In 2009 and 2010 IPS will be implementing a major media and communication project financed by the Dutch MDG3 Fund. The Fund was set up by the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, Bert Koenders, to finance activities that advance Millennium Development Goal 3: Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. IPS is committed to involving fellow MDG3 Fund recipients and other women’s NGOs in many of its project activities primarily in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Activities will include an increase in the IPS news agency’s independent coverage of stories related to gender equality, a series of op-ed columns, newsletters and a dynamic website. Selections from the back catalogue of IPS training publications related to gender, including the Gender Glossaries, will be revised and republished, with new titles added. IPS will work on customised media and communication plans with other NGOs working for women’s empowerment to strengthen the visibility of their own work, and co-host national or regional media and civil society seminars with these partners.

The successful application was rooted in the longstanding institutional commitment to gender equality within IPS and the agency’s track record of gender mainstreaming in all editorial products. From a total of 454 applications, IPS was among the 45 awarded a grant.

For more information or to join the mailing list of the project, write to mdg3@ips.org