UN Women is doing great work to address street harassment through their Safe Cities Programme which launched in 2010 in Delhi, India. It’s a five-year program in five major cities around the world focused on creating sustained efforts to make public places safer. The five cities are: Cairo in Egypt; New Delhi in India; Quito in Ecuador; Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea and Kigali in Rwanda.

Last summer, representatives from all five cities met in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss best practices and talk about the progress each group is making. They recently convened again, this time in Nairobi, Kenya.

Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women reports on the meeting:

“Studies conducted in 2011 by UN Women in five major capital cities have shown that many women and girls experience sexual harassment or violence in public spaces on a daily basis, with very few tools and resources to address it…

Working closely with civil society organizations, the UN Agencies have worked to involve citizens and local authorities in transforming their city landscapes. These have involved developing laws and measures to prevent violence, bringing safety issues into urban planning and the design of services, and shifting local perceptions on the causes of violence.

At the meeting UN Women’s Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet, highlighted successful initiatives from the programme. For example, Quito expanded the scope of its city ordinance on gender-based violence by integrating the issue of sexual harassment in public spaces, and Cairo introduced the changes made to the planning processes by the Egyptian Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, to incorporate audits on women’s safety. Other cities shared measures that they had taken both during and before signing onto the Safe Cities programme.

Among the lessons drawn from the discussion were the fact that cleaner public spaces with better street lighting and clearer signs can reduce crime and violence, while increasing a sense of ownership in communities. Participants established that joint safety audits—with local authorities, police, women, and young people—can empower communities and generate experience-based knowledge to inform policies and practical measures. They also highlighted the need for more women and youth-led committees that monitor responses to violence and crime, and the positive impact of female elected officials and urban professionals.”