The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), UN Women, media and NGO partners globally will in November 2013 hold the ‘First Global Forum on Media and Gender.’ The Forum is meant to be an important follow-up to one of the critical areas of concern of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, “Women and the Media Diagnosis”, and its strategic objectives.
Organisers plan to have representation at the Forum from all regions of the world and from as many countries as possible. It will be attended by representatives of media houses, broadcasting and journalists’ unions/associations, community media networks, NGOs advocating for gender equality and women’s empowerment, journalism education organizations and other related training institutions, media self-regulatory bodies, policy makers, relevant government bodies etc.
Billed to hold in a yet to be determined city in India, the key objective of the Forum will be to form a Global Alliance for Media and Gender. It will foster debate, provide training, encourage the sharing of experiences and host a high level session, which will be informed by the consensus of all stakeholders. The high level session will design the Global Alliance for the “Women and Media Follow-up” of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
The Forum will be a process expected to commence long before the November 2013 date when it will hold. Part of the activities will include preparatory online consultations and meetings linked to other related and already planned events in all regions. ‘Women with the Wave’ regional meeting organized by the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union is one such example which was supported by UNESCO.
UNESCO invites donors and other stakeholders to join forces to address one of the most important development issues of our time, gender equality and women’s empowerment. Interested organisations and persons are encouraged to visit UNESCO’s website or contact Alton Grizzle at a.grizzle@unesco.org for further information.
