IN STORIES
Discover how civil society and women’s rights organizations supported by the UN Trust Fund are leading transformative change for women and girls around the world.
In Focus: International Women's Day 2024 and CSW68
When we invest in women, we invest in society as whole, we invest in a safer, resilient, better world for all.
This International Women’s Day, 8 March, join the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) in global solidarity under the theme “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”. This theme is aligned with the priority theme for the upcoming 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”.
Our world is marked by escalating conflicts, shrinking civic spaces and backlash against women and girls’ rights. Amidst multiple crises of various nature, women and girls bear a disproportionate burden, facing heightened risks of violence and marginalization.
Despite the gravity of this reality, the resources allocated to promote gender equality, to prevent and end violence against women and girls, remain insufficient. Only 0.13% of total ODA goes to organizations advocating for women’s rights[1], exacerbating the challenges they face.
The urgent need to invest in the rights and empowerment of women and girls has never been more evident. Allocating sufficient resources and offering holistic support to civil society and women's rights organizations—those with robust expertise and decades of experience in addressing all forms of violence against women and girls—is critical and lifesaving. Civil society organizations, especially women’s rights organizations, are holders of key insights on contextually relevant approaches and they are creating pathways for women’s and girls’ empowerment, visibility, shifts in power and the redistribution of resources within the context in which they operate.
The UN Trust Fund is deeply committed to supporting civil society and women’s rights organizations to lead transformative change all around the world. Our grantee partners are empowering women and girl survivors and those most at risk of violence, to develop economic autonomy, security, confidence and resilience.
UN Trust Fund partners across the globe combine social and economic empowerment interventions in order to address root causes of violence against women and girls. Through interventions such as vocational training, job placement support, financial literacy training, seed-funding, cash-based emergency relief and other multifaceted approaches that address gender norms, control over resources, market access and legal barriers alike, , UN Trust Fund grantee partners have demonstrated the critical role of women’s social and economic empowerment in reclaiming their right to a life free from violence.
[1] AWID (2022), “Where is the money for feminist organizing? Data snapshots And a Call to Action”
ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Celebrate International Women’s Day 2024 with us! Join us online in standing up against violence against women and girls and celebrating the critical work of civil society and women’s rights organizations leading life-saving initiatives for the most marginalized women and girls.
- Follow us across our various channels: X, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn - and learn more about the work of our grantee organizations to empower women and girls in all their diversity;
- Join the conversation on social media using #IWD2024, #CSW68 and #InvestInWomen;
- Amplify our key messages by sharing our social media package available here.
UN TRUST FUND AT CSW68
- On 11 March, the UN Trust Fund will be organizing a “Meet & Greet” session with grantee partners attending CSW68 and present in New York, providing them with an opportunity to foster an open, informal dialogue.
- On 13 March, Abigail Erikson, Chief of the UN Trust Fund will take part in a panel organized by Equality Fund, titled “Unfolding the Tapestry: Where do we go from here?”. This event will focus on the needs, gaps and opportunities to robustly support ongoing feminist responses, build stronger collaborations with the humanitarian sector.
- On 14 March, the UN Trust Fund will hold its first ever Donor Forum. This event aims to bring the UN Trust Fund’s top 15 donors together in an open dialogue and exchange with the UN Trust Fund and UN Women senior management, including to share the latest achievements and results from UN Trust Fund grantee partners and to reflect on the key findings and recommendations from the mid-term review of the UN Trust Fund’s Strategic Plan (2021-2025).
- Later that day, UN Trust Fund will co-host with the Ford Foundation in collaboration with Gender Funders Co-Lab, Alliance for Feminist Movements, an event called “Transnational Feminist Remix”. This networking reception aims to bring together feminist organizations and activists from around the world to celebrate their shared commitment to women’s rights and ending violence against women and girls.
- On 15 March, Abigail Erikson, Chief of the UN Trust Fund will be speaking at a side-event organized by the International Indigenous Women Forum: “From commitment to action: Financing the implementation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s General recommendation No.39 (2022) on the rights of Indigenous Women and Girls”. This event is organized in collaboration with Equality Fund, UNICEF, the joint SDG Fund, UN Women, the Organization for Community Development and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
UN TRUST FUND GRANTEE PARTNERS AT CSW68
On March 12
- Two grantee partners, SOFEPADI and Fund for Congolese Women are co-hosting an event: “Transformative Female Actions in Conflict Zones: Empowerment and Gender Equality”.
- The Arab Women Organization is co-hosting an event: “The Care Economy in an Evolving World: Equal Sharing of Caregiving and Household Responsibilities between Men and Women as Tool for Social Equity and Cohesion”. Click here for more information.
- The Center for Reproductive Rights is co-organizing the side-event “The Impacts of Poverty and Criminalization on Access to Abortion”.
- Alliances for Africa will organize a side event on “Feminist Analysis on Sexual Harassment in the Nigerian Context: Issues, Challenges, and the Way Forward for the Centres for Gender Studies”. Click here to register.
- Women for Women International is organizing the #SheDares reception to mark the beginning of CSW68.
On March 13
- CAWTAR has invited the UN Trust Fund to speak at their high-level panel on CSW68 theme.
- The Arab Women Organization will be co-hosting the event “The Effectiveness of International Law in Protecting Women during Wars and Armed Conflict: From Prevention to Effective Enforcement, Lessons Learnt from the Arab Region”.
On March 14
- SIHA Network will hold an event titled “In Sudan's War Money Talks - But Who's in the Conversation?”. Click here to register.
- Women for Women International is organizing the event "Listen to Women: Understanding the Barriers and Opportunities for Women’s Participation, Voice and Leadership". Click here to RSVP before 12th March.
On March 18
- CREAW will organize an event: “An innovative approach to financial inclusion of survivors”.
- HelpAge International is co-organizing the event “Beyond Crisis: Driving Gender Equality and Empowerment for Women and Girls of all Ages through Social Protection”. Click here to register.
On March 20
- SIHA Network is organizing a second side-event: “In the Horn of Africa, Women's Poverty is Generational”. Click here to register.
IN VIDEOS
NGO Atina (Serbia)
ECPAT France (Madagascar)
Raksha (Nepal)
