UN Women to present new Strategic Plan and its work in Somalia at the Annual Session of the Executive Board
Date:
The UN Women Executive Board will convene for this year’s Annual Session from 27 - 28 June at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The President of the Executive Board, Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh from the Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations, will give introductory remarks and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will present the organization’s report on progress made on the Strategic Plan, 2014-2017 and outline the highlights of the new Strategic Plan 2018-2021.
Taking a closer look at UN Women’s work at the country level, Regional Director, Eastern and Southern Africa Izeduwa Derex-Briggs, will brief the Executive Board on the operational response in Somalia. Following more than 20 years of conflict, Somalia is undergoing state and peace building processes. UN Women is working in Somalia in a context of significant security deficits, striving to address gender disparities, with a focus on improving women’s access to justice and increasing women’s leadership and political participation.
For example, leading up to the recently concluded parliamentary elections, UN Women supported the government to put together a group of national “Goodwill Ambassadors” who engaged with women, men and community leaders to boost women’s representation and participation in the elections. The 2016 elections saw a 10 per cent increase in women’s representation, with 67 women MPs in the lower house and 13 women in the upper house of the parliament.
The Executive Board will also be presented with the findings of the 2016 evaluation function and an evaluation of UN Women’s strategic partnerships for gender equality and the empowerment of women. Furthermore, the reports on internal audit and investigation activities 2016, the report of the Audit Advisory Committee 2016, as well as UN Women’s management response to the Joint Inspection Unit reports and management letters 2016 will be addressed.
Further briefings will focus on the draft integrated budget estimates for the biennium 2018-2019 and an update on the cost recovery.
The detailed agenda as well as all official documents of the Annual Session 2017 can be accessed on the Executive Board webpage or the PaperSmart-portal of the United Nations.