Outcome ECA_O_2

Advancing partnerships & resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale.

In 2024, UN Women ECARO made strong progress on advancing partnerships and resourcing and effectively influencing for impact and scale on GEWE. With substantial support from ECARO, 34 agreements were signed with donors that led to over 58.9M USD mobilized for gender equality programming and strategic note support in the region. Additionally, RO has provided substantial support to Country Offices that led to the mobilization of a total of 9.35M USD resources in 2024: 2M USD funding from Canada on green economy and 4M USD funding from ADA was secured for the Republic of Moldova, in addition to 2M USD funding from USAID on WPS and 1M USD from Germany towards the SN for Ukraine, as well as 350,000 USD from EU on WEE for Kyrgyzstan. ECARO continued strengthening the partnership with the Danish Government and officially launched the regional programme with a financial volume of 10.7M USD aiming to support implementation of UN Women strategic notes for Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and ECA Regional Office. ECARO has also secured a partnership with UNFPA through MPTF SDG Funds to promote data statistics in the region. During the RM retreat, ECARO has led mini donor roundtables with SIDA, Norway, Germany, EU, AFD, EIB to continue advancing joint partnerships and cooperation. This led to securing 1M USD for SN for Ukraine from Germany. ECARO has continued advancing its partnership with IFIs. With EBRD, the following events and activities were implemented throughout 2024: joint advocacy events such as Women Entrepreneurship Expo; joint side events at COP29; launching a joint study in Uzbekistan; developed jointly a GRB training manual which will be the standard one to be used in all training on GRB for public officials. In addition, the partnership with AFD secured funding for UN Women Serbia and opened the path to exploring expansion in Albania. With EIB, the partnership has been strengthened through their participation in RM retreat and partnering on Gender Responsive Toolkit development.

Advancing partnerships & resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale.

UN Women ECA RO made strong progress on advancing partnerships & resourcing and effective influencing for impact and scale on GEWE. More than 30 agreements signed with donors that led to over 60 mill dollars mobilized for gender equality programming and strategic note support in the region, with the substantial support from ECARO. Additionally, the Danish Government signed the agreement for 11 mil dollars supporting UN Women strategic notes for Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and ECA regional Office (as part of the regional project “women increased leadership for resilient and peaceful societies). Regional and national women’s rights organizations/civil society organizations effectively engaged in the regional review process in the lead up to the global review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) in 2025. UN Women launched a call for applicants to set up the Beijing +30 Civil Society Steering Committee for Europe and Central Asia, to ensure this coordinated engagement. On nurturing existing partnerships, representatives of Member States, including the senior OSCE officials, United Nations Department of Political Affairs representatives and civil society increased their knowledge on the threat to women’s voice in democratic institutions during the 2023 OSCE/ODIHR Warsaw Human Dimension Conference. UN Women ECARO highlighted at the evet violence against women in politics; the importance of supporting women led organizations and women human rights defenders in their work in the conflict and post-conflict settings; and challenges for Women, peace and security in Central Asia and across the OSCE. The Regional Coordination Board of gender institutional mechanisms in Western Balkan accessed the draft Roadmap for the Western Balkan, developed by ECARO in consultation with the board. CO and CSO representatives agreed on the next role and actions of the Regional Coordination Board of gender institutional mechanisms in Western Balkan (Regional Coordination Board [1]) during a meeting hosted by UN Women ECA RO with the Western Balkans CO representative. 233,606 people accessed advocacy messages through the UN Women ECARO website in 2023. Additionally, in 2023, through the launch of the RO LinkedIn account, the RO gained a 10% increase in overall online following, bringing the total number to 122033. This increase is a result of the RO Communications Team’s preparation, publication and dissemination of 305 stories and communication pieces, including press releases, articles, interviews and statements aiming to promote UN Women’s key strategic advocacy messages as well as the work of COs, NRAs, the RO and HQ. ECARO implemented dedicated communication interventions for three flagship initiatives, namely, Women’s Entrepreneurship EXPO , the Generation Equality Regional Midpoint Event and 16 Days of Activism . All these efforts have been instrumental in building bridges and bringing key partners together to continue protecting and advancing the rights of women and girls in the region and to ensure it is maintained and enhanced during the next period.

Advancing partnerships & resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale.

In 202 2 , c ountries develop ed and finalize d 35 agreements with donors that led to over 20mill dollars mobilized for gender equality programming in the region , with unwavering support from ECARO. Notably, Ukraine signed a new agreement with Sweden for 4.8mill supporting the Strategic Note and similarly BiH received 1.5mill from Sweden focusing on women resilience in rural areas. Moreover, a new agreement was signed with US A for over 1.9mill for the regional refugee response. New partnerships were established with KOICA and agreements were signed with Poland, MFA Austria and Netherlands for targeted programming activities in Ukraine and Moldova. On nurturing existing partnerships, UN Women continued cooperation with E uropean B ank for R econstruction and D evelopment (EBRD) and jointly partnered on Women Entrepreneurship Expo regionally and at the country level facilitate new business connections for women entrepreneurs. The ongoing partnership with Regional Cooperation Council has been further deepened- and a joint side event for CSW66 was co- organized on climate and gender whilst a joint action plan has been developed focused on key priorities such as digitalization and the green agenda. ECARO also established a new partnership with UNECE and organized a donor’s roundtable to mobilize resource for a joint programme on gender responsive standards that will lead to join t activities in the region. 1.5mill for GEF implementation in Kosovo was successfully secured by ECARO after organizing the Regional GEF (Gender Equality Facility) event to share knowledge, experiences & lessons learned about gender mainstreaming into the EU accession process for Western Balkans with national Gender Machineries (NGMs), relevant line ministries, EUD representatives whilst also providing a learning platform for new EU candidates such as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. All these efforts have been instrumental in building bridges and bringing key partners together to continue protecting and advancing the rights of women and girls in the region.