Outcome LBN_O_1

Enhanced coordination, coherence and accountability of the UN system for commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment

This output was achieved, during 2022 the UN in Lebanon enhanced their commitment to GEWE. All UN-led frameworks/response plans developed in 2022 in Lebanon prioritized gender equality and the improvement of outcomes for women and girls across humanitarian and development interventions. These include three national level response plans in Lebanon include: the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2022 (LCRP), and the Emergency Response Plan (ERP). For example, GEWE is visible mainstreamed throughout over 85% of the UNSDCF outcomes, including one outcome that specifically targets women participation. In the LCRP, gender equality is mainstreamed in 90% of the sectoral operational response plans (9 out of 10), 70% of which score a 4 on the gender marker. In the ERP, gender equality is prioritized across the humanitarian plan’s three strategic objectives and gender is mainstreamed across in 100% (8 out of 8) of the sectoral operational response plans. This was a result of UN Women’s leadership, technical expertise, coordination work and capacity to mobilize strategic partnerships. UN Women conducted gender analysis of the largest national surveys in the country, including: the Labour Force and Household Survey with ILO and the Central Administration of Statistics; the Multi-Sectoral Needs Assessment (MSNA) with OCHA and REACH; and the Vulnerability Assessment for Syrian refugee with UNHCR, WFP, and UNICEF. With this data, UN Women worked with the gender focal points from the GWG to ensure all sector strategies or pillar chapters across the three plans describe the diverse impact of women and girls and include different approaches to address gender equality in their strategies or response plans. One concrete example includes the WASH sector prioritizing female menstrual hygiene through making it a sector objective and increase funding, in response to rising period poverty across the country. Contributing to the gender responsiveness of the implementation, UN Women strengthened the capacity of 1,271 humanitarian and development personnel (81% female, and 19% male, ranging from frontliners to head of agencies) on diverse gender equality issues, over a total of 61training sessions. Over 96% of participants reported that they gained new knowledge and skills on diverse gender issues that will be useful in their work. Of the 1240 trained, 41 gender specialists partook in advanced gender trainings of trainers, equipped them to facilitate more trainings (the impact and results from the gender cascade trainings are still being assessed). From the last gender TOT, 83.3% of participants reported learning new information about gender issues that will help them in their humanitarian work, and 78% said they feel confident and prepared to train their colleagues on GiHA.

Enhanced coordination, coherence and accountability of the UN system for commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment

The three UN-led frameworks/response plans in Lebanon: the Lebanon Reform, Recovery & Reconstruction Framework (3RF), the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2022 (LCRP), and the Emergency Response Plan 2021(ER) all include gender analysis, strategies, resources to respond to the needs of marginalized women and girls. UN Women estimates assess that 70% of the indicators across all three of the response plans are gender responsive. All sector strategies describe the specific situation of women and girls (referencing gender data, largely produced by UN Women) and include diverse targeted approaches to address gender equality, such as including childcare services in the livelihoods sectors, and PSEA trainings in the health sector. UN Women has led this work by conducting and coordinating gender reviews and gender markers (specific to the respective plan) between the Gender Working Group and sector leads, and by providing bilateral technical assistance to partner UN agencies. In addition, UN Women’s gender advocacy work under its coordination mandate also led to the other significant and concrete results. For example, LGBTIQ+ people were included as a marginalized group in need of assistance in the ERP and UN Women’s advocacy, with UNICEF and UNFPA also ensured the inclusion of the protection section in the ERP. Leveraging UN Women’s UN coordination mandate, the Lebanon office provides gender technical assistance to 17 coordination forums in Lebanon and chairs an additional 4 sector working groups, under the three UN-supported response plans/frameworks working across the humanitarian-development and peace nexus. This includes chairing: the Gender Working Group (GWG), a strategic forum and advocacy platform for UN agencies and NGOs to promote gender equality and the integration of gender mainstreaming, and the LGBTIQ+ Taskforce (in partnership with UNFPA). In addition, UN Women chairs the Social Cohesion, Inclusion and Gender (SCIG) Sector of the Lebanon Reform, Recovery & Reconstruction Framework (3RF), in close coordination with the European Union, and the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Child Protection (CP) Sector of the Emergency Response Plan (ERP) in partnership with UNFPA and UNICEF.