6 June 2019
UNDP Reports Progress on Four-Year Plan for Gender Equality
UN Photo/Bernadino Soares
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UNDP estimates suggest that gender inequality translates into a “44 percent loss in potential human development".

In its first year of implementing the UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2021, UNDP has achieved improvements “across all outcomes and signature solutions” to support women as agents of change, particularly on women’s political participation.

To address remaining challenges, UNDP hopes to more systematically support governments to implement policy reforms that eliminate structural barriers to women’s economic empowerment.

4 June 2019: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has reported on the first year of progress against its Gender Equality Strategy. The four-year strategy provides a roadmap for mainstreaming gender quality across all outcomes of the UNDP Strategic Plan.

Providing the first annual report on the Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2021, which was adopted in September 2018, Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, UNDP, reported to the Executive Board on the role of SDG 5 as “one of the most potent development accelerators,” noting that UNDP estimates suggest that gender inequality translates into “44 percent loss in potential human development.” However, progress on SDG 5 (gender equality) “remains too slow and uneven.” He therefore called for renewed commitment and increased ambition on gender equality to realize the SDGs, and expressed hope that the UNDP Gender Equality Strategy will be an “instrumental contributor” to renewed ambition.

UNDP saw strong results in ensuring that women register to vote, run for public office and are effective public leaders.

In its first year of implementation, UNDP reports improvements “across all outcomes and signature solutions” to support women as agents of change. In particular, UNDP saw strong results on women’s political participation, including ensuring women register to vote, run for public office and are effective public leaders. UNDP also supported the training of women political candidates and the caucusing of women parliamentarians, among other actions.

UNDP also supported improvements related to: women’s economic empowerment, including access to basic services, financial services and non-financial assets; jobs and livelihoods, particularly in crisis and post-crisis countries; and prevention and response to gender-based violence, such as through implementing national campaigns to change social norms and supporting governments to adopt legal reforms.

UNDP is collaborating with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women to implement the UN-EU Joint Spotlight Initiative to End Violence Against Women and Girls, which is anticipated to reach more than 170 million people. In fragile countries or countries affected by conflict and crisis, UN is supporting the Joint UN Global Programme to Strengthen the Rule of Law and Human Rights to support women to access justice for sexual and gender-based violence, and to build legal systems and undertake security sector reforms.

On institutional commitment, Dieye said UNDP’s strong accountability framework has helped to drive progress. As an illustration, he said UNDP met or exceeded 87.5% of the performance indicators against the UN System-wide Action Plan (UNSWAMP) 2.0. Dieye described how UNDP works to mainstream gender in its performance planning and results reporting tools, and said UNDP’s Gender Steering and Implementation Committee meets twice annually to review progress and address gaps. UNDP has appointed a gender-balanced leadership pool of Resident Representatives and a gender-balanced senior management team. In addition, UNDP is continuing to increase expenditure on projects that contribute to gender equality.

To address remaining challenges, UNDP hopes to see all projects make principal or significant contributions to gender equality, and to move beyond projects that engage women as “beneficiaries,” to more systematically support governments to implement policy reforms that eliminate structural barriers to women’s economic empowerment. UNDP also plans to enhance efforts to engage women in leadership in crisis and post-crisis settings. [BPPS Director Statement] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on UN System Progress on Gender Equality] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Spotlight Initiative Launch]


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