Project Planned: Support to International Women’s Rights Action Watch (IWRAW) Asia Pacific

Discrimination against women is the most common form of social exclusion worldwide, although non discrimination of any gender is a human right and has universal validity. Reducing gender inequalities promotes social justice and sustainable development. Within the larger framework of Swiss Government support to human rights and within the frame of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which has been ratified by Switzerland, the proposed initiative represents a concrete and substantive contribution to the promotion and protection of women’s human rights. International Women’s Right Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW) priorities and activities, namely the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment, correspond perfectly with the Swiss Strategic priorities as outlined in Switzerland’s Federal Council Dispatch on International Cooperation 2013–2016 and the SDC Gender Equality Policy. Moreover, this coherence is strengthened by the decision of the Federal Council on the Swiss position in the post-2015 agenda, which advocates for a stand-alone goal on gender equality and gender equality as a transversal issue in other goals.

IWRAW overall goal: To eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in all spheres of life and to realise women’s human rights and social justice using of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW). SDC overall goal: Promoting poverty reduction, social justice and sustainable development by reducing gender inequalities.

Direct beneficiaries include governments, local government actors, NGOs, regional and international networks, law enforcement agencies (police, border officials, human right defenders, prosecutors and judges) and social workers. The ultimate indirect beneficiaries of this project are women, including women in marginalised and vulnerable groups such as: rural women, women with disabilities, migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, stateless, internally displaced persons, prisoners or women placed in protective custodies or correctional institutions.

SDC: IWRAW’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) capacity has been strengthened, especially related to their results based monitoring. With a solid M&E system, IWRAW will be able to gain additional credibility and consequently influence and attract new and more diversified sources of funding. IWRAW: Outcome 1 -Strengthened application of CEDAW and Women’s Human Rights (WHR) standards through a broader actor base at national levels. Outcome 2 - Enhanced access to an expanding knowledge base and advocacy strategies on critical and emerging issues on WHR among global WHR actors. Outcome 3 - Global and regional policy and standard setting processes have women’s Human Rights/gender equality approach. Outcome 4 - Increased private sector sensitivity towards benefits of gender equality approach through new actors in development and promotion of equal rights and justice, such as IFIs, private companies, trade sector.

Phase 1 01.04.2013 - 31.12.2016   (Completed)