Experts tell WFWPI: Hold power to account, have a sound plan and a fund pool for sustainability

By Dr. Marivir Montebon 

New York – In time for the opening of the CSW 70th session, WFWPI successfully concluded a leadership and advocacy workshop meant to enhance the participants' planning, reporting, and fund-raising potentials.

Trainers at the training emphasized the need to hold power to account, having a sound plan, and a fund pool for sustainability.

UN processes and IT expert Dr. Rior Santos, head trainer for WFWPI, wrapped up the workshop emphasizing that civil society organizations must hold governments to account. 

"While we are aiming to reach goals, we also need to look at governments to deliver those goals that they have committed to," he said during the closing day of the training where some 35 attendees became certified as UN Advocacy Officers of the Women’s Federation for World Peace International.  

The UN has marked its Sustainable Development Goals to have reached only 35 percent of its targets and is set to finish in 2030.

Santos is currently the head of programs of the UN Office for Project Services and is based in Myanmar. He told participants that they were already experts in their own field of work long before the SDGs were promoted. “And as such, the SDGs are mere tools to systematize current developmental work on the ground.”

WFWPI is an active participant in the CSW 70 with its General Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council. It has 128 national chapters worldwide. Its UN Relations Offices are in New York, Geneva, and Vienna and headed by Merly Barlaan who has emphasized on institutionalization of programs and partnerships with government and civil society to create impactful projects and programs.

At the training at New Yorker Hotel on March 6-8, 2026, Santos placed in perspective the need for careful, results-based management to ensure positive results and impact. He encouraged WFWPI to focus on plans that have measurable outputs to ensure sustainability. 

"Success starts with a sound plan. Although plans change on the ground, if you don't plan and plan correctly, you are set to fail."

Rosie Chawla, educator and grants development expert, emphasized the constancy of financial resources to propel programs and ensure the impactful presence of CSO. 

It is without doubt that meaningful projects and programs go hand in hand with a healthy fund pool, which has always been a challenge for CSO. The attitude of women’s groups is always to have grant development experts as partners to realize goals and become sustainable, she said.

Chawla is the director of the Global Education Projects & Partnerships as well as the UNESCO Center for Peace.

Dr. Rior Santos

WFWPI Leadership and Advocacy Training participants for CSW 70

Rosie Chawla