Women/World Conference, GA special session follow-up report – SecGen report (excerpts)

Measures taken and progress achieved in the follow-up to and implementation of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, especially in mainstreaming gender perspectives in entities of the United Nations system

Report of the Secretary-General

Summary

  The present report summarizes progress made in mainstreaming gender perspectives within the United Nations system, based on input received from entities of the United Nations system since the submission of the report of the Secretary-General to the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-sixth session (E/CN.6/2002/2). Section I provides an overview of policies and strategies adopted or implemented within the United Nations system with the aim of achieving gender equality, section II summarizes programme and operational activities carried out by the system, and section III outlines the institutional development within the system in support of gender mainstreaming. Section IV gives illustrative examples of inter-agency activities, and section V provides conclusions and recommendations for action by the Commission.

 *  E/CN.6/2003/1.

/…

II.   Programme and operational activities: projects, research and advocacy 

/…

30.   The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) supported the advancement of women within the poverty eradication focus of the Government of Rwanda by strengthening the institutional capacity of non-governmental and civil society organizations. In Palestine and Yemen, UNVs are working with non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations to build capacity for women to access and use microcredit services. As recommended by an evaluation of the UNDP/UNIFEM/UNV project on support to gender mainstreaming, a second phase aims at increasing gender expertise in United Nations country teams and programmes by placing UNV gender specialists in UNDP offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America and CIS.

/…

33.   The share of female students in the education activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) ranged from 50 to 71 per cent. UNRWA provided Palestinian women with a range of health-care and health education programmes, occupational training and childcare; and entrepreneurial self-reliance programmes; and offered a loan programme for Palestinian women microentrepreneurs.

/…

B.   Capacity-building, including training; methodology, tools and development 

/…

59.   UNRWA health programme staff participated, jointly with the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health, in a capacity-building project to strengthen capacity for reproductive health counselling.

/…

________