In keeping with its mandate as the leading United Nations Institute devoted to research, training and knowledge management for gender equality and the advancement of women, the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) aims to contribute with this project to the fulfillment of the agreements stipulated in the Quito Consensus (2007).  This Consensus has two scopes of intervention which fully coincide with two of the present lines of work of UN-INSTRAW:

• Gender, governance, and women’s political participation at the local level
• Gender, migration and development

The work of the Institute in both areas has been establishing limits to those aspects that need greater continuity with a view to producing an impact and consolidating the results that have been achieved.  

The overall objective of the project entitled “Support to strengthening the Quito Consensus for women’s empowerment” is to contribute to the fulfillment of the agreements stipulated in the Consensus, which resulted from the 10th Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (Quito, August 2007), in the fields of democratization, governance and political participation at the local level, as well as to recognize the importance of care, domestic work and the protection of the human rights of migrant women.

• To contribute to the improvement of women’s representation and political participation in local governments through the strengthening of regional spheres.  To achieve this, the programme will establish alliances with key associates, such as the Council of Ministers for Women’s Affairs of Central America (Consejo de Ministras de la Mujer de Centroamérica - COMMCA) – and the Intergovernmental Network of National Mechanisms for Women’s Advancement in the Andean Region (Red Intergubernamental de Mecanismos Nacionales para el Adelanto de las Mujeres de la Región Andina (REMMA) and others.
• To generate trustworthy data on the role of the interregional migration of women in the social reorganization of care in destination countries as well as in countries of origin, within selected migratory corridors.
• To promote the dialogue amongst the women who integrate the different links of the global care  chains in order to include their points of view and needs in the different agendas and public policies on care giving.

Intervention Strategy

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• To start from a vision that will integrate, delve into and carry out the strategic issues of the 10th Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean of 2007. This will permit the Institute to work in a coordinated and articulated manner with gender equality mechanisms and with other key actors.
• Adopt an approach going from local to national, regional to transnational, with the understanding that today the national reality cannot be understood separately but interconnected, just as it cannot be seen in isolation. 
• To consider women capable of acting with diligence. Hence, it is important to hear their voice when proposing change concerning political and social processes in which they have a leading part.

 

Research and analysis

• To delve into the analysis of the most strategic and sustainable ways to increase women’s political participation at the local level.

• To understand the dynamic processes of the formation of global care chains and identify the key agents involved in their articulation.  In particular, the South-South global care chains will be studied.  

• Strengthening of capacities for the political dialogue.

• To strengthen the dialogue between gender mechanisms and the organizations of municipal women and other key stakeholders such as the organizations of indigenous women. 

• Communication and awareness-raising as a cross-cutting axis. To promote a change in mentality, attitudes and behaviour which until today prevent the creation of a critical mass in the representation of women in local authorities such as a more equal distribution of care work and full access to social rights by the women who perform them.

 

Geographic Area & Alliances

The project will be carried out in the Central American Region, Andean Region and Paraguay.

Alliances and other entities participating in the project:   

• Gender mechanisms/institutes
• Council of Ministers for Women’s Affairs of Central America (EL Consejo de Ministras de la Mujer de Centroamérica - COMMCA)
• The Intergovernmental network of National Gender Mechanisms in the Andean Region (La Red Intergubernamental de Mecanismos Nacionales para el Adelanto de las Mujeres en la Región Andina - REMMA)
• Gender Equality Observatory of Latin America and the Caribbean (Observatorio de Igualdad de Género de América Latina y el Caribe -CEPAL)
• The Latin American Network of Women Authorities Elected to Local Governments in Latin America and the Caribbean (La Red Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Mujeres Autoridades Electas de Gobiernos Locales de América Latina y el Caribe)
• Research centres and entities, women’s organizations, international organizations and the agencies of the United Nations System, amongst others.