Every year, March is the month when women and gender activists travel to New York to call for stronger measures and commitments for gender equality. This year, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) addressed the theme of Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development. For two weeks (from 14 to 24 March 2016), representatives of UN Member States, civil society organizations and UN entities gathered at the UN and discussed progress and gaps in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as emerging issues that affect gender equality and the empowerment of women.

In the month of March, all eyes were on the UN Statistical Commission, where Chief Statisticians from around the world discussed how we will measure progress on the SDGs in the years to come, and where the data will come from. The Commission discussed the report submitted by the Inter-Agency Expert Group on the SDGs (IAEG-SDGs), which contains a proposed list of indicators for the 169 targets of Agenda 2030.

The crisis in the health workforce has been described as one of the most important global health issues of our time. Recent global health crises have additionally confirmed the urgency of building resilient health systems and strengthening global health security. A strong health workforce is at the heart of that. Organisations working in the health sector will recognise this: you may have all the health equipment, institutions and resources but quality health care cannot be provided without adequate human resources. Despite an anticipated growth in jobs in the health sector overall, there is a huge projected shortage of health workers to achieve Agenda 2030 in low- and lower-middle income countries. Staff leaving for better paid jobs, a lack of young people entering the profession or inadequate training are some of the key causes.

As the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted last year, and mass migration and the refugee crisis remains high on the agenda of the international community, policy- and decision-makers are increasingly looking at how to integrate the two agendas. With Agenda 2030, migration has for the first time been inserted into mainstream development policy. This was the topic of discussion in various spaces and meetings this month, in the run-up to the World Humanitarian Summit* (WHS) in May and the High-Level meeting of the UNGA** on large-scale refugee and migratory movements in September.

For the first time in the history of the United Nations, public debates will be organised in the run-up of the selection of the next UN Secretary General. The current holder of the world’s top diplomatic post Ban Ki-moon, prepares to step down at the end of this year.

On the 8th of March, a new resolution* was approved by the European Parliament on the situation of women refugees and asylum seekers in the EU. The decision is a victory for women’s rights, with the inclusion of full access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and access to safe abortion, in the final text.

On 17-18 March, the European Commission (EC) organised the 2016 edition of the CSO Forum*, bringing together Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from both the international development and Human Rights constituencies with European Institutions and Member States.

At the CSO Forum organised by the European Commission, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development announced a new call for proposals under Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR).

EuroNGos Annual Report covering the highlights of 2015, a financial overview and much more is already available online!

We are pleased to share with you the document which details each of our 36 member’s focus and activities.

Choose from a selection of forthcoming events to plan your work in the next months!

On the 8th of March, our German member Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung together with a host of other partners – EPF, Plan EU Office, UN Women Brussels Office, European Women’s Lobby, DG Devco of the European Commission, the European Youth Forum, ONE Brussels Office, World Vision EU Representative Office and IPPF EN – organised a tweetchat in celebration of International Women’s Day.

Marie Stopes International shared a new interactive Microsoft Excel based tool which aims to help advocates estimate the potential impacts of policy changes to task-sharing of contraceptive services.

In March, our French member Le Planning Familial celebrated their 60th anniversary. Several events and a campaign #simoneforever were launched to highlight this celebration. We wish them continued success and keep fighting for SRHR in France and worldwide. Bonne fortune!

To mark the solidarity with women and girls worldwide on the occasion of the International Women's Day, our Belgian member Sensoa with the “Parliamentarians for the 2030 Agenda”* opened the photo exhibition “Goals for Girls: Win, Lose or Draw” in the federal Belgian parliament.

On the 31st of March, Sex og Politikk organized an event as a part of Sex og Politikk's series of meetings about the SRHR situation in the 12 focus countries for Norwegian development aid. During this meeting, Lulu Ng'wanakilala, executive director in their sister organization UMATI from Tanzania, presented her organisation and its work with sexual and reproductive health and rights in Tanzania, with a focus on the counseling work for the youth, sexual education and comprehensive post abortion care.

Members of the Swiss parliamentary groups CAIRE+ and Global Health convened on the 9th of March in the Parliament in Geneva to discuss with experts the topic “Sexual and reproductive health and rights in humanitarian crisis”. The joint meeting was organized by our member SEXUAL HEALTH Switzerland and Medicus Mundi Switzerland.