PRESS RELEASE

Nairobi and New York, April 7, 2006 – The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is calling on members of the international community to take serious action to address the urgent needs of more than eight million people severely affected by drought in the Horn of Africa. The call follows today’s launch of a $426 million appeal by Jan Egeland, the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator.

“UNIFEM is urging the donor community to pay particular attention to the gender aspects of the crisis,” said Micheline Ravololonarisoa, Chief of UNIFEM’s Africa section. “Women are already bearing the heaviest impact of the drought, and their specific needs must not be overlooked in the emergency planning and response.”

The specific context of the region is important in assessing the impact of the crisis on women and girls. Communities are predominantly pastoral and agro-pastoral, and the division of labor in the household has men taking responsibility for livestock, and women responsibility for collecting water and fuel, providing food, and maintaining their families. The food and water shortage is increasing women’s social and economic vulnerability, as well as exposing them to other risks, such as violence, as tension within communities mounts, and women are forced to travel long distances in search of diminishing resources.

Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, UNIFEM regional programme director for the Horn of Africa, said that the complexities of the crisis are enormous. “Not only are there risks of disease, a wiping out of livelihoods. There is also the risk of conflict because resources are growing scarcer, livelihood patterns are being forced to change, resulting in stress on the social fabric of these communities. Women are mainly the ones who hold this fabric together, so it is critical that their needs are taken into account.”

The United Nations is calling for a comprehensive response to the crisis, to save lives immediately, but also to put in place interventions to address longer term needs and build resilience among the stricken communities to future challenges. UNIFEM has proposed several projects including an immediate collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data, especially in the context of cross-border movement patterns of women and their children, to inform the humanitarian response and feed into relief and recovery planning. UNIFEM is also proposing direct and immediate support to civil society organizations and women’s networks on the ground to mobilize local actions to mitigate the crisis, and ensure that local voices are directly integrated into relief and recovery efforts and decision-making.

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UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations, providing financial support and technical assistance to innovative programs promoting women's human rights, their economic and political empowerment, and gender equality in over 100 countries. In 2006, UNIFEM is commemorating its 30th anniversary. For more information, visit www.unifem.org

UNIFEM, Block Q107, UN Gigiri Complex. P.O Box 30218 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: 254 20 7624725 Fax: 254 20 7624494

For more information, contact Roselyn Gicira at Roselyn.gicira@unifem.org