The 55th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) happens in New York City Feb 21-25, 2011. For me, the most exciting thing about the event is that several girls from some of the countries where we are working (Canada, US, Finland, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Indonesia) will be participating and speaking. This aspect of our work – helping to bring young people’s voices into these large influential forums – (when done properly) can be very effective at bringing a reality check to the ivory tower and helping influence decision makers at the very highest levels.
This year’s CSW is especially interesting to me since I work in the area of ICTs, and the theme of the CSW is:
“Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work.”
The girls will be presenting at the Girls Take the Stage: Growing up in a Digital World on Feb 22nd:
I’ll be presenting with Fabiola from Cameroon at the Empowering Girls: Education and Technology” session on February 23.
I’ll also talk at a panel-workshop hosted by the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation on Tuesday Feb 22, from 10-11.30, called “Breaking the Cycle of Poverty of Women and Girls through Education and Training,” on the 2nd floor room of the CCUN (Church Center of the UN).
Update: Ika one of the girls from Indonesia, will speak at a panel on Commercial Sexual Exploitation and the Girl Child: A Human Rights Approach at the Main Auditorium, Salvation Army Social Justice Center, 221 East 52nd St between 2nd and 3rd Ave, on Feb 24th from 2-3.30 pm.
Update: Lil Shira from Cameroon will present on Violence and Discrimination against Girls in School, along with Marta Santos Pais (UN Special Representative to the Secretary General on Violence against Children) and others on Feb 22, from 16-17.30 at UN Church Center, 777 United Nations Plaza, Drew Room, Ground Floor.
Join us at the some of the sessions or come for an evening with the 21+ crowd at #ICT4Drinks Feb 23rd at 6 pm at Me Bar.
We’re trying to interest the girls in tweeting during the CSW on the @plan_youth account and to blog at http://plan_youth.tumblr.com, so check it out as of this Monday. (We’ll see if they are willing or not!)
You can follow the events on Twitter at the hashtag #CSW55.
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