UNITAR Executive Director joins International Geneva Gender Champions Network

25 November 2015, Geneva, Switzerland - On 23 November 2015 UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNITAR’s Executive Director, Nikhil Seth, was proud to announce his support for the Geneva Gender Champions initiative of Michael Møller, United Nations Office at Geneva Director-General, and H.E.Ambassador of the United States of America, Pamela Hamamoto.

The International Geneva Gender Champions Network (IGGC) was launched in July this year, bringing together Permanent Representatives and Heads of UN Agencies in Geneva, to serve as leaders for gender equality. By connecting institutions and individuals in a new constellation, the network is enabling a deeper level of engagement towards gender equality and diversity.

As well as signing the Gender Panel Parity Pledge, UNITAR’s Executive Director has commited to the following actions:

Monitor and annually report gender disaggregated statistics from UNITAR training activities and achieve equal participation of men and women in non-peacemaking training activities
Strengthen UNITAR’s cooperation with UN Women and scale up the activities of the Women’s Leadership Programme

The year 2015 has marked concrete steps forward for UNITAR with respect to building gender equality and women’s empowerment in Geneva and beyond. With the launch of it’s Women’s Leadership Programme, over 200 women have benefited from training programmes since May 2015, with a 100% appreciation rate. The Women’s Leadership Programme is working hand-in-hand with UN Women and across the UN System, with the mandate to build skills, knowledge and capacities of government officials accredited to the United Nations and its entities.

In order to scale-up the activities of the Women’s Leadership Programme in 2016, UNITAR has opened a Trust Fund for Women’s Empowerment, which is currently inviting contributions from partners. For more information, please contact Emily Fraser on emily.fraser< at >unitar.org

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