The Secretary General

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Shana Fleming
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1 The Secretary General Geneva, 17 October 2016 Subject: ITU WISE Setting the Standard for Equality The 1 st Women in Standardization Expert Group Event. (Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia, 30 October 2016, 10:00 15:30) Dear Sir/Madam, It is my pleasure to inform you that on the occasion of the 2016 World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), the ITU Women in Standardization Expert group (WISE), together with the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), is organizing a Leadership Workshop on Gender Differences in Negotiations, which will provide concrete tools and frameworks to improve negotiation skills. The workshop will be followed by a panel discussion on practical ways to improve gender balance in leadership roles. The event will take place on Sunday, 30 October 2016 in Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia from 10:00 to 15:30. WTSA 16 is a major event for the Union and will provide a unique opportunity to advance the implementation of ITU s Gender Equality and Mainstreaming (GEM) Policy. The ITU WISE event will serve as the official launch of ITU WISE as an active ITU group to promote gender equality within the standardization sector. A concept note is attached to this letter and the detailed program of the event can be found at I kindly invite you to register men and women delegates from your country s delegation. Requests of participation should be made by e mail at wise@itu.int, and are welcome as soon as possible but not later than 26 th October Confirmation of participation will be on a first come, first served basis. Please be advised that the workshop is open only to participants registered to WTSA 16. No financial support from ITU and its partners will be provided. Yours faithfully, Houlin Zhao Annex: Concept Note International Telecommunication Union Place des Nations CH 1211 Geneva 20 Switzerland Tel: Fax: E mail: itumail@itu.int

Leadership Workshop Improving gender equality in ITU governance At its 2013 session, the ITU Council adopted the ITU Gender Equality and Mainstreaming Policy (GEM).

treaties, strategic plans, work plans, activities and programmes.

2 Leadership Workshop Improving gender equality in ITU governance At its 2013 session, the ITU Council adopted the ITU Gender Equality and Mainstreaming Policy (GEM). The Policy presents a shared vision for integrating a gender perspective throughout the Union and provides a tool to ensure gender equality remains a core consideration in ITU s basic texts, treaties, strategic plans, work plans, activities and programmes. ITU recognizes that gender equality helps foster a more creative and effective organization which is linked to increased productivity and innovation. At the governance level, through the GEM, the Union s commitment to gender equality should be reflected in all negotiation, decision-making and planning processes by Integrating a gender perspective in negotiation and decision-making processes Ensuring a better gender balance in decision making bodies at the secretariat and delegation level Using gender-neutral language in ITU documents

3 ITU Secretary General Mr. Zhao also recently joined the International Geneva Gender Champions initiative and committed the ITU to undertaking two measurable actions to advance gender equality in ITU conferences and meetings. On the occasion of the 2015 World Radio Conference and the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA) and the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), ITU partnered with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and organized the first Women s Leadership Workshop during an ITU Conference. WTSA as a flagship opportunity The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) is the highest governing body of the Standardization Sector. It is held every 4 years. The WTSA adopts the working methods and procedure for the management of the Standardization Sector. It approves the programme of work of the Sector, decides on the need to maintain, terminate or establish study groups and allocates to each of them the questions to be studied. In 2004, the WTSA has adopted Resolution 55 on mainstreaming a gender perspective in ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector activities. The Resolution has been revised at WTSA 2008 and WTSA Resolution 55 (Rev. Dubai, 2012) recognizes that society as a whole, particularly in the context of the information and knowledge society, will benefit from equal participation of women and men in policy-making and decision making and equal access to communication services for both women and men. WTSA-16 is a unique opportunity to take stock on the implementation of Resolution 55 (Rev. Dubai) and to hold the first Women in Standardization Expert Group (WISE) event. UNITAR and the Women s Leadership Programme UNITAR s new Women s Leadership Programme is working with UN Women and across the UN System, with the mandate to build skills, knowledge and capacities of government officials accredited to the United Nations and its entities. Following UN Women s Step it Up for Gender Equality call for Planet 50:50 by 2030, the Women s Leadership Programme seeks to address the gender imbalance that exists on delegations to multilateral conferences under the United Nations and will seek to promote gender equality and women s full and effective participation and leadership at all levels of political life. With the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the definition of the new Sustainable Development Goals, the Women s Leadership Programme seeks to build upon the opportunity that 2015 presents to promote women s empowerment and leadership in economic, social and political development. Since the creation of the Women s Leadership Programme, workshops have taken place for female delegates to the WMO Congress in Geneva and the High Level Political Forum in New York. Both workshops were successful in providing a positive, empowering and engaging environment and evaluation results emphasized the need and demand for future workshops to build on the learning and personal-development achieved.

4 Cooperation between UNITAR s Women Leadership Programme and ITU The UNITAR s Women Leadership Programme collaborated with ITU on 1 November 2015 to deliver a oneday leadership workshop to the female delegates of the 2015 Radiocommunication Assembly and World Radiocommunication Conference (RA/WRC-15). The workshop was successful in providing a platform which enabled participants to share experiences and connect with each other. The workshop also included a high-level armchair discussion, focusing on Women s Leadership in Science and Technology, which allowed participants to learn from the experience of leading women in their field. Overall, the workshop was a great success receiving a 100% appreciation rate and feedback which emphasized the need for more capacity building and networking opportunities. Building on this success and to compliment the launch of the ITU Women in Standardization Expert Group (WISE), the Programme will partner with ITU to deliver a workshop aiming to promote gender balance in negotiations at the 2016 session of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-16). The workshop will be open to both women and men, providing the opportunity to learn from each other and build networks. The workshop will simulate a negotiation scenario to learn and practice negotiation skills and techniques, as well as facilitate an open armchair discussion with leading male and female negotiators in science and technology. UNITAR will work closely with ITU to prepare a simulated exercise specific to WTSA- 16 negotiations. Noting that women only represented 15% of the delegates to the WTSA conference and 28% in last year s session of the Council, the workshop will aim to strengthen participants negotiation skills and will build participants appreciation of how to build consensus in complex scenarios. The workshop will address gender differences in negotiations and will consider ways to overcome some of the bias, providing practical tools to try-out new techniques. Objectives The event will serve as the official launch of WISE as an active ITU group to promote gender equality within the Standardization Sector, and a professional training which will equip delegates with practical skills to capitalize on their unique strengths for successful negotiations. The workshop will help participants: build confidence and trust as negotiators; apply negotiation techniques and strategies in a variety of scenarios relevant to the WTSA, including complex multilateral tasks; explore gender biases in negotiation scenarios, recognizing personal strengths and appreciating how these may be applied to build consensus; strengthen the community of female delegates to the WTSA and their male counterparts; provide opportunity to consider steps forward in strengthening this network

5 Target audience This event will bring together delegates and ITU staff attending WTSA-16, with a focus on heads of delegations and leaders of national standards bodies/organizations, to learn, connect and celebrate the continued efforts towards gender equality in leadership positions. Programme Date: Sunday 30 October 2016 Venue: Hammamet, Tunisia Time: 10:00 15:30 Language: The workshop will take place in English language, with some exercises to be facilitated in both English and French. Please note that no simultaneous interpretation will be provided during the event. Certificate Participants who have attended the workshop will be awarded an ITU/UNITAR certificate of participation. Resource Persons Giuseppe Conti, The Creator of Master Negotiators is a recognized expert in the field of Negotiation and regular lecturer at top-ranked European Business Schools, including ESADE, HEC Geneva, HEC Paris, IMD, INSEAD, Oxford, RSM, and SDA Bocconi. Managers from over 90 different countries have attended his highly interactive and pragmatic workshops. He is a seasoned negotiator combining academic content with a rich practitioner experience from his senior procurement and commercial leadership roles with blue chip multinationals (Procter & Gamble, Novartis, Firmenich, Merck). He runs custom negotiation workshops for leading multinationals in Europe and Asia. He will also run a workshop in Zurich on November on Decision Making & Influence: Understanding and managing gender differences in the workplace with Harvard Professor Francesca Gino. You can visit his website ( and reach him at giuseppe.conti@cabl.ch. His views on gender differences in negotiation, can be found in a couple of articles Giuseppe has recently published for the Financial Times and for London Business School Review. Selection of Participants The workshop will be open to a maximum of 40 delegates to be nominated by the Permanent Representatives to the WTSA of their respective Member State. Nominations/ confirmation shall be made by to Ms. Florence TUNZI, ITU-T Gender Focal Point at wise@itu.int, and are welcome as soon as possible but not later than 19 October Seats are limited and will be attributed on a first-come-first-served basis. Priority will be given to Female Representatives to the WTSA and other female and male senior members of delegations.

6 Contact Ms Florence Tunzi International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Geneva, Switzerland Tel: Ms Melanie Cremona The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Tel:

Information Circular No Subject: Language Training Programme at UNOG

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