Surabaya, Indonesia (July 27, 2016)— WEDO attended the third session of the Preparatory Committee of the Habitat III Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (PrepCom3) in Surabaya, Indonesia, from Monday, 25 July to Wednesday, 27 July 2016.

WEDO’s Interim Chair of the Board, Soon-Young Yoon, presented at a number of events, including on Cities for CEDAW, which is a bottom-up campaign that is providing a platform for mayors, women’s commissions, civil society stakeholders, youth, women and girl leaders to rally together to end gender-based discrimination and violence against women. The presentation sparked a lively discussion on women’s human rights and the New Urban Agenda.

She noted, “The atmosphere was positive and everyone seemed to agree on one thing—it is no longer possible to work in ‘silos’.”

Gender and women’s issues were widely recognized and supported by the Huairou Commission, WEDO and an NGO working group on women in the informal sector. As we head to Quito, WEDO will continue to stress the importance of systematic empowerment and engagement of women in decision-making in the design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review of urban governance, planning, and management.

Read Huairou Commission’s comprehensive brief and set of asks here.

Soon-Young Yoon with Surabaya’s young prize winners for environmental leadership