Book launch "FeMALE Diplomacy - Women in Foreign Policy"

Only a few women sit at the negotiating table when it comes to war and peace. Foreign and security policy remains a largely male dominated domain in politics. As of June 2019, 11 women are serving as Head of State and 12 are serving as Head of Government. As of January 2019, only 20.7 per cent of government ministers worldwide were women. The five most commonly held portfolios by women ministers are: Social Affairs; followed by Family/Children/Youth/Elderly/Disabled; Environment/Natural Resources/Energy; Employment/Labour/Vocational Training; and Trade/Industry.

Women in Politics fostering Digital Inclusion

Women are 12% less likely to use the internet globally than men. In low and middle-income countries, the gap between women’s use and that of men even widens to 26%. Most pronounced becomes this digital divide in LDCs, where women are 33% less likely than men to use the internet. These digital inequalities matter particularly as digital technologies, including the internet, are having increasingly profound impacts also on other aspects of economy, society and culture. Any action to enhance digital equality therefore has not only important positive impacts on gender equality in general but also contributes to the development of societies. In order to enhance women’s equality and empowerment through digital inclusion all stakeholders need to work together in order to foster skills and education, to provide connectivity, and to create adequate policy frameworks.

Luncheon Debate "The female face of migration"

Although the share of women in the total number of international migrants fell from 49.3% (2000) to 47.9% in 2019, the situation varies across regions. In North America, Europe and Oceania the percentage of migrating women has surpassed 50%. Also Latin America and the Caribbean are hosting already 49.9% of migrant women. These women often migrate alone in search for better jobs, education opportunities and greater freedoms. On their journey or in their countries of destination they often become victims of fraud, abuse, rape or discrimination. According to UNODC data the majority of victims of human trafficking are women and young girls (71%). This data clearly highlights the need to strengthen the instruments for protection, but also for information campaigns amongst migrant women. We cordially invite you to discuss with our panelists how current challenges can best be addressed.

Land rights for women as a factor for development

In half of the world, women are still unable to assert their land and property rights. Although inroads have been made over the years on the legal side, the gap between law and practice remains. According to FAO data, agricultural productivity could be enhanced by 20% to 30% if more women would have secure tenure of the land they are working on. In many societies, be it in Latin America, Sub-Sahara Africa or even in the Balkans, discriminatory social practices still prevent to harvest the benefits for socio-economic development that secure land rights for women could bring. Therefore, we invite you to discuss with our panelists how a lack of understanding of laws within communities and families can be addressed, how women can gain better access to legal services and how also other relevant factors such as financial instruments need to be adjusted.

The United Nations Secretariat as international development actor

In recent years, not least due to the reforms of the UN Secretary General António Guterres, the role of the United Nations Secretariat as a coordinator and actor in international development cooperation has grown in importance. Wasim Mir (Senior Fellow, UN Foundation) and Sebastian Borchmeyer (Senior Program Officer, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung New York) examined in the research report Reevaluating the United Nations Secretariat's Contribution to Economic Development to what extent the United Nations Regular Budget should count as Official Development Aid (ODA) as defined by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). For the UN Secretariat, the coefficient determining the ODA eligible share of an organization’s budget has been 18% since 2013 – this is considerably lower than the coefficient of other international (development) organizations. This underestimation of the UN Secretariat's ODA Coefficient no longer does justice to its role in implementing 2030 Agenda and a reassessment is therefore necessary.

Invitation to the official launch event: Our Common Digital Future

Charter for a Sustainable Digital Age

The recently published report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation recommends to develop goals, principles and priority actions for a Global Commitment for Digital Cooperation. The German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) strongly supports this proposal. Considering the great transformative force of digitalization, it is striking that digital technology hardly features in the SDGs. Both digitalization and the 2030 Agenda are key drivers of global change and must be brought into alignment to enable global sustainable development. In its latest report, Towards Our Common Digital Future, WBGU argues that this effort requires a normative reference frame and advocates a Global Charter for a Sustainable Digital Age.

Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance

Dinner and Reception of the Strategy Group

On September 24th, KAS New York hosts a reception and dinner with the Strategy Group of the newly founded ‘Global Investors for Sustainable Development’ (GISD) Alliance. The group consisting of experts appointed by the CEOs of GISD members met in New York to develop a plan of action and to prepare the official launch of the GISD Alliance on October 16th.

Luncheon discussion with Dr. Gerd Müller, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development

Am 24. September läd das New Yorker Büro der KAS zu einem Mittagessen mit Dr. Gerd Müller, Bundesminister für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, sowie deutschen internationalen Mitarbeitern, die in verschiedenen UN-Organisationen tätig sind, ein. Anlass für den Aufenthalt von Dr. Gerd Müller in New York war der jährliche Besuch der UN-Generalversammlung und seine Teilnahme an den SDG-, Klima- und Gesundheitsgipfeln.