Region:Asia Pacific
Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022
World Bank Income Classification:Low Income
The 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:Yes
Since 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:0.575
GII 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:0.723
GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources.
Population:209,497,025
Source of population data: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision
Male:19,976,265 (9.5%)
Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)
outcome XM-DAC-41146-UKR_D_1.1
Women, particularly those facing multiple forms of discrimination, increasingly participate in and benefit from gender-responsive reforms and justice
The outcome was not achieved but important progress was made. With the escalation to full-fledged war in Ukraine in 2022, the context of women’s meaningful participation in governance, leadership and decision-making processes changed significantly. The outcome was therefore expanded to not only focus on reforms and justice processes, to ensure women’s meaningful inclusion at all levels of decision-making in response to the crisis brought on by war and in early recovery efforts. Important progress towards the outcome was made in 2022. Women’s needs and priorities are better addressed through key legislation, strategies, policies and plans developed in 2022 that hold duty bearers at all levels accountable for implementing GEWE commitments. In addition to the key documents mentioned under the other impact and outcome statements, such as the ratification of the Istanbul Convention , the revision of the NAP 1325 , the State Strategy on Equal Rights and Opportunities and the framework law on regional policy and recovery policy there were a few additional key documents that were developed in 2022. This includes the National Strategy on Decreasing the Gender Pay Gap , which was developed by the Ministry of Economy following commitments by Ukraine undertaken in the framework of the Biarritz Partnership and the UN Women-ILO-OECD initiative for equal pay (EPIC) in 2020. Once approved and implemented, the strategy will support the Government, employers’ associations, workers’ organizations (trade unions), academia and CSOs in taking concrete steps to reduce the gender pay gap. Furthermore, various local gender-responsive initiatives, plans and budgets were developed, approved and implemented by local authorities to ensure that the needs of women and girls are adequately addressed. For example, women with disabilities gained better access to healthcare, information, rehabilitation, social and administrative services in 14 communities of Kherson, Sumy, Chernivtsi, Volyn and Ivano-Frankivsk regions through a number of gender-responsive community plans and initiatives launched by local authorities. These initiatives were largely a result of the active advocacy by local women’s groups and collaboration between women’s civil society and local authorities at the community level. Key duty bearers have enhanced their institutional capacity and commitment to advance GEWE in Ukraine. Considering the national crisis brought on by the full-fledged war, it is particularly commendable that many national duty bearers demonstrated an enhanced commitment to gender equality during a turbulent time. In addition to developing and/or approving the key strategic documents outlined above, various government authorities conducted gender audits and developed subsequent action plans in 2022. This included the State Statistics Service of Ukraine (SSSU) developing an elaborate plan for gender-responsive changes in policies and procedures following their gender audit. Additionally, the National Agency for Civil Service (NACS) took effective measures to promote cross-cutting gender mainstreaming in public administration by institutionalizing gender audits as integral to government processes. Key to doing so was the development of a unified training curriculum, “Conducting gender audits in executive bodies and local self-governance institutions” , in cooperation with the Office of the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy. The curriculum was approved and introduced by NACS as part of the official professional training for civil servants and local self-governance officials. Women from civil society have enhanced opportunities and capacities to actively participate in and influence decision-making processes at all levels. Various newly established initiatives in 2022 also enhanced the ability of women to meaningfully participate in decision-making processes at various levels. This includes, for example, the establishment of local Coordination Councils on GE in three communities of Kherson, Sumy and Chernivtsi regions and a working group on coordination of humanitarian response to GBV in Volyn regional state administration. National women’s CSO representatives were also included in the Inter-Agency Working Group on CRSV, established by the Government. Two CSOs (La Strada-Ukraine and the Ukrainian Women Lawyers Association ‘JurFem’) were also assigned to co-coordinate the work of the thematic subgroups “Trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation” and “Access to justice and accountability”. The Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights also strengthened its monitoring of the human rights of vulnerable groups of women and men in the context of crises. The Office established a tool to monitor the situation of the most vulnerable women and men through the development of two methodologies on monitoring the gender-responsive measures of local self-government bodies in response to COVID-19 and the humanitarian crisis. The tools were developed with the direct participation of 17 women representing eight CSOs working with vulnerable groups of women. More broadly, all key laws, policies, strategies and plans outlined above are underpinned by recommendations from civil society women shared with duty bearers through various multi-stakeholder consultations, working groups and dialogue platforms. (Read more under indicator 0.1.5 and narrative question 10.) UN Women considers it a particularly noteworthy achievement that duty bearers from the Government, UN agencies and other partners continue to prioritize consultations and dialogues with women from civil society in planning processes, to ensure that their needs and priorities are adequately addressed. UN Women contributed significantly to all of these important results through the following support: Providing expert technical input to the Government and various partners during the drafting of the key documents, through international and national experts on, for example, gender mainstreaming in public policy. Facilitating public consultations between the Government and other duty bearers with women’s CSOs, including those representing women from vulnerable groups/LNOB categories, to provide direct recommendations to key national processes. Conducting capacity development activities for government counterparts, such as the trainings for MCTD representatives on gender-responsive regional/local policymaking and trainings for the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights and regional offices on the rights of women with disabilities, as well as providing support in conducting the SSSU gender audits and new NACS curriculum. Supporting the mobilization and capacity development of women’s civil society for their active participation in decision-making and planning processes—for example, the capacity development of 156 women with disabilities, 80 rural women and 10 Roma women to increase their knowledge and skills on women’s leadership, gender-responsive humanitarian support, the rights of women with disabilities, and advocacy and participation. Developing various knowledge and research products that can ensure evidence-based decision-making by duty bearers—for example, conducting a gender analysis of the institutional response to the crisis caused by the full-fledged war and developing corresponding recommendations for the Government of Ukraine, regional administrations and local self-governing bodies. The theory of change (ToC) is mostly not valid due to changes in the context, programmes and operations. As the new Strategic Note (SN) was developed as an interim and only for one year, a new ToC will be developed for the next SN which will cover a longer period to better reflect the rapidly changing context and needs and priorities for women and girls. The new ToC will need to fully capture changes related to gender-responsive governance.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-UKR_D_3.1
Transformative changes in social norms, attitudes and behaviors are achieved at community and individual levels to prevent GBV
The outcome was not achieved. Violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Ukraine continues to be widespread, and the escalation of war in 2022 has significantly increased the risk of gender-based violence (GBV), including conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), across the country.[1] Harmful social norms, attitudes and behaviours are still prevalent across Ukraine, and it remains critical to continue efforts to both prevent and respond to all forms of GBV. Due to the rapidly changing context brought on by the war, the Country Office expanded this outcome by adding provision of the necessary support to survivors and at-risk populations to the single focus on prevention efforts. Important progress was made through various GBV/CRSV prevention and response initiatives in collaboration with duty bearers and rights holders across the country. Women and girls at risk of GBV/CRSV and survivors of violence had access to primary psychological, humanitarian, social and legal support, ensuring their basic needs, protection and well-being. The following key results were achieved in 2022, providing access to support for survivors of GBV/CRSV and women and girls at risk of violence: Over 1,000 women and girls who are at severe risk of GBV or are survivors of GBV benefited from psychological, humanitarian and social support services, as well as information on available essential services, through UN Women’s pilot initiative ‘Safe Spaces.’ This support included individual and group therapy sessions for women survivors of GBV and awareness-raising prevention activities on human trafficking and VAWG. More than 5,000 women had access to legal information to enable victims/survivors of GBV to seek justice and demand the realization of their rights. This included women and girl survivors of CRSV benefiting from professional legal advice via a dedicated hotline run by the CSO ‘JurFem’. Access to legal information has been particularly important since February 2022 due to the disruption and non-responsiveness of many GBV specialized mechanisms and facilities, including many national legal aid services and GBV referral pathways. UN Women in partnership with various women’s CSOs provided these services to women and led legal awareness-raising activities, particularly on legal procedures and available protection mechanisms and services. Over 2,700 women and girls, including survivors of GBV, Domestic Violence and CRSV, received psychosocial assistance through the SafeWomenHUB platform established by a local CSO in partnership with UN Women and the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund. The platform provides psychological, humanitarian and social assistance to women and girls affected by war and aims to raise awareness on the prevention of sexual violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking. Through different social media channels, over 124,000 people have benefited from the resources available through the online platform. By partnering with local women-led CSOs and other GBV development actors, for example through the UN humanitarian GBV Sub-Cluster, UN Women has played a crucial role in coordinating efforts, piloting new initiatives and directing funding to local women’s organizations who are in the best position to provide support to affected women and girls. Women and girls at risk of GBV and survivors of violence, including CRSV and human trafficking, are better protected and supported through various national commitments, plans and policies. The following key documents were developed, revised or ratified in 2022, which significantly expands protection and prevention efforts for survivors of GBV and at-risk populations: The Istanbul Convention was ratified by the Parliament of Ukraine. Government of Ukraine and the UN made a joint commitment to address CRSV by signing a Framework of Cooperation on the prevention and response to CRSV and developing a plan for implementation. The revised National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security now includes a specific provision for people affected by human trafficking and expanded support for victims of GBV/CRSV. The newly approved State Strategy on Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men (EROW&M) by 2030 and the operational action plan on its implementation in 2022–2024 includes a dedicated goal and corresponding actions related to GBV/CRSV prevention and response. The National Agency for Civil Service (NACS), as part of professional training for civil servants and local self-governance officials, developed and introduced a comprehensive training curriculum, “Detection of and response to CRSV and providing support to survivors” , to strengthen public officials’ knowledge and skills on CRSV prevention and response. The UN Transitional Framework includes specific results on the provision of GBV services to affected populations, and the Humanitarian Needs Overview highlights key guiding recommendations on how actors should consider GBV in ongoing efforts. These commitments, plans and policies are significant achievements as they outline a clear path for the Government and other duty bearers to end all forms of VAWG. These documents are largely underpinned by key recommendations from women’s civil society and inputs from international and national experts on GBV/CRSV/human trafficking. UN Women contributed significantly to these important results through the following support: Providing technical input to the Government and various partners during the drafting of the key documents, through international and national experts on GBV/CRSV/human trafficking. Facilitating public consultations between the Government and other duty bearers with women’s CSOs, including those representing women survivors of GBV/CRSV, to provide direct recommendations to key national processes. Facilitating lobbying and advocacy efforts with key decision makers and duty bearers on the approval, development and prioritization of these key documents (e.g. with various parliamentary working groups). Facilitating and actively participating in various working groups and coordination efforts with key stakeholders, such as the Anti-Trafficking Task Force, and the UN humanitarian Protection Cluster and its GBV Sub-Cluster, as well as the Gender in Humanitarian Action Sub Group (GiHA-SG). Conducting capacity development activities for government counterparts and key stakeholders, such as the trainings for 145 public officials (126 women, 19 men) from the National Police, Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ombudsperson’s Office and regional administrations on CRSV international frameworks, national regulations and referral pathways and available services for CRSV survivors. The theory of change (ToC) is mostly not valid due to changes in the context, programmes and operations of the Country because of the ongoing humanitarian crisis and war in Ukraine. As the new Strategic Note (SN) was developed as an interim and only for one year (2023), a new ToC will be developed for the next Strategic Note which will cover a longer period to better reflect the rapidly changing context and needs and priorities for women and girls. The new ToC will need to fully capture changes related to related to social norms, attitudes and behaviours perspective. [1] UN Women and CARE International, Rapid Gender Analysis of Ukraine, 4 May 2022 .
outcome XM-DAC-41146-UKR_D_4.1
More commitments on Women, Peace and Security are implemented by national and local institutions and more gender equality advocates influence recovery, justice, security and humanitarian processes
The outcome was not fully achieved but important progress towards the outcome was made in 2022. In the context of the full-fledged war and consequent large-scale humanitarian crisis, this outcome was expanded to include a focus on not only implementing national Women Pease and Security (WPS) commitments but also responding to the emerging humanitarian needs of women and girls. Gender equality advocates’ influence on recovery, justice, security and humanitarian processes remained paramount. Important progress towards the outcome was made in 2022: More than 37,400 war-affected women and girls had access to humanitarian support. This included receiving basic necessities such as food and hygiene products, psychological support, legal aid, livelihood support and referrals to other services. The support was especially directed at women and girls from vulnerable and marginalized groups such as rural women, Roma women, women with disabilities, internally displaced women and women with HIV. (Read more under narrative questions 1 and 8.) UN Women contributed to this important result by partnering with over 20 local women’s organizations, providing them with the resources necessary for a rapid, localized humanitarian response and facilitating the necessary capacity development needed to adjust to the rapidly changing context. This was largely made possible through the partnership with the Women, Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF). One concrete example of important work done towards this result includes the 1,099 women who benefited from access to psychological, humanitarian and social support services, as well as information on available essential services, through UN Women’s pilot initiative ‘Safe Spaces’ (multipurpose centres for women) in partnership with two local women’s CSOs. Four physical safe spaces for women in two regions of Ukraine have provided multidimensional forms of support to women and girls affected by the full-scale war and who are at severe risk of GBV. Women and girls (especially from vulnerable groups) and their primary needs and priorities are covered by key WPS and humanitarian action plans. At the national level, this included the revised National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (NAP 1325), Framework of Cooperation Agreement on CRSV , UN Flash Appeal and UN Transitional Framework . (Read more under the WPS impact statement.) UN Women contributed to these results by providing technical input to the documents through international and national experts on WPS and gender in humanitarian action. UN Women also facilitated consultations with the authorities and women’s CSOs to provide direct recommendations to the plans and generated relevant research (such as the Rapid Gender Analysis of Ukraine and the Rapid Assessment of Women’s CSOs ) to help inform the formulation of regional and local priorities, activities and new target groups based on the latest evidence. At the local and regional levels, several authorities started developing or revising their localized action plans (LAPs) and initiatives in line with the NAP 1325. Despite the daily hardships and workload that local authorities face due to the war and permanent security threats, Nyzhnyo-Teplivska community (Luhansk region) and Lebedyn community (Sumy region) approved their LAPs until 2025, and Romny community (Sumy region) updated their local programme on social protection to include WPS provisions. Five local communities formed working groups on the development and implementation of LAPs, and Zaporizhzhia regional administration formed a working group on revising their regional action plan on UNSCR 1325. These are important steps towards localizing the WPS agenda and ensuring that the needs and priorities of local women are included in local initiatives through crisis response and early recovery. UN Women contributed to these results by providing technical input in drafting documents and support in setting up working groups, as well as conducting a series of trainings on the localization of the NAP 1325 and development of LAPs for 45 representatives of local authorities from Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Kirovograd and Sumy. Women and their organizations have strengthened capacity and opportunity to meaningfully participate in conflict prevention, resolution and recovery. In 2022, important steps were taken to strengthen women’s meaningful participation at all levels in Ukraine as they relate to conflict prevention, resolution and recovery. A significant number of dialogues, consultations and advocacy events with women’s civil society took place in 2022, where women had the opportunity to advocate for their needs and priorities as well as influence key processes related to the WPS agenda and humanitarian action. (Read more under narrative question 10 and indicator 0.1.5.) UN Women collaborated closely with over 100 civil society partners all across Ukraine and relevant duty bearers from the Government, UN agencies, the private sector and other humanitarian/development partners to facilitate these events and ensure that the voices and experiences of women are heard. Thirteen women from CSOs across Ukraine and seven women from the Ukrainian Government and Parliament strengthened their knowledge and skills on negotiation and mediation. This is particularly important in the context of the crisis to ensure that women’s priorities and needs are included in conflict resolution and peacebuilding efforts and that their voices are heard. UN Women in partnership with Clingendael facilitated the trainings, and pre- and post-assessments confirmed the participants’ enhanced knowledge, skills and attitudes to be able to put what they learned into practice. Over 420 women from war-affected regions (Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kirovohrad) were mobilized into women’s community groups and improved their knowledge and skills on human rights, gender equality and the WPS agenda. Many community groups collectively started working to address the urgent needs of women and girls in their communities. By the end of 2022, 16 women from the community groups had already become members of local working groups on LAPs in partnership with the authorities and were seen as active leaders for their communities. UN Women, in partnership with the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, has led the mobilization, training and ongoing support to the local women’s groups and will continue ensuring that local women are empowered and capacitated to meaningfully participate in local WPS and humanitarian processes. In 2022, the need for the WPS agenda and rapid humanitarian support was essential to ensure that the rights and opportunities of women and girls are protected. The progress made alongside key partners from the Government at all levels, women’s CSOs and other development/humanitarian partners includes important steps that contribute to the overall impact goal. The theory of change (ToC) is mostly not valid due to changes in the context, programmes and operations of the Country Office because of the ongoing humanitarian crisis and war in Ukraine. As part of the new Strategic Note to be developed in 2023, a new ToC will be developed to better reflect the rapidly changing context. The new ToC will need to fully capture changes related to the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus and to conflict prevention, resolution and recovery.Showing 1 - 3 of 3
Disclaimer and notes
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).
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
Form