Women Deliver Announces New Advocacy Effort For Girls and Women in Humanitarian Settings

Women Deliver has announced that it will be bolstering its advocacy efforts to drive more concrete action for girls and women in humanitarian settings. With generous support from the Canadian government, the new initiative seeks to drive more meaningful change for girls and women in emergencies.

Infographic on statistics regarding women and girls in humanitarian settings.

 

The effort will leverage Women Deliver’s leadership in global gender equality advocacy to address an often forgotten reality: that the needs of girls and women are consistently overlooked in humanitarian action, especially when it comes to their maternal, sexual, and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Despite global commitments to prioritize women’s health and rights in emergencies, less than 1% of humanitarian aid prioritized gender equality significantly in 2014. Limited collaboration between development and humanitarian organizations contributes to situations where the basic needs of girls and women are chronically sidelined and left unmet.  

“During my missions abroad, I always take the time to sit down with women that have fled violence and persecution. We met with women and girls that have experienced unspeakable acts as a result of sexual and gender-based violence. I know that our partnership with Women Deliver will help to give a voice to all of those women and girls that are too often forgotten.”

-Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie.

Women Deliver’s new effort stems from knowing that development-focused organizations can and must do more to support gender-sensitive humanitarian action. A core component of the initiative is to elevate the voices and help build the capacity of women-focused civil society organizations (CSOs) to influence humanitarian decisions that affect their lives. Examples from Haiti, Afghanistan, and beyond show that women-focused CSOs are often first to respond when disasters strike and understand the challenges and opportunities to deliver aid most effectively. Nevertheless, only 0.2% of humanitarian aid dollars currently funds local CSOs – a missed opportunity to invest in those with the best local knowledge.

You can read the full press release and learn more about the initiative on the Women Deliver humanitarian page

Published:

March 14, 2018


Author:

Women Deliver


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