Gender and Development e -Brief / Issue 39
March, 2006(SPECIAL –INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY)
IN THIS ISSUE
EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
GENDER
Gender and citizenship in a multicultural context
NEWS
CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Law does not recognize children of Lebanese females
UN celebrates International Women’s Day but is blasted on gender equality
'Unions for Women, Women for Unions' campaign enters phase two
FOREIGN AID
EU donates $17.8 million to refugees
U.K. donates $356,000 to UNRWA project to aid refugees
GENDER
Ashreat Al Amal (Sails of Hope) - Sudan
Communication for Healthy Living (CHL) - Egypt
Communicating Safe Motherhood in Morocco
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Encourages Women to Use ICTs for Development.
Morocco Family Planning/Maternal and Child Health Phase V Project - Morocco
Making Motherhood Safer in Egypt
No Economic Growth Without Women's Rights, UN Says
Reproductive Health Care for Somali Refugees - Yemen
Reforming Family Laws in the Middle East and North Africa
HURRIYAT
ICFTU denounces workers' rights violations in Djibouti
Local Iraqi NGO documents prisoner abuse
ICT
Beyond the dust and heat: APC looks atTunisand Genevain perspective
INTERNATIONAL NGOs
Finnish NGOs push for more and better focused aid
WIDE Statement to the 50th session of the CSW
Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
POLITICS
Governments hear civil society’s call for greater transparency in the Arab world
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
ConventionYES! Help protect the rights of people with disabilities
Egypt Agricultural Exports and Rural Income Project
NGOs
First human-rights organization licensed in U.A.E
Iranian civil society is an ‘ethical sector’
Arab Science and Technology Foundation
YOUTH
International Summer Work camp in Palestine
EDUCATION
AUB aims to bring back PhD program by 2007
REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
CHILDREN
Violence against disabled children
The Children of Iraq-in need of aid
GENDER
A gender perspective on the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference at Hong Kong
Funding Sources for Gender-Equality and Women-focused Projects, BRIDGE (ed.), 2006
From Microfinance to Macro Change: Integrating Health Education and Microfinance to Empower Women and Reduce Poverty
Gender mainstreaming since Beijing: a review of success and limitations in international institutions
Gender, development, and advocacy
Gender equality and the extension of social protection
Inequality in NGO and Government Salaries in Afghanistan
Social and gender analysis in natural resource management: learning studies and lessons from Asia
The First Lady syndrome and the marginalization of women from power: opportunities or compromises for gender equality?
Reference Documents on Gender and Land
Where is the Money for Women's Rights?
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Preventing Iraq's Disintegration
RESOURCES
CAPACITYBUILDING
Civil Society Budgeting Toolkit: Part 1
NGO Web-Kit in French and Arabic by Morocco Country Gateway
ECONOMICS
Ensuring that Micro enterprise Funds Reach the Very Poor
DEVELOPMENT AID
USAID Report-A Year in Iraq
Charities Aid Foundation
ICT
UNAIDS has launched a new version of its website complete with new navigation, branding and logo
Iraq Resource Information Site (I.R.I.S.)
DONORS PROFILE
Aga Khan Foundation
World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
GENDER
OECD Development Centre database charts discrimination against women
Development e-Briefreceives and comprises of material from various sources for its publication. Should you wish to refer to these sources/ sites directly, the list includes publications from: AVIVA, AWID: Democracy Digest: Development Gateway: Dignity: e-Civicus: Eldis: ESCWA: GDB: Global Knowledge Partnership: IGTN: ILO: One World: Siyanda: The Daily Star: The Drum Beat: The Soul Beat: The World Bank: UNDP: Wicejilist: WLP:
EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
GENDER
Gender and citizenship in a multicultural context
The conference is a triennial event organized by the Association of Institutions for Feminist Education and Research in Europe (AOIFE), and plans to be a high-level, interdisciplinary event focused on gender research in a wide but well-defined range of thematic areas.
Date: 31 August – 3 September 2006 - Venue: Lódz, Poland - Further information:
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NEWS
CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Law does not recognize children of Lebanese females
CRTD.A calls for right of all Lebanese to pass on nationality
The Women's Rights Club co-sponsored a women's nationality rights campaign with the Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action (CRTDA) in honor of Women's Day on March 8.For more information:
UN celebrates International Women’s Day but is blasted on gender equality
A coalition of international women's organisations – including more than 240 women from over 50 countries- has castigated both UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the 191 member states for paying ‘lip service’ to the cause of gender parity in the world body. For more information, visit
'Unions for Women, Women for Unions' campaign enters phase two
Anti-union violence against women, persistent wage gaps and the feminisation of poverty do not make the situation of women in the world of work any easier. On 8 March, International Women's Day, the international trade union movement, building on the progress made since 2002, launched phase two of the 'Unions for Women, Women for Unions' campaign. For more information, visit
FOREIGN AID
EU donates $17.8 million to refugees
BEIRUT: Delegates of UNRWA and the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Lebanon, announced a $17.8 million groundbreaking educational program to facilitate future employment for Palestinian refugees. For more info:
U.K. donates $356,000 to UNRWAproject to aid refugees
Palestinians will have a chance to be self-employed or find employment in Lebanon or abroad due to a project funded by the British Embassy in Lebanon which. donated $356,000 for a project called "Governance and Empowerment of Palestinian Refugees" to benefit around 900 Palestinians.
GENDER
Ashreat Al Amal (Sails of Hope) - Sudan
Ashreat Al Amal (Sails of Hope) is a radio serial drama that deals with reproductive health issues in Sudan. The programme deals with HIV and AIDS education and the importance of educating women as a means to a better life.
Communication for Healthy Living (CHL) - Egypt
Communication for Healthy Living is a health communication USAID supported project in Egypt aimed at enabling families and communities to protect and maintain their health related to issues such as family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health and infectious diseases including HIV and AIDS.
Contact Ron Hess
Communicating Safe Motherhood in Morocco
This document describes the development and implementation of the first communication strategy for safe motherhood in Morocco and its key interventions.
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Encourages Women to Use ICTs for Development.
The ability of women and girls to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the purpose of advancing social development goals, for example extensive networking among women's organizations enables them to build new knowledge regarding violence against ...
Morocco Family Planning/Maternal and Child Health Phase V Project - Morocco
Funded by USAID, this maternal mortality reduction programme focused on improving maternal health services and the health of children under the age of five.
Making Motherhood Safer in Egypt
Published by the Population Reference Bureau in March 2004, this 8-page policy brief describes Egypt's efforts to reduce maternal deaths. Included in this policy brief is an overall history of maternal mortality in Egypt, a description of common models of service delivery in safe motherhood care, and a list of "Lessons Learned".
No Economic Growth Without Women's Rights, UN Says
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 27 - The world is beginning to understand that integrating women and girls into the life of a nation is the surest path to economic growth and development, a top U.N. official told an annual meeting that analyzes the global status of women. For more information:
Reproductive Health Care for Somali Refugees - Yemen
Marie Stops International Yemen is offering reproductive health and family planning services and education sessions to Somali refugees living in Yemen.For more info:
Reforming Family Laws in the Middle East and North Africa
This new policy brief by Valentine Moghadam of UNESCO and PRB's Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi details how Morocco recently adopted an entirely new family law that is consistent with the spirit of Islam, yet based on equal rights for both men and women. For more information:
HURRIYAT
ICFTU denounces workers' rights violations in Djibouti
A new International Confederation of Free Trade Unions report on the observance of core labour standards in Djiboutidenounces the violations suffered by the country's workers for over 15 years. or more information, visit
Local Iraqi NGO documents prisoner abuse
An NGO established to assist former prison detainees who have suffered abuses in prison has received an overwhelming initial response. ‘This organisation has already received nearly 125 reports of prisoner abuse inside Iraqi prisons,’ said Khalid Rabia’a, spokesman for the Prisoners’ Association for Justice (PAJ). For more information, visit
ICT
Beyond the dust and heat: APC looks atTunisand Genevain perspective
Some months after the heat and dust settled on the Tunisian skyline, APC has come up with its evaluation of the four-year World Summit on the Information Society. APC concluded that there are some positive signs emerging from WSIS. Read the eleven page report at
INTERNATIONAL NGOs
Finnish NGOs push for more and better focused aid
Finnish NGOs have compared the country's development cooperation policy with other Nordic countries and have concluded that on the policy level, Finland's aid is heading in the right direction but that there is room for improvement regarding implementation. For more information, see
WIDE Statement to the 50th session of the CSW
WIDE views the 50th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women as an important opportunity to voice our ideas and concerns regarding followingissues:
Gender Mainstreaming
Enhanced participation of women in development
Multi-year programme of work
For more information please visit:
Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
WEDO is an international organization that advocates for women's equality in global policy. It seeks to empower women as decision makers to achieve economic, social and gender justice, a healthy, peaceful planet and human rights for all.
POLITICS
Governments hear civil society’s call for greater transparency in the Arab world
A high-level conference organised by Transparency International (TI) brought together government ministers, parliamentarians, diplomatic missions, the private sector and the media to promote the ratification and effective implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in the Middle Eastand North Africa. For more information, see
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
ConventionYES! Help protect the rights of people with disabilities
Over five hundred million people, nearly 10 percent of the world's population, have a disability. The United Nations (UN) is currently negotiating a treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to ensure that human rights standards are extended to people with disabilities. For more information, visit
Egypt Agricultural Exports and Rural Income Project
This project by Winrock International aims to strengthen agricultural competitiveness through the expansion of access to agricultural supply chain entities, new technologies, skills and institutions. The project will provide technical assistance, grants and training ...
NGOs
First human-rights organizationlicensed in U.A.E
The United Arab Emirates has authorized its first non-governmental organization to begin work to enforce human rights in the Gulf state, said Al-Imarat Al-Yawm newspaper. Quoting a licensing decision issued by the Social Affairs Ministry, it said the Emirates Human Rights Association (EHRA) aimed to "respect and enforce human rights according to the state's laws and constitution." For more info:
Iranian civil society is an ‘ethical sector’
Civil society is the subject of intense debate in Irantoday because of the limits of accountability and political decentralisation in the country. The actors of Iranian civil society are concerned with the structures that stand between government and citizens and are as important a force in society as were the members of civil society in the Communist period in Polandand Czechoslovakia. For more information, see
Arab Science and Technology Foundation
The Arab Science and Technology Foundation is an independent, nongovernmental, non-profit regional and international organization. Scientists and researchers from inside and outside the Arab world as well as representatives of Arab and international science centers ...
YOUTH
International Summer Work camp in Palestine
This project, for youth and adults up to 35, has been designed to provide international students and professionals the opportunity to meet and discuss the Middle Eastconflict, share ideas, enhance practical skills, foster relationships and give assistance to members of the Palestinian community. For more information, visit
EDUCATION
AUB aims to bring back PhD program by 2007
The AmericanUniversity of Beirut may see some exciting changes in the next few years, including the return of a PhD program, as new board of trustees' chairman Thomas Morris takes the helm of the 140-year-old institution. For more info:
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REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
CHILDREN
Violence against disabled children
This report presents the findings of the Thematic Group on Violence against Disabled Children convened by UNICEF. It looks specifically at violence in the home, in educational and custodial settings, institutions, the criminal justice system, community based violence, in the workplace. Available online at:
The Children of Iraq-in need of aid
The Children of Iraq is an independent newsletter and website which seeks to provide humanitarian assistance to the children of Iraq and help Americans and others understand their plight. It calls for an end to the economic sanctions on Iraq and calls for treating ...
GENDER
A gender perspective on the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference at Hong Kong
The events during the 6th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) at Hong Kong were marked by a distinct inside–outside dichotomy, the authors of this report describe. This WIDE analysis of the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference provides an assessment of what Hong Kong means for women’s lives and livelihoods.
Download:
Funding Sources for Gender-Equality and Women-focused Projects, BRIDGE (ed.), 2006
This document is a list of potential funding sources for gender equality and women-focused projects. More info at:
From Microfinance to Macro Change: Integrating Health Education and Microfinance to Empower Women and Reduce Poverty
This advocacy booklet calls for integration of reproductive health education with microfinance services in developing countries. It presents individual stories, case studies and dramatic findings to show the impact this combination can have on reducing poverty ...
Gender mainstreaming since Beijing: a review of success and limitations in international institutions
ThisOxfam article assesses progress made by international development institutions in gender mainstreaming since the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995. Summary written in collaboration with BRIDGE and Siyanda
Available online at:
Gender, development, and advocacy
This on line Oxfam journal considers gender advocacy on a number of levels in society from grassroots women demanding communitylevel change, to coalition-building to promote change to international trade laws.
Available online at:
Gender equality and the extension of social protection
This paper examines the composition of the Labour market and gender specific vulnerabilities in relation to social protection. It argues that as women occupy a disadvantaged status in relation to work opportunities compared to men from equivalent social groups, ...
Inequality in NGO and Government Salaries in Afghanistan
Summary of article: "Government employees have complained their co-workers employed by some non-governmental organizations are getting high salaries that cause socio-economic imbalance in the society.
Social and gender analysis in natural resource management: learning studies and lessons from Asia
This on-line IDRC book documents and reflects on the steps that researchers are taking to implement social and gender analysis, including questions of class, caste, and ethnicity, into their everyday work.
Available online at:
The First Lady syndrome and the marginalization of women from power: opportunities or compromises for gender equality?
This article explores the dynamics of marginalizing women from political power, and the ways in which "First Ladies" have sought to intervene through their special position as spouses of men in power. It discusses this in the context and experience of Nigeria and Ghana.
Available online at:
Reference Documents on Gender and Land
Gender determines the individual's and group's access to and control over resources. While women are primary agricultural producers and users of natural resources in many parts of the world, there are still many institutional, social, cultural and economic obstacles...
Where is the Money for Women's Rights?
Just Associates in collaboration with AWID, 2005
This document assesses the Role of Donors in the Promotion of Women's Rights and the Support of Women's Rights Organizations. This study shows the recent trends in the financing of women's rights work and organizations. For more info:
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Preventing Iraq's Disintegration
Article by Joost Hiltermann, Middle East project director at the International Crisis Group: "Almost three years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraq is at serious risk of civil war and disintegration. The attack ...
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RESOURCES
CAPACITYBUILDING
Civil Society Budgeting Toolkit: Part 1
This toolkit provides guidelines on how to go about developing and monitoring a budget. It will help you with an overall organisational budget as well as with a budget for a specific project. The toolkitincludes tools for estimating costs as well as tips for ensuring that your budgets meet the needs of your project or organisation.For more information, visit