Indian delegates blaze a trail at UN Women - 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York
In December 2023, I was enroute to Mayfair in Central London when a mail in my inbox caught my attention - “Usha Venkatraman, you are nominated to The 68th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, taking place next year from 11 - 22 March 2024.” Signed by Indian Development Foundation. I thought I had landed on the MOON!
IDF Background
Indian Development foundation (IDF), an NGO having special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council nominated 18 successful Women Social Impact Creators to represent the foundation at the UN CSW 68. These women change makers represent diverse fields of interest like fine art, social service sector, educationists, scientists, lawyers, literary experts, and intellectuals and yet share the same passion and commitment in taking the NGO to a new height.
Indian Development Foundation is a self-reliant NGO having a pan India presence with its headquarters in Mumbai and branch offices present in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur & Goa respectively.
IDF aims to work hand in hand with the central and state government in the following sectors like Health, Educational Projects, Women Empowerment, Citizen Outreach Programs and IDF’s participation in UN CSW Events.
Project Dignity a frontline project of IDF aims to build awareness about menstrual hygiene and distribution of sanitary kits which are reusable and environmentally friendly. Menstrual Hygiene plays an important role is areas of health, education, gender equality and sanitation.
UN Women CSW 68 - The Lunch that launched IDF on the World Map.
The week of 11th March began with a meeting cum lunch invitation from Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, Permanent Representative/Ambassador of India to the United Nations, New York.
All the 17 delegates of Indian Development Foundation met the Ambassador for a sit-down lunch at the Permanent Mission of India office in New York on 235 E, 43 Street. It was a wonderful opportunity for the delegates to talk about their individual work and the Ambassador gave a patient hearing to each delegate.
To everyone’s delight and surprise, the ambassador invited me, Usha Venkatraman, Storyteller and Founder of Mumbai Storytellers Society to narrate a STEAM Story at the luncheon. Stories explain the scientific concepts by giving the scientific processes a narrative and characters. I gave the scientific process of the Moon Cycle a narrative with characters. This was enjoyed by all. I curated the first Science Storytelling Festival, SCIFARI in Mumbai India for children aged 4 to 14 years at the Nehru Science Centre in 2019.
The ambassador invited two of the delegates; Dr. Susan Eapen and Ms Rachana Bhusari to be part of the Panel Discussion at two of the Side Events hosted by India at CSW68. Indeed, a proud moment for Indian Development Foundation.
Rachana Bhusari, a capital market expert known for her contribution in the financial sector, spoke about the pivotal role in developing the novel concept of Social Stock Exchange in India at “Financing for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment” Event hosted by India on 13th March.
Dr. Susan Eapen, a world 2% ranked Indian plant biotechnology scientist and past president of Indian Women Scientists Association spoke about some recommendations to address the gender gap in STEAM at the “Women Led Development: Challenges & Enablers for Women’s Leadership” event hosted by India on 19th March. This was attended by Ms Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and other dignitaries like Ms Lopa Banerjee, Director Civil Society Division, UN Women and Mr, Darren Walker, President the Ford Foundation.
Two of the delegates, Dr. Pushpinder Gupta Bhatia spoke at the parallel event on “Strengthening Institutions to Eliminate Violence Against Women And Girls.” Aruna Naik, CEO of IDF spoke on “Solidarity of Women - Mitigating Gender Inequality through Peace.”
Indiaspora hosts the UN Women Delegates
The highlight was the dinner hosted by Indiaspora for the delegates of IDF on Monday, 18th March at the lovely Indian Restaurant Gulaabo in midtown Manhattan.
Indiaspora represented by Shoba Vishwanathan and Neha Dewan put this together at short notice and made it a memorable dinner and included this as part of #womenhistorymonth. Thank you, Sanjeev Joshipura.
The Women’s delegation from India, Australia, Europe, UK and USA was led by Mr. Aunali Rupani, the charismatic trustee of IDF, a leader par excellence, and his wife Sana Rupani, the PR head of IDF.
The Delegates
Dr. Susan Eapen - a world 2% ranked Indian plant biotechnology scientist and past president of Indian Women Scientists Association.
Usha Venkatraman - Award winning Storyteller, TEDx Speaker, Author, Classical Vocalist, Puppeteer, Radio show host and Founder of Mumbai Storytellers Society.
Rachana Bhusari - Capital Market Expert and played a pivotal role in developing Social Stock Exchange.
Shilpa Ravi - Chairperson of Delhi School of Excellence.
Mallika Ramachandra - Spearheads the Student Leadership Program of IDF - a flagship project.
Sana Rupani - Social Worker and PR Head of IDF from UK.
Shweta Sawarkar - Educator and Counsellor from Budapest, Hungary.
Ujjaini Chaterjee - Feminist Human Rights Lawyer.
Aruna Nail - CEO of Indian Development Foundation, India.
Nazneen Sakarwala - Rotarian and Interior Design Consultant.
Dr. Pushpinder Gupta Bhatia - Fullbright Nehru Scholar and principal of Guru Nanak College of Arts, Science & Commerce.
Gayathri Biju - Social Worker from Sydney, Australia.
Shama K. Tarapurwala - Educationist and principal of Anjuman I Islam Saiftyabji Girls High School & Member of the international Women’s Peace Group.
Swathi Pampalkar - Director of Delhi International School and Venture Capitalist.
Daivatha Patil - Gender Activist and co-founder of Dhup Foundation.
Shweta Chaudhary - Mrs. India Earth 2017, Mrs. Earth 2018. Environmental Advocate. ambassador of Project Dignity of IDF.
Elamathi – Gender and Livelihoods Specialist.
Cecil Joseph - CEO, IDF USA.
Dr. Annie - IDF USA.
An inspiring testimonial from the recent such visit last year in 2023, was when at the UN side events, the IDF team members presented the case study of building a holistic urban slum schools to the cabinet ministers from Uganda who were looking for solutions towards some of the grave social problems existing in their country.
This has gone a long way in building an international image and goodwill of India by an unassuming NGO - Indian Development Foundation.
I am still levitated!
About the Author
Usha Venkatraman is an award-winning Storyteller, TEDx Speaker, educationist, author, classical vocalist, puppeteer, and radio show host, who inspires and transforms through stories. Recently donned the role of a Social Impact Creator at the UN Women 2024, 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women from India.
Usha’s stories are an intersection of Indian Myths, folklore, Feminism and Music. She loves to bring different voices together, weaving threads of untold stories of women heroes stitching together forgotten folklore, fragments of myth, songs, and music. Usha has directed and performed in storytelling ensemble shows. Usha has been storytelling at national and international festivals, events, and conferences in India and abroad. Usha is the founder of Mumbai Storytellers Society and festival director of Gaatha - Mumbai International Storytelling Festival.
