UNIFEM seeks funding to provide shelter and services for women in Haiti

Progress for Women Is Progress for All

The recent earthquake has resulted in a massive loss of life and the devastation of Port au Prince and surrounding communities. It throws the country, which had been in the slow process of stabilisation, into unimaginable chaos. As part of the overall UN effort in the country, the UNIFEM team in Haiti is trying to help survivors who are seeking refuge in spontaneous and self-managed temporary camps.

There's no electricity and water, food, medical care and shelter are all in short supply.
You can read the latest report from UNIFEM staff at www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=1016

UNIFEM's call for funding

Money raised through the UNIFEM appeal will go towards a range of efforts from emergency community-based violence prevention programmes to repairing damage to existing women's shelters and providing humanitarian aid like emergency supplies, staff and counselling services in communities most affected. UNIFEM will work with NGO partners to strengthen services to victims of gender-based violence and their families in women's centres and temporary shelters in Port au Prince and Jacmel.

You can donate online now through UNIFEM in New York at https://secure.globalproblems-globalsolutions.org/site/Donation2?df_id=1960&1960.donation=form1

UNIFEM's work on the ground shows that too often natural disasters result in greater household and institutional instability and to increasing women's vulnerability to violence, abuse and sexual exploitation. "This terrible humanitarian disaster is likely to impact girls, boys, women and men in different ways," UNIFEM Executive Director Inés Alberdi said. "UNIFEM is committed along with its partners and the UN system to working to ensure that attention is given to addressing these differential impacts and in particular to ensuring the personal security of women and girls."

UNIFEM's programme in Haiti

UNIFEM has an established country programme in Haiti. Prior to the earthquake, political instability and budget constraints added to the fragility of public institutions. UNIFEM was working with ministries and civil society organisations to help build the government's capacity to deliver services and be accountable. Priorities included reforming laws that discriminate against women, increasing women's participation in elections, mobilising a response to widespread sexual violence and dealing with women's poverty.

UNIFEM mourns the deaths of women's rights activists

It was with tremendous sadness that UNIFEM learned about the deaths in the earthquake of several women leaders from the Haiti government and women's organisations. Among them were Myriam Merlet, Chief of Cabinet of the Ministry of Women's Condition and Rights and founder of the umbrella women's organisation National Coordination for Advocacy on Women's Rights (CONAP); Myrna Narcisse, Director General of the Ministry of Women's Condition; Magalie Marcelin, founder of KayFamn, which operates the only shelter for victims of gender-based violence; and Anne-Marie Coriolon, founding member of one of Haiti's largest women's groups, Solidarite Fanm Ayisyèn (SOFA).

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