UNANIMA International (UI) has been a significant expression of collaborative religious commitment to justice at the global level for more than two decades. For the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, participation in UI paved a path towards deep engagement in seeking systemic change in eco-social justice and rights.
Formally recognised as a non-governmental organisation in 2002, UI brought together congregations of women religious in a coalition that advocated at the United Nations in New York on challenges affecting people living in poverty, especially women and girls.
Our Lady of Sion joined in 2006 as UNANIMA’s fourteenth member congregation, represented on the Board by Sr Maria Vigna. Sr Sylvia Obrig, passionate about environmental issues, replaced Sr Maria in 2009, and Sr Ces (Cecelia) Martin joined the executive team soon after.
In this article, we hear from Sr Ces and Sr Sylvia of the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, together with Sr Jean Quinn DW, UNANIMA’s last Executive Director.
Before founding UNANIMA International, Sr Catherine Ferguson (SNJM) had already spent years engaged in social development. The 1995 UN World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen deepened her commitment to global justice and poverty reduction. Later, in 1998, under the banner of the NGO Franciscans International, she helped establish the UN NGO Committee on Social Development, a body UNANIMA would remain closely connected to throughout its existence.
From its earliest years, UI set out to address urgent global justice concerns related to women and children, immigrants and refugees, and the welfare of the planet.
Initial advocacy focused on combatting the trafficking and exploitation of women and children. Under Sr Catherine’s leadership, UNANIMA led a campaign called “Stop the Demand”.
The language used in UN resolutions, treaties and statements determines commitments – and the wording matters. The aim of the “Stop the Demand” campaign was to explicitly introduce the word “demand” into the debate about human trafficking. After ten years, it succeeded. Subsequent UN discussions on trafficking have referenced the need to address its root causes, pointing to demand as a driver.
As global needs evolved, the organisation expanded its work to include environmental justice and its overlaps with the protection of human dignity. In 2011, Sr Michele Morek OSU stepped in to co-ordinate the work.
A primary focus of UNANIMA under Sr Michele’s guidance was its work with the Mining Working Group. The group’s briefings to UN ambassadors and member states focused on a rights-based approach to extractives, urging a shift from economic growth to protection and support of communities affected by mining.
Access to water was a key concern. The group explicitly named and prioritised the human right to water and sanitation in the agenda, and warned against treating water as a commodity to be bought and sold. They called for a moratorium on mining in places where water supply to farmers and local communities was being restricted, and pushed to create stronger mechanisms to hold governments and companies involved in mining accountable for violations of human and environmental rights.
Sr Michele believed that lived experience could be a powerful catalyst for change, and championed inviting women to share their stories first-hand. She also ensured UI’s youth participation in the NGO Committee Working Group on Girls. Through sharing and collaboration at grassroots level, UNANIMA ensured that the realities of often voiceless communities and groups were represented in international policy conversations.
For Notre Dame de Sion, participation in UNANIMA became a catalyst for the development of congregational justice structures.
Recognising that justice work in collaboration with partners required co-ordination, Sion created its own internal UNANIMA network. Ten years later, justice and advocacy work was integrated into a congregational JPIC (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation) framework, embedding collaborative international advocacy more firmly in the wider mission of the Congregation.
The team strengthened communication across regions through a network that filtered news, recommendations and calls-to-action between the UNANIMA Board and Sion sisters and friends worldwide.
Similar network models were adopted across UNANIMA member congregations, and within this capillary structure, pockets of specialisation emerged. Sr Jean explains:
“When the UN came to us about a particular issue, we always knew which congregation in our group was best placed to respond, through the lens of immigration, the environment, and so on.”
Sr Ces was active in UI for more than fourteen years. She was based at the New York office for five years and acted as President in the period prior to closure.
“We moved from being a family model to what I’d call a professional model during my time,” she said.
When Sr Jean began as Executive Director, there was a sense that UNANIMA’s voice could grow stronger at the UN. Two strategies were developed to raise its profile: one focusing on decision-making systems and processes, the other on day-to-day operations.
These changes helped shape UNANIMA’s development from an informal, relationship-based network into an organisation with clear governance structures and co-ordinated strategic planning.
Within this framework and drawing from Sr Jean’s prior experience at the head of a housing association in Ireland, homelessness became a new focus area. In 2017, UNANIMA co-founded the Working Group to End Homelessness (WGEH).
At that time, poverty was already high on the UN agenda. Yet displacement and homelessness were not dealt with as specific issues in their own right. With WGEH, UNANIMA sought to build political will to make preventing, assessing, measuring and systemically ending homelessness a global priority.
“After three years, we had two resolutions, and commitment to a regular reporting system from the Secretary General on homelessness,” said Sr Jean. Homelessness was formally placed on the UN’s global agenda.
At the heart of UNANIMA’s organisational culture was a commitment to sharing – with grassroots, external experts, other NGOs, and actors within the UN itself. They applied this approach in everything they did.
This spirit of dialogue, combined with rigorous research and substantive oral and written contributions to both formal and informal debates, made UNANIMA’s proposals both credible and compelling.
“We were always widening the space of our tents and our nets, bringing in as many people as we could,” said Sr Jean, “And we did a lot of research.” In fact, UNANIMA published six books examining different facets of homelessness – all of which are available for free download – and was invited to speak during both COP27 and COP28. UI continued to undertake advocacy on homelessness within the UN in the lead-up to the Second World Summit for Social Development in 2025.
This way of working ensured that advocacy reflected real human realities rather than abstract policy debates, and built trust with Member States, transforming UI’s role from one of advocacy to one of influence.
Over the years, UNANIMA represented 25 congregations of women religious, comprising 25,000 people in 100 countries. In 2025, it was present in six NGO Working Groups:
In recent years, member congregations of UNANIMA faced significant challenges, including their diminishing size and limited financial capacity. After careful consultation and prayerful discernment, the Board concluded that closure was the most responsible path forward.
The organisation is now completing its final phase, focused primarily on the legal and financial processes related to dissolution and the responsible distribution of resources.
“It’s an emotional challenge,” admits Sr Jean, “But these last eleven years have been such a privilege.”
While UNANIMA International is coming to an end as an organisation, its legacy continues.
Beyond the quantifiable results, relationship-building became a defining feature of UNANIMA’s work. Dialogue across political, cultural, and ideological differences created spaces where collaboration could flourish, even among actors who did not always agree. “Bringing people together and having a conversation – that was a good legacy that we’ve all left,” said Sr Jean.
The experience has demonstrated the power of collective advocacy, international solidarity, and faith-based engagement at the United Nations, leaving a lasting legacy for other UN NGOs: a collaborative culture, a networked organisational model, and a rich body of resources.
An important question for the future remains how member congregations, including Sion, will continue their presence in eco-social justice. “We need to reflect on what Sion has learned and how to continue the legacy,” said Sr Ces.
“Our world is in pretty tough shape,” wrote Sr Sylvia, who led many petitions and took part in numerous marches in her time. “We’re needing so much justice and peace, and asking God to help us deal with climate change.”
The Congregation is currently active in eco-social justice work in North America, Brazil, the Philippines, Australia and the UK. The question of whether to continue at local level or through new partnerships or other forms of global justice collaboration has yet to be discerned.
Either way, a commitment to justice, peace and love underpins the Congregation’s identity, and the call to uphold the rights of people and our planet, and stand with marginalised communities remains central to the mission that Notre Dame de Sion continues to carry forward.
We give grateful thanks for the possibility of participating in UNANIMA International and for the many gifts it has made possible for Notre Dame de Sion.