The Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations delivered a keynote address at KSU Friday as part of a two-day CIFAL meeting.
The CIFAL (International Training Center for Local Actors) Network is made up of 10 regional centers for international training and development, according to the CIFAL Atlanta website. CIFAL Atlanta is housed at KSU and the two-day meeting included the directors of almost all CIFAL centers.
In addition to being assistant secretary general, Sally Fegan- Wyles is also the executive director of the U.N. Institute for Training and Research. UNITAR training is carried out by CIFAL centers worldwide.
Fegan-Wyles, of Ireland, spoke about gender equality and improving the status of women in her keynote address.
The 2015 deadline for the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals is fast-approaching and Fegan-Wyles said not all goals will be achieved. She said a new development agenda must focus on the common interests, different needs and mutual responsibilities of all countries.
The new agenda can address the underlying causes that prevent women from moving forward. “Should we mainstream gender or create a standalone goal?” Fegan-Wyles asked. She answered her own questions, saying “Both!”
Gender will be represented in a standalone goal concerned with empowering women and girls, but a gender perspective will also be included in other development goals regarding health, education and equal access to decision-making and political power.
Challenges to the new agenda include managing the pressure to address every nation’s concern and accurately assessing social development. “You’re a creative thinking group,” Fegan-Wyles said to the crowd of CIFAL officials, KSU students and faculty. “Any suggestions and all contributions are welcome.”
“KSU is the only university in the world to host a CIFAL center,” because other centers are hosted by governments, said Lance Askildson, chief international officer for KSU and director of the Institute for Global Initiatives. KSU is a globally-aware institution leveraging this unique opportunity to involve students on a global scale, Askildson said.
Earlier Friday, U.N. officials announced a 2014 UNITAR fellowship and invited KSU to send two students to participate in Geneva, Switzerland.
The partnership between CIFAL Atlanta and KSU is a great opportunity, said UNITAR Senior Specialist Estrella Merlos. “KSU’s areas of expertise can fill needs for training in many countries,” said Merlos, who emphasized the many opportunities for women. “More than ever, we need women with technology and engineering skills in leadership.”
KSU masters student Aurelia Dinakegbodo said she takes pride knowing she goes to a university concerned with global opportunity. “The IGI is doing an amazing job getting students involved,” Senior Cayce Hoover said, adding that she appreciates having guests like Fegan-Wyles at KSU.
Fegan-Wyles said university students are a “huge asset” because they are creative, have an educational network, and are “interested in things outside their immediate concentrations.”
Students interested in volunteering with CIFAL Atlanta can do so through KSU’s Institute for Global Initiatives.
