This Good Practices brochure was produced by the Asia-Pacific Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, co-chaired by UN Women, CARE International and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The last year has posed many hardships from the continued spread of COVID-19 and measures to stop it. Yet solidarity and support for realizing women’s rights never wavered in China. UN Women forged ahead through collective efforts and partnerships. We are proud to share some of our best results from 2022, knowing these are the foundation for much more to come in 2023.

This document is a snapshot of the extent to which, and in what ways, women and women’s rights organisations (WROs) have led and participated meaningfully in the COVID-19 response and recovery in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. This research was conducted through consultation with key actors utilizing the Framework for Measuring Women’s Leadership and Meaningful Participation in COVID-19 Responses.

The aim of the dialogue was to find areas of collaboration to promote the gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) narrative through media.

The project is implemented with the generous support of the Government of the Republic of Korea, and the Government of Australia under the Cyber & Critical Tech Cooperation Program, and falls under the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Regional Framework Towards Peaceful, Inclusive Societies: Advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and Inclusive Governance in the Asia Pacific Region. Learn more about UN Women’s approaches to conflict-sensitive and gender-responsive cybersecurity in this brief.

This study is part of WeEmpowerAsia, a joint program of the European Union and UN Women, which aims to increase the number of women who lead and participate in private-sector businesses in seven countries across Asia, including Indonesia.

This Gender Alert concludes that the 24 December 2022 ban: (1) is discriminatory and dictates who humanitarian actors can(not) employ, and who they can reach with assistance; (2) has multilayered implications that go beyond the inability of reaching women and girls with life-saving assistance, including dealing a further blow to the Afghan economy amid the ongoing crisis; and (3) speeds up the erasure of Afghan women and girls from all aspects of Afghan public and private life.

Based on the principles of respect and equality, and lessons learned from evidence-based results on what works in preventing violence from occurring and recurring, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Women, in collaboration with ten other UN, bilateral, and multilateral agencies, have developed “RESPECT Women: Preventing violence against women”. This publication provides a comprehensive framework to inform policy makers and implementers about designing, planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating interventions and programmes on preventing and responding to violence against women.

This implementation package comprises a suite of practical resources and tools to support the implementation of the RESPECT Women: Preventing Violence against Women Framework, which was developed by WHO, with UN Women, in 2019 and is endorsed by 12 other UN agencies and bilateral partners. The package also builds on the evidence-based entry points compiled in the predecessor, “A framework to underpin action to prevent violence against women”.

In India, there are multiple laws to ensure gender equality in the corporate sector. Women continue to be underrepresented in the corporate sector. Globally women make up only 17 per cent of the board of directors in listed companies and 10 per cent of higher management. In this research study, we examined the implementation effectiveness of three recent laws introduced to strengthen commitment to gender equality in the Indian corporate sector.

The UN Women Nepal Country Office undertook a national study to better understand the enabling and obstructive factors of women’s political participation as elected officials. This study examines the violence locally elected women representatives in Nepal face when holding public office at the local level. It focuses exclusively on women’s time in office and does not cover campaign or election periods. This is the first study on VAWP in Nepal. It is part of the UN Women’s global initiative to develop harmonised survey tools on VAWP.

Based on an analysis of 11 countries, this research brief summarizes, explains and furthers the understanding of the linkages between gender, security and natural resource management (NRM) in the Asia-Pacific region by analysing the land, water and forestry sectors. Although countries traditionally view NRM as separate from women, peace and security issues, NRM is a field in which the currents and risks of climate change, conflict, security and gender-based disadvantages concretely intersect.

Findings and recommendations from the RNA are intended to serve as a source of information for actors supporting women’s livelihoods in Afghanistan, including UN agencies and other international organizations.

This Gender Alert maps gender trends and recommendations in connection to the evictions of internally displaced persons and the destruction of informal settlements in Badghis. It has been developed by the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group and the Women Advisory Group (WAG) to the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in Afghanistan

The complex and protracted humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan affects persons of all genders, at-risk and marginalized groups differently. Women and girls are disproportionately affected because of gender-specific restrictions that directly impact their ability to realize their rights. Traditional gender norms and patriarchal cultures have long reinforced discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan, increasing their vulnerability and decreasing their capacity to recover from shocks, leaving them disproportionately affected during crises.

The second thematic brief looks at the legal and justice system changes and implications for gender equality and women’s rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban take-over on 15 August 2021. While incremental progress was made prior to August 2021 to advance access to justice for women and girls in Afghanistan, there has been an observable and swift backslide. Institutions and infrastructure supporting the legal rights of women, such as legal aid and shelters, have been largely dismantled.

The intent is to highlight the achievements and identify areas that require targeted effort. The purpose is not to determine the impact of PFM in closing gender gaps but to study the extent to which the gender and social inclusion perspective is mainstreamed in the relevant PFM institutions, processes and systems. The assessment shows that Nepal has well-established institutional mechanisms and processes, as well as regulations, to promote gender-responsive budgeting.

This publication provides a thorough assessment of the KAP of local government units (LGUs). The report will be an important starting point towards enabling accountable systems at the LG level and help plan effective strategies to overcome barriers to the effective implementation of the GESI mandates. The survey findings will also serve as a baseline for all levels of government to strengthen gender-responsive public finance management.

he Practitioner guide analyses, Nepal’s COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan, and serves two objectives. As part of the research component, it attempts to review and analyse the trends in gender equality and empowerment of women and girls financing priorities in the protection and health cluster response plans. The second component aims to guide cluster-based humanitarian response teams on strategies to better understand the gendered nature of disasters, their impact, and the emerging gender equality and social inclusion issues that require special attention and dedicated budgets. 

The objective of the report is to examine the legal gaps that are hindering expenditure allocation and reporting on the landscape of expenditures on GE. Subsequently, a step-by-step roadmap has been presented to strengthen the development, implementation and tracking of gender-responsive budgets toward the achievement of national commitments to the SDGs.