{{Short description|Subsidiary organ of the United Nations}} {{Infobox organization | name = United Nations Development Fund for Women | image = UNIFEM logo.png | image_size = 200px | map = | map_caption = | abbreviation = UNIFEM | merged_into = UN Women | formation = | type = | status = | parent_organization = United Nations | subsidiaries = | website = | footnotes = | commons = }} {{United Nations series}} The '''United Nations Development Fund for Women''' ('''UNIFEM'''; {{langx|fr|Fonds de développement des Nations unies pour la femme}};<ref>{{Cite news|date=23 October 2009|title=Nicole Kidman, Ambassadrice de Bonne Volonté Pour l'Unifem, Devant Le Congrès Américain|work=Le Monde|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=44755825&site=ehost-live|url-access=subscription|access-date=27 June 2020|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> {{Langx|es|Fondo de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas para la Mujer}}{{Sfn|Alberdi|2019|p=12}}) was established in December 1976 originally as the Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Decade for Women in the International Women's Year. Its first director was Margaret C. Snyder. UNIFEM provided financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies that promoted women's human rights, political participation and economic security. Since 1976 it supported women's empowerment and gender equality through its programme offices and links with women's organizations in the major regions of the world. Its work on gender responsive budgets began in 1996 in Southern Africa and expanded to include East Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central America and the Andean region. It worked to increase awareness throughout the UN system of gender-responsive budgets as a tool to strengthen economic governance in all countries. In 2011, UNIFEM merged with some other smaller entities to become UN Women.
== About == [[File:La_Asamblea_Nacional,_el_Fondo_de_Población_de_las_Naciones_Unidas_(UNFPA)_y_el_Fondo_de_Desarrollo_de_las_Naciones_Unidas_para_la_Mujer_(UNIFEM)_firmaron_un_convenio_de_cooperación_interinstitucional_(4421190238).jpg|thumb|2010 meeting in Ecuador]] UNIFEM was an autonomous organization working closely with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), although the resolution also specified that the fund's resources should supplement, not substitute for, the responsibilities of other United Nations development cooperation agencies.<ref>{{cite web|last=Service|first=UN-NGLS Non-Governmental Liaison|title=UN-NGLS Publications: NGLS Handbook|url=http://www.un-ngls.org/orf/documents/publications.en/ngls.handbook/a22unifem.htm|access-date=30 October 2017|website=www.un-ngls.org}}</ref>{{Sfn|Jain|2005|p=127}} UNIFEM helped fund projects that aided women and their families.{{Sfn|Jain|2005|p=128}} UNIFEM developed a strategy of aiding women to become their "own agents for change rather than recipients of charity."{{Sfn|Jain|2005|p=128}} UNIFEM also helped to ensure that UN programmes followed guidelines developed by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hintjens|first=Helen|date=November 2008|title=UNIFEM, CEDAW and the Human Rights-based Approach: Assessment: UNIFEM, CEDAW and the Human Rights-based Approach|journal=Development and Change|language=en|volume=39|issue=6|pages=1181–1192|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7660.2008.00513.x|hdl=1765/17998|url=http://repub.eur.nl/pub/17998|hdl-access=free}}</ref> UNIFEM was also involved in recognizing women's rights as human rights.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Stange|first1=Mary Zeiss|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOkPjFQoBj8C&q=unifem&pg=PA1496|title=Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World|last2=Oyster|first2=Carol K.|last3=Sloan|first3=Jane E.|date=2011-02-23|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1-4129-7685-5|pages=1496|language=en}}</ref> It advocated gender equality around the world.<ref name=":0" /> UNIFEM also saw women's rights as an issue of peace and security.{{Sfn|Hudson|2010|p=101-102}}
UNIFEM operated on a budget of voluntary contributions to the organization.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Shahani|first=Leticia Ramos|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/developingpowerh0000unse/page/n5/mode/2up?q=unifem|title=Developing Power: How Women Transformed International Development|publisher=The Feminist Press|year=2004|isbn=1-55861-485-0|editor-last=Fraser|editor-first=Arvonne S.|location=New York|pages=30–31|chapter=The UN, Women, and Development: The World Conferences on Women|oclc=56214177|editor-last2=Tinker|editor-first2=Irene|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The organization was based in New York City.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|date=Summer 1998|title=UNIFEM--United Nations Development Fund for Women|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=934530&site=ehost-live|journal=Women's International Network News|volume=24|issue=3|pages=3|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> Different countries and regions had their own committees within UNIFEM.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stewart|first=Randa|date=1994|title=UNIFEM Vows to Empower Women in Developing Countries|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mat&AN=9606250083&site=ehost-live|journal=Herizons|volume=8|issue=1|pages=11|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> UNIFEM was one of the smaller agencies at the UN and was situated lower in the UN hierarchy, according to Canadian politician Stephen Lewis.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Heartfield|first=Kate|date=2006-01-09|title=To Get Women's Voices Into the UN, Start at the Top|pages=12|work=The Ottawa Citizen|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/54260771/the-ottawa-citizen/|access-date=2020-06-27|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==History== The First World Conference on Women in 1975 influenced the creation of UNIFEM.<ref name=":0" /> World governments saw the need to put resources into dealing with women's issues after the First Conference.<ref name=":1" /> The United Nations Voluntary Fund for the Decade for Women (UNVFDW) was established by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1976 right after the conference.<ref name="UN_ARES31133">{{UN document|docid=A-RES-31-133|type=Resolution|body=General Assembly|session=31|resolution_number=133|accessdate=2008-04-18|date=16 December 1976}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Margaret Snyder started working as the leader of the organization in 1978.{{Sfn|Snyder|2004|p=624}}
=== 1980s === The UNVFDW was given an expanded mandate by the General Assembly in February 1985, when it became the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).<ref name=":2" /> Under resolution 39/125, the new fund was called on to support and advocate for innovative and catalytic activities that would give voice and visibility to the women of the developing world.
Funding for UNIFEM projects doubled in size between 1985 and 1988.{{Sfn|Jain|2005|p=128}}
=== 1990s === In the 1990s, UNIFEM became involved in broadening its scope.{{Sfn|Hudson|2010|p=99}} The organization began a campaign to define "women's rights as human rights" and how violence against women was also an economic development issue.{{Sfn|Hudson|2010|p=99}} UNIFEM hired researchers such as Roxanna Carrillo to demonstrate how violence against women was linked to a lack of women's access to economic opportunity.{{Sfn|Hudson|2010|p=99}} The campaign for "women's rights as human rights" was especially effective.{{Sfn|Snyder|2004|p=628}} UNIFEM began working on projects to reduce gender-based violence and also to raise awareness of the problem.{{Sfn|Heyzer|1998|p=22}}
Also in the 1990s, African Women in Crisis (AFWIC) was created by UNIFEM to focus on issues facing people in Africa.{{Sfn|Hudson|2010|p=99-100}} AFWIC helped women who were displaced due to violence or emergencies in their own countries.{{Sfn|Jain|2005|p=128}} AFWIC expanded on work begun by Laketch Dirasse in East Africa.{{Sfn|Jain|2005|p=128}}
The work of UNIFEM helped shape the issues addressed at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.{{Sfn|Hudson|2010|p=101}} Women at the conference decided that it was important that they "claim formal power to directly shape public policy".{{Sfn|Jain|2005|p=151}}
UNIFEM created a trust fund to help support twenty-three projects to combat gender-based violence and war crimes against women.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=Spring 1998|title=UNIFEM Launches Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence against Women|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=voh&AN=618565&site=ehost-live|journal=Women's International Network News|volume=24|issue=2|pages=35|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref>{{Sfn|Heyzer|1998|p=20-21}} The fund began funding projects in 1997.{{Sfn|Heyzer|1998|p=20}}
=== 2000s === UNIFEM was granted "executing agency status" by UNDP in 2000.<ref name=":3" /> This allowed the organization to complete and work on projects for UNDP that related to women's rights and gender equality.<ref name=":3" />
UNIFEM released a new biennial report, ''Progress of the World's Women'' in 2001.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|date=Winter 2001|title=UNIFEM Biennial Report: Progress of the World's Women 2000|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=4073564&site=ehost-live|journal=Women's International Network News|volume=37|issue=1|pages=3|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> The report outlined what UNIFEM had achieved in previous decades.<ref name=":3" /> Also in 2001, in conjunction with International Alert, UNIFEM launched the Millennium Peace Prize for Women.<ref name="europa-2003">{{cite book|title=Central and South-Eastern Europe 2004|editor=Bell, Imogen|publisher=Europa Publications|date=2003|edition=4th|series=Regional Surveys of the World|pages=699|isbn=9781857431865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5J_gAU8c9NIC&q=%22international+alert%22&pg=PA699|language=en}}</ref>
Noeleen Heyzer, head of UNIFEM, asked for the creation of an international commission on violence against women.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=Summer 2003|title=UNIFEM: Director Heyzer Calls for Commission on Violence|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=voh&AN=10288996&site=ehost-live|journal=Women's International Network News|volume=29|issue=3|pages=4|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref>
On January 26, 2006, UNIFEM nominated Nicole Kidman as its goodwill ambassador.<ref name="BBC 2006">{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4649476.stm |title= Kidman becomes ambassador for UN |access-date=2009-02-02 |publisher=BBC |author=BBC |date= 2006-01-26}}</ref>
The last executive director of UNIFEM was Inés Alberdi.<ref name="UNIFEM News Release">{{Cite web |url= http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=668 |title= Inés Alberdi Appointed as UNIFEM Executive Director |access-date= 2009-09-16 |year=2008 |author= UNIFEM}}</ref>
=== 2010s === In January 2011, UNIFEM was merged into UN Women,{{Sfn|Alberdi|2019|p=10}}<ref>{{cite web|title=UNDG Members|url=http://www.undg.org/index.cfm?P%3D13|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511144047/http://www.undg.org/index.cfm?P=13|archive-date=May 11, 2011|access-date=May 15, 2012}}</ref> a composite entity of the UN, with International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI), and Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW).
== Executive directors == Executive directors of the organization have been:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detaild463.html|title=UNIFEM is now UN Women|website=www.unifem.org|access-date=30 October 2017}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" ! Nr !! Director !! From country !! Term |- | 4. || Inés Alberdi || {{flagcountry|Spain}} || 2007–2014 |- | 3. || Noeleen Heyzer || {{flagcountry|Singapore}} || 1994–2007 |- | 2. || Sharon Capeling-Alakija || {{flagcountry|Canada}} || 1989–1994 |- | 1. || Margaret C. Snyder || {{flagcountry|United States }} || 1978–1989 |}
==See also==
* United Nations Decade for Women * UN Women {{Portal|Politics}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
=== Sources ===
* {{Cite journal|last=Alberdi|first=Inés|date=October 2019|title=Las Naciones Unidas y Su Defensa de Los Derechos de Las Mujeres|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=141890579&site=ehost-live|journal=Tiempo de Paz|language=es|issue=134|pages=10–19|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}} * {{Cite journal|last=Heyzer|first=Noeleen|date=November 1998|title=Working Towards a World Free from Violence Against Women: UNIFEM's Contribution|journal=Gender and Development|volume=6|issue=3|pages=17–26|doi=10.1080/741922830|jstor=4030498|pmid=12294408}} * {{Cite book|last=Hudson|first=Natalie Florea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfeMAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Roxanna%20Carrillo%22,%20UNIFEM&pg=PA99|title=Gender, Human Security and the United Nations: Security Language as a Political Framework for Women|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|isbn=978-1-135-19693-6|location=London|language=en}} * {{Cite book|last=Jain|first=Devaki|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQjqWx0ZgekC&dq=unifem&pg=PA128|title=Women, Development, and the UN: A Sixty-Year Quest for Equality and Justice|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2005|isbn=0253218195|location=Bloomington, Indiana}} * {{Cite journal|last=Snyder|first=Margaret|date=2004|title=Women Determine Development: The Unfinished Revolution|journal=Signs|volume=29|issue=2|pages=619–631|doi=10.1086/378112|jstor=10.1086/378112|s2cid=143412580}}
==External links== *[http://www.unifem.org UNIFEM website] (now redirects to the UN Women website)
{{International human rights organizations}} {{United Nations}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:United Nations Development Fund For Women}} Category:United Nations General Assembly subsidiary organs Category:United Nations Development Group Category:Organizations established in 1976 Category:International women's organizations Category:UN Women