PHA-Exch> Women's Advocacy Around Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and Gender Equality Architecture

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Marcy Bloom marcybloom at comcast.net

Cross posted from: HREA – http://www.hrea.org

Women's GlobalNet #339: Women's Advocacy Around Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness and Gender Equality Architecture

1. WOMEN ORGANIZE TO PREPARE FOR FORUM TO REVIEW PARIS DECLARATION ON AID
EFFECTIVENESS
2. DEBATE ON GENDER EQUALITY ARCHITECTURE MOVES FORWARD IN UN GENERAL
ASSEMBLY


1. WOMEN ORGANIZE TO PREPARE FOR FORUM TO REVIEW PARIS DECLARATION ON AID
EFFECTIVENESS

In anticipation of the Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness that will
take place in Accra, Ghana, from September 2 to 4, 2008, women's rights
organizations, advocates and activists will be gathering at the Accra
Women's Forum on August 30 to articulate a coherent set of recommendations
and plan for women's effective engagement. The High-Level Forum will be a
venue for donor and recipient governments to review the implementation of
the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness over the last three years and
determine a fresh agenda for action on delivering and managing aid. The
Paris Declaration seeks to increase the impact aid has in reducing
inequalities, supporting growth, building capacity and accelerating the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals which aim to halve world
poverty by 2015.

Women's groups involved in the debates and discussions around the Paris
Declaration have been promoting the perspective that neither aid nor
development policies can be successful unless gender equality, environmental
sustainability and human rights are recognized as crucial to the development
agenda. This is especially important because more than half the population
living in poverty are women who must confront the inequities of their
situation as well as entrenched gender inequalities. The Accra Women's Forum
presents an opportunity for groups to debate the issues and frame precise
recommendations; strategize on advocacy opportunities and approaches; and
strengthen women's participation and perspectives in the High-Level meeting.


The forum is being organized by a consortium of women's organizations,
including AWID, WIDE, DAWN and FEMNET. It will be held at the Ellking Hotel
in East Legon, Accra. Women who will be in Accra for the High-Level meeting
are encouraged to attend the women's forum. For more information, contact
Michele Knab (mknab at awid.org) and/or go to
http://www.awid.org/eng/-The-Accra-Women-s-Forum .


2. DEBATE ON GENDER EQUALITY ARCHITECTURE MOVES FORWARD IN UN GENERAL
ASSEMBLY - UN PAPER ON GENDER EQUALITY ARCHITECTURE & GEAR CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS

The UN Deputy Secretary General (DSG) recently circulated a paper in the
General Assembly that explored and analyzed the four options that are being
considered as possibilities to strengthen the UN's work on gender equality
and the empowerment of women. Part of the more comprehensive UN reform
process, this restructuring would particularly affect the four
women-specific entities: the United Nations Development Fund for Women,
Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues, the Division for the
Advancement of Women, and the International Research and Training Institute
for Women. The four structural options presented in the paper are (i)
maintaining the status quo; (ii) creating an autonomous fund/programme;
(iii) creating a department within the Secretariat; and (iv) creating a
composite entity of all four women-specific entities.

In response to the DSG's report, the Gender Equality Architecture Reform
(GEAR) Campaign published an analysis to facilitate further discussion about
the options, especially because of the expectation that the General Assembly
will hold an informal consultation at the end of August or early September
to move the process forward with some type of resolution. The paper produced
by the campaign supports the options for an autonomous fund or a c0mposite
entity because these two seem to have the greatest likelihood of
strengthening gender equality activities on the ground - a primary point of
advocacy for the GEAR campaign. However, the analysis points out a critical
need for clarity and detail on how the options will function to strengthen
the work on gender equality in the UN, rather than just achieve better
coordination. In addition, this process must also be accompanied by strong
advocacy for a substantial increase in resources, especially at the country
level.  The DSG's rep!
ort can be found at
http://www.wedo.org/library.aspx?ResourceID=279 while the GEAR analysis can
be accessed at http://gear.collectivex.com/discussion/topic/show/86809

- NEW WEBSITE SUPPORTS GEAR CAMPAIGN ADVOCACY
The GEAR campaign has recently published a website as a networking and
communication tool for campaign members and as an information point for
those seeking to find out about the campaign. The site includes basic
information about the campaign and its driving principles, a calendar of
relevant events and a repository of past statements and records of global
and regional advocacy on the issue. To access the website, go to:
http://gear.collectivex.com/main/summary

IWTC Women's GlobalNet is a production of:
International Women's Tribune Centre
Email: iwtc at iwtc.org
Web: http://www.iwtc.org

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click on GlobalNet.

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