2021 marked the end of the latest UN Women Strategic Plan, and during the year UN Women’s West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) and Country Offices/Non-Resident Agencies continued to strengthen a comprehensive set of global norms, policies, and standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women; help end all forms of violence against women and girls; foster women’s economic empowerment; encourage and support women to lead; facilitate gender mainstreaming; and support women’s participation in peacebuilding and resilience efforts. Throughout the year, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact West and Central Africa, and women in the region were particularly vulnerable to the crisis.

Uganda has made gains in its socio-economic transformation, maintained peace and stability for over 3-decades and is on course to become an upper middle-income country by 2040. The Government of Uganda (GoU) is committed to the SDG 2030 Agenda as exemplified by the gross domestic product which doubled over the last 10-years, from $17.2 billion in 2010 to $34.4 billion in 2019. Literacy rates improved from 70% between 2012-2013 to 74% between 2016-2017, yet still literacy levels were higher for males than females. Uganda’s National Development Plan (NDP) III focuses on inclusive growth, human wellbeing and resilience, transformational and inclusive governance positions. The NDPIII is a convergence framework for the entire UN System to coherently contribute to the advancement of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) in Uganda with UN Women as a strategic partner on the path to transformation

This publication describes the UN Women Rwanda Office's effort in dealing with Gender-Based Violence (GBV) victims using different approaches in both GBV prevention and response. It also provides success stories from different beneficiaries in relation to legal assistance which showed that in most cases it requires strong courage from the victims to bring the perpetrators to justice especially in the context of negative cultural beliefs, women's economic dependence, fear of discrimination and stigmatization among other challenges. The document also highlights the role of mobile legal clinic in increasing the proximity of legal services to the community including awareness-raising and legal literacy.

This report highlights UN Women Nigeria’s work for the year 2020. The report builds around the Nigeria Country Office programmatic areas of intervention and reflects the achievements attained in collaboration with various government and non-governmental partners who contributed to policy advocacy efforts, delivery of services, implementation, and funding of interventions aimed at promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. The population at large (men, women, boys...

It is a reality that our region carries the highest prevalence of child marriage and female genital mutilation in the world, impacting millions of our girls. These harmful traditional practices have devastating impact including loss of life, risk of disease such as fistula, loss of education and life opportunities, trauma and other psycho-social impacts resulting in deepening poverty and perpetuating a cycle of abuse. This calls on us as traditional and religious leaders to urgently assume our role as protectors of our children. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the prevalence of genderbased violence in our countries and communities.

The UN Women WCARO annual report aims to share information about the regional office's activities on women empowerment and gender equality in 2020. The said year has been a particularly difficult year around the world with the COVID-19 pandemic. In West and Central Africa (WCA), women and girls were particularly vulnerable to the crisis. To counter these burdens and build medium and long- term recovery measures, the UN Women WCA Regional Office successfully provided multi-faceted assistance...

This publication highlights findings from the Zanzibar SDGs Gender Indicators Study in the form of infographics. The infographics showcase findings from each of the sectors covered in the report namely: Poverty and Hunger, Health, Decent Work, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Key Messages and the COVID-19 Context, and Recommendations.

Gender Sensitive Conflict Reporting is not an area well developed in Ethiopia. Conflict reporting has either been gender blind at best, or at worst, perpetuated stereotypes, and harmful narratives. UN Women in collaboration with Ethiopian Media Authority has developed a guideline that will be useful as a reference for journalists working in different media. After the development of the guideline, journalists have been trained and the guideline has been disseminated. It is believed the guideline will help journalists to reflect an accurate portrayal of gender in their reporting. It is also designed as a practical and go-to reference guideline.

The policy paper assesses the state of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Africa in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Informed by evidence from the five African Union (AU) regions, it outlines some of the initiatives implemented in AU Member States. The paper also proposes recommendations towards multi-sectoral response and recovery efforts that address GBV as well as the related needs of women and girls in Africa.

The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic must be viewed with a gendered lens to protect women and girls and address the increase in VAWG during this pandemic. In Ethiopia, this can be accomplished with accelerated and concerted efforts of the Government and the United Nations, in partnership with other development agencies and national civil society organizations. This Policy brief presents overview of the increased in GBV in Ethiopia and give recommendations on measures to be taken to address the issue.

This Guideline for Gender Responsive Media published in two languages (Amharic and English) aims to inform and guide media houses, media practitioners, journalists, editors, and anyone in the media and communication sector about ethical reporting of issues related with gender and actions to take to create a gender sensitive media environment both within the media houses as well as in all the contents produced by the media houses