United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

From Wikigender.org

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) assists innovative programmes and implements strategies that promote women’s human rights, political participation and economic security. Since 1976 it has supported women’s empowerment and gender equality through its programme offices and links with women’s organizations in the major regions of the world. UNIFEM focuses its activities in four areas:

reducing feminized poverty
ending violence against women
reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls
achieving gender equality in democratic governance in times of peace as well as war

UNIFEM is active in all parts of the world, at all levels. Its work is framed by two agreements: the Beijing Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Millennium Development Goals further support UNIFEM's mission.

In 1996, UNIFEM began its work on gender responsive budgets, first in in Southern Africa and now in East Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central America and the Andean region. It has worked to increase awareness throughout the UN system of gender responsive budgets as a tool to strengthen economic governance in all countries.

The Fund for Gender Equality

The Fund for Gender Equality is a multi-donor initiative designed to advance high-impact gender equality programmes that focus on women’s economic and/or political empowerment at local and national levels. Read more.