The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has launched a Request for Proposal (RFP) on “End Violence against Women through Awareness Raising on Sexual Harassment Act, And HIV&AIDS especially Positive and Affected Women.” NGOs and civil society organizations with a focus on gender equality and strong experience of working in violence against women and HIV and AIDS are requested to submit proposals.
There are four strategic goals of UNIFEM’s work in Pakistan:
- Reducing women’s poverty and exclusion;
- Ending violence against women;
- Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls;
- Supporting women’s leadership in governance and post-conflict reconstruction.
“Violence against women is both a cause and a consequence of HIV and of AIDS. Gender inequality is considered to be one of the major factors determining the vulnerability of women not only to violence, but to HIV infection too. Studies show that women who suffer aggression or who are dominated by their partners are far more liable to get infected with HIV than women living in non violent homes. Unless the connection between violence and HIV is sundered it will be very difficult to turn back the tide of the epidemic. Addressing the issue of violence against women and facing up to it bravely is a question of human rights. Girls and women should be free from gender-based violence.”
The deadline to submit proposals is 15 June 2010. For more information, visit this link.
