Capacity Development
“Women are the first responders and a vital resource to use in times of responding. You cannot do much without the wealth of knowledge that they have in the response, recovery and further development.”
— Rothina Noka, Gender & Protection Coordinator,
Vanuatu Department of Women’s Affairs in
a training organized by UN Women.
In Asia and the Pacific, UN Women supports the capacity development of government bodies, CSOs, iNGOs, and UN agencies in integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment into disaster risk reduction and humanitarian action across Afghanistan, Nepal, the Pacific, Pakistan, and the Philippines. At the same time, UN Women works to empower women and girls and provides opportunities for their leadership, such that they are able to participate in decision-making processes that have direct impact on their own survival and wellbeing in disasters.
In line with the commitments of the Grand Bargain, UN Women remains committed to localization in humanitarian response. In Afghanistan, Nepal, the Pacific, Pakistan, and the Philippines, UN Women has provided capacity development workshops and trainings on integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment in all aspects of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.
To facilitate South-South learning and cooperation, in collaboration with Nepal’s Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, UN Women organized a South Asia Peer Learning Regional Consultation on gender-responsive disaster preparedness and response. At the consultation, participants reached unanimous agreement on the need to engage women’s groups in decision-making to effectively design, implement, and monitor gender-responsive DRR policies and programmes.
Throughout the region, capacity development features as a core part of humanitarian and disaster risk reduction programming. In Bangladesh, in collaboration with the Government namely the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs as well as the disaster management, planning, and local government machineries; UNDP, and UNOPS, UN Women has launched a three-and-a-half year National Resilience Programme, which aims to help sustain the country’s human and economic development through gender-responsive DRR, through strengthening the capacity of relevant government ministries, agencies, practitioners, generating knowledge, producing tools and strategies, and enhancing the resilience of women and girls, who are the most vulnerable on the frontline when facing disasters.