Origins and Background

In 1975 during International Women's Year, the UN General Assembly launched the UN Decade for Women (1976 1985). The following year it established a women's organization to implement the objectives of the decade. Initially called the Voluntary Fund for the UN Decade for Women, the organization was given an expanded mandate by the General Assembly in February 1985, when it became the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Under resolution 39/125, the new fund was called on to support and advocate for innovative and catalytic activities that give voice and visibility to the women of the developing world. UNIFEM became an autonomous organization working closely with UNDP, although the resolution also specified that the fund's resources should supplement, not substitute for, the responsibilities of other United Nations development cooperation agencies.

The energetic advocacy of women's non governmental organizations was the force behind UNIFEM's creation. Today, the fund is dedicated to supporting women's political and economic empowerment in developing countries. It works with UN, government and NGO partners to mainstream gender in all levels of development planning and practice, and strives to link the needs and concerns of women to critical issues on national, regional and global agendas.

In the aftermath of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (China), and in keeping with the Secretary General's reform agenda, UNIFEM's work within and across the UN system has expanded. The Beijing Platform For Action and subsequent UN resolutions have reinforced the fund's mandate: to increase opportunities for women's economic and social development by providing technical and financial assistance that brings women's perspectives into all levels of development. They also call for UNIFEM to advocate for multilateral policy dialogue on women's empowerment within the United Nations and to support the UN Resident Coordinator system.

Thematic Areas

UNIFEM funds women's projects in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Commonwealth of Independent States and Central and Eastern Europe. It focuses on three themes: strengthening women's economic rights, engendering governance and leadership, and promoting women's human rights and eliminating violence against women. Five core strategies provide a framework for these activities. They include building the capacity and leadership of women's organizations and networks; leveraging political and financial support for women from a range of development stakeholders; forging new partnerships among women's organizations, governments, the UN system and the private sector; undertaking pilot projects to test innovative approaches to women's empowerment; and building an operational knowledge base that can be used to influence gender mainstreaming.

In the area of economics, UNIFEM seeks to strengthen women's bargaining power in markets by increasing their access to and control over economic resources. Since multiple forces affect women's livelihoods, UNIFEM builds economic capacity by advocating gender-sensitive economic polices, designing innovative ways of increasing women's access to resources and opportunities, and strengthening women's efforts to both use existing legislation and secure commitments to international standards.

Projects in this area examine trade policies from a gender perspective, encourage the movement of women into nontraditional jobs, seek methods to open international markets through entrepreneurial networks, and advocate for women in the informal sector. In Burkina Faso for example, a UNIFEM-supported shea butter project has trained over 300 women in better production techniques and business skills. Two marketplaces were set up in central locations so that the women could bargain collectively for better prices. Product quality has also improved, and the price women receive for their products has more than doubled.

In the area of governance and leadership, UNIFEM supports efforts to bring women into leadership positions at all levels of society and in all development processes, including conflict resolution. The fund looks for ways to strengthen women's organizations advocating for equality and rights and holding their governments accountable for guaranteeing them. It also works to set a gender-responsive development agenda at national, regional and international levels.

Projects have brought together NGOs and high-level government ministers to discuss policy planning, reviewed legislation for gender discrimination, improved the availability of sex-disaggregated data in national statistical systems and given leadership skills training to women politicians. In Guatemala, UNIFEM supports the National Union of Guatemalan Women in its work of integrating gender in reconstruction and democracy building. The union holds workshops throughout the country to inform women about the main commitments of the Guatemalan peace accords. This has brought together formerly dispersed women's groups and meant a higher level of informed participation in implementation of the accords.

In the area of human rights, one of UNIFEM's objectives is to enhance the ability of women and women's organizations to advocate for their human rights nationally, regionally and internationally. Another objective is to invest in strategies to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls, especially through programmes that promote greater action by governments, community organizations and the international community towards the elimination of all forms of violence against women.

Following General Assembly Resolution 50/166 in 1996, UNIFEM created the Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women. Since then, the Trust Fund has achieved growing recognition for its financial support of dozens of international, regional, national and grassroots actions aimed at eradicating the gender-violence pandemic. Projects use a wide range of strategies--training for health and law enforcement professionals, public education, violence prevention and deterrence, awareness raising and action-oriented research. In Kenya, for example, the Programme for Appropriate Technology on Health has developed alternatives rites of passage for young women to replace the traditional practice of female genital mutilation.

As part of its overall work on human rights and violence against women, UNIFEM has conducted a series of public outreach campaigns--in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific. These seek both to prevent violence through training and education, and protect women's rights through services and community programs. On 8 March 1999 UNIFEM held a global videoconference from the UN General Assembly, with links to New Delhi (India), Mexico City (Mexico), Nairobi (Kenya) and the European Parliament in Strasbourg (France). Human rights advocates, survivors of gender violence, UN decision-makers and government leaders came together to highlight the achievements of and obstacles facing violence prevention programmes. The conference focused on four types of violence: domestic, including dowry violence and rape; threats to women's bodily integrity, such as female genital mutilation; violence against women in war and conflict; and forms of economic violence such as sex trafficking. Thousands of participants attended the conference, and thousands more worldwide tuned in through television and a simultaneous web broadcast.

Post Beijing

Since the Beijing Conference, UNIFEM has devoted its efforts to implementing the Platform For Action at the national and regional levels. It has funded activities in more than 40 countries to transform the platform's 362 paragraphs into national strategic plans for the economic and political advancement of women; translated the platform into local languages where necessary; engaged women in leadership training to expand political participation and to take advantage of policies reserving seats for women in political parties and legislatures; promoted gender sensitivity in development planning and in the preparation of national budgets and priorities; and brokered dialogues among NGOs, governments and UN agencies that foster positive change. UNIFEM also supports projects seeking ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and works with both governments and civil society toward meaningful implementation of these agreements

Organizational Structure

UNIFEM's work is carried out by the joint efforts of staff in New York at UN headquarters and in regional offices in Barbados, Brazil, Ecuador, Fiji, India, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Senegal, Thailand and Zimbabwe. UNIFEM Gender Advisors in China, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Rwanda work with the UN Resident Coordinator system to bring a gender dimension into UN coordination activities, such as the Common Country Assessments and UN Development Assistant Frameworks.

In a partnership between UNIFEM, UNDP and the United Nations Volunteers, Gender Specialists support UNDP Resident Representatives and UN Resident Coordinators in activities related to Beijing follow-up and the UN reform process in Botswana, Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Haiti, Laos, Lebanon, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Panama, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkmenistan, Uganda and Vietnam. UNIFEM also provides technical advice on recommendations from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the Beijing Conference to UNFPA Country Support Teams in Ethiopia, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Nepal, Senegal, Thailand and Zimbabwe.

The fund's policies are guided by a five member consultative committee, representing UN Member States and each of the world's five principal regions. UNIFEM also reports directly to the UNDP Administrator and to the UN General Assembly.

In 1998, the fund's total income was approximately US$24 million. Voluntary contributions from UN Member States are the primary source of UNIFEM's income; other funding sources include UNIFEM national committees, women's organizations, foundations, corporations and private individuals.

Collaboration

UNIFEM has 19 national committees in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland/Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom and the United States. The National Committees raise funds and visibility for the issues and projects that UNIFEM promotes. They also provide valuable help in building alliances with NGOs, politicians, businesses and the academic community.

A consortium of 22 international NGOs represented in New York form the Non Governmental Committee of Organizations in Consultative Status with UNIFEM. The committee promotes UNIFEM's visibility by holding briefings on the fund's activities for other NGOs with representatives at the UN. It informs affiliates about UNIFEM projects and urges them to ask UN delegates for increased donations during pledging sessions. Through an information exchange network, the consortium also promotes gender-sensitive policies among its affiliates, and in collaboration with UNIFEM organizes workshops for women NGO leaders.

UNIFEM also works closely with major international women's organizations such as Zonta International and Soroptimist International, which channel support for women in developing countries through the fund.

Partnerships

UNIFEM's work requires strong partnerships with civil society and NGOs, governments and other UN organizations.

From its inception, UNIFEM has worked in close collaboration with NGOs at the local, regional and international levels supporting NGOs' increased access to and participation in the official workings of the UN, including all UN conferences and deliberations. The fund maintains that NGOs play a pivotal role in development and are as varied as the communities and constituencies they serve. UNIFEM has made these groups essential partners in information sharing, networking and advocacy. Their activities permeate all areas of the fund's work and strategic planning. NGOs are often the executing agencies for projects managed by UNIFEM, and they are responsible for progress reporting, financial management and operational matters.

UNIFEM also works with governments to strengthen their capacity to develop the policies, programmes and tools necessary for gender responsive development planning. UNIFEM promotes dialogues between governments and women's organizations in order to support women's involvement in development planning, bring more women's voices into the process, and increase the accountability of governments to gender concerns.

Inter-agency efforts are an integral part of UNIFEM's work. The fund participates in the United Nations system wide coordinated efforts to implement recommendations from UN conferences including those on environment, human rights, population, social development, women, and human settlements.

At UN headquarters the UN Development Group's Sub-group on Gender, chaired by UNIFEM, supports and encourages UN system efforts to mainstream gender. The sub-group has successfully encouraged the revision of UN Development Assistance Framework and Common Country Assessment (CCA) guidelines to reflect a gender perspective. CCA indicators now include specific measurements of women's political and economic empowerment, and guidance to disaggregate other indicators by sex.

In the field, UNIFEM Regional Programme Advisors chair UN inter-agency thematic groups on gender at the country level, and participate in other thematic groups to guarantee a gender perspective in the work of UN coordination mechanisms.

Contact: Rita Gibbons, Public Affairs Specialist, UNIFEM, 304 E. 45th Street, 15th floor, New York NY 10017, United States, telephone +1 212/906 6897, fax +1 212/906 6705.