The Resolution states that the four existing entities should be consolidated into one single entity.

March 15, 2010

Please sign Amnesty International's GEAR petition:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/gear

March 2, 2010

There will be informal-informal consultation(s) on gender entity (as needed) during the second half of March and a plenary session will be scheduled during the first half of April.

February 23, 2010

• legal identity of the new entity, fund/programme, subsidiary body
  
• normative and operational activites
  
• executive board of new entity: establish a new one or have an autonomous segment of UNDP and UNFPA
• review of the new entity
• relationship between Under Secretary-General and Executive Board
• appointment of Under Secretary-General
• relationship between entity and CEB
• harmonization between CSW and the field
• funding, voluntary contributions, unpredictability, financial rules and regulations 
  
• staffing

February 19, 2010

• interaction between entity and governing bodies and UN agencies, as well as civil society groups working with gender issues; links between CEDAW, HRC and new entity
• avoiding duplication in work of entity
• operational activities, available resources and needs on the ground
  
• universality and regional and country presence
• transition phase
• funding and staffing
• entity as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly
• Under Secretary-General
• accountability

February 16, 2010

Several  issues regarding the establishment of the gender entity were discussed by member states:

• Western hemisphere should be taken into consideration when creating the new entity, not only developing countries should be overseen.
• recruitment process of the Under Secretary-General to head the new entity
• budget and funding, voluntary contributions and donor-dependency
  
• staffing 
• status and role of the entity, its relationship to the General Assembly, other UN system bodies and agencies
• relationship of the executive board and the CSW
• operational capacity

February 4, 2010

UN Office interns attended the first meeting of the General Assembly's informal consultations of the plenary on system-wide coherence on February 4, 2010. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reviewed the key messages in his reports to the General Assembly:

• Report A/64/588 on the comprehensice proposal for the composite entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women
• Report A/64/589 on system wide-coherence related to operational activities for development (follow-up to the General Assembly resolution 63/31)

These reports and the resolution were discussed by member states during the informal consultations. They are available on the website of the President of the General Assembly: http://www.un.org/ga/president/64/issues/swc.shtml

January 2010

• We support the universal country presence outlined for the entity and the description of the Composite’s work as flexible, varying from country to country, with its functions performed in accordance with the needs and circumstances of each host country. This is consistent with the UN Delivering as One’s principles of country ownership, and an understanding that one size does not fit all.
• Strengthening the UN’s programming capacity for women’s empowerment and rights at the country level has always been a top priority for GEAR in seeking a new entity, and this needs to be central to the resolution creating it. However, we note that the order of functions of the entity has been changed in this report from what it was in previous DSG papers of August 2007, July 2008 and March 2009, which led with country driven programming.  Further, the wording has been modified in ways that could weaken or downplay the importance of the entity’s operational capacity on the ground.
• For example, The report positively indicates in Para 9-e that the new entity will “lead and coordinate” the UN system actions on gender equality including within the UN country team. However the paper goes on to describe it in ways that sometimes imply a subsidiary entity putting emphasis on its need to work through others rather than on its leadership and its own programming capacity.
• The functions of the Composite entity at the country level in relation to monitoring intergovernmental agreements has also been weakened to say only “support member states in implementing and monitoring international agreements” (Para 6-d and 9-c). The GEAR Campaign believes that the entity should play a significant role and monitor Member states implementation of relevant UN processes/agreements (see GEAR Campaign analysis of DSG Institutional Options paper). It is insufficient to only have Member states monitor their own actions, thus being both judge and party of their commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• On the issue of accountability of the UN System, we are concerned by the language “with the leadership and strong support from the resident coordinator” that the Composite entity will “help” strengthen the UN country team’s commitments to achieve results on gender mainstreaming. Based on experience, the GEAR Campaign sees the need for a clear definition of the entity’s role as the leader for gender equality at the operational level in countries, that is to be a strong driver on these issues, regardless of whether it has support from the UNCT. More needs to be spelled out about how the entity would be able to hold the UN system accountable for gender mainstreaming and lead the work on gender equality at all levels.
  

• The GEAR Campaign welcomes the report’s provision that the Executive Director will have full authority in respect to all financial matters.
• The report sets the total funding requirement for the start-up phase at approximately US $500 million[1], with $125 million for basic support capacity at all levels for normative and operational support, and $375 million in catalytic funding forcountry-specific programmatic support. The GEAR Campaign has called for a budget of US $1 Billion and the proposed $500 million falls short of what is needed to achieve effective gender mainstreaming throughout the system and catalytic gender equality programming at the country level. We can support the $500 million as a starting figure, but it is essential that Member states recognize that there will need to be increases over time.
• The GEAR Campaign urges member states to pledge adequate multi-year core funding NOW to enable the Composite entity’s effectiveness and its success at delivering for women worldwide.
  

• We are disappointed that references to women’s organizations throughout the report are few and not aligned with previous Secretariat reports highlighting the need to find meaningful ways to tap into the expertise of these groups.
• While the proposed global civil society advisory board to the USG is a welcome mechanism for participation, we believe it is imperative that there be such advisory groups comprised of representatives from civil society, especially women’s organizations, at regional, and national levels as well.
  

• The GEAR Campaign has developed in consultation with its broad global membership, a set of criteria outlining the competences that we believe a “strong, dynamic and capable USG” should possess, which is attached for your consideration.
• The Secretary-General’s report provides little clarity on what “an open, transparent and rigorous recruitment process” for the Under Secretary-General post will entail and fails to provide any timeline for this critical appointment, which we believe should begin now.