Pictured here are WILPF members from the United States, United Kingdom, Palestine, Ukraine,  and international staff at the WILPF Secretariat, during the meet and greet event on Thursday, March 9, 2023.

by Shilpa Pandey and Jan Corderman
WILPF US CSW Coordinators

April 2023

After a hiatus of three years due to the pandemic, the WILPF US section was able to relaunch its CSW program that consists of two parts, the Local to Global and the UN Practicum in Advocacy. It was encouraging to see enthusiastic participation from WILPF members; however, it was especially heartening to witness young students of diverse backgrounds from Boston University and Florida University join in as the Practicum participants this year.

The theme this year was “innovation and technological change and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.”

One of the highlights of this year’s program was a special meet and greet event organized by the WILPF US section and held on the evening of Thursday, March 9th, where members from Ukraine, Palestine, the United Kingdom, and the International WILPF Secretariat came together for an informal interaction and gathering to share about their respective regions work. This was especially helpful as we rarely get an opportunity to meet with our sisters in conflict-ridden areas such as Ukraine and Palestine and learn more about the challenges they are facing. These interactions enable us to think about how we in the WILPF US section can better collaborate and extend solidarity to our international sisters.

To read more about the CSW programs and how they help build WILPF for the future, read Jan Corderman’s January 2023 eNews article.