11 December 1999

BONN: One of the major areas of activity where fully-funded UN Volunteers are working is gender in development. A few of these UNVs are:

Monica Rodriquez Garcia of Spain is active training about 250 indigenous women living in Bolivia's lowland communities. Through working groups, seminars and publications, she has worked to highlight and support gender roles in the areas of poverty alleviation, sustainable development, good governance, education and youth. In particular, she organized desertification workshops to strengthen the role of women in policy-planning and decision-making on development issues in dry areas. She also worked to design a project to empower women candidates for local elections.

Also working in Bolivia is Yasuko Kitayama, a Japanese gender specialist funded by her Government. She is currently assisting a local executing agency in Bolivia, Consejo de Capitanes Guaranies de Chuquisaca, to organize 20 women leaders and 215 women participants in 43 communities. Through workshops, communal meetings and audio-visual education, these women learn to make decisions affecting their communities.

The Swedish International Development Cooperating Agency (SIDA) has sponsored Gabriela Elroy of Sweden to work as a gender specialist with the Palestinian non-governmental organization, "Middle East Nonviolence and Democracy" (MEND). Her tasks include conducting research and feasibility studies as well as training of MEND's staff in gender issues. She is also to create a gender-training manual and evaluate the gender impact of projects.

A fully-funded Spanish UN Volunteer, Teresa Alemany Jordan, is working as a researcher, legal adviser and microcredit project adviser with El Salvador's largest gender-related non-governmental organization (NGO), "Women's movement Melida Anava Montes". Her activities include training women in such areas as gender issues, health, human rights and sexual abuse. Until her contract expires in February 2001, the Spanish volunteer will also draft proposals for modification of laws in favour of women. She is also participating in a network against gender violence in El Salvador.

Anne-Françoise Paradis of Belgium is a UNV gender in development specialist in Côte d'Ivoire, helping the UN Resident Representative promote gender mainstreaming in areas of human development. Anne-Françoise is one of 18 UN Volunteer gender specialists promoting gender equality and the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in countries around the world. These UNVs are part of a pilot programme carried out jointly by UNDP, UNV and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). UNV Albha Bowe of Ireland is supported by her Government to carry out similar work in Uganda.