The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination's Project on Gender in the Global Community will co-sponsor a lecture and discussion, "Relief and Recovery Pillar: Reflections on Opportunities and Gaps for Displaced Women and Girls," on Thursday, May 23, 2013, at 1:00 p.m. at the Women's Refugee Commission, 122 East 42nd St., 11th floor, New York. The featured speaker will be Sarah Costa, Executive Director of the Women's Refugee Commission. To attend the event, RSVP to the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the UN. 

The Relief and Recovery Pillar of the Women, Peace and Security agenda focuses on ensuring relief needs specific to women and girls are met, and that special attention is paid to the most vulnerable, including displaced women and girls, survivors of gender based violence, and those with disabilities. It also calls for efforts to support women’s activities as agents in relief and recovery efforts, including providing women with equal access to livelihoods activities. Costa will focus on the situation of displaced women and girls and discuss areas where there has been progress, as well as highlight ongoing challenges and possible ways to meet them. 

The event is part of a series of lectures and panels on the UN's Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, organized by LISD's Project on Gender in the Global Community, the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, and the PeaceWomen Project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Sarah Costa has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of women's rights, reproductive health, gender and youth development, as well as global philanthropy. Throughout her career, she has worked in partnership with those closest to the issues, from government officials to local women’s organizations. Before joining the Women's Refugee Commission, Costa was regional director of the Global Fund for Women, a grantmaking organization that supports women’s rights organizations working on economic security, health, education and leadership. She established the organization’s New York office and represented the organization in programmatic and fundraising activities on the East Coast. From 1994 to 2006, she worked as a program officer for the Ford Foundation in Brazil and New York, developing and managing international and national programs on gender, sexuality and reproductive health, women’s rights, HIV/AIDS and health policy. Costa was Professor of Women’s Health at the National School of Public Health, Brazil from 1980 to 1994, where she taught and conducted research on women's health policy and social development. Sarah was very active in the women's movement in Brazil, where she was a member of the Advisory Committee to the National Council on Women's Rights, served on the boards of several women's organizations and was a Technical Advisor on Women's Health to the State Government of Rio de Janeiro.

Costa is board president elect of the Association of Women’s Rights in Development. She serves on the advisory board of the National Centers on Sexuality at San Francisco State University and of the Earth Institute's Millennium Villages project. She holds a Master's Degree in Demography from London University and a PhD in Social Medicine from Oxford University. She has published numerous papers and articles on women's health and reproductive rights in both English and Portuguese.

A webcast of the event will be archived for later viewing on LISD's YouTube channel.