Women ONE2ONE
In today’s issue of the Daily Herald (Chicago), Tzviatko Chiderov has an eloquently worded letter to the editor I thought was worth sharing. In it, he talks about the call we hosted last week with Melinda Gates and Amb. Melanne Verveer.
Excerpt below, full piece here.
As Illinois residents we are often shielded from global poverty-related issues and the suffering they bring. However, a few days ago, I participated in a conference call with Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation and Melanne Verveer – the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues. Both leaders spoke about investments focused on the health and education of women and girls in the developing world, discussing the challenges and tremendous opportunities.
Investing in women and girls has consistently proven to be among the most cost-effective assistance in the developing world. Addressing women’s issues translates to greater success for all; women are more likely to save and to invest in children and their education. Additionally, economic empowerment, especially through microloans, has been extremely effective in lifting millions of women out of poverty and giving them the respect they deserve in their communities.
But there is still much to be done, especially in the area of child and maternal health. According to ONE (one.org) – a leading nonprofit in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease – every year, more than half a million mothers die from complications during childbirth and 8.8 million children die before their fifth birthday.
One subject that doesn’t get a ton of press in the coverage of the Haiti earthquake’s aftermath, are the women and young girls who have been left increasingly vulnerable and susceptible to exploitation and violence. So it was heartening to see UNICEF’s piece about some of the gender-based violence taking place and what’s being done to prevent it, and offer resources to the victims.
UNICEF outlines what they’ve been doing on this front, and provides some background in the full piece:
In the aftermath of earthquake, UNICEF staff members have met with nearly a dozen groups in south–eastern Haiti, working to create an effective referral system for survivors of violence. Small plastic–coated referral cards, printed in Haitian Creole, instruct victims on where to go for medical care and support. The cards were developed by UNICEF, in collaboration with the Haitian Government, the International Rescue Committee, and UNFPA.
A girl braids a woman’s hair outside rows of makeshift shelters for Haitians displaced by the earthquake. Overcrowded conditions in homes and camps are increasing the danger of gender-based violence.
“Information is key,” says Ms. Maternowska, “and placing that information in the hands of a survivor can save her life. The referral cards we’ve developed provide information on how and where to access essential medications to prevent pregnancy and HIV. And of course, the provision of timely information gives survivors access to full medical treatment, psycho-social support and justice.”
In partnership with NGOs and other UN agencies, UNICEF supports the Haitian Government’s push to include gender-based violence services as part of a comprehensive approach to women’s and girls’ health. Plans to develop dedicated health centers for women and girls are currently in the works in the areas hardest-hit by the earthquake—including Port–au–Prince, Leogane and Jacmel.
The partners’ goal is to expand these services to even the most remote corners of Haiti, including Anse–a–Pitre.
In case you missed it in today’s What We’re Reading, Secretary Hillary Clinton has a great piece in Canadian publication The Globe and Mail today. In it, she repeats a line I’ve heard from the State Department a number of times now: Women’s progress is human progress.
Short excerpt below, full piece here:
Women are central to our effort to elevate development as a pillar of our foreign policy alongside diplomacy and defence. As those who grow the world’s food, collect the water, gather the firewood and wash the clothes – and, increasingly, as those who work in the factories, run the shops, launch new businesses and create jobs – women are powerful forces for economic growth and social progress.
Women are a focus of three major U.S. foreign policy initiatives now under way.
Our Global Health Initiative is a $63-billion commitment to improve health and strengthen health systems worldwide, and one of its key priorities is improving maternal and child health.
Our global food security program is a $3.5-billion commitment to strengthen the world’s food supply and its ability to reach markets, so farmers can earn enough to support their families and food can get to all people everywhere – and it is focused on supporting women, who are the majority of farmers in the developing world.
In response to the challenge of climate change, the United States has pledged to help mobilize $100-billion a year by 2020 to address the adaptation and mitigation needs of developing countries. And while all people will feel the effects of climate change, they will fall particularly hard on women in developing countries who often shoulder the responsibility of securing food and fuel for their families. Our plan seeks to empower these women to become part of the solution to this global crisis.
These initiatives reflect a fundamental value of U.S. foreign policy: The world cannot make progress if women and girls are denied their rights and left behind.
Last night I had the privilege of moderating a fantastic interactive conference call with Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Melanne Verveer—the first-ever U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. The call was a great opportunity to speak directly with ONE members about the fight against global poverty, including our new initiative Women ONE2ONE. As I said on the call, we may be faced with overwhelming statistics about the inordinate burden poverty places on women, but it’s most important that we focus on the more positive fact—that women are one of the best investments in global development and are really key to improving education, healthcare, agriculture and economic progress in communities across the developing world.
It was really an honor to get to hear firsthand from Melinda and Melanne about why they’ve personally become engaged on these issues and to hear about steps they’re taking through the Gates Foundation and the U.S. government to address them. During the call, more than 4,000 ONE members from all over the country had the chance to ask questions directly and to participate in real time via a live Facebook feed. We got some great comments and questions. In case you missed the call, you can listen to it in full below.
Full call:
Melinda Gates:
Ambassador Melanne Verveer:
Erin Thornton:
PS- During the call, I mentioned a petition ONE members can sign right now, encouraging our senators to sign on to a letter calling for the Senate Budget Committee to uphold President Obama’s $58.5 billion International Affairs Budget. You can add your voice here.
Out of the 3.3 billion ways to change the world, I am number 247.
If it sounds specific, well, that’s the point. I was given this number as part of my pledge to join the new G(irls)20 Initiative, a global viral campaign to demonstrate the prowess of girls and women and to show how they can be agents of change toward economic prosperity and political and social stability. This number is meant to symbolize my own personal voice in the chorus of women and men striving to empower girls and women around the world.
In partnership with Google and 20 national and international organizations, including ONE, G(irls)20 invites women and men of all ages to engage in a global brainstorm of sorts, to generate ideas and tangible solutions that will help the world to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – specifically improving child and maternal health, providing universal education and eradicating poverty.
The viral campaign will culminate in the first ever G(irls) 20 Summit from June 16-18th, 2010 in Toronto, the same venue as this summer’s G20 summit, where the world’s top leaders and policy makers will gather to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the world today. Twenty girls from 20 different countries will come together to debate and develop concrete, scalable and implementable solutions and innovative ideas for the G20 leaders. By receiving my own personal number, I have the opportunity to contribute to the summit by making suggestions for what these female leaders should discuss over the two days. The top 10 suggestions generated from this accompanying viral campaign will provide the general agenda for the summit. Applications are still being taken for women who would like to represent their country at the summit. To learn more and begin filling out your application, visit the application page here: http://www.girlsandwomen.com/apply_to_attend-9.html
This campaign is ultimately about generating ideas, providing tangible and achievable solutions and putting girls at the table. To learn more, visit the G(irls) 20 website, www.girlsandwomen.com and add your voice to the discussion.
In the past few weeks, ONE’s Women ONE2ONE Initiative has run an online campaign collecting signatures of members in order to draw attention to the critical work the Global Fund is doing on women’s health and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. While the Global Fund is best known for its disease-specific work around HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, we’ve been learning in The Hague how much of an impact the Global Fund has made on maternal and child health in the last decade. They’ve also outlined the path for the world to eliminate PMTCT by 2015—an incredible, feasible opportunity to ensure that every child born across the world is born HIV-free.
This afternoon, we were able to catch up with the Global Fund’s Executive Director, Professor Michel Kazatchkine, and deliver nearly 20,000 ONE member signatures. In our time with him, we shared how grateful ONE is for the Global Fund’s emphasis on the health of women and children, and demonstrated to both him and the Global Fund’s donors that there is real grassroots support behind full funding for the Global Fund that will allow for an expansion of PMTCT and women-focused efforts. He shared his thanks to ONE’s signatories, and we feel confident that the Global Fund is serious about its commitment to the health of women around the world.
Thanks to all of our members who have shown your support to-date! If you haven’t had the chance to sign yet, or if you’d like to share this important message with your friends and family, please visit http://www.one.org/women/gobeyond.html.
Over at ThePeopleSpeak.org, Elisa Lai makes a really excellent argument that climate change disproportionately affects women. It’s a very clear and compelling point, and one that I frankly don’t see a ton of.
Worth a read when you have a minute:
In most developing countries and most least-developed countries, women often have lower social statuses and have lower accessibility to social/political affairs participation than do men. The same is true in the context of international climate change negotiations, where women’s efforts are often downplayed, and women’s opinions are underweighted. Attention on international climate change negotiations and their agendas is not focused on climate-vulnerable women in the developing world. To reach gender equality and gender justice in terms of climate change issues, the harmonious role many women play in managing natural resources with minimal ecological footprint needs to be recognized and valued more. In order to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts, it is critical for the international community, through women empowerment, to involve women’s participation and reinforce women’s capabilities in the face of climate change disasters.
