This compendium comprises five country reports that examine milestones, achievements, challenges, and lessons in gender statistics in five countries in East and southern Africa from an uptake and use perspective. It is informed by a series of in-depth engagements and consultations with state and non-state actors notably the respective national statistics offices and line ministries in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda. The study also provides insights as collected from police service, public sector agencies, civil society organizations, academia, and development partners in these countries and insights from information materials including public policies and strategies, and background resources. The study organizes its findings by developments in gender data; developments in the use of gender data; good and promising practices in gender data use; challenges in data use and any mitigations to these challenges; and prospects for gender data uptake and use in these countries.

Gender Statistics in Financial Inclusion: Toolkit and Guidelines for Practitioners provides a practical framework for measuring financial inclusion through a gender lens. Developed by UN Women and SADC, the toolkit supports policymakers, statisticians, financial institutions, and development partners to collect, analyse, and use sex-disaggregated data for evidence-based decision-making. It offers harmonized indicators, measurement protocols, and implementation guidance to advance women’s economic empowerment, reduce inequalities, and strengthen inclusive financial systems across the SADC region.

Following CSW70, UN Women West and Central Africa launched a Friendraising initiative to call on its allies to turn collective momentum into concrete action. At a time when the rights of women and girls are facing growing pushback, the region can rely on a powerful asset: a coalition of committed actors — from civil society, the media, academia and the private sector — able to advance shared advocacy, strengthen synergies and support Member States’ priorities.

Rwanda's Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), in partnership with UN Women, has launched the Revised National Gender Policy (RNGP) 2021, marking a decisive shift from gender mainstreaming to gender transformation. Building on the achievements of the 2010 policy and aligned with Vision 2050, the National Strategy for Transformation (NST-2), and SDG 5, the RNGP moves beyond numerical representation to ensuring that both women and men hold the agency, resources, and influential capacity to shape Rwanda's national development. Anchored in eight guiding principles including human rights, social justice, inclusivity, accountability, and positive masculinity the policy sets four strategic priorities: Economic Justice, Social Transformation, Legal Empowerment, and Governance & Power Sharing. These priorities are designed to dismantle the structural, cultural, and legal barriers that continue to hinder equitable participation across all sectors of Rwandan society.

Rwanda's Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), in partnership with UN Women and the African Development Bank's Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative, has launched a landmark national strategy to mobilize USD 75 million in financing for women entrepreneurs by 2029. Grounded in Rwanda's Vision 2050 and the National Strategy for Transformation (NST-2), the strategy targets women-led businesses across six high-growth sectors: Agriculture, Clean Energy, ICT, Trade, Manufacturing, and Housing with a deliberate focus on reaching rural and underserved women in every district of the country.

A step-by-step guide for setting up gender-focused coordination groups across Ethiopia's humanitarian regions, ensuring women's needs are central to emergency response. It defines roles, membership, reporting, and accountability — giving local women's organizations a formal voice in decisions that affect them.

The Ethiopia Gender Snapshot 2025 highlights progress in maternal health, education, and women’s political participation, supported by strong national commitments. However, significant challenges persist, including widespread poverty, limited access to formal employment and social protection, and high levels of gender-based violence. Structural inequalities, unpaid care burdens, and gaps in secondary education continue to disadvantage women, while climate change and the digital divide exacerbate vulnerabilities, requiring targeted policy action.

Ebola outbreak in Central Africa: UN Women WCARO strengthens community preparedness, protection and resilience in West and Central Africa As the Ebola outbreak continues to spread across parts of Central Africa, UN Women West and Central Africa is working with governments, women-led organizations and communities to strengthen preparedness, protection and resilience. Recognizing that women and girls are often on the frontlines of health emergencies, the organization is advancing gender-responsive approaches to prevention, response and recovery efforts across the region.

The UN Women East and Southern Africa (ESARO) Strategic Note 2026–2029 outlines a vision to advance gender equality and empower women and girls across 25 countries. While the region has made significant progress in women’s political participation and legal reforms, challenges such as economic inequality, gender-based violence, climate shocks, and humanitarian crises persist. The Strategic Note focuses on four key priorities: promoting women’s leadership and accountability for gender commitments; integrating gender equality in peace, security, humanitarian and climate action; expanding women’s economic empowerment opportunities; and strengthening prevention and response to violence against women and girls. Through its integrated normative, coordination, and operational mandate, UN Women aims to drive system-wide coherence, strengthen partnerships, and enhance gender data and accountability mechanisms.

Faced with complex challenges from insecurity to climate pressure, the UN Women West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) works across 24 countries to drive systemic change. This institutional brochure highlights our core levers of change, key impact results from 2024–2025, and strategic priorities for 2026.

This Country Gender Equality Profile (CGEP) was first developed in 2021 and updated in 2025. It provides a comprehensive evidence-based assessment of gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) across political, economic, legal and social domains. It is intended to inform policy, advocacy, budgeting and programming to advance Liberia’s commitments to international, regional and national gender equality frameworks.

Since the introduction of county governments in 2013, county spending has increased from Ksh. 242.5 billion in FY2014/15 to Ksh. 497.5 billion in FY2022/23, reflecting an average year-on-year growth of 11 percent over the last 10 years of devolution—a significant change that has contributed to improved service delivery and increased investment.

The Sustaining the Gains project in Zimbabwe is a two‑year, US$4.5 million initiative launched in 2026 to strengthen accountability for gender equality and women’s rights, building on the EU‑UN Spotlight Initiative (2019–2023). It focuses on consolidating progress against gender‑based violence (GBV), improving governance, and ensuring sustainable financing for women’s empowerment. Budget: ~US$4.5 million

The Feminist Agenda for Peace: Thematic Areas and Call for Actions captures the collective vision of Sudanese women for a just, inclusive and sustainable peace amid the ongoing conflict in Sudan. The Agenda highlights the structural inequalities, discrimination and exclusion affecting women and girls. This report is grounded in feminist and intersectional approaches, it calls for women’s equal participation in peacebuilding, leadership and decision-making, while addressing gender-based violence, justice, economic empowerment and humanitarian response. The Agenda outlines ten thematic priorities and emphasizes survivor-centered justice, women-led action and investment in grassroots feminist leadership. It serves as an advocacy and action framework for advancing gender equality, accountability and lasting peace in Sudan.

The Care Snapshots provide a comprehensive overview of the care economy and care systems in ten countries in West and Central Africa. They highlight existing policies and reforms, identify gaps, and make the case for investing in care systems as a driver of women’s economic empowerment and sustainable development.

The policy briefs (English and Amharic) presents the findings of the Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting (GRB) Assessment conducted across federal ministries and five regional governments in Ethiopia: Amhara, Oromia, Gambella, Sidama, and Dire Dawa. Covering key sectors such as health, education, agriculture, and trade, the assessment highlights both progress and persistent challenges in integrating gender equality into planning and budgeting processes. While Ethiopia has strong legal and policy frameworks supporting gender equality, implementation gaps remain significant due to limited technical capacity, weak accountability mechanisms, and inadequate gender-disaggregated data systems. The study found that many institutions continue to rely on traditional budgeting approaches, with gender priorities often lacking dedicated financial allocations. The brief recommends strengthening institutional capacity, standardizing GRB practices across all levels of government, improving data collection and monitoring systems, and increasing budget allocations for gender-responsive initiatives to ensure measurable progress toward gender equality and inclusive development.

The report assesses how gender equality is integrated into government budgeting at federal and regional levels. Despite strong legal frameworks, implementation faces challenges: technical capacity gaps, lack of gender-disaggregated data, inadequate accountability, and insufficient budget allocations. The report recommends standardized practices, capacity building, and dedicated funding to strengthen gender-responsive budgeting nationwide.

This policy brief examines how Ethiopia’s tax system affects women and men differently, highlighting structural inequalities that place a disproportionate burden on women. Drawing on government tax records, employment data, and household expenditure surveys, the analysis focuses on employment income tax, taxes on small businesses, and consumption taxes such as VAT and excise duties. The findings show that women are disproportionately affected due to lower incomes, concentration in informal and low-paying sectors, and limited bargaining power in tax assessments. Inflation and outdated tax brackets have increased employment tax burdens on women, while women-owned businesses often face higher presumed profit margins. Female-headed households also pay more consumption taxes on essential goods frequently purchased by women. The brief recommends gender-responsive tax reforms, including adjusting tax brackets for inflation, revising profit assumptions, exempting essential goods from taxation, and strengthening support for low-income women entrepreneurs to promote equitable and inclusive economic growth.

This report examines gender biases in Ethiopia's tax system. It finds women face higher tax burdens due to outdated tax brackets, assumptions about business profitability, and taxation of essential goods, and recommends reforms to create a fairer system.

This report highlights UN Women Nigeria’s key interventions during International Women’s Day 2026, under the theme “Rights, Justice, and Action.” It documents a coordinated, nationwide effort to move beyond commitments and advance tangible outcomes for women and girls through advocacy, policy engagement, community mobilization, and strategic partnerships.