The UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality and Youth Leaders Define Joint Priorities Ahead of CSW69

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The UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality and Youth Leaders Define Joint Priorities Ahead of CSW69

On February 11, 2025, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), in collaboration with UN Women and the Generation Equality Forum’s Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership, hosted the meeting of the UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality, uniting local leaders and youth advocates to strategize ahead of the 69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), and with the celebrations of Beijing+30 as their horizon. Over 100 participants from local and regional governments across continents and partners joined the meeting, as well as youth leaders who participated in the Beijing+30 Regional Review Meetings over the past months.

UCLG Advances Gender Equality through Global Advocacy and Local Action

Gender equality has been a core objective for UCLG since the origins of the Municipal Movement, driving global advocacy to strengthen equality policies, enhance gender-responsive decision-making, and promote women’s participation in local political and public life.

At the forefront of these efforts is the UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality, chaired by the President of the Nouakchott Region and UCLG Co-President. The Committee works with locally elected women and grassroots organizations to build capacity and strengthen networking to increase women's representation in local governance. Its diverse membership, nominated by UCLG Sections, ensures balanced representation across regions. Institutionally, the Committee shapes UCLG’s gender equality agenda, setting priorities, facilitating debates, and overseeing the organization’s commitments on gender issues. Politically, it powers the UCLG Women network, recognized by national agencies and the United Nations as the global voice of local elected women

The Standing Committee also leads the UCLG Women Facility, championing women's participation in governance and driving the global Feminist Municipal Movement. By connecting global agendas with local priorities, it ensures that policies grounded in care, equality, and participation shape inclusive and equitable cities and territories worldwide.

The Commitment of the Feminist Municipal Movement to Localize Beijing+30

Opening the session, Emilia Saiz, Secretary General of UCLG, emphasized the importance of the Beijing+30 review in 2025 for the Municipal Movement, which has long championed equality, justice, and empowerment, with roots in the peace movements of the early 20th century. She underscored the role of whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches and highlighted the Movement’s key alliances with networks of locally elected women from all regions, as well as with civil society and women’s grassroots organizations.

Fatimetou Abdel Malick, Chair of the UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Co-president of UCLG and President of the Region of Nouakchott, reaffirmed the Committee's mission to drive the Feminist Municipal Movement, stressing that local governments are essential in dismantling structural gender barriers. She highlighted that, in this context, the strategy of the local and regional governments constituency was centered on reviewing the progress made, as well as challenges, in the localization of the Beijing Platform for Action. She noted that this strategy focused on strengthening collective action as a movement and on fostering the political engagement and recognition of local and regional governments and local public service provision to achieve equality.

Lana Ackar, Policy Specialist (Leadership & Governance), UN-Women, highlighted that advancing women’s political participation is essential for achieving the SDGs and gender equality, emphasizing the need to empower women in decision-making and prepare future generations to lead through partnerships with civil society, the Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership, and other stakeholders. She noted UCLG’s role as custodian of SDG 5 indicator 5.5 on women’s participation at local level, and stressed the importance of the Beijing+30 review and the CEDAW General Recommendation 40 on women’s representation. A focus on youth, intersectionality, and capacity-building are priorities for the WYDE Women’s Leadership Initiative, to which this meeting was a key contribution.

Roheyatou Malick Lowe, Mayor of Banjul and President of REFELA, emphasized that Beijing+30 is a pivotal moment for UCLG to assess progress and reinforce commitments to gender equality at the local level. She highlighted the critical role of cities in advancing feminist policies through gender-responsive and scaled public services, supporting women’s political leadership, and promoting a care-centered economy that addresses climate justice and digital inclusion. She underscored the urgency of combating gender-based violence with local solutions and called for intersectional approaches that uplift marginalized voices. Looking ahead, she advocated for feminist budgeting, increased local government autonomy, and stronger international solidarity to drive a bold, transformative agenda for equality in all cities and territories.

Youth Voices at the Forefront

Introducing the segment on youth priorities, Cécile Roth, UCLG’s Focal Point for Equality, underlined the connections between the visions for equality of the local government and youth constituencies and the importance of intergenerational solidarity in democracy. Youth leaders shared insights from their participation in the Beijing+30 Regional Review Meetings.

Ishaan Shah (Europe) called for the integration of the Global Youth and Adolescents Recommendations, as transversal priorities for the CSW69 Political Declaration, noting that this consultation reached 16,000 young people, the largest since 1992. Michelle Murinda (Africa) stressed that youth are not only future leaders but current changemakers, advocating for quotas, digital inclusion, renewing norms around masculinities, and mentorship programmes to ensure the meaningful participation of young women in politics. Anne Heloise (Latin America and the Caribbean) called for better linkage of the Beijing Platform to climate action, and for better connecting such global frameworks to the realities of young people, from urban to rural areas, pledging for more ownership of these agendas by young people. Rabeb Aloui (Arab region) emphasized the need for more multilevel and participation mechanisms to address disparities, in particular in policy-making. Maitree Muzumdar (Asia Pacific) advocated for partnership strategies anchored in grassroots engagement and solidarity to advance equality from the bottom up.

Regional Priorities of the UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality

Emilia Saiz, Secretary General of UCLG, highlighted that youth contributions would be incorporated into the strategy of the Municipal Movement for CSW and beyond, noting that their inputs are well-aligned with UCLG’s vision. She emphasized the importance of bringing these perspectives back to UCLG’s membership to strengthen dialogue between youth and local and regional government leaders, ensuring that their voices shape future policy priorities. In a conversation facilitated by Carole Morillon, UCLG’s Head of Statutory Affairs, members of the Standing Committee presented the regional priorities of the UCLG sections for Beijing+30.

Noraini Roslan, President of the sustainability committee of Selangor State (UCLG-ASPAC) highlighted efforts to empower women through local government networks through the UCLG ASPAC Standing Committee on Women in Local Government, as well as the Innovation Corner Recommendations and the capacity-building initiative on Gender-Responsive Participatory Budgeting. Emil Broberg, Councillor of Östergötland Region, Member of the Board of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) (UCLG-Europe) announced CEMR/PLATFORMA’s participation in CSW69 and their commitment to address gender-based violence in politics through their “Women in Politics” study. He also mentioned the revision of SDG 5 at the 2025 HLPF as a key opportunity to reinforce our commitment to gender equality. Ana Muñiz Neyra, Mayor of San Mateo Atenco, President of the Latin American Network of Municipalist Women of FLACMA, Executive President of the National Federation of Municipalities of Mexico (FENAMM) (UCLG-LATAM) presented initiatives to reach marginalized communities and territories, and strengthen local responses to gender-based violence.

Hanan Kaoud, Councillor of Ramallah (UCLG-MEWA) urged concrete action to protect women in conflict zones, in alignment with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which recognized not only that women in armed conflicts face systematic violations of their basic rights, including displacement, sexual violence, and denial of basic human dignity, but also have a great role to play in peace and conflict-resolution processes. Alexandra Ignatieva, Head of the Municipality of Textilschiki, Chairperson of the Expert Council of the Union of Russian Cities (UCLG-Eurasia) discussed efforts to increase women’s political participation, especially in rural areas. Angela Gandra, Secretary of International Relations of Sao Paulo (UCLG-Metropolitan) emphasized the importance of care policies in urban governance to address gender gaps. Cities and metropolises, such as Barcelona, Bogotá, Freetown and Mexico City, have proved that when women take the lead, they bring bold policies that challenge social norms and improve quality of life.

In the following open discussion, Johana Núñez, Prefect of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, highlighted CONGOPE’s efforts to support provincial governments in implementing Ecuador's law against violence. Stephanie Uy Tan, Councilor of Catbalogan shared UCLG ASPAC’s "Youth Future Lab" initiative for strategic urban solutions. Highlighting her personal journey as the youngest female councilor and mayor, she addressed the biases she faced due to her gender and age while expressing optimism for future change. Aissata Bâ, Deputy Mayor of Sebkha and member of the Network of Young Elected Local Officials of Africa (YELO), expressed gratitude to mentors such as the Chair of the UCLG Standing Committee for their leadership and commitment to supporting young women as the leaders of tomorrow.

Charting the Path Forward

The dialogue concluded with a commitment to amplify youth voices and local governments’ priorities at CSW69 and beyond. Participants agreed on joint strategies for accelerating the localization of the Beijing Platform for Action, ensuring that young feminists play a pivotal role in shaping more inclusive and resilient communities, with wellbeing, equality and care at the center.

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