UN City Supplement 2017 by UN City

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WE ARE COMMITTED TO CHANGE - LET’S EMPOWER WOMEN

Everybody wins when we invest in women and girls. Gender equality, equal rights and opportunities are the key to a more free, fair and prosperous world. This is why Denmark has never stopped fighting for gender equality and women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, and why we continue to push for global change.

Ulle Tørnæs, Minister for Development Cooperation

here are countless good arguments for the importance of gender equality and women’s rights. It is a human right. All women are entitled to live a life with dignity and equal opportunities. To decide freely if, when and with whom they want to have children. Gender equality is also an imperative for sustainable development. A McKinsey study shows that the global GDP could increase 25 % by 2025 if we achieve full gender equality. Young women, who avoid unintended pregnancies, are more likely to stay in school, participate in the work force, and have healthier, better-educated children, than their peers who begin childbearing in adolescence. Informed about their sexual and reproductive health and rights, young women tend to marry later and to have fever children at a higher age. Still, despite the clear evidence, gender equality and women’s right remains an unfulfilled promise. Conservative voices in various countries are opposing our progressive efforts and the results obtained so far. And the statistics are still staggering. Worldwide, more than 225 million women lack access to birth control and family planning. Around 22 million unsafe abortions are carried out every year. And more than 800 women die every day due to pregnancy or giving birth. 99 % of these deaths take place in a developing country, where complications during childbirth are the second cause of death among young women. The statistics are even worse in humanitarian crisis. In South Sudan more than 4 out of 10 women have experienced sexual and gender-based violence. And a young girl in South Sudan is three times more likely to die in childbirth than she is to complete her primary school. Denmark is strongly committed to change this shattering reality. This is why we continue to work tirelessly to empower especially young women through initiatives that improve gender equality and sexual and reproductive health

and rights. In 2018, Denmark is doubling the funding allocated to global sexual and reproductive health and rights. 700 million DKK is allocated to multilateral initiatives, because the United Nations is an important partner in promoting gender equality. It may seem hard, almost hopeless in some instances, to realise gender equality and break the negative cycle, but I strongly believe that it is possible. Not long ago I meet Diana - a young woman from Kenya, who has experienced the most awful incidents of gender discrimination and violence among her friends. In her anger of the unbearable reality, she decided to act. She decided to fight for young women’s rights, so she started an educational mentorship programme with the purpose of having an open dialogue with young girls and woman about their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Initiatives like that need all the support we can give. Diana shapes not only her own future, but also that of her community and our shared world. She, together with the more than 1.8 billion youth living in our world today, are crucial agents of change and key for the realization of gender equality and sustainable development. This is an enormous potential that must be unleashed. Denmark will continue our fight for gender equality and women’s and girl’s sexual and reproductive health and rights simply because when we invest in women, especially young women, everybody wins.

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GENDER EQUALITY IS NOT ONLY A HUMAN RIGHT BUT ALSO SMART ECONOMICS

UNDP, the UN Development Programme

he Global Goals for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders two years ago with a commitment to achieve them by 2030 call for the eradication of poverty in all its forms everywhere. Despite a historical reduction in poverty by as much as 75% over the last 25 years, 836 million people in the world still live in abject poverty today and 2,2 billion are vulnerable to falling back into poverty if they lose their job, get sick or otherwise face reduced income earning opportunities. To reach the global goals and make poverty a thing of the past, it is today broadly recognized that we need to accelerate our effort to achieve gender equality. UNDP has calculated that in sub-Saharan Africa – the poorest region in the world – gender inequality is costing an average of USD95 billion a year, or six percentage of the region’s GDP. Advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment is therefore not only a moral imperative and a human right, it is also smart economics. Gender inequality hampers both social and economic development, and stands in the way of eradicating poverty. As the largest UN development organisation working in 170 countries to eradicate poverty, promote equality and justice, UNDP seeks to advance the role and empower women in all countries. We work through an integrated approach to strengthen livelihoods and build resilience, and this way reduce vulnerability, and promote lasting development impact. In Bangladesh for example, UNDP works with government to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods in urban areas, with special attention to women. Shabdi D’Costa’s family is one among roughly 10 million people in urban Bangladesh, who live in slums or shanties. She lives with her three daughters and husband. They used to live of her husband’s meagre salary and barely had enough money to survive, let alone any savings to set aside for a rainy day. Shabdi turned to UNDP’s Urban Partnerships in Poverty Reduction (UPPR for support). The programme offers poor urban communities resources, knowledge and skills to increase their

Shabdi D’Costa is well known in her neighbourhood for her work in helping women emerge from poverty. (Photo: UNDP Bangladesh)

income and a space to mobilise and create community development committees. More than 800,000 households have joined the roughly 2,500 committees, which are 90% led by women. Shabdi was selected by her peers to represent the poor households of her neighbourhood, as the “Didi”/”elder sister” whom local women could seek out for advice and arbitration. “I was very excited when I got this opportunity, because as a committee member I could receive training in savings and credit management in exchange for the unpaid work of helping other poor households – specifically families of single or abandoned women,” Shabdi says. UNDP supports with small cash transfers, which have so far put more than three million people in urban areas on the path to a better future. The programme offers education stipends, apprenticeships, block grants and access to safe water and sanitation. “I am not very educated, but I know enough to understand that education is the ticket out of poverty,” says Shabdi. “I want to ensure that my daughters get all the opportunities that I was denied because of my poverty,” she adds. For two years Shabdi witnessed families from her slum transition from poverty to small business owners. With this programme UNDP has helped more than 800,000 households, and given 3 million people, especially women and children better living conditions and livelihood opportunities. The programme has also given 166,000 households access to improved water sources and new toilets for 143,000. Bangladesh has nearly halved its poverty in the past 20 years. Shabdi’s story is an example of how UNDP seeks to strengthen the role and empower women as an integrated solution to advance social and economic development.

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FEEDBACK ESSENTIAL TO MEET HYGIENE NEEDS OF WOMEN & GIRLS IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS By Teresa Sokolowski, UNICEF Supply Division

rotecting the health of girls and women during humanitarian crises is an ongoing challenge for the Water, Sanitation, and Education Center at UNICEF Supply Division. The centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus on the delivery of Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) supplies in emergency situations was developed to help women and girls maintain menstrual hygiene, dignity, and personal safety under difficult circumstances. The Standard Hygiene and Dignity Kit, packed at Supply Division Headquarters in Copenhagen, contains a variety of essential items for a family of two adults and three children to keep themselves clean and free from sickness and infection in emergency conditions for a period of one month. Every kit contains bars of soap, a soap box, a bucket with a lid, laundry detergent, bottles of shampoo, tubes of adult and child toothpaste and toothbrushes, nail clippers, a torch, a clothes line with clothespins, multipurpose cloths, safety pins and reusable menstrual pads.

Women and girls face a variety of challenges concerning menstruation during emergencies, all of which pertain to their personal hygiene, dignity, and safety. A 2013 evaluation of the hygiene kit by the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Unit (WASH) identified six key challenges:

Iraq. Farahedee School for boys and girls was rehabilitated by UNICEF, including the water facilities where Sidra washes her face. Photo: ÂŠ UNICEF/UN068271/Anmar

1. Women and girls suffer a loss or disruption of their usual coping strategies for managing their menstruation, such as where they obtain sanitary protection materials. They also experience a lack of facilities in which to wash, dry, or dispose of them. 2. Having to live in confined, crowded environments in close proximity to males problematizes women and girls’ privacy. 3. Financial challenges limit women and girls’ access to purchase sanitary items. 4. Situations of conflict often pose additional challenges for accessibility to water supplies, sanitation, and to obtain hygiene items. 5. If a family member is injured or directly impacted during a crisis, women and girls are often expected to act as primary caregiver. 6. Existing MHM support structures (teachers, friends, family members) are undermined by an emergency. This is particularly challenging for younger girls (about to start their menses) and those who have lost or been separated from family members. Cultural contexts dictate which types of MHM products are acceptable in every country. For example, whereas some women are comfortable using sanitary pads while menstruating, other women and girls are unfamiliar with the pads, and prefer to use washable cloths. Country Offices are then obliged to seek feedback from women and girls, the end-users, to

customize kits that are more aligned to local needs and hygiene practices. Feedback about the functionality and suitability of the Hygiene Kit was obtained from 5 countries for the 2013 evaluation (Haiti, Philippines, Somalia, Afghanistan, Mauritania) through Focus Group Discussions (FGD). Specific cultural differences were found between these countries, confirming the necessity for Country Offices to customize Hygiene Kits for the women and girls they support. For example, in Afghanistan, a clear shift to use sanitary napkins as opposed to the traditional menstrual cloth was observed among younger girls, though few could afford them. In Mauritania, most women and girls used cotton rags and underwear while menstruating, and before the FGD, had never been approached about MHM. In Afghanistan, the biggest challenge around MHM was cited as taking the compulsory bath after menstruation in accordance with Islamic requirements of cleanliness. Many women and girls complained about missing prayers due to non-availability of bathing facilities. In Mauritania, a need for separate bathing facilities for women was mentioned to ensure privacy to change, wash, and dry sanitary cloths. The evaluation notes that a multi-disciplinary response is recommended to continue to support the needs of women and girls’ menstrual hygiene during emergencies. According to the 2013 report, an estimated 800 million females in the menstruating age group live in the developing world requiring consensus on the response in humanitarian emergencies. Supply Division is currently reviewing different MHM products available worldwide in order to determine a wider range of appropriate options for different humanitarian and cultural contexts.

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FIFTEEN WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES BUILD A GENDER-JUST ENERGY SYSTEM UNIDO, the UN Industrial Development Organization

nergy poverty is high in West Africa: less than half of the population has access to electricity and women’s potential as active partici-

is necessary to include women as active agents of

pants in the energy sector has been underutilised.

ment of energy and environmental resilience,”

However, fifteen West African countries (Benin,

says Jukka Uosukainen, CTCN Director.

Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo) are now putting women at the forefront of a new energy strategy to develop and enable increased access to climate friendly energy throughout the region.

change who possess unique knowledge and skills to be acknowledged and utilised in the develop-

The CTCN delivers technology assistance at the request of developing countries as they strive to develop energy-efficient, low-carbon and climate-resilient societies. In order to provide expertise on a broad range of technology issues (from agriculture and energy to transport and waste

These countries requested help from the Climate

management), the Centre mobilizes a global net-

Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), co-host-

work of almost 400 technology companies and

ed by UNIDO and UN Environment, to develop

institutions to design and deliver customized solu-

and harness the capacity of the region’s women

tions for countries.

and men (as policy makers, entrepreneurs, and researchers) to adopt a gender-responsive approach to improving energy access that combines solutions to both reduce carbon emissions and strengthen capacity to respond to climate change impacts.

In response to the West African request, the CTCN partnered with the Economic Community of West African States Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), the Private Financing Advisory Network (co-hosted by UNIDO and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Part-

Targeting gender equality and women’s econom-

nership) and Partners for Innovation to provide

ic empowerment is not only important from the

capacity building, investment promotion and busi-

perspective of realising women’s rights but is also

ness development in the region.

smart economics. Women are key agents of change and when women and men are equal, economies grow faster; less people remain in poverty, and the overall well-being of people increases. “For energy to be fully addressed in the region, it

One key aspect of the collaboration is working with women entrepreneurs to develop commercially viable energy projects and to provide coaching on technical and financial skills needed to be competitive as energy producers and suppliers.

Upon the completion of the coaching phase, the projects will be introduced to interested investors, and receive follow-up support and deal-making facilitation. PFAN and CTCN will work closely with female-led climate and clean energy businesses in the region to leverage their expertise as agents of change. “Beyond the vulnerabilities resulting from differing gender roles, women can be key drivers for for sustainable energy as consumers, producers, intermediaries, researchers and influencers of the sustainable energy future,” says Monica Maduekwe from Nigeria, the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership – REEEP). By engaging with entrepreneurs, energy and environment ministries, civil society, industry and research institutions in the region, West Africa is laying the groundwork for increased access to affordable, reliable and sustainable forms of energy. Energy improvements will also reduce the burden of household chores typically assigned to women, thus allowing them to engage in productive activities leading not only to their empowerment but also to creating equality among genders. In turn, gender mainstreamed energy initiatives are more effective and more likely to achieve a sustainable impact, since understanding female energy usage facilitates more comprehensive and long-term energy solutions for inclusive growth and development. Photo: CTCN

WOMEN AND WOOD FUEL: THE PROOF OF THE BURDEN UNEP DTU Partnership

Cost-benefit studies are necessary to convince the international community to invest in alternative fuels for these camps. To this end, UDP has amassed data on energy use in the Nyarugusu camp in western Tanzania, home to 140,000 people from neighbouring Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We conducted surveys of 500 households in the camp. The data we collected showed that for half, the search for wood fuel often takes more than seven hours. Seventeen percent said they bartered food rations and other basic necessities for wood or charcoal. Fifty-one percent spent an average of 25,246 Tanzanian shillings (12 USD) on wood fuel, which is a lot of money in this region, especially for refugees who have minimal income.

Women carrying wood. Photo by James A. Haselip

n sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, some 2.8 billion people use wood fuel for cooking and heating, and it is the women and children among them who pay the heaviest price. In rural areas, they are the ones who usually gather the wood, often spending most of the day assembling heavy loads, which they then carry back to their homes. When burned, the fuel generates smoke and fumes that pollute the air they breathe. While this energy source is theoretically “free”, its cost is high in terms of exhaustion, health and time lost that could have been spent earning income and learning skills. The environment also pays a price. In Africa, where only 5 percent of logged forests grow back, wood fuel use is a major source of net carbon emissions. When burned, wood fuel releases high concentrations of carbon monoxide and particulates, a danger not only to the earth’s atmosphere, but also to the health of anyone standing nearby. According to the World Health Organization, household air pollution causes 36 percent of all lower respiratory infections and 22 percent of chronic respiratory disease. Scientific evidence also links indoor smoke to infant mortality and birth weight. Globally, 3.9 million people die every year from household air pollution, and in Africa it kills more people than malaria. This ‘killer in the kitchen’ has a disproportionate impact on women, who are most frequently responsible for preparing family meals. At UNEP DTU Partnership (UDP), we have been researching rural energy use in developing countries since the early 1990s. Working with governments and small businesses, we seek out opportunities for switching from problematic fuels like wood to cleaner and safer forms of energy, like sustainable charcoal, briquettes and bottled Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). Recently, we have been collaborating with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in their effort to push energy up to the top of the humanitarian agenda. Energy use is a crisis issue in many refugee camps. In sub-Saharan Africa, competition for wood fuel has become a source of conflict between increasingly large refugee populations and local communities. Refugee women, who walk as far as 20km in search of wood, often take the brunt of this hostility, becoming walking targets for violence.

A switch to cleaner LPG would improve both health and quality of life in the camps. Moreover, our research found that men are more willing to help cook when households switched to gas, adding to the growing evidence that moving up the ‘energy ladder’ has parallel positive impacts on gender roles. By far, the greatest beneficiaries of the switch from wood fuel to LPG are women and children. By making an economic case for investing in alternative fuels in refugee camps, our work will help guide decision making in humanitarian agencies, giving them solid reasons to promote safer and cleaner fuels for these at-risk populations.

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THE UN MIGRATION AGENCY

CONSCIOUSLY CHALLENGING BIASES IN RECRUITMENT By Pauline Mukanza, IOM Gender Coordination Unit

u Weixa – I can see that she is from China, so I wonder how good her French is … she is 32 and applying for a position at headquarters after working in the field? I bet she wants to have a family. That means maternity leave and no travel to missions.

From left to right: Bernardo Mariano – Director of Information and Communications Technology at IOM, Tanya M. Odom – international expert on unconscious bias, Laura Thompson - Deputy Director General of IOM, Kate Gilmore – Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at OHCHR and Kyle Ward, Head, Administration Department at OHCHR.

Our brains receive millions of pieces of information each second, creating shortcuts that are based on preconceived ideas, cultural context and past experiences in order to make the best decision quickly. This very action of rapid judgment and assessment of people and different situations around us is what we call unconscious bias. Through a recently launched video, IOM, the UN Migration Agency and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) are addressing unconscious bias within UN recruitment and the workplace. All of IOM’s recruiters are now tasked with including the five-minute video when selecting a new candidate for the Organization.

UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2017 Unconsciously, bias affects us all in every aspect of our lives regardless of our sex, gender or ethnicity. These SO WHAT CAN YOU DO DIFFERENTLY THE subtle thought patterns are problematic when we are hiring a new candidate because it puts us at risk of missing out on the best qualified candidate. It NEXT TIME YOU HIRE? is clear that women often have to provide more evidence of competence compared to men in order to be seen as equally capable. In fact, as the video 1. RECOGNITION: The first step is to recognise your own unconscious states, where equally qualified candidates were considered, mothers were bias so that you can take concrete steps to mitigate it. 79 percent less likely to be hired, because the ideas of parenthood tend to 2. PRIMING: Prime your brain to make decisions based on objective crilook differently on women and men. Likewise, the video clearly advises work teria before looking at candidates’ qualifications. environments to avoid group-think from a homogeneous group of people. Instead, we suggest aiming for diverse teams that will be more likely to bring 3. IMPARTIALITY: Put aside your gut feeling towards some candidates a range of points of view because of the different ways that we processes in particular during the first five minutes of an interview. Consider your information. This results in better decision making that moves away from tone and what follow-up questions and comments you make. Take a break biased thinking and actions. during interviews and discuss any biases amongst the panelists. 4. DIVERSITY: Amongst all qualified candidates, consider who will bring the most diversity to the team in terms of gender, geography and age. In order to do this, make sure that you have the facts about the team compositions.

TEST YOUR BIAS: WHO DO YOU THINK IS TALLER?

147 people were shown photos of men and women and asked to estimate their height. Both men and women judged the men to be taller and the women shorter, even when the actual height was comparable. This shows how we generalise information from a group to an individual.

SCAN TO WATCH THE UN-BIASED VIDEO ONLINE

GENDER AND IOM: In today’s world more and more people are on the move. It is now understood that a person’s sex, gender identity and sexual orientation shape every stage of the migration experience. Gender is central to any discussion of the causes and consequences of regular and irregular migration and

5. ACCOUNTABILITY: Collect data that is disaggregated by sex and nationality at all stages of the recruitment process. Include this in the final recommendation file to the head of the organisation. This data will show where you should start and your current progress.

forced displacement. IOM works to address each person’s differences in order to provide equal opportunities. The organisation also works with its Gender Equality Policy (2015) to ensure that gender, diversity and inclusiveness is central to its internal operations.

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REACHING A ZERO UNMET NEED FOR FAMILY PLANNING BY 2030 UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund

ould I like to have children? If so, when? These questions are fundamental in every person’s life and it is a recognised human right to be able to decide on the number and spacing of our children. In order to make informed decisions, it is essential to have access to information and contraception. However, access to family planning remains a challenge in many parts of the world. An estimated 214 million women and young girls in the developing world still have an unmet need for modern contraceptives – meaning that they would want to avoid pregnancy but are not using a modern contraceptive method. Sierra Leonean Memunatu Fofanah was one of them a few years ago. She got pregnant at the age of 15 and dropped out of school. Memunatu’s aunt asked her to move out of the house and she was left with no support from any of her family members. With hard work and help from her neighbours, Memunatu was able to return to school, but she remained concerned about her future: “My worry was how to prevent myself from [having] another pregnancy.”

There are several reasons why girls like Memunatu don’t have the necessary information and means to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies. Some are logistical – a health facility that is too far away, or the closest clinic has run out of contraceptives. Some are social barriers where the family, community or partner oppose the use of family planning. And some are based on misconceptions about health and side effects following the use of contraceptives. Memunatu was able to access information on how to prevent another pregnancy through a programme supported by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. She ended up getting a contraceptive implant at a mobile outreach event in her village. She also became a ‘peer educator’, teaching other young men and women about their reproductive health and rights. For Memunatu, access to family planning was life changing. But it can also be life-saving. An estimated 303,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes each year. If women were able to protect themselves from unintended pregnancies in the first place, a third of all maternal deaths would be prevented. It is estimated that meeting the unmet need for fam-

ily planning would prevent 67 million unintended pregnancies annually. Family planning has a crucial impact on individual lives and communities but it is also closely linked to poverty reduction. Studies show that family planning is one of the smartest investments that countries can make in their futures. Family planning can help countries realise a ‘demographic dividend’, a boost in economic productivity that occurs when there are more people in the workforce and relatively fewer dependents, i.e. when fertility falls. Moreover, enabling women and girls to have a choice whether and when to have children empowers them. With family planning, they have the possibility to stay in school longer, earn a degree, and enter the paid workforce, and increase savings and investments – also in the health and education of the next generation. In the past two years, UNFPA has enabled 54 million people to use family planning. UNFPA has set an ambitious, transformative goal to eliminate all unmet demand for family planning by 2030 enabling all women and men to enjoy the basic human right to decide whether and when to have children.

Photo: UNFPA/Viviane Froger Fortaillier

Executive Director Grete Faremo visits a UNOPS Metro project in Lima, Peru. When finalised, the Metro will provide transportation for up to one million passengers a day. Photo: Fredy Salazar/UNOPS (Oct 2016)

EMPOWERING WOMEN

A COMMITMENT TO GENDER PARITY ACROSS UNOPS

By Grete Faremo, Under-Secretary-General and UNOPS Executive Director

his year UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed the need to reform and revitalize the way the UN works, with a pledge to improve gender parity across the organisation. In a world beset by humanitarian challenges, now more than ever we need a strong commitment to empowering women and girls in our societies. The UN is no exception. A target has been set to achieve gender parity at senior levels of UN leadership by 2021 and, ultimately, by 2028 across the board. The extent of this challenge differs depending on the current status today and is also influenced by the nature of many members of the UN family. Operations in the field, particularly in conflict-affected settings, are areas where the under-representation of women in the UN remains a stark challenge. This directly relates to the organisation I lead – UNOPS. Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – all are examples of our primary countries of delivery. And our operations also show women are under-represented. And with a mandate in infrastructure – to build

roads, runways, schools and hospitals, you may not be surprised to learn that sometimes, we have difficulty attaining a gender-balanced workforce. At the end of 2016, women made up 37 percent of our total workforce. Most women, when they leave UNOPS, do so at mid-career level, creating an obstacle to reaching parity at senior levels. Despite governments, businesses and the UN adopting many policies and programmes expressing commitment to gender equality, we still live in a male-dominated world. A lot can be improved in the common workplace. As part of our efforts to be a more sustainable organisation, and to better represent the people we serve, we embrace cultural and demographic diversity, not only in the projects that we do, but in our own workforce. We are working to ensure women at all levels see a future for themselves at UNOPS. Gender diversity, just like a culturally diverse workforce, is non-negotiable. We plan to implement our commitment to gender parity across the entire organization, and have specialists working hard to put policies and safeguards in place.

Senior management is working on this across their projects and teams, sometimes by taking unconventional approaches. Take our Jerusalem office, for example, that is currently running a project in the Gaza Strip. During the hiring process, a ‘blind recruitment’ helped increase the number of shortlisted female candidates. An established consistent salary scale has also helped decrease gaps in salaries between women and men. The policies were put in place to promote a healthy work-life balance. Women’s prayer facilities were made available, while training in gender has been made mandatory for all personnel. While some of these steps may seem trivial or just common sense, they are much more than that. When added up, they can contribute to a shift in thinking – one that empowers women. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we will continue to hold ourselves accountable to high standards and work towards equal opportunity for women in all areas of our work. We are committed to focus on this challenge to an ever greater extent. And that’s why we have set an ambitious target – we are aiming for gender parity by 2020.

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GENDER: AS CRISES BITE, THE STRUGGLE GOES ON by Kawinzi Muiu, Director of Gender at the United Nations World Food Programme poverty clung to her like a second skin.

Kawinzi Muiu is Director of Gender at the United Nations World Food Programme Photo: WFP/Rein Skullerud

ows.

There’s nothing wrong with them. On the contrary: they keep you fed – assuming they survive the occasional drought. They may even keep you company. Then again, if cows are all you get to the point of defining your universe, you have a problem. In rural Kenya, when I was growing up, cows were pretty much all I knew. Hence my mother’s wish that I should move as far away from them as possible. She insisted that I go to school. So I did – and so did my sisters. Our universe expanded with what to us sounded like a delicious pop. We even began to look at cows differently: we could see where they fitted in on the greater canvas of life. In Africa, Asia or Latin America, education wasn’t a given for rural girls. Girls like Zoila Esperanza Morán, an indigenous Q’eqchi’ from Guatemala. Her mother, unlike mine, chose to keep her out of school. Married off at 15, Zoila went on to have three children. For the next couple of decades,

To this day, in developing countries, tens of millions of girls remain locked out of the classroom. The waste – of knowledge, selfhood, economic wellbeing – is tremendous. But some things have changed. In my time, you pretty much had to lift yourself up by the ears. There was no global framework or concerted endeavour to educate girls. Today, there is. The Sustainable Development Goals are giving us the moral justification and political impetus to make education for girls universal by 2030. Will we get there? We don’t know yet. And what of people like Zoila, too old to go to school? Well, it depends what we understand by school. As it happens, Zoila is now learning and thriving. Together with sister agencies FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and UN Women, we at the World Food Programme (WFP) have launched a drive to empower rural women economically. Zoila, in her native Guatemala – and others like her in Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Rwanda – are being trained in entrepreneurship, business skills, business plan development, numeracy and literacy. They’re being given high-quality seeds, fertilisers and machinery, and shown how to improve food processing

and storage. Farming and schooling need not be antithetical after all. But we’re sailing, it must be said, between hope and peril. In chasing the elusive nexus of gender equality and food security, we must contend with resurgent conflict, mass displacement, climate change and assorted misfortune. Food relief in emergencies remains the bulk of WFP’s work – in Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, northeast Nigeria or elsewhere. The duty to save women and girls’ lives, through conflict and crisis, means we’re firefighting with one hand while building with the other. It’s not easy, this constant lurching between accomplishment and disaster; this dance between staving off catastrophe and crafting a future. But we have strong allies in Denmark and its neighbours. Not only are they among WFP’s most generous donors: they have helped place the pursuit of gender equality at the heart of the global agenda. It was my mother’s vision that helped make me what I am – a woman with rural African roots, working to assist and protect fellow women less favoured by circumstance. But it’s thanks in no small part to Nordic governments, to their commitment and support, that I can stay the course.

Placing the pursuit of gender equality at the heart of the global agenda. Photo: WFP/Riccardo Gangale

LONGER LIVES, BUT NOT ALWAYS IN GOOD HEALTH

WHO, the World Health Organization Women in Denmark live a significant part of their life in poor health Across Europe women are living longer and longer lives. Unfortunately that does not always mean that they are healthier. In fact women spend a disproportionally large part of their lives with serious illnesses. Important progress has been made in relation to gender equality and other social, economic and environmental determinants of women’s health. But there are many differences between and within countries. If you are born in Denmark today and happen to be a girl, you will on average die after 82.5 years. While that might sound like a high number, comparatively speaking, it is not. In fact Denmark ranks as number 19 of the 28 countries in the EU when it comes to life expectancy. Women in Spain, first on the list, live three years longer, while Denmark also lags far behind the other Scandinavian countries. The numbers become even less impressive when you look at the years women live with debilitating diseases. LONGER LIVES ARE NOT ALWAYS HEALTHIER LIVES The number of years women can expect to live in ill health is high across all European countries, and women in Denmark live more than 10 years of their 82.5 years in ill health. So what is it that shortens the lives of Danish women and makes them live so much of their lives in poor health?

Living longer is not all that matters. On average women spend more than 10 years of their life in ill health. Photo: Sissle Honoré Although still perceived as a men’s health issue, cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and coronary heart disease are the biggest reason for the overall disease burden for women. Besides cardiovascular diseases, cancer, mental health issues and lower back pain are the main causes of health problems and in some cases mortality, for women. RISK FACTORS Drinking alcohol and smoking are two of the main risk factors behind the disease burden for women. At age 15, adolescent girls in Denmark hold the European record for drinking, with almost twice as many Danish girls having been drunk compared to the European average. When it comes to smoking, women in Denmark are doing better, with only about 1 out of 5 women smoking, which is slightly lower than the EU average of 1 in 4.

also for their health as it is known that gender equality is closely connected to both women’s well-being and their overall health. A STRATEGY FOR HEALTHIER WOMEN AND SOCIETIES In September 2016, Denmark along with the other countries of the WHO European Region, adopted a strategy for women’s health and wellbeing. This strategy builds on the Sustainable Development Goals set for 2030 where the third goal aims to improve good health and well-being and the fifth to strengthen gender equality. Working for better health and well-being for women is crucial to achieving both of these Sustainable Development Goals.

Socioeconomic factors such as levels of education and income can make already existing risk factors worse. Gender inequalities, discrimination and gender stereotypes also influence behaviour and practices that affect women’s health across the life-course. EQUALITY MEANS BETTER HEALTH It is not all bad news. Gender equality in Denmark is higher than in most countries. In fact in the EU, Denmark ranks third by the European Institute for Gender Equality. Gender equality in health means that women and men have the same conditions and opportunities to be healthy, contribute to health development and benefit from the results. This is not only good news for women’s opportunities in life, but

Reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 on health and well-being will be enabled by other goals, particularly SDG5 on gender equality and SDG10 on reducing inequalities within and between countries.

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GENDER EQUALITY:

NORDIC EFFORTS TO INSPIRE GLOBAL CHANGE UN Women

he Nordics are often portrayed as the gender equality champions of the world. In many respects, this is an accurate description. However, this does not mean that our work in the Nordics is done, as no country to date is gender equal. In the 2016 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden were placed as the top four. The report measures gender equality through a variety of parameters, including political and economic leadership. These are some of the areas that UN Women has focused on in its efforts to combat gender inequality through several initiatives in the Nordics and locally in Denmark. LOCAL INITIATIVES One way in which UN Women is working to increase the number of women in leadership positions in the private sector in Denmark, is through the initiative called the Gender Diversity Roundtable, established in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group. The roundtable gathers 15 Danish influential leaders from the private sector, universities and civil society, who are all dedicated to making a difference and improving conditions for women in leadership positions. These leaders are promoting initiatives to advance gender equality in their companies, universities and organisations and are leading the way in Denmark. REGIONAL COOPERATION However, the efforts to advance gender equality standards reaches beyond the Danish border. To influence policy makers, corporations and civil society to create the best environment for gender equality and to promote equal opportunities, UN Women advocates for the sharing of best practises on a regional scale. One example is the Barbershop concept, an Icelandic initiative which in cooperation with UN Women aims to give men a safe environment to discuss issues of gender equality. The goal is to mobilize and motivate men to take action for gender equality and to engage them in finding solutions to address discriminatory stereotypes of masculinity. The concept consists of a toolbox

Emma Watson is the public face of the global gender equality movement HeForShe, and a UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador. Here she is photographed on a visit in Malawi where she met with Senior Chief Inkosi Kachindamoto, a prominent champion in the fight to stop child marriage. Photo: Karin Schermbrucke

including a step-by step guidance on how to implement Barbershop events or conferences to mobilize men for gender equality. The next Barbershop conference, co-hosted by Iceland and the Nordic Council of Ministers, and facilitated by UN Women, is being held in the UN City in Copenhagen on 12 October 2017. A GLOBAL MOVEMENT The Barbershop conference is part of one of the most successful efforts led by UN Women globally - the HeForShe movement initia ted in 2014. Recognizing that the quest for gender equality has been led by women, with men largely missing from the debate, the movement invites men and boys onto the playing field. It encourages men and boys to join the pursuit for gender equality by raising awareness of how gender equality can help individuals and societies reach their full economic and social potential. Emma Watsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s powerful speech launching the movement created global momentum, which has created widespread attention on social media. The Nordic countries can serve as a regional best practice example on how to combat gender inequalities on a global scale. To live up to this role it is important, however, that we show the rest of the world that our work for gender equality is far from over, and hence we need to keep finding new ways to come closer to our goal. The HeForShe campaign is just one such example in which we are finding new ways to work towards gender equality, by recognizing that no efforts will succeed unless everybody, including men and boys, is working together towards shared goals. UN Women Nordic Liaison Office is working on sharing evidence based on best practices from the Nordic countries.

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RESPONDING TO VULNERABILITIES OF REFUGEE WOMEN AND GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency

NHCR is working hard to ease the additional struggles and challenges facing millions of displaced women and girls every day.

Imagine that you have been forced to leave your home because of conflict, violence or persecution. That you have been on the move for days, maybe without food and water, in order to reach safety. That you have no idea, what the future will bring for you and your family.

Sarah Katonga and other internally displaced women in their shelter at POC3 camp in Juba, South Sudan. The refugee crisis in South Sudan has displaced almost 4 mio. people since the conflict began in December 2013. Photo: © UNHCR/Petterik Wiggers (June 2017)

Those are the realities facing an unprecedented number of displaced people worldwide. Then imagine that because of your gender, an everyday task like collecting water or going to the toilet can put you at additional risk.

“These women and girls are stigmatized and marginalized instead of being seen as vulnerable victims. They are likely targeted because they are perceived as being affiliated with extremist groups,” explains UNHCR in Iraq.

Women and girls, constituting about half of any refugee or displaced population, are facing additional hardship on a daily basis. Statistics show that one in five refugee or displaced women are estimated to have experienced sexual violence. Moreover, many must forego education opportunities to tend to domestic responsibilities, leaving them less prepared for the future than male counterparts.

Here, UNHCR has strengthened its prevention and response activities related to SGBV by ensuring that all staff and partners across the operation are aware of how to respect survivor confidentiality, obtain prior consent from survivors for specific assistance, reduce risks of SGBV through adequate safety and security measures, and how to refer survivors to specialized service providers.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, works hard to ease the struggle of these women and girls, for example by ensuring safe shelters that offer privacy, securing fair food distribution systems and establishing separate sanitation facilities. In addition, UNHCR has strengthened the prevention of and response to Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) throughout our operations worldwide, deploying dedicated and specialized staff to address SGBV and support the survivors’ access to justice, health and safety services.

In South Sudan, the world is currently experiencing a fast growing refugee crisis and among the more than 2 million people who have already fled the country, women and children make up the majority.

Iraqi women are stigmatized after forced marriages to extremists The specific needs of displaced women and girls are evident across Iraq, where almost a million people have fled their homes since the military operation to retake the city of Mosul began last fall. Many displaced women and girls have lost husbands and fathers, and can therefore no longer rely on the social protection their male relatives provided in the cultural context. One of the most urgent gender-related problems in Iraq right now is the widespread occurrence of sexual violence. Humanitarian actors have received reports and responded to cases of sexual harassment, sexual assaults and rape of displaced women by parties to the conflict and other perpetrators, who often use such forms of abuse of women as a weapon of war. Especially vulnerable are the women and girls who were forced into marriages with the extremists.

Unstable situation in South Sudan creates particular risks to women

Gender inequality is one of the root causes of SGBV, and in South Sudan women and girls from host communities, refugee and displaced populations alike face similar challenges such as domestic violence, rape, and early and forced marriages. Forced displacement, however, can worsen the dire situation of girls and women – and SGBV may be a consequence of as well as a factor for displacement. “The unstable security situation in South Sudan has created security risks especially for women and children, including threat to life, lack of access to services, disruption of family structures, and poor access to law and order,” says UNHCR in South Sudan. Here, UNHCR and its partners have intensified efforts to address SGBV. Displaced women are offered legal consultation and representation in court free of charge. Another important step in UNHCR’s response here is the empowering of women, who undergo vocational trainings and receive start-up funds for income generating projects.

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VISIT UN CITY UN City Copenhagen is a unique addition to the Danish capital. Here, more than a thousand employees from eleven agencies work together under the mission of the United Nations. Located on Marmormolen (Marble Pier), an artificial island in Copenhagen’s Northern Harbour, you will find UN City surrounded by water. The iconic starshape, with the eight arms, symbolises the UN’s efforts to reach out to people all over the world. UN City is certified Platinum by LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) and the winner of the European Commission’s Green Building Award for New Buildings as well as the 2016 Energy Efficiency Visionary Award. VISIT UN CITY Every Friday at 14:00, UN City opens its doors to the public. Anyone may request a tour, which is free of charge. During the tour, you will learn more about the work of the UN, the agencies present in UN City, and the building itself. The tour takes approximately 45 minutes. If you are a group of fifteen or more people, interested in learning more about the UN and UN City, you are able to choose a guided tour or a lecture, or both. Tours and lectures are offered as free services. When setting foot in the building, visitors will quickly grasp how different the agencies actually are, and how different their goals and visions are. What is shared, however, is a common commitment to work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in collaboration with governments, academic institutions, private sector and civil society. Visit www.UN.dk for more information.

Photo: Adam Mørk

MIGRATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL ACTIVITIES

Central African Republic - N’dele. Socio-cultural activities organized by IOM in Djamassinda as a part of social cohesion initiatives. Photo: Amanda Nero, IOM

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration. In September 2016, IOM joined the United Nations to become the UN Migration Agency. IOM works with its partners to advance the understanding of migration issues, to encourage social and economic development through migration, and to uphold the dignity and well-being of migrants. IOM’s vision is for a world in which migration is driven by choice and not by desperate necessity. Where migration is managed in a safe, smart and orderly manner, and where migrants’ lives and rights are protected.

IOM’s mission and vision are reflected in our work with the complex and ever changing migration landscape in the world of today. IOM delivers its services to migrants and governments through a diverse range of programmes and activities such as migration policy and governance, EU relocation and resettlement, integration, labour migration, CounterTrafficking, Assisted Voluntary Returns, and many more. IOM also supports the ongoing development of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration to be adopted in 2018. Locally and globally, through logistic assistance and humanitarian aid delivered by more than 9,000 staff in over 150 countries, IOM tracks, protects and provides direct assistance to millions of migrants every year. IOM is an organization with a high operational capacity, delivering in close proximity to the migrants, governments and partners we work with around the globe. IOM AT UN CITY The IOM office in Denmark was opened in 2009. In Denmark, IOM works with migrants in partnership with Danish authorities and other actors.

EMPOWERING WOMEN AND GIRLS UN Women is the UN organisation dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. UN Women stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas to unlock rapid transformation:

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Increasing women’s participation and leadership Ending violence against women Engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes Enhancing women’s economic empowerment

Making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting

UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN System’s work in advancing gender equality. PRESENCE IN THE NORDIC REGION UN Women’s Nordic Office liaises with Nordic governments, parliamentarians and key decision-makers, as well as UN Women national committees in Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the private sector, media, civil society, and all UN agencies based in Copenhagen. The Nordic countries have a steadfast relationship with the UN, and have

historically been strong advocates for gender equality both within their own countries and as part of their international development co-operation policy. Source: http://www.unwomen.org

LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND United Nations Development Programme – UNDP - is the UN’s leading development organisation and coordinator of the UN development system worldwide. Established in 1966, UNDP works to tackle one of the greatest violations of human rights – poverty, which kills more people than any wars or diseases, and prevents humans and societies from fulfilling their potential. Today, we work to achieve the global goals for sustainable development by 2030 and to fulfil their commitment to leave no one behind. As a trusted partner of governments, civil society and private sector, UNDP is present in some 170 countries. We focus on poverty eradication and on reducing inequality and injustice without wrecking our eco system. We do so by promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, strengthen effective and accountable government and by helping to build resilience against natural and man-made crisis. Advancing gender equality and human rights is central and an integral part of all our programme support.

hosts the UN City’s Common Services. NRO serves as a liaison and communication office with a public outreach function to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The office is led by Camilla Brückner since 2012, and works to inform and raise public awareness of UNDP’s mandate, work and results, aand to strengthen and expand partnerships with Nordic stakeholders including public decision-makers, civil society and private sector. Visit http://www.dk.undp.org/ for more information.

In 2014 to 2016 alone, UNDP improved the living condition for 24.7 million people, created 2 million new jobs, ensured 3.2 million people access to legal aid, and supported 94 countries implement lowemission and climate resilience measures. UNDP IN DENMARK UNDP has several headquarter functions located in Denmark, including our global human resource department, procurement, IT connectivity and a Nordic Representation Office (NRO). UNDP also

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LEADING THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA UN Environment has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, with six regional offices and various country offices and collaborating centres globally. In Denmark, UN Environment is represented by its collaborating centre, UNEP DTU Partnership (UDP), the UNEP-DHI Centre and the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN).

Lighting lives with solar power. Photo: UNEP Database United Nations Environment sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UN ENVIRONMENT WORK ENCOMPASSES: ✓ Assessing global, regional and national environmental conditions and trends. ✓ Developing international and national environmental instruments. ✓ Strengthening institutions for the management of the environment.

UDP is a leading international research and advisory institution on energy, climate and sustainable development. It is institutionally a part of DTU Management Engineering and an integral part of UN Environment’s Climate Change Strategy and Energy Programme. UDP, conducts leading international research and provides policy analysis and capacity building on clean energy, low-carbon and resilient development to developing countries. It comprises two centres: The Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development, and the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency, which serves as the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Energy Efficiency Hub. The UNEP-DHI Centre is a UN Environment centre of expertise dedicated to improving the management, development and use of freshwater resources from the local to the global level. CTCN promotes the accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for low-carbon and climate resilient development at the request of developing countries. It provides technology solutions, capacity building and advice on policy, legal and regulatory frameworks tailored to the needs of individual countries.

UNFPA, THE UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND

Is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled … WHERE EVERY PREGNANCY IS WANTED UNFPA supports women, men and young people to enjoy the human right to be able to decide when to have children and how many to have. Since 1960 the fertility rate in developing countries has declined from 6 to 2.7 children per woman. …WHERE EVERY CHILDBIRTH IS SAFE UNFPA supports the education of midwives and strengthening of health systems to help women to have a safe pregnancy and childbirth. This includes prenatal visits, skilled attendance at birth, and referral to emergency assistance – such as caesarean sections – if complications arise Since 1990, the rate of women dying from complications in pregnancy and childbirth has been halved, but 800 women still die every day from those complications. …WHERE EVERY YOUNG PERSON’S POTENTIAL IS FULFILLED UNFPA promotes age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education, access to youth-friendly services and gender equality. UNFPA supports the abandonment of harmful practices such as early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation. UNFPA sees young people as a resource for positive change.

IN ADDITION UNFPA helps countries do censuses and to build their capacity to analyse population data to guide national policy-making. DID YOU KNOW? UNFPA is the world’s largest procurer of contraceptives for public funds enabling millions of women, men and young people to plan their pregnancies. The UNFPA global procurement team and the UNFPA Nordic Office are located in UN City, Copenhagen, with a total of 60 staff members.

PROTECTING REFUGEES AND DISPLACED PEOPLE WORLDWIDE order for them to build a better future. Furthermore, UNHCR works to eliminate statelessness. The world is facing an unprecedented level of global displacement – more than 65.6 million people have been forced to flee their homes – and we need continued support to help and protect them. UNHCR is almost entirely funded by voluntary contributions from governments, intergovernmental organisations, corporations, foundations and individual donors. The private sector is extremely important because of its ability to mobilise funds, raise awareness and build engagement – and through partnerships we can leverage the technical know-how and innovation capacity of the private sector for the benefit of refugees. WHAT WE DO UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is leading international action to protect and assist people, who are forced to flee their homes due to conflict, violence and persecution. With a staff of almost 15,000 across 130 countries, UNHCR works tirelessly to help millions of people in need. We deliver life-saving support such as shelter, food and water in emergencies around the world. We help safeguard fundamental human rights, including access to territory and the right to seek asylum. We develop solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home in

UNHCR IN DENMARK UNHCR is headquartered in Geneva, but UN City in Copenhagen hosts several of our headquarters functions. They include the Private Sector Partnerships Service, Field Information Coordination Support Section, Registration and Identity Management and The Education Section among others. UNHCR’s Regional Representation for Northern Europe, which covers the eight Nordic and Baltic countries, is also present in UN City in Copenhagen through a liaison office. Please visit www.UNHCR.org to learn more.

FOR EVERY CHILD supplies and services for children, including 2.5 billion vaccine doses that reached 45 per cent of the world’s children under five years old. UNICEF’s mission is to advocate for the realization of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. In 190 countries and territories, UNICEF works with governments and partners for equal access to services and care that can make all the difference in children’s lives.

For tens of millions of children, vaccines, medicines, therapeutic food and items for learning and play are tangible expressions of UNICEF’s commitment. Copenhagen is home to Supply Division, UNICEF’s procurement and logistics headquarters, sending 14,000 tonnes in life-saving supplies to support development programmes and emergencies each year. In 2016, UNICEF procured over USD 3.5 billion worth of

Responding urgently to infectious disease crises, in 2016, UNICEF Supply and partner action included the procurement and delivery of one million oral cholera vaccine doses to Haiti, more than 29 million yellow fever vaccine doses to Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo and 191 million polio vaccine doses to Nigeria and neighbouring countries. UNICEF, partners and industry launched a systematic effort to develop a point of care diagnostic device and discover a vaccine to stop the Zika virus. In the seemingly interminable upheavals of emergencies that have forced 50 million children to flee for their lives, supplies were fundamental to sustaining hope and accelerating results for children.

UN CITY SUPPLEMENT

INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialised agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalisation and environmental sustainability. For more info, please visit www.ctc-n.org and www.unido.org. GENDER EQUALITY The importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment, particularly women’s economic empowerment, is at the core of UNIDO’s mandate. Enhancing the role of women as drivers of poverty reduction, promoting female investors and entrepreneurs, and recognising the link between gender equality and safeguarding the environment all promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization.

“Empowering women is empowering humanity. Gender equality and women’s empowerment is central to UNIDO’s work as it is not only a matter of human rights, but also a precondition for sustainable development and economic growth, which are drivers of poverty reduction and social integration. When women and men are more equal, economies grow faster, more people are lifted out of poverty and the overall well-being of societies is enhanced.” Li Yong, UNIDO Director General, International Gender Champion

TECHNOLOGY MATCHMAKER IN COPENHAGEN UNIDO, together with UN Environment, hosts the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), located in Copenhagen’s UN City. The CTCN promotes the accelerated development and transfer of climate technologies for energy-efficient, low-carbon and climate-resilient development. The centre utilises the expertise of a network of nearly 400 technology companies and organisations around the world to deliver technology solutions at the request of developing countries in sectors ranging from agriculture and energy to industry and transportation. The CTCN technology platform (www.ctc-n.org) provides descriptions of hundreds of clean technologies along with examples of their use around the world. It also offers over 14,000 other technology publications and webinars organised by country and technology sector, including a Gender and Technology hub.

HELPING PEOPLE BUILD BETTER LIVES SERVING PEOPLE IN NEED UNOPS provides practical solutions to assist our partners to save lives, to protect people and their rights, and to build a better world. We bring to this task the values and principles of the United Nations, and the innovation, boldness, speed and efficiency of a self-financed institution. UNOPS projects range from helping partners build schools, roads and hospitals, to procuring goods and services and training local personnel. The aim is to manage projects and programmes of every size, while simultaneously enhancing the capacity of developing countries to manage their own initiatives.

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development. Our vision is a world where people can live full lives supported by appropriate, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, and by the efficient and transparent use of public resources in procurement and project management.

n 2016 UNOPS supported more than 900 projects worth around $1.4 billion for our partners. Forty-three percent of this was in support of the UN family, while 25 percent was in direct support to governments. In 2016, UNOPS designed, constructed or rehabilitated 3,025 kilometers of roads, procured more than $900 million worth of goods and services for our partners, and provided over 50,000 days of technical assistance and advice. In addition, more than 3 million days of paid work were created for project beneficiaries UNOPS AT UN CITY UNOPS global headquarters are based at UN City in Copenhagen. Through a network of more than 30 regional, country and partnership offices, UNOPS undertakes activities in over 80 countries.

WORKING FOR A WORLD WITH ZERO HUNGER wide still do not have enough to eat. Food and food-related assistance lie at the heart of the struggle to break the cycle of hunger and poverty. On any given day, WFP has 5,000 trucks, 20 ships and 70 planes on the move, delivering food and other assistance to those in most need.

Two-thirds of WFP’s work is in conflict-affected countries, where people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in countries without conflict. Photo: WFP/Abeer Etefa Assisting 80 million people in around 80 countries each year, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organisation fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. As the international community has committed to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition by 2030, one in nine people world-

WFP’s efforts encompass everything from emergency assistance, relief and rehabilitation to development aid and special operations. In emergencies, WFP is often first on the scene, providing food assistance to the victims of war, civil conflict, drought, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, crop failures and natural disasters. When the emergency subsides, WFP helps communities rebuild shattered lives and livelihoods. WFP also work to strengthen the resilience of people and communities affected by protracted crises by applying a development lens to the humanitarian response. WFP IN COPENHAGEN The WFP Nordic Office works to raise awareness of the results achieved by WFP in collaboration with its Nordic partners. The Nordic governments are important donors to WFP. In 2016, they were the fifth largest donor to WFP, and remain among WFP’s top donors of flexible funds. The Nordic governments are also important strategic partners to WFP and play a critical role in mobilising global support for a world without hunger.

FOR BETTER, MORE EQUITABLE HEALTH The World Health Organization (WHO) is responsible for public health within the United Nations system. To provide leadership in global health matters and deliver tailor-made assistance, the organisation works from a global base in Geneva, through six regional offices in strategic locations around the world, and at national level via 150 country offices. WHO AT UN CITY The WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe), based at UN City in Copenhagen, is one of WHO’s six regional offices. It has over 500 staff, 29 country offices and several technical centres of excellence. The goal of the office is the attainment of equitable and sustainable health for the 900 million people in the WHO European Region. Every year in September, ministers of health from the 53 countries in the region meet to set health objectives. WHO/Europe supports countries to deliver high-quality, effective health services, and works with partners to encourage and enable collaboration across sectors, under the ‘Health 2020’ policy framework. Health 2020 emphasises improving health for all and reducing inequalities, strengthening leadership on health issues and building participation in decisionmaking. It shares the values and has successfully laid the groundwork for implementing the new 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which seeks to “leave no one behind”. WHO/Europe provides technical expertise in health and well-being across areas including communicable and non-communicable

diseases, disease prevention, health determinants, health systems, environment and health, child and maternal health, health information and evidence. WHO/Europe also works to support those affected by health emergencies and humanitarian crises, such as the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the civil war in Syria, and many others. www.euro.who.int

Packing trauma kits in Kilis, Turkey, for shipment to northern Syria. Photo: WHO

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