13 September 2012: UN Women and the Global Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign met to discuss civil society engagement on the post-2015 development agenda, highlighting joint aims to ensure that “gender remains central.” Lakshmi Puri, UN Women, called for a “transformational agenda” with gender equality and women’s empowerment as defining principles. Charlotte Bunch, GEAR, called on UN Women to create space for civil society’s voice.

UN Women said a number of consultations with civil society are being planned in the next months to support the thematic global and country consultations on the post-2015 development agenda, and that a web platform is being set up to facilitate online engagement of civil society.

John Hendra, UN Women, outlined three processes on the post-2015 development agenda: the Post-2015 UN Task Team, comprising 60 UN organizations and the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs), which delivered the report, “Realizing the Future We Want For All” to the UN Secretary-General in June 2012; the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (HLP) appointed by the Secretary-General; and the UN Development Group (UNDG) framework for country consultations. He stressed the need for substantive engagement with UN Women entities at country level, in order to influence discussions.

The meeting concluded that strategic partnerships and alliances with Member States and bodies such as the EU are important in influencing the post-2015 agenda. GEAR called for “a cross-conversation” among intergovernmental mechanisms and processes, such as the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, and planning for the 20th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+20), so as to ensure that processes are aligned. [UN Women Press Release] [GEAR Website]