Vienna: MenEngage Expert Meeting at the OSCE
& IGC-Vienna Annual Meeting
Women@theTable was delighted to speak at the MenEngage Expert Meeting at the OSCE at the Hofburg, on Accountability and inclusion: effective male engagement and partnership, and also have a chance to address the International Gender Champions-Vienna Annual Meeting luncheon at the Vienna International Centre the same day with Champion Ambassadors from Costa Rica, Slovenia, US, UK, Switzerland, Israel, Spain, Republic of Korea, Austria, Finland, Denmark, France, Argentina, Bosnia, and the heads of UNIDO, CBTO, the Anti-Corruption Agency, UN Office for Outer Space, and other friends.
The International Gender Champions-Vienna lunch

The MenEngage Expert meeting 23-24 November 2017 AGENDA
Friday 24 November 2017
10:00 – 11:00
Opening session: Strategies to engage men within organizations
Inspiring opening session highlighting the ‘why’ and providing examples from other organizations; what are the benefits for men of gender equality; how to challenge masculinity norms and behaviours within organizations; findings from research on men & gender equality
Welcoming remarks:
- Dr. Michael Linhart, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria
- Ambassador Andrej Benedejčič, Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the OSCE
Moderator: TBC Key-note speakers:
- Nikki van der Gaag, Director of Women's Rights & Gender Justice, Oxfam GB, United Kingdom
- Ritxar Bacete González, Senior Fellow, Promundo Global
- Dr. Nigina Abaszade, Regional Technical Adviser on Gender, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Europe and Central Asia Regional Office
Questions & Answers
11:15 – 11:45 Coffee and tea break
11:45 – 12:45
Session 2: Best practices and preliminary results of MenEngage activities in the OSCE region
Overview of promising good practices and results achieved so far, both within organizations and through engaging men as a programmatic approach
Moderator:
PERMANENT REPRESENTATION OF SLOVENIA TO THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN VI
- Sasa Gavric, Gender Adviser, OSCE Mission in Kosovo & Visare Mujko-Nimani, Programme Specialist, UNFPA Office in Kosovo
- Dr. Amartuvshin Dorjsuren, Lecturer, National University of Mongolia
- Dzhalolov Shamsudin, Deputy Head of Party of Economic reforms of Tajikistan & Vesna Vesna Ivanovikj-Castarede, Head of Gender and Anti-Trafficking Unit, OSCE Office in
Dushanbe
- Lyubov Smykalo, Doctors to Children, Russian Federation
- Aneta Goranovic, Reflektor Teater, Serbia
- MenEngage Europe (TBC)
Discussant:
- John Crownover, Youth and Gender Program Advisor, CARE International, Balkans
14:15 – 15:45 Session 2 continued: working groups
The participants will be split into working groups to discuss more in-depth what strategies and approaches can be drawn from the good practices presented for the OSCE. Groups will be divided along different thematic areas.
12:45 – 14:15 Lunch
Working Group a: The role of men in combating violence against women Working Group b: The role of men in advancing equal participation of women
Wrap-up: perspective from the field
- Kieran O’Reilly, Monitor, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine 15:45 – 16:15 Coffee and tea break
16:15 – 17:45
Session 3: Accountability and inclusion: effective male engagement and partnership
Interactive discussion on what effective male engagement entails, what basic principles and commitments of male allies in the OSCE would include and how men can be mobilized in the most effective way.
Moderator: Ambassador Claude Wild, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OSCE
Speakers:
- Elli Scambor, Managing director of the Institute for Masculinity Studies, Gender Research and Education and Lecturer at University of Graz
- Rati Ionatamishvili, Deputy Chairman, Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee, Parliament of Georgia
- Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, CEO and founder of Women@the Table
- UN Women representative (TBC)
- Global MenEngage Alliance representative (TBC)
Discussion 17:45 – 18:00
Closing Remarks
Amarsanaa Darisuren, Senior Adviser on Gender Issues, OSCE Gender Section