Various international women's organisations have now joined hands for the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) campaign, which aims to fast track the adoption and implementation of the recommendations towards strengthening the gender equality architecture at the UN.

Nearly a year after the United Nations (UN) High Level Panel on System-wide Coherence, on November 9, 2006,  made recommendations to strengthen the Gender Equality Architecture (GEA) at the UN, women's groups are now worried that  some of the recommendations might be watered-down, especially with the long process it entails for the General Assembly member countries to decide whether the recommendations will be adopted or not. 

At present, women's organisations across the globe continue to advocate for these recommendations to be acted upon. One such initiative is the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) campaign.

Initiated by international women's organisations such as the Centre for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL),  Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), International Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), and the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), among others, the GEAR campaign aims to speed up the achievement of the adoption of the new GEA by the General Assembly and the effective implementation of the recommendations made last year through lobbying at both the national and international levels, calling on both government action and support from gender advocates and NGO partners.

The campaign demands for the governments to:
- support the recommendations to strengthen the GEA of the UN;
- move the GEA process forward as soon as possible and not let it be held back by controversies over other parts of the report that may arise as governments negotiate other topics;
- ensure that the gender entity has a country presence and a strong operational mandate;
- ensure that the new gender entity has the capacity to deliver and is funded at a minimum level of US$500 million;
- support timely and effective implementation of the GEA proposal; and
- promote accountability within the new entity including meaningful involvement of NGOs in its ongoing processes.

To achieve the above demands, the GEAR campaign calls on women's organisations, gender advocates, and NGOs to:
- lobby their respective governments to support the recommendations;
- educate their government representatives about the UN reform process and the GEA; and
- educate fellow civil society actors especially those who interact with governments and international community about the relevance of the GEA.

“We believe that the GEAR campaign is a great opportunity for [women's] national groups to engage or strengthen their engagement in the UN as well as with [the] national governments,” said IWTC's Mavic Cabrera-Balleza.

Related articles:
“Interview: Patricia Licuanan on UN gender equality architecture” in we! June 2007, No. 2
“UN Panel calls for more solid gender architecture” in we! December 2006