Updated about a month ago
WFWPI and the UN Commission on the Status of Women Report from the CSW59 Part Two - March 14, 2015 - UN HQ, New York City - Luncheon Photos By Alexa Ward and Heather Fraser-Harris CSW59 WFWPI Parallel Event Photos CSW59 WFWPI Luncheon Photos On the following day, WFWPI hosted a luncheon, in the West Terrace Room, Delegates Dining Area, in the UN Headquarters in New York, which was attended by over 100 leaders, members and friends of WFWPI. Chaired by Nicole Thiessen, Paralegal in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the keynote speaker was Ms. Patience W. Stephens, Special Advisor for Education, from UN Women. President Yeon Ah Moon presented the vision of WFWPI's founder, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon. This was followed by the guest speaker, Ms. Hazami Barmada, Communications Specialist from the Office of the UN Secretary General's Envoy on Youth. Dr. Padmini Murthy, member of the NGO CSW NY Executive Committee, attended the luncheon. Ms. Carolyn Handschin, Director of the WFWPI UN Office, gave a presentation entitled "WFWPI and the Beijing Platform for Action." Ms. Tokuko Sato, a Tsugaru Kite artist from Japan, presented gifts of custom made kites to the speakers, high level guests, and WFWPI leaders. Gifts were presented to the speakers, as well as to the parallel event panelists and moderators, by President Yeon Ah Moon, Ms. Carolyn Handschin, and Ms. Alexa Ward, Deputy Director of the WFWPI UN Office. WFWPI was pleased to be among the participants who attended the Planet 5050 event which was held in the Manhattan Center on Tuesday evening, March 10, and featured UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the Honorable Hillary Clinton, and the Honorable Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City. The WFWPI delegation attended dozens of side events which are sponsored by governments and UN entities in the UN headquarters, as well as parallel events organized by NGOs which were held in the UN Church Center, Salvation Army, and Armenian Convention Center. A group of six WFWPI young adults attended an advocacy training session, which helped them to better understand the process afforded by CSW to influence governments and policies in the area of women. Both the side events and the parallel events offer an extraordinary opportunity for greeting and meeting the highest level leaders in the organizations sponsoring CSW, as well as networking opportunities with NGOs throughout the two week period. One of the highlight of this week was the opportunity to spend time with Prof. Yeon Ah Moon. Throughout the week in informal settings, as well as dinner meetings which she hosted on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, Prof. Moon shared deeply about the Founder's vision, lifestyle, and how it applies to WFWPI. Leaders had the opportunity to gather and assess WFWPI's current status as an organization and to consider how to develop to the next level. We would like to acknowledge of the hard work of UN team members Jeanne Carroll and Bonnie Berry for laying the foundation with CSW over the past 13 years. We extend our gratitude to the entire team, Karlsun Allen, Nandi Bengu, Bonnie Berry, Friederike Buczyk, Jamie Carroll, Roshan D'Souza, Heather Fraser-Harris, Noriko Heying, Roudabeh Jamishid Eini, Peter Lewis, Yuri Palhof, Hitoko Perrottet, Youngsoon Quinn, Kiyomi Schmidt, Cynthia Shibuya, Joy Theriot, Nicole Thiessen, Fukunaga Yoshida, and others. WFWPI would like to acknowledge the growing involvement of young adults in its work. We are looking forward to participating in CSW 60 and are planning for greater impact and involvement.