Championing Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Uganda's Refugee Response.

As gaps remain in efforts to stem the tide of global economic crises, having fiscal policies in place to safeguard spending for women is essential. Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) can ensure a gender-equitable allocation of resources and expenditure tracking to promote gender equality. This briefing note provides information on the foundation established to determine entry points for this work, key partnerships, and plans to advance systemic financing for gender equality in the country.

The assessment focused on HCTs and Cluster Working Groups (CWGs) in recognition of the central role they play in planning and coordinating humanitarian responses. Survey findings showed that the overall knowledge of Gender integration in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) was average, with just over half of the HCTs and Clusters reporting a working knowledge and only one third (33 percent HCTs and 25 percent clusters) reporting comprehensive knowledge.

Key initiatives in the ESA KM Strategy (2022-2025) include sustaining the review and update of country gender equality profiles by all the 13 countries in the region, increasing momentum on the use of established KM systems and tools; institutional learning; quantitative and qualitative research and analyses on GEWE; capacity strengthening for R/M/COs on KM interventions; quality assurance processes of knowledge products; evidenced based advocacy and documentation and development and repackaging of knowledge products.

The guide has been informed by the draft global humanitarian response strategy and by some of the recommendations from the initial humanitarian response team training conducted in October and November 2020.

This policy brief highlights the main findings of four academic research papers on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda that were presented during a workshop organized by UN Women Ethiopia Country Office in December 2021. The findings focus on protection of women from conflict-related sexual violence; gender-sensitive recovery programs; role of women human rights defenderds in supporting the WPS agenda; and awareness of Members of Parliament on the agenda.

The baseline survey on unpaid care work status among women and men in eight districts of Rwanda seeks to understand the care-related dynamics in households, this study utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Drawing on Oxfam’s Household Care Survey (HCS) and the Harvard Analytical Framework (also referred to as the Gender Roles Framework). The survey helps to understand how women, men and children spend their time, how care activities are distributed in the household and the access that households have to basic public services and infrastructure that facilitate their everyday survival. The study also explored the social norms that shape power relations and gender division of care labor.

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

The qualitative component of the Women’s Health and Life Experiences study was designed to complement the larger survey on prevalence which seeks to generate reliable estimates of the prevalence of different forms of Violence Against Women and girls (VAWG), provide detailed information on the impacts of VAWG, and examine women’s attitudes to violence, how women cope with violence, and the risk factors associated with VAWG. It provides contextual information on women and community perspectives and experiences of Violence against women and girls (VAWG).

The current drought response in Ethiopia is being scaled up across sectors, including food security, nutrition assistance, provision of safe water and sanitation, and livelihood protection. In addition, other urgent humanitarian assistance to drought- stricken areas such as agriculture and livestock support for pastoralist communities are also being increased. Nonetheless, the needs of women and girls may not be met due to a number of compounding factors such as the breakdown of key services which are critical to the health, protection, and recovery of women and girls; weakened informal and formal protection and accountability mechanisms; disrupted livelihoods, increased displacement, power imbalances, and limited access to resources.

This study builds on UN Women’s achievements and experience in supporting women and girls during the COVID pandemic within the East and Southern Africa Region and other parts of the world.

UN Women amplified women’s role in the COVID-19 response highlighting the significant leadership roles women played in leading the response efforts in materials on COVID-19 prevention disseminated in local languages and hand washing facilities were constructed in 6 elementary schools. 528 returnee migrant women workers from the Middle East and domestic workers across Addis Ababa have been provided with basic sanitation and hygiene training and raising awareness on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women, girls, and vulnerable and marginalized groups.

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...

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...

The brief highlights the purpose of exchange visits, the best practices identified participants, and the key messages of the forum for Civil Society.The main aim of the visits was to get exposure to and gain a better understanding of, countries’ experiences on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and agribusiness practices so as to synergize with national-level lessons for action.

UN Women Kenya Annual report aims to share the results and lessons learned for 2020.

This continental study provides a contextual analysis of the forced displacement of women and girls in Africa based on first hand data from field visits made to the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. The analysis provides the key priority considerations for the realisation of durable solutions for refugees, IDPs and returnees in Africa and makes recommendations for actions by the AU, Member States and relevant stakeholders within the context of AGA and APSA.

This global report provides a synthesis of the work of UN Women during 2020 to ensure a gender-sensitive response to the COVID-19 pandemic in ending violence against women, economic empowerment, leadership, gender data, and humanitarian contexts.

This report explores some key indicators of women’s economic empowerment in labour markets and women’s political participation and economic leadership in the Indian Ocean Rim region through three dimensions: resources, agency, and achievements. It highlights good practices, case studies, and challenges and opportunities for investments and initiatives, and provides key recommendations for Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Member States and other stakeholders to realize women’s economic empowerment in the region.

We are happy to share with you the Q3 2020 UN Women Cameroon Country Office  Newsletter. UN Women Cameroon Country Office  pursued the implementation of its COVID-19 Response Plan tailored to reach the most left behind women and girls to alleviate the pandemic consequences and to build resilience around the C19 sanitary value chain. Projects have been implemented to foster women economic empowerment, with sister agencies support UNICEF and UNDP . Support have been provided to...