Outcome UKR_D_1.3

UN Coordination ensures that women play a greater role in and are better served by the humanitarian response, as well as by early recovery, development, and normative efforts.

In 2025, UN-led coordination mechanisms ensured that women and girls and are better served by humanitarian response, early recovery, development and normative efforts and that all UN agencies in Ukraine and the RCO can be held accountable for their gender mainstreaming and gender parity obligations. Regular consultations with women of diverse groups (IDPs, rural, veterans, LGBQT, Roma women) and women rights organizations at the local level in the East of Ukraine, provided the opportunity to learn of and prioritize the needs of war-affected women – needs that have been shared at different levels with the Humanitarian coordination and working groups and governments. Articulation of these groups’ needs informed the development of HNRP and the inclusion of women in the Humanitarian coordination platforms at local level. The 2026 HNRP identifies gender as an exacerbating factor that intensifies needs and vulnerabilities when intersecting with age, disability, minority identity, household composition and diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC), and notes the increased impact on women-only households beyond 20 km from the frontline where these households report higher levels of need across multiple dimensions—particularly food security, coping strategies, and income-related challenges. The HNRP commits to integrating intersectional, inclusive approaches to ensure needs-based assistance and to strengthen the use of sex and age disaggregated data (SADD) in monitoring and reporting. The HNRP also prioritizes the meaningful inclusion of women’s rights organizations in the delivery of the response. The 2026 HNRP also references the GiHA WG, co-chaired by UN Women, as an enabler of an inclusive, quality response that supports gender analysis, use of SADD and monitoring of gender-specific impacts across the response, while supporting information management and monitoring of the response. The 2026 HNRP’s budget of USD 33 million budget for coordination and common services also includes funding for GiHA-related activities. Following UN Women’s effective co-leadership of the GiHA WG and advocacy for equitable funding for Ukrainian WROs, the Ukraine Humanitarian Coordinator endorsed the CO’s candidacy for membership in the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund Advisory Board. UN Women’s AB membership will help ensure that, in the context of the global humanitarian reset and reduced humanitarian funding, the needs of women and girls and other marginalized people are reflected in funding allocation strategies and that Ukrainian WLO/WROs and organizations representing marginalized people can access funding and capacity-building opportunities in support of their sustainability and a localized, gender-sensitive response. The needs of LGBTQI+ people and Roma people – with intersecting vulnerabilities and experiencing historic and multiple forms of discrimination and exclusion – are also better met due to thematic dialogues between CSOs representing these constituencies and the UNCT. These thematic dialogues – mobilized by UN Women -- produced key UN agency commitments, leading to heightened sensitization of UN agencies to the unique needs of these vulnerable groups and more targeted aid provision. As Chair of the Gender Theme Group (GTG), UN Women played a pivotal role in the UNCT-SWAP Gender Scorecard comprehensive assessment exercise. The RCO led the exercise with technical support from the GTG and UN Women. As Chair of the GTG, UN Women ensured that members understood and undertook their responsibilities to serve in the small working groups that assessed the 15 Scorecard indicators. The Scorecard report was submitted before the November deadline by the RCO. The report paints a mixed picture, showing some gender mainstreaming gains by the UN system but, overall, a lower level of mainstreaming than the previous comprehensive Scorecard assessment undertaken in 2021. Along with the Scorecard exercise, the development of the UN Gender Parity Strategy for Ukraine was a significant contribution to gender-equal staffing in the UN system. UN Women was an active member of the five-member GP strategy Task Force that drew from GP strategies in other countries and from the Ukraine HR survey data on all agencies staffing by gender, as well as gendered staff perceptions of well-being, to devise an Action Plan, approved by the UNCT, to promote gender-equal staffing and staff well-being.