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!