UN forms partnership to train women on computer use to boost livelihoods

Note the request for “digital literacy curricula in local languages.”

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UN forms partnership to train women on computer use to boost livelihoods


7 April 2011 –The United Nations telecommunications agency today partnered with a Philippines-based non-governmental organization (NGO) to train a million women worldwide to use computers and other information and communications technology (ICT) applications to improve their livelihoods.

The UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will work with telecentre.org Foundation over the next 18 months on the project, to offer training courses in at least 20,000 telecentres worldwide using the “training the trainer” model.

“With technology now widely recognized as a critical enabler for socio-economic development, this campaign will further reinforce ITU’s global efforts to promote the digital inclusion of women, and will be a key element in achieving Millennium Development Goal 3 on gender equality,” said Hamadoun Touré, the ITU Secretary-General.

According to Basheerhamad Shadrach, the Executive Director of telecentre.org Foundation, offering digital skills to over one million women at the grassroots will help change the current norm where technologies mostly benefit men.

Under the terms of the agreement, ITU and telecentre.org Foundation are encouraging governments, the private sector and other international organizations to contribute digital literacy curricula in local languages and to provide trainers and other resources to national telecentres.

ITU will contribute a number of curricula developed by its Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), notably from its “Connect a School, Connect a Community” initiative.

ITU has also developed a range of digital literacy training materials designed to be used in school-based community centres and multi-purpose telecentres, by women, indigenous peoples, and people with disabilities.

Gender Salon #2: Community Solutions to Gender Based Violence

When: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 12:00 PM-1:30 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
Where: Board Room

Note: The GMT offset above does not reflect daylight saving time adjustments.

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Dear All,

Please join us for Gender Salon #2: Community Solutions to Gender Based Violence this Wednesday, April 27th from noon to 1:30PM in the IREX Board Room. All IREXers are welcome to attend (and please feel free to bring your lunch)!

Vice President Biden recently visited the University of New Hampshire to talk to students about sexual violence on college campuses. His remarks sparked several questions amongst the IREX Gender Awareness Campaign (I-GAC) team, including: what are some grassroots solutions to this, and other, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) issues?

USAID defines GBV as an act that “results in physical, sexual and psychological harm to both men and women and includes any form of violence or abuse that targets men or women on the basis of their sex.” (USAID Gender-Based Violence Working Group, April 2009). In preparation for our upcoming Gender CofP Salon to be held Wednesday, April 27th we urge you to consider this definition when reflecting on the following examples of GBV solutions:

  1. PREVENTION Models: Biden profiled the Bringing in the Bystander Program and Know Your Power campaign, student-driven initiatives, which focus on creating a community of responsibility and awareness (http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/04/ending-sexual-violence-one-student-one-campus-time
). Male and female “bystanders” are encouraged to speak up in cases where there is risk of sexual violence and are given tools and methods for intervening in appropriate, practical ways. What are other peer-based approaches you have seen used to thwart GBV?
  • INTERVENTION Models: In India, where 22 women were killed each day in dowry-related murders in 2007, the “Ring the Bell” project is a movement directed men who suspect GBV to approach the home and knock on the door with any excuse to talk to the abuser. Randal recently posted this video about the project on GenderDev: http://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/ring-bell-and-stop-violence. Based on your knowledge and experiences, what other ways can IREX integrate community participation-based solutions into programs?
  • SUPPORT Models: In Congo, where rape is already used as a weapon of war, there is another growing problem: men raping men. Men are reluctant to come forward as the few who do become instant castaways in their villages, lonely, ridiculed figures, derisively referred to as “bush wives.” The American Bar Association that runs a sexual violence legal clinic in Goma supports male survivors, but few men come forward and many die from injuries sustained during the attack (see: I:\CofP\Gender CofP\Group 3 - Internal Awareness\Salon 2_NYT Article on Congo.doc). How, if at all, does male rape classify as GBV and will awareness campaigns help in this context?
  • Although this list is, by no means, exhaustive, and we fully recognize that every country, and community, requires a nuanced approach to gender based violence, the IREX Gender Awareness Campaign team believes this to be a fruitful starting point to look at the different levels, and stages, of GBV and to consider how IREX can become involved in finding solutions.

    Thank you all, so much, for your time and we look forward to seeing you next Wednesday!

    All the best,

    Michelle & the I-GAC Team

    Michelle L. Paison • Development Associate •  Development Division •  International Research & Exchanges Board
    2121 K St, NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037 | 202.628.8188 x174 | mpaison@irex.org

    Ring the Bell and Stop the Violence

    Ring the Bell and Stop the Violence

    Submitted by Sabina Panth on Mon, 04/11/2011 - 12:16

    Media has long been a powerful force for empowerment.  New media content is constantly being created with the purpose of encouraging citizens to address issues at the local, national and international levels.  One such example is India’s Bell Bajao (Ring the Bell) campaign, which has used new media channels to catch the attention of local youth on the important issue of domestic violence and encourage them to become a part of the solution.

    The campaign specifically targets men and boys since it is believed that ninety percent of those who engage in domestic violence are men.  However, studies show that in close to fifty percent of the cases, it is men who have intervened to stop the violence.  The campaign believes that men can broach the issue of domestic violence with their peers in a non-accusatory manner and become positive role models. This can aid prevention efforts. 

    To me, the most fascinating feature of the campaign are the short complementary videos that feature true stories of incidences when men and boys who witness domestic violence take a minute out of their everyday lives to intervene and stop the violence.  The message is simple:  If you hear abuse going on inside someone’s house, ring the doorbell and stop the violence.  One such video unfolds with a group of youths playing cricket in a neighborhood. Upon hearing abuse going on in a nearby flat, they walk towards the flat and ring the bell.  A man answers the door, and they tell him that their ball may have entered the apartment; meanwhile, the man sees one of the youth overtly displaying the ball in his hand.  There is an unspoken message sent and received at this juncture.  It becomes clear to the viewer and the man in the apartment that the ruse about the ball is solely to serve notice that the abuse within the apartment has not gone unnoticed and will not be ignored.  The scene ends with the man closing the door with a shameful face.  Other equally powerful videos are found here and here.

    In addition to the short videos, the campaign has employed other innovative media strategies to spread the message.  It has involved celebrities and used ‘champion voices’ of men and boys from various walks of life who are seen as great role models capable of inspiring change.  It has used the platform of social media and user-generated sites, such as the blogosphere, You-tube and the campaign website to keep visitors updated on issues of violence that today’s youth face and the kinds of solutions they seek or offer. The campaign website also hosts discussions around India’s newly enacted Domestic Violence Act to encourage victims to file cases or use the presented cases as precedents.  

    The online activities are integrated with offline activities through training and networking opportunities.  The campaign uses Google Maps to showcase the different cities that it works in and the organizations that are available in those cities that can provide immediate help to victims of violence, including NGOs, Shelters, Government Officials, and Police Stations.  For those wishing to start their own campaign, the website offers downloadable tool-kits and video clips as mentioned above.

    The campaign has also initiated the Rights Advocate program that organizes on-the-ground leadership training to reaffirm the message and help youth recognize and fight domestic violence in their own communities.  To reflect the issues of marginalized communities, the campaign has launched a video-documentary program that trains these social groups to shoot short videos pertaining to domestic violence issues around them. 

    Despite its relatively small staff and budget, Breakthrough, the organization behind the campaign, claims to have reached 124 million through social media, TV, radio, press, and mobile video vans mobilized to reach those who do not have access to modern technologies.   The campaign has received the endorsement of the Ministry of Women and Child Development in India to promote the recently enacted Domestic Violence Act and has broadcast the messages on national television with the help of the video clips created pro bono by the advertising company, Ogilvy and Mather.  

    With a carefully thought out target audience, media tools and strategic partnership, the campaign is now going global.  Just recently, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined Bell Bajao as the first global champion.  In his video message, he invites men all over the world to unite in stopping violence against women.  

    As Breakthrough's Director of Communication, Sonali Khan explains, "Ultimately we want the women to benefit, but our aim was to reach the men and boys to change their attitude and behavior”.

    Liberian girls are in a particularly underprivileged position

    and some of those “odd jobs” include prostitution at a very young age and a high rate of teenage pregnancy. I am attaching our hot off the press
    Advancing Women in the Media Strategy, which has other facts and figures about women in Liberia. We are launching the strategy this evening, unfortunately I have to attend a function at the US Embassy and will miss the event, but Cerue is going to represent me and read my speech.

    Tilly

    Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 2:50 PM
    Subject: Liberian girls are in a particularly underprivileged position

    Liberian girls are in a particularly underprivileged position. Primary education is now free and compulsory, thanks largely to the work of the country's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Africa’s first elected female head of state, who entered office in 2005). But many girls end up dropping out to help with the family or earn money doing odd jobs. Reports show girls continue to face discrimination, family pressure and sexual violence. Many are forced into early marriages. The country has a 58% illiteracy rate among women, according to the CIA World Factbook.

    Regardless of intentions, Liberia’s government is too scrapped for cash to provide students with the necessary resources. Besides books, schools often lack windows and electricity. Universities are hardly better. In 2008, when Ms Ward visited the chemistry department at the Liberian State University, she found one textbook. Today her organisation funds scholarships in science—in honour of her father, a chemistry professor at the university who was shot by a rebel in 1990. But most of her work is about offering elementary education to Liberian girls.

    For more on the story see

    http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/places/luiza-oleszczuk/girl-stories

     

     

    Katherine Evans

    Director, Civil Society Division

    IREX

    2121 K St. NW, Suite 700 | Washington, DC 20037|(202-628-8188 x105 |* kevans@irex.org |

    Image001
    kathy.w.evans |www.irex.org

     

    Click here to download:
    Advancing Women in the Media Strategy FINAL.pdf (1.23 MB)
    (download)

    Posted by email

    Liberian girls are in a particularly underprivileged position

    Liberian girls are in a particularly underprivileged position. Primary education is now free and compulsory, thanks largely to the work of the country's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Africa’s first elected female head of state, who entered office in 2005). But many girls end up dropping out to help with the family or earn money doing odd jobs. Reports show girls continue to face discrimination, family pressure and sexual violence. Many are forced into early marriages. The country has a 58% illiteracy rate among women, according to the CIA World Factbook.

    Regardless of intentions, Liberia’s government is too scrapped for cash to provide students with the necessary resources. Besides books, schools often lack windows and electricity. Universities are hardly better. In 2008, when Ms Ward visited the chemistry department at the Liberian State University, she found one textbook. Today her organisation funds scholarships in science—in honour of her father, a chemistry professor at the university who was shot by a rebel in 1990. But most of her work is about offering elementary education to Liberian girls.

    For more on the story see

    http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/places/luiza-oleszczuk/girl-stories

    Katherine Evans

    Director, Civil Society Division

    IREX

    2121 K St. NW, Suite 700 | Washington, DC 20037|(202-628-8188 x105 |* kevans@irex.org |

    Image001
     kathy.w.evans |www.irex.org

    Posted by email

    A Campaign Against Girls in India

     April 12, 2011

    A Campaign Against Girls in India

    By NILANJANA S. ROY

    NEW DELHI — The figures tell an old and cruel story: the systematic elimination of girls in India. In the 2001 census, the sex ratio — the number of girls to every 1,000 boys — was 927 in the 0-6 age group. Preliminary data from the 2011 census show that the imbalance has worsened, to 914 girls for every 1,000 boys.

    Women’s groups have been documenting this particular brand of gender violence for years. The demographer Ashish Bose and the economist Amartya Sen drew attention to India’s missing women more than a decade ago. The abortion of female fetuses has increased as medical technology has made it easier to detect the sex of an unborn child. If it is a girl, families often pressure the pregnant woman to abort. Sex determination tests are illegal in India, but ultrasound and in vitro fertilization centers often bypass the law, and medical terminations of pregnancy are easily obtained.

    Some women, like 30-year-old Lakshmi Rani from Bhiwani district in Uttar Pradesh, have been pressured into multiple abortions. Ms. Rani’s first three pregnancies were terminated.

    “My mother-in-law took me to the clinic herself,” she said, her voice matter-of-fact but barely audible. “It wasn’t my decision, but I didn’t have a choice. They didn’t want girls.”

    Now her husband’s family is pushing her to get pregnant again, and she is hoping for a boy. Despite government campaigns against aborting female fetuses, she does not believe she will be allowed a choice.

    Ms. Rani’s story is echoed across Uttar Pradesh, a state that has among the most skewed sex ratios in India. Census figures show the female-male ratio in the 0-6 year group slipping from 916 in 2001 to 899 in 2011.

    In a 2007 Unicef report, Alka Gupta explained part of the problem: Discrimination against women, already entrenched in Indian society, has been bolstered by technological developments that now allow mobile sex selection clinics to drive into almost any village or neighborhood unchecked.

    The 1994 Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act was amended in 2003 to deal with the medical profession — the “supply side” of the practice of sex selection. However, the act has been poorly enforced.

    The reasons behind the aborting of female fetuses are complex, according to the Center for Social Research, a research organization in New Delhi. Ranjana Kumari points out that the practice happens in some of India’s most prosperous states — Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh — indicating that economic growth does not guarantee a shift in social attitudes. She pinpoints several factors that account for the preference for boys in many parts of India, especially the conservative north: sons are the source of the family income, daughters marry into another family and are not available to look after their parents, dowries make a daughter a liability and, in agricultural areas, there is the fear that any woman who inherits land might take that property to her husband’s family.

    Another form of violence against women — dowry deaths — is equally well-documented, and just as ugly, though Indians are so used to these that they have become almost invisible. The names of Sunita Devi, Seetal Gupta, Shabreen Tajm and Salma Sadiq will not resonate strongly for most Indians, though they were all in the news last week for similar reasons. Sunita Devi was strangled in Gopiganj, Uttar Pradesh, the pregnant Seetal Gupta was found unconscious and died in a Delhi hospital, Shabreen Tajm was burned to death in Tarikere, Karnataka, and Salma Sadiq suffered a miscarriage after being beaten by her husband in Bangalore.

    Demands for larger dowries by the husband’s family were behind all of these acts of violence, so commonplace that they receive no more than a brief mention in the newspapers. National Crime Bureau figures indicate that reported dowry deaths have risen, with 8,172 in 2008, up from an estimated 5,800 a decade earlier.

    Monobina Gupta, who has researched domestic violence for Jagori, a nongovernmental organization, draws a direct link between these killings and the abortion of female fetuses: “The dowry is part of the continuum of gender-based discrimination and violence, beginning with female feticide. Following the arrival of” economic “liberalization in 1992, the dowry list of demands has become longer. The opening up of the markets and expansion of the middle classes fueled consumerism and the demand for modern goods. For instance, studies show that color television sets or home video players have replaced black-and-white television sets, luxury cars the earlier Maruti 800, sophisticated gadgets basic food processors.

    “It is similar to what is happening with female feticide,” she said. “As the middle class comes into more money, it is accessing more sophisticated medical technology either to ensure the birth of a boy or get rid of the unborn girl.”

    What is the cost to the Indian family of having a girl, or to the boy’s family of forgoing a dowry? The economist T.C.A. Srinivasaraghavan puts the average dowry around 10,000 rupees, or $225. That average figure masks the exorbitant dowry demands that are often made by the family of the groom.

    In response to the early findings from the 2011 census, the central government has set up an office to monitor the misuse of sex-selection techniques and the abortion of female fetuses. But real progress may come about only as social and cultural attitudes toward women change. In the meanwhile, women may have to seek their own solutions.

    In one of Delhi’s upscale office areas, Kiran Verma, 28, surveyed her tiny shop, a photocopying center. Ms. Verma’s father left the family years ago, and her mother, a domestic worker, worries about covering the cost of her daughter’s wedding. But like many other urban women today, Ms. Verma has her own plans. “In another year I’ll have earned my dowry,” she said with confidence. “That way, I’ll have some choice over the family I marry into.”

    Young women earning their own dowries is not the radical solution — the total eradication of the dowry and discrimination against women — that a generation of feminists have dreamed about. But in their efforts to redefine themselves as generators of wealth, rather than as liabilities to their families, Ms. Verma and her generation of Indian women may be striking a few blows of their own against the prejudices that contribute to gender-based abortion.

    Event: "Women & War" Book Launch and Symposium

    I will be in Ukraine so not able to go to this, but it looks fantastic and I’d love to hear more if anyone can go!

    From: U.S. Institute of Peace [mailto:newsletters@newsletters.usip.org]
    Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 1:48 PM
    To: Katie Sheketoff
    Subject: Event: "Women & War" Book Launch and Symposium

    To view this email as a web page, go here.

    United States Institute of Peace

     

    This is a non-transferable invitation to register for the "Women and War" Book Launch Symposium


    A decade ago, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325), which calls for women's full participation in promoting peace and security and for greater efforts to protect women in war, particularly from sexual violence. However, today gender-based analysis of conflict often remains outside the mainstream of security dialogues.

    The book, Women & War: Power and Protection in the 21st Century , underscores that much needs to be done to develop effective conflict prevention and management strategies that are inclusive of women and that give women a voice at the negotiating table. This edited volume is a trans-Atlantic collaborative effort to highlight innovative approaches toward ensuring greater participation of women at the negotiating table, and the ways in which women will make a difference in the security arena over the next decade.

    Join us for the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Peace Research Institute-Oslo (PRIO) book launch and international symposium on the next decade of UNSCR 1325 on the afternoon of May 5th and all day on May 6th. The symposium will further examine the issues of women and war, power and protection in the 21st century, and explore the implementation of gender-sensitive policies in defense, diplomacy, development, and the role of documentary film, media and the arts in this endeavor.

    Thursday, May 5, 2011 Women & War Book Launch and Reception Hosted by the Royal Norwegian Embassy
    Time: 4:00pm - 6:00pm
    Venue: U.S. Institute of Peace Headquarters
                2301 Constitution Avenue NW
                Washington, DC 20037

    Friday, May 6, 2011 Women & War Symposium
    Time: 8:00am - 4:30pm
    Venue: U.S. Institute of Peace Headquarters
                2301 Constitution Avenue NW
                Washington, DC 20037

    Confirmed speakers:

    • Michèle Flournoy,
      Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, U.S. Department of Defense
      Keynote Address: "UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the U.S. National Action Plan: A Department of Defense Perspective"
    • Ambassador Wegger Christian Strømmen
      Ambassador of Norway to the United States
      Royal Norwegian Embassy
    • Donald Steinberg
      Deputy Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
    • Ambassador Melanne Verveer
      U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, U.S. Department of State
    • Pat Mitchell
      President and CEO, The Paley Center
    • Abigail Disney
      Filmmaker, Philanthropist, Film Producer of "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," Founder of Fork Films
    • Femke van Velzen
      Filmmaker, Philanthropist, Film Producer of "Weapon of War", Co-Founder of IF Productions
    • Agnes M. Fallah-Kamara Umunna
      Executive Director and Founder of Straight from the Heart Project, Journalist, and Radio Producer
    • Morley
      Composer and Singer
    • Sanam Anderlini
      Executive Director, International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
    • Tilman Brück
      Department Head and Professor, International Economics, German Institute for Economic Research
    • Inger Skjelsbæk
      Senior Researcher, Deputy Director, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
    • Sheldon Himelfarb
      Associate Vice President, USIP Center of Innovation for Science, Technology, & Peacebuilding
    • Tara Sonenshine
      Executive Vice President, USIP
    • Helga Hernes
      Senior Adviser, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
    • Chantal de Jonge Oudraat
      Associate Vice President, USIP Jennings Randolph Fellowship Program
    • Kathleen Kuehnast
      Director, USIP Gender and Peacebuilding Center

    Inquiries

    Please contact Brooke Stedman at 202-429-3892 or gender@usip.org with any general questions about this event.


    Media

    Journalists should contact Allison Sturma at asturma@usip.org.

     

     


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    Remarks by Donald K. Steinberg: Getting Gender Policy Right

    About a third of the way down, he discusses how “gender-neutral” peace agreements are detrimental not only to women but to the entire peace process. --Randal

    Remarks by Donald K. Steinberg
    Deputy Administrator, USAID

    Forging the Path to Effective Development: Getting Gender Policy Right

    International Women's Day Event
    Hosted by The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, American Jewish World Service, and Women Thrive Worldwide
    March 8, 2011


    It's an honor to be here today on this historic 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. For those of us who have spent decades working on issues of women's empowerment and protection in conflict situations and development, these are heady times. There is a growing awareness not only of the personal costs of the exclusion for the economic, political and social mainstream, but of the tremendous collective costs such exclusion yields in failing to achieve our goals of building peace, pursuing development, and reconstructing post-conflict societies.

    It is tragic that it has taken graphic images of women raped in the Eastern Congo, and young girls with acid thrown in their faces in Afghanistan for daring to return to school to shame our collective conscience, but the world is responding. At the United Nations, the creation of UN Women, UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, and a special representative for eliminating violence against women has changed the landscape and the international agenda for action.

    Within the U.S. government, under the leadership of President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Ambassadors Susan Rice and Melanne Verveer and White House coordinators Valerie Jarrett and Tina Tchen, issues of gender equality and women's empowerment are front and center. At USAID, we are taking this challenge seriously. Over the last five months alone, we have contributed to the development of a National Action Plan under UN Security Council Resolution 1325; strengthened the requirement for every USAID project proposal to provide the equivalent of a "gender impact statement"; expanded mandatory gender awareness training for all incoming officers; instituted a tough code of conduct for all AID employees and our development partners with respect to trafficking in persons; created two new senior positions as senior coordinator for gender equality and women's empowerment and for gender integration in our major Presidential initiatives in food security, global health, and climate change; and laid the groundwork for additional progress by fully incorporated gender equality and women's empowerment in the landmark QDDR issued last December.

    In this context, I wanted to use this forum to address an article that appeared in the Washington Post on Sunday, using changes in a single AID project in Afghanistan to suggest that we are reducing our commitment to women empowerment in Afghanistan. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    We have, in fact, provided more than 500 grants for women in Afghanistan, focused on capacity building for civil society, basic education, women's equality under the law, land reform, micro-enterprise, and political and social inclusion.

    As part of a government-wide effort, USAID is currently providing more support to address the illiteracy, poor health, extreme poverty, and political exclusion that still bedevil the lives of Afghan women than at any time in our agency's history. We have more than doubled spending on women and girls since 2008 to over $200 million, created and fully staffed a new gender unit in 2010, and required all programs to integrate gender in their project design and evaluation.

    Improvements in access to education, health care, employment, political office, and economic opportunity have been notable since the fall of the Taliban, including the return of 2.5 million girls to school. But there is still a long way to go, and the US government is committed to making these gains deeper and irreversible. We do this not simply as a matter of fairness or equity, but because investments in women and promotion of women's participation and equality are non-negotiable requirement for lasting peace, stability, and social progress.

    For me, these steps are both long-overdue and deeply personal. In 1994, while serving as President Clinton's advisor for Africa, I supported negotiations to end two decades of civil war in Angola that had killed a half million people and left four million homeless. When the Lusaka Protocol was signed, I boasted that not a single provision in the agreement discriminated against women. "The agreement is gender-neutral," I said in a speech. President Clinton then named me ambassador to Angola. It took me only a few weeks after my arrival in Luanda to realize that a peace agreement that calls itself "gender-neutral" is, by definition, discriminatory against women.

    First, the agreement did not require the participation of women in the implementation body. As a result, 40 men and zero women sat around the peace table. This imbalance silenced women's voices and meant that issues such as sexual violence, human trafficking, abuses by government and rebel security forces, reproductive health care, and girls' education were generally ignored.

    The peace accord was based on 13 separate amnesties that forgave the parties for atrocities committed during the conflict. Given the prominence of sexual abuse during the conflict, including rape as a weapon of war, amnesty meant that men with guns forgave other men with guns for crimes committed against women. The amnesties introduced a cynicism at the heart of our efforts to rebuild the justice and security sectors.

    Similarly, demobilization programs for ex-combatants defined a combatant as anyone who turned in a gun. Thousands of women who had been kidnapped or coerced into the armed forces were largely excluded, including so-called bush wives and sex slaves. And demobilization camps were rarely constructed with women in mind, such that women risked rape each time they left the camp to get firewood or used latrines in isolated and dimly-lit settings. Male ex-combatants received demobilization assistance, but were sent back to communities that had learned to live without them during decades of conflict. The frustration of these men exploded into an epidemic of alcoholism, drug abuse, divorce, rape, and domestic violence. This was especially true for young boys, who had never learned how to interact on an equal basis with girls their own ages. In effect, the end of civil war unleashed a new era of violence against women and girls.

    Even such well-intentioned efforts as clearing major roads of landmines to allow four million displaced persons to return to their homes backfired against women. Road clearance sometimes preceded the demining of fields, wells, and forests. As newly resettled women went out to plant the fields, fetch water, and collect firewood, they faced a new rash of landmine accidents.

    We recognized these problems, and brought out gender advisers and human rights officers; launched programs in reproductive health care, girls' education, micro-enterprise, and support for women's NGOs; and involved women in planning and implementing all our programs.

    Civil society - and particularly women - began to view the peace process as serving their interests, and not just of the warring parties. When the process faltered in 1998, there was no public appetite for a return to conflict, and lasting peace.

    When social order breaks down it is women and girls who suffer most, especially when rape is used as a weapon of war. But how we make peace is equally important in determining whether the end of armed conflict means a safer world for women or simply a different and in some cases more pernicious era of violence against them.

    Angola is, sadly, not an isolated case. Around the world, talented women peace builders face discrimination in legal, cultural, and traditional practices, and threats of violence make even the most courageous women think twice before stepping forward.

    Only one in 14 participants in peace negotiations since 1992 have been women. Of 300 ceasefire accords, power-sharing arrangements, and other peace agreements negotiated since 1989, just 18 of them - just six percent - contain even a passing reference to sexual violence. Similarly, in emergency funding to support 23 post-conflict situations since 2006, only three percent of the projects included specific funding for women and girls - this despite our knowledge that girls' education, for example, is the single best investment in promoting stable societies and improving socio-economic standards in these countries.

    We can no longer exclude the talents and insights of half the population in the pursuit of peace and development, nor treat them as mere victims.

    Women's empowerment is a non-negotiable investment in the success of peace operations. In Afghanistan and beyond, failure to consolidate peace and stability no longer impacts just the people of that country, but opens the door to training camps for global terrorists; new routes for trafficking of persons, arms and illegal drugs; flood of refugees across borders and even oceans; incubation of pandemic disease; and even piracy.

    And I might add that there is nothing "soft" about these issues.

    There is nothing "soft" about going after traffickers who turn women and girls into commodities.

    There is nothing "soft" about preventing armed thugs from abusing women in inter-displaced persons camps or holding warlords and other human rights violators accountable for their actions against women.

    There is nothing "soft" about forcing demobilized soldiers to refrain from domestic violence or insisting that women have a seat at the table in peace negotiations and a prominence in peace operations.

    These are among the hardest responsibilities on our agenda, and I'm pleased to reaffirm here this morning the commitment of the U.S. Government and USAID in particular in addressing them. Thank you.

    Notes from Asia Society Event: "Keeping Girls in School"

    Notes from “Keeping Girls in School” Event, April 5th at Asia Society:

    Countries Discussed: Pakistan, Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zambia, Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan

    David Sprague—AED and former USAID

    ·         67.5 million children worldwide are out of school, 95% of those children live in the developing world

    ·         Countries with most children out of school: (1) Nigeria (2) Pakistan (3) India (4) Bangladesh

    ·         In Bangladesh, more boys are out of school than girls

    ·         40% of Pakistani girls do not attend primary school; 70% do not attend secondary school

    ·         In province of Balochistan in Pakistan, the attendance rate of girls is 13%; at one point it had been raised to 30%, but progress has since slipped

    ·         For females, the highest attendance rates in Pakistan are at age 8

    ·         The Higher Ed. Commission in Pakistan is a very effective organization but is potentially dissolving because of political disputes (recently released a report showing that many MPs had forged grades)

    Corey Heyman, Chief Program Officer, Room to Read

    ·         In low-income countries, for every 87 boys enrolled in secondary school, there are 83 girls enrolled

    ·         4 levels for measuring gender success in education:

    1.       gender inequality

    2.       gender parity (access)

    3.       gender equity (opportunity)

    4.        gender equality (outcomes)

    ·         Global statistics on girls’ education only address parity and access, but even the parity measures are not strong (rely on UNICEF survey that asks “Did a member of your household attend school at any time?”); stronger statistical measures needed

    ·         Room to Read operates in Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Laos, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zambia, Bangladesh and opening new program in Tanzania

    ·         10,580 girls in longterm ed program; want to triple numbers by 2014

    ·         Have transitioned from providing material support to girls to offering support services (academic tutoring, mentoring, career counseling) to finding that the focus on girls themselves is not sufficient (now focusing on school, community and government buy-in)

    ·         Changing their focus from individual girls to whole schools of girls

    ·         Have developed really interesting “Life Skills Competency Framework” and an accompanying assessment tool is forthcoming

    ·         Will be featured in upcoming “10x10” documentary (10 girls in 10 countries)

    ·         Only works with government schools and not with schools in the highest categories of need

    ·         Recently funded by MasterCard Foundation to study the transition of girls from secondary to tertiary education

    ·         Resource for collaboration: Clinton Global Initiative Girls and Women Action Network

    Carol Yost, Head of Women’s Empowerment Program, Asia Foundation

    ·         Not primarily focused on education, but their women’s empowerment program takes a holistic approach

    ·         Focus on Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Afghanistan

    ·         In South Asia, the government spends 13% of its budget on education and female literacy rate is 41%; in Southeast Asia, government spends 18% of its budget on education and female literacy rate is 81%

    ·         Most Afghan teachers haven’t been trained in a decade

    ·         Keeping girls in secondary school dramatically improves primary enrollment rates

    From: Katie Sheketoff
    Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 4:48 PM
    To: GenderDev; Bulletin Board
    Subject: FW: Don't miss "Keeping Girls in School"

    From: Asia Society Washington [mailto:AsiaDC=asiasociety.org@mcsv162.net] On Behalf Of Asia Society Washington
    Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 1:30 PM
    To: Katie Sheketoff
    Subject: Don't miss "Keeping Girls in School"

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    Date
    Tuesday
    April 5th
    6:30 to 8:30 PM

    Location
    Asia Society Washington
    The Cinnabar Room
    Whittemore House, 2nd Flr.
    1526 New Hampshire Ave, NW
    Washington, D.C. 20036

    Directions
    Metro access: Dupont Circle
    (Red Line)
    Google Map

    Tickets & RSVP
    Asia Society Members: $10
    Asia Society Non-Members: $15
    Students: $5
    RSVP's are required by 12 PM on April 4th.

    Speaker
    Cory Heyman
    Chief Program Officer
    Room To Read

    Discussants
    Carol Yost
    Director
    Women’s Empowerment Program
    Asia Foundation

    David Sprague
    Executive Director
    Education Policy and Data Center
    Academy for Educational Development

     
    Moderator
    Ariana Leon Rabindranath
    Associate Director, Asia Society Washington


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    Fax: 202-833-0189

    Keeping Girls In School

    The 21st Century Challenge for Education in Asia

    The issue of gender-based educational rights remains a challenge for many Asian countries, particularly in rural areas. There are many reasons why girls have no access to basic education or drop out from schools. These include economic considerations, gender bias, safety, lack of adequate school facilities within their neighborhoods, and absence of female role models in schools. 

    Girls’ education is vital to a country’s development because it promotes investment in human resources and is capable of raising living standards and encouraging social stability if managed well.

    In this panel discussion, Cory Heyman, Carol Yost, and David Sprague will speak about working towards achieving the elusive goal of getting girls to continue their education through secondary school, and how broader research in the education sector has shaped their thinking over the last decade.   

    About our discussants

    Dr. Cory Heyman serves as the Chief Program Officer, supporting Room to Read’s Habit of Reading portfolio (Reading Room, Local Language Publishing, and School Room programs), the Girls’ Education program, and the Monitoring and Evaluation unit.  Cory has acted as a close advisor to Room to Read since 2004, when he assisted in developing the organization’s first monitoring and evaluation study. Cory brings with him extensive experience in international development and education, having recently served as the Vice President and Deputy Director of the Academy for Educational Development’s Center for Gender Equity.

    Carol Yost has been with The Asia Foundation since 1986. In 1993 she designed and launched a dedicated program to increase women's participation in public decision-making and political processes to address their priority issues. As director of the Women's Empowerment Program, she oversees all of the Foundation's programs to advance women across the Asia-Pacific region in conjunction with the Foundation's country field offices and local partner organizations. Based in Washington, D.C., Ms. Yost travels to Asia regularly to collaborate with the Foundation's expert staff to develop programs that further women's political participation, legal rights, education, and economic opportunity and to support efforts that combat violence against women and trafficking of women and children.

    Dr. David Sprague has spent nearly his entire professional career working in the field of education. After teaching for five years in both public and private schools in the U.S., he returned to graduate school and received his Ph.D. in Education from Florida State University. He joined USAID in 1972. From 1979 to 1988 he was the Director of the Office of Education in AID/Washington's technical bureau. After converting to the Foreign Service, he spent the next 12 years in Pakistan, Ukraine and Bangladesh. After retiring from USAID in 2000, he lived and worked as an education consultant in Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan.

    The Women and Development in Asia Series is underwritten by LEO A DALY.


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