devote its priority theme to "Poverty Eradication". Soroptimist International UN Reps Lois Beilin and Carol Themm are attending the Commission for Social Development on behalf of SI. This webcast gives all Soroptimists a chance to be part of the important debates this commission will be looking at.

To inform the discussions of the commission, innovative ideas in combating poverty along with the opportunities and challenges of global aging will be discussed. Madame Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and current Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women will deliver the keynote address at the briefing.

This event will be held over two days and broadcast live on both the 8th and 9th of February 2011.