Turning the Tide: Translating the Promise into Action

Commitment to Action

Turning the Tide: Translating the Promise into Action

Commitment by

Vital Voices Global Partnership

In 2009, Vital Voices Global Partnership joined public and private partners to bring new solutions to enduring challenges facing women across the globe. The organization has worked collaboratively with individual leaders as well as public and private sector institutions to implement its four-tiered commitment to (1) influence policy, (2) raise public awareness, (3) strengthen the capacity of women leaders on the frontlines of change, and (4) attract new stakeholders to support gender equality and international women's leadership as a vehicle for global progress.

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Tabs

Overview

Summary

Commitment

Turning the Tide: Translating the Promise into Action

Launched

2009

Est. Duration

3 Years

Estimated Total Value

$4,634,000

Region

Northern America

Countries

Global

Commitment by

Vital Voices Global Partnership

Partner(s) of the Commitment Maker(s)

Donna C. McLarty, NEXUS Institute, The Mosaic Foundation, Exxonmobil, New York University, Humanity United, The George Washington University, The Avon Foundation, Man Up Campaign, Elizabeth F. Bagley

Details

Vital Voices will publish policy and action recommendations for advancing the status of women and release the publication during the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March, 2010 in an effort to influence action affecting women globally. Additionally, Vital Voices will work with partners to host four international events gathering new stakeholders to discuss innovative strategies to address international women's issues. These events will include training for international women leaders and serve to inform targeted programing at the regional and local levels. Follow-on programming will be designed and implemented to address the most pressing challenges facing women today, with an emphasis on the global scourge of human trafficking and the needs of women in Muslim majority communities in the Middle East and North Africa. As part of its commitment, Vital Voices will also seek to engage the public in dialogue surrounding international women's issues and the power of women's leadership. Vital Voices will stage its documentary play, SEVEN, internationally and distribute an advocacy toolkit to its audiences. Vital Voices will also launch a Campus Chapter Initiative and a close partnership with the ManUp Campaign, Vital Voices will engage international youth, aprticularly young men, to become active supporters and advocates for the protection of women's rights and the promotion of women's leadership in the public and private sectors.

Background

This commitment will honor the fifteenth anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995. The conference and its Platform for Action adopted by the world community of 189 nations continues to be a rallying point and organizing tool for women's rights and empowerment across the world. At Beijing, current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then First Lady, delivered a landmark speech declaring women's rights as human rights and sowed the seeds for the U.S. State Department's Vital Voices Democracy Initiative, which became the independent bipartisan non-governmental organization, Vital Voices, that it is today. Every five years following the 1995 confernece, the UN conducts a formal review review of progress and setbacks to date on the commitments of the Beijing Conference, and NGOs often conduct their own assessments, using the occasions to renew enthusiasm and encourage action among government and civil society alike. As the 15th anniversary nears, this milestone offers an invaluable opportunity not only to shine a spotlight on the status of women across the globe but to to inspire innovative approaches to solving the 'unfinished business' of the conference. Vital Voices and its commitment partners believe it is critical to renew the momentum of the women's rights movement and attract new talent, partnerships and ideas to the effort. We intend to widen the community of stakeholders and motivate them to act as much out of their own self-interest as their sense of justice.

Partnership Opportunities

SEEKING: financial assistance, implementing partners, media and marketing opportunities.
OFFERING: implementing partnership, best practice information.

Progress Reports

April 2012
In Winter 2009, Vital Voices joined more than 50 global thought leaders and grassroots activists to form La Pietra Coalition to Advance Women and the World, an international coalition dedicated to addressing the systemic challenges to women's full and equal participation in society. To date, the Coalition boasts membership from over one hundred non-governmental organizations and individuals who are committed to advancing the global women's rights movement. Most recently, La Pietra Coalition sponsored Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) 2012 Women's Economic Opportunity Index and Report. This was an update and expansion of the WEO Index released in 2010. The Report presents 2012's global economic landscape facing women and analyzes laws, practices and attitudes that affect women workers and entrepreneurs, highlighting key steps to improve opportunities and economic performance worldwide. The Index, ranking 128 countries, was commissioned and funded by Vital Voices Global Partnership, La Pietra Coalition, ExxonMobil, the New Zealand Aid Programme, the New Zealand government's international development initiative, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This type of research provides the data that allows us to make evidenced-based policy recommendations and supports the Coalition's main tenets. An event to release the report, with a moderated panel discussion, was hosted by La Pietra Coalition in March 2012. The panel featured four speakers who were instrumental in the development and implementation of the project: Alyse Nelson, President and CEO, Vital Voices Global Partnership; Sandra Taylor, Senior Director, La Pietra Coalition; Leo Abruzzese, Director of Global Forecasting, Economist Intelligence Unit; Kah Walla, Presidential Candidate, Cameroon.
In addition to its work with the Coalition, Vital Voices has joined public and private partners to host 13 events to raise awareness of women's leadership and the importance of women's participation in society, and has joined partners to organize 16 capacity building programs for women leaders across five continents. The Women Can and Do media campaign has also elevated the profile of women's leadership through a major media campaign, which includes advertisement spots in major publications such as TIME and Forbes. Vital Voices has also made a concerted effort to bring new stakeholders to the forefront of the women's movement, including men and youth populations. In March 2010, Vital Voices successfully hosted an awards program to highlight exceptional male leaders who are dedicated to protecting women's human rights.
Vital Voices Global Partnership's 'Turning the Tide Commitment' successfully empowered thousands of emerging women leaders through leadership and skills development programming. Additionally, the commitment helped the organization inform millions of individuals regarding the status of women and the importance of women's leadership through the Women Can campaign and the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) 2012 Women's Economic Opportunity Index and Report.