News & information on GEAR campaign

Agenda, UN Women Executive Board Annual Session 2012

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:14:01 +0000

[May 2012] UN Women has recently released the provisional agenda for the Executive Board Meeting to be held May 29- June 1. For more information, please see: Agenda, UN Women Executive Board Meeting Annual Session 2012

UN Women Report of the Regional Architecture Review

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:35:50 +0000

[May 2012] UN Women has recently shared the report from their Regional Architecture Review process. For more information, view Report of the Regional Architecture Review

UN Women Overall Organizational Structure

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:34:56 +0000

[March 2012] UN Women has recently share their organizational chart.

For more information regarding heads of offices and the structure of UN Women,view UN Women's Overall Organizational Structure.

UN Women Organizational Structure

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:51:27 +0000

Organizational Structure Chart for UN WOMEN Related posts: Details about staffing and structure of the new gender entity OFFICIAL UN PRESS RELEASE: UN Creates New Structure for Empowerment of Women Related posts:

Press Release: BACHELET MET LATIN AND CARIBBEAN WOMEN

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:09:24 +0000

[New York, March 3, 2012] Mabel Bianco, GEAR Focal Point, organized this meeting of the women’s organizations with Bachelet for her to present her suggestions and proposals after the first year of administration of UN Women, and to consider the membership of the Regional Civil Society Advisory Committee.

The Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, met today with a very diverse group of women representatives of 25 organizations and networks from Latin American and the Caribbean, during the 56th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

Mabel Bianco, president of the Foundation for Studies and Research on Women –FEIM- and Focal Point for Latin America and the Caribbean of the GEAR Campaign (Gender Equality Architecture Reform), started the meeting by presenting to Bachelet a synthesis of the proposals elaborated by the group for the creation of a Regional Civil Society Advisory Committee, reaffirming the need to improve communications between the Director and the UN Women staff to work jointly to reach gender equality.

The meeting, carried out at Bachelet’s office, focused on considering the forms of joint work between UN Women and the regional women’s organizations and networks, through the UN Regional Advisory Committee, which would be the first one to be created, and therefore, a model for other regions. The women’s groups suggested that the committee should be formed by members of the women’s movement, with experience in the defense of women’s human rights, and that all ethnic and racial diversity, and other aspects should be represented in it. Furthermore, they stated that members should not be re-elected, and that rotation of representatives should be encouraged.

On the other hand, Bachelet gave an outlook of the advances of UN Women’s activities in the region, especially about the creation of the UN Regional Center in Panama, the first to be created, and which aims to work with all UN agencies, governments and civil society. Moreover, she anticipated that an International Training Center in Dominican Republic, where INSTRAW was before, will start working to promote the training in the priority topics for 2012: political participation, economic empowerment, and, in our region, violence against women and girls.

“The priorities of UN Women in our countries are essential because it is the region with the biggest gap between the rich and the poor, and women and girls are those most affected. Inequality and poverty are an enormous obstacle in achieving gender equality, and it is also necessary to improve and increase women’s participation in social and political areas, including trade unions”, Bianco stressed.

“We talk about the need to deepen the joint work of governments and civil society with UN Women, and to strengthen the existing resources, because Latin America and the Caribbean, as it’s formed by middle-income countries, has significant restrictions to accessing resources”, said the president of FEIM.

The meeting – in which Moni Pizani, Director of UN Women for Latin America, and Bibiana Aido, Bachelet’s advisor also participated – finished with a strong commitment by Dr. Bachelet and the women’s networks to work jointly in the promotion of the agenda of equality of opportunities.

For more information:
FOUNDATION FOR STUDIES AND RESEARCH ON WOMEN – FEIM
(+5411) 4372.2763 | feim@feim.org.ar | www.feim.org.ar
Mabel Bianco, from NY: (54 9 11) 15.6478.3635
Press contact: 15.4421.4264 | gisela@feim.org.ar

UN Women At Its First Birthday: Systems And Visibility Growing, More Funding And Civil Society Engagement Needed

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:18:24 +0000

[February 17, 2012] Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) Friday File: In 2011 the United Nations consolidated all four UN bodies working on gender equality – OSAGI, UNIFEM, INSTRAW, and DAW – to create one UN agency working on women's rights. On behalf of the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign, Charlotte Bunch, founding member of the GEAR campaign reflects on the first year of UN Women.

This article is part of a series of Friday Files to explore some of the issues and debates related to the AWID 2012 Forum theme and draw the connections between women’s rights issues and economic power. For more information related to global governance click here.

[Read the interview]

GEAR Campaign Statement at the UN Women Executive Board Meeting (ENG, FR, SP)

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:13:09 +0000

[New York, December 5, 2011] GEAR Campaign representative, Charlotte Bunch of the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL), presented the campaign statement at the second UN Women Executive Board meeting.

[Read the Statement (English, French, Spanish)]

Letter to Michelle Bachelet from Women’s Organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:59:23 +0000

[Montevideo, November 10, 2011] On November 10, 2011 Michelle Bachelet had a meeting with local women's organizations in Uruguay.

The group prepared a letter and has asked regional women's organizations to sign on.

[Read the letter (English, Spanish)]

Contributions from national, regional and/or international networks in Argentina for the 2012 UN WOMEN Strategic Plan

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:15:06 +0000

[Argentina, September 2011] On September 7th representatives came together to: a.) write to Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs requesting an increase in Argentina’s contribution to UN WOMEN; b.) develop a thematic proposal for UN WOMEN’s Executive branch in order to prioritize the certain issues in 2012-13.

[Read the complete contributions]

GEAR CAMPAIGN CELEBRATES NEW UN WOMEN STRATEGIC PLAN

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:36:18 +0000

[New York, June 28, 2011] Notes the civil society consultation in plan preparation, but urges countries and donors to complete financing of the new entity in order to carry it out.

Mabel Bianco, president of the Foundation for the Study and Research of Women (FEIM) and the Focal Point of Latin America and the Caribbean for the GEAR (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) Campaign spoke yesterday (27/6), in representation of the campaign at the second session of the UN Women Executive Board meeting, which is taking place until the 30th of June in New York.

To begin the session, the UN Women Secretary General, Michelle Bachelet, shared a report of what has been done since the creation of the agency in January 2011 and presented the strategic plan for 2011-2013.

"Addressing barriers, such as gender-based violence and discrimination, as well as persistent under-representation in political and economic leadership positions, which hold women back from achieving their highest potential, will take a united and committed effort," said Bianco as she congratulated UN Women on the completion of its first Strategic Plan, which was prepared following a participatory consultation process in countries.

The GEAR Campaign is a coalition of more than 300 groups of women who work for the equality of women, development, human rights and social justice all over the world and have come together for over four years to support the creation of UN Women. The Campaign promotes the participation of civil society in the new organization, advocating the incorporation of human rights and the implementation of promises made to achieve gender equity in this new structure.

The first strategic plan of UN Women was assessed by the GEAR Campaign as a "foundational document" that represents "an important step towards the development of a global agenda that will advance human rights, development, peace and security for all women." However, Bianco noted the necessity that the new gender entity can be "budgeted on an equal footing with other UN agencies," because "without adequate funding, this excellent plan cannot develop properly and will not reach its full potential."

In this sense, Bianco praised the contributions of Spain, Canada, India and Nigeria, but remarked that "$126 million dollars from this year is well below the target of $300 million, and even further from $500 million initially requested by the Secretary General, and the billion requested by the GEAR Campaign." For this reason, the GEAR campaign urged all donors and states to increase their contributions and "fill the gap between current contributions and the schedule."

Moreover, Bianco noted the importance of strengthening the work of UN Women in each country and emphasized that the new entity must assume the task of leading the efforts for incorporating gender equality in the programs of other UN agencies. Finally, the representative of the GEAR Campaign welcomed the commitment by Bachelet to create an NGO Advisory Group and expressed her hope that other formal mechanisms would be established to facilitate civil society participation. "It is essential to hear the voices of women in all their diversity, especially grassroots groups and marginalized women, in order for UN Women to fulfill its mandate and become accountable to the people it is intended to serve," said Bianco.

________________________________________________________

Fundacion para Estudio e Investigacion de la Mujer -FEIM-

"Veinte años promoviendo los derechos de las mujeres y niñas"

"Twenty years promoting women's and girls' rights"

Parana 135 Piso 3 "13" (1017) | Tel./Fax: (+54 11) 4372 2763

Buenos Aires – Argentina | www.feim.org.ar