UN Women hosts the inaugural meeting of the Global Civil Society Advisory Group

Executive Director Michelle Bachelet led the inaugural meeting of UN Women's Civil Society Global Advisory Group on 10 October 2012. Photo credit: UN Women

Wednesday 10 October - The first meeting of the Global Civil Society Advisory Group was hosted by UN Women Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet, in New York today. The group was formed following the call for its creation by Ms. Bachelet, earlier this year at the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

The global group, which comprises 21 civil society members - 18 of whom were in New York to attend this first meeting - had an opportunity to meet with Ms. Bachelet to discuss the current political context and the challenges as well as the opportunities for gender equality and women's empowerment. The meeting covered discussions on policy issues on UN Women's thematic areas.

Left to right: Ms. Marling Haydee Rodriguez (Nicaragua); Ms. Tarcila Rivera Zea of Peru; Ms. Bandana Rana - three of the 18 members of the Civil Society Global Advisory Group who attended the meeting. Photo credit: UN Women

Other key strategic issues on the agenda included the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the upcoming CSW 57 and Beijing+20. The meeting was also an occasion to launch the Civil Society Advisory Group Extranet, which has been designed as a platform for information sharing between members of the Civil Society Advisory Groups (at the regional, national and global levels). The presentation on the Extranet, by the UN Women Civil Society Section, highlighted the various methods of communicating, sharing and networking through a live demo of the Extranet's work spaces and discussion forums. The meeting concluded with discussions on Strategic partnership and alliance-building to achieve common goals and discussions on ways to move forward.

The all-day meeting, led by the Executive Director and her leadership team, reaffirmed UN Women's commitment to civil society. Photo credit: UN Women

This meeting reaffirmed UN Women's commitment to civil society and focused on how best to harness the potential of civil society to address the objectives and goals of UN Women. Members who attended the meeting were: Ms. Marling Haydee Rodriguez (Nicaragua); Ms. Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz (Spain); Ms. Tarcila Rivera Zea (Peru); Ms. Rawwida Baksh (Trinidad & Tobago); Ms. Patricia Perez (Argentina); Ms. Charlotte Bunch (USA); Mr. Todd Minerson (Canada); Ms Hibaaq Osman (Somalia); Ms. Nehad Aboul Komsan (Egypt); Ms. Violet Shivutse (Kenya); Ms Bineta Diop (Senegal); Ms. Josephine Castillo (Philippines); Ms. Bandana Rana (Nepal); Ms. Sharon Bhagwan Rolls (Fiji); Ms. Drude Dahlerup (Denmark); Ms. Selma Acuner (Turkey);Ms. Cecile Greboval (France); Mr. Kumi Naidoo (South Africa)- via phone; and Ms. Joanne Sandler (USA).