Mainstreaming Gender Issues
in UN HABITAT Policies and
Programs
Alice Storch
UN HABITAT: Mandate
The United Nations Human Settlements
Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United
Nations agency for human settlements. It
is mandated by the UN General Assembly
to promote socially and environmentally
sustainable towns with the goal of
providing adequate shelter for all.
UN HABITAT: Mandate
Budget (2003-04): $300 million
Four main budgetary sources:
– Multilaterals and bilaterals for technical
assistance (80%)
– Governments and other partners, including
local authorities and foundations (5%)
– UN budget (5%)
– Voluntary contributions from governments
(5%)
UN HABITAT: Its Challenge
Why focus on cities?
– Cities are now home to half of humankind.
– While cities are centers of national production
and consumption, they are also hubs of
disease, crime, pollution, and poverty.
– Slum growth is a particularly aggravated
aspect of urban conditions: 1 billion people
currently live in slums globally, and if current
trends continue, 3 billion will live in slums by
2050.
UN HABITAT: Strategic Vision
Urban poverty reduction strategies involve
focusing on:
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Sustainable urban development;
Adequate shelter for all;
Improvement in the lives of slum dwellers;
Access to safe water and sanitation;
Social inclusion;
Environmental protection;
Human rights.
UN HABITAT: Strategic Vision
To sharpen its focus on these main lines
of strategy, UN HABITAT has zeroed in
more specifically on:
– Knowledge management and reporting;
– Advocacy of norms for sustainable
urbanization and urban poverty reduction;
– Technical cooperation;
– Innovative financing for urbanization and
shelter needs;
– Strategic partnerships.
UN HABITAT: Activities
Two major worldwide campaigns:
– Global Campaign on Urban Governance
– Global Campaign for Secure Tenure
Technical programs and projects in 61 countries
Additional programs:
– Cities Alliance, a joint UN HABITAT/World Bank slum
upgrading initiative
– Housing rights
– Water and sanitation and solid waste management
UN HABITAT: Activities (cont’d.)
– Capacity building for local leaders
– Safer cities
– Municipal and housing finance systems
– Urban management
– Urban transport
– Research and monitoring of urban economic
development
– Global Urban Observatory
– Gender policy
UN HABITAT: Gender Policy
UN HABITAT’s Gender Policy is structured
around three specific areas:
– UN HABITAT’s Gender Policy and its overall
Goal and Objectives
– UN HABITAT’s gender mainstreaming
approach
– UN HABITAT’s roles and responsibilities
among staff and management
UN HABITAT: Gender Policy
According to UN HABITAT’s main steering
document, the Habitat Agenda, the overall
goal of promoting gender equality should
guide all of UN HABITAT’s interventions in
the field as well as at the policy and
decisionmaking levels.
UN HABITAT: Gender Policy
Guidelines for the objectives of gender equality
have been outlined for UN HABITAT:
1. Adopt and develop a center-wide approach and
methodology for gender mainstreaming
2. Identify entry points and opportunities within UN
HABITAT’s work
3. Identify linkages between gender equality and
human settlements development
4. Develop institutional capacity and knowledge to
enable gender mainstreaming within UN HABITAT
UN HABITAT: Gender Policy
UN HABITAT’s Gender Mainstreaming
Approach for promoting and strengthening
gender at the international level involves the
following 10 principles:
1. Initial definitions of issues/problems across all areas
of the human settlement field should be done in
such a manner that gender differences and
disparities will be visible and diagnosed.
2. Assumptions that human settlement development is
neutral from a gender perspective should never be
made.
UN HABITAT: Gender Policy
3.
4.
5.
Gender analysis should always be carried out in both
recommendations to policy and planning as well as in
operational areas of work before implementation and
decisions are made by HABITAT.
Systematic use of gender analysis, sex-disaggregated
data and commisioning of sectoral gender studies and
surveys are required for all areas of UN HABITAT’s
activity.
Responsibility for implementing the mainstreaming
strategy is system-wide, and rests at the highest level
within the agency, and its departments;
UN HABITAT: Gender Policy
6.
7.
and adequate accountability means monitoring
progress in UN HABITAT’s interventions need to be
established within each area of work. The staff and
management are also to be committed to promote
and ensure a gender perspective in their
collaboration with partners and other agencies.
Political will from the Senior Management by
providing competent leadership and enabling
allocation of adequate resources for gender
mainstreaming.
Gender mainstreaming requires that efforts be made
to broaden women’s equitable participation at all
levels of decision-making within the human
UN HABITAT: Gender Policy
8.
9.
10.
settlement field.
Mainstreaming does not replace the need for
targeted, women-specific policies and programs and
positive legislation.
A specific gender mainstreaming strategy for UN
HABITAT should be formulated, and its interventions
established within every branch and unit within the
program.
Provision of training to all personnel at UN HABITAT
headquarters and in the field regarding gender
mainstreaming and awareness for staff and
management.
UN HABITAT: Applications of
Gender Policy
Best Practice Database on Women
Empowerment Practice in human
settlements
– Water Provision in Malawi
– Frauen-Werk Stadt – A Housing Project by
and for Women in Vienna, Austria
Urban Indicators Program