GENDER & YOUTH - Oxfam Novib sheets... · Oxfam is a world-wide development organisation that...
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GENDER & YOUTH Women’s Empowerment Women and girls make up more than half the world’s population. In poverty and crisis they regularly face discrimination, physical and sexual violence, lack healthcare and are often excluded from participation. Women’s rights and gender equality are fundamental human rights goals and cornerstones of achieving sustainable and fair development. Indeed, the world gets better as women expand their roles as political, economic, family and social leaders. Vulnerability is not random – poor women are vulnerable because they are politically, socially or economically excluded. So the answers lie in reducing their vulnerability by building on their assets, increasing their power and resilience. – Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director Oxfam International. Photo: Matar Ndour
Transcript of GENDER & YOUTH - Oxfam Novib sheets... · Oxfam is a world-wide development organisation that...
GENDER & YOUTHWomen’s Empowerment
Women and girls make up more than half the world’s
population. In poverty and crisis they regularly face
discrimination, physical and sexual violence, lack
healthcare and are often excluded from participation.
Women’s rights and gender equality are fundamental
human rights goals and cornerstones of achieving
sustainable and fair development. Indeed, the world gets
better as women expand their roles as political,
economic, family and social leaders.
Vulnerability is not random – poor women are vulnerable because they are politically, socially or economically excluded. So the answers lie in reducing their vulnerability by building on their assets, increasing their power and resilience.
– Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director Oxfam International.
Phot
o: M
atar
Ndo
ur
PurPOsEOxfam Novib transforms unequal power structures that impact women’s and girls’ rights and needs. Women and girls should have equal opportunities and should be able to fully enjoy their rights, free from all forms of violence and discrimination.
PrOmIsEOxfam Novib will advance gender justice by contributing to a sustainable future where:• Women and girls are able to make their own decisions.• Women and girls exercise their collective voice.• Institutions address the interests and needs of women and girls.
Together with different actors and institutions, our focus is on eliminating three major structural barriers for women’s development: the violation of women’s bodily integrity, the limited space for women’s participation in the public sphere and the restricted economic empowerment of women.
PErfOrmancEWe put women’s rights at the heart of everything we do:• We ensure inclusion of women’s rights and gender justice objectives in all of our own programming.• We support organisations to advance women’s and girls’ rights, their empowerment and gender equality. We do this by using the gender at work model, which provides direction about where change
should happen to advance and claim women’s rights. PrOOfOxfam Novib has years of experience in women’s empowerment and advancing gender justice. We have developed and implemented several national and multi-country programmes on the autonomy and rights of women and girls.
The safe spaces for Women programme in the Middle East–North Africa (MENA) region has provided numerous women’s organisations in traditional, patriarchal societies the possibility to meet, learn from each other and grow in confidence and strength, working towards the elimination of violence against women and girls.
In Pakistan, through the Youth Life skills programme, Oxfam Novib achieved engagement of various religious sects and scholars to address sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues. Through the platform of our SRH programme, a Memorandum of Understanding with religious education institutes was signed and a steering committee of over 50 religious scholars from various sects of Islam has been formed to endorse SRH issues as a basic human right.
In Nigeria, the female Youth Participation in Governance and Political Processes programme mentors and empowers 450 young women in universities and institutions of higher education across Nigeria.
With the Gender action Learning system (GaLs), a flexible but structured community-led gender mainstreaming methodology, women and men have come to see themselves as authors of their own lives. Over 120,000 women and men have been introduced to GALS and tangible changes in gender relations have contributed significantly to women’s empowerment. For example, after three years of implementation in Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria, 68% of participants reported positive improvements, including almost half reporting more secure access to land.
PLacEsOxfam Novib works on Women’s Empowerment in the following countries:
africa: Algeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda
asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Laos, Pakistan, Vietnam
middle East: the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Yemen
Europe: the Netherlands
For more information, please visit www.oxfamnovib.nl or www.oxfamnovib.nl/en.
Oxfam is a world-wide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against poverty. around the globe, we work to find practical, innovative ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty and thrive. Oxfam novib is one of 17 affiliates of the Oxfam confederation, who together work with local partners in 94 countries.
I have already taken the decision that the unspoken complaints should be disclosed now. We should move forward rather than keeping ourselves silent. We have to organise campaigns and demonstrations against sexual harassment.
– Shaheen, student of class VII of Saheed Zia Secondary High School, participant in the Pop Culture with a Purpose project in Bangladesh.
Oxfam novibPO Box 309192500 GX The Hague
T + 31 (0)70 324 16 [email protected]
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