Newsletter #21 – March 2019 - CSW 63

Members of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors will participate in the CSW63 that will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 11 to 22 March 2019.
The Priority Theme for the 2019 Session is Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
Review theme: Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development.

SIDE EVENTS: Visit here the list of side events.

The GCSPF submitted a written statement to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63). The GCSPF calls to the attention how social protection systems in many countries do not reach most workers, especially those in informal employment. Social protection systems have been designed around a male breadwinner model, assuming an uninterrupted and full-time career in the formal economy. This tends to penalise women, who are lower paid, disproportionately represented in precarious and informal work, and shoulder most unpaid care, resulting in substantially lower coverage rates and benefit levels. Read more

Conversation about social protection. Many people who will be attending Consultation Day will know little about social protection we need to start with a definition and a vision of social protection followed by the reality that inequality is growing and taxes on the wealthy are being cut resulting in the cutting back of public services in the name of austerity. Of the 400 parallel events that are scheduled for CSW many spoke in the applications about the reality of social protection in their countries: corruption, how public private partnerships leave them in debt and how women are not consulted about social protection policy.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, and H.E. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason of Ireland and Bureau Chair of CSW moderated by Sherine Tadros, Amnesty International and former Al Jazeera journalist and OXFAM.
Sunday 10 March - Time: 10:30 am - Tribeca Performing Arts Center on Chambers St.

Co-sponsored event where the OECD is able to present its work on addressing legislative reform for women’s economic empowerment (WEE) across MENA combined with Oxfam's work to address immediate needs and overcoming social/cultural barriers at the community level would make for an interesting and engaging event.
OECD, Sweden, Tunisia, UN Women and OXFAM
Monday 11 March - Time: 8:15 am - 9:30 am - Conference Room 12 - GA Building

The discussion will highlight the benefits of social protection for women and girls focusing on Zambia and learning from other countries around the continent. The discussion will also focus on the need to develop policy frameworks that will ensure social and gender inclusion. Panelists will share on best practices from other countries for replication of innovative ways on how to improve women’s access to quality and equitable social protection services.
Monday 11 March - Conference Room A - Time: 11:15 -12:45 pm. Read the flyer here

Coordinated by SPIAC-B – in cooperation with ITUC and with IDWF
Monday 11 March - UN Women, 220 E 42nd Street - Time: 15.00 – 16.30

Coordinated by Solidarity Centre
Monday 11 March - Salvation Army, Room: Auditorium - Time: 16.30

Coordinated by Government of Switzerland
Monday 11 March - UN Headquarters Conference Room 7 - GA Building - Time: 18.30 – 19.45
RSVP: cristina.verones[at]eda.admin.ch

Coordinated by CRIAW with ICREF, PSI, ITF
Tuesday 12 March - The Armenian Convention Center, Room: Vartan Hall - Time: 08.30

Coordinated by CLC Canada
Tuesday 12 March - Church Center for the United Nations, Room: Eight floor - Time: 10.30

Organised by CARE France and Equilibres & Populations, and sponsored by France and Canada, this event will contribute to a multi-stakeholder and multi-country dynamic around priority issues related to women’s and girls’ rights across the globe. It will also offer an opportunity to continue discussions over the commitments which could be made during the 2019 G7 Summit to fight gender inequality and enshrine them in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Tuesday 12 March - Time: 11:30 am -12:45 pm - United Nations Building, Room CR4

Philip Alston's UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, report
Coordinated by LO, PSI, FEMMENT and APWLD
Tuesday 12 March - UN Headquarters, Room: Delegates Dining Room - Time: 13.15 – 14:30

Jointly organised by the Government of Switzerland and the OECD Gender network
Tuesday 12 March - UN Headquarters Room: EXP-B - Time: 16.00 – 16.15

Coordinated by International Labour Organisation (ILO)– with ITUC, IOE and representatives of governments
Tuesday 12 March - United Nations Headquarters, Room: Conference room 12 - Time: 18.30 – 19.45

This session will test key assumptions and garner wider perspectives from experts and user groups in order to identify key considerations in the framing, focus, and scope of the scorecard. Participants will also be asked to help collectively identify areas for further consideration, potential uses, and next steps in the development process.
Wednesday 13 March - Time: 10:30 AM -12:30PM (followed by lunch) - FEDCAP, 210 East 43rd Street New York

Coordinated by Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ) – in which PSI is a member
Wednesday 13 March - Church Center for the United Nations, Tenth Floor - Time: 12.30

Coordinated by UN Women and Wiego. Co-sponsored by UN OPS, UNDP, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in Ghana, SEWA and ICRW
Wednesday 13 March - UN Headquarters, Room: CR 11 - Time: 15.00 – 16.15

Union women and feminist allies campaigning for the adoption of an ILO Convention in June 2019.
Coordinated by Global Unions - ITUC in coordination with EI, PSI, ITF, UNI Global Unions, IFJ, IDWF
Wednesday 13 March - Church Center for the United Nations, Tenth Floor - Time: 16.30

Coordinated by Womankind with FEMNET, AWID, PSI and APWLD
Wednesday 13 March - Church Center for the United Nations, Tenth Floor - Time: 18.15

The aim of the event is to create access for FMARD and her major partners to interact closely with the UN agencies and other Development Partners with a view to advocating for more support for Women in Agriculture in Nigeria to facilitate achievement of SDGs 1-5 and 8, which deal with multiple aspects of poverty. It is also aimed at attracting potential partners to work and support FMARD achieve the objectives of the National Gender Action Plan for Agriculture.
The Nigeria Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (FMWASD) and National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) are the main organizers Wednesday 13 or Thursday 14 March - TBC

At the event we will hear directly from two older women, one from Pakistan and one from Uganda, about their experiences of and views on income security in older age. There will also be an opportunity to hear from social protection experts and researchers with a range of perspectives about how social protection contributes to older women’s economic empowerment. See the invitation here
Coordinated by Age International and HelpAge International
Thursday 14 March - FEDCAP – 210 East 43rd Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenue) - Time: 10.30 am - 12 pm

Coordinated by Public Services International-(PSI)
Thursday 14 March - 4W 43rd Street Gallery, Blue Room - Time: 12:30

Coordinated by ActionAid International with Global Unions
Thursday 14 March - Church Center for the United Nations, Second Floor - Time: 14.30

Coordinated by Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Government of Indonesia, with participation from ETUC and/or ITUC Africa
Friday 15 March - Ex-Press Bar - GA Building - Time: 10:00 AM-11:15 AM

'This seminar-style event will provide information on how to identify the gender impact of national and local tax laws, including VAT, personal and business taxes, market fees, informal charges, social contribution taxes, extractive revenues, property taxes, education levies, and excise and trade taxes. Examples from countries at all levels of development will be provided, with special emphasis on countries in which tax laws increase barriers to accessing the necessities of living.
TJN, DAWN and OXFAM
Friday 15 March - Time: 2:30 pm - Church Centre for the UN, 8th floor

UWONET intends to share her experiences in building a vibrant and influential women’s movement to champion social protection of women and girls through women’s leadership. A case study of advocating for recognition, reduction and redistribution of unpaid care and domestic work in Uganda will be shared at this event. The case study will focus on advocacy efforts by women leaders (political and civil society) to enhance provision of quality social service across Uganda. UWONET will further share best practices of community initiatives and engagement of young people via digital platforms.
UWONET, Isis-WICEE and OXFAM
Monday 18 March - Time: 10:30 am - Church Center for the United Nations Drew Room

The Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence (ICGBV) where Oxfam Ireland is a member (so is Irish Aid) is planning to host a side event looking at access to services for survivors of GBV based on a Lebanon case study. As the CSW coincides with the tragic milestone of 8 years of brutal war in Syria, the Consortium sought to explore the relationship between the Syrian conflict, displacement and GBV in more detail. The Irish Consortium on GBV and OXFAM
Tuesday 19 March - Ireland Mission to the UN, 1 2nd Ave #885, New York, NY 10017

The objective of the event is to generate substantive discussion and propose concrete measures to address the challenges to implementing social protection systems including floors, and to increase understanding of how women- and child-sensitive social protection in migration contexts will empower women, promote gender equality, and contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations and the Joint Advocacy Group on Social Protection
Wednesday 20 March - UN Headquarters, Room: CR A - Time: 3 pm