News

On 14 April 2021, five Champions from IGC Hubs of Geneva, Nairobi and Den Haag gathered to exchange on the topic of intersectionality.

On International Women’s Day, the Chair of the IGC Global Board Mr. Martin Chungong received the Inaugural SDG5 Male Champion for Change Award.

The two-week period of CSW saw hundreds of side and parallel events. To gain some clarity, the International Gender Champions Secretariat analysed the over one hundred official CSW65 side events to illustrate the main topics fellow Champions addressed in panel events.

Following elections in 2020, the global proportion of women in parliament reached a record 25.5 per cent, representing an increase of 0.6 points compared with 2019, according to the IPU’s latest Women in Parliament report.

Whilst our ability to connect and have informal exchanges has been made more challenging by the move to a virtual environment, the IGC presents a unique platform for Champions to connect across our multilateral hubs and share experiences and ideas. This is the Time to Talk – Champion Conversation Series.

On Tuesday 16 February 2021, the Paris Hub of the International Gender Champions network proudly held its inaugural Champion-Level Event.

“…our point of departure is not that women are inherently ‘fair’ but that gender differences are rooted in culture and social structures. Thus, the gender factor should not be seen as a monolithic phenomenon, but rather as a hub for complex relationships.” (Stensöta/Wängnerud, 2018)

Anne-Sophie Lois, UN Representative in Geneva and New York for Plan International and member of the Global Board of IGC, recently conducted a workshop for the network on integrating an intersectional approach our IGC Commitments. In this interview, she shares her thoughts on the topic.

On 10 December 2020, the Trade Impact Group launched the publication “Delivering on the Buenos Aires declaration: On trade and women's economic empowerment”.

The latest #INTGenderChampions podcasts with UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya, Siddharth Chatterjee and Australian Ambassador Alison Chartres.

While 2020 has not been a typical year in almost any sense of the word, the IGC network is leaving it and entering 2021 with more wisdom, perspective, resilience and lessons learned. We encourage our community to translate our insights now into more ambitious and targeted, S.M.A.R.T. commitments and even more powerful initiatives for the coming year.

“The rights and needs of women and adolescent girls in emergencies are often overlooked, and COVID-19 has made matters worse, with rising intimate partner violence, sexual violence and child marriage”, said Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).