E/2010/27 E/CN.6/2010/11 particular emphasis on the link between development and sustainable peace. International and national macroeconomic policies and frameworks should promote the participation of women as full partners in development and equal beneficiaries of economic growth. 4. Women continue to be disadvantaged as regards access to and control of economic and financial resources. Existing gender inequalities have exacerbated the adverse impact on women of the recent crises. Proposed solutions that depend upon pro-cyclical fiscal policies in developing countries, coupled with disincentives from international financial institutions and donors for countercyclical social expenditures, limit the capacity of developing and aid-dependent countries to alleviate the adverse impacts of the crises, including those on women. Domestic resource mobilization should be matched by international assistance and partnership for those countries that require assistance greater than their own resources can provide. 5. Common tools to combat poverty and increase women’s economic empowerment have included conditional cash transfer and microcredit or microfinance programmes which have commonly targeted women and girls. While conditional cash transfer programmes have been successfully implemented mainly in middle-income countries, microcredit and microfinance programmes are increasingly common in developing countries. In order for such programmes to succeed, they need to be complemented by an expansion of social protection, decent work and full-employment policies and to respond to local conditions and build community support for their effectiveness and sustainability. 6. Women continue to have unequal access to political and economic decision-making processes and constitute a minority in most national, regional and global decision-making bodies at all levels. Urgent measures are needed to address these concerns. A range of innovative strategies and good practices are available to increase women’s participation in all areas of decision-making. Quotas and other temporary special measures, such as reserved seats, have played a significant role in increasing the number of women in public life in a number of countries. These have often been complemented by such measures as awareness-raising campaigns on women’s equal participation in public life, leadership training, demand-driven capacity-building and transparent selection systems. For strategies to be effective they need to be backed up by political support and removal of the discriminatory laws and practices that prevent women from seeking to participate in decision-making. 7. Of particular concern is women’s continued conspicuous absence from formal peace processes. As a consequence, the needs and priorities of women and girls continue to be overlooked in peace agreements, at donor conferences, in post-conflict legal reform and in policy and programme development, a fact that may prevent the establishment of sustainable peace and be an impediment to development. Concrete action is required to enhance the role and involvement of women as key stakeholders in all stages of peace processes, including as mediators and equal participants in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and post-conflict development. Good practices for increasing women’s representation in local, national and international conflict-resolution 10-30576 51