Summary of country programme
The UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) was established in Cairo, Egypt, in 2012. ROAS covers 17 countries across the Arab States region, including countries with low, medium and high income and several countries currently experiencing serious crisis impacting on overall human development.
ROAS exercises the triple mandate of UN Women to support Member States to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls: the development of norms and standards; regional programmes to support Member States and civil society actors to implement such norms and standards; and inter-agency coordination to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment by all UN actors in the region.
ROAS’s work in the region is guided by its four-year Strategic Note (2018 - 2021), which is aligned with the global UN Women Strategic Plan, and by key international frameworks for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment, including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action and the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
ROAS supports UN Women country offices in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the State of Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen. ROAS also provides technical assistance to Kuwait, Bahrain and Syria as a non-resident agency and works closely with the UN Women liaison office in the UAE.
Drawing on its convening power and regional expertise, ROAS works to forge effective partnerships to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Arab States region and serves as a regional knowledge hub to strengthen multi-stakeholder efforts to support the achievement of Agenda 2030.
In addition, ROAS provides quality assurance and backstopping support to its country offices to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in accordance with Agenda 2030 and key international frameworks.
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