This guidance note is designed for countries seeking to scale up midwifery services, especially at the community level. It is part of a UNFPA-ICM (International Confederation of Midwives) Joint Initiative to support the call for a Decade of Action for Human Resources for Health made at World Health Assembly in 2006.

This note outlines in detail the action required by policy-makers and programme managers to effect change at country level and scale up midwifery capacity, specifically in poor and hard-to-reach areas.

This report summarizes views on assisting displaced women in conflict and post-conflict situations as presented at the UNFPA Expert Meeting in Tunisia. The first goal of the meeting was to bridge the gap between knowledge and policies regarding women's protection needs -- or gender-specific protection issues. The second goal was to identify specific means for the integration of emergency-related programming into the mainstream of UNFPA work.

UNFPA's Strategic Framework for Gender Mainstreaming and Women's Empowerment 2008-2011 articulates a corporate strategy for working with Governments and partners in promoting gender equality. At a time when the global community is increasingly focused on poverty reduction and broader national development goals, the Framework outlines UNFPA's policy and programme priorities for the empowerment of women and girls and for incorporating a gender perspective across its mandate, in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, and population and development.