AMMAN (JT) -  Ten years after theFourth World Conference on Women took place in Beijing,the United Nations is offering an opportunity to policy-makers and experts from governments around the world to takestock of progress made in advancing gender equality and the empowermentof women and to recommend concrete steps for future action.

The meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women′s forty-ninth session, known as "Ten-Year Review and Appraisal," is being held at the UN headquarters in New York from Feb. 28 to March 11.

As part of the annual session of the commission, HerRoyal Highness Princess Basma on Monday attended a high-level roundtable titled: "Innovations in Institutional Arrangements for Promoting GenderEquality at National Level".

The purpose of the roundtable discussion is to furtherdevelop opportunities for sharing national experiences, in particular with regards to the Beijing Declaration and platform for action.

Speaking about institutional mechanisms for theadvancement of women in Jordan, Princess Basma highlighted the role of the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) in gender mainstreaming,which has been a major focus of the Beijing Platform for Action".JNCW has succeeded in gender mainstreaming at both national planning andorganisational levels".

Referring to the major global and regional events thathave often posed serious challenges to development processes and genderequity efforts in particular, the Princess noted that the major tasksof institutional mechanisms -  ashighlighted in the Beijing Platform for Action -  have successfully been addressed by the Kingdom over the past decade.

Princess Basma concluded that although JNCW does notwork with a specific popular base, as do women′s movements, NGOs and civilsociety organisations, it has developed over the years on a national scale".Since JNCW′s adoption of a participatory approach, the commission ensuresthat all its activities are run in the three regions of Jordan,guaranteeing that participants represent all stakeholders from different backgrounds,be it rural or urban".

At a side event of the commission, Princess Basma, inher capacity as UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador, chaired an interactivepanel titled, "From Disaster to Empowerment: Women at the Heartof Tsunami Recovery". The panel, which was organised by UNIFEM ExecutiveDirector Noeleen Heyzer, highlighted UNIFEM′s new programme in support ofwomen′s leadership in disaster response.

As part of the discussion, the Princess reiterated the need to include an explicit gender perspective in all responses tohumanitarian and recovery requirements following the tsunami. "There aregender perspectives to be taken into account in relation to impacts on both along- and short-term basis, in relation to health, security and livelihoods".

Princess Basma also commended UNIFEM′s continuedefforts in working with UN partners to advocate for allocation of resources andexpertise to strengthen women′s networks through the phases of relief,recovery and development.

Panelists included Heyzer, Indonesian State Ministerfor Women Empowerment Meutia Swasono, and UNIFEM Gender Adviser for TsunamiReconstruction Savitri Goonesekere.