The 2016 NCFR Annual Conference was full of connections to the United Nations. Conference Program Chair Lee Ann De Reus used the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals as a framework, and the International Section's special session related those goals directly to Family Science.

Did you know, though, that NCFR has been involved with the United Nations since the late 1940s, at least indirectly through the International Union of Family Organizations? NCFR currently holds a nongovernmental organization (NGO) consultative status with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. This consultative status provides opportunities for our representatives to engage in United Nations events and present family research. Drs. Mihaela Robila and Bahira Sherif Trask are NCFR's current UN representatives. They follow Dr. Marilyn Bensman, who began as the UN representative in 1992, and Dr. Elizabeth Force, who was the representative for 31 years prior to Dr. Bensman. Several other NCFR members have been involved with the United Nations over time.

In this column and my next column, NCFR's current UN representatives write about their involvement with the organization. Here, Dr. Robila, NCFR's main representative, shares her research on family functioning and family policies in the context of her work with the United Nations. She also provides a list of UN resources to learn more about the family-relevant divisions of the organization. Dr. Trask will share her work and how it relates to the United Nations in the spring issue of NCFR Report.

I hope you enjoy, and please contact any of us with questions.

Family Policies and United Nations

Mihaela Robila, Ph.D., CFLE, Professor and Deputy Chair, Human Development and Family Studies, Queens College, City University of New York

The thing I like the most about living in New York City is its cultural diversity. With about 37% of its residents being born outside the United States (census.gov), New York City presents itself as one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. and globally, with people coming from all over the world. The city's great cultural diversity is also reflected in its educational institutions. Queens College of the City University of New York, where I am professor of human development and family studies, is located in Queens, the most diverse county in the U.S., with students coming from 150 countries. For somebody like me, with scholarship and interests focused on cultural diversity, there is no better place to live than New York City! It is truly a privilege and a great learning opportunity to have a chance to interact with people from so many different places.

From my own cultural background, I have a strong research interest in family functioning, immigration, and family policies in Eastern Europe that has extended to family functioning and family policies across the globe. For example, I edited the Handbook on Family Policies Across the Globe (2014), for which I invited colleagues from 28 countries to write chapters on family policy development, implementation, and evaluation in their countries. Each chapter includes sections on socioeconomic and political contexts and their impact on families, family demographics, and family policy developments and challenges. Because of my research, I received two Fulbright Specialist Awards from the U.S. Department of State (2012 and November 2016). I also was elected a fellow in three of the American Psychological Association divisions between 2011 and 2013: International, Family Psychology, and Child and Family Policy.

Another thing I like about living in New York City is the opportunity to collaborate with great programs and institutions, such as the United Nations. As an international scholar and immigrant myself, I was fascinated with how the United Nations works and the projects it undertakes. Right after becoming a faculty member at Queens College in 2003, I contacted the UN Focal Point on the Family in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). The Family Program is one of the areas in the Social Integration Branch, in the Division of Social Policy and Development (DSPD) in UNDESA at the UN Secretariat. Soon after, I was invited by the Family Program to participate in several projects focused on family policies in Eastern Europe. Since then, I have continuously collaborated with the UN Family Program on family policies at a broader, global level.

While attending events at the United Nations, I learned about the UN Committee on the Family (ngofamilyny.org), which includes many NGOs, including NCFR. At that time, NCFR was represented by Dr. Marilyn Bensman. I met Marilyn at the 2008 NCFR Annual Conference, which led to me becoming an alternate representative to the United Nations and, in 2009, NCFR's main representative. In this capacity I participate in different meetings at the United Nations, act as a liaison between NCFR and the United Nations, and organize sessions at the NCFR Annual Conference that emphasize the UN agenda. For example:

• In 2014, for the 20th anniversary of the United Nations International Year of the Family (IYF), I organized a symposium at the 2013 NCFR Annual Conference with Renata Kaczmarska, United Nations Focal Point on the Family.
• In 2014, I collaborated with Diane Cushman (NCFR executive director), Renata Kaczmarska, and Ignacio Socias (International Federation for Family Development) to organize the North America UN Expert Group Meeting (EGM) in Mexico City, Mexico, along with other stakeholders from around the world, for the 20th anniversary of the IYF. Two additional NCFR members, Drs. Bahira Sherif Trask and Linda Burton, participated in the meeting. The final report and expert papers from this meeting were used to write the 2014 Report of the Secretary-General on the observance of the 20th anniversary of the IYF.
• In 2016, I presented an overview of NCFR as the premier professional organization for the multidisciplinary understanding of families at the EGM in New York titled "Family Policies and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda." The presentation underlined NCFR activities that inform policy, including publication of peer-reviewed journals, the annual conference, research and policy briefs, and NCFR's engagement and resources: focus groups, workshops, mentoring, and the Certified Family Life Educator credential, among others.

Collaborating with the United Nations has been a great experience and has provided wonderful learning opportunities. There are several UN agencies and programs that might be of interest to NCFR members, which are listed below. Their websites contain a plethora of information about different topics, meetings, articles, policy briefs, and videos.

Resources

• UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs(un.org/development/desa/en/)
  • Division for Social Policy and Development (un.org/development/desa/dspd/)—family, youth, aging, disability, poverty, social integration, indigenous people, civil society
  • Population Division (un.org/development/desa/en/about/desa-divisions/population.html)—fertility and family planning, population policy, migration
• UN Women (unwomen.org)—leadership and political participation, economic empowerment, ending violence against women, peace and security, HIV/AIDS, sustainable development, humanitarian action
• UN Population Fund(UNFPA) (unfpa.org)—sexual and reproductive health, young people (e.g., comprehensive sexuality education, adolescent pregnancy), human rights and gender equality, population matters (e.g., aging, migration)
• UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (unicef.org)—child protection and social inclusion, child survival, education, gender equality, emergencies and humanitarian action)
• UN Development Program (UNDP) (undp.org)—sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, climate and disaster resilience
• UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (unhcr.org)—advocacy, coordinating assistance, asylum and migration, ending statelessness

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