Author: Janelle Weissman
[from left] Diene Keita, DED for Management and Programme at UNFPA; Karin Hulshof, DED for Partnerships at UNICEF; Elizabeth Wilde, First Assistant Secretary, Development Policy Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia; Deb Collins, Divisional Manager, Partnerships, Humanitarian and Multilateral Pacific and Development Group, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand; Ulrika Modéer, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA), UNDP; Anita Bhatia, Former DED for Management, Sustainability and Partnerships at UN Women. Photo: UN Women/Janelle Weissman
Bangkok, Thailand — In April 2023, UN Women’s then Assistant Secretary-General for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships and Deputy Executive Director (DED), Anita Bhatia, came to Bangkok, Thailand, for a series of High-Level Consultations with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).
The consultations included substantive engagement with senior leaders from other United Nations funds and programmes including Ulrika Modéer, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy at UNDP; Karin Hulshof, DED for Partnerships at UNICEF; Diene Keita, DED for Management and Programme at UNFPA, alongside Elizabeth Wilde, First Assistant Secretary, Development Policy Division at DFAT, and Deb Collins, Divisional Manager, Partnerships, Humanitarian and Multilateral Pacific and Development Group at MFAT.
UN Women was pleased to welcome Fiji Multi-Country Office Representative Delphine Serumaga, and Papua New Guinea Country Representative Themba Arthur Kalua, alongside Sarah Knibbs, Regional Director a.i. for UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, for the dialogue.
[2nd from left] Assistant Secretary General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia. Photo: UN Women/Janelle Weissman
The global community, and thereby, the UN system, is facing sharp challenges on several fronts: the devastating global impact of conflict and humanitarian crises on sustainable development is setting back progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the slow pace at which we are addressing the climate crisis is placing us further off-track; and hard-earned progress in gender equality and women’s empowerment is being undermined by these interlocking crises. This dialogue provided an excellent platform to devise solutions and foster stronger collaboration.
Roundtables enabled UN, DFAT and MFAT leaders to explore challenges and opportunities to advance progress in Governance and UN Development System Reform; the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus; Integrated Action for Climate and Nature; and Gender Equality. The roundtables and subsequent bilateral meetings with DFAT and MFAT, respectively, fostered a solutions-oriented dialogue to strengthen collaboration and devise concrete solutions to improve progress towards the SDGs, with a particular focus on Goal 5, gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Assistant Secretary General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia. Photo: UN Women/Ploy Phutpheng
While in Bangkok, Assistant Secretary-General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia also delivered opening remarks at the launch of the new UN Women framework to address non-traditional security issues for women and girls in Asia and the Pacific.
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