Category: News

December saw some changes to Soroptimist International’s representation at the UN Centres. We were sad to say goodbye to long standing representatives Yseult Kaplan and Christine Dagain who represented SI at UNESCO in Paris, and Linda Stillman and Andrea Mills who represented SI in New York. Yseult represented SI at UNESCO for 16 years and…

UNCSD report back from the first round of negotiations on the zero draft document, New York, January 27th-30th 2012: Three days of initial negotiations over the proposed outcome document for Rio+20 concluded today with comments and suggestions from Member States, United Nations agencies and a variety of civil society actors.    Speaking on the final…

In the words of the Undersecretary General, Michelle Bachelet, “it has been an incredible year…a year of excitement, high hopes and ambition.” * UN Women is now present in 75 countries, supporting national leadership and political participation to strengthen organizations and institutions to build a strong foundation for equality.  In December, the General Assembly adopted…

Share your voice!  Soroptimist International, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, the World YWCA, and the Friends of Cambodian Child’s Dream Organisation invite you to participate in a worldwide conversation about violence against rural women and girls: experiences and solutions.  We have developed a list of seven questions and we want to…

Last week, the zero draft document for Rio+20 was released. This is the first version of the document which will be discussed and amended over the coming months, and after revision and addition, hopefully accepted by Member States attending the Rio+20 conference in Brazil, June 2012. As SI UN Representative Bette Levy reported last week,…

Soroptimist International attended the Second Intersessional Meeting of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which was held in New York 15-16 December, 2011. Bette Levy reports on behalf of the SI delegation: In 2012 the UN will convene the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). This will be a 20 year follow-up…

Submitted by Dr. Saradha Narayanan (Consultant Physician and President 2010- 2012, SI Damansara) The Intercountry Workshop on Maternal Death Review was held in Kuala Lumpur in November 2011. Participants at the workshop included WHO Representatives from Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea. In addition, Government Health officials, O & G Consultants…

On 10 January, SI Representatives in Nairobi, Kenya, met with UNIDO officials to continue discussions begun by SI UN Representative Roswitha in Vienna last year. Michelle Chitechy, Women and Climate Change Project Coordinator, sent the following meeting report:   "Dr. Alice Odingo, SI UNEP Represenative, Sophie Koech, Lucy Mburu and I had a very successful meeting…

Soroptimist International Past President, Margaret Lobo, has shared an update received from ‘Hamlin Fistula International’ – the project partner for the 2007 December 10th Appeal, ‘Restoring Dignity – Securing a Future’. As she shared in her SoroptiVoice blog last week,  the 2007 appeal supported the Adis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, and annexed projects. As…

Soroptimist International’s Programme Director, Reilly Dempsey, is attending the 10th World Congress on Maternal and Neonatal Health in Rome. Here is her report from the third day of events, seminars and debate:  Today was the third and final day of the 10th World Congress on Maternal and Neonatal Health, where we shifted focus slightly from…