Outcome LKA_D_4.2

Empowered military and war widows have sustainable livelihoods, and access social support services with dignity.

In 2022, women beneficiaries in Mannar - many of whom are women heads of households - have increased the resilience of their livelihoods and their social autonomy, as well as their access to local government officials and networks of mentors and peers through the support of UN Women, which in turn has contributed to strengthening their access to social support services and the prevention of gender-based violence against them. The latter objective continues to be pursued jointly by a multi-pronged approach adopted by UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women in their ongoing joint programme, collectively strengthening the prevention of and response to violence against women through access to sustainable livelihoods and social support, as well transforming norms within communities through dialogue and education. Up to 120 women engaging in or operating businesses - related to agriculture, food production, garments, animal husbandry etc. - from the target communities have strengthened their financial and business literacy skills, including in terms of market and digital engagement. Of these, 73 have been selected to receive in-kind assistance to sustain their livelihoods based on a competitive assessment of business proposals. Beneficiaries also have access to mentoring sessions and on-to-one coaching, as a result of which several women have formally registered their enterprises. UN Women has ensured that the work done on this front is relevant to the beneficiaries, including incorporating sessions on microfinance when it became apparent that this was a key issue faced by beneficiaries, and to build external partnerships including a session conducted by the Central Bank. The impact of this work goes beyond UN Women's primary beneficiaries to a broader societal level. In a context where women are largely excluded from livelihood activities and have limited resource, UN Women's work has strengthened a culture of women empowering women to play a more direct role in generating livelihoods for their households and communities. Anecdotal evidence shows that many of the women-led businesses continue to engage other women in the community in their activities as their businesses expand, and support livelihood generation for households - and women, in particular - in their vicinity. In UN Women's engagement with beneficiaries, the office has also observed greater entrepreneurial spirit and confidence in beneficiaries following UN Women's interventions, through which they have approached national standardization bodies, research institutions, financing institutions, and government administrators for support towards formalizing and expanding their businesses. There is also greater interest in accessing distant markets (including foreign markets), and many beneficiaries have already begun to supply products for export purposes. These results have broadly contributed to a community and local-government level recognition of the capacity and role of women in strengthening local economies and societies, as indicated in UN Women's engagement with local administrators and provincial leadership, who have request continued support from UN Women on similar interventions. The building of peer groups among beneficiaries has also begun to contribute to the development of social collectives and collective coping mechanisms, which UN Women sees as vital to the well-being and empowerment of women in the beneficiary communities. As the economic crisis continues to hit small and medium enterprises the hardest - including those operated by the beneficiary group, there is need for continued and responsive support, including further support on product and market diversification (including the use of e-markets), and marketing, which UN Women remains committed to providing as possible. Hence, the TOC considered to be valid and timely.

Empowered military and war widows have sustainable livelihoods, and access social support services with dignity.

This Outcome was not achieved in 2021 due to significant challenges faced throughout the year as a result of COVID-19 and intermittent lockdowns, travel and other restrictions which collectively prevented the project from undertaking the required assessments to proceed with the sequence of activities related to Output 4.2.5. In the latter quarter of 2021, the project has begun to steadily making some progress, as restrictions eased as the national vaccination programme made headway. Progress includes obtaining (verbal) endorsement of the project by local government and strengthened collaboration with local officials, which will continue to support the bulk of the project's implementation under this output in 2022.