VALUES & POLICIES

NGO CSW/NY is committed to ensuring that everyone has a fulfilling experience during the NGO CSW Forum. Our goal is to make this space as inclusive and productive as possible through a shared leadership model. Below are some guidelines for successfully navigating the forum, as well as principles to follow to assure a safe environment founded in respect and inclusivity. These principles apply to all of the NGO CSW Forum spaces, and NGO CSW/NY events.

  • Use welcoming and inclusive language. Commit to open dialogue and transparency.
  • Remain driven by our collective mission of advancing gender equality, feminism and women’s rights.
  • Build a culture of excellence, compassion, integrity, and honesty.
  • Respect one another. Listen, avoid assumptions, enable different opinions. Critique ideas, not people.
  • Allow everyone to participate. Don’t dominate the conversation and honor time limits.
  • Show empathy toward other participants.
  • Respect the diversity of languages, opinions and expertise, while acknowledging that sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, transphobia, global North domination and other institutionalized forms of oppression exist.
  • Honor confidentiality and “I” statements (“I” instead of “they,” “we,” or “you”). Speak from your own experience instead of generalizing.
  • Be positive and seek unity. Build people’s ideas up rather than knocking them down, and refrain from personal attacks.
  • This is a space where the voices of the marginalized are amplified and given “expert” priority when recounting their own experiences. Their experiences of oppression are not up for debate or to be refuted in any way.
  • This is an antiracist space meaning that we welcome, value and revere an intersectional approach to feminism. An anti-racist space requires that all of us need to consider our positionality and work actively not to replicate white patriarchal structures including subjugating voices of Black women and women of color.
  • NGO CSW/NY will not tolerate harassment of any kind including but not limited to:
    • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, physical appearance, political affiliation, age, race, national and/or ethnic origin, immigration status, language, religion, or indigeneity.
    • Deliberate intimidation
    • Sustained disruption of discussion
    • Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease

Covid-19 Safety

Please be mindful of your health as well as the health of other attendees, especially those who may be immunocompromised or vulnerable to COVID-19 illness. If you feel ill at any point during the NGO CSW Forum or any NGO CSW/NY in-person events, please wear a mask. Information on COVID-19 testing in NYC can be found here.

Take care of you!

The NGO CSW Forum can be a fast-paced and dynamic environment, and it is okay to feel overwhelmed. It is okay to step away and take a break or try deep breathing exercises: inhale for four counts, hold for four counts, exhale for four counts, hold for four counts and repeat 10 times.

Please feel free to visit our Healing and Community space during the NGO CSW Forum!

Reporting harassment or violations of these guidelines

If you have experienced any form of harassment or encountered a hostile environment during the NGO CSW Forum or in any NGO CSW/NY spaces, please report the experience to safety@ngocsw.org immediately and we will address the situation. NGO CSW/NY has the right and responsibility to remove anyone who does not adhere to these guidelines and principles. Refunds are not given to those who are removed.

Download these Safety Guidelines & Principles.

Working Agreements

NGO CSW/NY is committed to an effective and inclusive work environment.  The Executive Committee developed the following agreements to shape the culture of our organization.

  • Stay mission driven
  • Build a culture of excellence, compassion, integrity and honesty
  • Be present and fully engaged
  • Respect one another - Listen, avoid assumptions, enable different opinions, everyone  participates; no one dominates the conversations, stay on schedule; honor time limits
  • Commit to open dialogue and transparency
  • Honor confidentiality and "I" Statements - speak from your own experience instead of generalizing ("I" instead of "they," "we" or "you")
  • Be kind -  Avoid gossip, Critique ideas, not people
  • Encourage all to shine - Inspire each other
  • Seek unity  (not separation) -Build people's ideas up rather than knocking them down, refrain from personal attacks
  • Be inclusive -  Acknowledge that sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, global North domination and other institutionalized forms of oppression exist.
  • Be positive
  • Appreciate each other and the work
  • Have fun

Anti-Racism Commitment Statement

NGO CSW/NY believes that an effective, broad-based feminist and women’s movement for social transformation must be committed to elimination of racism.

Eliminating racism, colorism, colonial and genocidal practices from our global society, communities and institutions remains an ongoing process requiring persistence, diligence and a concerted commitment to the defence of human rights, independent of race, religion, indigeneity, age, gender or membership in any other minority group.

Great strides must still be made in our ability to recognize and redress the legacy of colonization, slavery, systematic oppressions, and all subsequent forms of violence, in order for our global society to evolve beyond mere tolerance of diverse cultures to walk the path toward enthusiastically embracing and affirming our human and cultural differences.

The feminist and women’s movements have not yet arrived—the virus of racism continues to permeate all aspects of our movements, from generation to generation. NGO CSW/NY is committed to regular self-reflection, striving towards inclusion and transformation!

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