Resident Coordinator a.i. Remarks during the W20 Bootcamp

Let me thank you for including the United Nations in this event. The Resident Coordinator, Nathalie Fustier, the first female senior UN official in Saudi Arabia, is away this week. As the UNDP Resident Representative and acting RC, I send her most sincere best wishes for a successful bootcamp!

Why is the G20 important? What can we all gain from this event in the Kingdom next year?

The G20 is not a comprehensive global forum…that distinction is left to the United Nations…it is only a portion of the world’s political entities but those 19 countries and the EU combine to generate 90% of the worlds GDP, 80% or more of the CO2 emissions, 2/3 rds of the population, half the land mass, and over 80% of the plastic generation and usage. 

The G20 seeks financial stability and growth and in fact grew out of the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s. This is again precisely what is required now: an urgent, coordinated response from the G20 in the strengthening of global recovery, uplifting potential, enhancing resilience, and buttressing stability. 

These features are the very heart of the W20 agenda, as well. Through a series of engagements meetings with policy makers, experts, representative of civil society and of the business community from the G20 member countries, the W20 can make women’s economic empowerment part of the mainstream economic dialogue.

As we all know, gender inclusiveness, and gender equality are essential for strong sustainable and balanced growth. Gender equality is no longer a peripheral issue.

Saudi Arabia is uniquely placed to contribute to the W20 debate and discussions. It has undergone significant change and is continuing to change as part of the Vision 2030 and its effort to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.   

The W20 has a responsibility to hold the G20 accountable for its commitment to women's economic empowerment, participation, and leadership in the economy. Women need to be engaged in planning, approval and maintenance of infrastructure …women need to be engaged in climate action, mitigation, response…women need to be engaged in family affairs, education initiatives, community mobilization. NOT simply to tick a box or to satisfy some external monitoring body like the UN, but because it simply makes good common sense and it is the RIGHT thing to do

Women’s economic empowerment means decent work, entrepreneurship, and equal access to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance, and natural resources. 

In many places, the burden of unpaid care work falls disproportionately on women. Unpaid care work includes domestic work such as cleaning and food preparation, fetching supplies, water and fuel as well as taking care of other members of the family. Women are disproportionately poor, malnourished, uneducated, often because of these family roles that limit individual growth. We cannot forget that…having spent most of my adult life in humanitarian contexts, it is very easy as we sit her in comfortable Riyadh to lose sight of those we and the G20 should be serving.

So, how do we approach 2020 and the G20 Summit? We must see it as a catalyst, a springboard for action that moves beyond the Summit which, let’s face it, may see some world leaders pass through the Kingdom for less than 24 hours. It is a time for the W20 to showcase successes locally and regionally and to lead the charge for gender equality since, quite frankly, you will many nay-sayers! Many do not understand the profound changes and the energy and entrepreneurship and innovation driven my women.

The United Nations, both within the Kingdom and abroad, is committed to support and partner with the W20 in ensuring maximum and meaningful impact.

I wish you every success in your Bootcamp!

Thank you.