March 16, 2026

11:00 AM to 01:00 PM IST

Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/YYLKxjX1SPSk61bbSDHx9g

Background to the NGO CSW Forum

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is an official Commission of the United Nations (UN) which focuses on the rights and empowerment of women and gender equality. It’s an intergovernmental body consisting of 45 Member State governments of the UN. As the Secretariat of the CSW, UN Women supports all aspects of the Commission’s work. Each year, the annual CSW session, which takes place for two weeks in March in New York, focuses on a priority theme related to gender equality. At the end of the two weeks, an outcome document is produced on the theme. The seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place from 9 to 19 March 2026.

The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) CSW Forum is organized by and for global civil society and NGOs to connect them with the UN CSW process. The NGO CSW Forum runs parallel to and complements the UN CSW and is a separate process with separate organizers. The NGO CSW is held both onsite in New York and online by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)/NGOs. The NGO CSW Forum informs, engages, and inspires grassroots efforts and gender equality advocacy around the world. The recommendations prepared through the NGO CSW Forum are included in the main CSW outcome document.

In 2026, the NGO CSW70 Parallel Event will be in line with the official CSW70 priority theme: Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers. The review theme will be: Women’s full and effective participation and decision making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-fifth session).

Parallel event at the NGO CSW70 Forum 2026

In March 2026, ICA-AP and its Committee on Women will organize a virtual parallel event at the NGO CSW70 Forum on the topic, ‘From Summit to Scale: Institutionalising Women’s Leadership in Cooperative’, under the theme ‘Women’s Leadership’.

The event will showcase real-life case examples from the cooperative sector across the Asia-Pacific, drawing directly on lessons from the Asia-Pacific Women CEOs Summit (Vietnam, 2024) and ICA-AP & ACFSMC Regional workshop on advancing women CEOs in cooperatives (China, 2018). Through short case presentations, we will highlight how women CEOs are acting as enablers and mentors, analyse the institutional factors that made these initiatives successful, and identify scalable actions cooperatives can adopt. The event will also bring together evidence from the ICA-AP Gender Policy Study ‘Review of Gender-Based Policies in Cooperatives in Asia Pacific Countries’, collectively creating concrete pathways to institutionalising women’s leadership in cooperatives.

2025 marked the International Year of Cooperatives and gave the sector renewed visibility and momentum. As we enter into 2026, this CSW70 provides an opportunity to convert summit commitments into sustained initiatives, while aligning our regional work with the CSW70 priority on access to justice and inclusive systems.

The event will be held on Zoom on March 16, 2026, 11:00 AM to 01:00 PM IST. (Convert to your local time here).