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Gender Action Presents at AWID

In April, The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) held its 12th International Forum: Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women's Rights. Prior to the Forum, AWID identified Gender Action as one of the world's most effective organizations working on economic literacy, women's rights, and capacity building. Thus AWID invited Gender Action to travel to Istanbul to contribute to a number of Forum activities, including:

  • Feminist Economic Toolbox Session: Elaine Zuckerman and Sarah Bibler of Gender Action, and partner Christian Tanyi of LUKMEF-Cameroon, led a core training workshop entitled "Understanding International Financial Institutions." They explored the role of IFIs, and the negative impacts their investments have on women and girls. They used Gender Action's acclaimed "Gender Toolkit for International Finance Watchers" to train participants on conducting their own gender analysis of IFI investments.
  • Network Launch: Gender Action hosted a reception and ran a Forum-long "campaign corner" to launch its Global Gender IFI Watcher Network (described below) and educate hundreds of Forum participants about Gender Action's work.
  • Roundtable Presentation: Elaine Zuckerman joined other gender activists in presenting on the "Voices of Experience: Activists and Academia Share their Experiences, Stories of Motivation, Leadership and Strategies" roundtable. Elaine highlighted Gender Action's work demonstrating tragic gender outcomes of IFI investments in extractive industries. 

Advocacy Events

Launch of the Global Gender IFI Watcher Network (April 2012) 

At the 2012 AWID Forum in Istanbul, Gender Action launched its new Global Gender IFI Watcher Network. The network allows large numbers of activists to collectively hold IFI investments accountable to prevent negative gender impacts and ensure positive gender outcomes. Members have access to new online Gender Action training modules that teach "Gender Watchers" how to find information on IFI projects, conduct gender analyses, and submit gender discrimination cases to accountability mechanisms. With nearly 200 civil society members (and growing) from over 60 countries, the network is already a powerful force for collaboration, coalition building and advocacy. If you are a civil society group,  click here  to join our gender IFI accountability network. 

 

Haiti Advocacy: to Congress and Beyond (Jan-April 2012)

In January 2012, Gender Action and its partners in the Haiti Advocacy Working Group (HAWG), which Gender Action co-founded, held a public commemoration on the second anniversary of Haiti's earthquake. Attendees from civil society and Congress heard Haitian and non-Haitian experts testify on the need for a just reconstruction and development process. Panel discussions, sponsored by five Members of Congress, focused on the ongoing cholera outbreak, land and housing rights, IFI and government aid accountability, and gender-based violence.

 

In April 2012, over twenty Haitian activists converged on DC to deepen the advocacy effort. HAWG coordinated a lobby day featuring presentations by Haitian grassroots partners and visits to Representatives' and Senators' offices. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson spoke to the group on the need to end gender-based violence in Haiti. Activists also urged their Representatives and Senators to support greater accountability for US spending in Haiti, fund a water sanitation system for the nation, and urge the United Nations to recognize the role of its peacekeepers in introducing the country to a strain of cholera that has killed over 7,000 Haitians. Stay tuned as we follow the bills' and resolutions' progress.

 

Evaluating World Bank Climate Investment Funds: Four Years On (April 2012)

During the World Bank/IMF Spring 2012 Meetings, Gender Action presented a preliminary gender analysis of the Pilot Programs for Climate Resilience (PPCR) at a panel on the World Bank's Climate Investment Funds, hosted by Friends of the Earth US. Gender Action argued that the extreme variation of gender informed policy and actions among country PPCRs highlights both the potential for well-designed, gender-inclusive programs, and Bank negligence to ensure that all projects are gender sensitive. Speakers included Sarah Little, Gender Action; Red Constantino, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities; Titi Soentoro, Aksi; and Karen Orenstein, Friends of the Earth US.

Gender Equity and Sustainable Development: Prioritizing Actions to Achieve Results (January 2012)

Elaine Zuckerman moderated the Enabling Economy for Gender-Equitable Sustainable Growth Roundtable at an auditorium-filled, daylong Gender Equity and Sustainable Development Conference, co-sponsored by Gender Action, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, ActionAid, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and Oxfam.  Roundtable members included Radhika Balakrishnan, Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University; Aldo Caliari, Bretton Woods Project, Center of Concern; Tim Scott, UNDP Human Development Report; and Jeni Klugman, World Bank Gender and Development Unit.

 

Members advocated viewing public social sector investments and services through a human rights lens, ending discrimination against women in accessing labor markets and property, and budgeting for the unpaid caring economy. 

 

World AIDS Day Appeal: Increase and Improve World Bank Investments on HIV (December 2011)

Overall funding for HIV programs, including contributions from international donors, is still far below what is needed to help developing countries reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's reduced spending invalidated the World Bank's claim that non-traditional sources provide sufficient support to the global HIV response. In commemoration of World AIDS day, Gender Action circulated a sign-on letter to World Bank President Robert Zoellick that garnered over 100 signatures from civil society organizations. The letter urged the World Bank to increase spending on HIV and promote the elimination of health care user fees that create a critical financial barrier to HIV care for the most vulnerable populations.

Food Insecurity and the Gender Divide: Haiti and Kenya (November 2011) 

Soaring global food prices are increasing hunger and food insecurity for the already burdened poor, many of whom are women. Around the world, women also make up a majority of the world's subsistence farmers who are responsible for household food production. In November 2011, Gender Action joined The National Council of Women's Organizations' (NCWO) Global Women's Issues Task Force and the Kenyan Embassy to examine the intersection of food insecurity and IFI investments in Kenya and Haiti. Speakers included Elizabeth Arend, Gender Action; Jacqueline Morette, President of the United Women's Farmers' Association of Poully in Haiti; and Kenyan Embassy Counselor Nairimas S. Ole-Sein. 

Gender Action in the Press
The last six months have seen Gender Action gain impressive traction in the news.

 Elaine Zuckerman's Television Appearance on "Inside Story," 
Al Jazeera - April 14, 2012

WBEZ- April 2, 2012

Elaine Zuckerman's Television Interview 
The Real News Network (TRNN) - April 17, 2012

"Are Tar Sands Pipelines Positive or Negative for Women?"  The Huffington Post's "Green" Blog - May 21, 2012

"World Bank must re-evaluate its strategies to cut maternal mortality."  The Guardian's "Poverty Matters" Blog - May 6, 2012

Holding Financial Institutions Accountable for Gender Equality in Agriculture, Extractive Industry and Climate Investment
Earth Summit Blog - November 14, 2011
 
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Media 

Gender Action's President calls for a fairer selection of World Bank head; evaluates Kim's potential

  • Days before the new World Bank President was named, Elaine Zuckerman was interviewed on Al Jazeera's Inside Story on the selection process and general challenges that the Bank faces in a time of transition. Elaine described the Bank's Board of Directors as "a neo-colonial club...established whereby the winners of World War II became the masters of the World Bank and the IMF." She advocated for a more representative "one-country-one vote" process.
  • On the day that Dr. Jim Yong Kim was selected to the World Bank Presidency in mid-April, The Real News Network (TRNN) interviewed Elaine on Dr. Kim's potential as the new World Bank President. She expressed her admiration for Dr. Kim's work, but cautioned that he may be drowned out by "mainstream neoliberal voices" in the World Bank, as well as the US Treasury and transnational corporations, which wield significant power over Bank decision making.

In the blogosphere

On Monday, May 21st, the Huffington Post's "Green" Blog ran Elaine's OpEd entitled, "Are Tar Sands Pipelines Positive or Negative for Women?". The article outlines the devastating transformation that oil industry operations cause in communities around the world, particularly for women.

 

This March, the UK-based Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog" ran a Gender Action piece, "World Bank must re-evaluate its strategies to cut maternal mortality." The article explores the mismatch between countries' maternal mortality rates and the Bank's spending on reproductive health, concluding that the Bank must come up with new strategies to better address the needs of its 'beneficiaries.'

 

In November, the Earth Summit Blog picked up Gender Action's "Holding Financial Institutions Accountable for Gender Equality in Agriculture, Extractive Industry and Climate Investment". The article outlined the many shortcomings and detrimental effects of three critical areas of IFI investment-agriculture, extractive industries and climate financing-that are inextricably linked with gender inequality.

 

Reaching out to Women Leaders

Earlier this year, Elaine Zuckerman presented to young women leaders at two events: the Public Leadership Education Network's Women and Public Policy Seminar and a Women's Research and Education Institute briefing in Congress for women fellows. Elaine shared Gender Action's work and her own experiences within International Financial Institutions and the nonprofit sector. By focusing on issues of international finance, social justice, and starting a non-profit, Elaine engaged young women interested in careers across sectors. Elaine also spoke at a reception in San Francisco hosted by Cate Muther on International Women's Day, March 8, 2012. She touched on Gender Action's history, current projects and how the organization is "breaking down silos" by challenging IFIs to holistically address gender equality.  

 

Publications

Gender Based Violence & IFIs Case Study: Haiti (March 2012)

To commemorate International Women's Day, Gender Action published a case study on the IFIs and Gender-Based Violence in Haiti. The study analyzes the extent to which World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) shelter, sanitation and electricity investments address gender-based violence (GBV) in Haiti. While rates of GBV were high in Haiti prior to the devastating earthquake in January 2010, multiplying numbers of women and girls living in overcrowded, inadequate shelters following the quake are being violated. The Haitian justice and police systems struggle to address GBV. While Gender Action applauds the World Bank's recent US$500,000 grant that responds to our exposure of Bank operations which have neglected GBV, our analysis demonstrates that neither the World Bank nor the IDB adequately address GBV within other relevant post-quake investments. The case study underscores the urgent need for IFIs to implement their gender policies by explicitly addressing GBV across all sectors.

 

Food Insecurity, IFIs, and Gender Case Studies: Haiti and Kenya (Fall 2011)

In two Food Insecurity Case Studies, Gender Action examined the implications of World Bank and African Development Bank spending on agricultural development in Kenya and Haiti. Approximately 10 percent of Kenya's population - 3.8 million people - live in chronic food insecurity, the most vulnerable of whom include poor women and children. Likewise, in Haiti, chronic food insecurity deepened following the 2010 earthquake, which forced an estimated 500,000 persons into formal camps, with many more in decrepit informal camps as well.

 

Current IFI projects promoting agriculture and food security in both countries promise equal opportunities and outputs to male and female farmers, but contain no indicators to measure their claims. Gender Action's cases urge IFIs to use sex-disaggregated indicators to measure projects' differential impacts on men and women, boys and girls, and provide grants - not loans - to support gender-sensitive, sustainable agricultural development in developing countries. Indeed, in 2010, the Bank exceptionally pledged to provide grants only to Haiti in the future, but other poor countries, like Kenya, continue to receive costly loans whose repayments diminish public spending on agriculture and social services for poor men and women.