Region:Asia PacificCurrent UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022
World Bank Income Classification:Low IncomeThe World Bank classifies economies for analytical purposes into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high income. For this purpose it uses gross national income (GNI) per capita data in U.S. dollars, converted from local currency using the World Bank Atlas method, which is applied to smooth exchange rate fluctuations.Least Developed Country:YesSince 1971, the United Nations has recognized LDCs as a category of States that are deemed highly disadvantaged in their development process, for structural, historical and also geographical reasons. Three criteria are used: per capita income, human assets, and economic vulnerability.Gender Inequality Index:0.575GII is a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa.Gender Development Index:0.723GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources.
Population:209,497,025Source of population data: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects: The 2022 RevisionMale:19,976,265 (9.5%)Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)
The national government and territorial governments, in particular category 5 and 6 municipalities, implement gender equality policies, plans, programmes and projects with the support of the United Nations Country Team and in accordance with national government guidelines (UNSDCF 3.2)
In 2023, UN Women Colombia made significant progress on outcome 3.2 (on track). With the support of Sweden, UN Women contributed to women’s political participation by developing a certified 100-hour training on Colombia’s political system, political planning and strategies, electoral management, and mainstreaming of the women’s rights perspective. More than 1.000 women enhanced their political leadership skills for the local elections by completing this course . Additionally, UN Women organized the National Forum of Elected Women and three Local Forum of Elected Women in the departments of Cauca, Nariño, and Chocó. These are spaces in which women exchanged experiences and strengthened networks for the advancement of the gender equality and women’s rights agenda, reaching 120 participating women at a national level and 189 participating women in the local instances (100 women in Nariño, 60 women in Cauca, and 29 women in Chocó). Still with Sweden’s support, UN Women promoted the increase of awareness of the Congress of the Republic on subrogate pregnancies and international standards on the rights of women and girls in the work towards the eradication of child marriage and early unions.
With the support of KOICA and Canada, 360 public investment projects were marked with the Gender Budget Tracker as a result of the technical support received by 20 local government, including 3 governorates and 17 municipalities. Alongside, more than 350 representatives from Government institutions, civil society organizations and collegiate bodies have stronger technical capacities for planning and budgeting with a gender approach, considering the upcoming definition of 2024s budget, accountability processes, and handovers to new administrations.
The CO also provided technical and financial support for the participatory formulation of the Care CONPES , and to enhance the capacities of the Care Manager’s Office of the Vice-presidency of the Republic to position the joint agenda for the “future of care in the country”. Regarding women’s economic empowerment, UN Women continued to work with the WEPs initiative, reaching 112 enterprises committed to the principles. Moreover, worked in alliance with International Finance Corporation (IFC) and UN Global Compact-Colombia to promote the participation of women-owned small and medium businesses in the project " Sourcing2Equal ", increasing their access to corporate procurement opportunities. With Sweden’s support, the CO continued to support the Empathy Store (Tienda de la Empatía) –an initiative that link women’s productive projects with commercial opportunities—, while with PRM the CO consolidated eight Economic Impulse Labs to support migrant women and women from host communities.
Finally, in 2023, the CO worked towards the elimination of gender-based violence through the enhancement of the technical capacities of two (2) national institutions (General Attorney’s Office and Presidential Council for Women’s Equality - CPEM). Regarding the General Attorney’s Office, the CO supported the updating of the “Gender-based violence against women and feminicides” virtual training, while supporting the CPEM in consolidating the Articulating Mechanism for the Comprehensive Approach to GBV. At a local level, UN Women has sustained its work with the 7 cities (Medellín, Bogotá, Cali, Popayán, Villvicencio, Pasto and Barranquilla) that are current partners of the Safe Cities Program, and developed a diagnosis on the response capacity regarding GBV for 7 municipalities (Tumaco in Nariño; and 6 cities in lower Cauca Antioquia - Cáceres, Caucasia, El Bagre, Nechí, Tarazá and Zaragoza).
The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).