Strengthening women's meaningful participation in political movements and electoral processes

This side event will be an expert level discussion and open meeting aimed at diplomats, UN and civil society, hosted by the Swiss Mission to the United Nations in New York ath the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). The Swiss Deputy Permanent Ambassador will welcome participants and then WILPF will introduce the discussion, before giving the floor to the invited speakers. The facilitator will invite participants to respond to questions and facilitate an interactive dialogue. The session will then be opened up for questions from the audience by the facilitator.

The panel discussion will provide a forum to exchange locally-driven experiences and good practices on strengthening synergies to better support interlinked action on women’s meaningful participation for peace in informal and formal spaces around elections processes, as well as identify multi-level challenges and barriers that continue to prevent women’s participation across different sectors. Bringing together women peace leaders from Afghanistan, Colombia, Cameroon and Syria, participants will share recommendations for what the UN Security Council, UN Agencies and Member States can do to realize their WPS obligations and mobilize key stakeholders to strengthen coordinated action on women’s meaningful participation to address structural obstacles and root causes of conflict and violence.

Panelists:

• Sylvie Ndongmo, President of WILPF Cameroon and coordinator of Women Situation Room Cameroon
• Katherine Ronderos, President of WILPF Colombia (LIMPAL) and member of the National Summit of Women and Peace (Cumbre Nacional de Mujeres y Paz)
• Jamila Afghani, President of WILPF Afghanistan and founder of NECDO
• Mariam Jalabi, Co-founder of the Syrian Women's Political Movement

Click here to see the full programme.