Project profile — Women's Empowerment Task Force for Latin America and the Caribbean

• West Indies, regional (30.00%)
• North and Central America, regional (34.00%)
• South America, regional (36.00%)

• Democratic participation and civil society:
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (20.00%)
Legislatures and political parties (15152) (20.00%)
Human rights (15160) (40.00%)
Ending violence against women and girls (15180) (20.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

The project aims to increase women’s political representation and participation in public decision-making throughout the Americas and the Caribbean and to reduce the gender gap in leadership through increased engagement and coordination of Inter-American and United Nations institutions, regional women's organizations and member States. The Task Force aims to strengthen collaboration between partners’ institutional efforts; fill key policy and programming gaps through evidence-based collaboration; and amplify existing initiatives to make them more accessible to marginalized women. It is a collaborative initiative between the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Pan American Health Organization, the Inter-American Development Bank, UN Women, UNDP, ParlAmericas, and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. CLADEM and CIWIL, two sub-regional women’s rights organizations, also joined the Task Force shortly after it was launched to include direct representation of civil society organizations. The beneficiaries of this project include the stakeholders participating in the Task Force activities, such as representatives from member states, women’s rights organizations, academic and research institutions, and the private sector. Indirect beneficiaries include women who participate in leadership projects generated because of the work of the Task Force.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved coordination of key stakeholders* on efforts to increase women and girl's empowerment and rights in the Americas (*Inter-American and UN institutions, member states, civil society and women's organizations); and (2) increased engagement of Inter-American and UN institutions on increasing women's participation in public decision-making in the Americas.

Results achieved as of March 2022 include: (1) established a high-level dialogue titled Towards the XXVII Ibero-American Summit: Women’s leadership for an inclusive future pact, with the special support from the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB); (2) developed an advocacy strategy reaching a statement from the governments of Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain and Uruguay and Task Force members (SEGIB, Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), and United Nations Women). The strategy calls on the Ibero-American States to ensure the equal participation of women in all areas of decision-making; (3) launched the Inter-American Award for Good Practices in Women’s Leadership by Task Force partners (CIM, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Pan American Health Organization, SEGIB, ParlAmericas, Caribbean Women in Leadership and CLADEM); (4) delivered a new season of podcasts showcasing the leadership of women from historically excluded groups, including Indigenous and Afro-descendant women, rural women and women with disabilities; (5) developed a policy paper on women’s leadership and democratic governance presented at the IX Summit of the Americas; and (6) coordinated three statements supporting and reinforcing the commitment to women’s leadership and empowerment by representatives of the highest level of the Task Force’s partner institutions.

• Proactive disclosure