Every day across the globe the United Nations is empowering millions of people to build a better life for themselves, their family, their community, and our world. These are their stories in pictures and words.
Showing posts with label Women's Empowerment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women's Empowerment. Show all posts
The UN is getting serious about its pledge to help achieve gender equality by putting a woman in charge of the UN Education, Science, and Culture Organization (UNESCO). Irina Gueorguieva Bokova of Bulgaria won a hotly contested election against the Egyptian candidate. A vote on Monday had the two candidates deadlocked with 29 votes each. Apparently, if no one had one today's fifth round of voteing the winner would have been decided by a drawing of names out of a hat.
UNESCO has some really interesting projects including its list of World Heritage Sites, which promotes preservation of cutlural and natural landmarks around the globe.
On the edge of Rajasthan, marking the border between India and Pakistan, four villages have had their nights lit up by incandescent bulbs running on renewable solar energy. The villages have never been connected to a power grid. The lights they now have are part of the Government of India and United Nations Development Program project ‘Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods’ that trained and engaged village women as “Barefoot Solar Engineers” for generating renewable solar energy.
Four young women – one from each village – have assembled these lights from scratch and are paid to maintain and repair them. The Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC), a Tilonia-based NGO, which implemented the program in Barmer district of Rajasthan, runs a residential training program for women from selected villages at its campus in Rajasthan.
In the villages there are many still bemused that young women who until a few months ago were like any other – cleaning the yard, fetching water, helping with the cooking – are now called “engineers”. But, they would rather have lights irrespective of who is maintaining them. Each family with a light contributes to a village fund from which their woman “Barefoot Solar Engineer” is paid a salary ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,350 a month. And the villages are full of young girls, who trail their barefoot engineer and watch as she maintains the wires and fuses.
Apart from Rajasthan, this project, was also implemented by UNDP in Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.
Ninsiima Judith just gave birth to a healthy 9-lb boy. Ninsiima is one of several hundred women in Ruhiira, a village in Southwestern Uganda, to give birth in a health institution. She delivered her previous children at home with the assistance of traditional midwives because health institutions lacked the essentials.
This is now changing rapidly. Ruhiira has placed child and maternal mortality among its highest priorities and is decreasing death rates dramatically. Now, thanks to a health kit disseminated by UNDP and known as the “Maama” Kit, the number of medically-supervised deliveries in Ruhiira has increased to 75%, up from 8% in December 2007. That’s 263 births per months, up from 51.
The “Maama” Kits are designed to help women deliver in clean conditions. They include baby sheets; soap; pads; gloves; a surgical blade; a sterilized chord for tying the umbilical cord and rehydration packages. The pack reduces the risk of vaginal and eye infections, tetanus and diarrhea, all of which may occur in bad hygiene conditions.
Everest, the world’s highest peak at 29,000 feet (more than 8,800 meters), was successfully scaled by ten Nepali women last year. They overcame many obstacles including avalanches, extreme cold, sudden storms and low oxygen levels. They received support from the UNDP, the UN World Food Program and the Government of Denmark.
Now, seven of these women are touring schools and making presentations about their expedition in order to teach and inspire children.They focus on issues like gender equality, women’s empowerment, and global warming.The group is made up of women from very different backgrounds – a journalist, a fashion model and a woman who supported her family by washing clothes.
Can you imagine living in a country where you are not given the same access to opportunities as your friends? After gaining its independence, Moldova suffered a decline in its economy and many of its citizens were displaced and without jobs. Moldovan orphans, children without families, single mothers and expectant mothers are among the beneficiaries of a new UNDP program entitled, “Better Opportunities for Women and Youth,” that will provide psychological and social services, life skills classes, and job-preparation coaching.
By educating Moldova's underprivileged youth and women, the country hopes to improve its economy by providing more citizens the opportunity to participate. After completing classes and job-preparation coaching, adults will be able to apply for jobs in seven newly created partnerships with private businesses. By having the incentive to receive higher education and effectively change their futures, underprivileged youth be rewarded with job opportunities upon the completion of their programs.
To find out more about the "Better Opportunities for Women and Youth" in Moldova, click here
Did you know that every minute another woman will die from complications associated with childbirth? Without access to health care and education about pregnancy and contraception, women living in developing nations have a greater risk of dying from giving birth. In Africa, where women are 184 times more likely to die from a pregnancy related complication than women living in the US, 1 woman out of 26 will die each year due to preventable complications. Every year, UNFPA which provides women with prenatal health care and health education, relies on the financial support of the US and other nations.
To help educate legislators about UNFPA, I attended Lobby Day on Friday March 6th in Washington, DC. By educating legislators about the need for congressional funding for UNFPA programs, $50 million dollars was allocated to UNFPA for 2009. As a result of this valuable funding, the UN will be able to implement women-empowering programs that focus on HIV/AIDS prevention, humanitarian relief following a crisis, family planning, and better access to maternal healthcare.
Couldn’t we all use a massage now and then to get out all the knots and kinks from a long night of studying or a difficult day in the office?
With funding from a UNHCR program aimed at teaching local and refugee women the skills they need to work as community rehabilitation workers, 29 women are learning how to treat disease, injury and deformity through exercise and physical methods at the Physiotherapy Educational Institute in Peshwar, Pakistan. Of these women, 22 are refugees from Afghanistan, who hope to apply their new skills in Afghanistan if they return.
The course is part of UNHCR’s Refugee Affected Hosting Areas (RAHA) program. There are 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan. After the devastating earthquake in northern Pakistan in 2005, which affected both Pakistanis and Afghans, the program was necessary because few people had the skills to help the thousands of people in need of rehabilitation.
What would you do with over 20 tons of fresh dung per day? (A) Build a giant dung castle complete with dung drawbridge (B) Fill many large paper bags that will be left flaming on the front step of the neighbor that kicked your dog (C) Add earthworms and make compost
(A) and (B) sound more exciting, but (C) is actually what 12 women in Sauraha, Nepal, did with support from the UNDP GEF/Small Grants Programme and Pesticide Monitor Nepal, an NGO.
Each elephant in the elephant jungle safari in Sauhara produces 130kg of dung per day. The women found a way to manage the waste by making vermicompost. In two months, the women sold 2 tons of vermicompost and earned Rs. 24,000. It has led 60 other women to start similar enterprises. The composting has also given rise to organic farming in the community.
For more information, check out the rest of the article here.
In August 2008 there was a conflict between Russia and Georgia. The conflict destroyed livelihoods of many. To help restore normalcy to Georgia, the United Nations Development Program worked closely with the Georgian Government.
We could write more about it, but instead we thought you might like to listen:
Have you ever dreamed of scaling Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world? This year, that dream became reality for a group of Nepali women. The first all-female, all-Nepali expedition team successfully reached the summit of Mt. Everest in May 2008. Known as the First Inclusive Women Sagarmatha Expedition 2008 (FIWSE 2008), this group of women came together from a wide range of castes and ethnic backgrounds to promote tolerance and break down traditional gender barriers. Supported in part by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Food Program (WFP), their climb promoted the Millennium Development Goals by facilitating women’s empowerment and gender equality. The ten courageous women who reached the summit this spring hope that their actions will encourage young girls in Nepal to pursue an education, enter male-dominated professions, and strive for success regardless of their gender or caste.
UN Good Works is a project of the U.S. Committee for UNDP, an independent 501(c)(3) organization. We strive to educate Americans about UNDP’s crucial role in international development, and why continued U.S. support is essential.
The UN is getting serious about its pledge to help achieve gender equality by putting a woman in charge of the UN Education, Science, and Culture Organization (UNESCO).
