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China gender facility announces fourth call for proposals
19 September 2008, Beijing - The China Gender Facility’s (CGF) fourth call for proposals, announced yesterday, will respond to urgent and unmet needs for women in China, with a focus on the three areas of gender and disaster management, migration and trafficking, and strengthening women’s legal rights and access to justice.
The CGF, administered by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) China under the guidance of the UN China Theme Group on Gender (UNTGG), was set up in September 2004 with the objective of advancing gender equality in China, and thus contributing to the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Ms. Constance Thomas, UNTGG Chair, said, “The latest call for proposals, while still focusing on broader areas including women’s human rights and women’s empowerment, will also aim to address new developments in China including addressing gender in the rebuilding and reconstruction efforts of the Sichuan earthquake.”
Operating within the context of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other international frameworks, the CGF provides grants of up to 30,000 USD to government, local and national civil society organisations and academic institutions in mainland China.
Out of the three previous calls for proposals 25 projects were selected, and many have made significant progress in gender mainstreaming and raising gender awareness in China.
To address the prevalence of domestic violence in China, in which 90% of victims are women, a CGF-supported project developed a replicable model for domestic violence shelters. The model was piloted in Xuzhou, and includes a hotline for urgent assistance, advocacy bulletin boards and websites, and legal and gender training for staff members.
Further, against a backdrop of the increasing feminization of HIV/AIDS in China, grantees have conducted capacity building activities for government officials and community members to assist in the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS-assistance policies.
Other CGF-supported projects established the first domestic workers’ union in Xi’an, promoted gender sensitivity in the party school system, and conducted in-depth research into the current status of women with disabilities, for inclusion in China’s first online database for disabled women.
“After the achievements of projects in the last three rounds, we are excited about what the next projects will offer, and the assessors will be seeking innovative approaches to respond to acute, persisting and emerging gender issues in China,” Ms Thomas said.
Project selection shall be made by the Technical Advisory Committee, composed of CGF donors and the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF), under the UNTGG, taking into consideration the proposals’ human rights based approach, gender mainstreaming policies, advocacy and implementation plans, capacity building activities, the applicant’s institutional capacity and credentials, the participatory planning processes and strategic partnerships, and the sustainability of the action.
The CGF works closely with the ACWF and receives funding from UN Agencies (UNICEF, UNFPA, ILO and UNIFEM), bilateral donors (the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada) and the private sector (OMEGA Watches).
“We are very grateful for the support of our donors and ACWF without which these achievements and future progress towards gender equality in China would not be possible,” Ms Thomas said.
The fourth call for proposals will close on October 31, 2008 at 6pm.
For more information please visit http://unifem.un.org.cn/.
The CGF, administered by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) China under the guidance of the UN China Theme Group on Gender (UNTGG), was set up in September 2004 with the objective of advancing gender equality in China, and thus contributing to the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Ms. Constance Thomas, UNTGG Chair, said, “The latest call for proposals, while still focusing on broader areas including women’s human rights and women’s empowerment, will also aim to address new developments in China including addressing gender in the rebuilding and reconstruction efforts of the Sichuan earthquake.”
Operating within the context of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other international frameworks, the CGF provides grants of up to 30,000 USD to government, local and national civil society organisations and academic institutions in mainland China.
Out of the three previous calls for proposals 25 projects were selected, and many have made significant progress in gender mainstreaming and raising gender awareness in China.
To address the prevalence of domestic violence in China, in which 90% of victims are women, a CGF-supported project developed a replicable model for domestic violence shelters. The model was piloted in Xuzhou, and includes a hotline for urgent assistance, advocacy bulletin boards and websites, and legal and gender training for staff members.
Further, against a backdrop of the increasing feminization of HIV/AIDS in China, grantees have conducted capacity building activities for government officials and community members to assist in the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS-assistance policies.
Other CGF-supported projects established the first domestic workers’ union in Xi’an, promoted gender sensitivity in the party school system, and conducted in-depth research into the current status of women with disabilities, for inclusion in China’s first online database for disabled women.
“After the achievements of projects in the last three rounds, we are excited about what the next projects will offer, and the assessors will be seeking innovative approaches to respond to acute, persisting and emerging gender issues in China,” Ms Thomas said.
Project selection shall be made by the Technical Advisory Committee, composed of CGF donors and the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF), under the UNTGG, taking into consideration the proposals’ human rights based approach, gender mainstreaming policies, advocacy and implementation plans, capacity building activities, the applicant’s institutional capacity and credentials, the participatory planning processes and strategic partnerships, and the sustainability of the action.
The CGF works closely with the ACWF and receives funding from UN Agencies (UNICEF, UNFPA, ILO and UNIFEM), bilateral donors (the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada) and the private sector (OMEGA Watches).
“We are very grateful for the support of our donors and ACWF without which these achievements and future progress towards gender equality in China would not be possible,” Ms Thomas said.
The fourth call for proposals will close on October 31, 2008 at 6pm.
For more information please visit http://unifem.un.org.cn/.