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National Council
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Formation of a Young Women’s Delegation to
New York, September 15, 2010 -- This year Church Women United (CWU) and the National Council of Churches – Women’s Ministries will organize a joint delegation of young women to attend the United National’s 55th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The annual theme of the Commission is “Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work," and the review theme is “The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child.” The UN
Commission on the Status of Women runs for two weeks, but the CWU / NCC
joint delegations will be a five day experience (February 18 to February 23)
for six women ages 18 to 30 which will include active participation in
Ecumenical Women at the UN (www.ecumenicalwomen.org),
along with engaging of the larger NGO community (http://www.ngocsw.org)
and opportunity to participate in official
UN events.
Four downloadable documents are available below* and provide further information about this join Church Women United / NCC – Women’s Ministry delegation: 1) informational letter, 2) application, 3) fact sheet about the NCC / CWU program and 4) newsletter from last year’s ecumenical young adult delegation. For a virtual experience of
from last year’s ecumenical young adult delegation go
http://vimeo.com/10619075.
Application
deadline is November 1, 2010 and selected
delegates will be informed by Dec. 15th.
For additional
questions or information contact: Djamillah Samad at
djamillahsamad@churchwomen.org or
Rev. Ann Tiemeyer at
atiemeyer@ncccusa.org.
National Council of Churches, USA Young Women’s Leadership Experience UN Commission on the Status of Women
By Ann Tiemeyer
Organizations (NGO’s) at the UN and the history of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). On Monday, February 25th they attended the opening of the 52nd CSW and heard the historic speech of the UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon as he launched a global campaign to end violence against women. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared:
century….And we know that when we work to eradicate violence against women, we empower our greatest resource for development: mothers raising children; law-makers in parliament; chief executives, negotiations, teachers, doctors, policewomen, peacekeepers and more. And so my campaign to end violence against women will continue until 2015 to coincide with the target date for the Millennium Development Goals.” To get the text of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s speech go here.
In her message during worship Emily Rupp, an NCC young women studying geography and the spread of malaria in Africa, called upon all the women and men of faith delegates to the 52nd CSW to not just accept the crumbs under the table, but to strive for gender equality!
Each of these brilliant young women will be posting their reflection on this Young Women’s Leadership Experience on this website during the upcoming month. We wish to thank the United Methodists and each of these young women’s individual church communions for their grant support that made this first Young Women’s leadership Experience possible. The dream is to expand the program to engage young women ages 18 to 30 in a variety of events in the ecumenical movement.
The Rev. Ann Tiemeyer, Program Director for Women’s Ministries of the NCC, is building a data base of young women interested in participating in future Young Women’s Leadership Experiences. If you would like to be included in the pool of interested and interesting young women are receive updates about opportunities, please send an email to atiemeyer@ncccuas.org and request an application for the young women’s leadership experience data pool. Upcoming events that the NCC hopes to send a delegation to include the Women, Faith and Development Alliance Summit (http://www.wfd-alliance.org) and the 2008 Ecumenical Women’s Gathering (http://www.gathering08.org).
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From
February 22 – 26, 2008 , seven young women between the ages of 21 to 28
years old participated in the first Young Women’s Leadership
Experience facilitated by the National Council of the Churches
of Christ in the USA (NCC). The group received intensive orientation
about the NCC, Ecumenical Women at the UN, Non-governmental 
“This
is a campaign … for women and girls who have the right to live free of
violence, today and in the future. It is a campaign to stop the untold
cost that violence against women inflicts on all humankind. We know that
gender inequality is hampering progress toward the Millennium
Development Goals – our common vision to build a better world in the 21st
The
overall theme of the 52nd CSW was Financing for Gender
Equality. The NCC young women attended several side events held at
the UN Church Center which expanded their understanding of gender equal
budgeting and gender architecture (within the UN and Church
organizational structures). Through the support of Ecumenical Women at
the UN, they also explored the theological implications of the Monterrey
Consensus commitments. To learn more about Ecumenical Women and their
unique role and voice at the UN CSW and through the year go to
On
Tuesday morning, in partnership with the delegation from the World
Student Christian Federation, the NCC young women lead worship at the
Church Center with the Biblical text of the Syrophoenician Women (Mark
7:24-30) and the theme of “A World of God’s Inclusion at stake through
Human Exclusion.” The worship experience included dance, music,
personal stories and prayer from many traditions as we named and
remembered many Biblical women who made a difference. 
The
NCC young women finished their 5 day program by attending the final
session of the NCC’s Governing Board meeting being held at the
Interchurch Center. After being introduced to the group they sat in on
the discussion about the role of the Church in this year of elections.
Discussion included the NCC’s Christian Principles in an Election
Year, which can be found