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 Page 9 of 17 |
Programme Priorities |
| Women's empowerment and gender issues | |
Reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health Adolescent reproductive health Reducing maternal mortality Emergency assistance in refugee situations HIV/AIDS Population and development strategies Advocacy Women's empowerment and gender issues Strengthening programme effectiveness Decentralization National capacity-building Monitoring and evaluation Training Contraceptive requirements and logistics management needs Partnership with NGOs and civil society ICPD+5
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Gender concerns are a cross-cutting dimension of all UNFPA-supported programming, as is reflected in UNFPA country programmes and in the many examples of country-level activities in this report. To this end, during 1997, UNFPA emphasized women's issues in all its work, promoting reproductive and sexual health and rights within a human rights framework, adolescent reproductive health, and women's empowerment and gender equity and equality, as well as strengthening the gender perspective in policies and programmes of UNFPA. In collaboration with the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, UNFPA continued to provide assistance to enhance advocacy efforts for reproductive health and women's rights by working with national-level legal and policy NGOs in 51 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, to strengthen their capacity to conduct research and to promote policies and codified legislation to enhance reproductive rights and women's empowerment. Regional reports on formal laws and polices in key areas are being prepared, which will provide the basis for advocacy for reproductive health and women's rights. The Fund also continued its collaboration with various international NGOs, such as the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) to strengthen the network of global, regional and national NGOs to advocate for, and monitor, governmental progress in implementing the agreements and decisions reached at the ICPD and the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW). Support was also provided to enable representatives of national NGOs to attend international conferences, such as the Microcredit Summit in Washington, D.C. in February, 1997. Enhancing the involvement of men and male adolescents in reproductive health and family life issues is an important component of UNFPA's gender, population and development strategy. With support provided by the Government of Denmark, UNFPA is working with The Population Council (an international NGO) to examine the social behaviour of adolescent boys with respect to future family roles and relationships and the expectations, attitudes and behaviour of men and their effects on male/female decision-making about sexuality and reproduction. The research is focusing on such areas as sexual relations, fertility regulation, reproductive health, family size, and investment in children. As a follow-up to the Technical Consultation on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) organized by UNFPA in 1996, the Executive Director issued an information note on the Fund's role in the eradication of FGM, including the programming framework set out in the report of the Technical Consultation. Also, UNFPA conducted a survey on FGM activities at the country level. Preliminary responses from UNFPA country offices indicate that efforts with Governments to eradicate FGM are being implemented in the areas of advocacy and information and counselling. In 1997, a Joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Statement on Female Genital Mutilation was issued. With support from the Government of the Netherlands and in collaboration with the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) and local NGOs in three pilot countries, UNFPA is developing a prototype gender, population and development training manual that can be adapted at the country level to train policy-makers, planners, and community leaders at all levels. The manual has been tested in Egypt, Indonesia and Zimbabwe and will be finalized in early 1998. Also, in an effort to develop indicators for mainstreaming gender issues and to prepare guidelines for monitoring gender mainstreaming, UNFPA is assessing the extent to which gender and women's issues have been integrated into UNFPA-supported programmes and projects in 13 countries. UNFPA continues to collaborate with other United Nations agencies and organizations on projects of mutual interest and is an active participant in various inter-agency fora on diverse gender and development themes and issues. For example, support is being provided to WHO for activities of the Global Commission on Women's Health in the areas of maternal morbidity and mortality, education for the health of girls and women, and violence against women. UNFPA sponsored participation in the UNDP-organized International Conference on Governance for Sustainable Growth and Equity (New York, July 1997), during which a special panel on gender and governance was organized by UNIFEM, UNDP and UNFPA.
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| Foreword | Introduction | UNFPA in 1997 | Programme Priorities | |