UN Women in State of Alarm?
Posted on | February 2, 2012 by Stefano Gennarini, J.D. |
Michelle Bachelet, the Executive Director of UN Women held a press conference today at UN Headquarters to brief the press on the progress of UN Women in its first year of existence. The new agency, as Bachelet described, is dedicated to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women through direct contact with governments and through partnerships with business and civil society.
C-FAM is able to confirm through insiders that UN Women is in a state of alarm.
UN Women needs donations, badly. Bachelet asked for increased financial support at the press conference. Nearly all of its work “in the field” is carried out through contributions for specific initiatives from individual countries, and only $1.4M of its $235M 2011 budget comes from the UN. In the press conference, Bachelet, reiterated that UN Women raised $235M for the 2011 budget of the agency. This is a 73 percent increase in core funding with respect to the funding received by the four organizations merged into UN women in 2010.
However, much of the money spent in 2011, was never in the coffers of UN Women. The actual contributions received do not match the pledges made by donor countries, and included in the 2011 budget. Collecting the $700M on which the 2012-2013 budgets depend is going to be an uphill battle if the same trend continues.
It has not been uncommon to see her and UN Women Deputy Executive Director, Ms. Puri, ask for money at every opportunity they get within and outside the UN. Bachelete mentioned in the press conference that she hopes gender equality initiatives by UN Women will gain credibility for the new agency in order to attract more support.
UN Women is troubled within also, it is rumored that Michelle Bachelet has her eyes set on a return to politics in Chile for a second presidential bid. Perhaps, the lack of support for UN Women is getting to her, after having spent over a year trying to raise the profile of the organization within and outside the UN.
Why is UN Women having so much trouble taking off? What will be the future of the agency?
The fact is, the agency was formed in the midst of a financial crisis. That alone is enough to explain the reluctance of countries to pay for its programs and initiatives.
But UN Women has also another difficulty, and it is systemic: UN Women’s attention to gender equality above other issues. A UN agency advocating equality is probably viewed as repetitive and unnecessary by countries that already carry the dole for similar projects, the agency simply duplicates the work of other UN entities.
Moreover, UN Women’s strong emphasis and own version of gender equality is somewhat narrow. The first report of the agency, titled “Access to Justice” is so ideologically charged that it appears to have been written by a fringe women’s advocacy group.
Other agencies like UNICEF and UNDP are successful in raising funds because they are seen as addressing fundamental issues like water, food, healthcare and education. Or at least, their stated mission does not antagonize countries, their laws and culture to advance a narrow vision of gender equality that includes abortion as a human right.
So far UN Women has not officially given any signal that something is not right.
