International Service Program
The Zonta International Service Program (ISP) seeks to improve the legal, political, economic, educational, and/or health status of women in developing countries or countries in transition. In the 2010-2012 Biennium, the International Service projects will be funded by contributions to the International Service Fund of the Zonta International Foundation.
Zonta International Service Projects 2010-2012
- Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV and Gender-Based Violence in Rwanda
Funding: US$500,000 to UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)
Women and children in Rwanda are still vulnerable to the repercussions of the genocide and war that took place 16 years ago. Treating HIV-positive women, preventing transmission of the virus to their offspring, and ensuring access to health care and reproductive services, as well as preventing and responding to the violence awoken by the brutalization of the society during the genocide, are critical issues for the development of Rwanda and the safety of its women and children. Building on the success of the project during the 2008-2010 Biennium, the project will continue focus on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by providing the full range of family package services at 20 UNICEF-supported PMTCT sites throughout Rwanda during the 2010-2012 Biennium. In addition, the project will seek to expand holistic care and services at support centers for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence to ensure access to proper medical, legal, psychosocial and police support.
- Safe Cities for Women Project in Guatemala City, Guatemala and San Salvador, El Salvador
Funding: US$500,000 to UN Women (The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women)
In Guatemala and El Salvador, rates of urban violence and violent homicides are above the already high regional average and women are at an even greater risk of violence due to the traditionally subordinate position of women in society. During the first phase of the project, significant results were achieved in both Guatemala and El Salvador. In Guatemala, women's organizations submitted proposals to local authorities to improve public spaces and identified insecure spaces which led to the transformation of an abandoned house to a day shelter for people living with HIV/AIDS. In El Salvador, a map of unsafe places determined by the perceptions of local women was presented to the local authorities who are committed to implementing recommendations to make these areas safer for women. For the next phase of the project, efforts will be focused on increasing visibility and impact by disseminating information on violence against women in the most violence districts of both cities and replicating the experience in all districts of the capital cities. The project will also expand to incorporate the issue of violence against women in the context of HIV/AIDS.
- Towards Elimination of Obstetric Fistula and the Reduction of Maternal and Newborn Mortality and Morbidity in Liberia
Funding: US$500,000 to UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund)
With properly trained surgeons, well-equipped facilities and the necessary aftercare, the treatment of uncomplicated obstetric fistula has a 90% success rate. The cost is a mere US$300, a small sum to many but well beyond the means of the average woman in Liberia. Building upon the experiences and progress achieved thus far, UNFPA, with Zonta's support, will continue to provide fistula treatment through the proper equipment of health care facilities and the training and capacity strengthening of health care providers to treat fistula. The project will also continue to focus on the reintegration of survivors while raising awareness and conducting outreach among communities and health care providers about the definition, causes and treatment of obstetric fistula.
- Towards a Comprehensive Strategy to End Burns Violence Against Women in Cambodia, Nepal and Uganda (ZISVAW FUND)
Funding: US$430,000 to the UN Trust Fund, administered by UNIFEM
Acid violence and other forms of burning are prevalent forms of violence against women and girls, especially in countries where regulatory monitoring and controls are weak, and where the judiciary, lawyers and police have limited knowledge on the appropriate laws to prosecute perpetrators. Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI), the only organization working internationally on this issue, will collaborate with national Acid Survivors Foundations (ASF) in Cambodia, Nepal and Uganda to pilot an innovative and holistic community-based approach to address these forms of violence. The project will focus on improving response from the justice, police and health sectors, mobilizing communities to monitor and advocate for the implementation of legislation reform, and encouraging individual responsibility to end this gender-based violence.
- Security and Empowerment for Women and their Families: Ensuring a Gender-Responsive Humanitarian and Early Recovery Response in Haiti (ZISVAW FUND)
Funding: US$200,000 to UN Women (The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women)
Haitian women carry the disproportionate burden of care for children and family; however, rigid gender roles and inequalities make women vulnerable to gender-based violence and exclusion from political decision-making. During times of emergencies, Haitian women and girls have experienced heightened exposure to acts of violence and in particular sexual violence. With the overall objective of ensuring a gender-responsive humanitarian and early recovery response, the project will focus on increasing the capacity to provide services to victims of gender-based violence, to deliver support for women's economic livelihoods and to promote, support and ensure women's empowerment and participation in the recovery process.