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Women In Development
>> Regional Overview >> EGAT Bureau Overview >> Women in Development
Women and girls represent the largest segment of the world's poor-approximately 70% of the 1.3 billion people living in absolute poverty today. [UN Dev. Fund for Women]
THE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE: Development effectiveness and U.S. values of fairness demand that both women and men have opportunities to participate in and benefit from USAID programs. This program implements those values across the Agency in ways that bolster developmental impacts and support activities that increase the integration of gender considerations across all sector programs. The office also identifies and initiates work on emerging issues with a critical gender dimension such as trafficking, conflict resolution, information technology, trade, and the linkage between women's status and HIV/AIDS.
THE USAID PROGRAM: The Program's four objectives concentrate on:
- reducing gender-based constraints to economic growth;
- mobilizing local constituencies in selected developing countries to improve girls' education;
- improving protection of women's legal rights; and
- increasing integration of gender considerations in USAID programs.
For FY 2003, the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade has requested $11 million for these activities.
View text description
View text descriptionThe office reinforces equality between men and women and USAID's effectiveness by:
- assisting USAID missions and offices in understanding the differential impacts of programs on men and women and the unique contributions that men and women make to development;
- working with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to increase opportunities for women; and
- taking a leadership role on emerging issues that particularly affect women.
ON-GOING PROGAMS FOR WHICH NO NEW FY 2002 OR FY 2003 FUNDING IS REQUESTED: All ongoing Strategic Objective programs in the Office of Women in Development will receive FY 2002 and FY 2003 funding.
OTHER PROGRAM ELEMENTS: USAID's programs promote institutional reforms to extend basic economic rights to women, such as the right to own or inherit property. They also focuses on democracy and governance, particularly with regard to rule of law and strengthening civil society organizations to advocate for women's legal concerns. USAID-financed micro-credit programs enable thousands of women to become small-scale entrepreneurs. USAID's support for girls' education includes strengthening the performance of public and private sector institutions, improving knowledge of issues as they pertain to girls, mobilizing leaders, broadening community participation and strengthening teachers performance. USAID frequently works through local associations and women's groups that have been organized by women to help them identify and meet their own needs.
USAID is responding to new and emerging issues that disproportionately affect women, such as trafficking in persons. The office helps to establish programs to lessen the vulnerability of women and children to traffickers and is the Agency coordinator for USAID's anti-trafficking efforts.
USAID's anti-trafficking programs focus primarily on the prevention and protection aspects of this problem. The include programs to educate vulnerable women to the dangers of trafficking, provide vocational training and support to former victims, and cooperate with governments and NGOs to raise overall awareness of this important issue.
OTHER DONORS: The office coordinates USAID's anti-trafficking prevention activities closely with the U.S. Department of State's newly-created Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and other U.S. Government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Labor. In addition, the office collaborates with international donors, such as the International Organization for Migration to help implement some USAID anti-trafficking programs in country. The office supports the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/Development Assistance Committee's Gender Equality Working Group and the Informal Network on Poverty Reduction as part of a wider effort by bilateral and multi-lateral donors to address the integration of gender into development programs. The office has working relationships with other donor agencies such as the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank, which are in process of implementing recommendations toward gender mainstreaming in their organizations. Gender issues in Afghanistan are being discussed with the United Nation's Development Fund for Women and other bilateral donors. The Ford Foundation helped support the office's program on African Women Leaders in Agriculture.
Program Data Sheets
- 941-001 Gender-Based Constraints to Economic Growth Policies and Programs Increasingly Addressed
- 941-002 Broad-Based, Informed Constituencies Mobilized to Improve Girls' Education in Emphasis Countries
- 941-003 Women's Legal Rights Increasingly Protected
- 941-004 Greater Reflection of Gender Considerations in the Agency's Work
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
Overview
