Content_paragraphs:  Despite ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, my mission of good offices and 
  
  UNFICYP continued their joint efforts to support the implementation of the women 
  
  and peace and security agenda, including the promotion of the active participation of 
  
  women in peacemaking, through virtual forums. Those efforts  included engagement 
  
  with and support for women civil society activists and women’s organizations and 
  
  platforms. These actors came together ahead of the informal five-plus-one meeting in 
  
  Geneva, with a shared vision to encourage the parties to ensure the e ffective 
  
  participation of women and the inclusion of a gender perspective at the informal 
  
  meeting and in the future, should the sides commence full-fledged negotiations. 
  
  Outreach was undertaken by the intercommunal women’s group, Hands Across the 
  
  Divide, which conducted meetings with decision makers on both sides of the island 
  
  and with the diplomatic community. Several women’s organizations and platforms 
  
  issued statements and sent letters to the parties in anticipation of the informal 
  
  five-plus-one meeting. While those initiatives made a positive contribution to the 
  
  public discourse, they did not have an impact on the level of participation by women 
  
  in the delegations of the two sides, which was minimal. Nevertheless, the initiatives 
  
  reflected a growing trend of intercommunal pro-solutionist activity and constitute a 
  
  positive step towards further sensitizing key stakeholders regarding the perspectives 
  
  of women in relation to the peace process.