2018 Annual Report of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat highlighted Utah International Mountain Forum (UIMF) efforts  “… to raise global awareness of issues affecting mountain women at the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62), held at the United Nations Headquarters in March 2018” (P.5). The Mountain Partnership is a “United Nations voluntary alliance of partners dedicated to improving the lives of mountain peoples and protecting mountain environments around the world.”

This was one more recognition of efforts of members of the UIMF, a coalition of student clubs at Utah Valley University (UVU) to advocate for the sustainable mountain development agenda in the State of Utah and the UN. 11 UVU students led by Matthew Rands, President of UIMF, Derek Garfield, Vice President, UIMF and myself  contributed to the CSW63 agenda by hosting a  side- and a parallel events and submitting a written statement, which was distributed as an official document of ECOSOC during March 19-21-2018.  UIMF members advocate the SMD agenda through the student engaged learning model by addressing real-world problems of mountain communities as a group with a faculty serving them as a mentor.

The 2018 Annual Report of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat also mentioned, that the UIMF “… highlighted issues affecting mountain women, who are among the poorest in the world and the most vulnerable to challenges such as climate change and outmigration.”

                Dylan Genes, Vice President, UIMF