The sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) takes place from March 6 to 17 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The CSW principal global intergovernmental body is exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. The Annual Session is the biggest gathering of gender equality advocates in the world and it convenes Ministers, high-level government officials, development partners and NGOs at the United Nations in New York in March for two weeks to discuss progress, challenges and set policies and global standards on gender equality and the rights of women and girls. This year’s priority theme is focused on the promotion of equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the digital age through innovation, education, and technological change.
The Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sport, Arts, Culture and Social Development of the Kingdom of Lesotho and the regional programme Partnerships for Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in Southern Africa (PfP) funded by the German Government and the Ford Foundation and implemented by GIZ, are cooperating in the organization of this side event to share good practices and lessons learnt from the collaborative development and management of digital solutions and their integration within existing strategies to change individual beliefs and social norms around gender-based violence. The side event “Digital solutions to prevent gender-based violence in Lesotho” will take place on March 15th, at the UN Head Quarters in New York, with the participation of stakeholders in gender equality across all sectors.
Following an introductory speech to highlight the relevance of working towards gender equality in Lesotho by Matau Futho-Letsatsi, Ministry of Gender of Lesotho, and Marcus Koll, Counsellor German Mission to the UN, the programme manager of PfP, Begoña Castro Vázquez, will showcase the successful cooperation between GIZ and the Ministry through the Nokaneng initiative. Nokaneng brings together this year’s CSW themes into one exemplary initiative: a multi-stakeholder and user-centred approach to develop digital solutions for the prevention of GBV with government, non-governmental and private sector actors in Lesotho. In particular, one component of the flagship – A smartphone App and SMS-based solution – aims to sensitize women, stimulate conversation and build solidarity and therewith pave the way to reduce the acceptance of gender-based violence (GBV). Save the date flyer 2023- CSW-Lesotho-GIZ- new update
