*EPF506 09/10/2004
Fact Sheet: U.S. Working to Aid Women in Asia-Pacific Region
(Aid programs aim for full integration in economic, political life) (1670)

Full integration of women into the economic, political and social life of their homelands in the Asia-Pacific region is the goal of many U.S.-government led programs, according to a fact sheet released September 9 by the Office of the Senior Coordinator for International Women's Issues of the U.S. Department of State.

"U.S. funding supports a variety of programs that help women to expand their political and economic opportunities and promote equal access to education and health care," the fact sheet says.

Among the agencies that support ongoing projects are the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the Regional Women's Fund of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Bureau (EAP).

According to the fact sheet, the EAP Women's Fund specifically funds programs that empower women, particularly those vulnerable to exploitation. The Fund seeks: 1) to increase women's participation in the political process, 2) to encourage economic independence, and 3) to prevent violence against women in the EAP region.

Following is the text of the State Department fact sheet:

(begin fact sheet)

Fact Sheet
Office of the Senior Coordinator for International Women's Issues
Washington, DC
September 9, 2004

U.S. Commitment to Women in East Asia and the Pacific

The United States is committed to the full integration of women into economic, political, and social spheres. U.S. funding supports a variety of programs that help women to expand their political and economic opportunities and promote equal access to education and health care. Many of the projects are supported by USAID, the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the Regional Women's Fund of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Bureau (EAP). The EAP Women's Fund specifically funds programs that empower women, particularly those vulnerable to exploitation. The Fund seeks: 1) to increase women's participation in the political process, 2) to encourage economic independence, and 3) to prevent violence against women in the EAP region. The projects below are representative of U.S. efforts in East Asia and the Pacific.

Political Participation and Civil Society

Leadership Training. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partner organizations provide a variety of programs throughout the region to equip women to run for office and be effective leaders in the political arena and in civil society. For example, the Women's League in Burma works with women to build their leadership and management skills. Because women represent different ethnic groups, these programs also build inter-ethnic relationships. In Cambodia, U.S.-sponsored training programs for women seeking to run for political office in 2003 on local and national levels contributed 15 Cambodian women being elected to parliament, a 50% increase in the number of women. Similar programs exist in Mongolia and Japan.

Women in Local Communities. Women gain valuable leadership experience through involvement in community-based organizations. In Malaysia, the Angkatan Zaman Mansang (AZAM, the Movement for Progress), a Sarawak-based non-governmental organization (NGO), received a grant from the U.S. Embassy to encourage greater volunteerism among women in rural villages, train women in community development, and build communication links. The Girl Guides Association of Cambodia (GGAC) is working with girls and young women to be more active in their communities. Their programs emphasize building peace and good citizenship.

Women in the Media. Since 1996, the United States has supported the Women's Media Centre of Cambodia (WMC), a center run entirely by women, that strives to improve women's status by promoting socially conscious television, video and radio programs. In Indonesia, the U.S. supports the Women's Journal Foundation, which has undertaken a media campaign in support of women's rights in their Women's Journal, Women's Journal Radio, and a documentary on trafficking in persons. The Women's Journal is a bi-monthly publication that prints 5,000 copies per issue. The Women's Journal Radio broadcasts a twenty-minute program weekly to 158 stations across Indonesia. In 2004, the Foundation received a grant to continue its campaign for women's rights in Indonesia.

Human Rights and Legal Awareness. To safeguard women's legal rights, the U.S. supports rule of law programs in China, including judicial reforms and respect for the rights of workers and women. In East Timor, the U.S. funds the Women's Justice Unit's advocacy campaign for women's rights in the justice system. The Cambodian NGO, Outreach, provides legal and human rights training to rural women in four provinces, with a special emphasis on domestic violence. In the Philippines, the U.S. is working with the Ateneo Center for Social Policy to identify policy recommendations on elections, human rights, women's rights, and civil society that are sensitive to Filipino Islamic culture.

Violence Against Women. The U.S. Embassy in China has provided small grants to the Rural Women Magazine to educate women about domestic violence and to the All-China Hotlines to provide training in crisis intervention in 2002-2003. Similar efforts are being made in Mongolia where the U.S. Embassy has supported the National Center Against Violence, an NGO that runs shelters for victims of domestic violence and advocates for legislation against domestic violence. In Indonesia, the Foundation for the Elimination of Violence against Women (FEVW) and the Foundation to Assist in the Protection of Women work to raise awareness of domestic violence and develop media campaigns. FEVW has programs for elementary school teachers and their students. U.S. support for the Indonesian National Commission on Violence against Women led to the establishment of regional women's crisis centers. Instituted initially in 2002 in the capital, the program is expanding to rural areas in 2004. The U.S. has supported similar projects in Malaysia and funded the construction of a shelter for abused women in Papua New Guinea.

Trafficking. The United States implements programs to combat trafficking in the region. Some of the programs include raising awareness, improving law enforcement, and establishing legal assistance centers for victims. For more information, see the website for the Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons .

Economic Empowerment
Rural Development. In 2003, grants from the State Department's Office of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), enabled organizations such as Heifer International, the Mountain Institute's Peak Enterprise Program, and other U.S.-based NGOs to implement grass-roots programs that promote economic self-sufficiency in the Tibetan areas of China.

Workforce Training. In Cambodia's garment industry, where 95% of the labor force is female, USAID helped to train more than 9,500 women garment workers and 1,500 women union leaders in organizational and management techniques. U.S. funding to the Economic Acceleration Program for the Silk Sector in Laos helped them to expand the participation of women in village decision-making and in the management of production groups. A similar program exists in East Timor, where the Small Business Training and Income Generation project provided training in small business management to 180 women in the agricultural sector in 2004.

Women as Entrepreneurs. In Mongolia, USAID pioneered the Gobi initiative, which is a rural development program that has helped to establish 115 new businesses and 94 business training programs, in which women made up 56% of the participants. In the Philippines, women have benefited from U.S. efforts to expand access to microcredit. Eighteen rural bank units received training and technical assistance from Microfinance Access to Banking Services (MABS) to develop their capacity to provide financial services to micro-enterprises. In 2003, MABS provided approximately $52.4 million to 107,000 micro-enterprises. Eighty percent of the borrowers were women. The United States, in partnership with Indonesia, organized a program for 50 Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) leaders to promote the extension of business loans and other financial services to impoverished women through commercially viable microfinance institutions.

Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC). The United States works the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) to ensure that women's interests are taken into account in APEC's policies and projects. The United States helped to create the Gender Focal Points Network (GFPN) and plays a leadership role in the Women Leaders Network (WLN). WLN is an advisory body comprised of women from business, academia, NGOs, and government from each of the 21 APEC countries. Women use the WLN to share best practices and promote business and trade for women entrepreneurs through workshops and international events. The WLN commissioned the U.S. Census Bureau to study the economic contributions of women in the region. The study addresses the need for gender-disaggregated data and notes the disproportionate concentration of women in the informal sector, where low wage jobs and poor working conditions predominate. For information on APEC, see

Education

Academic Exchanges and International Visitor Programs. U.S.-funded exchange programs have emphasized gender parity, with, on average, over half of the slots awarded to women. About 75% of the participants in the 2004-05 class of Humphrey Fellows from China are women.

Teacher Training. Ensuring that girls remain in school is a high priority for the United States. Through USAID, the U.S. supports a program in Cambodia to improve gender balance in enrollment and ensure continued attendance of poor females, who drop out of school at a higher rate than their male counterparts. Projects emphasize reform within the Ministry of Education and the recruitment and training of teachers from minority groups, including Cambodia's Islamic Cham population. Activities will be held in all 22 provinces, 18 provincial Teacher Training Colleges, and six Regional Training Colleges. Similar programs are happening in Burma, where USAID programs in 2002 contributed to the stipends of 1,045 refugee teachers who serve 60,000 students. A consortium, developed to support the production of education materials for use by schools in six refugee camps, provided 180 hours of training for 32 school administrators and established teacher training schools which currently enroll over 100 students.

(end fact sheet)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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