Subcommittee on Priority Theme minutes Nov 18, 2008

Minutes
November 18, 2008
Sub-committee on Priority Theme
Bahá’í International Offices 12:00-1:00pm

Present: Lois Beilin, Madeleine Brecher, Keiko Chevray, Deanna Chitayat, Zelia Cordeiro, Winifred Doherty, Carolyn Donovan, Victoria Edmonds, Catherine Ferguson, Co-chair; Martha Gardner, Weishan Huang, Sorosh Roshan Ihan, Loretta James, Co-chair; Ani Kalayjian, Julie Malahi, Krisy Moore, Lillian Oats,Vivian Pender, Joy Peterson, Eva Richter, Sorosh Roshan, Jackie Shapiro, Janet Stovin, Mary Ann Strain, Caroline Themm, Kate,Twohy, Mary V. Tounayan, Fulya Vekiloglu, Anita Wenden, Joan Woods, Soon-Young Yoon.

At the third meeting of the sub-committee on the priority theme for the 53rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Co-Chair Catherine Ferguson began by asking all present to break up into their individual groups.

The four groups then met in their small groups keeping in mind that the info sheet is due on the first week of January.

Group reports:

Women and Poverty:
-Informed that they were catching up since some had not attended the last meeting.
-Talked about the papers that each had been assigned to read
-Expressed that they feel they are moving towards creating the infosheet.

Education and Training:
-Stated that they are focusing strongly on the information provided by the expert papers they are reading and will use them as points of reference for their next meeting.
-Exclaimed that they are considering writing a letter and posting it on the listserve to get some ideas about best practices.
-Whatever responses they get from this communication, they will use as part of their outline for the breakout session.

Power and Decision-making:
-Still trying to come up with a clear vision of what is decision-making.
-They continue to read assigned documents.
-Want to come up with some new and fresh ideas for a strategic process by developing a strong and innovative proposal. These will be available next meeting.

Women in Health:
-Currently working on the info sheet.
-Developing pointers on mind/body/spirit connection in respect to health
-Reading up on the 1978 and 1985 UN papers on health
-Proposing that corporations and NGOS cooperate to pressure government who sign UN resolutions and help them find the sources of funding available.

The meeting then came to an end.

Next Priority Theme subcommittee meeting will be held on December 2, 2008 at
Bahá’í International Community Offices from 12-1.

*Planning Committee Members As of December 2

REMINDER — The following is the latest planning committee list as of December 2. Starred names * are point persons. Thanks very much. Loretta P. James

THE NGO COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN, NY
NGO PLANNING COMMITTEE

WORKING COMMITTEES
REGISTRATION
Vivian Pender *
Catherine Ferguson *
Loretta James *
Joan M. Woods
Janet T. Stovin
Dr. Linda Stillman

PROGRAM – Executive Committee
BREAKOUT SESSIONS (to be renamed)

Dr. Ani Kalayjian
Mary Ann Strain
Lillian Oats
Kate Twohy
Mariam Nigosian
Fulya Vekiloglu

SUMMARY REPORTS
Prepared by Round Tables

REGIONAL & OTHER CAUCUSES
CHAIR tO BE NAMED
Joan M. Woods
Dana Raphael
Omolara Sofela-Martins

NETWORKING COFFEE/TEA

Mini Murthy
Caroline Themm *
Katherine Mayer *

PACKETS
Judy Lear *
Nadia Schmigel *
Kate Twohy
Joan M. Woods
Caroline Themm

INTERPRETATION & TRANSLATION
Morning Briefings

Linda Stillman * (interpreters)

MORNING BRIEFINGS

Jackie Shapiro *
Indira Patel *
Vivian Pender *

REGISTRATION MATERIAL
To be handled by CSW interns

HANDBOOK

Weishan Huang *
Madeleine Brecher
Kate Twohy
Victoria Edmonds
Joan M. Woods
Laily Mesbah
Sorosh Roshan
Anita Wenden
Fulya Vekiloglu

ROUND TABLE – Feb 3 (Priority Theme)

Dr. Ani Kalayjian
Deanna Chitayat
Soon-Young Yoon *
Lois Beilin
Catherine Bordeau
Victoria Edmonds

ROUND TABLE – Feb 17 (Review Theme)

Linda Stillman
Deanna Chitayat *
Joan M. Woods
Carolyn Donovan
Omolara Sofela-Martins
Fulya Vekiloglu

RECEPTION

Joy Peterson *
Victoria Edmonds *
Janet T. Stovin

FUNDRAISING

Loretta P. James *

MEDIA COMMITTEE
Vivian Pender *
Zelia Cordero (Photos ?)
Mariam Nigosian (photos?)
Mini Murthy
Weishan Huang (as blogger?)

BRIEFING FOR NEW NGOs AT THE UN

Bani Dugal * ?
Soon-Young Yoon

DOCUMENT ROOM NEAT (Conference)

Joan M. Woods
Interns and NGOCSW-NY members as needed

ADDITIONAL VOLUNTEERS

Judy Gordon
Polly Woodard

END OF LIST

Minutes Planning Subcommittee, November 18, 2008

Minutes
November 18, 2008
CSW 53 Planning Committee Meeting
Bahá’í International Community Offices 1:00-2:00pm

Present: Lois Beilin, Madeleine Brecher, Keiko Chevray, Deanna Chitayat, Zelia Cordeiro, Winifred Doherty, Carolyn Donovan, Victoria Edmonds, Catherine Ferguson, Co-chair; Martha Gardner, Weishan Huang, Sorosh Roshan Ihan, Loretta James, Co-chair; Ani Kalayjian, Julie Malahi, Krisy Moore, Lillian Oats,Vivian Pender, Joy Peterson, Eva Richter, Sorosh Roshan, Jackie Shapiro, Eleanor Solo – DAW, Qi Song – DAW, Linda Stillman, Janet Stovin, Mary Ann Strain, Caroline Themm, Kate,Twohy, Mary V. Tounayan, Fulya Vekiloglu, Anita Wenden, Joan Woods, Soon-Young Yoon.
Welcome by Loretta James.
Reminders:
o Working Committee sheets are now available with the names of everyone who signed up to them. Anyone not yet signed up should do so.
Remarks by Vivian Pender, Chair of NGO CSW NY:
On Consultation Day Fee:
- NYU increased the fee from $2,500 to $3,750.
- Other costs include various fees that are quite high and charged by NYU including security fees and AV fees.
- Lunches for 500 will cost around $5,000 and $10/lunch.
- Translation fee is approximately $3800 for equipment and $2800 for the 4 translators.

Vivian remarked that this will be a very expensive day and that some expenses need to be cut back or else fees raised to make financial ends meet. She asked for suggestions and stated that possibly cutting translation, charging for lunches, or increasing the prices for Consultation Day could all be options to consider.

Consultation Day registration currently costs $50.00 but could potentially be increased to $60.00 or $70.00 as well as increasing the current $30.00 charge for the reception. Regardless of what price the committee comes up with, it is imperative that these prices be increased.

Comments and Suggestions Presented:
- Increasing the price of Consultation Day is problematic since many delegates coming from abroad will not be able to pay an increased price.
- Contact drug companies to sponsor an event and acknowledge them on the ticket or somewhere else in the program.
- With the economic crises, it is likely that fewer people will attend the event, so it is necessary to increase the price of the registration.
- Translation should be cut since only a few people use it.
- If translation will not be offered, it must be clearly stated ahead of time that Consultation Day will only be in English and any previous announcements of English, French and Spanish translations must be eliminated.
- Delegates from West Africa will certainly need translations and it would be a bad idea to leave them out if we want to create strong bonds with them.
- Perhaps only French translators should be available to meet the needs of the West Africa constituency.
- NGO CSW is the year’s biggest event and people from all over the world are flying in to attend. Cutting translations would be a mistake as this is an international event and should accommodate all. Keep translations and look for sponsorships.
- Approach schools like the French Alliance or Rosetta Stone to find volunteer translators for the event.
- Whisper translation could be an option.
- Linda Stillman can perhaps look into finding volunteer translators through her network.

Vivian thanked everyone for their comments and suggestions and expressed that these ideas must be followed-up.

Remarks by Eleanor Solo; DAW:

- Template and information for preparing written statements is already up on the DAW website. Individual statements are due by Nov. 21 and Joint statements by Nov. 28th.
- The applications for the Yvonne Hebert Funding to attend CSW 53 are due November 21st. However, there was a problem with sending out the invitations and if anyone has not received her invitation she should e-mail csw53@un.org or solo@un.org to inquire further.
- Anyone who does not yet have a password for the site should also email csw53@un.org. Please check your e-mails periodically for a response.
- In regards to Fulya’s suggestion about a DAW bulletin of the event, Eleanor informed us that unfortunately DAW does not have the personnel or resources to do this.
- Clarifications: Organizations with Roster status cannot sign on to the written statement. Anyone who is concerned about this should contact Eleanor personally.
- In regards to last meeting’s concerns about the proximity of the January 9th deadline for parallel events, DAW would like to hear the Committee’s suggestions as to what would be a more suitable deadline in order to understand the concern and consider moving the date. But the earlier the better.
- Late-comers however are usually accommodated.
- After some discussion it was decided that the January 9 deadline would remain.
Jackie Shapiro presented a tentative program schedule of Consultation Day.
9:15-10:15am – CSW Notables
10:15-11:30am – Panel on Priority Theme
11:30-12:30pm – Lunch
12:30-1:15pm NGO Participation opportunities
a. Orientation
b. Morning Briefings
c. Co-ordination Caucuses
d. Parallel Events
e. NGO Reception
f. Resource Room
g. Regional Caucuses
h. Oral Interventions – How to advocate for your issue.
1:30 -3:00pm – Breakout Sessions
3:15-4:00pm – Reporting Back
4:00pm – Introduction to Beijing +15
4:30pm – Networking Reception.

Weishan Huang presented further information regarding the handbook for CSW 53:
- The price for advertisements in the handbook was approved and will remain the same as last year. Checks and credit cards accepted as forms of payment. Weishan distributed a sheet with this information.
- After last year’s complicated procedures in attempting to charge for an extra handbook, where little profit was made, it has been decided that leftover copies will be given out for free throughout the Consultation and after the event.
- The cover of the handbook is still being decided on. A competition of submitted artwork is under way and the handbook subcommittee will present the top 3 to the Planning Committee who will have the opportunity to vote on the one they prefer. This will happen some time in January. The date is still to be determined.
- The number of copies that will be printed will be determined after consultation day registrations are in.

Loretta James presented some potential fundraising items:
- Several versions of business card containers with CSW 53 logos.
- Others suggested tote bags as they are practical and often requested by attendees at Consultation Day.

Subcommittee Meetings and other Comments:
The two Roundtable subcommittees and the Handbook subcommittee met immediately after the planning meeting at 2pm. The Roundtable on the Review Theme Subcommittee will meet on December 2nd at 2pm after the Planning Meeting.
-No one has yet signed up for the Document Room subcommittee has no one assigned to it.
-Loretta James will send out by e-mail a list of when all the subcommittees are meeting and who signed up to each.
-No final decision has been made as to whether girls will become a separate group participating in the Consultation Day. A proposal has been submitted to the NGO CSW Executive Committee and The Working Group on Girls is awaiting a response.

Next Priority Theme and Planning Committee meetings will be Dec. 2, 2008 at Bahá’í International Community Offices with the Priority Theme subcommittee meeting at 12:00 and the Planning subcommittee beginning at 1 pm.

Power point from November 20, 2008 Round Table Panel on Priority Theme

As an observer at the expert group meeting, Ms. Soon-Young Yoon spoke at a New York Round Table discussion presented at the membership meeting of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women. You are invited to view the power point she prepared for the meeting.syy-presentation-11-20-08web

Apply for Yvonne Hebert funding to attend CSW 53 – Deadline 21 November

Deadline – 21 November 2008
Please write to csw53@un.org for official application form and complete instructions.
Candidates must meet the following criteria:
- substantive knowledge and experience related to the implementation of the Beijing platform for action and more specifically on the priority theme and review theme of CSW 53;
- must be a first-time participant attending a session of CSW
- must not be a recipient of other funding to attend CSW
- special consideration to regional and geographical representation

United Nations Nations Unies
DIVISION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

Information to be completed and returned by 21 November 2008
Please type information

Candidates to be considered for funding by the Division for the Advancement of Women to attend the fifty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women from 2 to 6 March 2009

Nominating Organization (must be an ECOSOC-accredited NGO):
1. Name of organization: _________________________________

2. Category of consultative status with ECOSOC: General_______ Special _______

3. Contact person _________________________________________
Email address___________________________@_____________
Telephone number (___) _________________________________
Fax number (___)______________________________________

Candidate’s details:
4. Name (as it appears on candidate’s passport): _________________

_______________________________________________________

Nationality_____________________________________________

Date of birth (dd/mm/yyyy) _______________________________

Address _______________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

Email address ____________________@_____________________

Telephone number (___)__________________________________

Fax number (___)_______________________________________

5. Has the candidate attended CSW before: Yes____ No ____

6. Will the candidate receive other funding to attend CSW? Yes___ No___

7. Will the nominee be available from 1 to 7 March 2009? Yes___ No ___
(The selected candidate will also participate in the NGO consultation on March 1, 2009, organized by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women).

8. The focus of the candidate’s work is:
• Global ________
• Regional (please specify region) Africa____ Asia ____ Europe____ South America and the Caribbean _______
• National

9. Resume attached: Yes_____

10. Please provide a brief summary of candidate’s:

(a) Substantive knowledge and experience related to implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action:

(b) Substantive knowledge and experience related to the CSW priority theme:

(c) Substantive knowledge and experience related to the CSW review theme:

11. Please indicate candidate’s outreach and networking capacity at the local, regional, national or international levels.

Minutes – Planning Committee – 4 November 2008

Minutes
November 4, 2008
Planning Committee Meeting
Bahá’í International Offices 1:00-2:00pm

Present: Madeleine Brecher , Zelia Cordeiro, Carolyn Donovan, Victoria Edmonds, Catherine Ferguson, Co-chair, Martha Gardner, Sorosh Roshan Ihan, Loretta James, Co-chair. Krisy Moore, Vivian Pender, Joy Peterson, Jackie Shapiro, Eleanor Solo – DAW, Qi Song – DAW, Janet Stovin, Kate Twohy, Fulya Vekiloglu, Anita Wenden, Joan Woods.

Welcome by Loretta James.

The venue for Consultation Day was confirmed. It will be March 1, 2009 at NYU Medical Center, First Ave

CSW53 will be March 2-13, 200

Loretta James and Catherine Ferguson urged everyone to sign up to the various Committees. The following are particular needs:
- Point person for the Registration Committee to organize the registration on the day itself. This person must be highly organized.
-Packets Committee needs a chairperson to oversee getting the materials and will need volunteers just prior to the event in order to stuff the packets.
-Document Room organization (Probably Conference Room B) – a new committee. With the thousands of documents in 6 different languages there is need for a committee that would help keep these in order during the CSW itself.
Chairs for the Round Table Committees. Also, co-chairs of the priority theme committee would like to meet with those on the committees. Please see Jackie or Catherine to set up a date to meet. (Note – after the meeting it was determined that the Committee working on the Round Table for the Review Theme would meet on 18 November at 11 am – just prior to the subcommittee on the priority theme. The committee working on the priority theme itself will meet on 18 November at 2 pm just following the planning committee meeting.)
- Members for the Media committee
Vivian Pender suggested that one possibility for increasing visibility of the work of CSW 53 would be to invite bloggers to attend and publicize the activities of the consultation day and also the CSW itself through their blogs. She stressed the importance of blogging because of the number of people who subscribe to them. Bloggers would come to the meetings and write reports in real time to keep people informed about the CSW and parallel events. Selected bloggers would be registered with different NGOs to provide them access to the events at the UN. Currently in the planning stage, this idea would require the media committee to help in identifying and recruiting willing bloggers to the Commission.

Eleanor Solo reviewed her work with the Division for the Advancement of Women:
-Important to hear all of the Committee’s concerns.
-Issues like deadline extensions were resolved because she was able to discuss it with her office.
-New deadlines for receiving written interventions for the Commission will be November 21, 2008 for individual NGO submissions and November 28 for interventions with more than one sign on. These deadlines will be strictly enforced. Also, she reminded us about the word deadlines for the interventions – 1500 words for NGOs with special consultative status and 2000 words for those with general consultative status. This word count includes everything – including the name and theme of the session…
-The DAW website is posting “Quick Alerts” about important issues that organizations must know about. Document word count is currently posted there.
-Given last year’s difficult registration experience, DAW is working with UN Security to help ensure the process goes more smoothly.
-Informed that Security Dept stated that those who were there last year now have their photos in the system and so should be able to be processed much more quickly.
-Security trying to expand their staff and deal with other technical difficulties, but safety and security will remain their concern and so will not be totally flexible.

Weishan Huang will chair the Handbook committee again this year: After the meeting she met with her committee members to discuss the timeline for their work.
-Provided a sheet with budget, print run and Handbook content.
-Asked for volunteers to proofread and edit – 5 have already committed themselves as volunteers.
-Advertisements: Call for ads will be sent through the CSW member listserve with a January deadline. Fees and sizes are still to be determined.
-If the committee wants artwork for the cover, this will need to be solicited and prepared and approved by the planning and NGO CSW Executive committee prior to the late January deadline.

Other Issues:

-The January 9th deadline for Side Event Proposal is tight because of the need for NGOs to know the dates of their events for visas and travel arrangements. Eleanor will bring this concern back to her office.
-The CSW 53 e-mail is now ready to be used: csw53 @un.org
-Fulya proposed that there be a publication that would come out each day during the CSW with detail about what had occurred the day previous and what one could look forward to on that day itself. If this is not possible for this year, perhaps it can be looked at for the future. Eleanor agreed to bring this idea back to DAW but urged Fulya and anyone else interested to concretize the idea and present a clear proposal.
-WGG’s proposal about including girls in the CSW Consultation Day is needed prior to the November 10 meeting of the executive meeting.
-Fulya and Soon will present a brief summary of the Expert group meeting at the November 18 planning committee meeting. Their will be a full presentation at the regular members meeting of the NGO CSW on 20 November 2008.

Next Planning Committee meeting will be Nov. 18, 2008 at Bahá’í International Community Offices from 1-2 pm.

Minutes – 4 November 2009 – Priority theme subcommittee

Minutes
November 4, 2008
Sub-committee on Priority Theme
Bahá’í International Offices 12:00-1:00pm

Present: Zelia Cordero, Carolyn Donovan, Winifred Doherty, Victoria Edmonds, Catherine Ferguson; chair, Janet Stovin, Kate Twohy, Anita Wenden, Polly Woodard, Fulya Vekiloglu, Mariam Nigosian, Krisy Moore, Madeleine Brecher, Jackie Shapiro, Eva Richter, Elenor Solo, Sorosh Roshan Ihan

At the third meeting of the sub-committee on the priority theme for the 53rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Co-Chair Catherine Ferguson began by stating apologized that we had not captured Linda Stillman’s report for the October 21st minutes and had not yet received a response from Linda to correct this, so the report on the Women in Power and Decision-making group is incomplete.

The four groups then met in their small groups and were asked to keep the following in mind:

o Each group should now be developing an info sheet about their topic for the Consultation Day.
o A reminder that written interventions for the Commission are due in 2 weeks: November 21st: Individual Reports, and November 28th: Joint statements,

Eleanor Solo then explained that these deadlines are no longer subject to change and that they will be enforced as the document section of the UN will not accept any late documents. She also stated that brevity is very important and encouraged us to be sure we were within the word limit so that there didn’t need to be extra corrections that might delay the process.
o 1,500 words: for NGOs with Special consultative status
o 2,000 words: for those with General consultative status

She also stated that NGOs are free to develop their own ideas in each written statement but they need to follow standard UN protocol . Statements are also more likely to be read if they focus on the theme.

Group reports
Women and Poverty
-Discussed about the papers that were individually assigned to each member
-Causes and effects that the papers discussed: good practices that can be taken as a model for change.

Women in Health:
-Discussed the HIV components of health
-Women and human rights. Violence, discrimination and the stigmas that come with the disease.
-Discussed the crosscutting issues that deal with women’s health such as education, employment, pregnancy, early marriages, children being sold, and lack of access to medicine.
-Only 12.5% of women receive antiretroviral medications.
-Will be creating a factsheet with all of these issues and try putting them in cards.
-Are shooting to make recommendations in regards to HIV/AIDS and will urge for vaccine and even a cure.

Education and Training:
-They continue to review the literature
-Are reaching out to UN Agencies such as UNAIDS
-Using their listserves to reach out to groups beyond NYC about good and bad practices that could lead to good policies.
-Aiming to define education.

Women in Power and Decision-Making
-Attempting to come up with an info sheet
-Came up with a quick outline that included:
-Equal sharing and responsibility.
-The issue of HIV/AIDS care-giving
-Raising awareness about the issue
-Creating leadership skills for women
-Advocacy training for governments and the international communities
-The obligations of governments in providing education
-The importance of state policies and faith-based communities in empowering women
-Identified some obstacles:
-unequal power-sharing
-lack of access to sites where decision-making takes place
-childcare
-violence

Next Priority Theme subcommittee meeting will be held on November 18, 2008 at
Bahá’í International Community Offices from 12-1.

Comments from Indira Patel for the Women and Health group

Women and Health

1. Prevention of HIV AIDS rather than focusing on curing patients only.

2. Girls and Women’s Reproductive Rights
a. Women are not allowed to say no to unsafe sex to partners/husbands
b. Girls are taking jobs in prostitution and unsafe sex to earn money to look after family after death of parents.
Girls are providing unsafe sex to earn money for education or to go to school

c. Myth that young gils are virgin and hence not affected by HIV/Aids has led to old men marrying very young girls, polygamy is widely practised in HIV/AIDS pandemic areas , widowed women are forscefulymarried to husbands brothers often infected by HIV – a tradition of community, Widow is forced to have sex with member of family after her husband dies – a way to clease herself tradition.

D. Myths and taboos attached to a woman infected with HIV AIDS.

E Availability of affordable medicines / access to hospitals and treatment

f. Education of family, community and men in understanding the effect of treating women and girls as subordinate family members and not treating them equal – change of mind and attitudes set towards girls and women

G. 2/3 of HIV/AID caretakers are girls and elderly grandmothers.
Millions of children – half girls are orphans

H early and forced marriages

i Sexual exploitation and abuse during war, trafficking of girls for prostitution, victims of organised prostitution which is a social structure through which millions of men solicit sex are getting younger and younger -girls

IMPLEMENTATION OF Int treaties, Beijing Platform, Convention on Rights of Child and Millanium Development Goals is vital

EQUAL SHARING OF RESPONSIBILITY

Parental leave to share responsibilities is vital for men to learn to share responsibilities

Paternal leave

education of boys in school to share responsibilities-

Good examples are seen from Singapore, Iceland etc