Use of these maps is subject to ICRC copyright guidelines. The country and region names used herein are intended to facilitate reference and have no political significance.

UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies to foster women's empowerment and gender equality. Placing the advancement of women's human rights at the centre of all of its efforts, UNIFEM focuses its activities on four strategic areas:

- Reducing feminized poverty;
- Ending violence against women;
- Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls;
- Achieving gender equality in democratic governance in times of peace as well as war.

UNIFEM's mandate is to:

Every year small arms related violence leads to millions of deaths and injuries, fuels fear and instability, and exacerbates poverty across the globe. The easy access to small arms makes them the weapons of choice for inter-personal and gang violence, organised crime, civil wars and inter-state conflict. Countries plagued by armed violence whether in situations of crime or conflict are often the worst performers in terms of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Since 1998, UNDP has been involved in addressing the issue of small arms availability

Food security in Africa has substantially worsened since 1970. Although the proportion of malnourished individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa has remained in the range of 33 -- 35 percent since around 1970, the absolute number of malnourished people in Africa has increased substantially with population growth, from around 88 million in 1970 to an estimate of over 200 million in 1999 - 2001.

Yet this discouraging trend need not be a blueprint for the future. New research from IFPRI shows that the policy and investment choices of African policymakers and the international development

Events since the Millennium Declaration demand that consensus be revitalized on key challenges and priorities and converted into collective action. The Secretary-General's report proposes an agenda to be taken up, and acted upon, by all Member States.

The report consists of 4 parts:

1. Freedom of want - Make the right to development a reality for everyone and free the entire human race from want.

2. Freedom from fear - Embrace a broad vision of collective security, not just international war and conflict

Dying for Change aims to illuminate from a human, qualitative perspective what many quantitative studies have already recorded: how poverty creates ill- health, and how ill- health leads to poverty. It also highlights the link between good health and economic survival. One of the strongest messages to emerge from the study is that poor people are angry and frustrated at their exclusion. They understand why they are ill and why they are poor, and often have ideas about what can be done. But the majority are ignored and marginalized by those with power, including health service
authorities.

This independent report was commissioned by Development Cooperation Ireland and DFID to recommend how the existing Central Emergency Revolving Fund might be adapted to provide a more effective funding mechanism to address forgotten crises and rapidly changing situations. The Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF) was established by the Secretary-General in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 46/182 of December 1991. It is a revolving fund with a target level of $50m, funded by voluntary donor contributions and used to make advances to operational

Strong interest prevails among practitioners, donors and evaluators to use and apply Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA ) methodologies. However, many practitioners also find PCIA too complicated to integrate into their programmes and projects.

Consequently, the Berghof Handbook editorial team has invited experts to reflect on new developments, map the field and critically reflect on approaches and methods as they have been developed or refined.

www.berghof-center.org