Outcome PAK_O_2

Advancing partnerships & resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale: UN-Women effectively leverages and expands its partnerships, communications and advocacy capabilities to increase support for and financing of the gender equality agenda, while securing sustainable resourcing for the delivery of its own mandate

The output was achieved during the year. In Half 1 2023, UN Women Pakistan actively promoted women's economic empowerment and workplace equality by engaging both traditional and non-traditional partners. Conference on Women’s Economic Empowerment in March 2023 brought together private sector companies, government entities, financial institutions, and civil society organizations to discuss accelerating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Industry leaders from various sectors participated in panel discussions, sharing best practices and exploring potential synergies for joint programming. The conference also featured an exquisite handicrafts exhibition showcasing the work of women micro-entrepreneurs from different cities. Additionally, UN Women collaborated with UNICEF and the Pakistan Business Council to host a webinar on Family Friendly Policies in the Workplace. The webinar provided insights and information about workplace policies benefiting working parents, including best practices and the alignment of the Women Empowerment Principles with the Family Friendly Policy Agenda. In Karachi, UN Women partnered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to organize a premier ESG symposium focused on gender equality. The symposium aimed to move the needle on gender equality and featured engaging discussions on the topic.On International Women's Day, UN Women, the Pakistan Stock Exchange, and partners came together to ring the bell for gender equality and women's empowerment. The event gathered women leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs, innovators, and corporate leaders, and included a panel discussion on developing an ESG reporting framework in the tech sector. Furthermore, UN Women conducted training sessions on creating dignified and harassment-free workplaces at Packages Limited in Lahore. The sessions aimed to implement the Women Empowerment Principles and strengthen the company's harassment policy and redressal mechanisms, with the active participation of senior leadership, including the CEO Mr. Hyder Ali.In collaboration with the Royal Thai Embassy in Pakistan, we conducted training for women home chefs to further enhance our existing partnership with foodpanda. During the training, over 20 home chefs were given the unique opportunity to learn first-hand from a Thai master chef about authentic Thai cuisine.In half one, 15 new private sector companies also joined the WEPs network while Pakistan was featured in both MPAS Private sector newsletter by HQ(Q1 and Q2). Pakistan also was nominated for the new private sector engagement strategy task force and contributed technically in its development. In second half, The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in collaboration with UN Women, UNDP, UNFPA & private sector partner Jazz held a two-day conference to create a national policy framework and launch the report ‘Digitalisation & Women in Pakistan’. NCSW with its consortium partners produced a comprehensive report “Digitalization and Women in Pakistan” as a result of a rigorous country-wide consultative process, engaging public and private sectors, civil society, academia, media and think tanks etc. In line with this year’s theme, the report was presented at the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women during the 8th March 2023 celebrations in New York. The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in collaboration with UN Women, UNDP, UNFPA & private sector partner Jazz held a two-day conference to create a national policy framework and launch the report ‘Digitalisation & Women in Pakistan’. NCSW with its consortium partners produced a comprehensive report “Digitalization and Women in Pakistan” as a result of a rigorous country-wide consultative process, engaging public and private sectors, civil society, academia, media and think tanks etc. In line with this year’s theme, the report was presented at the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women during the 8th March 2023 celebrations in New York. PCO also organized its first in-person training with private sector on ‘Transparency and Accountability Framework’ of the Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in Karachi, Pakistan. The training was conducted at the Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB) bringing together 15+ companies from various sectors. The session provided introduction to the WEPs Gender Gap Analysis Tool with aim to encourage companies to assess their progress on gender equality and build goals and targets to promote women’s empowerment. As part of the ongoing partnership of UN Women Pakistan with Jazz for digital empowerment of women artisans. In August 2023, teams visited Swabi and Sukkur Region, covering 79 villages and targeting 2751 Women Home Based Workers in 11 days. Despite facing cultural and infrastructure challenges in these rural areas, Jazz and UN Women teams successfully concluded the training sessions and digitally empowered women by issuing SIMs, access to cheaper internet data, and financially including them through Cash Wallets thus enabling them to become a part of the digital network. Moreover, over 131 home-based workers were empowered by providing denim material for upcycling. This initiative was supported by Inditex and Soorty Enterprises through in-kind partnership and complimented the existing work of WEE programme.In November 2023, over ten signatories of Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) from Pakistan participated various sessions of the 2023 Asia-Pacific WEPs Forum. The forum was organized as part of the new supported program of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, ‘Advancing the implementation of WEPs for accelerated business action for gender equality in Asia & Pacific’. Participants from Pakistan included Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Pakistan Stock Exchange, Engro Corp, Interloop, Soorty Enterprises, Pakistan Business Council and foodpanda and highlighted best practices from Pakistan at regional forum. A collaborative effort was initiated PCO partnered with the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), UNFPA, and UNICEF to address the issue of child marriage. This joint campaign aimed to collectively advance the campaign against child marriage. On International Day of the Girl, UN Women in collaboration with UNICEF, UNFPA Pakistan, and NCSW, hosted a two-day "National Stakeholders' Conference to #EndChildMarriage" in collaboration. This consultation was supported by the FCDO Gov UK under its flagship program AAWAZ II. In a collaborative effort, PCO partnered with the Sweden Embassy, Dastak NGO, and media agency Olomopolo to launch the initiative #globalguytalk. The innovative concept revolves around assembling a group of men to engage in conversations about topics that are often left unexplored. Utilizing conversational guides available on the initiative's website and complemented by short videos, #globalguytalk aims to create an open dialogue on subjects seldom discussed by men. The overarching ambition is to provide men with the opportunity to actively contribute to building a more equal society, starting with introspective conversations and personal reflections. Within the Gender Theme Group, PCO collaborated on joint messaging during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. Messages from seven agencies, including UNDP, WFP, IOM, UNHCR, UNFPA, UNICEF, and UNODC, were recorded and disseminated. In addition, all UN agencies in Pakistan adopted the social media toolkit crafted by UN Women for the 16 days. The united effort by the UN to promote #NoExcuse resonated and gained amplification from external partners, including the EU, Norway, Germany and Sweden. Led by UNAIDS, a collaborative effort involving UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, and UN Women emerged to advocate against the stigma associated with AIDS and promote equitable services for transgender individuals.

Advancing partnerships & resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale: UN-Women effectively leverages and expands its partnerships, communications and advocacy capabilities to increase support for and financing of the gender equality agenda, while securing sustainable resourcing for the delivery of its own mandate

UN Women Pakistan Communications and Partnership Unit supported UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) in selecting six young individuals from Pakistan for the 2023 cohort of the 30 for 2030 Network. This marks the highest participation from Pakistan to date. The 30 for 2030 Network is a youth leadership initiative aimed at advancing the 2030 Agenda from a feminist perspective. It focuses on addressing gender barriers and achieving gender equality by serving as a voluntary advisory community and an accelerator for change-makers dedicated to creating a gender-equal world. These developments underscore a strengthened commitment to gender equality and youth engagement in Pakistan, aligning with global efforts to empower women and young leaders in the pursuit of sustainable development goals. In addition, the Communications and Partnership Unit, in collaboration with ROAP, piloted the Cyber Shield programme to address online gender-based violence (OGBV). Supported by a budget of USD 10,000, the programme aimed to educate individuals on e-security, identify fake content, and protect privacy, thereby providing tools to combat cyber harassment and misinformation. The initiative included workshops and digital literacy training, culminating in an assessment report that outlined key findings and recommendations. This effort aligns with UN Women's commitment to tackling technology-facilitated gender-based violence, a growing concern as digital spaces become increasingly integral to daily life. The Cyber Shield programme reflects a proactive approach to empowering individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate and mitigate the risks associated with online gender-based violence.