VSO Statement: Women and girls at heart of Obama and Cameron aid pledge

25/05/2011 15:41:00

VSO welcomes Prime Minister David Cameron and President Obama’s announcement that they plan to do more to prevent violence towards women, and to change the lives of the 1.2 billion poor people in the world today.

VSO supports their joint agreement that outlines that “combating poverty, mitigating disasters and preventing conflict is morally right and is firmly in line with our respective national interests and fundamental values.”

The commitment comes just a week after the first official visit to Britain by Michelle Bachelet, Head of UN Women. During the visit the Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell said that the UK Government would provide “extraordinarily strong support to UN Women" and that Britain would "play a leading and prominent part in funding UN Women's plan".

Meanwhile, Shadow Secretary of State, Harriet Harman announced she would set up an All-Party Parliamentary Group on UN Women to keep track of its progress and establish an international group of female Parliamentarians who would provide guidance and advice to UN Women on fostering women's political participation.

VSO hopes that this renewed commitment will move the agency closer to the anticipated funding commitment from the UK Government.

VSO has been lobbying for the new UN agency for three years to address the stark discrepancies in poverty, human rights and violence that disproportionately affect women and girls across the developing world. UN Women opened its doors in January and VSO has been working through its Godmothers’ Campaign to encourage the UK Government to announce its funding commitment.

VSO Chief Executive Officer, Marg Mayne says today that UN Women is a once in a generation opportunity to deliver real change for women and girls across the world, however its success hinges on funding.

“We commend President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron for putting women and girls and the centre of its aid work. We look forward to the UK Government announcing how much it will fund UN Women. Currently the agency faces a significant funding shortfall and needs at least £21 million in core annual funding from the UK to help it get to work. This is just half the funds the UK Government allocates to the children’s agency UNICEF. We are also pleased that President Obama acknowledges the importance of UN Women and hope that this will lead to an increased funding commitment from the US.”

There are a number of other commitments that President Obama and David Cameron also made today that VSO will play a key role in helping achieve. Among them were:

  • preventing stunted growth and child mortality in 17 million undernourished children, by for example, supplying vitamin supplements through schools

  • leveraging $70 million in private investment to improve market opportunities and links with smallholders, including through Department for International Development’s  new Private Sector Department

  • saving the lives of at least 50,000 women in pregnancy and childbirth, by for example, training midwives in developing countries

  • getting more than five million girls into primary and secondary school, by for example, building schools and training teachers in areas that lack education institutions

  • generating $2.8 billion agricultural GDP through research and development activities. For example, by supporting research into crops that can survive floods, droughts, rising temperatures and natural disasters.

Other commitments included:

  • helping 18 million women to access financial services, for example, by providing micro-loans so they can start up small businesses

  • being even more open, accountable and transparent, putting in place mechanisms such as the UK Aid Transparency Guarantee and the US’s Foreign Assistance Dashboard

  • Working to strengthen GAVI so that it can save more lives including by providing underused vaccines which could prevent four million childhood deaths by 2015

  • continuing to call for a global climate deal that limits the increase in temperature to 2 degrees Celsius;

  • increasing the incomes of the 1.2 billion of the world’s poorest people who depend on forests for their livelihoods through our partnership with REDD+.

Ends

VSO Media contact: Krista Eleftheriou on krista.eleftheriou@vso.org.uk, +44 (0)20 8780 7265, +44 (0)7738982122.

Editor's notes

VSO is the leading international development charity that works through volunteers. Since 1958 more than 44,000 volunteers have worked in more than 120 countries. Today there are over 1600 international volunteers working in more than 40 countries around the world.

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The Godmothers is a group of men and women who think women everywhere deserve a chance. Together they aim to watch over UN Women, help keep it on track and protect it from people who’d like to see it fail - everything a good godmother would do. By making sure UN Women gets the powers and funding it needs, it can make life better for millions of women worldwide. www.thegodmothers.org.uk

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