Bette Levy has been an SI UN Representative since 2011. Four years on, and following her election as Vice-Chair of NGO CSW New York, she shares her experiences with SI and explains what life as UN Rep is really like.  

"How many of you think about the United
Nations at all in your daily life? As a school girl growing up in New York in the
1950’s the UN was a very exciting new body that was going to bring peace to the
world and we had our annual school trips to the UN but once I graduated from
High School and left home for college quite honestly my knowledge about the UN
functions or my interest in the UN just ended. I would sometimes see news
stories on peacekeeping troops or an occasional Security Council resolution but
that’s all I knew until I moved into the neighborhood of the UN in the 1970’s
and then what I became aware of was the road closures and how impossible it is
to get around the city during General Assembly Week due to all the heads of
state.

So, when I first became a SI Rep to the
UN in New York, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into or what to
expect. It was all daunting trying to figure out the different UN committees,
commissions, conventions, bodies and agencies – and the acronyms were beyond
comprehension! The NGO side wasn’t much easier, there is CoNGO and UN-NGLS and
tonnes of other committees that I could join. One could actually be at the UN, seven days a
week and during negotiations 24 hours a day. I was so luck I had great mentors in the Soroptimist reps as well as experienced reps from other organisations, who kindly showed me the way. 

That’s the thing about the NGO community at the UN,
if you want to learn, show any initiative or interest in being involved and
active, someone will take you under their wing. I had many people reach out to
help me and still do.. that’s why I love doing what I do because I am
challenged on a daily basis to do more, to care more and not to be complacent.

The first committee I joined even before I
officially became a rep was the NGO Committee on Mental Health, as I had just
retired from my fulltime work in that field but quickly I was assigned by Lois
Beilin (SI’s previous lead rep in New York) to follow the Commission on Social Development, the Commission
on the Status on Women and the Women’s Major Group in preparation for the 20^th
anniversary of  Rio Summit and Agenda
21. I soon found my self involved with the planning of the Civil Society Forum
for CSocD, that lead to my becoming Treasurer of the executive committee of the
NGO committee and last year co-chair of the forum. Lois volunteered me to be
co-facilitator of the North American/European NGO CSW Caucus that lead to me
becoming a member at large of the executive committee of the NGO CSW/NY. In
July I will begin my term as Vice-Chair of the committee.

 

Photo: Bette (second from left) and other members of NGO CSW New York with memorobilia from the Fourth World Conference on Women, otherwise known as the Beijing Conference. 

But what do I do, how do I spend my time
that’s more difficult to say… I attend many, many meetings both in person (at
the UN and off-site), via webcast or some electronic modality (skype or go to
meeting). These meetings usually take place at some strange time since the
participants are from all over the world and trying to accommodate time zones
is really hard. While I’m complaining about a 7:00 am call it might be 2:00 am
some place else but we all try to join as many calls as possible especially
around the planning for the Post 2015 agenda.

Because I am on the executive committee of
two main NGO committees I have to regularly attend both the monthly meetings and
the executive committee meetings. Then in various roles I am on time limited
task forces and meet until a task is completed. 

For example, over the course of the last two
years, I have been co-chair of the NGO CSW/NY monthly educational sessions, so
I meet regularly with my co-chair to plan what we want to accomplish, then we
contact & meet with potential speakers, moderators and develop the program,
make sure notices are sent out and all the little tasks that go into planning
an educational session.

 

Photo: Bette Levy (second from left) with other members of the IWG 

Monthly,
on the Sunday before the Intergovernmental Negotiations begin, the Women’s Major Group has a strategy
meeting and then daily there are 8:00 am briefing and planning meetings,
where talking points, statements (oral & written) are reviewed. There are
small workgroups that develop the first drafts, often this is done on line
using google docs so those not in New York can participate. Of real significance, are
the small group advocacy meetings with individual member states where we put
forth the WMG position and ask for their support for women’s issues. I also,
participate on the Post 2015 Women’s Coalition communication committee.

The Post 2015 agenda has everyone at the UN
on their toes and on the UN side there have been monthly meetings, expert group
meetings, hearings, informal briefings, roundtables that are sponsored by the
President of ECOSOC.

What happens when you attend a formal UN
Commission, really depends on the Commission. For example the Commission on
Social Development works in a two year cycle. The first year is a review year
and the second year is where policy is decided. In a review year, the entire
two weeks are spent ‘stocktaking’, gathering information on the priority theme
from member states, academia, NGOS and other civil society partners.  This is the opportunity for SI to get their
key wants into the official UN record and informally through conversations with
individual member states.

 

Photo: Bette waiting to present Soroptimist International’s 2015 ECOSOC Oral Statement. Read more and watch the statement here. 

As co-chair of the Civil Society Forum this
past year, not only did I attend all the plenary sessions, meet with member
states but I also was responsible for planning a separate one day civil society
event and I facilitated the daily morning briefings for NGOs with the CSocD
Bureau and UN DESA. The days are long starting at 8:30am for morning briefing
and finishing up at 6:00pm, unless there is a contested issues, a controversial
issue or some other negotiating that is going on and then it can run into the
very early morning of the following day.

When you are a member of an NGO Committee again
depending on the committee there is different levels or tasks that you take on.
Using the same example of CSocD on this committee because I am an officer, I
attend regularly the monthly meeting but also, the executive committee
meetings. I am treasurer so I am responsible for monthly reports, the
bookkeeping and all things fiscal. Besides that I am part of the advocacy
workgroup and I meet with member states to ensure that the social dimension
(people) are included in whatever the focus at the UN is, right now that’s the
Post 2015 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

Photo: Bette Levy (right) at the People’s Climate March in September 2014, New York

Since December, as past co-chair of the Civil Society
forum, I have been working with a small (7 person) task group to reorganize and
restructure the Forum. Our regular meetings have two components an educational
session (we are currently studying the Copenhagen Declaration (1995) and
comparing how it intersects with the new SDGs) and the regular business
component. At the business section besides regular report backs from the
various workgroups this is the time that the entire committee gets to share
their opinions, concerns and network with other organizations.

We work to ensure that there is participation at
the grassroots level.

And then there are the endless emails, I
receive well over a hundred UN related emails a day many with attachments all that
require some sort of action even if it’s just reading them to keep up to date on
the correct version or to make suggestions/recommendations to positions.

Then there are the Soroptimist
responsibilities such as regular communication (phone calls and emails) with SIHQ , writing reports, articles, social media and blogging as well as requests
from visiting Soroptimists from around the world.

 

Photo: Bette Levy (second from right) as part of a panel at a UN DESA event at CSW59.

Do I get tired of the constant and
frustrating slow progress at the UN, of course but then I ask myself, what else
is there if not the UN… and by that I mean not only for the world but for
myself. It has made me so much richer as a person, I have a better
understanding of issues for women in parts of the world I didn’t even know
existed, I know more about climate change and why women are impacted more than
men, I know more about human rights and so many other things that I didn’t even
know mattered and its about the people, all the amazing people I have met from
around the world who are so passionate about saving the world and fighting for
women’s rights, it’s about the friends that I have made that I’ll never forget
all they do and how they push me to be a better person and do more.

And it’s about getting to know the SI UN
reps at other centers, the SIHQ staff and the international and federation officers
that has been a highlight for me. The opportunity to form friendships with
Soroptimists from clubs around the world that makes me know this was the right
choice and that I don’t want to be anywhere else.