The five years in review publication captures the progress made from 2017 to 2021 across its different focus areas: Leadership and Political Participation, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence Against Women, Data and Statistics, HIV/AIDS and the response to the unfolding crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic roll through societies and economies across the globe, women and girls are expected to bear the heaviest impact.

This series, updated quarterly, illustrates the human impact of UN Women’s work across the world, highlighting the partnerships that make this work possible. These stories share how we and our many partners are striding forward to realize a better world for women and girls

This brief highlights 8 keys interventions to be considered in West and Central Africa by all sectors of society, from governments to international organizations and to civil society organizations in order to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, at the onset, during, and after the public health crisis. It also considers the economic impact of the pandemic and itsimplications for violence against women and girls in the long-term.

The R-GTG wishes to contribute to the efforts in progress to confront the current pandemic by sharing this note with the Coordinators residing in the region with the intention of encouraging and proposing tools to improve the consideration of the gender issue in the response to COVID-19. In this respect, it addresses the main risks connected to gender when considering the pandemic and makes a specific number of recommendations to respond to it.

This note will help UN Women Country Offices in West and Central Africa, Governments and Development Partners to identify key gender impacts of the crisis to be considered when conducting socio-economic impact assessments of COVID19, in order to develop policy and programmatic actions to mitigate those impacts and to set the foundations of a recovery effort which takes into account women and girls’ needs.

As COVID-19 spreads in Africa, informal workers are hard-pressed to comply with social distancing or confinement measures, as they need to work to provide for their basic needs. Here are three things that UN Women country offices can advocate for to ensure that women working in the informal economy do not fall through the cracks in the current crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has profound gender implications which are likely to lead to increased inequalities. This brief highlights key areas for the integration of gender priorities and makes recommendations to governments and stakeholders for inclusion in the Nigerian national response plan.