ASEAN renews partnership with UNICEF, UN Women
Date:
Jakarta, Indondesia — ASEAN renewed partnership with UNICEF and UN Women following a cooperation review at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta from 9 to 10 May.
The annual Joint Review Meeting of ASEAN – UNICEF Framework Agreement of Cooperation (FAC) and Work Programme aimed at agreeing on the parameters and next steps to renew the FAC between ASEAN and UNICEF as well as to identify and prioritise the concrete joint actions and flagship projects for 2019 and 2020.
Meanwhile, the 2nd Mid-Term Review of UN Women – ASEAN Work Programme 2017 and Beyond aimed to enhance synergies between ASEAN and UN Women to promote gender mainstreaming across three Community Pillars of ASEAN and to support the implementation of complementarities initiatives led by Thailand as the Chair of ASEAN for 2019.
The event was officiated by the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Kung Phoak, the Deputy Regional Director of UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office Wivina Belmonte, and the recently appointed Regional Director of UN Women for Asia and the Pacific Mohammad Naciri. Relevant ASEAN Secretariat staff as well as technical specialists and policy advisors from both UN agencies attended the meetings.
“Gender equality was at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the ASEAN Community’s Blueprint 2025 and that UN Women is well positioned to support ASEAN.”
DSG Kung expressed his appreciation for the continuing collaboration and partnership with UNICEF and UN Women through the joint work programmes and beyond. He encouraged ASEAN Secretariat as well as UNICEF and UN Women to reflect on ways of working, strategic planning and joint resource mobilisation while harnessing innovation and creative ways of creating results.
On his part, Mohammad emphasised that gender equality was at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the ASEAN Community’s Blueprint 2025 and that UN Women is well positioned to support ASEAN. He added that the recommendations of the ADB-UN Women Regional Flagship Publication titled Gender Equality and the Sustainable Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific: Baseline and Pathways for Transformative Change by 2030, which was launched at the 3rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Women (3rd AMMW) in Hanoi in October 2018, were very well received by the ASEAN Ministers.
The review meeting with UNICEF agreed on the renewal of the FAC between ASEAN and UNICEF as well as on the components of the proposed streamlined joint work programme and specific priorities and plans for 2019-2020.
Meanwhile, the review meeting with UN Women elaborated on options for partnership modalities and mechanisms for collaboration between ASEAN Secretariat and UN Women to support ASEAN’s works on six main areas. They are governance, women, peace and security; gender and statistics for monitoring the SDGs; women economic empowerment and private sector engagement; gender-responsive climate change, disaster risk reduction, and humanitarian actions; ending violence against women and girls; and migration and decent work.
* The press release was originally published on the ASEAN Secretariat website.
Posted by UN Women Asia and the Pacific on Sunday, May 19, 2019