|
Women
and poverty
DRPA/DPA
SAARC seven sisters: district development coordination and
improved poverty project design
The
secretariat has been assisting the countries in the SAARC
subregion in establishment of fora and networks at the grassroots
level for better design of target-oriented poverty alleviation
programmes and exchange of experience on the implementation
of such projects. Under the project, district level fora
consisting of agents and beneficiaries of poverty alleviation
programme are being created in each participating district
to review and monitor ongoing poverty alleviation programmes,
leading to the identification of a number of best practices
followed in their implementation. The district fora are
linked through a subregional forum for exchange of experience,
this forum has had two meetings to date. At least one women
representative, among the three, from each country is encouraged
to participate in the subregional fora. Each district level
fora is to actively aim for an equal representation (50
per cent) of women.
POP
Government-NGO Cooperation in Strengthening Population Policies
aimed at Poverty Alleviation
As part
of the ESCAP umbrella project "Government-NGO cooperation
for Poverty Alleviation" funded by the Government of
Netherlands, the Population Division convened a meeting
of the representatives of Governments and NGOs in January
1996. The purpose of the meeting is to promote cooperation
between the Government and NGOs in the field of population
policies and programmes, which takes into account the recommendations
contained in the various regional and global conferences,
particularly ICPD and FWCW. Gender considerations in this
Meeting will be reflected in: (i) the focus and relative
strengths of Government and NGO programmes in addressing
women's issues and concerns; (ii) the role of NGOs, in particular,
those involved in programmes for women in population policy
formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation including
factors that facilitate or constrain their participation
and (iii) the gender balance of participants in the Meeting.
SDD/GAD
Improving the status of women in poverty
This
three year project which started in 1994 will conduct national
studies in four developing countries in this region, including
sample questionnaire surveys in both rural and urban poor
areas to identify problems faced by women in the female-headed
and female-maintained households and single women in other
households and will formulate policy recommendations to
improve the status of women in poverty. An Expert Group
Meeting is planned in April 1997.
TCTD/GT
Mobility for the urban disadvantaged by the provision of
appropriate, adequate, accessible and affordable public
transport
This
two year project will include pre-feasibility studies to
be carried out in six cities in the region to examine possibilities
to provide public transportation system for the urban disadvantaged
people, such as poor, women, person with disabilities to
facilitate their employment and other activities and to
undertake programme of activities based on the result of
the pre-feasibility studies. The project is planned for
1997-1998 implementation.
Education
and training of women
SDD/HRD
Promotion of HRD for women in South Asia through post-literacy
programme development
This
three year HRD project, which commenced in June 1996 with
the financial support of the Government of the Netherlands,
is being implemented by ESCAP in collaboration with four
NGOs in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The first
major activity of the project is the development of a manual
of post-literacy programmes. The draft manual was reviewed
and finalized at a South Asian subregional field-study-cum-workshop,
convened from 5 to 19 January 1997. The second year of the
project will support the national dissemination of the Manual
and will follow-up with local-level pilot projects of post-literacy
courses.
SDD/HRD
Promotion literacy for women in Indo-China and the Pacific
through capacity-building of local organization
This
three and a half year HRD project, which commenced in August
1996 with the financial support of the Government of the
Republic of Korea, aims to strengthen the capacity of local
organizations in the formulation and implementation of effective
literacy programmes for women in the following six ESCAP
countries: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Solomon
Islands, and Vanuatu. Based on the results of a needs assessment
conducted during 1996, the subregional and national training
workshops for the participating organizations will focus
on planning and management of literacy programmes for women.
Women
and health
POP
Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation systems for Measuring
Programmes in Reproductive Health/Family Planning
The
project funded by UNFPA will help to improve the system
of data collection for measuring RH/FP status of the population.
A number of indicators relating to maternal mortality, abortion,
STD/Aids, contraceptive prevalence, nutritional anemia,
adolescent fertility etc. will indicate the particular condition
of women in this regard. The project has an operational
component and includes technical assistance to strengthen
national capacities.
Violence
against women
SDD/GAD
Promotion of women’s rights as human rights focused
on violence against women (Phase II)
Based
on the recommendation came up at the Expert Group Meeting
on the Promotion of Women’s Rights as Human Rights
held in August 1996, the project will further promote formulation
and implementation of policies and regulations regarding
the protection and promotion of women’s human rights
including revision of gender discriminatory laws, formulation
of laws on eliminating violence against women at national
level. The project also will assist Government legislators
and non-Governmental organizations in their consciousness
raising activities on violations of women’s human
rights, with special emphasis on physical and psychological
violence against women.
Women
and the economy
DRPA/LDC
Improving access of women to credit and financial institutions
in LDCs of the Asia and Pacific region
While
Governments, NGOs and donor agencies offer credit to women
through a variety of informal or quasi-formal financial
institutions, they have not proved adequate to pull women
into the mainstream financial system. This project aims
to identify ways to improve women's marginalized financial
status through conducting national workshops in LDCs (including
Bhutan, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Nepal) and
convening a regional workshop in June 1997 to formulate
recommendations for increasing women's access to formal
financial institutions.
ITID
Follow-up work in progress to the Regional Conference on
bridging the gap: formulating industrial policies and women's
work for the future
A regional
seminar will be organized with the participants from private
and academic sectors in which at least one of the two delegates
from each country will be a woman. The policy formulation
will assure that interests of women workers are included
under the scheme.
ITID
ESCAP/GTZ Advisory assistance to industry for export promotion
National
workshops were held on enterprise-level support for export
marketing and product development, and export credit and
finance. These workshops benefits a large part of the women
in trade sector of the countries covered, i.e., Lao PDR,
Viet Nam, and Cambodia
ITID
Trade prospects for the year 2000 and beyond for the Asia
Pacific region
Strengthening
regional economic cooperation in Asia and Pacific towards
the 21st century
Implication
of the European Union for Asia Pacific economies: opportunities
and challenges
Strengthening
of the Bangkok Agreement as a regional mechanism for promoting
cooperation in trade and investment
Regional
seminar on the integration of the countries in the region
into the international trading system
Implications
of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATT) and liberalization
of financial services
ESCAP
has undertaken a number of activities to assist Asia-Pacific
countries to assess the challenges and opportunities arising
from the various multilateral trade agreements concluded.
ESCAP secretariat provided, and will continue to provide,
a forum to promote regional dialogue and exchange of experiences
among trade policy analysts and decision-makers on matters
of concern to the region's developing economies. Studies
on the implementation of the multilateral agreements, and
further liberalization in areas such as services, textiles
and clothing, and agriculture, and seeking harmonious linkages
between trade and environment policies, in addition to intellectual
property rights. For non-WTO members, ESCAP also provides
a forum for the understanding by such countries with regard
to the implications of the Uruguay Round to their trade
and investment regimes. The Uruguay Round focuses, in the
developing countries, on specific product sectors. The impact
on above activities are towards labour-intensive industries
which often are comprised of women, i.e., textiles and garments,
agricultural and food processing, electronic processing,
fishery processing, and service industries.
ITID
Strengthening cooperation for the expansion of silk trade
Expansion
of interregional trade of vegetable oils in edible and non
edible vegetable oils
International
seminar: towards a more vibrant pepper community
Enhancement
of national capabilities for exports of seafood products
in the island and developing countries of the ESCAP region
Promotion
of trade and industrial cooperation in leather and leather
products
The
harmonization of product standards, and greater value-addition
to primary products and their promotion are under implementation,
and the analysis of the export competitiveness of products
originating in environmentally vulnerable sectors such as
fisheries, and also in the marketing of selected key commodities:
tea marketing systems, intra regional trade in coffee, and
rice; silk; and the enhancement of market capabilities for
pepper. As the course of these agreements and their implementation
are highly complex, ESCAP has addressed the concerns of
its members through providing advisory services, seminars,
training manuals, ad hoc responses to specific questions,
and specialized publications to ESCAP members. The product/sector
selection focus on industries which are largely rural-based
as well as high proportions of the labour force being women,
i.e., tea, silk, fisheries, pepper.
ITID
Assistance to enhance the capacity of small and medium enterprises
for export marketing.
Promotion
of trade and investment through organization of the 6th
Asia Pacific International Trade Fair ASPAT 96)
Strengthening
capacities of selected least developed countries (LDCs)
and disadvantaged economies in transition for export promotion
through effective participation in the sixth Asia Pacific
International Trade Fair
The
Asia-Pacific International Trade Fairs (ASPAT) are designed
to support SMEs in their trade promotion efforts. The 6th
ASPAT fair was organized in 1996. The development of manufactures
for export by small and medium enterprises (SMEs)sectors
that had attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FBI) flows,
and intra regional trade flows was studied. The focus is
upon SMEs and has a direct impact upon enterprises which
are managed and staffed by women. The theme chosen was "the
global home"; in addition, ESCAP, UNIDO, and GTZ provided
technical and financial support to selected LDCs, disadvantaged
economies in transition and Pacific Island countries for
their effective participation in ASPAT’96 Manila including
manufactures and exporters in home furnishing, home textiles,
home accessories, handicrafts and related products.
PRUD/RDS
Strengthening income generating opportunities for rural
women in selected Central Asian Republics
The
Central Asian Republics have embarked on a new strategy
of economic and social development since the disintegration
of the USSR. Privatization of government-owned enterprises
has resulted in rapidly increasing unemployed, particularly,
rural women. The rural economy, including the agricultural
sector, of the Central Asian Republics is in urgent need
of reform to augment income and employment of the rural
population and to meet domestic food demand and industrial
needs. There is considerable scope for women to increase
their participation in and contribution to the rural economy
provided that appropriate policies are initiated and implemented
at the national level relating to access to inputs and technologies,
marketing channels, and decision making. The project aims
at strengthening national policies to enhance income generating
opportunities and expand activities for rural women in the
Central Asian Republics.
PRUD/RDS
ESCAP/FAO project on sustainable agricultural development
strategies for the least developed countries
The
overall aim of this project is to assist the least developed
countries in the Asian and Pacific region in the formulation
and improvement of sustainable agricultural development
strategies for the 1990s with a view to increase food production
in a sustainable way and to enhance food security. In view
of the importance of gender considerations in the formulation
and implementation of sustainable agricultural development
strategies, a background paper was prepared on gender aspects
of sustainable agricultural development strategies which
was presented at a regional seminar on sustainable agricultural
development strategies held in Bangkok from 11 to 14 February
1997.
SDD/GAD
Promotion of women's participation in economic development
in Indochina
This
project will promote women's economic participation in economic
development in three Indochina countries in the light of
a changing economic environment through convening an Indochina
seminar and national workshops. Participants in these meetings
will be senior Government officials, representatives of
the private sectors and NGOs.
SDD/GAD
Review and analysis of the economic and social situation
of women in Asia and the Pacific
This
project was launched in 1992 to undertake various preparatory
activities of and follow-up to the Second Asian and Pacific
Ministerial Conference on Women in Development held in Jakarta
in June 1994.
Women
in power and decision-making
TCTD/GTZ
Pilot Project on Participatory Planning of Rural Infrastructure
in Lao People's Democratic Republic (1996-1997)
The
project being implemented jointly by ESCAP, APT, ICAO, ILO,
ITU, UNCTAD and UPU in two pilot areas of Lao PDR, aims
at providing a basis for a standardized system of rural
transport and communications planning. It will strengthen
the capabilities of institutions all levels to participate
actively in the planning of local transport and communications
development, operation and maintenance. It is designed to
promote community-based participatory planning of rural
infrastructure using a bottom-up approach. With the aim
to maximize the integration of gender issues, it will promote
gender-responsive participation in local level decision-making
through the active involvement of both grass-roots man and
women in planning, decision-making and implementing project
activities. Both men and women in the target villages will
be involved in the whole process and be the driving force
in improving their mobility and access to services and resources
on a sustainable basis, thereby contributing to combating
poverty and marginalization. The process which will emerge
as an outcome of the pilot project, will be comprehensively
documented and widely disseminated. This will provide the
countries in the region with general guidelines which can
be adopted for applying participatory approaches in planning
and implementing rural infrastructure policies and programmes.
PRUD/HSS
Women in urban local government
ESCAP,
in collaboration with the United Nations Fund for Women
(UNIFEM), the Network of Local Government Training and Research
Institutes in Asia and the Pacific (LOGOTRI) and the Regional
Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human
Settlements (CITYNET),a project on the Advancement of Women
in Local Government. The immediate objectives of the project
are: (i) to document the situation and perspectives of women
in local government in selected countries of Central, South,
South-East and East Asia and (ii) to increase the awareness
of the transformative role women can play in local government
and the issues and constraints they face while working with
and leading local governments. Funding for the project has
been provided by the Government of Japan through the Japan-ESCAP
Cooperation Fund (JECF) and the Southeast Asia Gender Equity
Program (SEAGEP) of CIDA. The first phase of the project
will last for one year (until February 2001),and covers
the following countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand
and Viet Nam, whereas Japan, Australia and New Zealand will
participate on a self-financed basis. This project falls
within the framework of the Beijing+5 Review that will take
place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from
5 to 9 June.
The
two main activities of the project are the preparation and
publication of a Comparative Analysis of 14 "State
of Women in Local Government" country reports and convening
the "Asia-Pacific Summit of Women Mayors and Councillors"
in an Asian city governed by a women mayor. The Summit is
tentatively scheduled to take place from 29 January to 2
February 2001 and will provide a forum to exchange experience
and to review issues, strategies and approaches for promoting
participation and representation of women in local governments.
In addition, the project will assist women's organizations
and women in local government to develop a Regional Resource
Facility that would promote and coordinate actions to increase
the participation and representation of women in local government,
particularly in urban local governments. Go to HSS web-aite
for further information.
Institutional
mechanisms for the advancement of women
SDD/GAD
Strengthening national mechanism for the advancement of
women for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action
The
project studies and assesses the experience and approaches
of national machinery's for the advancement of women in
selected countries and their impact on integrating gender
concerns into policy for national development. It also identifies
critical areas for training and capacity building for national
machinery's to enable them to catalyze implementation of
the Jakarta Declaration and Plan of Action and the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action for the advancement
of women. A regional meeting was held in September 1996.
Human
rights of women
SDD/GAD
Promotion of women's rights as human rights
This
project aims at assisting Governments in their formulation
and implementation of policies and regulations regarding
the protection and promotion of women's human rights including
revision of gender discriminatory laws, formulation of laws
on eliminating violence against women both in public and
private sectors, through formulation and dissemination of
policy recommendations at an expert group meeting which
was convened in August 1996.
Women
and the media
ITID
Strengthening TISNET through the development of Asia Pacific
Information Exchange (APIX)
Enhancing
national capabilities of the disadvantaged economies in
transition on the use and application of Electronic Data
Interchange in international trade
Activities
include a network of trade-related research institutions;
trade promotion and expansion activities, and the development
of a computerized trade information system and Microcomputer-based
Commodity Analysis and Information System (MICAS). Among
other periodicals issued were those relating to trade and
investment information services, the TISNET Trade and Investment
Information Bulletin. The number of publications in the
series on "Studies in Trade and Investment", was
increased. The target beneficiaries for the above activities
are small and medium scale enterprises, especially the disadvantaged
sector which includes, to a large extent, women.
SDD/GAD
WINAP Newsletter
Published
semi-annually as part of the activities for women’s
information network for Asia and the Pacific (WINAP). Publication
of the newsletter started in 1986.
SDD/GAD
Strengthening of women’s information network for Asia
and the Pacific (WINAP) through computer networking
In order
to maximize the WINAP network for the regional information
exchange, the project will review and assess existing WINAP
network mechanism. Based on the review/assessment, the project
will strengthen WINAP network by updating its communication
technology for information exchange. Internet communication
will be introduced to WINAP Information Centres.
Women
and the environment
ENRD/WRS
Promotion of Women's Role in the Protection and Management
of Water Resources, Phase I
Phase
I started in March 1996 and is scheduled for completion
in February 1997. Four national training workshops on the
use of the Training Modules on Women, Water Supply and Sanitation
in Manila (21-25 October 19966), Vientiane (18-22 November
1996), Hanoi (25-29 November 1006) and Bangkok (20-24 January
1997).
Cross-cutting
issues
POP
Asia Population Future: Implications for Family and the
Elderly
This
project, financed by UNFPA, would pay special attention
to the situation of elderly women who outnumber men at older
ages, are not economically independent , and have special
problems to face to remain healthy and active. The project
has components of research and analysis, (including operations
research) information dissemination and advocacy aimed at
strengthening policies and programmes in support of and
for promoting the participation of the elderly.
POP
Strengthening Policy Analysis and Research on Female Migration,
Employment, Family Formation and Poverty in Cambodia, Lao
PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam.
This
project aims to promote and improve the quality of demographic
research with an explicit gender component in four participating
countries. It provides training to the institutes and offices
in the participating countries that are currently carrying
out research on population and development (UNFPA).
SDD/GAD
Impact of globalization on women
The
project will review and analyze the implications of globalization
for women by focusing on women and trade, technological
change and international work patterns, and female migration,
with the view to formulate policies and programmes which
would enable women to adjust to the challenges which will
arise.
SDD/SPS
Promoting implementation of the Agenda for Action on Social
Development
ESCAP
is responsible for regional monitoring of progress towards
attaining the time-bound goals and targets set therein.
Among these goals and targets are those specifically concerned
with improving the status of girls and women, including
in the areas of reproductive and other health aspects, education,
literacy, and employment. The report on progress made with
regard to specified GAD targets in implementation of the
Agenda for the forthcoming Ministerial Conference on Social
Development in 1997 would complement the more comprehensive
review expected to be taken in connection with the monitoring
of the Beijing Platform for Action.
STA
Improving Statistics on Women in the ESCAP Region
The
Statistics Division is publishing nineteen country profiles
on women. The first four profiles: (i) Women in Bangladesh,
(ii) Women in the Philippines, (iii) Women in Nepal, and
(iv) Women in Thailand, were completed earlier in 1996.
Another four profiles are under the printing process to
be completed within 1996: (v) Women in Vanuatu, (vi) Women
in Solomon Islands, (vii) Women in Pakistan, and (viii)
Women in Samoa.
SDD/GAD
Promoting NGO-Government collaboration in the implementation
of the Jakarta Declaration for the Advancement of Women
in Asia and the Pacific and Global Platform for Action
Major
activities to be undertaken under this project in close
collaboration with national coordinating bodies of NGOs
include national workshops to formulate ways to promote
the Jakarta Declaration to be held in four South Asian Countries,
production of information kit to promote implementation
of the Jakarta Declaration and Global Platform for Action,
sub-regional meeting on the implementation of the Jakarta
Declaration for the Advancement of Women.
|
