Women Roundtable - WUF10 (8-13 February 2020,…

nnovation, along with inclusion, intercultural dialogue and gender equality are emphasized in the New Urban Agenda as transformative commitments to ensure sustainable urban development for social inclusion and ending poverty. Furthermore, access to innovation is recognized as a necessary part of creating an enabling environment to implement the New Urban Agenda. Culture and cultural diversity, too, are highlighted as essential aspects of sustainable urban development. At the same time, in order to meaningfully contribute to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, both culture and innovation must be inclusive and reflect gendered perspectives, and provide equal access, including for women and girls in vulnerable situations, such as refugee women, migrant women, informally working women, poor women, etc. This, too, is reflected in the New Urban Agenda, which calls for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through full and effective participation in all areas of urban life. It further recognizes the important contributions to urban life brought by refugees, displaced persons, and migrants, as well as the poor and those working in the informal economy. This Roundtable, therefore, aims to celebrate the important contributions to culture and innovation made by women in vulnerable situations. It will take stock of existing success stories from a variety of regional contexts and levels. Speakers will discuss their best practices as well as the challenges they have encountered, thus enabling the panel and audience to identify opportunities for scaling-up and forming partnerships and communities of practice. Speakers will vary between national and local government, individual women and civil society groups and well as private sector organizations so that information can be exchanged between key stakeholders to understand each other's perspectives, challenges, and needs, ultimately contributing to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Objectives: Share successful examples of gender-responsive innovation in culture and urbanization in the context of implementing the New Urban Agenda, with a focus on those organized by women most at risk of exclusion: refugee women, migrant women, informal working women, and poor women, etc. Provide speakers and audience with tested concepts and best practices that ensure the effective engagement and participation in urban culture and innovation practices of women and girls in vulnerable situations to effectively utilize their experiences and expertise for scaling up / local adaption for maximum impact. Share tools, methods, and approaches to ensure women's empowerment, in particular of women in vulnerable situations, to take advantage of the opportunities brought by sustainable urban development, including in culture and innovation. Guiding Questions: 1. What is the impact / what are the results of your project/innovation etc? 2. What measures were taken to ensure broad ownership and/or participation of women and girls in vulnerable situations?  3. What were some of the key hurdles/challenges and how were these overcome? 4. What is the role of the private sector, in particular start-ups, in providing opportunities to women and girls in vulnerable situations to participate in innovation and culture in the urban context?  5. What are the future in gender and vulnerability-responsive innovation? Any emerging trends and how to capitalize on these? 6. How did you mobilize the resources for this project?