Outcome ECU_D_2.1

National and local institutions improve legal and policy frameworks with adequate budget allocation, to promote decent work, social protection, and livelihoods for women, particularly those from priority groups. (SP Output 8)

UN Women had a strong progress in this Outcome in 2022. In 2022, 1 law approved and 2 proposals under discussion to promote women´s rights were supported by UN Women. Also 3 Ministries have tools and knowledge to improve their legal, regulatory and policy frameworks, 5 Local Governments and 4 private companies have tools and knowledge that improved their legal, regulatory and policy frameworks to promote gender equality and women's empowerment. UN Women provided technical assistance in the formulation of the Violet Law, approved in November; and 3 law proposals (Equal Pay Law and Care Law) submitted to the National Assembly. These legal frameworks were worked with the Parliamentary Group on Women's Rights of the Assembly, teams of advisors and women's organizations convened by the Group to obtain data and information that allowed the development of these legal frameworks. Important advances to develop a foreign policy with a gender perspective with the Ministry of Production. The Productive Alliance for Gender Equality has baseline on the conditions of women's participation in the productive structure, a proposal for public policy guidelines, a mapping of priority actors and sectors, and the project profile for the implementation of a Gender Equality and Competitiveness Observatory. Furthermore, a portfolio of impact investments with a gender perspective for the country, which includes baseline indicators on financing gaps and investment needs was delivered. Additionally, UN Women developed an Employability Strategy for the Economic Empowerment of Women that will be implemented by the Ministry of Labor in 2023 also with the support of the Office to increase and improve employment conditions for women. UN Women developed a protocol for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, and a guide for its implementation, as well as left the methodology installed to implement the protocol for the prevention, action and elimination of all forms of harassment or intimidation at work with sexual connotation, with this, the Ministry will apply the regulations internally with its national officials and abroad, contributing to the implementation of Convention 190 In relation to the work with the private sector, UN Women developed a Guide for Diverse and Inclusive Change with a focus on human mobility, the WEPs Principles and ILO Convention 190; and generated knowledge in 261 people, including managers and administrative staff of four private companies: ENCUBA, KUBIEC, Chubb Insurance Company and AVON, who were also accompanied in the construction of a roadmap and a short and medium-term work plan that contributes to the protection of people working within the entity against violence and harassment in the workplace, including those who are in a situation of human mobility and/or refuge, especially women. On the other hand, 200 women in Quito and Guayaquil (cities with the highest number of women in a situation of human mobility) received seed capital to open their businesses as well as knowledge and skills in e-commerce, social network management, economic empowerment and soft skills for the sustainability of their businesses. In addition, 204 women in situation of human mobility have skills in non-traditional topics such as economic empowerment with a gender focus, co-responsibility in care, digital violence, security tools and a gender focus in the social and labor sphere to improve their employment profile. In October 2022, the Executive Board visited the UN Women office in Ecuador, where counterparts from Government, Civil Society and the Private Sector recognized UN Women's contribution to its work in benefit of gender equality and women's empowerment in the country. In this context, the theory of change continues to be valid for this Outcome. However, in the framework of the new strategic note of UN Women Ecuador 2023 - 2026, among the drivers for change is the strengthening of the development of norms and standards on gender equality and women's empowerment in line with intergovernmental processes, through technical support and policy advice to inform norm setting and gender mainstreaming in existing sectoral and national norms and standards, this includes strategies that enable compliance with laws and that UN Women's technical assistance and advocacy leads to the implementation of legal frameworks and the application of the tools and knowledge delivered to the different branches of government. In terms of impact on the lives of women, UN Women has contributed with the construction, generation and technical assistance for different State entities such as the Employability Strategy and the Rural Women's Agenda, which are expected to have effects in the medium term and has also continued with the support it has been providing since 2021 to the National Government's Socioeconomic Recovery Plan, which has contributed to the economic recovery of women after the COVID 19 pandemic. However, the recovery must continue, although there is evidence of an improved employment situation in the country, access to employment and income generation for women is still lower than for men and at least 5% of women are more likely to not have access to employment due to the low coverage of care systems, directly affecting their economic autonomy. Within the country, there has been an improvement in the conditions of financing and access to credit for women, but progress is limited, as well as in terms of decent work where the figure has not improved and it is evident that the gender gap in precarious employment remains, especially among the youngest women. In terms of lessons learned in 2022, it is important to highlight that plans for similar legal reform interventions should integrate strong advocacy components from the outset. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen advocacy at the highest level as UN Women has developed knowledge, tools and it is necessary to achieve their implementation and compliance, as well as to improve the follow-up to the processes managed. In this sense, it is also necessary to increase awareness and training actions with public institutions beyond those in charge of gender issues since the lack of knowledge is high. These actions can be managed in an inter-agency manner and thus maintain the same discourse and positioning on the issue. On the other hand, it is important to base interventions on the needs of the community, strengthening the work with communities and grassroots organizations and having clear lines of intervention as an offer of services that contribute to positioning and maintaining the focus of our actions.

National and local institutions improve legal and policy frameworks with adequate budget allocation, to promote decent work, social protection, and livelihoods for women, particularly those from priority groups. (SP Output 8)

In 2021, this outcome made significant progress. UN Women's most important achievement in 2021 has been the advocacy and technical assistance work that led to the public signing of Executive Decree 268 (1) by President Guillermo Lasso. This binding document declares as a national priority the promotion and defense of gender equality, as well as the empowerment of women in the social, economic and political spheres, in order to eradicate all forms of violence and discrimination against women, and designates the Secretariat of Human Rights as the implementing entity; UN Women advised on the drafting of this decree and supported the advocacy efforts between the SHR and the Presidency and has been supporting its implementation since 2021. In addition, it was agreed with the government a Technical Assistance plan from UN Women with a focus on eradication of violence and economic empowerment. O n the other hand, the Ministry of Labor with the accompaniment and assistance of UN Women updated the Gender Equality Agenda for the implementation of ILO Convention 190 (ratified by the National Assembly in 2021); it also prepared an analysis of the main labor indicators in the country (2), pointing out the effects of the crisis. This information was an input for the preparation of the MDT's agenda within the framework of the National Strategy for the Violet Economy (3). On the other hand, with the support of UN Women, the National Assembly carried out an analysis of the impacts of emergency and economic emergency laws on women's rights and gender gaps in the context of the crisis. Additionally, civil servants from the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Productivity, Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security, Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition received training for the incorporation of the gender approach in public policy with emphasis on labor policies, including violence at work, discrimination, labor inspection and employment generation policies,(4) this training is part of the strengthening of mandatory capacities that the MDT carries out for all public officials in order for them to apply the knowledge acquired in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of public policies. Additionally, UN Women supported the development of 2 bills that were included in the legislative agenda of the National Assembly (violet law and equal pay law (5y6), the construction of the public policy agenda for financial inclusion of youth and women and supported the validation of the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion for Ecuador (8), which was presented and delivered to the Central Bank for its execution. Regarding social protection, the Municipalities of Quito, Loja, Machala and Guayaquil, with the support of UN Women, built management models for a local care system (7) that will benefit young people living with dependents in their care within the framework of the My Future is Today project (SDG Fund). In addition, together with ILO, UN Women developed the contributory social security innovation model for the inclusion of women and young people in informal labor, which will be assumed by the Social Security Institute from 2022. In 2021, within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Livestock (MAG) and UN Women, a Work Plan 2021-2023 was designed. Within this work plan, a technical proposal was developed for the incorporation of the gender approach in the MAG's National Agricultural Registry (RENAGRO) (9), which was supported by UN Women, through technical assistance with the Central University of Ecuador, specifically with the technical review of the objective of the Registry and the census form that was applied in a pilot test. Based on progress in this period, the theory of change for this outcome remains valid. In this outcome, the main lesson learned is that for the positioning of gender issues on the public and policy agenda, it is key that the relevant institutions and actors become involved and commit to gender equality from the beginning of the intervention or of the government period. The entry strategy with the institutions and authorities must have at least two steps prior to the intervention itself: i) present and position the agency at high decision-making levels; ii) incorporate the gender approach through awareness-raising mechanisms at the management level at least.