Vienna Cafe Invitation to YLYPs

NGO CSW/NY and friends are excited to invite you to apply to participate in a virtual “Vienna Cafe” during CSW66, where civil society members will meet virtually with representatives of Member States. 

One of the benefits of past CSWs has been the meetings between government delegates and representatives of NGOs, whether in the Delegates Lounge, the corridors of the UN basement or the inimitable Vienna Cafe. The Coronavirus pandemic has obviously eliminated these possibilities, and this is why we would like to recreate the opportunity online with the virtual meetings at the “Vienna Cafe.”

Our aim is to ensure a diversity of women’s rights and feminist NGO representatives can access this space, even as the space, time and resources are limited. In an effort to be transparent and inclusive, we are opening the meetings to selected representatives of some of the major women’s advocacy groups active during the CSW to participate.  The groups invited to participate are: NGO CSW Regional Groups (Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Arab & MENA, NY, Geneva/Vienna), North America/Europe Caucus, Women’s Rights Caucus, LBTI Caucus, Young Feminist Caucus, Women’s Major Group, Women and Gender Constituency, SRHR and Climate Justice Coalition, Action Nexus FACJ/EJR (WWG on  Financing for Development), YLYPs, Working Group on Girls and WAGGS.

If you are interested in participating in one of three virtual Vienna Cafe sessions, please submit this form by Friday, 25 February. Five applicants will be selected to participate.

• Each person should provide their full name, email address and their 2 preferred sessions (see below).
• Selected participants will ultimately be assigned to 1 specific session and they will be sent a registration link for their specific session
• Selected participants will not necessarily be able to choose which Member State they meet with during their session, for technical reasons.

The meeting platform is REMO, an online virtual meeting space that is both secure and easy to manage for first time users. Watch a REMO tutorial here.

Cafe Schedule:
We are planning for three meetings of the virtual “Vienna Cafe:”

• First meeting: Wednesday 9 March, 8:30am to 9:30am EST (the week before the CSW)
• Second meeting: Wednesday 16 March, 1:30pm to 2:30pm EDT (1st week of CSW)
• Third meeting: Wednesday 23 March, 6:30pm to 7:30pm EDT (2nd week of CSW)

Member State and other representatives:

• We are inviting member-state representatives to each session
• There are a maximum of 6 seats per virtual table: for 1 or 2 member-state representatives and up to 4 or 5 representatives of civil society.
• We expect at least 4 Member States participants at each session
• There can be additional tables for Member States to meet with the civil society representatives, as needed.

Civil Society Participants:
Some important things to note for civil society participants:

• Prioritized participation of people who would not otherwise have access to delegates;
• All participants should be following the negotiations on the Agreed Conclusions and are comfortable speaking to the topic;
• Ensuring diversity and inclusiveness (age, geography, issue area, ability, identity, +++)
• Translation will not be provided but it’s possible some Member States will prefer a language other than English (we will not know this until early March)

Criteria for Participants:

• Participation in advocacy efforts at prior CSW’s
• Currently active member of said coalition/group
• Contribution to the “Zero-draft” final outcome document
• Thematic focus on current priority theme and review theme

All participants agree that:

• The cafe is specifically designed to facilitate conversations related to CSW66.
• It is an advocacy space for diplomatic exchange of views on the topic of CSW; it is not a space for confrontation.
• The virtual Vienna Cafe is conducted under Chatham House Rules.
• It is an opportunity to share your priorities, advocacy messaging It is an opportunity to listen to government priorities.
• It is not a fundraising space.
• It is not a space to bring individual or organizational issues outside the scope of CSW66.
• The session format is adaptable to the group, e.g. it could begin with CS sharing views or with MS sharing views; this should be agreed during the session.
• Everyone there should have space to speak and interact, to ask questions and clarify points. ‘Take space and make space.’
• Discrimination, disrespect, hate and racism have no place in the cafe.

*|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|*
*|LIST:DESCRIPTION|*

Our mailing address is:

*|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|*

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

*|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|*
*|END:IF|*