 | Dr. Joan Clos (UN-Habitat Executive Director) and Ms. Lakshmi Puri (Deputy Executive Director, UN Women) |
UN-Habitat and UN Women have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening the two agencies' collaboration in areas of common interest.
The MoU was signed by the UN-Habitat Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos and Ms. Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women on the sidelines of the sixth Session of the World Urban Forum recently held in Naples, Italy.
The new engagement is aimed at building on past and existing collaborations in areas of common interest such as promoting women's safety in cities, ending violence against women and girls and participation in governance; Global Land Tool Network; and in the implementation of the United Nations System Wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (SWAP).
Further, the MoU is aimed at developing and strengthening the two agencies' cooperation in order to benefit from complementarities, promote coherence, coordination and alignment within the United Nations System.
UN Women is the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, created by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 64/289 of 2 July 2010. Its mandate covers the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security leading, coordinating, and promoting the accountability of the United Nations system in its work on gender equality and the empowerment of women. This strategic partnership between both agencies will no doubt further enhance and increase the developmental effectiveness of both agencies efforts to achieve their common goals and objectives.
One of the areas of cooperation is the creation of dialogue and partnerships in order to develop evidence based analysis and research on critical issues relating to gender equality and empowerment of women in human settlements and in the context of sustainable development. The two agencies plan to operationalize the MoU as a priority. |
