Sections:
Creating regional networks for inclusion in Brazil
Did
you know that in Brazil, nearly three times as many black women as white women die from the
complications of pregnancy and childbirth?
Poverty is highest among female-headed households (25% of all Brazilian families), with children bearing the brunt of that poverty. 65% of women of working age are in the lowest wage category. The statistics are even worse for black women.
But this isn't a Brazilian problem. Social inequality exists in most other Latin American countries. Millennium Development Goal targets that are most in danger in this region are related to maternal mortality and gender equality.
Which is why DFID and UNIFEM are working together to transform DFID's gender and race programme into a regional learning network that will examine and document good gender practice in the region.
Through this, we hope to influence the banks (IDB and World Bank, who together spent $2.8 billion in Brazil in 2005) to be more explicit in tackling gender issues.
In October 2005, DFID hosted the first Regional Gender and Governance Learning Network was held in Brasilia in partnership with UNIFEM.
How will it work?
This
regional gender and governance network represents the first steps toward
building a regional network for exchanging gender and governance experiences in
Latin America. We hope that lessons learned in different countries across the
region can be shared so that policy-makers have the tools and evidence they need
to make gender equality a priority.
Key partners such as the Inter American Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the World Bank expressed their interest in playing an active role in the network, paving the way to strengthening these partnerships at a next phase of discussions.
Next steps: DFID and UNIFEM shall take on the challenge of involving other key institutions in the region and driving this process forward up to March 2006, when a seminar aimed at launching a regional programme will be held.
This March meeting will provide an important opportunity for defining institutional roles and responsibilities, identifying work areas and launching a regional programme
What has been achieved so far?
The regional gender and governance network is being built on the success of a bilateral gender and race equity programme completed in March 2006, which was funded from September 2003 with £750,000 of DFID money.
The Gender and Race programme already has been an important forum for advocacy of gender issues with Brazil's national government. For example, the inclusion of the Women's Budget in the SIGA BRASIL (Follow Brazil) system in 2005 has been a sign of real progress and has been influenced by DFID and UNIFEM.
SIGA BRASIL system is an initiative designed to ensure greater transparency in
how public funds are spent by the government. See
Monitoring
public spending in Brasil (UNIFEM, 19 Oct, 2005).
Key facts
- The DFID/UNIFEM partnership is the result of a blending of the missions of both organizations to reduce poverty and social inequality from a human rights perspective
- In early 2006, Brazil, Bolivia and Nicaragua are piloting an exercise which shares lessons from successful gender programmes in the region
- The bilateral phase of this work covered January 2003-March 2006, with £750,000 of funding from DFID
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UNIFEM and DFID identify four fundamental points on tackling gender and racial inequality:
1. Public expenditures, in certain areas, monitored and modified to promote gender and racial equality;
2. Institutions enabled to demand and develop actions that guarantee gender and racial equality;
3. Public policies and programs that include principles of gender and racial equality;
4. Consolidation and dissemination of the experiences and lessons learned.