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	Women rebuilding Nepal Post-Earthquake by Anna Applebaum, Melanne Verveer, Briana Mawby Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, agencies   April 25, 2017   Today marks two years since a massive earthquake and violent aftershock leveled Nepal, killing 9,000 people, injuring an additional 22,000 people, and affecting roughly one quarter of the country’s population.   In the months following the earthquake, Nepali women played a crucial yet underappreciated role in relief efforts, and many continue to help the country as it moves into long-term recovery efforts.   On April 25, 2015 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck near the capital of Nepal, already one of the poorest countries in Asia. The quake was so powerful that it shifted Mount Everest by more than an inch. Nearly 800,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the quake and its 7.3 magnitude aftershock, leaving thousands to live outside with limited access to water and electricity.   The earthquake not only destroyed homes, offices, and infrastructure but also disrupted social, economic, and political processes in the country. All told, the economic impact from the earthquake’s damage was estimated at around $7 billion.   Women did not hesitate to respond to the crisis. Women’s organizations leapt into action to mobilize volunteers and provide aid to survivors by distributing food, medicine, clothing, and monetary support. Many of these organizations paid special attention to the needs of women, delivering maternity and baby care kits and providing special care for pregnant women, lactating women, and adolescent girls.   They offered psychosocial support, created safe space for women to gather, and connected survivors to formal humanitarian aid and legal services. These organizations worked quickly and built networks to maximize their reach.   International actors played a significant role in providing relief, but Nepali women were often the first responders in communities affected by the disaster.   In their communities, women took on additional responsibilities to care for their families and neighbors, including some traditionally “male” recovery activities. The gender dynamics of Nepali society were shifting even before the disaster struck due to the number of Nepali men who work overseas. With around seven percent of Nepalis (mostly men living abroad), women often headed households and assumed sole responsibility for tending children, parents, and farms.   Following the earthquake, it fell to many women to help clear houses and rubble, often considered a man’s job. Women frequently assumed responsibility for rebuilding their homes and gathering food, shelter, clothing, and medicine for themselves and their families.   Nepali women took on these roles in spite of the serious and disproportionate impact the earthquake had on women.   A 2007 study by the London School of Economics and the University of Essex found that the worse the natural disaster, the bigger the gender disparity in its impact. Nepal was no exception. More women and girls died in the quake than men and boys, according to the government of Nepal. Women who survived were also harder hit because of their disadvantaged economic and social standing.   Following the earthquake, Nepali women faced many challenges. Many had lost their identification cards during the quake, which were required for receiving assistance, and had difficulty accessing humanitarian relief.   Women were especially likely to lack proof of citizenship or proof of ownership of property, making it difficult for them to receive aid and regain access to their homes.   In rural and urban areas alike, pregnant women, women with young children, women of certain castes, and widows were particularly affected by the earthquake, as they faced pre-existing physical, social, and cultural constraints.   These constraints made it more difficult for them to access aid, regain their economic livelihoods, and re-enter public life.   As the majority of agricultural and informal sector workers, women faced a severe income shock due to the loss of food stocks, livestock, and crop productivity. The government anticipated women’s recovery would take longer than men’s, given that women are burdened with domestic work and have limited access to economic resources and fewer alternate livelihood options.   Women were also vulnerable to sexual violence due to the social disruptions caused by the earthquake. Many people were displaced from their homes and lived in large groups in tents or temporary shelters, which led to security and privacy issues for women and girls. UN Women reported that there was an increase in incidents of domestic violence against women following the earthquake.   In spite of this, women continue to contribute to the slow effort of rebuilding the nation and have begun to assume new roles. As communities have moved from needing immediate aid to requiring long-term recovery assistance, women are taking the lead on rebuilding their communities and preparing for future crises. For example, some women are being trained as masons to help repair and reconstruct the houses, infrastructure, and cultural sites damaged by the earthquake.   Many of these mason trainings focus on building structures that will stand up to future earthquakes. Women are also providing training and knowledge about how to mitigate the effects of a future disaster, spreading the word about how to earthquake-proof homes and conduct first aid in times of crisis.   Women have played a crucial role in the two years since the earthquake, rebuilding Nepal’s physical infrastructure as well as its social fabric. Nepal is now working toward long-term recovery and building safe and secure communities. In order for Nepal to continue to rebuild and reconstruct, women’s perspectives and abilities must be supported, valued, and utilized. http://on.cfr.org/2plYtbG Visit the related web page
	UN Population Fund ramps up emergency medical care to women and girls affected by conflict by United Nations News, agencies   10 April 2017   UN Population Fund ramps up emergency medical care to women and girls affected by conflict in Iraq. (UN News)   The United Nations population agency, with financial support from the European Union (EU), has increased its humanitarian response in Iraq to meet the urgent needs of women and girls as fighting peaks in the war-torn country.   Thanks to an additional five million euros contribution by the European Commission Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is able to up-scale its urgent frontline assistance.   “Through this EU partnership, UNFPA will provide much needed reproductive health services to more than 700,000 conflict-affected women and girls in Iraq. Furthermore, over 120,000 newly displaced women and girls from Mosul will receive first line relief items, as part of the Rapid Response Mechanism Consortium, which also includes UNICEF [UN Children’s Fund] and the World Food Programme (WFP),” said the UNFPA representative in Iraq, Ramanathan Balakrishnam, in a press statement.   The provisions include lifesaving reproductive health services in the recently re-taken areas of East and West Mosul as well as the delivery of first assistance kits to displaced women and girls from Mosul and other active conflict areas in Iraq.   According to UNFPA, the EU’s support will contribute to establishing and running of three field maternity hospitals that will offer safe delivery options and lifesaving obstetric emergency services to conflict-affected women from West Mosul.   “Bringing back essential health services in conflict-affected areas in Mosul is a priority for the EU,” said Javier Rio-Navarro, ECHO head of office in Iraq.   The EU contribution also supports the procurement and running of two mobile delivery units and two mobile reproductive health clinics in retaken districts and neighbourhoods in East and West Mosul, as well as similar services in Anbar, Kirkuk and Salah al-Din governorates.   “Pregnant women and displaced women and girls who have survived the hardship of conflict will receive much needed emergency medical services,” he added.   UNFPA delivers a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every child birth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. http://bit.ly/2oZCrM8   4 April 2017   Statement by UNFPA on U.S. Decision to Withhold Funding (UNFPA)   The United Nations Population Fund, regrets the decision by the United States to deny any future funding (an immediate $75 million cutback) for its life-saving work the world over. This decision is based on the erroneous claim that UNFPA “supports, or participates in the management of, a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization” in China.   UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination. Indeed, United Nations Member States have long described UNFPA’s work in China as a force for good.   The United States, one of our founding members, has long partnered with UNFPA to protect and promote the reproductive health and rights of women and girls, thereby fostering healthier women and girls and their families. The support we received over the years from the Government and people of the United States has saved tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, and especially now in the rapidly developing global humanitarian crises.   With previous United States contributions, UNFPA was combatting gender-based violence and reducing the scourge of maternal deaths in the world’s most fragile settings, in areas of conflict and natural disasters, including Iraq, Nepal, Sudan, Syria, the Philippines, Ukraine and Yemen.   We have always valued the United States as a partner and leader in helping to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person''s potential is fulfilled. We, therefore, look forward to continuing our work with the United States to address these global concerns and to restore our strong partnership to save the lives of women and girls globally, within the framework of the global development goals, thereby leaving no one behind.   April 3, 2017   United Nations Foundation (USA) President Kathy Calvin issued the following statement on U.S. defunding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Calvin said,   “The United Nations Foundation calls the action to cut vital U.S. support to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) unacceptable and in stark contrast to American values. The U.S. is one of the largest contributors to UNFPA, and eliminating U.S. funds threatens the health and rights of millions of girls and women around the world, particularly those in crisis situations.   “UNFPA is on the front lines in more than 150 countries, often in places where the U.S. can’t be, providing critical services, such as voluntary family planning, midwife training, pre-natal care and safe delivery services, and working to end child marriage and female genital mutilation. UNFPA does not fund or perform abortions or forced sterilizations anywhere in the world. Instead, the agency offers voluntary family planning to prevent unintended pregnancies which, in turn, empowers girls and women to pursue an education, earn an income, and live more prosperous lives.   “UNFPA is often the first – and in some cases the only – health provider in humanitarian crises. Last year, UNFPA used funding from the U.S. government to reach 9 million people in crisis situations with HIV/AIDS prevention services, domestic violence counseling, pregnancy checkups, safe childbirth and other critical services.   “In the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, where girls and women face extraordinary challenges such as malnutrition, trauma, and violence, UNFPA is there to make sure every childbirth is safe. In Iraq, a UNFPA clinic supports women who are survivors of physical abuse, sexual violence, and other horrific atrocities inflicted by ISIL. It is the only such clinic in Iraq and is fully supported by the very U.S. government funds that are now being eliminated.   “The U.S. government played a central role in the creation and launch of UNFPA in 1969 and has been an active member of UNFPA’s Executive Board over the last 45 years under both Republican and Democratic administrations. U.S. support for UNFPA embodied then what remains true today: Investing in the health and rights of girls and women – and empowering them to plan their families and their futures – yields direct returns to the U.S. This investment sparks a ripple effect, generating not only strong, healthy, and empowered girls and women, but more stable and prosperous families, communities, and countries.   “The health and rights of the world’s most vulnerable girls and women are at risk. The United Nations Foundation calls on the U.S. government to stand up for American values and restore full funding to UNFPA to preserve its lifesaving work around the world.” http://bit.ly/2otxef0 http://www.universalaccessproject.org/news/ Visit the related web page
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