After an amazing two weeks CSW has drawn to a close.

We have been exposed to amazing women.  Some of them have been famous, some of them working at the grassroots, some of them working in national organisations, some of them working in developing countries, in rural communities, in cities, with young women, and with older women.

We have learnt so many things, about the feminisation of HIV Aids, the progress around women in public life, the role of men and boys in anti-violence activities, women and peace making, specific issues facing girls and successes around anti violence activities.

We have reviewed our progress since Beijing and noted that while we have made some progress, there is still much to do.

We have renewed our commitment to the Beijing Platform, and specifically focused on priority activities - around maternal mortality, economic empowerment for women and HIV Aids. We have celebrated as the UN has made a commitment to establishing and resourcing a new gender entity.

We have met eachother and shared our stories. We have laughed together, cried together, and stood in solidarity.

As we said goodbye to eachother, we swapped details and promised to stay connected.  After sharing this experience together we are stronger, nurtured, inspired and invigorated.  We have made a commitment to work together to support eachother in our collective aim to empower women and girls and create an equal community.

We hope through sharing our experiences on this blog others have been able to get a sense of how CSW works, and what this means for us in our local communities.

We thank you for sharing our excitement, for the comments back to us and for being interested about our work at an international level.  We are very excited to be home soon to share the experience more, to work through what it means for us and how we can make the most of the opportunity that the YWCA has extended to us.  We look forward to working with you on our joint endeavour.



Delegates at CSW 2010