Women Deliver and partners announce seven GEF commitments, an investment of US $4 million in programming over the next five years – Women Deliver

Women Deliver and partners announce seven GEF commitments, an investment of US $4 million in programming over the next five years

Paris, France, 30 June 2021 | Today, Women Deliver — a leading advocate for girls and women — and partners are proud to announce seven commitments, an investment of US $4 million in programming over the next five years, at the Generation Equality Forum (GEF), to advance the health, rights, and wellbeing of all girls and women, in all their intersecting identities. The GEF is a multigenerational initiative led by UN Women, the Government of France, and the Government of Mexico to unify all sectors and accelerate collective action for bigger and bolder commitments and actions for gender equality over the next five years.

In line with Women Deliver’s 5-year Strategic Framework, we are proud to announce seven collective commitments that represent our deepened focus on health, especially sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); women’s economic rights and justice; and climate action; and our advocacy around policy windows, including our signature convening, the Women Deliver Conference.

Advancing gender equality requires unified effort. We celebrate the wide range of multisector partners who share the pursuit of a gender-equal world. It is only in partnership – as a result of the contributions of many – that gender equality will be realized.

—

WITH PARTNERS, WOMEN DELIVER COMMITS TO:

 

1. A MORE INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE WOMEN DELIVER 2023 CONFERENCE (WD2023)

Women Deliver, the Adolescent Girls Investment Plan (AGIP), CREA, OutRight Action International, Women Enabled International, the Government of Canada, the Government of Denmark, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Grounded in advancing gender equality and SRHR, Women Deliver, with the Adolescent Girls Investment Plan, CREA, OutRight Action International, Women Enabled International, the Governments of Canada and Denmark, and the Rockefeller Foundation, commit to developing an inclusive, diverse, accessible, and consultative WD2023 convening, that is co-led and co-created. We commit to a number of goals to ensure that WD2023 is representative of all participants including youth participation on 100% of conference panels, offering financial support as needed, and providing accessibility services. We will implement an innovative platform, in-person and virtually, ensuring that communities traditionally underrepresented in global convenings have access to networking, skills-building, and funding opportunities. WD2023 will prioritize the themes of the GEF Action Coalitions and create spaces for the Alliance for Gender Equality and Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the Global Alliance for Care, the Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce Initiative, the SRHR and Climate Justice Coalition, Deliver for Good, and AGIP to build on efforts started at GEF.

Women Deliver Conferences gather advocates from around the world with the aim to galvanize momentum towards collective action for all girls and women. Women Deliver’s globally recognized convenings aim to increase political and financial commitments and improve policies and programs to advance gender equality and SRHR. The next Women Deliver Conference, WD2023, will take place in the first half of 2023.

 
2. BOLSTERING NATIONAL FEMINIST CIVIL SOCIETY THROUGH THE DELIVER FOR GOOD CAMPAIGN

The Deliver for Good Campaign is powered by Women Deliver and led by the Center for Rights, Education, and Awareness (CREAW) in Kenya, and Réseau Siggil Jigéen and Energy 4 Impact in Senegal.

Deliver for Good commits to doubling financial support to Deliver for Good coalitions in Kenya, led by CREAW, and in Senegal, led by Réseau Siggil Jigéen and Energy 4 Impact, to sustain and bolster their collective feminist advocacy for gender equality. These resources will ensure that these coalitions can convene and call their respective governments to action and hold them accountable to their GEF commitments. Deliver for Good affirms its support to the leadership of girls and women — in all their intersecting identities — and their organizations, who face pervasive challenges organizing for advocacy, yet are key to advancing political, programmatic, and financial investments in gender equality. As a multilateral partnership with connections at country, regional, and global levels, Deliver for Good is committed to advancing a localized yet collaborative model of influencing that facilitates policy coherence across the SDGs, the Beijing Platform for Action, and other global development agendas. Our approach to facilitating greater access for country advocates to global and regional stages will help increase the accountability of decision-makers.

Deliver for Good is a global campaign that mainstreams gender equality across the Sustainable Development Goals and promotes political, programmatic, and financial investments in the health and rights of girls and women – in all their intersecting identities.

3. ACTION FOR SRHR AND CLIMATE JUSTICE

Women Deliver, Ipas, Women’s Environment & Development Organization (WEDO).

Women Deliver joins Ipas and WEDO in organizing a coalition of over 20 partners to commit to collective action and joint advocacy at the nexus of gender equality, SRHR, and climate justice. There is ample demand for a space to break down silos, facilitate knowledge sharing, and jointly mobilize and amplify the voices and priorities of grassroots, women-led, youth-led, LGBTQIA+, and Indigenous-led organizations from low-and middle-income countries, who are most affected by climate change and often are without continuous access to high-quality SRH services.  Enhancing collaboration for joint advocacy at this nexus can help advance the mutual goals of effective climate action, gender equality, and realizing girls’ and women’s health and rights. This commitment is grounded in a rights-based approach that protects and promotes individuals’ rights to bodily autonomy and is in support of advancing the health and rights of girls and women, in all their intersectional identities.

4. THE GENDER EQUAL HEALTH AND CARE WORKFORCE INITIATIVE (GEHCWI)

The GEHCWI is led by the Government of France, the World Health Organization (WHO), and Women in Global Health (WGH).

Women Deliver joins the GEHCWI and commits to help reduce gender inequity in the health and care workforce via conducting global advocacy in key policy windows, contributing to relevant alliances, and amplifying GEHCWI at WD2023. We will prioritize key policy windows such as the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), annual sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), and the World Health Assembly to advocate on these issues and mobilize political support. Additionally, we commit to providing space at WD2023, to convene GEHCWI members with diverse stakeholders to share the latest advocacy priorities, knowledge, and evidence.

The GEHCWI aims to inspire action in the health and care sectors on safe and decent work for women, ending informal work, which is often unpaid and under paid, ensuring equal opportunities in health and care occupations, realizing an end to violence and harassment, and reaching equal participation of men and women in the sector in leadership and decision-making.

5. MAINSTREAMING SRHR IN UHC

The Alliance for Gender Equality and UHC is led by Women Deliver, Women in Global Health, Spectra, and Sama.

Women Deliver joins the Alliance for Gender Equality and UHC in its commitment to ensure that comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services are integrated into UHC programs by mobilizing political leadership and changing the narrative. The Alliance for Gender Equality and UHC and its 165 member organizations from all regions advocates for gender equality and SRHR in UHC. The Alliance will advocate with global health leaders to ensure SRH is non-negotiable in UHC programs. This includes securing concrete commitments to ensure the integration of SRH into UHC in key political agreements, particularly the second UN High-Level Meeting on UHC in September 2023. Additionally, WD2023 will be an advocacy moment for the Alliance to build momentum in the lead up to the High-Level Meeting. Through articles, story-telling, and thought leadership, the Alliance will stress that there is no UHC without SRHR.

6. AMPLIFY ADOLESCENT GIRL LEADERSHIP THROUGH AGIP

AGIP is led by Plan International, Girls Not Brides, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE – ODI), The Population Council, the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW), Malala Fund, and Women Deliver.

Women Deliver and the Women Deliver Young Leaders Program join AGIP in its commitment to amplifying and supporting adolescent girls’ leadership in the ongoing GEF process. AGIP is a global, intergenerational coalition working to effect change for adolescent girls by closing the large persistent gap between resources, evidence, and commitments for adolescent girls and the lived reality of adolescent girls. AGIP will support the Adolescent Girls Advisory Body and Youth Task Force in ensuring these bodies and spaces continue to be girl-and adolescent-friendly and gender inclusive. AGIP will commission and share digital safety tools and resources, evidence and gender-and age-disaggregated data, including safeguarding best practices for these spaces. AGIP will support and resource adolescent girls to ensure they are centered in GEF accountability mechanisms and have meaningful engagement and co-leadership. Where gaps may exist in formal processes, AGIP will create, resource, and advocate for adolescent-centered spaces to advance and increase meaningful adolescent and youth participation, leadership, and decision-making.

7. THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR CARE

The Global Alliance for Care is co-led by INMUJERES and UN Women.

Women Deliver joins the Global Alliance for Care and commits to prioritize key policy windows, engage private sector partners on workplace solutions on care, deepen advocacy via ongoing partnerships on gender equity in the health work force and unpaid care with a focus on SRHR and the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on women, contribute to evidence-based advocacy by filling data gaps and creating advocate-friendly materials, engage youth on these issues, and provide space at WD2023 to bring Alliance members and diverse stakeholders together. The Global Alliance for Care is a global initiative to address the disproportionate burden care has on girls and women. The initiative seeks to reduce inequalities and promote a cultural transformation by guaranteeing the recognition, reduction, remuneration, and redistribution of domestic and care work among every co-responsible actor. These commitments bring diverse stakeholders together to champion and advance gender equality and SRHR. They make connections across sectors, issues, generations, and geographies, and among diverse actors – with a particular focus on bringing young and country-level advocates’ perspectives to bare on a global stage – to learn from one another, coordinate, and collaborate for more effective, holistic joint advocacy in support of these commitments.

—

The GEF provides a real opportunity to bring about concrete change, but only if we remove silos and make linkages across issue areas, ensure inclusive processes that lift and center marginalized and diverse voices and bring in multi-sector stakeholders, and attach financial and accountability mechanisms to our commitments to guide us over the next five years. We have a collective responsibility to ensure we honor commitments and match words with action. Together, in partnership, we can and will drive real and meaningful change for gender equality.