#CitizensVoices and White Ribbon Alliance at UN General Assembly 2017
By Amanda Livingstone, Advocacy and Programs Manager, White Ribbon Alliance
White Ribbon Alliance’s United Nations General Assembly team joined forces in New York on behalf of the Global Alliance at the 72nd UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Angel Katusia from WRA Kenya and Tariah Adams from WRA Nigeria got their first taste of what was to come on Sunday, September 19th at the Social Good Summit, where they were inspired by the lively community of global citizens working to make the world a better place. Meanwhile, our CEO Betsy McCallon was across town at a couple of high-level meetings both on behalf of WRA and her duties as the Chair of the PMNCH NGO Constituency.
Team WRA hit the ground running on Monday, with some of the team attending the Women Deliver — “Deliver for Good: Inspiring SDG Action for Girls and Women” event. This event served as an opportunity to promote the newly launched in-country advocacy strategies currently being used by Women Deliver and its partners and the announcement of Senegal, Kenya and India being the official countries tasked with carrying out the Women Deliver agenda. Another highlight was when the Canadian Development Minster reconfirmed Canada’s feminist development policy promoting women and girls, insisting that they “can no longer be at the back of the queue.”
Other members of the team headed to the United Nations for the Independent Accountability Panel 2017 Report Launch. Leaders in the field of accountability, including Graça Machel, WHO Secretary General Dr. Tedros Adhanom and Independent Accountability Panel Co-Chair Carmen Barroso introduced the new report, “Transformative Accountability for Adolescents: Accountability for the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents in the 2030 Agenda.” Betsy, on behalf of the PMNCH NGO Constituency, provided remarks from the floor commending the report’s call to action for all partners to engage adolescents and emphasized the importance of addressing the political issues that contribute to reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health challenges.
Tariah Adams shared her experiences and asked the panel how they would recommend advocates for adolescent inclusion harness their energy and create space for them to seriously voice their ideas and ensure decision-makers’ feedback in national-level processes.
Later that afternoon we headed to cyberspace with members of the Citizen-Led Accountability Coalition for a Twitter chat as part of the Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) social media relay. The theme was — you guessed it — accountability, and the lively discussion was moderated by none other than WRA Uganda’s Faridah Luyiga, a leader in accountability efforts. The one-hour Q&A session focused on the importance of accountability and adolescents’ role within national-level accountability processes in accelerating progress for maternal and newborn health.
Back on land, part of the team went to the Global Health Council, Medical Sciences for Health and Johnson & Johnson event titled “Resilient and Stable: Building Strong Health Systems to Protect Women, Children and Adolescents” while others attended the PMNCH and Women Deliver “Advocating for Change for Adolescents!” event. The first event talked about how to lessen health system shocks on vulnerable communities. We were thrilled to hear the call for organizations and governments to involve citizens, even in times of conflict and humanitarian disasters, to inform response activities and to use community health workers to bridge the gap between affected communities and humanitarian response workers. The second event highlighted examples of governments from Malawi, Nigeria, India and Cameroon utilizing the Advocating for Change for Adolescents! practical toolkit with support from in-country youth-led adolescent advocacy organizations.
WRA forces came together at the UNFPA event titled “The Case for Investing in Maternal Health: Where Should the Money Go in Humanitarian Settings?” UNFPA Ambassador Ashley Judd provided heartfelt remarks and personal stories about her time volunteering with UNFPA and the importance of access to quality and dignified maternal healthcare. Cris Alonso, a midwife from Mexico, shared her experience working with pregnant women from Latin American countries who, in their search for care, have become stranded at the Mexico-US border with little resources and even less access to maternal healthcare. While difficult conversations, they were important reminders of why we remain committed across the Global Alliance to every woman and child, everywhere.
On Tuesday, Betsy spoke at the Devex roundtable breakfast titled “Closing the gap: Innovative Business Models for Universal Health Coverage,” which aimed to move the global agenda on Universal Health Coverage through discussions with top leaders in global health and across sectors.
That afternoon a few folks headed to the Global Citizen: Movement Makers expo at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, which featured panel discussions on how to build a movement and build a culture around social movements to make them sustainable. Interesting presenters included tech billionaire and philanthropist Sean Parker, Representative Barbara Lee, Bob Bland from the Women’s March and reps from the ACLU. This was a great opportunity for WRA’s National Alliance colleagues to make new connections and learn more about each others’ work on behalf of women, children and adolescents.
Across town, a few of us rolled up our sleeves at the PMNCH Technical Consultation about how to implement — and monitor — the recommendations of the High Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents. Betsy spoke on the introductory panel, honing in on the importance of political accountability and citizen-engagement, providing examples from WRA Nigeria’s campaign in Niger State. It was nice to participate in a workshop-like setup and discuss how maternal health partners can raise awareness of the report, work together to implement the rights-based recommendations, what tools exist or are still needed for implementation and how to ramp up global and national-level M&E of rights-based approaches.
One of the more poignant moments came at the Merck for Mothers flagship event co-hosted by TIME’s Finding Home Series. Fascinating, heartbreaking and inspirational discussions around how we can support maternal health in the Syrian refugee crisis were had between photojournalists, the President of Malta, a Pediatrician-Neonatologist who worked in Jordanian refugee camps, and audience members who worked with refugee populations. There were many parallels to WRA’s work advocating for the most vulnerable, including refugees and other displaced women and children. To learn more about the incredible stories of three pregnant women and their families fleeing Syria and taking refuge in camps across Jordan, follow @FindingHome and @MerckforMothers on Twitter and Instagram.
Wednesday was our last day together and it started with bang. Betsy headed to a top-level WHO breakfast with Dr. Tedros and civil society leaders while a few of us Tariah to the UN for a Facebook Live session hosted by Every Woman Every Child titled “Mean It”. Tariah participated in an informal discussion moderated by a fellow youth leader on what it takes for young people to be meaningfully engaged in development to achieve healthier, more peaceful societies, sharing key lessons from her work in Nigeria.
Later that afternoon, Angel used her experience as a health reporter in Kenya to moderate an EWEC Facebook Live discussion called “We Care: Health Quality and Health Equity,” which focused on how progress is being driven through innovation.
We headed back to cyber space for the the #EPMM Twitter Chat moderated by the Maternal Health Task Force and organized by the Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) Working Group, which focused on specific strategies around ending preventable maternal mortality, while simultaneous working to integrate maternal and newborn care — a key strategy to improving health outcomes for both moms and babies.
Before heading back to Washington, a couple of folks attended the Johnson & Johnson “How to Achieve the SDGs” Expo where they learned about new technology in maternal health that helps healthcare providers deliver babies safely. A few others headed to the Every Woman Every Child High-Level Reception where global leaders discussed the importance of empowering women, children and adolescents, families and communities to foster healthier, more prosperous and peaceful societies. The event also launched the replenishment of the Global Financing Facility in support of EWEC, with the Gates Foundation announcing a $200 Million pledge to help the GFF scale up life-saving services.
In the final stretch, some continued their UNGA journeys on to Thursday, attending more side-meetings with partners new and old, and others took the helm in cyberspace for the #MNCHSelfCare and #QualityCare Twitter chats, rounding out our in-person and social media activities.
Yes, it was exhausting. But it was also inspiring — and productive. A week of handshakes and sore feet was truly an incredible opportunity to share successes and challenges, learn new approaches. Approaches that will advance our mission to ensure that every woman, everywhere enjoys her right to a safe and healthy childbirth so that she and her newborn can survive, thrive and transform.
Donate to White Ribbon Alliance and help protect and promote women’s health around the world. White Ribbon Alliance unites citizens to demand the right to a safe birth for every woman, everywhere. We harness the power of local women and men to achieve lasting change. Our approach is working. Subscribe to WRA Voices and follow WRA on Facebook and Twitter to learn more about the work White Ribbon Alliance does around the world.
