Afghanistan

For the women and girls of Afghanistan, 2024 was another year of profound challenges, marked by intensifying restrictions on their lives. Determined collective efforts nonetheless resulted in achievements � UN Women successfully delivered programming in five core thematic areas, through the Afghanistan Country Office (ACO) and five sub-offices across Afghanistan. Sustaining women�s organizations Emanating from the intentional investment in services �by women, for women�, the ACO partnered with 240 women�s organizations, providing critical financial support and programming funds, and tailored capacity-building and mentorship. UN Women thus ensured that these organizations have the tools needed to deliver their vital interventions � in an environment that has fundamentally changed the way they work. Over US$4.5 million in grants were allocated to women�s organizations to support their organizational resilience. Amplifying the voices of women and girls Grounded in unique UN Women access and commitment to women�s organizations, the ACO played a critical role in amplifying the voices of Afghan women and safeguarding their space. Continuing its collaboration with UNAMA and IOM, the ACO conducted quarterly consultations throughout 2024, furthering this unique mechanism to engage Afghan women directly, documenting the impact of restrictions on their lives and their navigation of challenges to support their families and communities. UN Women reached women in all 34 Afghan provinces, surveying up to 900 women per consultation round and engaging with the de facto authorities (DFA) on findings. The findings directly fed into proceedings at multiple political forums, including the UN Security Council, the Human Rights Council, and the Doha political process. Driving knowledge and thought leadership UN Women developed two flagship gender reports: the EU-supported Afghanistan Gender Country Profile 2024 � the most comprehensive gender analysis of post-August 2021 Afghanistan; and the Gender Index using UN Women-UNDP twin indices measuring the status of women and girls across five dimensions and eight SDG indicators. Six studies across a range of issues were developed, including on civil society priorities for the Doha process and an overview of women�s rights since August 2021. Work in collaboration with the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) and via the GiHA WG produced multiple milestones during 2024, ensuring that women�s voices and needs are prioritized in humanitarian efforts. Among pioneering first-of-its-kind achievements stand inclusion of response plan indicators measuring humanitarian engagement with women�s organizations and women�s access to assistance; inclusion of gender-specific access impediments in regular OCHA access reporting; and establishment of the Women�s Advisory Group, through which Afghan women provide strategic guidance to the HCT on strengthening women�s access to assistance and entry points for engagement with the DFA.

Efforts undertaken by the Afghanistan Country Office (ACO) in 2023 occurred in a drastically altered, highly volatile operational environment, where women and girls were being systematically erased from public life, triggered through a stream of more than 50 edicts issued by the de facto authorities (DFA). The overall impact of the mutually reinforcing edicts has been the progressive denial of the full spectrum of rights for women and girls as citizens of Afghanistan. Within this landscape, ACO efforts across its thematic areas contributed to safeguarding, holding and amplifying the voices and participation of Afghan women and women organizations, making them visible and engaging them as partners to inform policy and programming priorities. Specific ACO actions contributing to this result included: Amplified the voices, perspectives and priorities of Afghan women, documenting what is occurring on the ground and using their input to provide recommendations for the international community. Strengthened women�s organizations and the women�s movement, through timely, responsive and catalytic support (e.g. retention of salaries for women staff banned from working). Forged partnerships with private and public actors to identify opportunities for women business owners and invest in avenues for enhanced employability of Afghan women within the private sector. Rebranded and expanded delivery of services via available entry points (e.g. joint programming with other agencies to support those most left behind). Strategically engaged with the DFA (e.g. advocacy for projects to continue). Expanded UN Women space via the coordination role within the UN system (e.g. co- chairing Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, Gender Theme Group, and the Strategic Thematic Working Group on Gender and Human Rights). Thought leadership and consolidation of UN Women as the �go-to� actor for analysis on women�s rights in Afghanistan. Key outputs in this regard: Gender Alerts on Afghan women working in NGOs and women�s rights under the Taliban. Rapid-response Gender Updates on the Herat earthquakes (10 and 21 October) and Afghan returnees (14 November and 10 December). 7 Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Snapshots on the impacts of the bans on Afghan women workers. Expert Group Meeting gathering Afghan women and international legal and political experts to reflect upon and bui