Only female contingent commander in South Sudan heads new hospital project in Bentiu

“Women are still a minority in most of the armed forces around the world; and in some ways, that is a privileged position.” That’s the view of Lieutenant Colonel Katie Hislop of the United Kingdom who is the only female commander at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). She heads the UK contingent which is responsible for a few engineering projects in the country, including a new hospital in Bentiu. The hospital will serve UN mission personnel, thus freeing the nearby Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International hospital to treat more civilians. Regina Gorle spoke with Lieutenant Colonel Hislop who talks about the hospital conditions and her experience in South Sudan.

New alliance will advance women and girls in innovation and tech

The innovation and technology sector holds “huge opportunities for women,” said to become more tangible with a new alliance aimed at advancing women and girls in the field. That’s the assessment of Fiona Bayat-Renoux, Director of Innovation at UN Women, which on Thursday launched the Global Innovation Coalition for Change (GICC). The coalition is comprised of 22 partners from private sector, non-profit and academic institutions that will work together over a two-year period. Natalie Hutchison asked Ms Bayat-Renoux how the GICC alliance came to fruition, and what best practices will ensure it succeeds.

"Geographical balance”, gender equality, essential: counter-terror chief

The Under-Secretary-General of the newly created United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office believes that “geographical balance and gender equality are pre-requisites for the success of the unit”. Vladimir Voronkov was appointed by UN Secretary General António Guterres in June, after the General Assembly approved the establishment of a new office to help Member States implement the Organization's global counter-terrorism strategy. With 30 staff – 70 per cent of whom are women - from 25 countries, Mr Voronkov said the future for the unit looked promising.  Anne Thomas started by asking how his previous experience as Russian Permanent Representative in Vienna, helped him in his new role.

Presenter: Dianne Penn

Production Assistant: Ana Carmo

Duration: 10'00″