Date: 4 July 2022
Time: 10.00 – 12.40 AM Istanbul / 09.00 – 11.40 AM CET
Language: English/Russian (simultaneous translation)
Registration link: https://unwomen.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEtd-Cprz4iHtcvcqhQQvWbNPGM9bKpVSHi
29 June 2022
RightsTech Women (RTW) has been invited to moderate one of the practical sessions during a 4 July 2022 follow-up meeting for the Europe and Central Asia region looking at commitments made on gender equality in Tech and Innovation, and related implementation progress and challenges, in the framework of the Generation Equality Forum and its follow up. The half-day ECA meeting starts at 9:00 CET (please check your local time zone).
You may recall that the Generation Equality Forum was organized by UN Women and many partners and was hosted by Mexico (virtually, 29-31 March 2021) and France (hybrid format, 30 June-2 July 2021). The conference marked the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+25). The Generation Equality Forum led to six ‘Action Coalitions’ for gender equality, one of them being Action Coalition 5, Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality. Stakeholders were invited to make commitments in regard to the six different action coalitions brought together in the auspices of the Generation Equality Forum. The Commitments Dashboard and video comprising all commitments through October 2021 were launched on 18 March 2022.
RightsTech Women made commitments on its programmatic work to achieve gender-equitable STEM education and employment for girls and women by 2030, in 33 countries including a number in Europe and Central Asia (ECA).
As a follow-up to the Generation Equality Forum, UNICEF, UN Women and ITU in partnership with the United Nations Regional Issue-Based Coalition on Gender Equality (IBC-GE) in ECA are organizing a regional event focusing on the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation within the framework of the regional series on the Generation Equality Forum.
As informed by the meeting organizers: “The IBC-GE is comprised of members from 14 UN entities including: FAO, ILO, IOM, OHCHR, UNFPA, UNDP, UNDRR, UNECE, UNEP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UN Women, WFP and WHO, and is co-chaired by UNFPA and UN Women. The Issue-based Coalition works to ensure a coordinated UN system approach to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in Europe and Central Asia. It aims to strengthen regional engagement to promote gender equality, provide more coherent and timely policy guidance and technical support and improve coordination, communication as well as information sharing on key lessons and good practices.”
Further, the UN Women ECA event organizers have informed that the 4 July 2022 ECA event participants will include leaders, commitment makers, civil society and women’s human rights organizations. An aim of this event is also to reach new potential commitment contributors from the region, to increase awareness and build new partnerships and alliances. Also welcome to attend are those who are interested in supporting mobilization of other partners to join the Action Coalition.
By 2026, women and girls in all their diversity have equal opportunities to safely and meaningfully access, use, lead, and design technology and innovation with freedom of expression, joy, and boundless potential. We call for collective responsibility, especially from governments and corporations, to develop bold gender transformative actions to widen innovation ecosystems, embed transparency and accountability in digital technology, and expand inclusive digital economies.
– GEF Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality
The ECA meeting on 4 July 2022 will be opened by UNICEF, ITU and Koç Holding (Turkey), leader of the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality. Helene Molinier, UN Women Adviser, Innovation and Technology, GEF Secretariat for the AC on TIGE will give a keynote speech on Building Momentum since the Paris Generation Equality Forum, to be followed by three practical sessions.
Practical Session 1 will cover ‘Translating commitments into sustainable changes for women and girls‘. Questions for discussion include:
- How to implement/translate the commitments into tangible action?
- What are examples of successful implementation?
- How to assess and track progress? Examples of monitoring mechanism.
- How to build inclusive and safe ecosystems?
Anticipated speakers in the Practical Session 1 include:
- Government of Finland, leader of the Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality
- Government of Georgia
- Women and Information Society (CSO), Armenia
- Finland speaker on online violence.
RTW Founder and Executive Director Ellen Walker will be moderating Practical Session 1, on behalf of RightsTech Women. RightsTech Women is a civil society organization, a nonprofit NGO based in Geneva, Switzerland that advances the human rights of girls and women in STEM. RTW works with partners towards achieving equal numbers of women and men in STEM education and employment by 2030.
Practical Session 2 will cover ‘Building partnerships and alliances to advance implementation of the AC roadmap‘ and will consider issues such as:
- What broader partnerships can be leveraged to support implementation?
- At what level (state, policy, community etc.) can alliances be strengthened, and how can any challenges be addressed?
- Which new opportunities have emerged during the 1st year of the commitments?
- Is there a space for mobilizing other partners to join the AC and for regional collective commitments?
Speakers will include the Regional Cooperation Council, OSCE, “We-inTech” by Arcelik company, UNDP-UNICEF STEM4All platform in ECA region, and more.
Practical Session 3 will cover, ‘Looking ahead: Policy recommendations to accelerate progress for women and girls in STEM in the region by 2026‘, with key messages from Youth:
- Andreea Barbu, ITU Generation Connect Europe Youth Envoy
- Zhaniya Koshkimbayeva, 16 years old, Kazakhstan: Participant in UniSat Kazakhstan pilot (UniSat | UniSat Nano-satellite Educational Programme for Girls (UNEPG)
It will be moderated by Ilayda Eskitascioglu, Generation Equality Gender Youth Activist.
Wrap-up and closing will be by ITU (Jaroslaw K. Ponder Head of the Office for Europe). and the Co-Chair of the ECA IBC-GE, Alia El-Yassir (UN Women).
Much more information on the Technology and Innovation coalition, its blueprint and implementation will be shared at the meeting – don’t miss it.
For more information, please visit the event page: https://eca.unwomen.org/en/news-and-events/events/2022/06/advancing-generation-equality-forum-commitments-in-the-europe-and-central-asia-action-coalition-5-on-technology-and-innovation-for-gender-equality.
We hope to see you virtually on the 4th of July!
#WomenInSTEM #GenerationEqualityForum #TechandInnovation