WCA after the UN DPI/NGO Conference

Priscilla and I see expansion of WCA involvement with the United Nations.

We talked with UN staff about how to apply for consultative status, which would give us more access to ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council, which facilitates international cooperation on standards-making and problem solving in economic and social issues), to the planning of conferences and invitations to further events organized by the President of the General Assembly.

We talked with Sascha Gabizon, Women in Europe for a Common Future, and Dr. Sabina Anokye Mensah, Voices of African Women, who are the organizing partners for The Women's Rio 2012 steering committee, the coordination and decision making body of the Women's Major Group for Rio 2012. WCA could choose to be one of the networks/NGOs involved in Rio.

I talked with Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, of MAMA-86, about collaborating with Ukrainian women at Rio+20.

The annual gathering for the UN Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York, overlaps with the WCA annual conference. When our conference is held in New York, we could participate further in this UN event. It is the organ that is working for a 5th UN sponsored World Conference on Women. The last one was held in Beijing in 1995. At least two of our members attended that conference. We could work toward a larger participation if/when a 5th conference is determined.