Thursday and Friday

Again, yesterday was so busy that I did not get a chance to write a blog entry.

Starting with a UK NGO briefing at 9am, I then attended a number of side events on education before "Girls Speak Out About Violence Against Girls" which was an amazing event run by the Salvation Army. Three teenage girls each gave a story on what they knew and had learnt about violence against girls, before offering a creative contribution - throguh dance or music. It was a very moving event and the three young women were clearly very passionate.

The afternoon was spent filming messages and getting others to give messages for a number of WAGGGS video projects.

Today I managed to attend a panel on education delivered in Portuguese (muddling through with a powerpoint in English to guide me) before an extremely informative session on new technologies and free technologies which may be useful to women's organisations and other NGOs.

This left time to grab some lunch and book a table for a delegation meal out this evening before the second WAGGGS side event on violence against girls. We partnered with Soroptimists International, World YWCA and UN Women to deliver an interesting session combining case studies, questions and policy outcomes. During the session I took lots of notes in preparation for a blog I then typed up to go on the UN Women website. Other members of the delegation filmed the speeches and I was also able to put together a short video - also to be put on the UN Women website.

We finished the day with a delegation meal out - though Fiona from New Zealand sneaked off to a Bon Jovi concert instead.

Tommorrow we have a day of debriefing before I will depart for the airport in order to get a flight to the UK. My time here has gone so fast and I have so many ideas of what I want to advocate to change!

Wednesday at the UN

Today I went to many sessions - lots outlining specific situations in certain countries. This morning I attended a session on Ghana, the impact of violence against girls on their life chances and also the impact of climate change.

Then I went to the UNICEF building where there was a panel on the use of technology for educating girls and women. They provided an excellent lunch, and this was followed by an very insightful panel with speakers from Plan International and CISCO. I was intrigued by the statistic that by 2014 the majority of internet traffic will be through video, and also the affirmation that the radio and flash drives shouldn't be overlooked in distributing information to rural populations.

We then went for a look around the UN building - finding our way to the very old school library with a card index.

This afternoon I attended a panel at the Finnish Consulate featuring the Nordic Ministers and they presented the situation on equality, education and employment in Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They raised several interesting points including the priority of childcare and men taking on domestic responsibilities for getting women into employment.

In then briefly called into the Soroptomist International reception to say hello before rushing to the UK mission to attend their briefing on their position on UN Women. I finally made it to an event on homophobia and how that relates to gender inequality before heading back to the hotel for a debrief on the day.

At some point I hope to give more details on the content of the sessions - perhaps once I'm home and not rushing from place to place!

Happy World Thinking Day (for yesterday)

Yesterday was so busy that I dind't get a chance to publish an update (or rather I started one on my computer and then promptly fell asleep!).

The day started at 8am with a trip to the UN building to pick up the passes necessary to access main sessions. We then had time for a little more side event preparation before I went to take notes on the opening session of the CSW at 10am. Nothing earth-shattering wasw said, though a strong emphasis was placed on the need to tackle gender stereotypes and provide positive role models for girls - particularly in the areas of science and technology.

Quickly grabbing lunch from a lovely shop called the Amish Market, I headed to a side event run by Plan International. The panel of girls from 6 different countries gave presentations through video and then answered questions on how technology effects their lives. I asked the girls if they thought the positives outweighed the negative aspects of technology and the answers they gave stressed an importance of teaching girls how to use technology safely and creating an expectation of responsibility when using them. The ability to communicate at speed over long distnces and share impformation obviously has a tremendous impact on education and employment opportunities.

Then came our side event, run in partnership with Soroptomist International. It looked at case studies for formal and non-formal education run by the two associations across the entire lifecourse, and one key message from the event was to promote intergenerational dialogue so that organisations and individuals can learn from each other. They published updates during the session on their twitter and facebook accounts, and have since put blog entries on their website: http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/blog Shortly, our own blog of the event will be avaliable at http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/CSW.

After the session I continued to the UK Mission Reception where I had a chance to network with others coming from the UK and speak to members of the official UK Delegation as well as MIssion Staff members. I made a lot of contacts and the delegates were receptive to the ideas which WAGGGS wants to see included in the agreed conclusions at the end of the CSW.

Finally it was back to the hotel for a debrief and some food before bed! Today I have made a more leisurely start with my first event at 10am, but it again promises to be a pack day of events, information, and networking. Better get dressed.

Girls Stand Up! Orientation Day

Today started with an early morning and leaving the hotel at 7am, however it was very much worth it for a fantastic orientation day held at PACE university and run by the Working Group on Girls. It opened with a speech from Michelle Bacheret (Head of UN Women and former president of Chile).

From there we went upstairs and myself and the other members of the WAGGGS delegation facilitated sessions on the theme of the CSW - education, training and employment particularly relating to science, technology, engineering and maths.
Over lunch we talked to the Ambassador of Kenya - herself a former girl guide - and she seemed very interested in what we had to say.

Back upstairs we facilitated more sessions, this time on violence against girls, before attending sessions on how to advocate during the UN commission this week.

The day ended with a truly inspirational speech from Leymah Gbowee - a peace activist from Liberia. This was emotional for me as I had an opportunity toi thank her for the inspiration she gave me at the Young Women's World Forum in October and she urged me to continue with me project and achieve more. She issued many calls to action and told us to fight for what we believe in: "It's time to stop being pretty and start being active".

Delegation Preparation Day

Today we went as a delegation to the headquarters of Girl Scouts USA and spent the day preparing for advocacy and events during the next week.

We discussed our individual motivations for being here, what we hoped to gain and where we hope to go in the future, and my answers very much centred around this Speak Out, Reach Out, Camp Out project.

Then we moved on to be presented with our delegation scarfs - creating a unity in uniform for eight young women coming from a wide variety of different countries (UK, Canada, New Zealand, Denmark, Greece, Tunisia, Costa Rica and Rwanda).

The afternoon was spent learning how to deal with potentially tricky situations when advocating, and then we continued planning our first parallel event which will be held tommorrow in the Church Centre opposite the United Nations (Floor 2, 4pm). The topic is "formal and non-formal education - a lifecourse approach" and we will be teaming up Soroptomists International to provide a panel presentation and discussion.
If your in New York then drop by! :)

Day 4 - NYC

Today I finished seeing the sights (Empire State Building, NY Public Library, Rockafeller Centre) and move from the hostel to the hotel. Then I went and registered at the UN building and got my pass for the event!

Soon we will be having a delegation meeting for introductions and to get things started - very exciting!

Day 3 - NYC

Last night I managed to stumble upon a free Jazz concert (hosted by a certain soft drinks company who were giving out product samples) and then it was time for another early night. Hopefully I will start to adjust to the time difference and stay awake past 9pm.

Having been up and east yesterday. Today I will head down and west - hoping to get right to the tip of Manhattan and see the Statue of Liberty across the water.

I'm not sure why, but in the corner of the hostel common room is a pile of Guides to HIV/AIDS prodcued by Catholic Church Missionaries. They contain some good factual information (and are particularly targetted to working with HIV positive people in India) but the section which says they do not condone the use of condoms by HIV positive people 'because we are trying to help them get closer to God' is a little concerning. I don't believe that exclusively abstinence promotion is an effective way to combat the spread of HIV - there needs to be some training in barrier methods to prevent transmission as well.

Downtown

This morning I set out from Columbus Circle and followed Broadway down through TImes Square - which was frankly a bit overwhelming. All the bright lights and colours, I'm not sure how it's effective advertising at all...

From there I continued on past Madisson Square Garden, through Chelsea and into Greenwhich village. These older buildings (dating from the 1800s) are noticibly much shorter from the towering skyscrapers in mid-town and I called in at Christopher Park for another bit of history. The park is adjacent to the Stonewall Inn and saw riots in the summer of 1969 after a police raid on the gay bar. This is often cited as the start of the Gay rights movement in the USA and around the world. The park now houses a sculpture to commemorate the event.

From there I continued towards Battery Park, and had to take a big detour around the World Trade Center site which is a hive of activity - the new tower is going up and the memorial park is being landscaped. Eventually I reached the tip of Manhattan and caught sight of the Statue of Liberty across the Hudson River.

Tommorrow the rest of the WAGGGS delegation arrives and we begin work on the Commission on the Status of Women activities.

3 Rules of Travel

Today saw more exploration in Central Park, a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a wander around the Upper East Side. Now I have 3 rule of travel:

1. Always take your manners with you
Please and Thank-you go a long way and people are a lot nicer in return. Also helps when scary looking security people are searching your stuff.

2. Always be willing to get lost
Never know what you might find round the corner. Last night I discovered the Wholefoods Market in the Time Warner Centre  - fantastic if like me you have awkward dietary requirements - and today I wandered into a children's playground in central park and couldn't find the way out. I was helpfully assisted by a three year old to find the gate.

3. Always be prepared to be laughed at
I'm not from here, I'm not going to do things the right way first time, I will be laughed at. Best to just laugh with them.

Today I also received a plan for the session I'm facilitating at the Girl Scouts USA training day for girls attending the CSW on Sunday. It's all about STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and why this can cause unequal access for girls to employment. I'll be facilitating with a woman called Kathleen from PACE university.

Day 2 - NYC

Today is my second day in New York and I'm planning on a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (as they handily have some Roman remains which are the subject of the lecture I'm missing on Monday).

Central Park was beautiful last night - still mostly covered by a blanket of snow from a few days ago. It would seem that snow doesn't cripple the road system in New York in the same way it would in the UK.

Watching the news over breakfast it strikes me how fast and panicky any news story comes across on this show - a contrast to the BBC Breakfast team who just seem a little dissappointed that bad things happen.

Preparing for Departure

Today is the day I depart for New York, and I'm writing this entry over breakfast in Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. The next week (and a bit) will be an incrdible learning experience and for a taste of what our delegation will be up to, an overview of the UN sessions and parallel NGO events can be found at:

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/55sess.htm
http://www.ngocsw.org/parallel-events/schedule/

I'm looking forward to a few days to explore New York before the commission starts, and currently I'm trying to arrange a meeting with the UK's permanent mission to the UN to be able to represent the voices of the girls and young women in this country to our representatives. My plans are to explore central park and visit some of the famous museums before meeting up with the rest of the delegation from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts on Saturday. I'll also try to find the HQ of the Girls Scouts of New York - it seems only polite to call in and say hello.

Please comment on my blog posts if you have any questions or issues to raise!

Manhattan Baby

So a 7 hour flight and a 5 hour time difference has left me a little confused and ready to hit the sack at 5 in the afternoon. But I'll hang on a litle longer to take a gander at central park before sleepytimes - got some more WAGGGS paperwork and timetables for bedtime reading!

Watched 'Made in Dagenham' on the plane over and that really was great timing (I honestly didn't know what it was about before I clicked play)! Detailing a strike by female machinists at Ford that lead to a fight for equal pay regardless of sex in the UK, it's definitely worth a watch! I think the Reach Out Bookshelf will be soon branching out to include a few inspiring DVDs too.