Manila, Philippines -  (25 October 2009) A serious plenary discussion on a conference outcome document turned into joyful pass-the-hat session in the Marian Theatre of Miriam College, making the convener Patricia Licuanan beam and express, "This is better than a statement."

The Asia Pacific NGO Forum on Beijing + 15 ended yesterday evening without an outcome document but a pledge to raise an equivalent of US$1 billion, in light of the recognised underinvestment of the United Nations on women and gender concerns. Pam Rajput of India's National Alliance of Women's Organisations (NAWO) asserted, "If most women in the region will contribute US$1, that will be powerful gesture to the UN. This is a moment where the South contributes to the North."

The plenary was supposed to finalise the AP NGO Forum on Beijing + 15's outcome document that Licuanan will present at the High-Level Meeting at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) next month. After agreeing to allow a few more days for the draft to be presented and revised, Rajput reiterated an ambitious fund-raising scheme that was flagged in one parallel session and asked for a clear mechanism to facilitate this scheme.

But in no time, the women, led by 3rd World Conference on Women Secretary General Leticia Ramos-Shahani brought out their money and looked for a pot. After a short while, Isis International's Cai Yiping ran from one end of the theatre, bringing a purple box. After a few pledges, one speaker stood up, reminding the women not to use US dollars as a gesture against the US dollar tribute. Although it was not yet clear which currency the secretariat will use in the end, women brought out their own currencies. Licuanan happily added, "you may want to leave all you [Philippine] pesos in the box."

Licuanan promised to encourage the African and Latin American delegations at the ESCAP meeting to join the fund-raising.

In September 2009 after long and tensed negotiations, the UN approved the development of a single architecture that will combine the women-related agencies and other functions such as United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) and Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI). Although this architecture will be further discussed in the next few months, many feminists are pessimistic that the UN will provide adequate funding for the emerging single agency.  

The last three days saw women of different generations pointing out the women's movements' role in the creation of some UN agencies and functions. But as Charlotte Bunch of the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) explained, "these agencies are small, weak, fragmented and operate at low level that many found frustration [especially as] the UN has become a fiercely contested space." Moreover, the money allocated for women and gender concerns are also quite miniscule. As Noeleen Heyzer, UN Undersecretary General and UN ESCAP Executive Secretary, mentioned in her keynote address, of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the targets associated with women such as maternal mortality and health are lagging far behind, a point that is strongly linked with the marginal attention on reproductive and sexual rights.

Recalling the tedious campaign for the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR), Bunch recalled some women telling the UN, "We will not be responsible for what you'll get from women's anger. We feel that this is one of the most important pressures from Beijing + 15. We need to remind the UN that the women's movement is still a strong political force"  

The drafting committee will distribute the draft outcome document on 27 October 2009. Inputs will be received until 31 October 2009, mainly through the apww meet mailing list. The final draft will be available on 8 November 2009 on the websites of APWW, AP NGO Forum on Beijing + 15 and Isis International.

As pledges were being made, Licuanan asked for a lively background music. But as some people from the control booth were scrambling to locate technical person and the right buttons, the women once more took the initiative. Each had their turn for the microphone to sing their local songs while the rest danced in celebration and confidence.