This past week, WILPF was honored to welcome to New York City delegates from our nine WILPF national sections: Mrs. Joy Ada Onyesoh (Nigeria), Mrs. Annie Matundu Mbambi (DRC), Mrs. Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo Fouezet (Cameroon), Mrs. Manuela Mesa and Mrs. María Villellas (Spain), Mrs. Katherine Ronderos (Colombia), Mrs. Rasha Mahmoud (Lebanon), Mrs. Helen Kidan (United Kingdom), Mrs. Annika Skogar and Mrs. Malin Nilsson (Sweden) and Mrs. Aynur Teken (Netherlands).

Here’s a brief recap of what took place!

Members from nine different WILPF Sections participated in the many Women, Peace and Security Events taking place in New York in October 2015. From left you see: Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo Fouezet (Cameroon), Joy Ada Onyesoh (Nigeria), Annie Matundu Mbambi (DRC), María Villellas (Spain), Mrs. Manuela Mesa (Spain), Katherine Ronderos (Colombia), and Malin Nilsson (Sweden).

Tuesday (20 October)

The recently arrived delegation participated in an internal WILPF workshop, “Mobilizing women, localizing peace,” which created a space to share good practices from each Section, concerns, and challenges within the Sections regarding the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda.

Wednesday (21 October)

The delegates had the chance to attend the Prelude to the Peace Forum, aimed at creating space to mobilize civil society and consolidate key recommendations for the UN, governments, and other key stakeholders on the 15^th Anniversary of UN Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1325. The highlight of the event was the various thematic tables created in order to engage in enriching discussions on different concerning matters such as engaging men in the WPS Agenda or prevention.

Thursday (22 October)

Amongst other events, the delegates attended a panel organised by WILPF’s Disarmament programme: “Arms Trade Treaty, UN Programme of Action BMS5, and Gender-Based Violence.” Katherine Ronderos participated in the event as a panelist, in which she explored the possible impact of disarmament and demobilisation efforts in post-conflict Colombia on women.

Friday (23 October)

Our delegation wrapped up their week with the final WPS Lecture Series, “After the High Level Review – Connecting Local and Global Action to Implement the WPS Agenda,” which discussed lessons-learned, reflected on the outcomes of the High-level Review of the UNSCR 1325 and key elements needed to ensure successful implementation. Joy Ada Onyesoh, was one of the panelists of this event, in which she shared a field-perspective and how to go about supporting local voices in Nigeria.

Written by Marta Bautista, Local to Global Intern. 

All in all, the outcome of the delegations’ meetings was very fruitful: they shared common concerns and strategized to work together to overcome them, always showing their passion and willingness to work on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.