UNIFEM was an autonomous organization working closely with the UN Development Program, although the resolution also specified that the fund's resources should supplement, not substitute for, the responsibilities of other United Nations development cooperation agencies. UNIFEM helped fund projects that aided women and their families. UNIFEM developed a strategy of aiding women to become their "own agents for change rather than recipients of charity." UNIFEM also helped to ensure that UN programs followed guidelines developed by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. UNIFEM was also involved in recognizing women's rights as human rights. It advocated gender equality around the world. UNIFEM also saw women's rights as an issue of peace and security. UNIFEM operated on a budget of voluntary contributions to the organization. The organization was based in New York City. Different countries and regions had their own committees within UNIFEM. UNIFEM was one of the smaller agencies at the UN and was situated lower in the UN hierarchy, according to Canadian politician Stephen Lewis.
The UNVFDW was given an expanded mandate by the General Assembly in February 1985, when it became the United Nations Development Fund for Women. Under resolution 39/125, the new fund was called on to support and advocate for innovative and catalytic activities that give voice and visibility to the women of the developing world. Funding for UNIFEM projects doubled in size between 1985 and 1988.
1990s
In the 1990s, UNIFEM became involved in broadening its scope. The organization began a campaign to define "women's rights as human rights" and how violence against women was also an economic development issue. UNIFEM hired researchers such as Roxanna Carrillo to demonstrate how violence against women was linked to a lack of women's access to economic opportunity. The campaign for "women's rights as human rights" was especially effective. UNIFEM began working on projects to reduce gender based violence and also to raise awareness of the problem. Also in the 1990s, African Women in Crisis was created by UNIFEM to focus on issues facing people in Africa. AFWIC helped women who were displaced due to violence or emergencies in their own countries. AFWIC expanded on work begun by Laketch Dirasse in East Africa. The work of UNIFEM helped shape the issues addressed at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Women at the conference decided that it was important that they "claim formal power to directly shape public policy." UNIFEM created a trust fund to help support twenty-three projects to combat gender-based violence and war crimes against women. The fund began funding projects in 1997.
2000s
UNIFEM was granted "executing agency status" by UNDP in 2000. This allowed the organization to complete and work on projects for UNDP that related to women's rights and gender equality. UNIFEM released a new biennial report, Progress of the World's Women in 2001. The report outlined what UNIFEM had achieved in previous decades. Also in 2001, in conjunction with International Alert, UNIFEM launched the Millennium Peace Prize for Women. Noeleen Heyzer, head of UNIFEM asked for the creation of an international commission on violence against women. On January 26, 2006 UNIFEM nominated Nicole Kidman as its goodwill ambassador. The last executive director of UNIFEM was Inés Alberdi.
