This document present the initial findings of the UNDP and UN Women’s analyses of 13 targeted joint programmes that promoted gender equality as a central goal, and a gender-mainstreaming effort within 117 MDG-F joint programmes that targeted other development areas - in line with its commitment to gender equality as a prerequisite for achieving all MDGs.
This publication also presents the largest-to-date study that examines the effectiveness of combining targeted and gender-mainstreaming interventions to promote gender equality through a joint programming modality. It is hoped that the findings and recommendations presented in the following pages can substantively contribute to propelling accountability and coherence of the United Nations effort to promote gender equality through joint programming.
Social protection has become a more important part of social service delivery in Tanzania over the last couple of decades. This paper analyses the politics behind the making and implementation of the Productive Social Safety Nets (PSSN), a cash transfer scheme that became part of a broader, existing scheme aimed at poverty reduction and rural development, TASAF I-III. We trace the interrelationship between the domestic policy process and the shifting influence of transnational ideas. We argue that the introduction of TASAF and later PSSN was strongly influenced by international trends, driven by a policy coalition of bureaucrats and development partners, but that it was sanctioned by the country’s political elites, who at times used the programmes for electoral purposes. This happened for instance by influencing the scale and speed of PSSN’s implementation prior to the national elections in 2015, despite a tradition of scepticism towards cash transfers within the ruling CCM party. Recently, President John Magufuli’s more productivist ethos, emphasising the importance of work, poses a threat to the programmes’ continuation. This may also reduce the targeting of the poorest of the poor, which constitutes a major element of PSSN as we know it.
UNICEF Tanzania’s work in 2017 ranged from generating strategic data and information for policy advocacy and for sharpening programmes to strengthening systems for delivering services to Tanzania’s most disadvantaged children.
This report provides endline results of the impact evaluation of the Government of the Republic of Tanzania’s Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN) on Tanzanian youth. The impact evaluation is an 18-
month, mixed methods study to provide evidence on the effects that the programme has had on youth wellbeing and the transition to adulthood. The study was conducted among a sample of households
comprising part of the 4th and 5th scale-up waves of the PSSN in 2015. For the study we conducted two waves of data collection: a baseline in August – October 2015 and an endline from March – May
2017. In both waves of data collection, quantitative and qualitative interviews were conducted with youth who were between the ages of 14 and 28 years at baseline (15 – 30 years at endline). The
qualitative interviews were embedded into the quantitative study design, meaning that 16 youth from study households were selected to participate in in-depth qualitative interviews to help unpack pathways of impact and provide a deeper understanding of how the PSSN affects the lives of youth in participating households. At endline, households had received on average 10 bi-monthly cash
payments.
A key challenge for Latin America and the Caribbean is formalization, considering that half of the region’s workforce – around 130 million people – find themselves in the informal economy, often earning less than the minimum wage and without access to social protection. Through its Regional Programme for the Promotion of Formalization in Latin America and the Caribbean (FORLAC), the ILO has developed several initiatives that have led to legislative and policy changes in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Social actors across the region have also been active on this front. In 2015, for example, the Jamaica Employer’s Federation, with ILO support, adopted a gender-sensitive policy on the transition to formality – with guidance to support its members towards business formalization.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is working to improve the livelihoods of Palestinian women by enhancing the capacities of women cooperatives and associations involved in food processing, supporting them to develop marketable and exportable products along with supporting the government to develop a regulatory environment for the protection of local production and the establishment of incentives for women cooperatives. FAO has facilitated the establishment of two business-shops in the North and South of the West Bank for assembling, testing, and packaging and selling women’s cooperative products.
The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) longstanding commitment to social justice for the Palestinian people started over three decades ago – at the 66th session of the International Labour Conference in 1980 – with the adoption of a resolution mandating the production of an annual report on the situation of workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The ILO Second Decent Work Programme (DWP) 2018-2022 aims to support the State of Palestine’s National Policy Agenda (NPA) (2017-22): Putting Citizens First with its three main pillars: i) Path to Independence, ii) Ending Occupation and iii) Sustainable development. It also aligned with the Labour Sector Strategy and the Social Protection Sector Strategy.
The proposals in this booklet present a systematic approach to meeting ITC’s funding needs and delivering on the growing demand from our clients. These focus areas are not only a means to present
ITC’s services and projects, but also represent themes around which support could be provided to ITC.
The situation in Mozambique was made more challenging by onset of the worst drought Mozambique has faced in 35 years. In 2016, the drought severely affected 1.5 million people with negative outcomes for food and nutrition security. UNICEF Mozambique provided significant support to the response efforts, leading the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition, education and protection clusters. Around 23,960 people were provided with access to safe water with five million cubic metres of water and drilled/ upgraded water points in 18 drought- affected districts. Together with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF Mozambique supported training of 36 health and nutrition mobile brigades to undertake community outreach, including screening, referral and treatment of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), screening 118,000 children and treating 15,000 acutely malnourished children.
This report describes the work of UNICEF in Guatemala in 2017. The multiple social and political crises in 2017 resulted in extreme institutional instability (frequent changes of ministers and high-level government officials), social unrest (different demonstrations against the Government and against parliament), and a structural governance crisis (harsh conflicts among the three branches of Government, clash between the Government and the Commissioner of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala). This in turn resulted in frequent changes in policy design, blockage to legal reforms, slow execution of public budgets and, ultimately, slow progress or stagnation in the provision of basic social services for children. This instability had a significant impact on the implementation of the UNICEF country programme as well.
FAO has prepared a National gender profile of agriculture and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia as an important step towards inclusive agricultural growth and transformation. This Profile provides a very useful reference to inform the implementation and monitoring of the frameworks highlighted above with stronger attention to gender. It will also inform the country periodic reporting on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the upcoming Beijing Plus 25 review process which will take place in 2020.
On 16 April 2016 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific northwest area of Ecuador, its epicentre situated close to Muisne and Pedernales municipalities in the northern part of the country and170 km northwest of the capital, Quito. The earthquake directly affected 720,000 people, of whom 350,000 were in need of urgent assistance. Immediate needs were safe water, sanitation and hygiene, emergency and temporary shelter, health, protection (including psychosocial support and child protection), food assistance and education. By early January 2017 some 5,544 people were still living in 24 official camps managed by the Government of Ecuador, nearly half of whom (2,846) were children and adolescents, and more than 4,030 people were living in 63 informal refugee shelters. In 2017 UNICEF Ecuador’s emergency strategy shifted toward sector coordination and building local institutional capacity, and focused on developing resilient systems in all sectors to deliver long-term development results.
This joint annex presents progress on the implementation of the common chapter of the Strategic Plans, 2018-2021, of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), in response to a request by the Executive Boards of the four agencies for “details on the implementation of the common chapter in [their] annual reporting and, when applicable and as appropriate, at the joint meeting of the Executive Boards”. The approach of working together is also measured annually by indicators from the 2016 quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system (QCPR) contained in the QCPR annexes attached to the respective annual report of each agency.
The core mission inspiring the work of the United Nations region wide is to eliminate hunger and overcome the current levels of poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean. To this end, several agencies have shared challenges and carried out similar activities to respond to the needs of countries and their people.
Particularly, FAO, IFAD and WFP have been engaged – in many occasions and in various sectors – in actions driven by the common goal of eradicating hunger and malnutrition while promoting sustainable agriculture and rural transformation, as they offer their specific capacities as agricultural knowledge organization, investment fund for rural areas, and development and humanitarian assistance programmes.
With continued population growth, urbanization, stretched natural resources, protracted conflict and the impact of climate change becoming more apparent, the number of humanitarian crises continues to grow, as does the number of communities requiring humanitarian assistance. Within these communities, women and girls are often disproportionately at risk to the effects of
these crises. They are more likely to lose their means of livelihood and are exposed to a heightened risk of gender-based violence. Further, in the aftermath of disasters, their specific humanitarian needs
are often neither adequately identified nor addressed in the ensuing response by governments and humanitarian agencies alike.
To address this omission, UN Women is committed to ensuring equality amongst all women, men, girls and boys affected by disasters both as beneficiaries of humanitarian action and as contributors to its
planning and implementation. This brochure provides an overview and examples of how UN Women promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment in its humanitarian work around the world.
Making Laws, Breaking Silence: Case Studies from the Field grows out of a high level roundtable convened by Penn Law, UN Women, UNESCO, UN SDG Fund, and IDLO in March 2017. The convening brought together over 30 legislators, judges, and policy experts from more than 15 countries to examine new developments and challenges in gender equality lawmaking under Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals. The following case studies and essays expand on those deliberations and interactions and highlight some tensions in evolving law reform efforts around the world. Closing the enforcement gap in gender equality laws is often called the “unfinished business of the 21st century.” These reflections offer fresh insights and policy guidelines for UN agencies, multilaterals, government entities and civil society organizations charged with gender-based law reform.
Challenging the global North’s dominance in the literature, this publication presents alternative approaches as well as creative responses to the challenges facing labour in the global South, in countries such as Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, South Africa and Uruguay. The volume devotes particular attention to areas often neglected by organized labour: the relationship between ecology, climate change and jobs; unionising service work; the dynamics of trade union−political party alliances; gender; and new forms of solidarity. It brings together a group of distinguished labour scholars and practitioners who make an important advance with their rich empirical case studies.
Social protection policies play a critical role in realizing the human right to social security for all, reducing poverty and inequality, and promoting inclusive growth – by boosting human capital and productivity, and by supporting domestic demand and structural transformation of national economies. This ILO flagship report provides a global overview of the organization of social protection systems, their coverage and benefits, as well as public expenditures on social protection.
The report follows a life-cycle approach, starting with social protection for children, followed by schemes for women and men in working age, and closing with pensions and other support for older persons. It also assesses progress towards universal coverage in health. The report further analyses trends and recent policies, such as the negative impacts of fiscal consolidation and adjustment measures, and urgently calls to expand social protection for crisis recovery, inclusive development and social justice.
Through an examination of labour market trends, a series of scenario exercises, and econometric analysis, we analyse four prominent hypotheses of the root causes of declining female participation. The findings in this paper indicate that a number of factors were responsible for the recent sharp decline in estimated labour force participation rates among working-age women. Some factors, such as increased attendance in education and higher household income levels, are no doubt a positive reflection of rapid economic development. Additionally, we find evidence that changes in measurement methodology across survey rounds is likely to have contributed to the estimated decline in female participation, due to the difficulty of differentiating between domestic duties and contributing family work. However, the key long-run issue is the lack of employment opportunities for India’s women, owing to factors such as occupational segregation.
Patterns of marginalisation and exclusion are present all over the world, with stark and persisting inequalities in access to water and sanitation. Progress made in the water and sanitation sector does not always benefit those who are most in need of these services, in particular the poorest, people living in informal settlements and/or people marginalised on the basis of gender and other grounds. This policy brief aims to provide guidance on non-discrimination and equality in the context of access to drinking water and sanitation, with a particular focus on women and girls. It also informs readers on the duty of States and responsibilities of non-State actors in this regard.
This UN-Water Analytical Brief analyses the central role of water and sanitation to describe the links and interdependencies between the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation and those of other Goals. It aims to stimulate United Nations Member States’ consideration of the water-related linkages within the Goals to facilitate an integrated approach to implementation. The Brief highlights the importance of mainstreaming water and sanitation in the policies and plans of other sectors, and how the management of interlinkages supports the social, economic and environmental dimensions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This publication is intended to help fill some of the more pressing accountability gaps that impede the realization of global and national development goals. We approach this challenge from the perspective of human rights, as a universal normative and legally binding framework embodying the minimum requirements of a dignified life, encapsulating universal values that a post-2015 agreement should strive to prioritize and protect as well as essential features of a road map to take us there.
This publication provides an introduction to women’s human rights, beginning with the main provisions in international human rights law and going on to explain particularly relevant concepts for fully understanding women’s human rights. Finally, selected areas of women’s human rights are examined together with information on the main work of United Nations human rights mechanisms and others pertaining to these topics. The aim of the publication is to offer a basic understanding of the human rights of women as a whole, but because of the wide variety of issues relevant to women’s human rights, it should not be considered exhaustive.
The Country Programme Evaluation of FAO’s contribution in Guyana was conducted in 2015 with the main aim of informing the development of the new CPF cycle starting in 2016. It is intended that this exercise will provide inputs to better orient FAO’s programme in the next biennium, making it more relevant to the government priorities for the country. The evaluation was also intended to assess the strategic relevance in the national context of FAO’s programmes and interventions in Guyana.
The purpose of this publication (part of the FAO series on sustainable food value chain development) is to facilitate the systematic integration of gender equality dimensions into value chain development programmes and projects. It raises awareness on gender inequalities and discusses the importance of addressing these dimensions in value chain development, while also building a common approach for work on gender-sensitive value chain development. It achieves this by bringing together key concepts from value chain development and gender and by providing concrete guiding principles for the integration of gender concerns into value chain development projects and programmes. This conceptual framework has a companion publication, Developing gender-sensitive value chains: Guidelines for practitioners, which provides specific tools to support practitioners in designing, implementing and monitoring gender-sensitive value chain programmes.
