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The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth
World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
Secretariat.
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AS WRITTEN


STATEMENT BY INTERACTION
(THE AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY INTERNATIONAL ACTION)

TO THE FOURTH WORLD WOMEN'S CONFERENCE
Presented by Suzanne Kindervatter
Director, Commission on the Advancement of Women


Madam Chair,
Distinguished Delegates,
Colleague NGOs:

InterAction is a coalition of 165 US NGOs working in international
development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance. Our association
was founded ten years ago to coordinate activities of US organizations
working overseas, to promote dialogue on critical development issues,
and to advocate for reforms in US foreign aid, World Bank, and UN
programs to make them more effective, equitable, and supportive of human
development for all.

Out of our total membership, 40 organizations have brought over 200
representatives to the NGO Forum and UN Conference here in China. It is
a diverse group. Our delegation includes women and men from the South
and the North, from Executive Directors to grass roots activists. The
organizations work in all areas of sustainable development and human
rights, including education, health, agriculture, enterprise
development, and the promotion of civil society. Unlike many of the NGOs
participating in the Forum and Conference, most InterAction member
agencies are not women's organizations. What brings this collection of
NGOs to a UN meeting focusing on women?

InterAction's presence here is a testament to the impact of the three
previous World Women's Conferences. The gatherings in Mexico, in
Copenhagen, and in Nairobi raised international awareness about women in
development, about the situation of refugee women, and about the
conditions of women in man-made or natural disasters. InterAction
established its own "Commission on the Advancement of Women" to promote
gender equality among its members and among national and international
development organizations. When development NGOs implement programs in a
way that takes gender roles and impact into account, they see
development through a new lens. Inequities come into clear focus; for
example, in women's access to credit or in girl's access to education.
And women's positive roles--in solving community problems, in providing
financial support to their families--also become recognized and valued.

The NGOs in our coalition are learning through experience that when you
advance women, you advance families and communities. With this
conviction, we have joined forces with thousands of other NGOs over the
past year and a half to contribute to the document, the Platform for
Action, that this Conference will adopt.

The involvement of NGOs in the preparatory meetings was unprecedented in
UN history. While it is clear that the UN, as well as NGOs, are
continuing to learn how to work together, we believe that the
involvement of NGOs in the process has yielded invaluable benefits. The
Platform for Action is a truer representation of women's aspirations and
concerns due to the involvement of NGOs. And, new NGO-government
partnerships have been forged that will be key for implementing the
Platform recommendations.

We want you to know that women around the world feel a great sense of
ownership of this document. Before the regional meetings, NGOs consulted
with their constituencies to find out how women feel, what women want,
and what they believe is needed to bring positive change for themselves,
their children, and their communities. These diverse voices— speaking
about women's ideas, women's aspirations, and women's analysis--were
heard by NGOs and carried to the regional meetings, to New York, and
here to Beijing.

All of us who have made it to China are holding the trust of women
worldwide. We must not let them down. We call upon you to strengthen,
not weaken, the Platform for Action in this final stage of negotiations.
The agreements from Vienna and Cairo must be affirmed, and new gains
must be secured in the other critical areas of concern.

We also urge you, just as importantly, to "bring Beijing home." We hope
all governments here will announce specific commitments for national
action. InterAction is working with other NGOs on the "Scoreboard of
Commitments," to recognize the promises made during the plenary
speeches. To put these commitments into action will mean that all of us
will have to work as hard "post-Beijing," as "pre-Beijing." Paragraph
297 of the Platform directs governments to convene a one-year post-
Beijing process, for going beyond initial commitments to developing
comprehensive national action plans based on the Platform for Action.
The Platform recognizes the vital role of NGOs in meeting the needs of
women and their families; governments, multilateral institutions, and
private donors must back up this recognition with the funding.

As we move into the next phase of work, implementation of the Platform
for Action, it is critical to think strategically. The document includes
hundreds of recommendations for action. Which areas should be given
priority? Which will make the most difference in furthering the
advancement of women?

The UNDP 199S Human Development Report is an important resource for
addressing these questions. The report notes many gains since
International Women's Year in 1975. Overall, gender gaps in education
and health have been more than halved, and research indicates that
women's gains in these areas have major pay-offs for development.
However, women still lag far behind men in the areas of economic and
political opportunity.

Based on the UNDP findings as well as our member agencies' own on-the-
ground experience, InterAction would like to highlight four strategic
areas that need to be addressed:

First, breaking through the global glass ceiling. UNDP's new GEM—the
Gender Empowerment Measure—ranks countries in terms of women's
participation in economic and political decision-making. From village
councils to national legislatures, men continue to far out number women
in leadership positions. Gender balance in economic and political
decision-making bodies must be a concrete goal to work toward.

Second, expanding economic opportunity. It is widely recognized that
women invest their earnings in their families’ education, health and
general well being. Yet hundreds of millions of women continue to be
denied access to land, property rights, credit and technical assistance.
Increasing women's access to economic resources is essential, but it is
not enough. Over the last decade, economic adjustment measures have
increased women's work burdens and undercut women's traditional roles in
subsistence agriculture and other productive activities. We call upon
governments and international financial institutions to take the gender
blinds off economic policies so that these policies reduce, not
exacerbate, poverty for women and their children. Involving women's NGOs
in designing economic reform programs is an important way to ensure that
poor women and children benefit from economic reform measures

Third, eliminating the gender gap in education. World Bunk data shows
that girls education is a particularly wise investment of development
resources. While the gap between girls and boys enrollment levels has
been closing, disparities continue to exist in certain regions and
throughout most of the world in certain disciplines, especially science
and technology. Providing incentives to parents to send their daughters
to school-particularly eliminating school fees--as well as providing
more educational opportunities for girls and young women, are essential.

Fourth, mobilizing resources. The weakest sections of the Platform for
Action are those dealing with commitments of resources for
implementation of the recommendations. Some recommendations can be acted
upon through policy reform. Others, such as the girls education
initiatives just noted, require financial resources. We cannot implement
this Platform only "within existing resources," a phrase that echoes
throughout the document. As part of national level post-Beijing
activities, financing strategies need to be identified. NGOs have
proposed several alternatives, including the reallocation of funds
within existing accounts, particularly moving monies from military to
social spending, and generating new sources of revenue, through a tax on
international financial transactions or debt conversion for social
development. These and other creative financing options must be put on
the table for serious consideration. National follow-up must address
both what needs to be done--the priorities-and how it will be funded-the
budget. Clearly, NGOs have an on-going role to play in creating the
political will needed to secure these financial commitments. In the US,
InterAction is a leading advocate for the maintenance of our
government's existing financial commitments to humanitarian foreign
assistance.

To conclude, we would like to celebrate our accomplishments as well as
underscore the challenges ahead. Throughout the world, we will continue
to face the opposition of conservative forces to women's empowerment.
But, over the past year and a half, NGOs have strengthened our alliances
and built new working relationships with our governments. By coming to
Beijing, together, we have advanced the agenda for women's empowerment.
And, by bringing Beijing home, we will transform the future.