The United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) has announced US$10 million in grants to 13 initiatives in 18 countries. The grants complete the UN Trust Fund’s 14th grant - making cycle of 2009, delivering a total of US$20.5 million for 26 projects in 33 countries and territories.

If there is one group that faces special challenges in Southern Sudan, it is women. Principal among them is gender-based violence, which is under-reported and spreading given the long history of conflict, certain traditional practices and weak judicial systems, say specialists. Concerns include inadequate data, lack of security, transport and education.

Around the world, more than 200 million women lack access to basic contraception. Often, these women must travel far from their communities to reach a health facility, only to return home empty handed due to shortages and stock-outs. Family planning is an effective strategy to reduce maternal mortality. The film available through the link provided shows that ongoing challenges in obtaining reproductive health supplies can have devastating consequences for family size, abortion, spacing and delaying pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other STIs.

Gay rights groups and human rights activists will hold a public meeting at J Dumani Community Hall in Vosloorus on 9 October 2010 to develop a plan of action to deal with the 'growing homophobia at the hands of the police', following the arrest and verbal harassment of 12 people at a house party attended by gay people in Vooslorus after the Joburg Gay Pride event on 4 October 2010.

A Kenyan minister who expressed her opinion in support for HIV and Aids mitigation programmes for gays and lesbians has come under sharp criticism from church and Muslim leaders who said her remarks we 'satanic' and 'contrary to African culture'. Esther Murugi, the special programmes minister in the Kenyan government, challenged the government to help the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community efforts in the war against the scourge.

In their latest report on 'Global Trends of Youth Employment' the International Labour Organisation (ILO) found evidence of an increasing gender disparity in unemployment rates in developing countries. The agency expresses concern that policies against gender discrimination are being neglected in efforts to encourage the global economic recovery.

School is back in session for post-secondary students in Ghana, but Ramatu Sidic has been hitting the books for weeks. She's getting ready for the biggest test of her life - becoming a voice for Ghanaian youth and a global ambassador for peace. The Accra native recently took the crown at the 2010 Miss ECOWAS Ghana Peace Pageant.

Women in Nigeria remain victims of gender discrimination, especially in politics. This monograph examines the possibility of utilising the First Lady’s institution to achieve gender mainstreaming and consequently terminate the sustained feminine marginality in Nigerian politics. The study finds that the First Lady’s office is self-serving as successive First Ladies since the Babangida military era are merely utilising their positions to mobilise and rally support for their husbands in power.

Women leaders representing women’s human rights organisations, national women’s machineries and the media from 12 African countries in the West Africa sub region have called on Member States of the African Union to give high priority to the African Women’s Decade. The leaders, participating in a workshop in Accra, Ghana from 28-30 September 2010, entitled 'Beyond Beijing +15: Implementing and Resourcing the African Women’s Decade (2010-2020)' commended the African Union for declaring 2010-2020 a decade for African women. However, they stressed that in order to deliver on the objectives of the Decade, planning has to move from the continental level to the sub-regional (ECOWAS), national and community level.

A Million Women Rise delegation of British women is to attend the Third International Action of the World March of Women in Bukavu (province of South Kivu) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of a global action to campaign for an end to violence against women. The global action, from 14 - 17 October 2010, involves women from 48 countries travelling to the DRC to express concrete solidarity with Congolese women and all women struggling against poverty and violence.

The human rights council has adopted a resolution in which it established for a period of three years a working group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice, and a decision in which it decided to hold a panel discussion on human rights in the context of action taken to address terrorist hostage-taking with a special focus on the primary responsibility of States.

Between October 14th and 17th October 2010, a Million Women Rise (MWR) delegation of British women will be attending the Third International Action of the World March of Women in Bukavu (province of South Kivu) in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Health and Human rights activists have demanded that the next court date set for the trial of Zoliswa Nkonyana’s alleged killers be the last one. According to the activists, including the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Free Gender and the Social Justice Coalition, the trial has been delayed more than 27 times since Nkonyana’s murder four years ago. Nknonyana, who lived in Khayelitsha, was attacked and stabbed to death because she was a lesbian.

Research carried out in Gasabo district of the central province of Rwanda with a focus on the lived experience of lesbians living in Kigali has concluded that there is a need for more sensitisation, lobbying and advocacy to better the livelihood and well-being of the LGBTI community. The research was an initiative to recognise the problems faced by lesbians after several attacks and arrests.

Between 20,000 and 40,000 Nigerian women and girls have been trafficked to Mali, with many of them populating brothels in the West African nation, according to the executive secretary of Nigeria’s Agency for the Prohibition and Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), Simon Chuzi Egede. The number does not include the thousands that have also been trafficked to other African nations, including Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Libya and Morocco, Egele told a press conference in Abuja Wednesday.

Historically the tool that has been used to counter Gender Based Violence (GBV) has been the law. Following various gender protocols the governments of the SADC countries have readily developed legislation criminalising GBV to varying degrees. Yet, legislative solutions to the problem of GBV and rape in the SADC region can be likened to covering one’s eyes in order to see no evil, says this blog post.

The following article is an extract from 'African Women Writing Resistance', which Pambazuka Press will be publishing in January 2011. For customers in Africa and Europe, the book is available at a special pre-publication price of £13.00 when ordering ).

Culminating a global summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Heads of State and Government, along with the private sector, foundations, international organizations, civil society and research organizations, kicked off a concerted world-wide effort to save the lives of more than 16 million women and children. At a special UN event to launch the “Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health”, stakeholders pledged over $40 billion in resources for women’s and children’ health.

Harassment and sexual exploitation by border officials seeking bribes constitute the biggest obstacles for female informal cross-border traders in Africa, according to a United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) research study. The study, which surveyed over 700 informal traders at their homes, workplaces and markets in Zimbabwe and Swaziland, as well as at border posts with South Africa, describes harassment of traders by South African police, soldiers and customs officials if traders should refuse to pay bribes.

As New York hosts the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summit this week, Steve Sharra considers the problems behind advancing gender equality and the absence of peace education from the goals.