Entries by Praveen Prasad

When the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) met February 22 to March 4 in New York, much of the discussion centered on the emerging theme of “Gender Equality and Sustainable Development”. Participants underscored the importance of renewing commitments and strategic partnerships to ensure gender-responsive sustainable development.

Achieving progress in development requires governance structures that promote the voice, participation and decision-making by women at all levels. National economic planning, policy and budget frameworks that fail to recognize the links between gender equality, economic growth and poverty reduction — and that fail to meaningfully involve women in leadership and decision-making positions — will prevent countries from moving towards sustainable development. Efforts are needed to ensure that women become active agents of change in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.

These are some of the issues that generated excitement and interest at this year’s CSW:

• Women in decision-making and as agents of change: Women are a powerful source of knowledge and skills. For centuries, women had passed on their skills on how to manage biodiversity, adapting and coping with environmental hazards and a changing climate, and managing waste and sanitation.


• Harnessing women’s local knowledge and skills is critical for protecting, sustaining and managing the environment and its limited resources. Women’s roles at the household and community levels should be expanded to ensure their effective participation in decision-making and to strengthen management of sustainable development processes and governance at the local, national and international levels.


• Women’s contributions to innovation, science and technology for sustainable development: Equal access to education has led to a surge in educational attainment among women and girls, but in many cases women remain underrepresented in the sciences and research. Targeted public support could ensure that girls and women have equal opportunities in education and training in these fields, enabling them to play a stronger role in research and development on environmentally sound technologies.


• Women’s participation in a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication: Governments play a critical role in creating a supportive policy environment for women’s role in a green economy. Women’s economic opportunities could be expanded through targeted capacity-building in public procurement processes for environmentally and socially friendly products and services.

The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meets each year in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide. At this year’s meeting, held from February 22 to March 4, the priority theme was “Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work”. The meeting also focused discussion on an emerging theme: “Gender equality and sustainable development”.

Reflecting a human rights perspective, the priority theme sprang from a conviction that education is both a basic human right and a powerful agent for economic growth and social change for women. Delegates from numerous member states reported that investing in women and girls has had positive multiplier effects on the wellbeing of families, communities and countries. Education initiatives, for example, have empowered women and girls to make informed decisions on critical aspects of their lives, especially regarding their health. Participants also emphasized that science education is essential in preparing girls and women for a global economy that is increasingly knowledge-driven and dependent on an educated workforce capable of applying existing technologies and developing new ones to combat poverty and address emerging issues such as climate change.

Reports presented at the CSW noted significant progress in securing equal access to education at all levels among women and girls in recent years. However, these gains have largely bypassed some parts of the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia and Southern Asia. Access to education has tended to lag among girls who live in poverty, in rural areas or in urban slums, belong to a minority group, are affected by armed conflict, or have disabilities. Other factors that have caused a large number of girls to drop out of school are early marriage, early pregnancy and child labor.

Participants proposed a number of ways to mitigate the challenges that women and girls face, including:

• Eliminating school fees, providing school feeding programs and distributing free school uniforms.


• Investing further in infrastructure, such as improved water and sanitation, transportation and energy, which could improve girls’ safety at school and on the way to and from school, as well as reduce girls’ work burden at home.


• Expanding access to high quality education. Simply ensuring that women and girls have access to education is not enough, participants said. Education must also be of high quality and relevant to the demands women face in the labor market.


• Improving access to non-formal training for out-of-school women and girls, which is particularly important for students in countries affected by conflicts, disasters and other emergencies. Providing access to information and communication technologies, for example, could help expand the possibilities for distance education. Participants noted that education and access to education do not always guarantee that women can gain access to full employment and decent work.


• Foster dialogue and policy reforms aimed at strengthening women’s job security. Initiatives to promote gender-sensitive job security might include counseling and placement services, training courses, entrepreneurship, technical education, and management and marketing skills training.

Each day we continue to be pleasantly surprised by the beauty of rural Haiti. There is a story to be told in every face we pass along the way. The air is fresh and crisp, the donkeys are overloaded with bananas, cassava and sugarcane, and the women riding them to market wear bright floral skirts.

We are on our way to the city of Jean-Rabel, which lies 37 km west-southwest of Port-de-Paix and 250 km north of Port-au-Prince. The city shares its name with a nearby river that runs between the Saint Nicolas and Jean-Rabel mountains before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.

Yet the smiling faces and warm greetings of peasant communities living here mask the grave and urgent food security issues facing rural Haiti.
Continue reading "Far from the Capital, a Hard and Quiet Struggle"

Ricot Jean Pierre's eyes lit up, his face brimming with warmth as he invited the Africa for Haiti delegation into his neat, small office in downtown Port au Prince. Ricot is the Programme Director of PAPDA, a leading Haitian civil society organisation that has been campaigning for the rights of the poor and marginalised sectors of Haitian society since 1995.

"We invented the concept of freedom by leading the first (and only) successful slave rebellion in the history of mankind. We did it in 1804 and we will do it again."

He started to explain the complex socio-economic make-up of Haitian society, and how the history of this colourful Caribbean island directly influenced the scale of devastation caused by the 12 January earthquake. It is a well known fact within the NGO community that earthquakes don't actually kill people. Rather, it is the lack of proper building codes and practices that cause the fatalities. That's why a country like Japan can survive extremely powerful quakes without major death tolls. Continue reading "Haiti: A story of free slave descendants"

The Africa for Haiti delegation arrived on August 11th to a very warm Port-au-Prince. At the arrivals terminal at the airport, a band greets us with local music. It is a wonderful welcome! The musicians are dressed in bright colors and are brimming with smiles. I am comforted by this warmth. Within a few minutes one realizes that Haitians are warm and resilient people. They are full of life, enthusiasm and a strong belief in freedom. Continue reading "Africa for Haiti delegation arrives in Port-au-Prince"

World Malaria Day is an opportunity to raise awareness on this preventable and treatable disease, which kills up to 1 million people and affects up to 250 million people per year. The burden of malaria is heaviest in sub-Saharan Africa, but the disease also afflicts Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and even parts of Europe. Malaria remains one of the deadliest diseases on the African continent.

MDG3—the empowerment of women—is not only a goal in and of itself, but also a vital tool for achieving the other Millennium Development Goals. Empowering women and providing resources and education to lift millions of women out of chronic poverty provides the means by which women and girls are able to improve their personal, familial and national circumstances. On World Malaria Day, we are reminded yet again that in order to halt and reverse the incidence of malaria around the world, investing in programs for women and giving them a voice in decision making helps to ensure that the needs of women and children are given priority and that those most vulnerable to contracting malaria are able to access and receive life-saving medication and bed nets.

Facts about malaria and Africa:

• Malaria kills more than one million people each year, and 90 percent of those who die are African children.
  
  
• Every 30 seconds a child in Africa dies of malaria.
  
  
• Malaria incapacitates people, keeping countries poor. In addition to the health burden, malaria illness and death cost Africa about $12 billion per year.