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UNIFEM is working to raise 2 million dollars to rebuild women’s shelters and expand emergency services for women and their families in Haiti. Imagine you’re a victim of domestic violence in Haiti and before the earthquake on 12 January 2010, you and your children were safe in one of Haiti’s women’s shelters. You were working to rebuild your life and then suddenly, the shelter and so much else has been ripped away.
UNIFEM is working in Haiti to expand the provision of emergency services for women in the aftermath of the earthquake on 12 January 2010. As part of the overall UN effort in the country, UNIFEM particularly seeks to rebuild women’s shelters and to ensure that relief efforts incorporate a gender perspective. The work of the UNIFEM team in Haiti includes going out among the survivors who are seeking refuge in spontaneous and self-managed temporary camps.
In the Pétionville suburb in the hills east of Port-au-Prince, the makeshift shelters are made of oilcloth, plastic sheets, canvas and other materials found among the debris; a few tents can be seen here and there. Grouped in open spaces and sometimes in the middle of the street, people try to go on with their lives as they wait for emergency aid to be distributed. Spaces are filled with women and children. Youth wander around or supervise younger siblings. The women are busy with caring for children, exchanging small goods and preparing food. Many people have gone in search of supplies, a relative or a friend who is unaccounted for.
The UNIFEM team in Haiti will work alongside NGO partners to strengthen services to victims of gender-based violence and their families in women’s centres and temporary shelters in Port-au-Prince and Jacmel. The money raised will go towards a range of efforts from emergency community-based violence prevention programmes to repairing damage of existing centres and providing humanitarian aid like emergency supplies, staff and counselling services in the communities most affected.
UNIFEM will also focus on coordination efforts to ensure that emergency and early recovery assessment and assistance incorporate a gender perspective to adequately address the differentiated needs of women, men and children. UNIFEM’s work on the ground shows that too often natural disasters result in greater household and institutional instability and to increasing women’s vulnerability to violence, abuse and sexual exploitation.
“This terrible humanitarian disaster is likely to impact girls, boys, women and men in different ways,” UNIFEM Executive Director Inés Alberdi said.
“UNIFEM is committed along with its partners and the UN system to working to ensure that attention is given to addressing these differential impacts and in particular for ensuring the personal security of women and girls.”
By donating to UNIFEM between January 1 and March 31 2010, your contribution will fund emergency community-based violence prevention programmes, counselling services, provide emergency supplies and rebuild women’s centres.
Help UNIFEM Say NO to violence against women and girls in Haiti. Every dollar you give counts as an action. Click Here to donate today!
For more information visit the UNIFEM international website www.unifem.org or UNIFEM in Australia at www.unifem.org.au
Source: UNIFEM