A new partnership between the EU and UN Women is set up to strengthen cooperation  on empowering women and enhancing gender equality .

The new Memorandum, signed in mid April 2012 by  Catherine Ashton, Andris Piebalgs and  Michelle Bachelet, reaffirms the partnership between the EU and UN Women to support gender equality and women’s empowerment around the world and ensures closer collaboration; sharing information, expertise and analysis in order to effectively advance women’s rights.

Cooperation will primarily focus on ensuring women’s representation in decision- making in the fields of economics, politics and justice worldwide, as well as better access for women to work and social opportunities.

Crucially, the partnership will see the two organisations coming together to take action on combating sexual and gender-based violence. This will include a commitment to provide more support and protection to survivors of violence and increasing access to support and services for those women affected.

The partnership will involve the two organisations working together on policies and programmes on gender equality and women’s empowerment. It will also mean that relevant information, analysis and strategic assessments are regularly shared in order to improve collaboration.

The EU and UN Women are already working together regularly, for example, on the Increasing Accountability in Financing for Gender Equality Progamme, set up to help national governments; civil society and donors to improve resources and accountability on gender equality in 15 countries. A program recently started on enhancing women’s participation in peace-building and post-conflict planning in Liberia, Timor-Leste and Kosovo. The new Memorandum of Understanding confirms this partnership.

For further details about the EU’s work with women, go to:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/news/documents/factsheet_womensday_en.pdf

To find out more about UN Women, go to:

http://www.unwomen.org/

Source: Un Women