United Nations Human Settlements Programme

In Cairo, Egypt, UN-Habitat conducted women’s safety audits in the 3 selected areas for intervention and prepared situational analysis reports and recommendations which were submitted to government. Place-making participatory planning workshops have been conducted in each of the 3 areas and the implementation of women-inclusive management of public spaces model has been approved by government. Progress has been made in highlighting safety concerns of women and girls through the “Because I am a Girl Urban Programme” jointly implemented by UN-Habitat, Plan International and Women and Cities International. A set of 5 tools have been developed and situational assessments conducted in 5 cities (Kampala, Delhi, Cairo, Lima and Hanoi). In each of the cities, girls shared similar experiences of insecurity, of sexual harassment and of feelings of exclusion as well as visions for safer future cities.

UN HABITAT continues to support the NGO Jagori in the implementation of the project called “Youth and Girls Safety”. UN-HABITAT and WICI developed the background document on girls and urbanization for the Plan International Publication “Because I am a Girl”. UN-Habitat attended the launch of the PLAN report “ Because I am a Girl” in Nairobi and Kampala. An expert working group on “girls’ safety in cities” will be based on the recommendations of the publication. The Third International Conference on Women’s Safety: Building Inclusive Cities was held in New Delhi, India in November 22nd to 24th 2010, with the participation of stakeholders from 41 countries and 60 cities. The conference was co-organised by Women in Cities International and Jagori, in collaboration with UN-HABTIAT, UNIFEM, and the Huairou Commission with the support from the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom, the Canadian Government, the Interchurch organisation for development co-operation (ICCO), the Evangelischer Entwicklingsdienst (EED), UNICEF, the German NGO Freidrich Ebert Stuftung, CITYNET, the Australian Government, Red Mujer y Habitat America Latina, and Plan International. The conference resulted in the Delhi Declaration.

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”.

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.

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.

UN-HABITAT and Women in Cities International developed a background document on girls and urbanization for the publication “Because I am a Girl”, of the NGO, Plan.

UN-Habitat undertakes surveys under the umbrella of the Safer Cities Programme, and assesses four types of violence against women, i.e. economic, physical, emotional and sexual abuse. These surveys have been developed in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Cameroon and Papua New Guinea, with the aim of assisting policy development and advocacy at international, national and local levels.

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.

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.

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.