Annex 1
United Nations Development Fund for Women
multi-year funding framework cumulative report, 2004-2006
Annex 1 – Examples
Example I
Catalytic work on gender equality in National Development Strategies (NDSs):
UNIFEM work in Tajikistan demonstrates strategies used and results achieved to secure
stronger commitments to gender equality by aligning the NDS with the National Action
Plan on Gender Equality. The Tajikistan NDS includes a chapter on gender equality that
builds on the National Strategy on Equal Rights and Opportunities and focuses on
creating implementation mechanisms for gender policies in the context of public
administration reform; ensuring equal access to resources for women entrepreneurs; and
eliminating gender inequality in the development of human potential. The Government is
currently developing the PRSP II based on the NDS, and has identified a range of gender
equality priorities.
Replicability: South-South exchange is key in this work. The Tajikistan experience built
on achievements in Kyrgyzstan and fed into a similar initiative in Azerbaijan.
Example II
Catalytic work on strengthening policies to protect women migrant workers: In
November 2005, the Covenant of Ethical Conduct and Good Practices of Overseas
Employment Service Providers was adopted by participating national associations at a
UNIFEM organized regional meeting of Southeast Asian and Arab countries.
Participants issued a Joint Statement on good practices to protect Women Migrant
Workers (WMWs), outlining agreed measures, including legally enforceable contracts.
UNIFEM supported the Government of Jordan to issue a “model” contract for the
recruitment of domestic workers. It ensures basic rights, including time off, minimum
wages, medical insurance and paid return to home countries. It prohibits the withholding
of passports or salaries by employers or recruiting agencies. A second new law tightens
regulation of recruitment agencies, and specifies fines or the revocation of Governmentissued licenses for failure to meet basic standards. In 2006, the Jordanian Ministry of
Labour began work to amend the Labour Law; issued rules and regulations for licensing
of recruitment agencies; established a specialized department on domestic workers and a
committee of stakeholders including UNIFEM to resolve pending issues related to
WMWs.
With UNIFEM assistance, the Ministry of Labour in Thailand developed draft
amendments to its legally enforceable contract for foreign migrant workers to include
legal protections for foreign domestic workers.
In Nepal the Ministry of Labour and Transport drafted a Foreign Employment Act with
rights-based provisions. Nepali women travelling to work abroad now receive
information about the contractual obligations of employers and about migrant centres that
provide assistance in destination countries. A Migrant Worker Welfare fund has been
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created, and the Ministry is considering ways to more effectively regulate recruitment
agencies.
Example III
Catalytic support for gender-responsive budgeting: The Ministry of Finance (MoF)
in Morocco offers a clear demonstration of building institutional ownership and
leadership on GRB. The MoF coordinates all GRB efforts, including through training
sectoral ministries in the country. The production of the country’s second Gender
Report, annexed to the Economic and Finance Report which accompanies the 2007
Finance Law, consolidates the work of the MoF and provides comprehensive data on
gender inequality in 11 policy sectors (Health, Agriculture and Rural development,
Justice, Employment, Family Affairs, Housing, Energy, Water, Infrastructure and
Transport, Finance). Women’s groups are monitoring the Ministry of Justice budget
allocations for implementation of the Family Law passed in 2004. In addition to
facilitating concrete changes in GRB know-how and budgeting processes, the initiative is
contributing to a stronger gender equality component in national data, statistics and
poverty mapping.
A different approach – but also showing promising results – is being used in Ecuador.
The Ministry of Finance in Ecuador approved specific funds to be implemented by the
National Machinery for Women to support the “Incorporation of Gender in Fiscal
Policies”, and for the first time the country’s budget guidelines include gender. The
programme also involves a partnership with UNICEF to support civil society to monitor
budget allocations and public expenditures in relation to the Free Maternity and Violence
against Women Laws.
Replication / upscaling: The Morocco and Ecuador GRB initiatives are two of four
countries (with Mozambique and Senegal) in which the Government of Belgium
supports UNIFEM to enhance work on GRB. UNIFEM brings teams working on the
programme together to foster South-South exchange. The Moroccan MoF staff is poised
to support stronger implementation of GRB: UNIFEM and the Ministry are preparing a
strategy to launch a francophone GRB institute in Morocco.
Example IV
Catalytic support for strengthening public sector employers’ response to the gender
equality dimensions of the HIV/AIDS pandemic: UNIFEM partnership with the
Indian Railways – the third largest public sector employer in the world – to incorporate
gender-responsive policies and practices on HIV/AIDS began during the last MYFF and
continued into the current. UNIFEM began by supporting 48 peer educators working in
Vijayawada Division of the India Railways to demonstrate a viable policy and
programme framework for the Railways system’s response to HIV/AIDS.
As a result of the programme: HIV/AIDS awareness training has been incorporated into
the curriculum of the Railway school, which educates children of employees; a training
module on Gender and HIV/AIDS has been incorporated in the programme of the
technical training institutions of the South Central railway Zone; programmes are in place
to reduce stigma and discrimination by offering employment to wives of men who have
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died of AIDS; and employees have increased access to anti-retroviral treatment through
the railways health services. The project has provided a model for gender focused public
sector HIV intervention, with prevention, care and support built in as a seamless
package. A communications strategy focusing on male responsibility and redefining
masculinity in terms of caring and supporting roles in the household shifted the debate
from ‘multiple partner or illegitimate sex’ to ‘safety in sexual relationships’.
Replication / spin-off effects: The Railways System has replicated the programme in six
additional divisions. Partnerships have been strengthened with other UN agencies (ILO,
UNAIDS, UNDP, UNODC), civil society and the State AIDS Society in Andhra
Pradesh. With support from UNFPA in China, staff from the Chinese Railway System
visited India to explore replication. A delegation from Nepal, comprising NGO
representatives, women’s agencies and government officials from the national HIV
Control Organization also visited the project, and subsequently took the initiative to
begin gender sensitive HIV interventions in their programmes. The peer counseling and
training component of the project is being sustained with the support of the Railway Staff
Benefit Fund.
Example V
Catalytic support for mainstreaming gender equality into MDGs with UNDP: The
UNIFEM-executed UNDP project on Gender and the MDGs, which piloted innovative
approaches to mainstreaming gender equality in MDG processes in Cambodia, Kenya,
Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, and Peru, was evaluated in 2006. Overall, the evaluation found
that each pilot initiative offered useful approaches for engendering national MDG
processes. The approach that the programme used in Cambodia, Morocco and
Kyrgyzstan to support multi-stakeholder processes to generate locally-owned gender
equality targets and indicators for the MDGs was identified as a useful model that can
be replicated in other countries.
In Cambodia the experience built on an earlier partnership with UNDP, and the World
Bank. It focused on MDGs 1 and 3 as a platform to bring visibility to the situation of
women garment workers in the context of changing trade agreements and to influence the
policy agenda of the Ministry of Labour to enhance social protection for women garment
workers and integrate gender equality perspectives in the National Social Development
Plan and the MDG Update Report. In Kyrgyzstan and Morocco, the multi-stakeholder
process that UNIFEM and UNDP facilitated generated agreement on localized targets
and indicators that reflected national priorities for tracking progress on gender equality,
and brought together commitments to MDGs, the Beijing PFA and CEDAW. Kenya and
Peru piloted two different innovative approaches to advocacy on gender and MDGs.
Kenya launched poverty dialogues in poor rural districts, generating interest at local level
and leading to the formulation of gender-responsive district level MDG action plans. The
initiative in Peru enhanced the gender equality dimension of an existing UNDP MDG
campaign and was notable in targeting two very specific constituencies: women’s groups
and youth. The initiative was able to build support among leading women’s groups to
use MDGs as a platform for advocating for women’s rights and gender equality. It
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produced a wide-range of media-products and launched a contest for university students
to submit essays on the centrality of gender equality to the MDGs.
The evaluation of the pilots recommends i) expanded support to country-level work on
harmonization of gender indicators, consistent with the aid effectiveness agenda and
the move toward greater coherence in the United Nations; and to ii) further
operationalize of the links between MDG monitoring, costing, and gender-responsive
budgeting.
Upscaling / spin-off effects: A follow-up workshop will take place in 2007 to encourage
UNCTs to replicate promising practices in mainstreaming gender equality commitments
in the MDGs.
Example VI
Catalytic support to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan: The most
prolonged and well-financed engagement during the MYFF period with a Ministry of
Women’s Affairs has been in Afghanistan. UNIFEM has two outposted staff in MOWA
and a multi-dimensional programme of support: to strengthen the Ministry’s overall
institutional capacity (in collaboration with UNDP); to enhance women’s access to
justice; and to demonstrate successful approaches to strengthen women’s economic
empowerment.
A key area of emphasis in 2005 and 2006 was UNIFEM support to the Ministry to
coordinate a national multi-stakeholder process – including involvement of 26 other
Afghan ministries, national and international experts and civil society – in devising a
National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA). UNIFEM focused its
technical assistance on the Planning Department of MOWA, which took the lead in
coordinating with other ministries. It also supported MOWA’s statistics unit to compile
statistics from 52 major studies on Afghan women and develop situation analyses as the
evidence base for building commitment to the NAPWA. UNIFEM is providing
additional support to build MOWA’s statistical capacity, including through supporting
development of the statistical handbook “Women and Men in Afghanistan”. The
handbook will establish a common baseline of gender sensitive statistics that government
and its partners can to promote women’s advancement and monitor changes in their lives.
UNIFEM also supported MOWA to design a primary database on the extent and nature
of violence against women. The database is being used by MOWA and its partners to
collect data.
Upscaling / spin-off effects: Although Cabinet approval is pending, the NAPWA will be
the main document to guide gender mainstreaming in the government. It has already
stimulated pilot programming in two Ministries, with an expansion expected in 2007.
MOWA is positioned to provide technical support and overall monitoring of
implementation of the Plan. Advocacy by MOWA and other partners resulted in key
provisions of the NAPWA being integrated into the Afghan National Development
Strategy (ANDS, the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy) and the Afghanistan
Compact (which encompasses donor commitment to the country).
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Example VII
Support to increasing participation and representation of women in elections in
Liberia: In 2005 UNIFEM supported women’s equal participation in the political
process through leadership capacity-building workshops, civic and voter’s education,
mobilizing women to stand as candidates and as voters and capacity-building workshop
for women candidates for the House of Legislature. Consultations with political parties
to ensure maximum support for women’s candidacy were also supported.
As a result of this support women constituted a majority of registered voters in the 2005
elections. For the first time the level of women’s representation in the House of
Legislature reached 14% (14 out of 94) and the first woman president in Africa was
elected. Further, women have been appointed to head five ministries (Finance, Gender
and Development, Youth and Sports, Commerce and Trade, and Justice).
In post election, UNIFEM continues to support Parliamentarian Women through
technical support and encouragement to women in the Senate and the House of
Representatives to work across party lines in support of gender equality issues. The
result has been the establishment of the Liberia Legislative Women’s Caucus with an
Executive Committee membership drawn from the two Houses. UNIFEM is providing
infrastructure and capacity development support.
Example VIII
Catalytic support for gender equality in land reform in Kyrgyzstan: Women’s legal
rights in the land reform process in Kyrgyzstan were strengthened through a programme
that supported rural women to claim their right to land and other agricultural assets,
resulting in changes to the livelihoods of close to 4,000 rural families. Over 1,900
women received legal counsel on such issues as access to and use of land, resolving
conflicts between land owners, registering legal documents, and business development in
rural areas. Of the approximate 1,900 women supported by project lawyers, 826 women
were able to successfully access land through the local government administration and
the courts. A small grants scheme increased access to irrigation for 8,769 women;
provided 421 women from poor families with preferential terms for grinding wheat; and
supported 257 poor women to better access to their land through rehabilitating rural
roads.
Replication / potential to upscale: UNIFEM work on women and land rights in
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has led to a follow-up joint effort with FAO on genderresponsive monitoring of land reform in Tajikistan in the framework of the United
Nations Consolidated Appeal.
Example IX
Catalyzing action through convening and advocacy in South Asia: Since 1996,
UNIFEM has been convening governments in South Asia bi-annually to jointly review
their progress in implementing the Beijing PFA. The “Commemorating Beijing” process
also provides an opportunity for NGOs, regional organizations and the UN system to
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participate, provide feedback and propose concrete actions that governments can take to
speed up progress toward gender equality. As a forum for enhancing accountability and
action, this sub-regional convening regularly generates concrete commitments to
forwarding the gender equality agenda. At the 2005 convening the Delegates agreed to
prioritize efforts and actions on a two-year plan on the following areas: VAW, Economic
& political empowerment of women, Disaster preparedness and management and Health
and Education.
The International Women’s Commission (IWC): In 2005, UNIFEM convened an
inaugural meeting of the IWC, a tripartite body of prominent Palestinian, Israeli and
international women leaders that seeks to bring women’s experiences to bear on efforts to
restart peace negotiations in the region. The IWC increased its influence in 2006,
providing briefings to prominent Government, European Union (EU) and Quartet
representatives on mechanisms for breaking the deadlock, which influenced the dialogue
within the quartet and contributed to the EU decision to set up a development assistance
funding mechanism for the Palestinians. UNIFEM facilitated IWC meetings with EU
Government representatives in Athens in June and with women Heads of State and
Government as well as the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States and key high
level United Nations officials during the 61st session of the General Assembly in
September 2006.
The United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, spearheading United
Nations system engagement with practical responses to VAW: In accordance with
A/RES/50/166, since 1997 UNIFEM has coordinated the United Nations Trust Fund to
End Violence against Women. In its first six-years, the Trust Fund convened a global
Programme Appraisal Committee (PAC) composed of United Nations organizations and
outside experts on VAW to select from the proposals submitted to the Trust Fund. Based
on an assessment of the Fund undertaken in 2002–2003, and PAC guidance, the Trust
Fund revised its strategy in 2004 to incorporate two key changes: a) Because demand on
the Trust Fund resources far outstripped supply – and because the 2002-2003 review
showed that many laws and plans had been instituted at national level but with little
evidence of implementation – the guidelines were revised to support initiatives focused
on implementation in countries where laws and policies were in place and on special
‘windows’ for learning about specific manifestations of VAW; b) Because of the Trust
Fund’s goal of stimulating greater action and involvement by United Nations
organizations, the PAC process was devolved to the field, with UNIFEM convening nine
regional PACs that together involved participation by 16 UN organizations. The
devolution is intended to stimulate greater involvement of field-based colleagues in Trust
Fund-supported initiatives.
The revised strategy, implemented for the past two years, has had some initial results.
Trust Fund resources grew from about $1.5 million in 2004 to more than $6 million in
2006. With a more narrowly focused grant-making strategy, the Trust Fund is now
honing its evaluation methodology to more systematically extract learning from the Trust
Fund portfolio and be able to generate concrete evidence about what the most effective
responses to end violence against women. The Secretary-General’s In-depth Study on
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Violence against Women recommends that states, donors and international organizations
increase significantly the financial support for work on violence against women,
including to the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.
Example X
Catalytic support to address the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS focused on two
UNIFEM initiatives: the Japanese Human Security Programme (HSP) “Enhancing
Human Security through Gender Equality in the Context of HIV/AIDS” implemented in
10 countries across three regions and an African regional HIV/AIDS programme and
with a total budget of US$5 million.
The evaluation identified key innovations that emerged from the programmes: 1) It
affirmed that support to positive women’s groups, particularly in the form of capacitybuilding and leveraging their partnerships with other women’s networks and decisionmakers, enhanced their visibility and impact as advocates in national and global fora and
had positive effects on the lives of individual women. In Cambodia, for instance, the
Positive Women’s Sector (PWS) now has a voice in the National AIDS Authority. 2) It
highlighted the catalytic nature of the knowledge resources that UNIFEM produced. The
evaluation noted, for instance, that the UNIFEM partnership with SAfAIDS and the
Regional AIDS Training Network in Zimbabwe to develop training and manuals on
Negotiating Safe Sex for Married Women “was considered by many (of those
interviewed) as a groundbreaking achievement…” 3) It noted the effectiveness of
UNIFEM work to bring a gender equality perspective to National AIDS Councils. In
Nigeria, the evaluation affirmed that the UNIFEM strategy of supporting pilot initiatives
at the state level to strengthen treatment and care policies to take the specific needs of
women affected and infected with HIV into account fed into effective advocacy through
the UNAIDS theme group to strengthen the gender equality content in the National
Strategic Framework on HIV/AIDS.
Finally, the evaluation noted that the UNIFEM piloting of “Gender Empowerment Zones
(GEZs)” provided important insights into how focused, integrated, community-based
approaches can contribute significantly to changes in HIV prevalence and the effects of
HIV on women and their communities. The GEZs with the Indian Railways (see example
IV) and in Zimbabwe were notable. In the Zimbabwean rural pilot programme
undertaken with a number of United Nations partners, results included: transforming
gender relations, with male volunteers increasing their involvement in providing homebased care for women and children; a woman, for the first time, chairing the Motoko
AIDS Committee; increased demand for testing and counselling, indicating a reduction in
stigma and discrimination in the communities.
The majority of UN partners in UNAIDS Theme Groups interviewed in five countries
recognized UNIFEM strategic support in mainstreaming gender and human rights into
the work of the Theme Group. They also referred to two key factors that limited
UNIFEM efforts: lack of resources and limited presence in country.
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The evaluation recommended that UNIFEM has a unique niche in this area, particularly
in bringing together the gender and human rights framework; in stimulating a critical
analysis of the inter-linkages between HIV/AIDS, violence against women, and poverty;
in bringing the voices of women affected and infected by HIV/AIDS to policy arenas.
UNIFEM is incorporating these findings by: further focusing its support to Positive
Women’s Networks; deepening its work on the linkages between HIV/AIDS and VAW
through the creation of a funding window within the Trust Fund to End Violence against
Women, on the intersection of HIV/AIDS and VAW; strengthening its partnerships with
UNAIDS Theme Groups and with UNDP and UNFPA on the gender and human rights
dimensions of HIV/AIDS.
Example XI
Catalytic partnership to support better responses to Gender-based Violence (GBV)
in Rwanda: Since 2004, UNIFEM has executed a UNDP programme on Enhancing
Protection from Gender Based Violence to support women’s networks to provide training
to police and other actors in 14 districts in Rwanda on preventing and responding to
domestic violence cases. Police Headquarters now has a free hotline and gender desk.
Special police are being equipped with motorcycles to speed up response time. This has
resulted in an increase in reported Gender-based Violence (GBV) cases. In 2006 UNDP
scaled up the programme through the Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund for
the third consecutive year. The police officers trained by the programme in Rwanda have
been called by both UNICEF and UNFPA to share experiences at convenings in South
Africa and Brussels respectively. The Rwanda UNCT has committed to support a
follow-up joint programming initiative.
Example XII
Catalytic support to build technological literacy amongst poor women: In the Arab
States, UNIFEM efforts to ensure that women benefit equally with men from Information
and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have been scaled up significantly. What
began as a partnership, in 2001, with the Government of Jordan, CISCO systems, UNDP
and USAID to bring a gender dimension to CISCO Networking Academies has now been
taken to larger scale by the Government in Jordan and is being replicated in Morocco and
Lebanon. In Jordan, UNIFEM is now executing an “E-village” initiative as a publicprivate partnership for the government and many private sector partners (Microsoft, Lego
Robotics, and others). The initiative ensures that rural women benefit from the
government’s support to ICT initiatives by bringing technology and training to semi-rural
villages that are hoping to attract tourists. Plans are underway to extend the E-Village
project in Jordan by partnering with UNESCO and WHO in implementing mini EVillages throughout the country.
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