UNICEF has also scaled up its efforts to address environmental degradation and the effects of climate change – critical considerations in programme design and implementation – including supporting the actions of young people, especially girls, who are leading climate activism. And, since 2017, UNICEF supported improved gender-segregated WASH facilities and programmes in over 21,100 schools in 94 countries (exceeding the target of 20,000). For example, by the end of 2021, almost 16,700 health-care facilities (up from 1,600 at baseline) had improved WASH services, a critical intervention to reduce incidence of both infant and maternal mortality. To address ongoing disruptions to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in 2021, UNICEF supported service-delivery and government systems-strengthening across more than 100 countries. Were reached with WASH-in-schools services (including gender-segregated, child-friendly and accessible WASH facilities) UNICEF also prioritized evidence-based caregiver support, which has the potential to break intergenerational transmissions of gender-based family violence. UNICEF stepped up efforts to support national responses to sexual exploitation and abuse, including its specific digital dimensions, partly due to a rise in technology-facilitated gender-based abuse, especially directed at adolescent girls and young women. This is 18 times the number in 2017, and an expansion from 43 countries. 98 per cent of all UNICEF Humanitarian Appeals for Children in 2021 had a specific GBV indicator and funding ask, and nearly 13.9 million people across 89 countries were reached with GBV response, prevention and risk-mitigation programmes. UNICEF emphasizes strategic partnerships with coordinated interventions and targeted, large-scale investment to tackle gender-based violence across diverse contexts within the humanitarian-development nexus. The COVID-19 crisis reinforced the need for urgent increases in investment in multisectoral services to prevent and respond to violence. Participated in community activities to promote FGM elimination across 18 countries, surpassing the target To build back better, the focus must turn towards challenging the status quo of norms and structures that perpetuate gender inequality – with girls and women leading the call for action and pioneering solutions. Global efforts must come together with renewed vigour to drastically address systemic and underlying barriers that hold women and girls back, and accelerate action not only to redress current disparities but also close pre-pandemic gender gaps. Less than a decade away from the ambitious goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world is at a pivotal moment. Violence against women and girls has risen dramatically, driven by economic stressors, displacement, food insecurity, and deep-rooted social norms about females’ subordinate roles and status. Unemployment rates have affected women much worse than men, and gender disparities in unpaid care work continue to grow wider, barring women from economic opportunities and straining their mental health. With schools closed, or pivoted to remote learning, girls’ education gains made over the last 25 years are at risk and their vulnerability to harmful practices has increased – by 2030, a staggering 10 million more child marriages may occur and global efforts to end female genital mutilation may be set back by at least 30 per cent. Challenges facing girls, especially adolescent girls, already considerable pre-pandemic, have worsened. Women and girls are bearing the brunt of negative socioeconomic impacts, with an aggravation of existing socioeconomic gender disparities rather than emergence of new inequalities. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s impact – compounded by escalating humanitarian crises fuelled by conflict and climate change – threatens to reverse decades of progress on gender equality, and to greatly increase deprivations for the most vulnerable girls and women. COVID-19, climate change and conflict: a crisis for women and girls
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |