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Global advocacy
The strength of the UNDP-Japan partnership lies in its ability to translate
progress on the ground into advocacy tools for global poverty reduction
and sustainable human development. UNDP/JWIDF brings together international
policy makers and gender experts to share experiences and good practices,
and to make recommendations.
Gender Sensitive Budgeting (GSB)
The gender sensitive budget (GSB) process provides a mechanism through
which governments, lawmakers, civil society groups, donors and other
development agencies can address equity issues in public finance management,
policies, and budgets. GSB represents an opportunity for developing
countries to leap ahead and make their budgets both more effective and
oriented to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
To advocate for the application of GSB, UNDP/JWIDF organized four regional
Training of Trainers’ Workshops in Moscow, Manila, Dakar, and Cairo.
Participants included from finance ministries, experts in macroeconomics,
specialists in labour market policies, professors of economics and development
practitioners. The four workshops trained approximately 100 experts
on GSB.
As a wrap up, an international symposium on GSB was held on July 31,
2006 in Tokyo. It was jointly organized by UNDP, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, and the Cabinet Office of Japan, and in cooperation with the
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Bank for International
Cooperation (JBIC). The world renowned expert on gender-sensitive budgeting,
Professor Diane Elson, University of Essex, U.K. and Co-Director of
the Levy Institute's Program on Gender Equality and the Economy, made
a keynote speech on the link between gender and macro-economics and
budgets, and on how to make strategic use of GSB in the world’s efforts
in achieving the MDGs. The symposium called for donors’ greater engagement
in 1) advocating for gender sensitive budgeting by identifying practical
and strategic entry points, 2) accumulating examples of good practice,
and 3) supporting national partners through UNDP’s MDGs support services.
UNDP/JWIDF 10th Anniversary
The UNDP/JWIDF 10th-Year Anniversary Symposium was
held on November 16, 2005 in Tokyo, jointly with UNDP and the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, and in cooperation with JICA and JBIC. It brought
together policy makers, development practitioners and CSOs to take stock
of the rich JWIDF knowledge and best practices accumulated over the
Fund's first decade, and re-identify future challenges in promoting
gender equality and women’s empowerment in order to achieve the MDGs.
Empowerment of Women in Post-Conflict Reconstruction
In response to the growing numbers of women and children
as victims of conflicts, as well as the continued exclusion of women
in a country’s reconstruction process, UNDP organized a symposium titled
“Empowerment of Women in Post-conflict Reconstruction” on July 28, 2000
in Tokyo to advocate for greater assistance on this emerging issue.
This event was sponsored by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, JICA,
and Asahi Shimbun, a leading newspaper company in Japan, in cooperation
with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
The symposium reviewed the process of post-conflict
development and the role of women in the reconstruction process. It
also introduced examples of collaborative activities of UNDP and Japan
in engendering post-conflict reconstruction processes.
Greater commitment was demanded in the panel discussion
with representatives from JICA, UNDP Tokyo Office, UNDP Pakistan Office,
and Tokyo Institute of Technology.
After this symposium, UNDP/JWIDF funded projects in
Republic of Congo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, and Palestine that
support post-conflict reconstruction efforts.
Cooperation on the ground
Multilateral/Bilateral Collaboration
in Guatemala:
National Seminar on Education of Girls
(Approved amount $310,000)
 Guatemala: "National Seminar on Education of Girls"
This project is an excellent field-level example of
multilateral/bilateral cooperation between UNDP/JWIDF and the Government
of Japan. The Peace Accords, signed in 1996 after 36 years of internal
armed conflict, expressed the urgent need to reform the educational
system of the country and improve equal educational opportunity in order
to build a sustainable culture of peace. It also offered an opportune
moment for UNDP/JWIDF and the Government of Japan to work together on
the ground. While UNDP/JWIDF supported the Ministry of Education in
the design and development of the National Strategic Plan for Girls'
Education 2003-2007 and relevant initiatives, the Government of Japan
dispatched educational experts and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers
throughout Guatemala to train teachers on administrative and pedagogical
issues. UNDP/JWIDF’s policy-level interventions and Japan’s support
to human resources development generated positive synergies that translated
to a more comprehensive support extended to Guatemala in its plight
to eliminate gender gaps in primary education.
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