#uniccanberra

Gender Equality and the Together Campaign promoted in Canberra through a partnership between UNIC Canberra and the Canberra Multicultural Women’s Forum.

On the 6th of September in Canberra migrant and refugee women together with UNIC Canberra held the first of two seminars focusing on the skills sets and strategies that migrant and refugee women need in order to strengthen their gender equality advocacy skills.

One popular strategy was to ensure that young people and families had access to education on the rights of women and girls.

Another was for the host community to understand the balancing act that some women undertake between balancing their role of gender equality advocates while at the same time respecting their individual cultural identities.

On the 23 August to celebrate World Humanitarian Day UNIC Canberra organised a Diplomatic briefing via Webex by the UN Resident Coordinator, Papua New Guinea, Mr Roy Trivedy. 

The briefing was focused on the El Nino climate pattern over the last year, its impact on Papua New Guinea and the corresponding humanitarian efforts to assist communities.

Beginning his briefing, Mr Trivedy said that the El Nino brought with it severe drought and frosts which was catastrophic for a country like Papua New Guinea which has 80 percent of its population heavily reliant of subsistence agriculture. 

He explained the various impacts of the El Nino and how communities struggled to cope. One main issue was the lack of rainfall which resulted in the rivers and rainwater catchments drying up leading to a drastic decrease in access to clean water for drinking, cooking and washing. And where communities were reliant on waterways for transport the drop in water level caused difficulties in accessing markets, he said. 

In addition to these problems drought created food shortages and food insecurity as food gardens wouldn't grow - resulting in some communities having to rely on wild crops and berries which is generally regarded as famine food, he added.

Mr Trivedy also explained how education and health facilities were affected with many schools in the country having to close as both teachers and students needed to travel longer distances to find water and food. In the area of health - water shortages created more hardship for pregnant women as often they had to bring their own water to the clinics to assist in the post delivery stage.

In response to the worsening situation, Mr Trivedy explained how the UN and partners addressed and are continuing to address these situations. In addition to their ongoing work, in January/February the UN conducted a nation-wide assessment and it was found that 1.4 million people were regarded as severe food insecure and up to 200,000 people extremely food secure - the latter meaning that people were having to manage on one meal a day or even skip the one meal a day. 

A Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) appeal was then launched for 37 million dollars with the funds targeted for life saving delivery of food and nutrition support. In addition to this water and sanitation in health facilities and also in agricultural recovery is being targeted.

Only 39 percent of the CERF  appeal has been funded to date, he said. In answer to a question on where things in Papua New Guinea are tracking now Mr Trivedy said that in March/April this year, many parts of the country had good rainfall, in fact, he added, part of the current worry is the El Nina and issues around landslides impacting on some communities.

However he noted that there are still some parts of the country where rainfall has been erratic so some communities require continued support and consequently the UN and partners will assist the most vulnerable where possible.

But, Mr Trivedy stressed, the aim is not to try and provide one hundred percent supply to everybody partially because there is not the resources - but also it is vital  to continue to work with provincial coordinators to ensure that the traditional coping mechanisms and family support mechanisms are not undermined.

In his final remarks he stated that the UN clearly recognizes Papua New Guinea as a clearly affected country by the El Nino and changes in climate in general and is continuing to  work with the national government on disaster planning for the medium and longer term.

Equally,he said, that the UN recognizes that it is really important to ensure that communities in Papua New Guinea become more aware of the Sustainable Development Goals and for the communities themselves to work with partners  to achieve theses goals - working together, towards better lives for all.

On 9 August 2016 UNIC Canberra spoke to the Australian Catholic University students across its six campuses via a video conference. Students from Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Ballarat had the opportunity to learn about the different career avenues with the United Nations.

The presentation was followed by a short questions and answers session with students being particularly interested in the Young Professionals Programme and the opportunities presented by the new UN online volunteering website. 

The students asked whether having dual citizenship was an advantage when looking for work with the UN and the answer was yes since it increased their chances in participating in the YPP exam and the Associate Expert Programme, participation in both of which depends on the applicants citizenship. Also having legal rights to work in more countries increases the opportunities to work as a UN local staff in different countries.

Ahead of the 47th Session of the UN Statistical Commission on 8-11 March, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Lenni Montiel, Director of UN DESA’s Statistics Division Stefan Schweinfest, and Chief of the Statistical Service Branch in UN DESA’s Statistics Division Francesca Perucci discuss the development of indicators for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.