United Nations Human Settlements Programme

In collaboration with “Jagori“, UN-Habitat initiated a Youth and Safety Project in slums in New Delhi. The project is implemented in the relocated community of Madanpur Khadar and focuses on gender-based safety by involving young men and young women, in order to enhance security in the slum for the most vulnerable.A National Youth Crime and Violence Prevention Conference was held by UN Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya, with providing safe spaces for young women and girls, as one of the thematic areas. Recommendations were made to local government to be proactive in providing these spaces, especially in disadvantaged communities. Hide

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. Hide

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. Hide

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. Hide

UN-HABITAT has commissioned the preparation of a publication “Using Planning to Combat Violence Against Women”, geared towards stakeholders dealing with women’s rights, urban planning and human settlements. Hide

UN-HABITAT and UNIFEM Latin America and Caribbean jointly held a workshop on “Women’s Safety”, in Mexico, in November 2008, to present the training and capacity building programme. UN-Habitat and the NGO “Women in Cities International” launched the evaluation report “Women’s Safety Audits – What Works and Where?. UNIFEM, UN-HABITAT, “Women in Cities International” and “Red Mujer” also organized a session entitled “Women and Safety in Urban Spaces”. Hide

UN-HABITAT and UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, held a joint workshop during the International Seminar “Cities without Violence, Safe Cities for Women and Girls”, in July 2008 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and presented a joint training initiative on women’s safety audits for cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Hide

UN Habitat held panel discussions during Kenya’s National Youth Forum in February 2008 on preventing gender-based violence. An award ceremony was held in March 2008 in Costa Rica, as part of the “IV Safer Cities Competitions for Women and Girls - Safety and Security for Women and Girls in Cities”, with the following municipalities receiving awards: San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina; Maipú, Chile; and Solidaridad, Mexico. Hide

In October 2007, the International Conference on the State of Safety in World Cities took place in Mexico. The Conference developed an international framework to support cities in their efforts to address issues of violence and crime, including violence against women; outlined strategies and approaches to address violence against women; and built partnerships between United Nations, and a wide spectrum of stakeholders to address urban crime and violence. Hide

UN Habitat launched awards and competitions on “Safety and Security for Women and Girls in Cities” for Latin American and the Caribbean for 2007/2008 in November 2007. Hide