AIWA Panel at UN to Examine Programs, Methodologies for Gender Equality

NEW YORK—Once again this year, the Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA) will sponsor a panel at the United Nations (U.N.) in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which will take place this year from March 14-24.

Celebrating its 60th anniversary, the CSW has established its priority theme in 2016 as “Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development.” The review theme is “The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.”

As a non-governmental organization (NGO) at the U.N. since 1994, AIWA will participate in the NGO CSW Forum, which annually attracts thousands of individuals from all over the world to discuss issues pertaining to women and girls, to network, and to share strategies and effective practices.

The AIWA panel will take place on Mon., March 14, at the CUNY Graduate Center (Room 1), 365 Fifth Ave., New York City, and is open to the public.

Currently, humanitarian needs in all areas, including those affecting women, are enormous, while the means to meet these needs are limited. The importance of allocating resources carefully in order to maximize benefits is obvious.

The problem then arises of evaluating programs and policies to determine the most efficient use of resources. AIWA’s panel will consider the “Development of Programs and Evaluation Methodologies Designed to Achieve Gender Equality.”

Specifically participants in the panel will describe the development, implementation, assessment, and institutionalization of programs, movements, and projects in order to maximize their impact, with a focus on real examples, data, and diverse research approaches.

Dr. Susan Raymond, Executive vice president for research, evaluation, and strategic planning for Changing Our World, will be the moderator of the panel. Raymond created the first technology and public policy program at the New York Academy of Sciences, and has been a project officer at the World Bank and a senior consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She has published extensively in the areas of philanthropy, economics, health care, and corporate responsibility.

The panel is comprised of:

– Dr. Shakeh Kaftarian, president of Kaftarian & Associates, a consulting firm offering empowerment evaluation services to national and international organizations. She has held positions as a research and evaluation scientist at the National Institutes of Health and has served as senior advisor at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Her interests include community coalition building, substance abuse prevention programming, and women’s health research.

– Maro Matosian, director of the Women’s Support Center (WSC) in Yerevan, Armenia, an organization that was founded five years ago through the support of the Tufenkian Foundation, USAID, and AIWA. Beginning as a hotline and walk-in service, WSC has opened a full-time shelter and developed a comprehensive program to meet the immediate and rehabilitative needs of victims of domestic violence. It also works to inform and educate the public, empower women, and seek judicial reform that would include domestic violence as a specific crime in the penal code.

– Judy Norsigian, co-founder and for many years executive director of Our Bodies Ourselves as well as an author and editor of the organization’s landmark book on sexuality and reproductive health. An internationally renowned speaker and author on a range of women’s health concerns, her areas of focus include women and healthcare reform, abortion and contraception, childbirth (especially the role of midwifery), genetics and reproductive technologies, and drug and device safety.

– Alexandra Pittman, founder of AVP Global Consulting, which specializes in research and evaluation for human rights, women’s rights, and social justice organizations, networks, and movements. Recently she has been examining the roles of NGOs in advancing women’s rights and feminist movements, for example by working with peacebuilding and women’s rights organizations in Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as designing and implementing a participatory evaluation process with Moroccan activists.

This year AIWA is marking 25 years of promoting and enriching the social, economic, and personal advancement of Armenian women worldwide. A celebration will be held on the weekend of Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Mass. For more information about the AIWA panel on March 14 or about AIWA programs and activities, contact AIWA by writing to 65 Main St., Watertown, MA 02472; calling (617) 926-0171; e-mailing info@aiwainternational.org; or visiting www.aiwainternational.org.