Donate US$10 to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women
Costa Rican singer and UNiTE supporter Debi Nova encourages the audience to text UNITE on their phones to donate US$10 to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. (Photo: UNIFEM/Maria Jain.)
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United Nations, New York — Today, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women launched a giving promotion. The fundraising effort was kicked off at the annual commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women at UN headquarters in New York, organized under the umbrella of the Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women. By texting the word UNITE to 27722, people in the U.S. can donate $10* to the UN Trust Fund for programmes and services on the ground. Online donations to benefit the UN Trust Fund can be made through the UN Foundation.
At the event, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reminded that real progress can be made in stopping violence, especially with more and more people now aware and taking action. The Secretary-General has identified increasing funding to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women as a major target of his UNiTE campaign with a specific goal of raising US$100 million for annual grant giving by 2015. In 2009, the Fund offered more than US$20 million in grants, but could meet less than 2 percent of requests for support.
He singled out the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women as one source of innovation that is particularly worthy of support. The UN Trust Fund provides grants to in-country programmes and services to end violence against women and girls. “We are ready to hear your ideas now,” the Secretary-General declared. “The Trust Fund can transform them into actions.”
Michelle Bachelet, the Executive Director of UN Women, highlighted the success of a growing body of actions around the world to stop violence against women, but underscored that political, social and financial support must sustain momentum. “UN Women will mobilize forces at the global level, and help develop national capacities to accelerate action to end violence against women now,” she promised. A new, scaled-up UN organization to promote gender equality, UN Women will start operations in January 2011.
It will be able to draw on the experiences of people like UN Trust Fund grantee Shupe Makashinyi from Equality Now in Zambia. She described winning a landmark legal case around the rape of a girl by her teacher that is now inspiring more survivors to come forward and seek justice. “We want to challenge society as a whole to understand that violence against women and girls is not acceptable in any form,” she remarked. “We want to dream of the day when Zambian girls are safe at home, at school and in their communities.”
Debi Nova, a Costa Rican music star and partner to the UN Secretary-General’s ongoing UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, urged participants at the event and elsewhere in the United States to do their part by texting the word UNITE to 27722. Each text results in $10 going to the Trust Fund.*
Nova described how one text will provide materials to educate community activists in Uganda. Ten texts will provide counseling to 63 survivors of sexual violence in Cameroon. Five hundred texts will help six trafficked girls acquire housing and life skills training in Tajikistan. “Let’s start the chain of positive change,” Nova said.
This year’s event theme of corporate leadership was bolstered by presentations by Margary Kraus, the Chief Executive Officer of APCO Worldwide, and Sharon D’Agostino, Vice President of Corporate Contributions for Johnson & Johnson.
D’Agostino announced a new two-year commitment to the UN Trust Fund centred on collecting evidence of which strategies work best in stopping violence. She described a corporate credo that focuses first on what’s good for men, women and communities, with a healthy bottom line following from there.
Kraus outlined the moral imperative for taking action to stop violence, along with the business case. She said that the United States alone loses nearly $1 billion in productivity each year due to violence against women, along with 7.9 million work days. Businesses training staff to have mutual respect for each other is one way of carrying new behaviours into society, she said.
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women comes at the start of the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign, which mobilizes civil society and other advocates around the world.
* Please note: By texting the word UNITE to 27722, people in the United States can donate $10 to the UN Foundation. This supports the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women in providing programmes and services on the ground. $10 will be added to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid account. Message and Data Rates May Apply. Reply STOP to 27722 to stop receiving messages. Full Terms: mGive.org/T. Privacy Policy. This initiative is made possible through the UN Foundation. The mobile donation option is available in the United States only.
Debi Nova Taking Action! An International Day to Raise Awareness, Take Action!
November 27, 2010 by
