UNFPA - Publications: Culture

Breaking the Silence on Violence against Indigenous Girls, Adolescents and Young Women

A call to action based on an overview of existing evidence from Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America

Violence against women and girls is a pervasive violation of human rights that persists worldwide and cuts across all socio-economic groups. This new collaborative study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the magnitude, nature and context of violence experienced specifically by indigenous girls, adolescents and young women.
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Engaging Men and Boys: A Brief Summary of UNFPA Experience and Lessons Learned

Integrating work with men and boys into core areas of the UNFPA mandate at country, regional and global levels.

This report aims to support the work of UNFPA and partners by presenting a background and rationale for engaging men and boys. It illustrates a range of initiatives that have engaged men and boys for the promotion of gender equality as well as sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.
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ICPD and Human Rights

20 years of advancing reproductive rights through UN treaty bodies and legal reform

This publication highlights the progress countries have made through their laws and policies to implement the ICPD Programme of Action. It also describes national and international human rights developments on issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
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A Mapping of Faith-based Responses to Violence against Women and Girls in the Asia-Pacific Region

This report presents findings from a mapping initiative that aimed to capture how faith-based organizations respond to violence against women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region. As a collaborative initiative between UNFPA and the Asia-Pacific Women Faith and Development Alliance (AP-WFDA), it sought to identify examples of strategies used by faith-based organizations. The report brings together the experiences of 58 organizations collected through an online survey, supplemented by in-depth interviews conducted with selected agencies. Importantly, the survey results represent only a small proportion of the faith-based organizations addressing violence against women and girls across the region.
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Rising Up for Rights for Women and Girls

Abandoning female genital mutilation and cutting in the Fouta of Senegal

In Senegal, the movement to end female genital mutilation/cutting is reaching the most remote places. On the sandy roads of the Fouta region and along the river, the information about the problems caused by the traditional practice circulates, inspiring people in dozens of villages to rise up in support of women’s and girls’ health.
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Research, Health Care and Preventive Measures for FGM/C and the Strengthening of Leadership and Research in Africa

Conference Report

The conference documented in this report gave those working across a range of fields towards ending female genital mutilation/cutting a chance to share their experiences. Many participants indicated that it crucial for those in African countries to work more closely with those from other regions and countries to share and learn from one another’s efforts. Participants also explored the possibility of establishing an African Coordinating Centre for the Elimination of FGM/C, as proposed by the University of Nairobi. Participants identified gaps in research, policies, current interventions, monitoring and evaluation and encouraged the establishment of the proposed coordinating centre as a strategic and much needed action to address those gaps and support collaboration across the field. In particular, they viewed theproposed centre as a positive step in addressing the language barrier among campaigners in anglophone,francophone and Arabic-speaking nations.
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UNFPA Nairobi Conference Report_v11.pdf

Mobilising Men in Practice

Challenging sexual and gender-based violence in institutional settings

Men need to be involved in reflective, in-depth discussions and comprehensive campaigns focused on ending violence against women. This report documents the work of one such effort, the Mobilising Men initiative, led by the Institute of Development Studies (University of Sussex in Britain) with support from UNFPA. Through partnerships with civil society groups in India, Kenya and Uganda beginning in 2009, th initiative trained men to be team activists in seeking gender balances.
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Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Accelerating Change

Funding proposal

UNFPA and UNICEF are working towards accelerated abandonment of female genital mutilation/ cutting within 17 countries by 2012. The focus of this joint funding proposal is to leverage social dynamics towards abandonment within selected communities that practice FGM/C. The main strategic approach is to gain the support of an initial core group, which decides to abandon FGM/C and mobilises a sufficient number of people to facilitate a tipping point and thereby create a rapid social shift of the cutting social convention norm.
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Marrying too Young

End Child Marriage

This report is a clarion call to decision makers, parents, communities and to the world to end child marriage. It documents the current scope, prevalence and inequities associated with child marriage and highlights that by 2020, Some 142 million girls will be married by their 18th birthday if current trends continue.
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Social and Cultural Determinants on Sexual and Reproductive Health

Studies From Asia and Latin America

Four reports commissioned by UNFPA offer insights into socio-cultural dynamics in Asian countries, with an emphasis on how religion influences their maternal and child health. The reports explore the main challenges that health workers are facing and provide recommendations for action. Common challenges noted include harmful traditional practices, affordability and quality of care, and service provider attitudes. Recommendations are aimed at increasing access to and utilization of maternal and child health services by addressing affordability, staff training, policies, information, attitudes of service providers, gender inequalities, management issues and community relations.
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