Objectives
UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations. It 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 Arab States Regional Office focuses during the next two years (2008-2009) on the following main areas:
• Women’s economic security and rights, particularly building on our previous experience on Women Migrant Workers, and enhancing of women’s information technology skills programs;
• Governance, peace and security through supporting women national machineries, working towards social inclusion of women, and increasing women’s political participation, particularly at local level;
• Violence Against Women (VAW) by lobbying and advocacy for legal reforms, and running vigorous campaigns to fight VAW, as well as ensuring the protective service standards for survivors of violence.
UNIFEM in Syria
As part of UNCT, UNIFEM started its activities in Syria in cooperation with the Syrian General Women's Union (GWU) in the mid 1990s, in preparation for the fourth world conference on women in Beijing in 1995. This was followed by developing and implementing projects in cooperation with line ministries, the State Planning Commission, the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs, the Governorates and NGOs. The projects aimed at achieving gender equality, women’s empowerment as well as facilitating women’s effective participation in the development process.
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Ongoing Projects
1. Arab Women Parliamentarians (AWP)
Partners are Parliamentarians, the General Women’s Union, the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs, NGOs and other activists who have continued their hard work in lobbying and advocacy for women’s human rights, in particular their equal access to decision-making, opportunities as well as benefits.
In the ninth session of the parliamentary elections held in Syria on 22-23 April 2007, women have filled 31 of the 250 parliamentary seats. Of the 31 newly elected MPs, 17 or 55 % have participated in the regional project "AWP".
Within this context, a strategy for the advancement of Syrian Women has been developed, and UNIFEM is supporting the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs with consultancy to translate the strategy into reality.
2. Local Governance - Strengthening Capacity of People-Centered Development (Pilot Project)
The project is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, on Municipality level, and aims at:
– Promoting Good Governance in municipalities and NGOs in three governorates, Al-Suwaida, Dera’a and Al-Qunaitera;
– Raising awareness of civil society about Human Rights through women's organizations.
Three base-line studies about good governance between reality and ambition have been developed in the Syrian three Southern Governorates. Moreover, a series of raising awareness and capacity building activities are being been implemented to train staff and volunteers at 11 Municipalities and NGOs in the same areas.
3. New Hope for Abused Women: Towards Overcoming Gender-Based Violence in Syria
An NGO entitled Association for Women’s Role Development (AWRD) have obtained a gift from the Global Trust Fund to establish a shelter for woman victims of violence in Damascus. The shelter was opened in June 2008 in a ceremony attended by the Minster of Social Affairs and Labour and the Japanese Ambassador, whith a Japanese donation to renovate the shelter. Some other senior staff and community key leaders attended the opening ceremony. AWRD staff and volunteers are working on building their technical and managerial capacity to manage the shelter and achieve its objectives.
Projects in the Pipeline:
1. “Imams and Islamic institutions are partners in promoting women’s human rights” was developed in cooperation with Al-Awqaf Ministry (Ministry of Religious Affairs). The project is funded by the British Government.
2. “Towards a supportive community to women’s rights in Deir El-Zur Governorate.”
3. “Integration of Gender as key variable in the development programmes and projects in Deir Al-Zour”.
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