Advance Global Health- Achieve the MDGs- Soroptimists at DPI/NGO August 30-Septmber 1 2010
For only the third time in 63 years this annual UN Event- the ONLY one designed specifically for NGOs to meet with the UN Agency of DPI is meeting in Melbourne, Australia focused on the issue of Global Health and achieving the Millennium Development Goals ( MDG)s. The vision statement o, f the event said:
” In Global Health we need more integration of programs, a focus on Maternal/child issues, methods to generate outcome data, cost effective delivery, sustainability and an emphasis on prevention. Therefore this conference should emphasize the multidisciplinary, multifaceted issues in fostering health, not just managing disease.”
Our SI delegation, lead by Dawn Marie Lemonds, International Programme Director with Alice Wells- President Elect accompanied 12 other Soroptimists including Yvonne Simpson- SI SWP President, Leigh Ellwood-Brown- Immediate Past President, Robyn Cain- Federation Programme Director and 9 other Soroptimists from Australia. Our SI Mandate and work intended for this conference was to promote the inclusion of gender into the discussion and workshops so that the DECLARATION for this conference that will be sent to the Secretary General for the MDG Summit to be held in New York at the end of September would include issues that were crucial to us. Attendees at the conference included 12 young women from WAGGGS- 4 who were part of our delegation because of a UN decision that every delegation would be given extra delegate allocation if they included people under 25! Our combined forces met, strategized our attendance and participation in the 4 Round Tables, and 54 workshops as well as our intention of bringing forward specific issues which included: Achievement of the MDGs must include gender as a critical factor for all, and all data used for determination of success for the MDGs must be disaggregated by gender. Part of our strategy planning included “keeping our ears open” to additional sessions that were offered, opportunities to present information to the press, presenting questions and statements at sessions and networking with other NGOs.
Soroptimist attendees will present additional postings over the next few days to report some of their observations. The Opening Session set out the work which immediately focused on gender issues and the fact that the two MDG issues that have made the least progress are the ones that involve women and children- particularly girls. The issue of Maternal Health has actually regressed from the year 2000 with women from southern hemispere and developing Countries experiencing 5 times as much infant and woman mortality as from developed countries. Attendees were welcomed by Kiyo Akasaka- Under Secretary General from the UN on behalf of the UN. He urged participants to advaocate to their governments and the privae sector to invest in women and children- which will have a significant benefit to society. "Health is at the core of teh MDGs" Additional issues that emerged from the beginning is the imperative of involving the communities that NGOs work- in the identification, analysis, development and imlementation of all programs.
More information to come....stand by....we want you to feel present and involved in YOUR UN activity
Dawn Marie Lemonds
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
UN Press Release on DPI in Melbourne
From the UN Press Centre:(http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35755&Cr=MDGs&Cr1=)
Joint UN-NGO conference in Australia to focus on global health
Goal 1 of MDGs: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
29 August 2010 – The joint conference of the United Nations department of public information and non-governmental organizations, which gets under way in Australia tomorrow, will this year focus on global health in relation to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aiming to attract greater participation of civil society from the Asia-Pacific region.
Thed annual DPI/NGO Conference, which will take place in the city of Melbourne, has attracted more than 2,200 participants from some 70 countries.
The effort to give priority to non-governmental organizations in the Asia-Pacific region in the annual DPI/NGO conference and increase geographic diversity bore fruit when an unprecedented number of the region's NGOs joined the department on 30 June.
In all, 41 such organizations from the Asia-Pacific region were associated this year, including 32 from Australia, one from Fiji, five from the Philippines, and three from the Pacific Islands.
The new UN policy to offer association to non-governmental organizations in the region where the conference is being held also presents a chance for “solidifying the trend of increasing geographic diversity and greater networking opportunities for NGOs affiliated with the Department of Public Information,” said UN Chief of NGO Relations Maria-Luisa Chavez.
Holding the Conference away from United Nations Headquarters “offers a unique opportunity to intensify and strengthen our partnerships with the NGOs and civil society different regions of the world, in this case, the Asia-Pacific region,” she said.
Ms. Chavez noted that this year the Conference has been organized against a backdrop of challenges posed by a 15-hour time difference, geographical distance and even the elections in Australia. Despite this, she declared the list of participants “impressive”.
“This Conference will be different because it is the first time that a UN Conference of this size has been hosted in Australia. We are very excited to meet in this part of the world and to have the strong participation of NGOs from this country,” said Kiyo Akasaka, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.
Setting the stage for tomorrow's opening of the conference, which will last until 5 September, will be a series of public events in Melbourne under the banner “Making Health Global.”
The programme is directed by Professor Philip Batterham, Convenor of the Australian NGO Focal Group.
“Melburnians already play a role in global health. We give, we volunteer and our medical researchers are tackling the big killers like HIV, malaria, diarrhoea and dirty water,” Mr. Batterham said.
World Vision Australia, the Australian Football League and Melbourne Football Club, among others, hosted an event on today at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to mark the end of the football season before the finals in a game that saw Melbourne versus North Melbourne. The game was dedicated to raising awareness around the issue of child health.
A media event featured statements and a question-and-answer period with the press and Mr. Akasaka, Tim Costello, the Chief Executive Officer of World Vision, Jim Stynes, President of the Melbourne Football Club, and Glenn Archer, former North Melbourne champion.
Thed annual DPI/NGO Conference, which will take place in the city of Melbourne, has attracted more than 2,200 participants from some 70 countries.
The effort to give priority to non-governmental organizations in the Asia-Pacific region in the annual DPI/NGO conference and increase geographic diversity bore fruit when an unprecedented number of the region's NGOs joined the department on 30 June.
In all, 41 such organizations from the Asia-Pacific region were associated this year, including 32 from Australia, one from Fiji, five from the Philippines, and three from the Pacific Islands.
The new UN policy to offer association to non-governmental organizations in the region where the conference is being held also presents a chance for “solidifying the trend of increasing geographic diversity and greater networking opportunities for NGOs affiliated with the Department of Public Information,” said UN Chief of NGO Relations Maria-Luisa Chavez.
Holding the Conference away from United Nations Headquarters “offers a unique opportunity to intensify and strengthen our partnerships with the NGOs and civil society different regions of the world, in this case, the Asia-Pacific region,” she said.
Ms. Chavez noted that this year the Conference has been organized against a backdrop of challenges posed by a 15-hour time difference, geographical distance and even the elections in Australia. Despite this, she declared the list of participants “impressive”.
“This Conference will be different because it is the first time that a UN Conference of this size has been hosted in Australia. We are very excited to meet in this part of the world and to have the strong participation of NGOs from this country,” said Kiyo Akasaka, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.
Setting the stage for tomorrow's opening of the conference, which will last until 5 September, will be a series of public events in Melbourne under the banner “Making Health Global.”
The programme is directed by Professor Philip Batterham, Convenor of the Australian NGO Focal Group.
“Melburnians already play a role in global health. We give, we volunteer and our medical researchers are tackling the big killers like HIV, malaria, diarrhoea and dirty water,” Mr. Batterham said.
World Vision Australia, the Australian Football League and Melbourne Football Club, among others, hosted an event on today at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to mark the end of the football season before the finals in a game that saw Melbourne versus North Melbourne. The game was dedicated to raising awareness around the issue of child health.
A media event featured statements and a question-and-answer period with the press and Mr. Akasaka, Tim Costello, the Chief Executive Officer of World Vision, Jim Stynes, President of the Melbourne Football Club, and Glenn Archer, former North Melbourne champion.
Monday, August 30, 2010
DPI/NGO 2010 -WAGGGS & SI-Women Girl Power at work!
Women and Girl Power UN/DPI Melbourne
The Soroptimist International - WAGGGS joint presentation this
afternoon was very successful.
The room was full to overflowing and the audience included several
men. Each of the five presenters did a extremely professional job and
the workshop was moderated enthusiastically by International Programme
Director, Dawn Marie Lemonds, who totally engaged the audience in the
discussion which followed the presentation. The WAGGGS presenters
talked of the strategies employed to deliver their message to women and girls
around the world of empowering women and girls. What a wonderful group these
young women have been to work alongside.
International President Elect, Alice Wells, told the audience about
our international projects - Project SIerra and Hopes and Dreams for
Everyone. SISWP President Yvonne Simpson spoke about some of the
federation projects which empower young girls to take charge of their
lives in order to live in safe and healthy environments. Included in
her examples were the SI Beenleigh "Date advice bookmarks" and SI
Westland's successful 'Cyber bullying' workshops.
Yvonne also outlined the work which will be carried out in the
Birthing in the Pacific project in Papua New Guinea. This project has
elicited quite a lot of interest as it addresses one of the major
issues of this conference - Maternal Health and Mortality.
Our WAGGGS presenters were Linden Edgell and Susanna Matters. Linden represented the global vision of the 10 million members around the world and Susanna shared several examples of girls and young women, as young as six, all working toward helping the world be free of violence for girls (and women). "If 10 million people address the "elephant in the room" which is the fact that 1 of every 10 women will be abused in their lives- the door to understanding and solution will be pushed more widely open in the world!"
Our final speaker is new friend to Soroptimists - Dr. Lyndal Trevena- from Australian Federation for Medical Women. She presented two fascinating projects: one in Africa that addresses Female Genital Cutting (FGM) and the other was a highly successful project in India that assisted women to get treatment for Cervical Cancer.
Dawn Marie then facilitated a lively interactive discussion on
strategies other NGOs use in their work getting ideas from all over the world.
All in all - a successful day.
At UN/DPI
Robyn Cain, Federation Programme Director in South West Pacific
The Soroptimist International - WAGGGS joint presentation this
afternoon was very successful.
The room was full to overflowing and the audience included several
men. Each of the five presenters did a extremely professional job and
the workshop was moderated enthusiastically by International Programme
Director, Dawn Marie Lemonds, who totally engaged the audience in the
discussion which followed the presentation. The WAGGGS presenters
talked of the strategies employed to deliver their message to women and girls
around the world of empowering women and girls. What a wonderful group these
young women have been to work alongside.
International President Elect, Alice Wells, told the audience about
our international projects - Project SIerra and Hopes and Dreams for
Everyone. SISWP President Yvonne Simpson spoke about some of the
federation projects which empower young girls to take charge of their
lives in order to live in safe and healthy environments. Included in
her examples were the SI Beenleigh "Date advice bookmarks" and SI
Westland's successful 'Cyber bullying' workshops.
Yvonne also outlined the work which will be carried out in the
Birthing in the Pacific project in Papua New Guinea. This project has
elicited quite a lot of interest as it addresses one of the major
issues of this conference - Maternal Health and Mortality.
Our WAGGGS presenters were Linden Edgell and Susanna Matters. Linden represented the global vision of the 10 million members around the world and Susanna shared several examples of girls and young women, as young as six, all working toward helping the world be free of violence for girls (and women). "If 10 million people address the "elephant in the room" which is the fact that 1 of every 10 women will be abused in their lives- the door to understanding and solution will be pushed more widely open in the world!"
Our final speaker is new friend to Soroptimists - Dr. Lyndal Trevena- from Australian Federation for Medical Women. She presented two fascinating projects: one in Africa that addresses Female Genital Cutting (FGM) and the other was a highly successful project in India that assisted women to get treatment for Cervical Cancer.
Dawn Marie then facilitated a lively interactive discussion on
strategies other NGOs use in their work getting ideas from all over the world.
All in all - a successful day.
At UN/DPI
Robyn Cain, Federation Programme Director in South West Pacific
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
