By Sr Winifred Doherty, NGO representative to the UN
The Congregation has six position papers that cover diverse topics – the girl child, migration, economic justice, violence against girls and women (including trafficking and prostitution), and integral ecology. The connecting link between these topics is how girls, women, and children are adversely impacted by human rights violations. No single representative can be expertise in every topic and this is where partnerships with individuals and like-minded organizations offer diverse possibilities.
In its essence, partnership embodies collaboration, mutual trust, and shared goals between individuals or entities. It is a synergistic relationship where two or more parties come together, pooling resources, expertise, and efforts to achieve common objectives. Partnerships thrive on open communication, compromise, and collective commitment to success.
For the Good Sherherd International Justice and Peace Office, this partnership is a living reality. The Office has been blessed with dedicated sisters and partners-in-mission who offer knowledge, skills, expertise, zeal, and enthusiasm. Together, we engage in the mission of advocating to change policies that exclude and systems that dehumanize through capitalizing on the Congregation’s Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations.
Through our networks, our partnerships extend beyond the Congregation to entities such as Religious at the UN (RUN), Justice Coalition of Religious (JCOR), and other faith-based and secular organizations with similar missions and with whom we join forces to advocate for right’s based and justice-informed policies and practices.
Effective partnership of the GSIJP Office is further contingent on constant, open, direct, informed communication with up-to-date sharing from ministries and programs throughout the Congregation. This information informs policy formulations and influences our contributions at meetings, panels, oral statements, and our social media and signature campaigns.
It enables us to speak from a global, national, and local perspective. This is most evident through our work around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which is focused on strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development.
The partnerships between the GSIJP Office and Good Shepherd mission partners serve as the cornerstone for progress, amplifying strengths, mitigating weaknesses, and forging lasting connections that propel endeavors forward toward shared prosperity through the implementation of the SDGs and the upholding of the vision of the GSIJP Office: to see a world permeated by God’s love, where justice and human rights support the dignity of every girl, woman, and child.
