The management and staff of UN-INSTRAW would like to express their heartfelt condolences to the victims of the terrible earthquake in Haiti and to their families.

UN-INSTRAW will participate in a project with the National Council for Competitivity (CNC) to be implemented by the Dominican Republic and the World Bank aiming to create a model for the certification of Dominican enterprises on gender equity.

A high level workshop organized by UN-INSTRAW and CAWTAR has relaunched the debate on quotas in Algeria.

The Council of Ministers for Women of Central America will hold a meeting with agencies and international entities with the objective to align and harmonize international cooperation on gender issues for the region’s Central American Integration System (SICA).

As 2009 is drawing to an end, UN-INSTRAW would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a happy new year.

UN-INSTRAW trained a group of eight young women and men to facilitate the debate at the Gender Film Festival organized by the Gender Interagency Group of the UN System in the Dominican Republic in coordination with the First Lady (DEPRIDAM) and the State Secretary for Women (SEM). The festival was held in commemoration of the International day for Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Media professionals in Algeria participated in a training session on the issue of women’s political participation, introducing a gender approach in the media to promote a more equal media treatment of women politicians.

"To participate is to decide. Let’s engage in political life for more equality.” This was one of the slogans presented by students for a large scale awareness campaign in the Maghreb area, as part of the UN-INSTRAW and CAWTAR project "Strengthening women's leadership and participation of women in politics and decision-making process in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia."