In 2006, the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence was tasked to study the reform of the United Nations System. Civil society advocates pushed that GEAR be part of UN reform. The GEAR Campaign is a global initiative of women’s human rights and social justice groups that proposes the creation of a stronger UN entity for women in order to significantly advance gender equality, the empowerment of women and women’s human rights in the work of the UN.

Among its recommendations are that this new gender architecture must have: (1) Combined strong normative (OSAGI and DAW) and operational (UNIFEM, INSTRAW) functions; (2) Expanded and stronger operational activities at the national level; (3) Leadership by an Under Secretary General; (4) Ambitious amount of funding, and (5) Accountability at national and international levels with meaningful involvement of civil society. The primary objective of the campaign is to convince national governments to support these civil society’s / women’s groups’ proposed initiatives in the deliberations of the UN General Assembly.

The GEAR Campaign has five (5) global focal points: Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

The two regional focal points for Asia are Patricia Licuanan of the Asia Pacific Women Watch (APWW) and Bandana Rana of the (SAATHI/South Asia Campaign for Gender Equality.

As one of the global focal points of the GEAR Campaign, DAWN, together with others, endorses the following statements/petitions:

1. Pacific Activists’ Call to Member States to Adopt the Resolution for the New UN Gender Equality Entity During the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations (August 2009)
2. African Activists’ Call to Member States to Adopt the Resolution for the New UN Gender Equality Entity During the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations (September 2009)
3. GEAR Petition (September 9, 2009)
4. GEAR Statement on Adoption of SWC Resolution by the UN General Assembly (September 19, 2009)
5. 2010 Campaign Statement: GEAR up now! (March 15, 2010)
6. GEAR Statement at the First Regular Session of the UN Women Executive Board (January 25-26, 2011)

For more information, visit the GEAR website at www.gearcampaign.org