VSO response to the Department for International Development’s Multilateral Aid Review of UNIFEM and UN Women

01/03/2011 17:40:00

Leading international development charity, VSO, has welcomed the Multilateral Aid Review assessment that new agency, UN Women, has strong potential for reform.

However, VSO is concerned the that UK Government has failed to announce its core funding to the new agency despite saying it would do so following the conclusion of the Multilateral Aid Review – and is now delaying an announcement until June.

VSO agrees with the review findings that the UN has previously failed to deliver for millions of the world’s poorest women, and that: “constrained resources, weaknesses in the UN’s leadership on gender issues, and UNIFEM’s lack of reach with other UN agencies limited its impact”.

The new agency, UN Women, replaces four small, poorly funded organisations, and is a once in a generation opportunity to end the discrimination and violence that prevents many women worldwide from earning an income, holding political office or giving birth safely.

Kathy Peach, Head of External Affairs at VSO UK said despite opening its doors in January, UN Women was already at risk of failure because of the delay in receiving core funding commitments from governments including the UK which played a major role in creating UN Women.

“Andrew Mitchell has spoken about the potential of UN Women and given it his strong backing; he has also put women and girls as one of the major strategic priorities for his department.   It is now time for the Government to put funding behind its words and commit a minimum of £21 million in core annual funding to UN Women so it can start to deliver real change for millions of women.

“We are very concerned that unless the UK urgently steps up and makes a substantial contribution to UN Women, it may not get off the ground. Other potential donors are now holding off making their pledges until they see what the UK will offer.

“UN Women is currently fighting a massive funding shortfall – with new pledges to the agency this year totaling just under $55 million, well below its target operating budget of $500 million.

“This inaction is resulting in women continuing to be denied the rights and opportunities they deserve and also has a huge economic cost. It is estimated that the Asia Pacific region alone is losing $40billion a year because of women’s limited access to employment opportunities.
 
“It is absurd to think that UN Women with its current staffing of just over 200 people and total resources of less than $200million can really make the change we need for more than half the world’s population – UK funding is needed to help it bring in the right expertise and enable it to begin scaling up operations around the world.”

VSO has led the call for a new UN agency for women and through its Godmothers’ campaign has been lobbying for a strong UN Women, well funded by the UK Government.

Editor's notes

Media contact: Rachel Trayner on rachel.trayner@vso.org.uk, 0208 780 7265, 07738982122.

VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers. Since 1958 more than 44,000 volunteers have worked in more than 120 countries. Today there are over 1600 international volunteers working in 42 countries around the world.

VSO and Oxfam launched a report last week that found that organisations working on women’s issues want ending violence against women to be UN Women’s top priority.

The Godmothers is a group of men and women who think women everywhere deserve a chance. Together they aim to watch over UN Women, help keep it on track and protect it from people who’d like to see it fail - everything a good godmother would do. By making sure UN Women gets the powers and funding it needs, it can make life better for millions of women worldwide. www.thegodmothers.org.uk

VSO is calling on the UK Government to be a leading donor to UN Women, and to maintain the UK’s position as a champion for women’s equality around the world. VSO estimates that UN Women will need at least the same core resources to deliver for women as UNICEF needs to deliver for children. That’s why VSO is recommending that the UK contribute £21 million in annual core funding – an amount equivalent to that historically given by the UK to UNICEF.