#convenor:angeladp

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

Girls receive a disproportionally small share of the total development dollars invested globally each year, but the field is primed for even greater action and investment. Before charting the way forward, it is important to understand more about current efforts underway on behalf of girls... This report presents the key findings from this exercise, describing what we have learned about the donors and organizations engaged in girl work, the policy and program efforts underway, and current and future directions for the field. It is hoped that the findings and considerations emerging from this mapping exercise will contribute toward a more strategic and coordinated effort to mobilize additional actors, resources and ideas on behalf of girls around the world.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

Migration and globalisation are key issues for the women’s movement as they are having serious impacts on women’s lives and rights. Women from all corners of the globe including many representatives from European migrant women associations came together at the WIDE conference to share and reflect on this open question of migrant women’s human rights at risk, compelling us to rethink, expose and denounce the architecture of policy-making in Europe (and globally), and to explore the links between decisions taken at a global level and the impact they have on the ground.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

This summary, written under the aegis of the Center for Advocacy on Stigma and Marginalisation (CASAM), presents the preliminary results of the first pan-India survey on sex workers. These preliminary findings have been developed for an event in Mumbai on 30 April 2011. The authors appreciate the opportunity to discuss their research with an audience of critical stakeholders. A report which provides their final analysis and data relating to male, trans sex workers, sexuality, stigma and discrimination as well as the 0.5% of 15-17 year olds in this sample will be published later in the year.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

In Cambodia, HIV infection is concentrated among key populations at higher risk, including MSM. A STI Sentinel Surveillance Survey found that HIV prevalence among MSM in 2005 was 8.7 percent in Phnom Penh and 0.8 percent in the provinces (Battambang and Siem Reap), and that prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) other than HIV among MSM was 9.7 percent in Phnom Penh and 7.4 percent in the provinces.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

There is a growing recognition in Cambodia that stigma and discrimination toward entertainment workers (EWs) plays a key role in increasing the vulnerability of EWs to HIV infection. Following the startup of the 100% Condom Use Program in 1999, there have been increasing efforts by the Cambodian government and civil society to address stigma and discrimination toward EWs, as well as EW vulnerability to HIV.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

On this unique two-country Learning Tour, a high-level delegation, including Congressman Jim McDermott from Washington State who helped lead the trip, traveled to Rwanda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to learn about the reach and scope of U.S. investments in overseas development programs, particularly those focused on positive health outcomes for women, young girls and their families. The delegation witnessed firsthand critical issues related to overcoming global poverty including health, education, governance and gender-based violence across two very different – yet connected – country contexts.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

All over the world, individuals and families set out daily on a journey to a new life in a distant place. Some migration is undertaken with little or no choice - men, women and children fleeing in the face of violence which threatens lives and security. This migration can be seen as ‘forced’ - defined widely as referring to ‘the movements of refugees and internally displaced people (those displaced by conflicts) as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine, or development projects’.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

The 2011 local government elections that witnessed a decline in women’s representation at the very moment that South Africa should be redoubling its efforts to achieve gender parity underscores the need for a legislated quota for women in national and local elections. This is the conclusion reached by Gender Links (GL), the Johannesburg-based research and advocacy organisation following a gender analysis of the 18 May 2011 local government election results.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

Women make up roughly three quarters of the world’s poor. Despite often having to perform the duties of both a breadwinner and head of household, women earn a mere tenth of global income. Subjected to the most precarious jobs in cities and rural areas, women are also far more likely than men to be unemployed.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

The Beijing Platform for Action – the preeminent international guideline for improving the status of women – lists, among others, specific activities related to increased availability of sex-disaggregated data. It was expected that these activities would start showing results with the passage of time. Indeed, in some areas of statistics, we are witnessing an increased stock of available statistics, such as on work and education. However, the availability of gender statistics is still sporadic and weak in many countries and areas of the world, thus limiting the comprehensive statistical analysis of social phenomena and the status of women and men.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

The Global Gender Gap Index,1 introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006, is a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress. The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health-based criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time. The rankings are designed to create greater awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them. The methodology and quantitative analysis behind the rankings are intended to serve as a basis for designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

Women’s empowerment in India is heavily dependent on many different variables that include geographical location (urban/rural), educational status, social status (caste and class), and age. Policies on women’s empowerment exist at the national, state, and local (Panchayat) levels in many sectors, including health, education, economic opportunities, gender-based violence, and political participation. However, there are significant gaps between policy advancements and actual practice at the community level.

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

Depository of policies, strategies and action plans within the UN system

[idsknowledgeservices-blog]

Hundreds of thousands of women die every year in childbirth or from pregnancy-related causes. Virtually all of these maternal deaths occur in poor countries. In order to reduce maternal deaths and improve the overall life chances of poor mothers, policy and programs must address poverty and gender inequality, two inter-related, root causes of maternal death. This paper, prepared for Women Deliver 2010, examines the ways in which poverty and gender inequality impact maternal mortality by creating barriers to maternal healthcare access and utilization. It also analyzes strategies designed to increase utilization to identify best practices.