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The following Oral Statement was delivered to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Fifty-fourth Session, on February 26, 2010 by Constance Mogale or Lana Finikin.
As organizations committed to partnering with Haitian women to ensure their effective participation in rebuilding Haiti, we call upon member governments and international humanitarian aid agencies present at the CSW to commit to actions that will ensure that all future relief, recovery and reconstruction investments declare and adhere to measurable standards of gender equality. In the current period of relief and temporary shelter, in the design and distribution of entitlements, and in the planning and rebuilding of infrastructure and development programs, we urge implementing actors to establish collaborative processes that are anchored in formal partnerships with Haitian women’s groups (particularly local grassroots groups) who are empowered and resourced to take public leadership in the protracted process of reconstruction.
As a coalition of groups and networks active in the global women’s movement we will partner with Haitian women’s groups to ensure that equitable, transparent, and socially just standards are adhered to in all phases of recovery and will regularly monitor:
Participation: Haitian women are disproportionately impacted by the crisis as well as key to their country’s recovery. Thus we expect to see a large and diverse number of Haitian women’s organizations consulted and included in needs and damage assessments, and in the design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of post-disaster aid programs. Financing large numbers of grassroots women and their community organizations is essential to ensuring that — women’s needs and priorities are reflected in relief and recovery and that displaced women are socially legitimated as a key stakeholder group.
Leadership: The legacy of Haitian women’s leadership at home, in workplaces and across communities is a strong foundation for designing, implementing and evaluating long-term recovery as well as continuing aid. Women’s leadership and care-giving work should be recognized and supported by policy and program mandates and transparent resource commitments that enable women to play meaningful, sustained and formal roles in the long-term recovery process. And, as social and political leadership positions are restored or created Haitian women must hold a proportional share.
Cordaid and Partners reward Home Based Care Leadership in responding to HIV and AIDS. Win up to 15.000 Euro!
AIDS has changed the fabric of communities around the world and placed a burden on the lives of many people, especially girls and women, young and old. With health systems failing and people living longer with HIV thanks to access to Antiretrovirals (ARVs), mainly poor women, are increasingly forced to devote their time, energy, skills and the little resources to care for their family members at home and provide their services to the wider community, often at great expense to themselves. This invisible task-shifting is insufficiently recognised, valued and validated as work.
Prize of €15.000 and €5.000 for HBC Leadership
The Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development (Cordaid) and partners of the Caregivers Action Alliance’s (CAA) Organising Committee (HelpAge International, Huairou Commission, VSO International) as well as the World YWCA, reward and encourage leadership around the strengthening of home based care in responding to HIV and AIDS in the “global South” by awarding €15.000 for an organisation and €5.000 for an individual. Cordaid and partners are seeking applications from organisations or individuals committed to supporting home based care as a necessary, effective, and community-based initiative – recognising home based care as an insufficiently resourced, under-valued and unrecognized solution for mitigating the effects of HIV and AIDS.
How to submit
Submissions can be sent up to 15 September 2009. To download the Rules and Procedures as well as the Application Form, visit the website: http://www.cordaidpartners.com/rooms/hiv-and-aids-award-2009. For more information please contact HIV_and_AIDS_Award@cordaid.nl or visit www.cordaid.nl.
Parallel events for CSW53 have been announced! You can view the calendar at the NGO Committee on the Status of Women website.
Events sponsored by Ecumenical Women are:
Positive Masculinities: Gender Partnerships for equal sharing of responsibilities
March 3 – 12:00 pm
10th floor, Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN)
HIV/AIDS caregiving, race and gender
March 4 – 2:00 pm
2nd floor, CCUN
Empowering the Girl Child
March 5 – 4:00 pm
10th floor, CCUN
Faith-based Grassroots Experiences in Caregiving & HIV/AIDS
March 10 – 10:00 am
2nd floor, CCUN
Preparations for the upcoming United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) are well underway. Earlier this month, the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women convened an Expert Group Meeting on the priority theme for 2009.
The 2009 CSW will consider the theme “Equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS.” This theme was explored with shared research and practical experience, resulting in background papers, expert papers and an online discussion amongst civil society.
In particular, I highlight the role of faith based communities that arose in the papers and online discussions. Of nine expert papers and four background papers, only one background paper mentioned the role of religious stakeholders. This reference was specifically related to address issues of “attitudes and stereotypes” regarding gender roles in society.
Statistics show that women and girls comprise of nearly 90% of care providers. This is a huge burden on women, and very rarely does it receive adequate attention. Please help us by filling out a survey on
the topic of women and caregiving in the context of HIV and AIDS.
Your responses will be used to help us create our advocacy position and inform our research in the role of faith-based organizations advocating for the caretakers of those living with HIV and AIDS. We very much
value your response. Please send your responses by Oct. 25.
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Las estadísticas demuestran que las mujeres y las niñas están encargadas de casi el 90% del cuidado de las personas enfermas. Esto es una carga enorme para las mujeres y no recibe la atención adecuada. Le estamos enviando esta encuesta en preparación a la 53.a Sesión de la Comisión de la Condición Jurídica y Social de las Mujeres (CSW) que será celebrada en las Naciones Unidas en Nueva York del 2 al 13 de marzo del 2009. El tema de la reunión es “La distribución igualitaria de las responsabilidades entre las mujeres y los hombres, incluyendo el cuidado de pacientes afectados por el VIH/SIDA”.
Haz click aqui: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kH_2fnkWuO94he7Hwl_2bNsXRw_3d_3d
Sus respuestas a esta encuesta nos ayudarán en nuestro aporte a la Comisión, y contribuirá a nuestro trabajo de investigación sobre el rol de las organizaciones religiosas en la defensa de los derechos de las personas que están encargadas del cuidado de la gente viviendo con VIH y SIDA. Nosotras valoramos mucho su respuesta. Envíe por favor sus respuestas antes del 25 de octubre del 2008.
by Jessica Hawkinson, Seminar Program Coordinator
Presbyterian United Nations Office
According to a September 2008 UNICEF report, 50 million births in the developing world remain unattended each year—dramatically increasing the risk of both infant and maternal fatalities.(1) With millions of deaths and injuries as a result of inadequate health care for women, the pressure to meet the 5th Millennium Development Goal of Improving Maternal Health is all the more tangible. A few statistics from the recent UNICEF report put the status of maternal health and its accompanying MDG into perspective:
- Each year, more than half a million women die from pregnancy-related causes and an estimated 10 million experience injuries, infections, disease or disability that can cause lifelong suffering.
- More than 99 percent of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, with some 84 percent concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
- Huge disparities in maternal care exist between the developing and developed world. In the developing world, the risk of death from complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth over the course of a woman’s lifetime is one in 76, compared with one in 8,000 in the industrialized world. In Niger that risk is estimated to be one in seven.
- For more statistics, the UNICEF report can be viewed in full
In the midst of such overwhelming statistics, innovative efforts to bring change are being supported by United Nations organizations, as well as non-governmental and faith organizations. One recent initiative seeks to train and give power to local midwives as birth attendants and prenatal health staff. According to a UN news report, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) are embarking on a $9-million initiative to train, support, and build networks among midwives in the developing world.(2) Faith-based organizations are also actively engaged in supporting similar programs for improving global maternal health care.
