[Wigsat-l] UNIFEM Press Release: Fund for Gender Equality Announces More than US$27.5 Million in Grants to Accelerate Action to Advance Women's Empowerment

[Sophia Huyer]

From: UNIFEM <media.list at unifem.org>
Date: Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 9:16 AM
Subject: [UNIFEM Press Release] - Fund for Gender Equality Announces
More than US$27.5 Million in Grants to Accelerate Action to Advance
Women's Empowerment

Press Release
For immediate release
Date: 7 July 2010
Media Inquiries
Oisika Chakrabarti, Media Specialist
UNIFEM Headquarters
oisika.chakrabarti at unifem.org

FUND FOR GENDER EQUALITY ANNOUNCES MORE THAN US$27.5 MILLION IN
GRANTS TO ACCELERATE ACTION TO ADVANCE WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
Local to national efforts to be supported in 13 countries by the Fund

United Nations, New York  The Fund for Gender Equality today
announced grants totalling more than US$27.5 million to recipients in
13 countries, with grant amounts of up to US$3 million each. The Fund
for Gender Equality, supported by donations from the Governments of
Spain and Norway, is managed by the UN Development Fund for Women,
UNIFEM (part of UN Women). The grants fall under the Fund’s
Implementation Grant category, which aims to fast track action on
national laws and policies to advance gender equality. In December
2009, 27 inaugural Catalytic Grants were also awarded to programmes in
26 countries. 

Today’s announcement completes the Fund’s first grantmaking cycle 
delivering more than US$37.5 million to 40 innovative programmes, and
significantly increasing the financial support available to countries
and communities committed to advancing gender equality and women’s
economic and political empowerment.

The Fund is a US$68 million multi-donor initiative dedicated to
furthering the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including the
commitment that gender equality and women’s empowerment are goals in
their own right and central to all other development goals. The Fund
places resources directly in the hands of government and civil society
organizations in order to turn gender equality laws and policies at
local and national levels into tangible advances for women’s rights.
Grantees are selected through a highly competitive process  in total,
the Fund received 1,239 applications from 127 countries, which were
reviewed by a technical committee of regional and gender equality experts.

“These grants are an important step to address what is now widely
acknowledged: that despite commitments to promote gender equality and
women’s empowerment, there has been consistent under-investment,” said
Inés Alberdi, Executive Director of UNIFEM (now part of UN Women).
“With only five years left to achieve the MDGs and continuing concerns
about the global economic crisis, it is more important than ever to
focus funds directly on implementing practical actions that will make
a difference in the lives of women and men on the ground.”

The 13 selected grantees will expand diverse and practical strategies
and partnerships to advance gender equality, relevant to each national
and regional context. For example, programmes will extend land titles
and secure tenure for women in Rwanda, improve women’s share and
sustainability in markets in Liberia and build leadership among Dalit
and other marginalized women to solidify recent economic gains in India.

In Egypt and Brazil, government and civil society will work together
to expand women’s livelihood options, domestic workers’ access to
social protections and the private sectors’ support of
gender-equitable workplaces. In Mexico and China, grantees will aim to
increase the number of women in decision-making positions, ensure that
women retain public office and set in place mechanisms  from budgets
to enforcement measures  that transform political participation into
real gains for women.

The programmes supported by the Fund for Gender Equality directly
engage the most excluded groups of women, including rural and domestic
workers, market women, displaced women, HIV-positive women, and
indigenous women. Programmes also actively involve traditional
authorities, men and women in public office and parliaments to ensure
sustainable development for women and communities across the world.

Related Documents
Fund for Gender Equality – Implementation Grant Recipients:
http://www.unifem.org/attachments/stories/FGE_ImplementationGrants2010_Grant
ees.pdf

UNIFEM (part of UN Women) provides financial and technical assistance
to innovative programmes and strategies to foster women's empowerment
and gender equality. Placing the advancement of women's human rights
at the centre of all of its efforts, UNIFEM focuses its activities on
reducing feminized poverty; ending violence against women; reversing
the spread of HIV and AIDS among women and girls; and achieving gender
equality in democratic governance in times of peace as well as war.
For more information, visit www.unifem.org. UNIFEM, 304 East 45th
Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10017. Tel: +1 212 906-6400. Fax: +1
212 906-6705.



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