UN team activities on World Health Day
UN team in Rome
Team members: Masha Volodina (team coordinator), Anna Rappazzo, Noemi Ruzzi, Massimo De Luca, Giusi Cavallaro and Olivia Graham (trainee)
Italian Girl Guides participate in high-level seminar on climate change
A group of Italian Girl Guides visited the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The girls played an active role in a high-level seminar ‘Climate change: challenges and opportunities for men and women farmers’. of the United Nations (FAO). This special event explored how men and women and their health are affected differently by extreme weather conditions, unpredictable seasonal trends, global warming and rising sea levels. The Icelandic Minister of the Environment, Ms Thorunn Sveinbjarnardóttir, said at the seminar that the effect of climate change “on gender equality and women’s empowerment could be profound, and could in many areas of the world diminish considerably the progress we have made so far in securing gender equality”. FAO Deputy Director-General James Butler and other experts joined the more than 150 participants in exploring these issues.
The Italian Girl-Guides delegation addressed the panel of speakers from the floor asking about food security and the right to food in the context of climate change. The group has prepared this question for the seminar after researching climate change and food security. Masha Volodina, Noemi Ruzzi, Giusi Cavallaro and Massimo De Luca from Rome UN team represented WAGGGS at the special event. UN team in Nairobi
Team members: Catherine Nyambala (team coordinator), Anne Onunga, Claudia Kabui, Mutinta Munyati, Trixie Ogot (trainee), Pauline Onunga Akello (trainee)
The UN team in Nairobi planned an amazing activity ‘Bringing Sara to life’ which sadly couldn’t be put into action due to the unrest in Kenya earlier this year. Catherine Nyambala, team coordinator of UN team Nairobi, describing the planned project:
“The educational Sara resources produced by UNICEF use comic book characters and animated film to communicate socially sensitive issues affecting young girls. Our plan was to host a musical show based on the Sara comic books. We thought this would be a great follow up to the books and also a great way of sending out our message in a fresh manner.
“We had identified three key messages to deliver through the play which are also part of our focus for the year 2008. These are Female Genital Mutilation, HIV andAIDS and discovering one’s potential.
“We had contacted a reputable and respected entertainment company to work with. The idea was to convince them to get the actors to perform pro bono as a contribution to the plight of girls. Our intention was to partner with experienced individuals from the Kenya Girl Guides Association network including former WAGGGS Representatives to invite key personalities who are involved in those themes and who are also keen on other topics on WAGGGS’ agenda.
“However, we will keep trying find another opportunity to “bring Sara to life” in the future.”
UN team in Paris
Team members: Cecilia Grimaldi (team coordinator), Marie Leclerc, Brigitte de Panthou, Marie-Louise Cusack (trainee)
The UN team in Paris convened to plan their action for April 2008 and decided that they want to run a big UN action day which involves lots of high-profile guests and raises their profile at UNESCO as experts on girls’ issues and non-formal education substantially. In order to prepare this big event the team decided to postpone the action day to 2009 and use the time for planning and preparations with Cecilia Grimaldi, UN team coordinator in Paris, in the lead. You will find updates on this event in the Our Voice section.
UN team in Vienna
Team members: Jutta Mosbach (coordinator), Ketevan Siradze (trainee)
Every global effort needs coordination and the UN team coordinator in Vienna, Jutta Mosbach, stepped up to this task. Instead of running an event which might not be suitable regarding the agenda of the UN agencies in Vienna, Jutta pulled together information from the other five teams around the world, kept everybody updated about the projects and relayed information with other WAGGGS volunteers and staff.
For queries about the UN team activities around World Health Day please use the comment section.
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