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Urbanization, particularly in the developing world, has been accompanied by increased levels of crime, violence and lawlessness. Crime impacts on everyday life of city residents and women are often the most affected by violence and insecurity.

Without a deliberate effort to address this situation, the prospects of future development and of poverty reduction are limited. In this context it is outmost important to strengthen the participation of women in all stages of decision making processes and improve urban governance and management from a gender perspective.

The competition aims at making visible the contributions of women and local governments to the development of policies and programmes addressing women’s participation in community development and decision making as well as violence against women and girls in Latin America and the Caribbean. The theme for the 2007 competition is “Safety and Security for Women and Girls in Cities” as follow up to the recommendations of the Second International Conference on Safety and Security for Women organized by, amongst other partners, the UN-HABITAT - Safer Cities Programme and held in Bogotá, Colombia in November 2004. Crime and the fear of violence largely affect the quality of life of women in cities and rural areas.

Emphasis shall be placed on rewarding cities which have adopted policies, legislation, strategies and measures for prevention, treatment and punishment of acts of violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres, and increased women’s participation in community development and decision-making at the local government level.

This competition directly responds to the recommendations of the recently released report of the UN Secretary General on the study of violence against women, October 2006. The regional competitions in 2007 will identify three gender responsive cities in each region, which promote governance principles that support women-friendly city management.

The aim is to build on the work of numerous ongoing initiatives within the Latin American and the Caribbean regions, which tackle the issues of gender inequality and the continuing lack of women’s participation in social, political and economic fields.