Outcome CHN_D_1.1

People’s lives in China are improved further as headway is made in ensuring access to childcare, education, healthcare services, elderly care, housing, and social assistance, and more people in China, including left-behind groups, benefit from equitable and public services and social protection systems as well as accelerated efforts to reduce gender inequality and other forms of social inequality throughout the life-course.

Outcome level results have been achieved as People’s lives in China are improved further as headway is made in ensuring access to education, and philanthropy sectors through the gender responsive governance, which can be demonstrated from the following three aspects: 1) Government issued red-title document do address gender equality in Dongxiang, Gansu Province Under the UN Women CGF funded project of “Education equality promotion project for Dongxiang girls in Dongxiang County, Gansu province” implemented by Gansu Xing Bang Social Work Serving Center, a “red title order”, typical of a local regulation was issued and sent on 19th November 2021 by Education Bureau to all schools in Dongxiang province to ensure minority girls’ get equal rights in education and promote gender equality in education system. The Order will impact 37,300 girls from the Dongxiang ethnic minority, responding to the fact that such girls tend to face more barriers to education at both the family and school levels. It contains provisions for girls' equal access to primary and high school education, and for those facing family financial difficulties, among others. 76,200 Dongxiang boys and girls in the country will also receive gender equality education. The order was issued in November 2021 and has already come into effect. UN Women provided technical and grant support including for CEDAW capacity development, technical assistance in the drafting of the local regulation, organizing consultations and dialogues for the same. 2) First-ever Gender Mainstreaming Guidelines in Philanthropy work developed and issued Under the UN Women CGF supported project of “Mainstream Gender Equality Perspective into China’s Philanthropy” implemented by China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO), guidelines on gender mainstreaming on philanthropy was issued by CANGO on 23rd November 2021. It was the first-ever gender equality guidelines developed in philanthropy sectors, which is expected to be followed by all foundations and CSOs to guide their programming and internal governance. The guidelines were welcomed by CSOs. As a result, 43 CSOs in China made a joint commitment to follow these guidelines into their work and integrate gender perspective into philanthropy and charitable assistance in China, beefing up efforts towards gender equality and empowerment of women in country programming. With model CSOs adopting these guidelines, more are likely to join towards the same course in subsequent years. Additionally clarify the likely impact because of these CSOs following the guidelines and if more CSOs follow. 3) 118 CSO partners have been mobilized to address gender equality in their programming With the joint effort of UN Women and its CGF partners Gansu XingBang Social Work Serving center, China Association for NGO Cooperation CANGO, Shaanxi Research Association for Women and Family, and Sanjiangyuan Environmental Protection Center, 118 CSOs in China have been mobilized and equipped with capacity and tools to advocate for women’s rights and gender equality in their programming and internal governance.

People’s lives in China are improved further as headway is made in ensuring access to childcare, education, healthcare services, elderly care, housing, and social assistance, and more people in China, including left-behind groups, benefit from equitable and public services and social protection systems as well as accelerated efforts to reduce gender inequality and other forms of social inequality throughout the life-course.

In 2024, China has made progress in addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG), directly contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality). Through UN Women’s SEEVAW [1] programme, 524 individuals, including service providers, lawyers, judges, social workers, healthcare professionals, police officers and women federation staff are now better able to deliver survivor-centered, multi-sectoral services for domestic violence response. This achievement was possible thanks to the establishment of a multi-stakeholder collaboration in Changsha, Hunan, formalized by UN Women through agreements with the Changsha Women’s Federation (CSWF) and civil society organization partners. The partnership fostered cooperation and improved the capacity of service providers, through specialized training that included a focus on the needs of marginalized groups such as women with disabilities and women living with HIV. A key outcome of this strengthened collaboration was the development of a one-stop center in Yuelu District Court, Changsha. The center provides survivors with comprehensive services in a single, safe location, including legal aid, shelter, and case management. Situated within the courthouse, the physical shelter ensures that survivors do not need to navigate multiple locations to access support, reducing barriers and increasing safety. This integrated approach ensures services are available before, during, and after legal trials, offering survivors complete and continuous support. Developed with UN Women’s technical and financial assistance, the one-stop center ensures survivor-centered service delivery, improving the quality of support available to women experiencing violence. This initiative directly contributes to the implementation of the CEDAW [2] 9th periodic report concluding observations No. 26 (b), (c), and (d), which address capacity building for justice sector actors and service providers, awareness raising of remedies and available services, and adequate investigation and prosecution of perpetrators. The globally recognized RESPECT [3] framework has been adopted by partners in China, signifying progress toward the alignment of local strategies with evidence-based best practices on prevention of violence against women. This was achieved through UN Women-facilitated regional training sessions with participants from CSWF, the All-China Women’s Federation, and civil society partners, which helped secure strong government buy-in at both national and sub-national levels. National experts, guided by UN Women, adapted the RESPECT framework to the Chinese context, resulting in tailored prevention strategies for three pilot communities in Changsha. These strategies aim to reach 300 households and 1,000 residents. To ensure the sustainability and scalability of the work, UN Women has secured resources for the implementation of a similar prevention strategy with minority communities in Yunnan. To date, ongoing research in Changsha and Yunnan is informing the development of a community-focused curriculum that will further strengthen prevention efforts. Survivors now have greater access to essential services, service providers have enhanced capacity to deliver coordinated, survivor-centered support, and communities are becoming active participants in addressing VAWG. These results demonstrate the transformative potential of strategic partnerships, evidence-based programming, and an integrated multisectoral approach, with strong civil society collaboration and a focus on intersectionality, in reducing gender-based violence and empowering women and girls. [1] Solidarity in Efforts for Ending Violence Against Women [2] Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women [3] RESPECT: Relationships skills strengthened; Empowerment of women; Services ensured; Poverty reduced; Environments made safe; Child and adolescent abuse prevented; Transformed attitudes, beliefs and norms.

People’s lives in China are improved further as headway is made in ensuring access to childcare, education, healthcare services, elderly care, housing, and social assistance, and more people in China, including left-behind groups, benefit from equitable and public services and social protection systems as well as accelerated efforts to reduce gender inequality and other forms of social inequality throughout the life-course.

In 2023, some progress has been made toward the outcome through efforts led by UN Women and its partners, including through joint advocacy, strengthening the evidence base for policy making, provision of technical support for policy making and implementation of laws promoting GEWE, strengthening institutional mechanisms for capacity development, and the promotion of women’s leadership and participation. Through grants to local partners and technical assistance from UN Women under its China Gender Fund for Research and Advocacy (CGF), engaged duty bearers have gained an increased understanding of the significance of gender issues, including in political participation, and environmental protection (contributing to Outputs 1.1.1, 1.1.2). As a result, engaged duty bearers have taken policy decisions and other actions to address these issues and ensure girls’ and women’s equal access to opportunities and services. Results include: With financial and technical support from UN Women, a sustainable Sanjiangyuan Women’s Environmentalist network was formed and grew to include 30 members in 2023. The network will continue to cultivate indigenous women’s leadership in climate action. One of the network pioneers, Bayang, a 22-year old Tibetan woman, was recognized as one of the “2023 BBC 100 Women” for her contributions to tackling climate change. In the area of ending violence against women (EVAW), the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) developed the Ten Guiding Cases on Anti-Domestic Violence in China, which were launched nationally in June 2023. The SPC will continue using these cases to identify gaps in current trial practices, and the cases will serve as a reference document for local courts and judges to strengthen survivor-centred approaches. UN Women provided technical and financial assistance in support of the development of the Guiding Cases, providing direct inputs on the alignment of these cases with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CEDAW, while meeting the needs of the local judicial context. 397 national stakeholders from Gansu, Hunan, Liaoning, Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces have strengthened capacities on the UN Essential Services Package (ESP) and multisectoral coordination mechanisms. Partnering with the China Association of Family and Marriage and the China Women’s University, UN Women provided comprehensive training based on the ESP with a special focus on how to work with the police and health sector on domestic violence case referral and survivor-centred response services. Although data is not available yet to assess the impact of the capacity-building initiatives on survivors, increased capabilities for multisector coordination are expected to directly contribute to survivors’ enhanced access to public services and social protection systems. UN Women, through technical and financial support to Beijing Dongcheng Yuanzhong Family and Community Development Center (Yuanzhong), also strengthened the capacity of 20 CSO service providers on case management, referral and effective multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms and supported the official publication of the Domestic Violence Social Service Manual, which will serve as a critical resource for stakeholders moving forward. The above achievements affirm the efficacy of the original strategy and Theory of Change focused on strengthening capacities among the justice sector, government service providers, and non-governmental organizations and service providers to implement effective coordination mechanisms, deliver quality essential services for women and girls, advocate for laws and policies in support of women and girls, and encourage women’s participation in decision making and leadership. UN Women will be leveraging these achievements and expanding these initiatives through new EVAW and CGF programmes in 2024.

People’s lives in China are improved further as headway is made in ensuring access to childcare, education, healthcare services, elderly care, housing, and social assistance, and more people in China, including left-behind groups, benefit from equitable and public services and social protection systems as well as accelerated efforts to reduce gender inequality and other forms of social inequality throughout the life-course.

In 2022, some progress has been made in gender responsive governance through the collective efforts led by UN Women and its strategic partners, through joint advocacy, strengthened evidence base for policy making, provision of technical support for policy making and strengthened institutional mechanism for capacity development, and promotion of women’s leadership and participation. This progress has contributed to China’s UNSDCF Outcome 2 and the office’s draft SN Outcome 2: People’s lives in China are improved further as headway is made in ensuring access to childcare, education, healthcare services, elderly care, housing, and social assistance, and more people in China, including left-behind groups, benefit from equitable public services and social protection systems as well as accelerated efforts to reduce gender inequality and other forms of social inequality throughout the life-course. With technical and financial support under UN Women’s China Gender Fund (CGF) initiative, Dehong Municipality Communist Party (CPC) and Dehong County Government have jointly issued a red title Order for the 2021 election, emphasizing women's political participation and leadership and stipulating that the proportion of women in three important leadership positions of two village committees should reach 30 per cent. This is the first policy in Yunnan that has stipulate the proportion of women. This will ensure women especially minority women’s political participation in rural area. The amended Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests of People’s Republic of China (the Law) was adopted in October 2022 and has come into effect on 1 January, 2023. The amended law further strengthens the legal and policy basis for Chinese women’s rights to fully participate in political, social and economic activities. Leveraging the UNGTG mechanism, UN Women led the coordination for the development of common messages and feedback from all interested UN agencies and prepared a consolidated a report of UN system’s review recommendation and inputs on the draft law, aligned to the international norms and standards. UN Women and UNICEF jointly organized closed on line meeting with the Legislative Affairs Commission (LAC) with participation of the ILO and UNFPA, and written feedback from the FAO IFAD, and WFP. The technical inputs received were well received and some recommendations were mostly incorporated into the finalization of the law amendment, including the need to pay special attention to vulnerable groups of women, including the elderly women and women living with disabilities, the roles and responsibilities of different government and social stakeholders’ role in anti-trafficking of women, and accountability of government on women’s rights violation cases, etc. In 2022, with the support provided from UN Women’s CGF grant-making support, a dedicated UN Women Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and CEDAW Training Center (GEWE and CEDAW) has been established in Zhejiang Women Carders School, China. The training center aims to strengthen national partners capacity especially CSOs and individuals’ capacity on application of CEDAW normative framework in policy making and programming, with a specific focus on supporting the CSO on CEDAW based policy advocacy through periodic training organized by the training center. By using the UN Women developed standard curriculum on gender equality and CEDAW, a Training of Trainers (TOT) was conducted for 31 trainers in the first round. The trainers will serve as resource persons to roll out subsequent trainings for interested organizations and persons. A new research study Enhancing “Her” Power: A Survey of Women’s Career Development in the Artificial Intelligence Industry and Countermeasures has been finalized by Jiangsu AI Association with grant making support from UN Women’s China Gender Funds initiative. The research provides important insights to the gender gaps in policy and programming in the field of AI, and recommendations for strengthening gender responsive governance of the AI sector. Based on the study, UN women has partnered with the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Core Technology (the same team of Tsinghua) to develop a policy brief on the issue and will organize a policy dialogue on how to mainstream gender equality in AI sector in China in 2023.