Financing
for Women's Empowerment and Equality: Creative Grassroots Solutions for
Communities & Families - Huairou & GROOTS - CSW 52
In spite of the lack of institutional resources and policy support,
grassroots women’s organizations have been steadily advancing and scaling up
creative solutions to problems faced by their communities. In addressing
livelihoods, increasing community access to basic services, securing housing
and land and by demanding institutional accountability, grassroots women have
made sizeable contributions to poverty reduction and community development
while repositioning themselves in the eyes of their families and communities.
In developing and scaling up these solutions grassroots women have emerged
as leaders and innovators whose participation is vital to setting the policy
and program agendas for advancing effective gender equality and women’s
empowerment.
Members of the Huairou Commission and GROOTS International at CSW 52
are therefore calling for:
- Reframing the equality
and empowerment agenda to include grassroots women’s priorities
Survival needs of communities living in poverty, as articulated by
grassroots women – such as shelter, basic services, livelihoods - must be
at the center of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Economic
empowerment, adequate housing, basic services, community caring in the
context of childcare, HIV/AIDS pandemic are all issues that grassroots
women prioritize. Yet these issues are frequently excluded from women’s
empowerment programs and their connection to women’s rights questioned.
- Channeling funds
directly to grassroots women’s organizations and networks in response to
their priorities.
Grassroots women’s groups have been trying to fill the priority gaps in
innovative ways and by working with local and national governments to
access and redirect resources for effective local problem solving because
in general national funds and programs do not allow grassroots women to
set agendas and access resources
Donors and Governments need to redesign the aid streams and develop
mechanisms for grassroots women to access funds for their priorities.
In addition there is a need to establish new funds for strengthening
grassroots women’s organizing and leadership, to access public spaces and
to undertake peer learning exchanges.
Organizing is essential for building women’s organizations and networks
who will sustain community efforts over a period of time. Grassroots
women’s access to public spaces has emerged as an effective strategy for
nurturing women’s organizing and participation in public affairs for
planning and governance; and peer exchanges enable women to refine and
transfer their knowledge to scale up effective development practices.
- Involvement of
grassroots women’s organizations and networks in designing of policies,
programs and aid modalities
Community focused indigenous women, women-led slum dwelling groups,
federations of rural self-help groups, landless women are among the most
innovative development actors. Yet they are rarely involved in
decision-making. Given their longstanding contribution and demonstrated
knowledge and skills in improving the quality of life and building
democracy, grassroots women’s organizations must be engaged in dialogues
from local to global levels to shape development policies and programs.
It is also critical that grassroots women have a voice in the development
of the new gender entity at the UN to ensure that their normative and
operational frameworks are responsive to grassroots women’s priorities.
Download this statement here
Download the report from our workshop "Whose Agenda
Counts" here
Download the report from our workshop "Shelter from the
Storm" here