UN-Habitat

United Nations Human Settlements Programme

Item ID
{B719628A-66F4-4436-8B54-5013307F6EBC}
UNAgency ID
{232CA223-4B18-4F23-80CB-F68E5FDCE355}
Policy Framework

UN-Habitat’s work is guided by the Habitat Agenda, which also addresses women’s safety (article 123).

Background

The mission of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all. Its activities contribute to the overall objective of the United Nations system to reduce urban poverty and promote sustainable development within the context of the Millennium Development Goals and the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing world.

Resources

Preventing Gender-based violence in the Horn, East and Southern Africa, A regional Dialogue, Raising Voices and UN-Habitat, 2004

Rethinking Domestic Violence, A training process for community activists, Raising Voices, Dipak Naker and Lori Michau, 2004

Mail Address

United Nations Avenue, Gigiri. P.O. Box 30030, 00100. Nairobi, Kenya

Areas of Work

The key focus of UN-Habitat’s work in the area of violence against women is on the role and rationale for local government interventions and policy. UN-Habitat’s work on violence against women is conducted within the framework of its Safer Cities Programme, which aims to build capacities at city level to adequately address urban insecurity and thereby to contribute to the establishment of a culture of prevention.

Agency Type
Title
United Nations Human Settlements Programme
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UN-Habitat

Feb 2017 - Apr 2018 | UN-Habitat

SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE URBAN PROSPERITY IN THE STATE OF ALAGOAS – UN-Habitat partnership with the government of Alagoas, Brazil, in which UN-Habitat is going to conduct a local safety diagnosis and public spaces use, with a special focus on women, and elaborate an urban safety and crime prevention strategy, giving a special focus on violence against women and on how to promote a culture of peace.

 

Oct 2010 - Feb 2011 | UN-Habitat;
UNDP

As part of the Strengthening Community Safety through Local Government Capacity-Building project being implemented in Kingston, Jamaica in partnership with UN HABITAT-UNDP, a two-day women’s safety audit training for local government community workers and other key stakeholders was organised in October 2010. The trained community workers are conducting safety audits with women in the communities in partnership with Huairou Commission and the University of Technology, Jamaica.

Oct 2010 - Feb 2011 | UN-Habitat

Within the joint MDG funded project on “building social cohesion” UN-HABITAT has conducted a training needs assessment, also on women’s safety UN-HABITAT is just embarking on the safety assessment of 13 municipalities, results to be presented during a restitution workshop in mid-October. In conjunction with the restitution workshop, a training will also be conducted on safety tools and women’s safety audits. Training of trainers on conducting women’s safety audits was conducted in October 2010.

Oct 2008 - Feb 2009 | UNDP;
UN-Habitat

A first pilot training on conducting women’s safety audits for the Caribbean was held in Kingston, Jamaica, in mid-November 2008, with 30 participants from Jamaica, Grenada, St Lucia, and Haiti. A concept note by UNDP and UN-HABITAT, submitted to the Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund for up-scaling this programme to cover other municipalities in Jamaica, has been accepted.

Mar 2009 - Sept 2009 | UN-Habitat

UN-HABITAT also published the “Global Assessment on Women's safety.” This assessment was completed in collaboration with the Huairou Commission, Women in Cities International and Red Mujer y Habitat, with a review of tools and strategies promoting women’s safety at the global, regional, national and local levels. This has resulted in the creation of a database of close to 200 institutions, local authorities and grassroots initiatives working on women’s safety.

Mar 2009 - Sept 2009 | UN-Habitat

UN-HABITAT published “Women’s Safety Audits: What Works and Where?” which provides an international comparative assessment of existing safety audits. Results are intended to influence the development of a set of guidelines for local authorities to refer to, when considering the use of the women’s safety audit tool. This report examines best practices, local adaptations, positive and negative outcomes and suggestions for future use of the women’s safety audit tool based on a review of the literature as well as surveys and interviews with organizations around the world that have used the tool.