New York, February 24—Highlighting successes of the global 50/50 campaign, WEDO’s Gender and Governance Program Coordinator, Colette Tamko, spoke at a Roundtable organized by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on February 17th, 2009.

In preparation for the 53rd Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) , the Roundtable focused on “Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels,” which is the review theme for this year’s CSW.

The discussion was moderated by Ms. Rachel Mayanja, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. In addition to Ms. Tamko, the speakers were: Mr. Moses Rugema, 2nd Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Rwanda to the United Nations; Ms. Joanne Sandler, Deputy Director of Programs at UNIFEM; and Ms. Sunita Rathore, Tutor and Mentor at the Veerni Project in Jodhpur, India.

In her remarks, Colette Tamko shared some of the achievements of advocacy efforts for women’s equal participation in decision-making, as well as concrete examples of women leaders making a difference around the world.