UNIFEM CURRENTS
UNIFEM CURRENTS
THE ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER OF
THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT FUND
FOR WOMEN (UNIFEM)
ACTIVITIES
May 2001
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NEWS IN BRIEF:
1. NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN UNIFEM AND UNAIDS
2. GENDER ADDRESSED FOR FIRST TIME IN OECD MEETING
3. ENGENDERING THE FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
4. GENDER GROUP LAUNCHED IN ZIMBABWE
5. INCREASED AWARENESS ON CEDAW IN RWANDA
6. CEDAW INDICATORS DEVELOPED IN ZANZIBAR
7. ENHANCING WOMEN'S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN MOROCCO
8. WORKING TO BRING WOMEN INTO PEACE PROCESSES IN AFRICA
9. ELECTRONIC WORKING GROUP HIGHLIGHTS CHALLENGES FACED BY YOUNG WOMEN IN CENTRAL ASIA
10. TRAINING FOR ARAB WOMEN ON THE USE OF ICTS
11. IDENTIFYING VIABLE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR MOROCCAN WOMEN
12. MULTI-PURPOSE EMPOWERMENT CENTRES FOR WOMEN
13. UNIFEM USES WOMEN’S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS LOCALLY TO CONFRONT GLOBALIZATION
14. NEW INFORMATION IN SPANISH AVAILABLE ONLINE
15. UNIFEM FIELD PRESENCE ENHANCED
FULL STORY:
1. NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN UNIFEM AND UNAIDS
On May 24, UNIFEM signed a Cooperation Agreement with UNAIDS to strengthen both organizations’ efforts to address the alarming spread of HIV and AIDS among women and girls. According to the UNAIDS June 2000 report, women constitute 47% of the 34.7 million adults living with HIV and AIDS worldwide and it is estimated that 55% of all HIV positive adults in Sub-Saharan Africa are women. As part of the new agreement, the two organizations will study the role of power imbalances between women and men and the role of gender relations in HIV transmission, as well as the impact of HIV/AIDS on both infected and affected women, the added burden of care imposed on women and girls, and the inequality in access to prevention, treatment, care and support. The organizations will also jointly develop gender-sensitive training manuals for peacekeepers and will work with women's groups in conflict areas to support their involvement in HIV/AIDS prevention and care within the context of peacebuilding, peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance. The agreement was signed during week-long deliberations by governments leading up to the Special Session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS to take place June 25-27 in New York.
For more information visit www.unifem.undp.org or contact Stephanie Urdang, UNIFEM Gender and HIV/AIDS Advisor at stephanie.urdang@undp.org
2. GENDER ADDRESSED FOR FIRST TIME IN OECD MEETING
UNIFEM's Executive Director addressed senior budget administration officials at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), held in Paris. The final communiqué of the meeting stressed the importance of conducting gender sensitive budget analyses and encouraged officials to participate in the upcoming OECD-Belgian-UNIFEM High-Level Conference on "Applied Gender Analysis to Government Budgets" set for October 16-17, 2001 in Belgium. This marked the first time that gender was addressed in a Senior Budget Officials OECD meeting.
For more information, contact Elizabeth Villagomez, UNIFEM Economic Governance Advisor, at elizabeth.villagomez@undp.org
3. ENGENDERING THE FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Leading economists debated the impact of the Financing for Development (FfD) Process on women's lives at a UNIFEM panel on May 4 during preparatory meetings for the International Conference on FfD, set for March 2002 in Mexico. Experts outlined how gender concerns and women's interests should be addressed in each of the six thematic areas of the FfD process in order to ensure that women do not bear the heaviest social costs of adjustment and that they directly benefit from trade, development assistance, budget allocations, foreign investment and globalization. The six areas include: external debt, mobilization of international resources, development cooperation, international trade, domestic resource mobilization and systemic issues.
Presenters included Maria Floro of the American University in Washington, Diane Elson of the University of Essex in the UK, Emmanuel Esguerra of the University of the Philippines, Rosalba Todaro of the Center for Women’s Studies in Chile and Yassine Fall, UNIFEM Regional Program Director for Francophone Africa.
“We need to link financial changes with what is happening to poor women in poor countries,” emphasized Diane Elson. “That means putting as much effort into developing a system of indicators as we put into developing indicators for inflation and balance of payment. If we can do that, then I think we really would have a transformative agenda.”
For more information, visit www.unifem.undp.org
4. GENDER GROUP LAUNCHED IN ZIMBABWE
A Development Assistance Group on Gender (DAGG) was established in Zimbabwe with support from UNIFEM and UNDP. The overall objective of the DAGG is to enhance the coordination, relevance and effectiveness of support from donors, bilateral and UN Agencies of government and other stakeholders in the process of integrating a gender perspective in development policies and programmes and the fulfillment of global commitments.
For more information, contact Nomcebo Manzini, Regional Programme Director for South Africa at nomcebo.manzini@undp.org.
5. INCREASED AWARENESS ON CEDAW IN RWANDA
UNIFEM supported the translation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) into Kinyarwanda for use in training seminars on women's rights in Rwanda. The UNITY Club, a local NGO, will conduct the seminars. UNIFEM's contributions to CEDAW awareness in Rwanda were recognized during a March 29 event attended by high-ranking government officials, including President Major General Paul Kagame. The President called upon all leaders to acknowledge the important role of women in development and to ensure that they were equally represented in all areas of development and employment.
For more information, contact Diana Opar, UNIFEM Gender Advisor, at diana.opar@undp.org.
6. CEDAW INDICATORS DEVELOPED IN ZANZIBAR
The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar held a workshop to develop indicators for monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), with support from UNIFEM. The indicators will be shared with UNIFEM’s partners in the region, with a particular focus on Mainland Tanzania. According to the National Plan of Action, Zanzibar will submit its report on the implementation of CEDAW to the UN Committee in January 2002.
For more information, contact Nomcebo Manzini, Regional Programme Director for South Africa at nomcebo.manzini@undp.org.
7. ENHANCING WOMEN'S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN MOROCCO
In preparation for the 2001 revision of the electoral code and the 2002 elections in Morocco, UNIFEM is working with the Centre for Women's Leadership of the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women to mobilize advocates for increased representation of women in electoral bodies. As part of the project, a Memorandum to the Prime Minister was prepared, calling for the introduction of positive measures in the electoral code to give priority to women's recruitment. Proposed measures include a quota system, voting using a system of proportional representation and ending the practice of elected officials holding more than one office concurrently.
The Memorandum's proposals were well received by the Minister in Charge of Women's Condition and were subsequently included in the governmental strategy for the promotion of women's political participation and access to decision-making posts. Moreover, as a result of women's advocacy around the Memorandum, the largest party of the ruling coalition adopted a 20% quota for women in the election of members to its Administrative Committee and its Bureau.
For more information, contact Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, UNIFEM Gender Advisor for North Africa at z.touimi-benjelloun@undp.org
8. WORKING TO BRING WOMEN INTO PEACE PROCESSES IN AFRICA
During the recent Security Council Mission to the Great Lakes Region, members met with representatives from the Women’s Peace Network. UNIFEM provided technical guidance and information to the women in preparation for the meeting. The mission follows the Security Council October 2000 resolution on Women, Peace and Security, which called for increased involvement of women in all levels of the peace process.
UNIFEM is also working with Somali women parliamentarians and the Save the Somali Women and Children's organization to provide training for women leaders and parliamentarians in peace-building.
For more information, contact Hodan Addou, Programme Coordinator for East, Central and the Horn of Africa at hodan.addou@unifem.unon.org
9. ELECTRONIC WORKING GROUP HIGHLIGHTS CHALLENGES FACED BY YOUNG WOMEN IN CENTRAL ASIA
UNIFEM is working with the Centre for Effective Gender Policy, a youth NGO in Kazakhstan, to conduct a needs assessment for the advancement of young women in Central Asia. Electronic discussions are being carried out among youth and women's NGOs in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The first round of discussions identified violence and sexual harassment as the most common problems faced by young women. Several online discussion participants will later be invited to attend a workshop in June to develop a strategy for the advancement of women based on the issues identified through the electronic consultations. Workshop participants will draft a petition to present to parliamentarians and governments in their countries calling for increased attention to the contributions and interests of young women.
For more information, contact Dina Shukurova, PIO/UNV in Kazakhstan at dina.shukurova@undp.org
10. TRAINING FOR ARAB WOMEN ON THE USE OF ICTS
As part of the Arab Women Connect project, UNIFEM held several specialized Arabic training sessions on the use of the Internet and e-mail in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Yeman. The Arab Women Connect website, launched early this year, was used as a learning tool in the workshops. The aim of the website is to build the capacity of Arab women to use new information communication technologies (ICTs), increase their networking opportunities and to serve as a database for information.
For more information write to info@arabwomenconnect.org or visit the site at www.arabwomenconnect.org.
11. IDENTIFYING VIABLE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR MOROCCAN WOMEN
Preliminary results from a study on women's economic opportunities in Morocco indicate that few women are aware of small and micro enterprise development programmes in their communities. The UNIFEM sponsored study is being carried out in three pilot provinces (Chefchaouen, Tetouan and Ifrane) by the Moroccan Association for Small Enterprise Development and Oxfam-Quebec. The goal is to identify innovative and viable economic activities for women.
For more information, contact Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, UNIFEM Gender Advisor in North Africa at z.touimi-benjelloun@undp.org
12. MULTI-PURPOSE EMPOWERMENT CENTRES FOR WOMEN
In a move to increase women’s economic security in Kenya, UNIFEM will support a multi-purpose empowerment centre, in collaboration with the League of Kenyan Women Voters. The centre will provide a forum for women to network, receive information, training and support. A similar initiative is planned for Somalia and an assessment of potential locations for centres was recently undertaken in partnership with the Italian North-South Institute (CINS). The centres in Somalia will focus on increasing women’s food security and the promotion and protection of their human rights.
For more information, contact Hodan Addou, Programme Coordinator for East, Central and the Horn of Africa at hodan.addou@unifem.unon.org.
13. UNIFEM USES WOMEN’S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS LOCALLY TO CONFRONT GLOBALIZATION
In response to the drastic changes wrought by globalization and neo-liberal adjustment in Latin America, the UNIFEM-Andean Region has taken on women’s social and economic rights as one of its top priorities. Under this framework, the First Andean Regional Workshop on Social and Economic Rights was held in Peru to train experts to apply global social and economic rights to their local contexts and participants developed Action Plans to implement in their communities. One important result was the signing of an accord between UNIFEM and Villa el Salvador, an outlying municipality of Lima. The municipality has agreed to perform a gender-sensitive budget analysis and it is hoped that other municipalities in the region will soon follow suit. Plans are already underway with municipalities in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
For more information, contact unifem.ecuador@undp.org
14. NEW INFORMATION IN SPANISH AVAILABLE ONLINE
The UNIFEM field offices in Mexico and Quito recently redesigned their websites to provide more information in Spanish on UNIFEM’s work in Latin America. The first site covers UNIFEM's work in Mexico, Central America, Cuba and the Dominican Republic and the second covers the Andean Region. The sites are innovative and easy to browse and include photos, highlights from projects, resource information, statistics, calendar of activities and exciting news from the sub-regions. Visit the sites at www.un.org.mx/unifem and www.unifemandina.org/.
* Please note that your computer needs a Flash Plug-in to access the Mexico site.
15. UNIFEM FIELD PRESENCE ENHANCED
UNIFEM recently opened its first field office in the Central and Eastern Europe region. The office is based in Bratislava under the leadership of Anna Vidinova, Regional Programme Director and Zuzana Krkokova, Programme Assistant. UNIFEM also appointed two regional advisors on HIV and AIDS. Madhu Bala Nath will be based in India to cover the Asia/Pacific region and Paula Donovan will be based in Nairobi to cover Africa.
Contacts: anna.vidinova@undp.org; zuzana.krkoskova@undp.org; madhu.bala.nath@undp.org; Paula.donovan@unifem.unon.org
Corrections to April issue of Currents:
The project "100 Per Cent More Women in Politics" (story # 6) was launched by UNDP and not UNIFEM. Also, Dona Abdurazakova is the UNV/UNDP/UNIFEM Gender Specialist.
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