A collaboration of long-time feminists and young women peace advocates working on the UNSCR 1325 advocacy and social media will share insights and input at the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to be held at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York, USA from 10-21 March 2014.

Echoing the priority theme of the 58th CSW which pertains to “challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls,” organisers and select participants of the ‘Linking the Networks – Enhancing Social Media Strategies to Advance UNSCR 1325 in Asia – A Grass Roots Initiative’ project will be speaking in two separate CSW Parallel NGO events. They will share pertinent research data and present a special video documentary that came out of the efforts done in this partnership project spearheaded by the Australia-based Justice Equality Rights Access (JERA) International in partnership with Isis International and Asia Pacific Women’s Watch as regional partners.

The first panel on March 10 Monday is entitled ‘Social Media and Engaging Young Women with UNSCR1325 in Asia.’ It will focus primarily on investigating strategies to enhance the use of social media by young women advocates trying to advance UNSCR 1325 in Asia and the Pacific, with the aim of adding more feminist voices and actions in the peace building process. These are primarily lessons learned and shared during the 7-day Isis Activist School 2013 workshop/training held in the Philippines specifically for the Linking the Networks – Enhancing Social Media Strategies to Advance UNSCR 1325 in Asia – A Grass Roots Initiative project. A sneak peek of that Activist School plus the musings and analysis of the participants will be screened via the video documentary entitled ‘Status Update: Women, Conflict and Social Media’ in this panel as well.

The second panel on March 11 Tuesday is entitled ‘Raising Young Women’s Voices in the Localisation of UNSCR 1325.’ It will continue to discuss further the research work on how social media could be used by regional networks to promote the UNSCR 1325 in Asia, especially in countries where there are no existing National Action Plans yet. In this panel, the launch of a regional network of young women peace advocates using social media to advance UNSCR 1325 will also take place. Both panels will start at 10:30am and will take place at the Y-Hall of the Armenian Convention Center (630 2nd Ave, NY, NY).

Confirmed speakers of the panels who will share research findings and analyses include the following:

Carole Shaw, CEO of JERA International and Isis General Member

Luz Martinez - Past Chair of the Board of Trustees , Isis International

Nicole Hutchison - Activist School Coordinator, Isis International

Sepali Kottegoda - Chairperson, Asia Pacific Women's Watch

Velayudan Jayachithra - Programme Officer (Media), Asia Pacific Women's Watch

Rahmi Dian Agustino – advocate from Search for Common Ground in Indonesia

Dimdaline Sar – advocate from Peace and Development in Cambodia

Agustino and Sar’s participation at the CSW was made possible through the help of Global Fund for Women. Linking The Networks project was supported by Australian Aid.

Invited guests and audience members are encouraged to participate in the discussions or follow it via social media. Please use the official hash tags of the Linking The Networks projects #1325socmed and follow the discussions to be livetweeted via the Isis International Twitter account @IsisIntl. Highlights of the panels will also be posted at the Isis Facebook page.