MIGIRO WARNS THAT ECONOMIC TURMOIL HAS EXACERBATED VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The scourge of violence against women has worsened as a result of the global financial downturn over the past year, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today as she urged some of the world's richest countries to lead the way in turning the many international pledges to support women and girls into concrete results.

In a keynote address in Rome to a ministerial-level conference on violence against women, being held under the auspices of the Italian presidency of the Group of Eight (G8), Ms. Migiro said evidence women and girls are exposed to a greater risk of violence during times of hardship.

"We have seen rising levels of despair and frustration in families and communities around the world, exacerbating violence against women," she said.

"In a recent survey of more than 630 domestic violence shelters in the United States, 75 per cent reported an increase in women seeking help for abuse since September 2008, coinciding with a major downturn in the US economy. We must remain especially vigilant through these tough times."

Ms. Migiro detailed to the conference some of the steps taken by the UN to end violence against women and girls, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's UNiTE campaign, which calls on world leaders to launch national campaigns aimed at preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls in all parts of the world.

She noted that the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, which is nearing the thirtieth anniversary of its adoption, and several landmark Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security indicated that the international community has taken "significant" steps towards protecting women from violence.

However, "we still have a long road to walk before the full meaning of these international agreements is fully transformed from words on paper to reality on the ground"

Ms. Migiro urged participants at today's conference to put into practice two earlier recommendations calling on G8 members to enhance the rights of women.

The first calls on G8 members to back programmes that promote women's rights and make information about sexual and reproductive health widely accessible, while the second calls for support for peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations worldwide so as to emphasize security, the protection of civilians and action against sexual and gender-based violence.

"Ending violence against women will not be easy. It will require sustained dedication and collaboration," she said.

While in Rome Ms. Migiro is scheduled to meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican and to hold bilateral discussions with Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and its Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna.

She is also expected to meet with staff from the UN's Rome-based agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Prog ramme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

TALKS BETWEEN UN AND IVORIAN OFFICIALS FOCUS ON FOOD SECURITY, RURAL POOR

Achieving national food security in Côte d'Ivoire and addressing the needs of the smallholder farmers and the rural poor were among the topics discussed during a visit by the head of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) that wrapped up today.

Talks between Kanayo F. Nwanze and Ivorian Prime Minister Guillaume Soro and other senior cofficials also focused on IFAD's support to the Government in dealing with high food prices and the country's post-conflict situation, as well as investment in agricultural development programmes.

Among the projects that IFAD is helping to finance in the West African nation is the Small Horticultural Producer Support Project, which seeks to boost rice production.

Begun in 2001, the initiative is IFAD's first thematic project focusing on small-scale irrigation related mostly to vegetable production and marketing in the region.

The Rome-based agency is also working with the Government on devising a project to strengthen rice, cassava and yam production among rural groups made vulnerable by the global food crisis.

During the two-day visit to Abidjan, Mr. Nwanze – who took up his post this past February – also looked at how to speed up the preparation of a country strategic opportunities programme (COSOP), a tool used to ensure that IFAD country operations produce a positive impact on poverty.

Designed through a process of wide consultations with a number of stakeholders, the COSOP reviews the specific rural poverty situation in a country, and is used for making strategic choices about IFAD operations in a country as well as identifying opportunities for IFAD financing.

Since 1984 IFAD has invested $66.7 million in seven programmes and projects in Côte d'Ivoire.
________________

HAITIAN FARMERS BOOST FOOD PRODUCTION WITH UN HELP

A United Nations scheme to combat high food prices in Haiti has yielded fruit by significantly boosting production, making food available at lower cost and increasing farmers' incomes, the world body announced today.

The $10.2 million plan to distribute and multiply quality seeds was being carried out, at the Government's request, by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with financing from the International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD).

Among the results achieved, FAO estimates that quality bean seeds from Guatemala, procured and distributed to poor and vulnerable farmers for the 2008 winter planting season for $300,000, have produced $5 million in bean crops.

"We are extremely encouraged by the results we are seeing in this programme which, along with favourable weather, has been an important factor in increasing the amount of food available to poor people in Haiti," said FAO Haiti Representative Ari Toubo Ibrahim.

The programme was critical for Haiti, where the impact of rising food prices has been so severe that it triggered riots in the capital, Port-au-Prince, in April 2008. Four successive and devastating hurricanes in August and September 2008 meant the seeds poor farmers had saved were either washed away or eaten because people were so hungry.

The scheme helped increase FAO seed stocks in the country so Haiti could have more quality seeds to distribute in case farmers lose their stocks again during this year's hurricane season, which is now under way.

Almost 250,000 smallholder and landless farmers have or will receive adapted quality seeds through the programme, which will also provide basic tools and advice or training via written material and radio broadcasts on best cultivation techniques.

The programme initially covered three planting seasons in Haiti – winter 2008 and spring and summer 2009 – but the Government now wants to extend the project to the upcoming winter season to build on the results achieved so far.
________________

UN WELCOMES US COMMITMENT TO BOOST AGRICULTURE IN POORER COUNTRIES

A senior United Nations official today welcomed United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent statements in Kenya as a clear signal that Washington is committed to boost sustainable agricultural development in the world's poorer countries as a way to root out global hunger and poverty.

Mrs. Clinton's comments, in which she called for more agricultural aid money to be spent in poorer countries, show a clear US resolve to act upon the $20-billion pledge for sustainable agricultural development made at last month's G8 summit of industrialized nations in L'Aquila, Italy, UN Fund for Agricultural Development (<"http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2009/37.htm">IFAD) President Kanayo F. Nwanze said in a news release.

"After the historic pledge of $20 billion for sustainable agriculture development, the world is eager to see concrete actions that will translate into improvements in the lives of poor people in developing countries. There is no time to lose," he declared.

"The initiative, as well as Secretary Clinton's remarks, reflects a shift in emphasis – from dependence on food aid to greater investment in agriculture as a key to eradicating poverty."

In a speech at the 8th Forum of the African Growth and Opportunity Act in Nairobi, Mrs. Clinton noted that while past US assistance has yielded gains, "we have spent too many dollars and too many decades on efforts that have not delivered the desired long-term results," according to a State Department transcript.

"Too much money, for example, has stayed in America, paid salaries to Americans, furnished overhead to the contractors that were used. Too little has reached the intended target or contributed to lasting progress," she added.
Mr. Nwanze thanked Mrs. Clinton for keeping the global spotlight on agriculture and rural poverty. "Investing in agriculture – and in particular smallholder agriculture – is indeed the most cost-effective way of reducing poverty, saving and improving lives," he said.

The L'Aquila Food Security Initiative has been hailed as a major commitment to root out hunger and poverty, prompted mainly by the recognition that the global economic slowdown has pushed 90 million more people into extreme poverty.

"With a significant increase in the flow of external resources to agriculture, much will still depend on how these resources are spent; most importantly, whether higher commitments for agricultural development will trigger a matching response from developing countries by putting in place the right policy framework to support farmers," Mr. Nwanze said.

Rome-based IFAD works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes, and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, it has invested over $11 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering some 340 million people to break out of poverty.

CAMEROON: UN FUNDS MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR SCHEME TO BOOST RURAL EMPLOYMENT

CAMEROON: UN FUNDS MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR SCHEME TO BOOST RURAL EMPLOYMENT
New York, May 11 2009 2:00PM
The rural poor across Cameroon are set to receive a cash injection of close to $14 million from the United Nations in an effort to reduce poverty, increase income and improve livelihoods.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (<"http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2009/23.htm">IFAD) will support the Rural Microfinance Development project in the West African country with a $13.5 million loan and $200,000 grant.

The microfinance scheme will help the growing numbers of young people leaving cities, which have high rates of unemployment, for rural areas looking for work in agriculture and its related sectors but have difficulty in accessing credit.

Women, who despite their heavy workload and financial constraints start up small businesses involved in processing, storage, transport and handicraft activities, will particularly benefit from the projects.

IFAD expects the initiatives to increase rural employment, boost the income of the rural poor, improve their food security and nutrition, as well as enhance the status of women, who will take part in managing the microfinance institutions.

The funding will target smallholder farmers experiencing difficulty in buying inputs and technology the rural populations in the Centre, Extreme-North, North-West and Western Regions of Cameroon.

To date, IFAD has funded seven rural development projects in Cameroon for a total of $85 million.
________________

UN FUNDS $15 MILLION AGRICULTURAL SCHEME HELPING THOUSANDS OF POOR IN EL SALVADOR

Extremely poor people living off the land in El Salvador are set to receive a major cash injection of almost $15 million from the United Nations rural development arm to help finance projects aimed at modernizing agricultural production.

The $14.98 million loan from the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will back an initiative in the central regions of El Salvador which helps transform subsistence agricultural and off-farm activities into profitable, rural businesses and micro-enterprises.

The project targets inhabitants of poor communities, landless farmers and agricultural labourers, rural women and youth, as well as owners of small businesses in the Central American nation.

The funding is expected to directly benefit some 33,000 people in marginalized communities with indigenous traditions, who will have access to financial services and receive specialized technical and business assistance to help them access local and external markets.

It also supports land management in selected micro-watersheds and the rehabilitation environmentally deteriorated areas.

The total cost of the programme is over $20 million over 18 years and to date, IFAD has funded eight rural development programmes and projects in El Salvador for more than $108 million.

The latest loan agreement was signed yesterday at IFAD headquarters in Rome by the Ambassador of El Salvador to Italy José Roberto Andino Salazar and IFAD President Kanayo Nwanze.
________________

FINANCIAL TURMOIL COULD TRIGGER DEVELOPMENT CATASTROPHE, UN CAUTIONS

As leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) nations gear up for their meeting tomorrow, the United Nations is warning that the current global economic crisis threatens to unleash a human development catastrophe in the world's poorest nations.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will press participants at the London gathering for urgent collective action to boost development and allow people to keep their faith in their future, spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters today.

Mr. Ban, who held bilateral meetings with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, is expected to warn the leaders tomorrow that the global recession hurts everyone, but especially the poor, who in some countries spend up to 80 per cent of their incomes on food.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has also called on the heads of the G-20 nations to recognize that those most vulnerable to the crisis – which is not exclusive to Europe or the United States – are living outside the spotlight.

Those attending tomorrow's event "should recognize the human development calamity facing the people of the poorest countries and commit the resources to bail them out," said Ad Melkert, UNDP Associate Administrator.

Remittances have slumped, trade has collapsed and commodity prices continue to be volatile, plunging more families into extreme poverty and increasing mortality as a result, UNDP said. A 3 per cent drop in gross domestic product (GDP) for developing countries leads to between 47 and 120 more infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

The crisis is a "matter of life or death for many people in the poorest countries," Mr. Melkert said.

"While the economic recovery may start in 2010, the damage to human development will be severe and social recovery may take us several more years," he noted, adding that the impacts may be felt as far away as 2020.

The official also pointed out that in past recessions, poorer nations have suffered disproportionately compared to their wealthier counterparts, witnessing falls in health and education indicators. Life expectancy, school enrollment and graduation rates all drop, and in low-income countries, women, children and society's poorest segments are most likely to bear the brunt of the economic collapse.

Also warning about the impact of the financial crisis on schooling was Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), who called for greater investment in education.

According to research, extending the average period spent at school by one year will boost per capita GDP by 4-6 per cent, he said. "By injecting resources into education now, not only would we stimulate economic recovery, but we would also contribute to stronger growth in the future and guarantee global stability in the long term."

For its part, the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has called on governments to accelerate agricultural development, with the financial downturn pushing millions of people – especially poor rural people – into abject poverty.

"We ignore the world's poor farmers at our peril," said IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze. "As we strive to recover from the current turmoil, these farmers can be part of the solution."

Given the necessary support, they can drive economic growth and help the world to avert food crises, like the one that shook the world in 2008, he said.
________________

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml