Schoolgirls in Liberia, December 2007. (USAID)

The role of women and girls was not prominent enough in the UN Millennium Development Goals, which expire in 2015, said Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, and any post-2015 development agenda should have both a stand-alone goal for women and girls and specific roles for them in the broader agenda.

“In all other goals, whatever they are, it should be clear that there can be a specific role or a specific issue for women and girls,” Ms. Ploumen said in this interview. These are top priorities for the Netherlands in the post-2015 framework, she added. 

Ms. Ploumen said, “one of the main strategies that we should now look into is to make sure that not only the voices of those women are heard in the meeting rooms of the UN, but they themselves can be represented.” 

As an example, she said, “The most powerful thing to move things forward is to have a girl herself talk about what happened to her when she was forced into an early marriage. So, I think we should work with civil society and the UN to make even more room for the voices of women and girls themselves.” 

Ms. Ploumen also discussed how the Netherlands supports women in peace processes. “In South Sudan, we’re working through the FLOW [Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women] funds—but also through NGOs like Cordaid—to encourage young women to take up leadership positions in their communities, to organize themselves. ” 

“I think women can be a force for good. They are a force for change, but they also need our support to make that happen, and I’m very proud that we are able to do so,” she said.

“I admire the courage of all those women and girls that are there to stand up in their own community, give a voice to their sisters, their neighbors, their nieces, their daughters. We should be there with them.” 

The interview was conducted by Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, Policy Analyst at the International Peace Institute.

Listen to interview (or download mp3):

Transcript

Andrea Ó Súilleabháin: At the start of the 58th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the UN, I had the pleasure of speaking with Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands. On March 11th, Minister Ploumen joined me to discuss the Netherlands’ priorities on development, its relation to peace and security, and ensuring sustainable development for women and girls.

The 58th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), happening at the UN this week, focuses on the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls. Looking ahead, what are the Netherlands’ priorities for the post-2015 framework, and ensuring it reaches women, especially those in conflict-affected states? 

Lilianne Ploumen: We have a few priorities that we would like to see on the agenda. To start with, we advocate for a stand-alone goal on women. I think many people would agree that the Millennium Development Goals were a wonderful tool if you wish to bring about lots of political and public support to development. But many of those people would also agree that the role of women and girls has not been too prominent in many of those goals. So a stand-alone goal in what will come after the Millennium Development Goals I think would be a key priority for us. 

The second would be that in all other goals, whatever they are, it should be clear that there can be a specific role or a specific issue for women and girls. We are also advocating for a separate goal on peace and security—or peace and stability, if you wish—because we feel that without development there can’t be peace and without peace there cannot be development. 

So, I think these would be the three priority areas for us where we advocate, and of course we’re looking for as many supporters for that as we can. CSW is a very good platform for that.

AOS: And the Netherlands’ development priorities also include food and water security. Do these key development issues play an important role in women’s empowerment?

LP: Definitely they do, both water as well as food security. Looking at different countries in the world, if you look at the people who are food insecure, many times they’re girls and women. And if they are food secure, there might be an issue on nutrition, for example. So we also had discussions here in New York on how to make sure that if there is food security, there is also about nutrition. You see adolescent girls, for example—they often lack sufficient resources to be food secure, and I think this would be an area for us to focus on. 

Now water obviously is very important from different perspectives. There’s access to clean drinking water. We all know that sometimes clean drinking water is at very faraway places. It’s women and girls who have to walk to these places. Now, they can save up to one to two to three hours a day when they don’t have to walk that extra mile, and those hours can be spent for the girls to do their homework and for the women also to do other things—not only for their households but also for themselves. And if you look at, for example, issues of water in terms of climate change, [it] can also be a source of conflict, and women suffer most in conflicts. So diplomacy on water issues would be a key feature to promote the position of women. So that’s what we’re doing. 

AOS: Speaking of local impact, I believe that before your career in politics, you headed an organization that funds local women’s rights initiatives around the world. Local women leaders make critical contributions to peace and gender equality, but how can the UN and the international community better support these local actors?

LP: Yes, I used to work as a director for Mama Cash, a women’s fund, and we supported those groups and those women that were not identified by the larger donors or were even not known to the UN. And I think one of the main strategies that we should now look into is to make sure that not only the voices of those women are heard in the meeting rooms of the UN, but they themselves can be represented. 

What you see is that there are many, many side events with women all over the world, which I think is very good. We learn from each other; we exchange views, perspectives. But the most powerful thing to move things forward is to have a girl herself talk about what happened to her when she was forced into an early marriage. So, I think we should work with civil society and the UN to make even more room for the voices of women and girls themselves. 

Now, also I would call on other donors to fund for women’s rights. The Dutch government created a fund, it’s called a FLOW fund, and we support women leaders all over the world—also in conflict areas, to help them to make their voices heard in the conflict but also after the conflict. And again I urge others to join us. They’re very much welcome.

AOS: To continue on the importance of women’s participation, the Netherlands often asserts here at the UN that women are leaders and agents for peace. How does the Netherlands promote women’s roles in ongoing peace processes, from Syria to South Sudan, and how can the UN bring more women to the peace table?

LP: We’ve been actively engaged in building a coalition of women leaders out of Syria—not all of them still in Syria but also in neighboring countries—and have enabled them to also come to Geneva. They were not exactly at the table, but they were very near the table. 

In South Sudan, we’re working through the FLOW [Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women] funds but also through NGOs like CORDAID to encourage young women to take up leadership positions in their communities, to organize themselves, and we all… well, have been devastated, I would say, by what’s happening in South Sudan. And we have enabled women to get the message across to others where the negotiations took place that peace has to be inclusive. I think women can be a force for good. They are a force for change, but they also need our support to make that happen, and I’m very proud that we are able to do so. 

I admire—and this is, I think, what we should say every day—I admire the courage of all those women and girls that are there to stand up in their own community, give a voice to their sisters, their neighbors, their nieces, their daughters. We should be there with them. 

AOS: Minister Ploumen, thanks so much for speaking with us today. 

LP: Thank you.