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	The world must make faster progress to end female genital mutilation by 2030 by Unicef/UNFPA   Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunder Osotimehin and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake on the 2017 International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM.   “It irreparably damages girls’ bodies, inflicting excruciating pain. It causes extreme emotional trauma that can last a lifetime.   “It increases the risk of deadly complications during pregnancy, labour and childbirth, endangering both mother and child.   “It robs girls of their autonomy and violates their human rights.   “It reflects the low status of girls and women and reinforces gender inequality, fueling intergenerational cycles of discrimination and harm.   “It is female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C). And despite all the progress we have made toward abolishing this violent practice, millions of girls -- many of them under the age of 15 -- will be forced to undergo it this year alone. Sadly, they will join the almost 200 million girls and women around the world who are already living with the damage FGM/C causes – and whose communities are already affected by its impact.   “In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals recognized the close connection between FGM/C, gender inequality, and development – and reignited global action to end FGM/C by 2030.   “In 2016, more than 2,900 communities, representing more than 8.4 million people living in countries where UNFPA and UNICEF work jointly to end FGM/C, declared they had abandoned the practice.   “In 2017, we must demand faster action to build on this progress. That means calling on governments to enact and enforce laws and policies that protect the rights of girls and women and prevent FGM/C.   “It means creating greater access to support services for those at risk of undergoing FGM/C and those who have survived it. It also means driving greater demand for those services, providing families and communities with information about the harm FGM/C causes – and the benefits to be gained by ending it.   “And ultimately, it means families and communities taking action themselves and refusing to permit their girls to endure the violation of FGM/C.   “Let us make this the generation that abolishes FGM/C once and for all – and in doing so, help create a healthier, better world for all.”   http://uni.cf/2mhn3GJ http://uni.cf/2kFfJae http://www.unfpa.org/female-genital-mutilation Visit the related web page
	Ending Poverty is Local and Female by John Coonrod The Hunger Project   Despite the fact that women in developing countries provide nearly 70 percent of the agricultural labor, they continue to account for over 60 percent of the world’s hungry. Lack of gender equality limits a woman farmer’s access to agricultural inputs, credit services and a market to sell her products.   These constraints lead to lower crop yields, produce sold at a lower price and, ultimately, continued poverty and hunger for her and her children. Gender-equal access to these agriculture resources could increase the average woman farmer’s crop yields by 20-30 percent.   Given the opportunity to generate and control an income, women routinely invest significant portions of their income in food, healthcare and education for their families. Unfortunately, at the moment, the majority of women in developing countries lack economic power, resulting in a higher rate of girls kept out of school, minimal access to basic health care, increased HIV/AIDS prevalence and higher maternal mortality rates. Yet women continue to bear almost all responsibility for meeting the basic needs of the family.   A proven way to overcome many systematic barriers to a woman’s success has been increased participation by women in local, regional and national legislation as empowered change agents. In just 10 years, the amount of women holding seats in houses of national parliament in South Asia rose from seven to 18 percent. But a global goal of equal representation is still a long way off, with only one woman for every four men in parliamentary houses.   The Hunger Project recognizes the global gender imbalance of power and responsibility and works to empower women to build their capacity and self-reliance as a way of overcoming obstacles. We firmly believe that empowering women to be key change agents is an essential element to achieving the end of hunger and poverty.   Our programmes include Women’s Leadership Workshops in India, a Women’s Empowerment Program throughout Africa and specialized trainings aim to empower women to seek positions of power and train our partners, women and men, to take responsibility for improving lives in their communities.   Ending Poverty is Local and Female, by John Coonrod   The upcoming United Nations Commission on Social Development will focus on strategies to eradicate poverty by 2030. The Secretary-General (SG) has submitted a 19-page report which reviews a wealth of evidence, and boils it down to six broad recommendations, which I will boil down even further to:   Tackle structural causes like discrimination. Invest in health and education. Invest in people’s productive assets like land rights and credit. Generate better jobs. Invest in rural areas. Partner up.   The 2030 goals are a truly global agenda, agreed by all nations. But how can we make these things happen? The SG cites positive stories from Brazil, Uganda and Vietnam – without mentioning the critical common ingredients of their success: strong decentralization and strong women’s movements. Power and public resources have been moved closer to the people, giving the poor a much better shot at improving their lives.   In Vietnam, fully half of public resources are in the hands of local authorities. Uganda has five levels of elected local government – almost unheard of in most of Africa. And Brazil’s economy took off after a transformation from military authoritarianism to one of the most decentralized, participatory governments in the world.   Uganda and Brazil both have quotas for women in government. Vietnam was traditionally matriarchal, and 30% of Vietnam’s Board of Director roles are held by women.   As was made clear during the Women’s Marches, local democracy and women’s rights are not two separate issues. The prevailing top-down, structure of government is based on the patriarchal mindset – the same mindset that tolerates gender-based violence.   The rise of fear-based, macho, authoritarian rulers never has, and never can, improve the lives of impoverished people. The centralized concentration of economic and political power inevitably increases inequality and suppresses bottom-up creativity.   For example, in her marvelous book, How the Farmers Changed China, author Kate Zhou illustrates how the economic reforms that led to China’s stunning economic growth did not originate with national leaders, but were basically forced on them by the success of then-illegal free-market innovations of rural women.   For these reasons, and more, those of us in the Movement for Community-led Development call upon the UN system to put people – and particularly women – at the forefront of action to eradicate poverty by recognizing and supporting the power of communities to set and and achieve their own visions.   Our “Female and Local” take on how to actually achieve the six recommendations of the Secretary-General is:   1. Political Decentralization: Pressure governments to establish participatory democracy within walking distance of the impoverished people – with quotas for women’s leadership and mandatory mechanisms for inclusive social accountability.   2. Fiscal Decentralization: Devolve 20-50% of public resources to local councils. This is the norm in rich countries, yet in the poorest countries local share of public resources may be as low as 2%.   3. Active Citizenry: Donors and philanthropies should once again invest in grassroots civil society, particularly in the organizations of women, youth and other marginalized groups, so that they have real collective voice in decisions that affect their lives. Volunteerism by local citizens can leverage the scarce professional resources of low-income governments – the teachers, nurses and farm extension agents – to ensure everyone can access their services.   4. Cooperatives: Private investors must recognize and support employee-owned cooperatives – particularly those of young women – as the best chance for hundreds of millions of people to gain decent employment as quickly as possible.   5. Financial Services: Whether or not you agree that “Credit is a Human Right” as Muhammad Yunus has stated, impoverished people need better access to financial services. Technology now makes that possible. Mpesa.in, Tala.co and others put banking right into your mobile phone, making small transactions affordable. Removing barriers to its expansion can enable pro-poor economic progress everywhere.   6. Close Global Loopholes: A top priority at the international level is to ensure that the rich pay their fair share of taxes. Grassroots people need to understand how serious illicit financial flows and tax dodging harm their ability to have decent schools and health centers. Let’s not be trapped into thinking this is “too complicated” to solve.   As campaigning group ONE points out, poverty is sexist. We, the poverty fighters, must be feminists and work to overcome the patriarchal structures that hold back progress for all humanity.   As the SG says, we must “partner up” with like-minded organizations and networks such as the Movement for Community-led Development and campaign for the policies and budgets that will support all women and men to sustainably move out of poverty.   * John Coonrod is Executive Vice President at The Hunger Project. (External link: http://bit.ly/2m3EP3H) Visit the related web page
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