Outcome ECU_D_2.2

More women play a greater role in adaptation, mitigation and conservation initiatives and projects promoting sustainable development and climate change resilience. (Frontier Issue).

UN Women had a strong advance in this Outcome in 2022, the project Gender Mainstreaming in the Proamazonia Program, implemented with UNDP, culminated its implementation leaving important advances for women and Indigenous leaders to play a more significant role in initiatives and projects that promote sustainable development and resilience in the face of Climate Change. In addition to important advances for rural women in Ecuador through technical assistance, capacity building and advocacy in policies and regulations that promote and guarantee the participation and leadership of women in decision-making spaces. As part of the Gender Mainstreaming project in the ProAmazonia program, UN Women strengthened leadership of 289 Amazonian women who completed the Amazonian Women Training Program for Climate Change environments at the "Antisuyu Warmikuna" Amazonian Women's Leadership School. In addition, Amazonian community communicators have tools for the were trained in the application of the Guide for Amazonian Communicators with a gender focus, a tool that supports a more inclusive and democratic approach to communication. Within the framework of this project, UN Women managed the participatory monitoring of the implementation through which 81 people were interviewed (69 women and 12 men) who recognized the positive impact of the project on the improvement of women's leadership and participation in decision-making spaces and the generation of knowledge on women's rights. On the other hand, UN Women provided technical assistance to the Association of Women of Rural Parish Councils -AMJUPRE with the participatory updating of its Political Agenda in which 52 rural women leaders from the coast, highlands and Amazon participated in its construction. This Agenda is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2030 Agenda and the National Agenda for Gender Equality 2022-2025, and is a working tool and a guiding document for the management and national and territorial citizen advocacy of rural women in Ecuador that will enable dialogue and management with public authorities and international cooperation. In addition, UN Women, together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, as part of the implementation of the National Agricultural Strategy for Rural Women, provided technical and logistical assistance for the creation of the Rural Women's Interinstitutional Roundtable in Cañar, a platform for dialogue and decision-making for rural women in that province. 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 national and local policies and other mechanisms that allow women's access to productive resources such as land, credit and technology by developing coordination and enforceability processes with civil society networks and strengthening women's capacities with rural emphasis for the enforceability of their economic rights and participation; develop innovative practices for production, sustainable consumption and adaptation to climate change with a gender approach and based on the recovery of ancestral knowledge; promote associative processes of women producers in partnership with the Ministries of Agriculture and Livestock, Ministry of Production, Ministry of Environment and other agencies of the United Nations System such as FAO, WFP. 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. Thanks to the work developed in this area, the UN Women Ecuador Country Office is recognized as a "pioneer" in the women and climate change agenda at the regional level. In 2022, an important lesson learned is that the work done on climate change resilience issues has been an important opportunity for resource mobilization and for the expansion of the office's partnerships in line with the guidelines of the United Nations System and other cooperation actors, the work in this area represents an important opportunity for the next Strategic Note, in addition to the importance of strengthening the office's capacities in this area.

More women play a greater role in adaptation, mitigation and conservation initiatives and projects promoting sustainable development and climate change resilience. (Frontier Issue).

In this period, the target was met through two strategic lines: first, training women leaders and women producers of commodities and bio-enterprises (1); and second, aimed at establishing institutional spaces in local governments to strengthen the participation of women in decision-making. During this period, 100 indigenous women of 11 nationalities in 56 communities were trained in organization, sustainable development and climate change, 5 indigenous communities producing bio-enterprises and in the application of the toolkit for gender mainstreaming in bio-enterprises to 16 projects of competitive funds from Pro-Amazon . To improve participation, 4 proposals for participation ordinances were promoted at the municipal level, 5 gender focal points were established in the municipal GADs, a gender promoting group was created at the Gad of Nangaritza and a gender observatory in the municipality of Morona. In addition, the coordination board for the management of non-timber forest products was strengthened, with the participation of women from indigenous towns and nationalities. This has made it possible to consolidate the participation of women in institutional and productive spaces in the Ecuadorian Amazon, in the generation of formal institutional spaces, hand in hand with local governments aware of gender issues, supported by Pro-Amazon. These advances leave as a lesson learned on the need and importance of working directly with local authorities and officials and having women's organization as a link with the organized community. Without the presence of these actors, these changes would not be sustainable over time.