Human RightsBased Approach to Programming UNFPA SESSION 5

Human Rights-Based Approach to Programming - UNFPA SESSION 5: Gender

Session Overview • • • Introduction to UNFPA’s work in gender Gender and culture Gender mainstreaming Gender-responsive budgeting Examples of UNFPA’s work in gender equality and women’s empowerment • Introduction to case study • Conclusions

Introduction • Gender equality and women’s empowerment are vital aspects of UNFPA’s mandate, and gender mainstreaming is a cross-cutting approach relevant to all programming and policy areas within UNFPA and within the UN in general. • UNFPA’s goal in this area is: – gender equality advanced and women and adolescent girls empowered to exercise their human rights, particularly their reproductive rights, and live free of discrimination and violence.

Gender and Culture • When focusing on gender equality and women’s empowerment, it is also essential to take culture into account. Cultural or religious attitudes and beliefs often have an enormous impact on the lives and choices of women and girls. Working from within a culture (for example, by working with faith-based organizations, religious leaders, cultural leaders, etc. ) is therefore essential to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Gender and Human Rights • Key to work in gender equality and women’s empowerment programmes is CEDAW • UNFPA staff should familiarize themselves with this Convention: – it provides a definition of ‘discrimination against women’ – use CEDAW articles as well as General Comments and Concluding Observations to provide governments with guidance when designing gender polices and laws

Addressing Gender Across UNFPA’s Operations • Throughout UNFPA’s work the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment is both: – a goal in itself – central to achieving all the other goals to which it is committed in both the MDGs and UNFPA’s Strategic Plan • UNFPA policies and UNFPA-supported programmes emphasize the importance of addressing gender equality across its operations • Gender mainstreaming is thus an integral aspect of national development programmes, poverty reduction strategies and other types of development strategies

Gender Mainstreaming (1) • Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action— including legislation, policies or programmes—in any area and at all levels.

Gender Mainstreaming (2) • UNFPA’s Strategic Framework for Gender Mainstreaming and Women’s Empowerment 2008 -2011 lists six priority areas for gender equality programming: – setting policy for ICPD and the MDGs (HR, gender equality, culture) – reproductive health – gender-based violence – adolescents and youth – emergency and post-emergency situations – men and boys

Gender-Responsive Budgeting • Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is about ensuring that government budgets and the policies and programmes that underlie them address the needs and interests of individuals who belong to different social groups • GRB is incredibly important if long-term progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment is to be made

Examples of UNFPA’s Gender Work (1) • Mobilizes support for developing and improving gender equality policies and legislation • Works to eliminate gender-based violence • Actively engages men and boys as partners and agents in promoting gender equality and ending gender-based violence against women and girls • Advocates for gender equality and women’s empowerment with governments and CSOs, and promotes commitment to ICPD goals and CEDAW

Examples of UNFPA’s Gender Work (2) • Supports capacity development activities that raise awareness of women’s rights and provide women with the services they require, especially in the area of sexual and reproductive health • Promotes gender mainstreaming in all programmes and policies (supported by the UNFPA gender mainstreaming framework), and also promotes gender-responsive budgeting

Examples of UNFPA’s Gender Work (3) • Supports governments in preparing their reports to CEDAW, and thereby helps governments ensure accountability for their international human rights obligations

Conclusion: Value Added of a HRBA in a Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment Programme (1) 1. Gender equality programmes that integrate the principles of participation and inclusion often result in bringing together State actors with local and national women’s groups and gender experts. 2. Bringing these groups together in the same room fosters a sense of collective ownership of the programme and can motivate government agencies, particularly at the local level, to contribute additional resources to promoting women’s human rights.

Conclusion: Value Added of a HRBA in a Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment Programme (2) 3. Bringing different groups together also fosters a common dialogue on issues of importance to women’s human rights. Such communication is useful for reaching solutions on obstacles to implementation of gender equality laws and policies.

Conclusion: Value Added of a HRBA in a Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment Programme (3) 4. A HRBA in a gender programme requires you to cultivate a synergistic relationship among different stakeholders. Working with both rightsholders and duty-bearers is critical for sustainable accomplishments in women’s human rights. – For example, working only with rights-holders to empower them to claim their right to be protected from gender-based violence will not be effective if similar efforts are not made among the police and judiciary to ensure that services are in place to respond to women survivors of gender-based violence.

Conclusion: Value Added of a HRBA in a Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment Programme (4) 5. A HRBA can invigorate women’s NGOs and human rights NGOs by helping them recognize their roles as duty-bearers, not just as charitable institutions. 6. In addition, learning about their human rights can empower women rights-holders. As a result, both NGOs and women rights-holders have an increased ability to take an active role in articulating the community’s needs and assessing the effectiveness of institutional responses.

Conclusion: Value Added of a HRBA in a Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment Programme (5) 7. Finally, a HRBA ensures that government parties become more aware of their legal obligations and duties to women. This awareness, coupled with specific capacity development activities advances the government’s ability to progressively work towards the realization of women’s human rights.