Press release :: UN Women in collaboration with the Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner and the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, celebrated International Women’s Day by hostingan event on 8th March in the conference room of the Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner.

The event provided the opportunity for sixty-sixrepresentatives from the government of Bangladesh,UN agencies, the Inter-Sector Coordination Group, Sector and Working Group Coordinators, INGOs, NGOs, and international donors to recognizethe positive contributions and positive changes that hasoccurredin gender equality across the sectors, in Cox’s Bazar.

According to UN Women’s acting head of Cox’s Bazar sub office and co-chair of the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, Maria Teresa Dico Young, “By focusing on the positives, we are not ignoring the challenges ahead, however, tonight, on International Women’s Day, we can acknowledge that some positive changes have occurred and take a moment to recognize these small successes and possibly big wins.”

One key programmeinitiative that has already delivered some success is through confidence building activities with women and girls in the Rohingya community. However, as noted by Paola Castro Neiderstam, Second Secretary, Program Specialist, Embassy of Sweden,“Women are under-represented in decision-making spaces at all levels. The influence of women and girls, and their effective participation is central to the success of any effective action to meet the need of communities.”

The representative of the Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, Senior Assistant SecretaryMikonTangchanggya, stressed the importance of working together. “We are all working towards the one goal and our efforts need to be collaborative, synchronized and for the benefit of the people we represent,” he said.

The event commenced with positive outcomesfrom the recent comprehensive gender analysis report, followed by an overview of UN Women programme achievements. Two case studies highlighted the importance of the role of the Camp-in-Charge and how their knowledge and professionalismon gender related issues enables effective collaboration and inspiresthe humanitarian and development community to work together to develop solutions to complex problems. The highlight of the event was the opportunity for a high-level discussion on how the lives of women and girls have improved to support sustainable change.