| Posted: Feb. 04 2010,12:38 |
If you wrote this report, you will find a button here that you may click
in order to make changes in the report. 
|
Postal address of organization/institution
|
309-6465 Avenue Durocher
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2V 3Z1
|
E-mail address of organization/institution
|
|
Website address of organization/institution
|
www.womenincities.org
www.femmesetvilles.org
wwww.mujeresyciudades.org
|
Telephone of organization/institution
|
(+1) 514.861.6123
|
PRIORITIES: All of the organization's domains of culture of peace activity |
EDUCATION FOR PEACE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
HUMAN RIGHTS
WOMEN'S EQUALITY
DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION
UNDERSTANDING, TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION
INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY
|
TOP PRIORITY: The organization's most important culture of peace activity |
WOMEN'S EQUALITY
|
PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS: What
partnerships and networks does your organization participate in, thus
strengthening the global movement for a culture of peace? |
Women
in Cities International is an exchange network for various partners
concerned with gender equality issues and the place of women in cities
on the five continents. Women in Cities International works in close
collaboration with a number of partners internationally including, by
not limited to, the Huairou Commission, Red Mujer y Habitat de America
Latina, Jagori, the International Centre and Network for Information on
Crime, the Information Centre of the Independent Women’s Forum, Women
of the Dawn Counselling Centre, Centre des aînés de Gatineau, Action
des femmes handicapées (Montréal), Catholic Cross-Cultural Services, UN
Habitat, UNIFEM, and the International Centre for the Prevention of
Crime, etc.
|
ACTIONS: What activities have
been undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the ten years of the Decade? If you already made a
report in 2005, your information from 2005 will be included in the 2010
report.
|
ANNUAL REPORT
Activities and Achievements
2008 – 2009
June 2009
About the Organization
Women
in Cities International (WICI) is a non-profit network organization,
based in Montreal, Canada, that focuses on gender equality and the
participation of women and girls in urban development. WICI is
dedicated to the identification, study, and dissemination of good
practices, tools and intervention models. Among its partners, WICI
facilitates knowledge- and experience-sharing about the improvement of
women’s and girls’ safety and status in cities and communities. WICI
specializes in the organization of networking events, the
administration of training events, and the production of research in
order to achieve its goals.
Women’s safety is a priority
issue for WICI. This is because the violence and insecurity women feel
everyday is a major barrier to achieving gender equality. Violence and
insecurity reduce women’s mobility and restrict their ability to freely
exercise full citizenship. This is a direct violation of women’s
rights, as established by the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). WICI believes that
women’s meaningful participation in urban development is a core
requirement for the solution of this issue. To this end, WICI commits
firmly to the opinion that women’s and girls’ experiences of violence
and insecurity can only be addressed when the needs of different
genders are considered in all areas of urban management.
WICI
was established in 2002 after the necessity of its presence was
recognized at the First International Seminar on Women’s Safety, held
in Montreal, Canada. WICI’s Board of Directors is composed of scholars
and practitioners who have been internationally recognized for their
outstanding contributions to gender equality. WICI has over 300
Canadian and international members.
Women in Cities International’s main objectives are:
•
To develop an international exchange network on women’s and girls’
participation in urban development and on the consideration of gender
in municipal governments;
• To facilitate the sharing of expertise, training, and good practices;
•
To encourage exchange between different actors (women’s groups,
nongovernmental organizations, cities and municipalities, academia, the
private sector, media, international governments, etc.);
• To
promote exchange between local authorities on issues of gender equality
and women’s and girls’ participation in urban development;
• To
advise local governments, and national and international bodies working
in the fields of gender equality and urban development.
Current Activities and Recent Accomplishments
Knowledge Network
Women
in Cities International uses a variety of methods to facilitate the
exchange of knowledge, practices, and skills related to gender equality
and the safety and status of women and girls in cities and communities.
This year, WICI and its board members have contributed to five main
projects and programmes in this area.
Online Resource Centre,
Gender Inclusive Cities: Increasing Women’s Safety by identifying and
Disseminating Effective and Promising Approaches to Promote Women’s
Access to Public Spaces (2009 – 2012)
In order to reach a larger
audience and simplify access to the information it possesses, WICI and
its partner, Jagori, have begun to organize an Online Resource Centre
as part of the Gender Inclusive Cities: Increasing Women’s Safety by
Identifying and Disseminating Effective and Promising Approaches to
Promote Women’s Access to Public Spaces programme it is administrating.
This programme is funded by the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of
Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women. The Online Resource
Centre aims to bring together different groups across the globe that
are working towards gender inclusive cities in order to share and
access up-to-date knowledge and experience. The easy-to-navigate
resource centre will offer a variety of information sources and will
provide a discussion forum to encourage user participation. It will
also contain a list of subscribers, in order to send out information to
stakeholders. All site traffic will be monitored to learn more about
the online presence of parties interested in gender inclusive cities.
Knowledge Asset on Safe Cities and Communities for Women and Girls to Live a Life Free of Violence (2008 – 2009)
This
project, commissioned by UNIFEM, is an online guide to creating safer
cities and communities for women and girls. WICI has been developing
the Knowledge Asset in partnership with Red Mujer y Habitat de America
Latina. The Knowledge Asset is aimed at women’s and community
organizations, municipal governments, public service providers
(especially urban planners and public transportation employees),
academics and researchers, city managers, and, of course, women and
girls. Contents focus on spreading awareness of already-existing
tools, publications, and best practices. Information is provided in the
areas of public awareness and community mobilization, capacity
development, urban planning and design, public transportation, crime
prevention and municipal policy, and programmatic design.
Women’s Safety Audits: What Works and Where? (2008 – 2009)
This
international comparative assessment, produced by WICI and published by
the UN-Habitat Safer Cities Programme, provides useful information on
the implementation of past women’s safety audits and offers new
directions for the implementation of future women’s safety audits. The
results presented in this report are intended to fill existing
knowledge and evaluation gaps about the tool, as well as to support the
development of a set of guidelines for local authorities who intend to
conduct women’s safety audits in the future. Within the report, a
literature review and a series of meetings and interviews with
international organizations that have used the tool cover best
practices, local adaptations, and positive and negative results. The
English version of Women’s Safety Audits: What Works and Where? Is
being reviewed by UN-Habitat and will be published shortly. A French
translation, generously provided by France’s Délégation
interministérielle à la ville, will follow shortly.
Summary Results of the Second International Survey on Women’s Safety (2007 – 2009)
This
report, completed in partnership with the Huairou Commission and Red
Mujer y Habitat de America Latina, is meant to be the first step
towards the development of an international database and directory on
best practices in women’s safety. This project involved an overall
international assessment of the work and best practices that both
governmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions have
undertaken. Preliminary results were shared at the International
Conference on the State of Safety in World Cities, held in Monterrey,
Mexico, from 1 – 5 October 2007. The results of the second survey will
be available in the coming months.
“The Effectiveness of Women’s Safety Audits” Article for Security Journal (2008 – 2009)
WICI
board members Carolyn Whitzman, Caroline Andrew and Margaret Shaw, and
WICI staff member Kathryn Travers, have finalized their article “The
Effectiveness of Women’s Safety Audits”, which will be published in the
peer-reviewed scientific journal, Security Journal, in August 2009.
This article, which is based on six interviews with organizations in
Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as literature review, examines some of
the applications, results, and challenges of the women’s safety audit
tool. Results suggest that the tool is adaptable to local contexts, is
effective in bringing about changes in the physical environment, and
raises awareness about the issue of women’s safety among the public and
decision-makers.
International Partnership
WICI aims to
serve as an international crossroads in the field of gender equality
and women’s and girls’ participation in urban development. To this end,
it has continued to work with various international partners on
innovative research and on the implementation of practical initiatives.
As a result, WICI and its partners continue to build on each other’s
experiences and knowledge, as well as sharing strategies and lessons
learned. In the past year, WICI has embarked on two international
partnership projects.
Gender Inclusive Cities: Increasing
Women’s Safety by identifying and Disseminating Effective and Promising
Approaches to Promote Women’s Access to Public Spaces (2009 – 2012)
This
programme is funded by the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of
Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women. It is administered by WICI
and implemented by four international project partners: International
Centre for Information and Network on Crime (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania),
Jagori (Delhi, India), Information Centre of the Independent Women’s
Forum (Petrozavdosk, Russia) and Red Mujer y Habitat de America Latina
(Rosario, Argentina).
The programme aims to create cities that
are inclusive and respect the right of everyone, including women, to
live, work and travel without fear and without difficulty. It is doing
this by identifying factors that cause and perpetuate inequality and
exclusion, as well as policies and programmes that promote the
inclusion of women and their "right to the city". The first stage of
this programme is to generate knowledge using the tools of mapping,
research and analysis. After this stage is complete, WICI, in
partnership with local governments and NGOs, will use this knowledge to
implement pilot interventions to reduce women’s and girls’ experiences
of insecurity and exclusion. These interventions will also promote
public understanding of the rights of women and girls.
Following
a preparatory meeting held in Montreal, Canada in February 2009,
representatives from each project site, along with a team of experts,
developed a work plan for the first year of this programme. The main
components of this work plan involve:
• Researching the political and policy environment at each site;
• Building partnerships and identifying support groups at each site;
• Preparing and organizing one or more focus groups at each site;
• Preparing and organizing one or more women’s safety audits at each site;
• Preparing and distributing a street survey to gauge women’s experiences of safety at each site;
• Analysing and compiling data and results;
• Disseminating data results of the first year of the programme;
• Developing an Online Resource Centre on data related to gender inclusive cities.
Action Research Project on Women's Rights and Access to Water and Sanitation in Asian Cities (2009 – 2011)
This
project is being administered by WICI, implemented by Jagori (Delhi,
India) and funded by the International Development Research Centre
(IDRC). It focuses on governance issues and their association with
women's participation in decisions related to water and sanitation in
urban slums in Delhi. The aim of the project is to adapt and evaluate
the usefulness of the women’s safety audit tool in this particular
context. The project also involves research about the best possible
modifications of local governance structures for fulfilling the needs
of women and girls.
A preparatory meeting was held for
this project in Delhi in March 2009. At the meeting, various partners
and individuals involved in the implementation of the project created a
work plan for its first year. The main components of this work plan
include:
• Organizing consultations with local organizations and stakeholders;
• Researching the political and policy environment at each site;
• Researching participatory methodologies;
• Developing and distributing a questionnaire about household water management;
• Organizing focus groups at each site;
• Adapting the women’s safety audit tool to the project context;
• Conducting women’s safety audits at each site;
• Developing a mapping methodology based on the data collected;
• Analyzing data and compiling results;
• Disseminating results from the first year of the project.
National Partnership
In
addition to its work abroad, WICI is also currently working to increase
partnerships for national gender equality and women’s safety in Quebec,
Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Creating Safer Communities for Marginalized Women and for the Whole Community (2007 – 2010)
WICI
is currently in its third year of this project, which is funded by
Status of Women Canada. The project’s aim is to build partnerships
between municipalities and local women’s groups that work with
marginalized women. Partnership-building occurs through the joint
implementation of strategies to create safer communities for women,
including training for and completing women’s safety audits. Safety
audits have been conducted in four Canadian communities by different
target populations of women: Aboriginal women (Women of the Dawn,
Regina, Saskatchewan), elderly women (Centre des aînés de Gatineau,
Gatineau, Quebec), disabled women (Action femmes handicapées, Montreal,
Quebec) and immigrant and visible minority women (Catholic Cross
Cultural Services, Peel, Ontario). Currently, WICI is providing support
to each group as they finish conducting their safety audits and make
recommendations for change to their municipalities.
In support
of this project, WICI held a press conference on March 10, 2009 in
Canada’s capital city, Ottawa. During this press conference, WICI
president Caroline Andrew and WICI staff member Kathryn Travers joined
representatives from each of the four audit groups to raise awareness
about women’s safety in public spaces. Gatineau City Councillor, Denise
Laferrière, also spoke at the press conference.
Technical Assistance
As
WICI accumulates greater local, national, and international experience,
its staff and board members continue to look for new ways to share
their knowledge and challenges. To this end, WICI has recently focused
on extending its activities through technical assistance projects.
PAST PROJECTS
Networking Events of Women in Cities International at the World Urban Forum 3, Vancouver, June, 19 to 23 2006
To
assist in the facilitation of a gender-inclusive approach to the World
Urban Forum, Women in Cities International in partnership with the
Toronto Women's Call To Action, the National Network on Environments
and Women's Health, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, UN
-HABITAT Safer Cities, Action Canada for Population and Development,
AECI, UNIFEM, Red Mujer y Habitat Lac, the International Centre for the
Prevention of Crime and the Huairou Commission, organised four linked
thematic networking sessions building on current work around women's
safety and gender mainstreaming: sustainable community-government
partnerships on gendered violence prevention; developping a template:
parnership models for big cities; gender mainstreaming and local
governance; and knowledge networks for women's health and safety.
2007
- Production of the guide Building Community-Based Partnerships for
Local Action on Women's Safety. The guide was is intended to be used by
community-based women’s groups seeking to create partnerships with
their local municipal government.
2004 - WICI organized the
first Women's Safety Awards, designed to elicit and reward good
practices and municipal policies relating to women's safety and the
improvement of women's sense of safety. The focus of the Awards is
institutional change at the municipal level, through showcasing 'good
practices and policies' and disseminating information on 'what works'.
|
PROGRESS: Has your organization
seen progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain
of action and in your constituency during the second half of the
Decade? |
It
is extremely gratifying to see the growing interest of United Nations
agencies - UN-Habitat, UNIFEM and the UN Trust Fund To End Violence
Against Women - in questions of women’s urban safety. Increasingly the
links between safety and equality are being recognized and addressed in
more meaningful ways. Furthermore, it is now widely accepted that
violence against women is a direct violation of their human rights.
Many international conventions and declarations have been adopted, and
conferences and meetings organized to explore these violence against
women and its ramifications, including the United Nations
Secretary-General’s Campaign to End Violence Against Women (2008). Two
international conferences have been held to look at issues of women’s
safety in 2002 and 2004. These important milestones attest to the fact
that the international community has acknowledged the necessity of
‘Making the Links’ (the theme of the first conference) in order to
benefit from the knowledge and expertise of stakeholders including
grassroots women. It is only by working comprehensively and in a
multi-pronged and multi-sectoral fashion that we can begin to address
the root causes of violence against women.
|
OBSTACLES: Has your organization faced any obstacles to implementing the culture of peace and nonviolence? If so, what were they?
|
It
is clear that we are a long way from achieving gender equality.
Violence against women and women’s sense of safety (or lack thereof)
are still clear impediments to achieving equality and there is still
much to be done to ensure that women can enjoy full citizenship and the
right to the city.
|
PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization in the short, medium and long term to
promote a culture of peace and nonviolence? |
Women
in Cities International and Jagori are co-organizing the Third
International Conference on Women’s Safety in order to address the
needs of women and increase the networking among stakeholder working
for safer and inclusive cities. The conference will take place in
Delhi, India in November 2010. Women will be at the centre of the
conference, which will allow them to share experience and collectively
develop ideas for confronting issues that threaten women’s safety and
equality in urban environments. The organization and presentation of
the conference will be based on the recognition that working
comprehensively and collectively in a multilevel and multi-sectoral
fashion is the only way that we can begin to address the root causes of
gender-based violence and inequality.
|
GLOBAL MOVEMENT: How do you think the culture of peace and nonviolence could be strengthened and supported at the world level??
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
