Group of Women Ambassadors for UNESCO

9 February 2007, 10.30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Room IX (Fontenoy)

Preliminary agenda of the meeting

With the presence of Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO.

  1. Opening of the meeting by H. Exc. Mrs. Indira Thacoor-Sidaya, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Mauritius to UNESCO.
  1. Short summary of the 1st and the 2nd meeting by Ms. Gülser Corat, Chief of the Section for Women and Gender Equality in the Bureau of Strategic Planning (BSP/WGE).
  1. Continued discussion with the Ambassadors/Permanent Delegates with the participation of the Director-General on ideas to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality in UNESCO’s programs.
  1. Future tasks and venue of next meeting.

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Group of Women Ambassadors for unesco

Third Meeting – 9 February 2007, Room IX, 10.30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Recommendation of actions by:

-the Director-General:

  1. Noted that he would discuss further with DIR/BSP on the strengthening of the role/structure of BSP/WGE and the status of the UNESCO Gender Focal Point (i.e. Chief, BSP/WGE) in response to questions/requests by the members of the Group to reclassify the Post of Chief of Section to Director (D1) level as was the case in the past and to make BSP/WGE more visible and a “watchdog” for all GE related programmes/activities of the Organization.
  2. The Secretariat should organize a consultation with the Group members on the celebrations of the IWD activities and the announcement of the “Group of Women Ambassadors to UNESCO” during IWD events. (follow-up action in progress by BSP/WGE)

-DIR/BSP: the Group should identify a team/a message, such as Dialogue among civilizations, to pass on to the General Assembly of the UN in order to reinforce UNESCO’s role within the UN family.(item will be put on the agenda for discussion during the Group’s 4th meeting on 5 April 2007)

-Members of the Group: BSP/WGE shall prepare of list of its on-going and future activities to be sent to all the members of the Group for their information.(follow-up action in progress by BSP/WGE)

Summary of Discussion

  1. After her opening remarks,H. Exc. Ms Indira Thacoor-Sidaya, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Mauritius to UNESCO, and President of the Group of Women Ambassadors for UNESCO, gave the floor to Ms Gülser Corat, Chief of the Section for Women and Gender Equality of the Bureau of Strategic Planning (BSP/WGE) who provided a short summary of the first and the second meetings of the Group held respectively on 6 October and 14 December 2006.
  2. The President then welcomed Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, who had been invited by her to participate in the 3rd meeting of the Group in order to exchange views with the Group members on concrete steps that could be taken to enhance UNESCO’s action to promote the empowerment of women and gender equality in the Organization’s programmes and within the Secretariat itself. Mr. Ahmed Sayyad, Assistant Director-General for External Relations, and Mr. Hans d’Orville, Director of the Bureau of Strategic Planning, also participated in the meeting.
  3. Ms Thacoor-Sidayathen opened the floor for discussion by stating that the main objective of the meeting was to interact with the Director-General on issues pertaining to women’s empowerment and gender equality. She noted that the Group’s objectives are to assist the Organization in strengthening its work in the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment by playing a proactive role in the sharing of information on, and the promotion of these issues both within the Organization and in Member States.
  4. Some Group members wanted to know how the Director-Generalcould bring his concrete support to the Group, and how the Group could support UNESCO’s gender policy commitment. Others asked for the Director-General’s opinion on the recommendations of the Report of the High-level Panel on United Nations System-wide Coherence regarding the UN’s future gender policy, and its implications for UNESCO.
  5. One Group member expressed her strong concern about the lack of visibility of the women and gender structure at Headquarters, and wanted to know why the former Director post (D1) had been downgraded to a Chief position (P5) when a majority of the other UN agencies have Directors heading the women/gender units. She underlined that, in order to contribute to the overall efforts to achieve the goals of gender equality and women’s empowerment and to better meet the increasing and challenging requirements of the Member States, the current structure must be upgraded and reinforced with financial resources. A majority of the Group members agreed with this statement and expressed satisfaction with the workundertaken by BSP/WGE and by the Chief, BSP/WGE, and several participantsunderlined the importance for BSP/WGE to play a “watchdog” role, and suggested that the ADG’s of the programme sectors reserve a part of their budget to women and gender equality issues.
  6. Some members also expressed a request to be involved in the preparations of the celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD).One member wished to have more information on UNESCO’s implication in the UNSC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security of October 2000, more precisely on the fate of girl soldiers, and one participant wished to clarify the role of UNESCO within the big UN family on issues relating to women’s empowerment and gender equality.One participant also stated that gender equality issues are not simply a “woman’s affair” and that the work of the Group should have a strategic approach, and that the collaboration with civil society and NGO’s should be further emphasized.Finally, one participant suggested that BSP/WGE prepare of list of on-going and future activities to be sent to all the members of the Group.
  7. The Director-General highly praised the establishment of the Group and expressed the hope that it would be able to contribute actively to UNESCO’s action to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.As regards the recommendations of the Report of the High-level Panel on United Nations System-wide Coherence, the Director-General stated that it is crucial for UNESCO to contribute to women’s empowerment and gender equality in all areas. He moreover expressed the hope that the UN would soon begin to implement the recommendation to establish a coordination mechanism for all gender equality/women’s’ empowerment activities in the UN system, which would help concentrate the impact of the system’s activities in this area.The Director-General then endorsed the view expressed by the President in her opening remarks that UNESCO must continue to pursue its efforts to contribute to gender equality and the empowerment of women in all its areas of competence, as well as in the structure and functions of the Secretariat.Healso underlined his own personal commitment and the priority he gives to gender issues, and informed the participants that UNESCO has for the first time achieved parity in the professional category, making it the first amongst UN agencies to reach these results. He nevertheless recognized that at the Director levels and above, the imbalance was still ongoing.
  8. As regards the celebrations of IWD, the Director-General invited the Permanent Delegations to work with the Secretariat, and asked Mr. d’Orville to organize a consultation with the Group members.Concerning the reinforcement of the structure of the Section for Women and Gender Equality, the Director-General underlined that gender concerns can only be mainstreamed into all the Organizations work by keeping their management centralised in the planning unit.He moreover agreed that the role and the post and the structureof the Gender Focal Point (Chief and BSP/WGE) should be strengthened, and that he would further discuss this item with Mr. d’Orville.The Director-General also explained that UNESCO suffers from serious budget constraints because of the past six years of zero nominal growth.
  9. To the question on girl soldiers, Mr. d’Orville responded that whilst UNESCO has recently completed a study on post-conflict and rebuilding of educational systems without particular attention to girl soldiers, this specific topicis part of the mandate of UNICEF.Mr. d’Orville also suggested that the Group identify a specific team/message, such as Dialogue among civilizations, to be passed on to the General Assembly of the UN in order to reinforce UNESCO’s role within the UN family. To the question on UNESCO’s role within the UN system, Ms Corat explained that UNESCO is member of several important UN and other women/gender equality networks and that the Section, which represents UNESCO as the official gender focal point at the UN level, has a well established network of Gender Focal Points within the Secretariat, the Field Offices and the National Commissions for UNESCO. She moreover informed the participants that UNESCO has become the leader in capacity building and training for gender mainstreaming at the UN level thanks to the flagship project on “Capacity building and training in gender mainstreaming programme” for UNESCO staff. Six UN Agencies have solicited UNESCO’s assistance for the training of their HQ staff and country teams. Ms Corat suggested organizing a brief training session for the members of the Group which was greeted with enthusiasm.
  10. In her meeting summary, the President of the Group emphasized that, in the light of the recommendations of the Report of the High-level Panel on United Nations System-wide Coherence,it has become clear that the authority and the accountability of, and the responsibilities attributed to the Section for Women and Gender Equality must be revised and expanded within the framework of the new C/5 document, in order for UNESCO to fulfill its strong commitment to issues relating to gender equality and women’s empowerment and to maintain the promotion of gender equality as one of the core mandates of the Organization.
  11. The President also expressed her deep gratitude to the Director-General for having attended the meeting and actively participated in the debate, and to Mr. d’Orville and Mr. Sayyad for their participation. She then informed the Group members that, and in order to reinforce the objectives, the commitment and the visibility of the Group, the invitation to the 4th meeting will be extended to include male Ambassadors and ADGs.
  12. The next meeting of the Group will take place on Thursday 5 April 2007, prior to the 176th session of the Executive Board.

3rdmeeting with the group of women ambassadors for unesco

9 february 2007

list of Participants

Name / Country/Secretariat
  1. AYDAMIROVA Tunzala
/ Azerbaijan
  1. BENNANI Aziza + MEZIANI Leïla
/ Morocco
  1. BIKE Yolande
/ Gabon
  1. COOPER Nancy
/ United States of America
  1. GJONAJ Tatiana
/ Albania
  1. GUZMAN Acsamary
/ Dominican Republic
  1. IFTODI Victoria
/ Moldova
  1. KAWAR Dina
/ Jordan
  1. KENAWY Shadia
/ Egypt
  1. Maimunah bint Syed Zin Sharifah
/ Malaysia
  1. NOMASONTO Maria Sibanda-Thusi
/ South Africa
  1. PALACIOS Eva
/ Andorra
  1. PANAYI Photini
/ Cyprus
  1. RANJEVA Yvette Rabetafika + Rahajarizafy Rabeharisoa Lanto
/ Madagascar
  1. Thacoor-Sidaya Indira
/ Mauritius
  1. WAGISWARA Chitranganee
/ Sri Lanka
  1. Wodzynska-Walicka Maria
/ Poland
  1. WOLE D.
/ Ethiopia
  1. YAO-YAO Akissi Odette
/ Côte d’Ivoire

Entities maintaining Permanent Observer Missions to UNESCO

Abdelfattah Qalqili NailaPermanent Observer Mission of Palestine to UNESCO

UNESCO Staff

MATSUURA Koïchiro / DG
SAYYAD Ahmed / ADG/ERC
D’ORVILLE Hans / DIR/BSP
CORAT Gülser / Chief, BSP/WGE
MAJLÖF Anna Maria / BSP/WGE
RUPRECHT Lydia / BSP/WGE
JODOIN Marie-Noel / BSP/WGE
JAVAD Susan Haji-(intern) / BSP/WGE
SINARE Stephanie (intern) / BSP/WGE
STAHMER Ariana (intern) / BSP/WGE
RAONIMAHARY Robertine / AFR
SANTANA AFONSO Ana Elisa / AFR
BUCHERT Lene / Chief, ED/BAS/PE
PATRIER Marina / ED
PANEVSKA Iskra / CI
SMITH Eunice / SHS
MENEGON Sophie / ERC

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