Trinity students travel to the United Nations for Conference on the Status of Women

Our students presented at the NGO CSW68 Forum via zoom, Saturday, March 16, in collaboration with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur WATCH BELOW!

Trinity students — accompanied by Assistant Professors of Global Affairs, Drs. Allen Pietrobon & Kimberly Monroe — were in New York last week to present a “Parallel Event” at the NGO CSW68 Forum. They’ve collaborated with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and were accepted through a globally competitive process.

The panel the students presented is titled “An Intergenerational Panel, Confronting Poverty Through Diverse Lenses.”

This panel will center on poverty from a human rights perspective. It will explore how sectors such as health and the environment play into the conversation about poverty. It will aid in informing how the identity of women historically from marginalized groups disproportionately places many at a higher risk. Through the use of published findings and first-hand experiences from Trinity students and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, this event will aid in understanding the concept of the feminization of poverty and its impacts on multigenerational poverty in North America and Africa.

According to Sr. Ann Howard, Director of Campus Ministry at Trinity Washington University, the presenters were scheduled to be:

Eucharia Madueke, SNDdeN Women Empowerment Project Coordinator Africa Faith and Justice Network
Marie Josephine Ibanda, SNDdeN Coordinator of Women and Girls Empowerment Program in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Karla Nunez-Perez, Senior Public Health major Trinity Washington University
Kayla Higgs, Senior Global Affairs major Trinity Washington University
Dr. Beth Blissman, Representative to the United Nations from the Loretto Community. (Respondent)

Dr. Allen Pietrobon, Chair of the Global Affairs department, praised Dr. Beth Blissman “for going above and beyond in offering her expertise to help the students & Sisters prepare for the parallel event and gave a masterclass in being a thoughtful and thorough respondent on the panel.”

Of the overall experience, one of the students writes:

This entire Fellowship was a surreal experience. As a Global Affairs major, I spent years of higher education learning about past and current events/issues, as well as common future challenges that we will have to address cooperatively…. In a classroom setting, we can learn about global affairs, but nothing was as enriching as this experience… We were able to see how the UN works from within, which by itself is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most (if not all) of us, especially as undergrad students. We met amazing people who are as passionate as us about making the world a better place for everyone in a time when such aspiration seems hopeless. Witnessing human suffering has made me want to become a diplomat for years, but being at the UN with my cohort made me certain that this is the career path I want to pursue. Needless to say, I am forever thankful for this fellowship. (I wish, however, that we could have stayed at the UN for longer.)

Hosted in partnership with Citizens for Global Solutions, a D.C.-based NGO founded in 1947, which works to abolish war and global violence in the resolution of disputes as well as restore and sustain our global environment, the “Trinity Global Solutions Fellowship” takes advantage of the plethora of NGOs, Think Tanks, and other global organizations in the D.C. area to offer a fellowship opportunity to students interested in careers in Global Affairs. In this program, a cohort of students enroll in a 3-credit internship course through Trinity while attending workshops at various local (and New York based) organizations both in person and online. “Drea Klein-Bergman, the Director of Programs at CGS, has done such amazing work guiding the students through this fellowship and leading a number of the classroom sessions,” said Dr. Pietrobon.

“This trip is the capstone activity for the new ‘Trinity Global Solutions Fellowship’ in partnership with Citizens for Global Solutions (CGS),” said College of Arts & Sciences dean, Sita Ramamurti.

“After spending the Fall 2023 semester learning about UN and global issues, the students have now travelled to New York City to participate in-person at the United Nations Conference on the Status of Women as delegates of CGS.”