Young Women's Caucus Beijing Plus 5

18/4/00 Message from the Australian NGO Coordinator
Deadline 15 May 2000

Below is a survey about organisations which are committed to young women specific initiatives. The Youth Caucus at Beijing + 5, in conjunction with UNIFEM is working on producing a handbook of best practices from around the globe dedicated to young women's issues. If your organisation is involved with a young women specific project or if you know of an organisation that is, please help us by filling out the survey below and e-mailing back to me as soon as convenient. We are hoping to have as many submissions as possible by the time of the June Beijing + 5 United Nations General Assembly Special Session and hope to have the hadnbook completed soon after that.

Thank you for your help and commitment
Amrita Dasvarma
NGO Coordinator Beijing + 5 process
Best Practices Program Youth for Beijing +5
Contact Persons:
Amrita Dasvarma
Email amritadasvarma@hotmail.com
Philip Thigo
Email philhype@usa.net
SofiaFernandes
Email sfernandes@dgsaude.min-saude.pt

INTRODUCTION

The Youth Caucus for Beijing +5 recognizes the many practices that young women around the world have been involved in towards the implementation of the Platform for Action. Over the years, young women specific initiatives bearing unique characteristics of originality, transferability and sustainability have however gone unnoticed or received minimal support from the wider community at local, regional and International levels.

Subsequently, as part of the activities in June during the United Nations General Assembly Special Session, the youth caucus for Beijing +5 will launch a handbook these initiatives with the objective of:

Publicizing young womens and girls initiatives;
Sharing of knowledge and exchange of experiences;
Encourage networking and partnership in areas of common interest;

What are Best Practices?

Best practices can be defined as initiatives that have a tangible impact on improving peoples quality of life and living environment; result of partnership between two or more actors or stakeholders; and proven to be sustainable in their social, economic, environmental and cultural components and/or through lasting changes in policy and decision making, use of resources and management systems.

Guidelines for Submission (deadline May 15th with possibility of extension)

SECTION I

1. Name of the Best Practice [Name of Project]
2. Address of the Best Practice
(Including street, P.O. Box, City/Town, Postal Code, Country, Telephone, Fax
and Email addresses. N.B. please ensure country and city-codes are provided for telephone and fax.)
3. Contact Person
4. Type of Organization

Kindly select from one of the following categories:

Youth Organizations, those within/affiliated to Government or other agencies, including youth councils and youth commissions,
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) especially, young women-led;
Community-based organizations (CBOs) especially, young women-led;
Coalitions and Networks
Media
Institutions of learning;
Individual young women activists.
Others please specify

5. Scope
Submissions should indicate the scope of intervention i.e. City/Town, Neighborhood, village local, national, regional or International. It will be equally important to mention collaborative and implementing partners involved in the process such as other CBOs, NGOs, UN Agencies and members of the donor community.

6. Partners
Using the same format as above, provide the name, address, contact person and type of organization for at least one partner organization

7. Type of Partner Support
For each partner, specify the principle type of support provided
(a) Financial Support
(b) Political Support
(c) Technical Support
(d) Administrative Support
(e) Other

8. Category of the Best Practice
From the list below, select no more than 2 themes describing the focus of your work. Then, select as appropriate, the sub-categories from those themes that best describe the Best Practice

(a) Themes
(i) Poverty Eradication income generation; job creation; vocational training; access to credit.
(ii) Economic Development enterprise development (formal and informal sectors); investment development; capital formation; entrepreneurship; training; cooperative opportunities; micro-credit.

(iii) Social Services Health, nutrition and welfare; education and vocational training (including day care and after school care); recreational/ cultural programming; especially difficult circumstances (abuse, child labor, war); vulnerable groups; community support programmes; public safety.

(iv) Infrastructure, Communications, Transportation energy use, conservation and production; transportation and mobility; communication and media; safe water provision; waste-management and treatment; sanitation.

(v) Housing affordable housing; homelessness; land tenure and security; access to housing finance; construction industry.

(vi) Land Use Management land-use planning; geographical information systems; development incentives; open space conservation; land development; urban/suburban renewal.

(vii) Urban Governance public administration and management; partnership development; legislation/advocacy; public policy; human resources and leadership development; decentralization; resource mobilization; institutional reform; management and information systems; auditing; visioning; openness and transparency; monitoring and evaluation; accountability; metro/urban-wide government.

(viii) Civic Engagement and Cultural Vitality community participation; social and cultural vitality; expression and animation; civic education; the arts.

(ix) Gender Equity and Equality gender roles and responsibilities; gender specific needs; empowerment; young women and girls participatory planning and leadership development; access to resources; control of resources; legislation; removing barriers to equity; ethnicity; social integration.

(x) Urban and Regional Planning community-based planning; conflict management and mediation; consultative process; cultural heritage conservation;

(xi) Technology, Tools and Methods software; hardware; management tools and systems; technology transfer; research and development; planning tools and techniques; networking; information and communications technology and systems; appropriate technologies; training and capacity building; infrastructure technology.

(b) Sub-Categories

Responsiveness to the specific needs and ideas of young women and girls;
Improved accessibility to health, reproductive health facilities and information for young women;
Leadership and Empowerment of young women and girls;
Increased access to and participation in decision-making processes by young women;
Use of information in decision-making including information technology;
Rehabilitation and re-integration of young women;
Conflict mediation and reconstruction;
Improved access to education facilities and skills;
Poverty reduction and job creation for young women;
Gender mainstreaming and social inclusion;

SECTION II

9. SUMMARY
In one paragraph, summarize the purpose and achievements of the initiative.

10. NARRATIVE
Using the following headings or suggestions as pointers, kindly describe your work in a brief:

SITUATION BEFORE THE INITIATIVE BEGAN Briefly describe the situation before the initiative began, including major issues, trends and conditions in the area.

ESTABLISHMENT OF PRIORITIES Indicate the priorities of the initiative, how they were established and who were involved

FORMULATION OF OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES Provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.

MOBILIZATION OF RESOURCES Describe how financial, technical and human resources were mobilized and where they came from.

PROCESS Describe the problems faced in implementing the initiative, how were they overcome and the problems that remain to be solved. Describe also how people, communities, organizations and institutions participated in the initiative.

RESULTS ACHIEVED (For projects that have been in existence for a period of time where achievements can be measured) Describe to what extent the objectives listed above were realized, how the results were measured, quantitatively and qualitatively. Provide a summary of any indicators that were used to measure results or impact and who is using them. Describe how the initiative has resulted in, for example

Better co-ordination and integration between various actors, organizations or institutions
Changes in local, national or regional social, economic and environmental policies and strategies
Improved institutional capacity at the national, sub-national or local levels
Changes to local or national decision-making, including the institutionalization of partnerships
Recognizing and addressing specific opportunities and constraints
Changes in the use and allocation of human, technical and financial resources at the local/national level
Changes in peoples attitudes and behavior?

SUSTAINABILITY Describe how the integration of the social, economic, environmental and cultural elements of sustainability was achieved, particularly with regards to

Financial The use and leveraging of resources, including cost recovery, indicating how loans, if any, are being paid back and their terms and conditions
Social and Economic Gender equity, equality and social inclusion, economic and social mobility
Cultural Respect for and consideration of attitudes, behavior patterns and heritage

11. Under a separate heading Lessons Learned briefly describe the three or four most important lessons learned from your experience and how these lessons have been or are being incorporated in your initiative and/or other initiatives. Describe any lessons learned from other initiatives that were incorporated into your initiative. Describe how these lessons learned have been or are being taken into consideration in determining ongoing or future policies, strategies and action plans.

12. Under a separate heading Transferability briefly describe how others have/can benefit(ed) or learn(ed) from your initiative. Describe how your initiative has been or is being replicated/adapted elsewhere, where and by whom? Describe what you would do differently or avoid doing if you were to help others in replicating your experience.

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