Minutes Planning Committee – 13 January 2009

NGO CSW NY
Planning Committee for CSW 53
Minutes
January 13, 2009
Bahá’í International Community Offices
1- 2 pm

Co-chairs: Loretta James and Catherine Ferguson
Present: Lois Beilin, Madeleine Brecher, Keiko Chevray, Winifred Doherty, Carolyn Donovan, Victoria Edmonds, Cathey Falvo, Rosa G. Lizarde, Laily Mesbah, Catherine Moore, Krisy Moore, Padmini Murthy, Mariam Nigosian, Susan O’Malley,Vivian Pender, Katherine Ronberg, Mary Ann Strain, Eva Richter, Sorosh Roshan, Jackie Shapiro, Caroline Themm, Fulya Vekiloglu, Susan Weissert, Anita Wenden, Joan Woods, Polly Woodard, Soon-Young Yoon

1. Information from Eleanor Solo of the Division of Advancement of Women
• Current registration for CSW 53 : 5026 representatives from 424 organizations
• Current requests for parallel events: 216 from NGOs and 48 from Missions. An Ngo Committee will be scheduling the NGO events and they will be posted on the DAW website as soon as they are available…
• The Round Tables being prepared on the priority theme for 3 February and on the review theme for 17 February will be held in Conference Room 3. Chairs of those event should be sure to get the titles of the events to Eleanor as soon as possible. She also will need the fliers in order to get the invitations to the government representatives at least a week ahead of the event.
• If there are participants or attendees who are coming and need a grounds pass, this information should be given to Eleanor no later than a week ahead of the event.
• Documents now available on the DAW website include: the Secretary General’s report on the working group on communication, his report on assistance to Palestinian women, the discussion guide for the high level roundtable on the priority theme, the joint work plan for the Division of the Advancement of Women and the Office of the Special Advisor to the Secretary General on Gender Issues.
• NGO Statements have been submitted and are being translated prior to being posted and also made available to the delegates to CSW 53.
• DAW will have an information table in the Neck area of the UN building as they have had in past years.
• It is hoped that the report from the Expert Group Meeting will be available in about a week.
• Confirmation letters for registration to the CSW are available on the DAW website using the user name and pass code for the organization that requested the pass.
• Communicate with DAW at csw53@un.org; Even though registration for CSW is now closed, that email address is still active.
• Now that registration for parallel events has been closed, the committee working on the scheduling of these events will begin working. It is hoped to have the scheduling done as soon as possible so that this information can be sent to participants.

2. Weishan reported on the progress for the handbook. All of the articles are now written and ready to go to the printer. Some ad copy is now in. Those planning on purchasing ads are encouraged to do so on the NGO CSW website. The deadlne for ads is January 30. There are currently 35 pages of articles and 21 ads.
Two samples of cover designs have been received and decision will be made as to which to use soon.

3. Fund-Raising. It was decided not to have a business card holder for a fund-raiser. There will be a bag and the suggestion was made to look into a bag design that zipped on the top, had a shoulder strap, and had space for a water bottle and a cell phone. The design uses the male and female international symbols and also includes the NGO CSW logo.

4. The Turkish Mission has been secured by Vivian Pender for the reception during the CSW. Vivian has also made arrangements for a jazz musician to provide background music during the event.

5. Catherine handed out a second draft version of guidelines for the breakout sessions. There is an error on this version. Instead of saying that each group should submit one talking point, they should say that each group should submit no more than two talking points. This draft also includes the names of the breakout sessions and those responsible for running the sessions. Rosa Lizarde of ENLACE and the Feminist Task Force of GCAP will be responsible for the session on the emerging theme.

6. Loretta asked if any of the breakout session participants wanted to have a walk through of the NYU facilities for consultation day. The following indicated they would like to do this: Mariam Nigosian, Mary Ann Strain, Polly Woodard and Lois Beilin.

6. Loretta asked if anyone could volunteer to assist with registration on consultation day. She also the breakout session or participants wanted to have a walk through of the NYU facilities for consultation day. The following indicated they would like to do this: Mariam Nigosian, Mary Ann Strain, Polly Woodard and Lois Beilin among others. A date will be found probably earlier before a Tuesday noon meeting. A date is to be confirmed.

Next meeting will not be on 20 January because of inauguration day. It will be on 27 January and will be preceded by the priority theme meeting as usual.
Priority Theme meeting 12 -1:00 pm
Planning Committee 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Bahaí’í International Community Offices

Subcommittee chairs for CSW53 Planning Committee

-CSW53 Sub – Committee Chairs From January 6, meeting

Registration (overseers)
Vivian Pendar
Catherine Ferguson
Loretta James

Summary Reports
Each Round Table will appoint a member to write these

Regional & Coordinating Caucuses
aka Coordinating & Linkage Caucuses

Networking Coffee/Tea
Caroline Themm
Katherine Mayer

Packets
Judy Lear
Nadia Schmigel

Interpretation & Translation
Andrea Fernandez (associate of Linda Stillman)

Morning Briefings
Jackie Shapiro
Indira Patel
Vivian Pendar

Registration Material
To be handled by CSW interns

Handbook
Weishan Huang

Round Table – Feb 3 – Priority Theme
Soon-Young -Yoon

Round Table –Feb 17 – Review Theme
Eva Richter

Reception
Victoria Edmonds
Joy Peterson

Fundraising
Loretta James

Media Committee
Vivian Pendar to write up a post event news brief

Briefing for New NGO’s
Bani Dugal

Documentation Room Order
Joan M Woods
NGO CSW-NY Interns

Minutes planning committee 6 January 2009

NGO CSW NY
Planning Committee for CSW 53
Minutes
January 6, 2009
Bahá’í International Community Offices
1- 2 pm

Co-chairs: Loretta James and Catherine Ferguson
Present: Lois Beilin, Joey Bose, Madeleine Brecher, Deanna Chitayat, Winifred Doherty, Carolyn Donovan, Victoria Edmonds, Claire Fulcher, Gretta Gibson, Laily Mesbah, Krisy Moore, Padmini Murthy, Mariam Nagosian, Mary Ann Strain, Eva Richter, Jackie Shapiro, Janet Stovin. Caroline Themm, Fulya Vekiloglu, Susan Weissert, Anita Wenden, Joan Woods

1. Information from Tsu-wei Chang of the Division of Advancement of Women
• Mildred Fernandes, the previous NGO focal point at the Division for the Advancement of Women is no longer working at the Division. Tsu-wei, who formerly held that position, is currently replacing her.
• Current registration for CSW 53 : 2590 representatives from305 organizations
• Current requests for parallel events: 108 from NGOs and 34 from Missions
• Space allocation problems continue because of the renovations at the UN. The Dag Hammaskjold Auditorum is scheduled to be closed in February and so will not be available to us.
• Expect the Secretary General’s report in 2-3 weeks time
• Expect a proposed multi-year program of work for 2009- 2014 soon
• For those having difficulty with registration for CSW 53, please write to csw53@un.org; Deadline is Jan 9, 2009. Because of the new data base the user names and passwords for registration may be different than what was used in previous years.
• Eight Yvonne Hebert Fellowship candidates have been selected. There has been difficulty contacting two of them – one from Cameroon and one from Guinea-Bissau. Alternatives will be contacted if DAW is unable to reach them. As of the meeting, the sponsoring organizations hadn’t received the information. 8 women and 2 alternates were chosen from an applicant pool of 32 applicants with 2 applications having been disqualified because candidates did not fit the guidelines.
• Scheduled events during CSW – all of the events are scheduled for Conference Room 2
2 March High level round table – 3-6 pm
5 March Round Table on the emerging theme: How the Financial Crisis affects women and men differently (not the exact wording) – 3-6 pm
6 March Round Table on the review theme – 10 am -1 pm
12 March Panel Discussion of Gender Perspective of Global Health and the MDGs – 10 am – 1 pm
International Women’s Day will be celebrated 5 March in the morning session.

2. Action Needed: Catherine handed out a sheet of draft guidelines for the breakout sessions and asked for comments, corrections, suggestions, deletions to be sent to her so they can be revised and sent to all who are responsible for a breakout session.

3. Madeleine Brecher gave Weishan’s report on the handbook committee:
Status Report:

1. We have received most of documents back this week. (Thanks for Madeleine, Anita, Laily, Joan, Fulya, & Victoria.) I will have the layout ready this weekend. Our first proofreading meeting is scheduled on Jan 13.
2. We had sold out our back cover and insides pages of front and back covers before holidays. Online application is available now. We received about 8 applications since Dec, 08.
3. Still calling for cover design. It’s a tough year for cover design.
4. Jan is also the month for printer bids. Still waiting for the registration number from DAW.

4. Updates regarding Roundtable 2 on the review theme Committee: Eva Richter is the new chair for the committee. They met immediately following the planning committee meeting.
Mariam Nagosian has replaced Linda Stillman as the chair for the Review Theme breakout session subcommittee.

The committee extends its sympathy to Linda Stillman who broke her knee and is not able to attend meetings at the present time.
Linda will continue to oversee getting Pace Students for translation at the morning briefings

4. Consultation Day registration – if there is difficulty filling out the form for the Consultation Day registration on the web (primarily happens if you are missing required information), you can print out the form and send it in.
At a later date persons registered for the Consultation Day will be able to print their badges directly.

Closer to the consultation day those who will be assisting with registration and others who are interested will be encouraged to have a walk through of the facilities at NYU in order to be able to provide assistance to those attending the session.

A map will be made available of the facility on consultation day to assist participants in finding breakout rooms.
Other Committee updates: Judy Lear and Nadia Schmigel will chair the committee to prepare the packets
Jackie Shapiro and the group responsible for scheduling the parallel events will begin their work early next week so that information can be given to the sponsoring organizations about the date and time of events as soon as possible.

A very important concern expressed by the Church Center personnel is that the sponsoring organizations adhere strictly to the fire codes and not allow more persons into their events than the room allows.

Next meeting: 13 January at the Bahá’í International Community Offices
1- 2 pm. There will be no meeting on 20 January because it is inauguration day. However, it is possible that a meeting may be scheduled for another day that week.

Minutes – Priority Theme meeting – 16 December 2008

Minutes
December 16, 2008
Sub-committee on Priority Theme
Bahá’í International Offices 12:00-2:00pm

Present: Madeleine Brecher, Deanna Chitayat, Keiko Chevray, Winifred Doherty, Carolyn Donovan, Victoria Edmonds, Catherine Ferguson; chair, Anele Heiges, Mariam Nigosian, Krissy Moore, Lillian Oats, Susan O’Malley, Mary Ann Strain, Linda Stillman, Mary V. Tounayan, Eva Richter, Caroline Themm, Fulya Vekiloglu, Joan Woods.

At the fifth 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 groups present to meet individually. After a full hour of discussion, the groups came back together and presented their points to the entire subcommittee for feedback and suggestions.

Three other subcommittees – SCOW (Subcommittee on Older Women), Subcommittee on Violence against Women, and the Subcommittee on Women and Climate Change will also be chairing breakout sessions.

Education and Training:

o Currently working on an agenda for the breakout session to be distributed to those present.
o Want to break up into approximately 4 or 5 sub-breakout groups.
o Goal: To come up with a few advocacy points.
o The Chair will make a statement about the problems of equal sharing of responsibility between men and women and what obstacles and benefits these represent for women. The Chair will then explain what the subgroups should aim to accomplish as they meet.
o Their three main tasks are to discuss:
-What is needed, what are the obstacles, and what are some strong points to use for advocacy?

Question: Would it be possible to put up each group’s focus online before people sign up, so that participants who don’t know enough may make an informed decision about which group to join?

Comments and Suggestions:
o This description could go on the NGOCSW53 blog.
o Perhaps write a line about each group on the registration form.
o Or direct people to the site with the group’s information on the registration form.

Equal sharing decision-making by women and men at all levels:

o All members arrived to a consensus about the direction they wanted to give their group.
o Approach: What are the obstacle and strategies?
o Categorize these obstacles and strategies under:
-Subordination, Finance, and Governance. Each of these will then break up into other categories.
o They will then give a presentation to the group and ask those present to give their concrete ideas on the matter.
o Provide a page of bullet points to those present.
o In the end, create and executive summary of the breakout session to be used for advocacy.

Question and Comment: There are a lot of overlaps between restrictive education and women in power. Would it be possible to use the education group’s important points about this matter? (agreed). Since both groups have different foci this would be ok.

Women and Poverty:

o Main points will be:
-How does poverty relate to unequal sharing?
-How does unequal sharing relate to poverty?

o Questions for conclusion:
o What will bring about change?
o Come up with a grid for those attending that present common points that others have already written about in relation to the issue of women and poverty.
o Use this grid to come up with innovative ideas that will eventually lead to 3 clear and direct points for advocacy.
o Each group would present the points they come up with in a power point presentation to keep all focused and engaged.
o Bring those all the points together at the end, and leave them open for discussion.
o There will be no summary at the end.
o This is an extremely effective way to keep everyone focused.

Women in Health:

The group was not present, but Catherine Ferguson explained that they would be meeting later to discuss their work and would use some of the ideas presented by the groups today.

Other points and suggestions:
o Please be mindful of time constraints since each breakout group will be of a different size and some may be quite large.
o Have a set of draft points that they can work with as they go into their sub-breakout groups.
o The idea of presenting just points and then opening it up for discussion might be a good way to replace lengthy summaries. It was suggested that each breakout group have someone with a computer that would put the two-three talking points agreed on by the group on a power point slide to be projected to the group in the summary session. Following the initial listing and projecting of the two to three points from each group, the floor would then be open for discussion of these points. A paper with all of the points typed out would be distributed the next day during CSW.
o Distribute all the points from the different sessions, on paper
-Challenge: To come up with meaningful points that are actually important and not just a list of what everyone said.
o Please send the summary of your individual meetings to Diana Medina, DianaUnanima@gmail.com to be included in the meeting’s minutes.

Next Priority Theme meeting will be January 6, 2009 from 12-1 pm. Planning Committee will also meet on January 6th from 1-2 pm – Both meetings will be at Bahá’í International Community Offices.

Second Power point available on Expert Group Meeting

The power point below was prepared by Fulya Vekiloglu of the Baha’i International Community. It provides information on some of the issues discussed at the expert group meeting and was presented at the monthly membership meeting of the New York NGO CSW committee on 20 November, 2008.

egm_2008-22

December2 – Planning Committee Minutes

December 2, 2008
Planning Committee Meeting
Bahá’í International Community Offices 1:00-2:00pm

Keiko Chevray, Marge Christie, Carolyn Donovan, Victoria Edmonds, Catherine Ferguson; co-chair, Weishan Huang, Loretta James; co-chair, Ani Kalayjian, Lillian Oats, Mary Ann Strain, Linda Stillman, Mary V. Tounayan, Kate Twohy, Mariam Nigosian, Vivian Pender, Joy Peterson, Eva Richter, Elenor Solo, Fulya Vekiloglu, Joan Woods.

Welcome by Loretta James.

Loretta began by informing that the NGOCSW 53 blog already has a list of all working committee members. She also passed around hard copies of this list and asked those present to make any corrections to their names and placements while informing her who the chair is for each committee.

Reminders:
- January 9th is the deadline for pre-registration and parallel events. The deadline for Consultation Day has not yet been decided but will be published soon on the web.
- January 30th is the deadline for purchasing handbook ads.

Remarks and Comments from Eleanor Solo: Solo@un.org, or csw53@un.org

She was currently working with the written statements received and thanked the group for their timeliness in submission. She will be contacting members individually if there needs to be any editing of the statements. Eleanor urged all to feel free to contact her in between meetings so she may address any issues that come up during that time.

Remarks and Comments from Weishan Huang on Handbook:

- Application for advertisements was already circulated and will be posted online as soon as the webpage is live.
- Please look at the application for specific deadlines and specifications.
- The weishanh@gmail.com email is ONLY for ads-related matters and not anything else.
- Requested suggestions for how to deal with handbook distributions as they are heavy, not easily transportable, and stored in several places.
Suggestions:
-On the day of registration ask people if they are registered, and if not, offer them the book for free.
-Volunteers could distribute the books at the lobby of the UN Church Center until they are all gone.
-Hand them out at the UN lobby after Consultation Day.
The group agree that it would be best to hand them out in the UN lobby after consultation day. This would ensure that those who wanted them could have them but that no one would take more than they would actually use.

Committees:

Roundtable 1:
-Victoria Edmonds stated that Soon-Young Yoon had drafted a program to include the following speakers – an Ambassador from one of the Nordic countries who have exemplary policies on gender equality, academic Professor Linden Lewis, and a UN Agency person still to be determined, an NGO representative with a special focus on the priority theme and girls,. with the moderator either Carolyn Hannan (DAW) or Rachel Mayanja (OSAGI), However, the committee must meet all together to make final recommendation to the NGO CSW executive committee.

Roundtable 2:
-Discussion on speakers is still in progress
-Perhaps the speaker could talk about the improvement in the increase of women in parliament.
-Request for more volunteers to join this group.

Media Committee:
-The media committee has discussed the best strategy to contact media related to the UN and women’s groups to help get out information about the event.
- Linda Stillman advised that attempting to get a lot of media attention might not be the best strategy since this is not a media event.
-A press release should invite the media if they wish to attend.
-Vivian Pender will write the press release.

To all Committees:
-The facilitator should really be the point person in each group.
-Summary reports will come out from the two roundtable groups on their events.
-There will be 7 breakout sessions in total including the 4 groups that have regularly met at the priority theme meetings.

Remarks and Comments by Vivian Pender:

-It was decided that the price for Consultation Day will be $65, and 35 for the Reception.
-Youth prices (those between 13 through 17) will be $50 and $30 respectively.
-Still working on determining the program for youth attending the event.
-There will be no combined reduced fee.
-The awardee for the Reception will be Rachel Mayanja of the Office of Special Advisor to the Secretary General on Gender Issues.
-It was decided that there will be no simultaneous translation at the consultation day because it has been little used and has a high cost.
FUNDRAISING WORKING COMMITTEE WILL NO LONGER MEET.

Fundraising:
-It was decided that if pharmaceutical companies will be targeted for fundraising, it should be companies that deal specifically with women’s health issues like osteoporosis, HIV/AIDS medications, or pre-natal vitamins, for example.

Next Planning Committee meeting will be January 6, 2009 at Bahá’í International Community Offices from 1-2 pm.

Updated list of planning subcommittees will be available on the blog soon.

December 2 Priority Theme Minutes

December 2, 2008
Sub-committee on Priority Theme
Bahá’í International Offices 12:00-1:00pm

Present: Lois Beilin, Madeleine Brecher, Keiko Chevray, Marge Christie, Carolyn Donovan, Victoria Edmonds, Catherine Ferguson; chair, Ani Kalayjian, Lillian Oats, Mary Ann Strain, Linda Stillman, Mary V. Tounayan, Kate Twohy, Mariam Nigosian, Krisy Moore, Vivian Pender, Eva Richter, Fulya Vekiloglu, Joan Woods.

At the fourth 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 meet in their individual groups. After all were reconvened, Catherine informed everyone that the four different groups would no longer report back to all present. Instead, from this point on, they will write up a small paragraph about their discussion and send it by e-mail to Catherine’s assistant, Diana Medina, at DianaUnanima@gmail.com to include in the minutes, or directly to Catherine Ferguson at fergcf@earthlink.net.

Announcement: The Priority theme will meet for the entire 2 hours, 12-2pm. Individual groups will meet for one hour with the purpose of beginning to develop the info sheet. During the second hour they will present their findings to the group who will the extensive provide feedback. The Planning Committee will not meet on December 16th.

Next Priority Theme meeting will be December 16, 2008 at Bahá’í International Community Offices from 12-2 pm.

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.