Outcome RAS_O_6

UN-Women strategically plans for and transforms its business model to deliver impact at scale, through agile and ethical leadership rooted in a continuous improvement culture.

In 2024, as part of ROAS commitment on learning & development, and to enhance overall well-being, resilience of the staff during challenging times, several initiatives were implemented including leadership and psychosocial support sessions. These initiatives also provided tips and resources for supervisors (as they lead teams during uncertain times). In all-staff meetings hosted by RD and DRD, led engaging discussions on; “Personal use of social media: how is my online behaviour?” (also part of the global leadership dialogue) Provided a platform for colleagues to share their reflections in relation to the crisis particularly in Gaza & UNW’s response, impact on the UNW mandate & how to support our colleagues in oPT. Leadership dialogue (April) Conducted sessions led by DRD with thematic leads & senior leadership teams on social media, ethical leadership and sharing perspectives within the realms of the communication/social media policy. For example, session on “pushing forward on the pushback” { how does the global situation reflect in the Arab Region{ Well-being and Resilience During Uncertain Times & Supervisor Session (April): This session aimed at supporting colleagues/supervisors navigate life and workplace during uncertain times (colleagues expressed considerable stress level due to the ongoing crisis in the region). Facilitated by the UNW Staff Counsellor. Ethics Workshop facilitated to RO and Egypt CO by UNW Ethics Advisor (July) 4 personnel completed CIPS training (July) Psychosocial sessions; Facilitated by the Regional CISM Counsellors (September). Facilitated by UNW counsellor (Positive Communication in the Workplace (October). UN Emerge leadership programme for emerging women leaders (a 9-month programme where participants are paired with a mentor and executive coach combined with online workshops. Two colleagues nominated to participate (October). UNW Workplace Relations Advisor Field Mission/HRBP (Nov): Facilitated sessions (at the staff annual retreat and the senior leadership management retreat) focused on stress management, developing an understanding of work-related conflict—its sources, impact in the workplace, and strategies for addressing it. Additionally, the session explored how to manage difficult conversations, including those related to underperformance.

UN-Women strategically plans for and transforms its business model to deliver impact at scale, through agile and ethical leadership rooted in a continuous improvement culture.

Following the approval of the regions strategic note in February 2022, the ROAS has in 2022 finalized the following to transform its ability to create and measure impact, at scale: 1. WEE programme development, with defined business models and blended financing opportunties defined by end 2022 2. Review and development of Social Norms programme, building on evaluations, lesson learned and well artculated results and indicators measurements. This has been shared with main donor SIDA, with potential funding starting in 2023 secured. 3. Development of WPP programme, with focus and scale for UN-Women across the region 4. HR and staff well-being supported through startegic retreat 5. CO support and Finnish funding used across the region through agreemnet with Representatives 6. RD and DRD representatation in critical fora and agreements with LAS lead to the establishment of critical partnerships/agreements with member states during CSW prep meetings and COP27, with focus on WEE and surging WLFP in the region. 7. Audit of ROAS completed with fully satisfactory outcome 8. Quality assurance missions across the region held 9. EVAW retreat held for region in face-to-toface session at ROAS 10. Strategic partnership with CNN Arabic secured

UN-Women strategically plans for and transforms its business model to deliver impact at scale, through agile and ethical leadership rooted in a continuous improvement culture.

UN Women Arab States and Partners – Accelerating WEE Programming - Achieving Nine Milestones in 2022/2023 for speed and scale: In all UN Women regional programs, that successfully reached scale, one of the main enablers was repeatedly found to be partnerships and political engagement. In the Arab States the solid partnership base with Member States is critical, nationally and through the League of Arab States. Other important actors are the Private Sector, Media, NGOs, IFIs and Regional Banks. During 2022-2023, together with its partners UN Women embarked on the first part of the journey towards a 5% increase in women employment. In this relatively short period nine significant regional milestones were achieved, preparing the ground for the roll out of the program by Q 1. A. Milestone 1 - Regional Political Commitment of 22 Member States to Prioritize Women Economic Empowerment In January 2022, 22 Members States from the Arab Region, agreed through the League of Arab States (LAS) Convention on the Status of Women (CSW) to “enhancing women’s economic empowerment and resilience in the context of climate change response, including strengthening regional cooperation through examining the possibility of the Arab League’s adoption of a joint regional initiative with UN Women”. The “Green Economy” therefore became the first pillar of the regional initiative (see page 7). In CSW the following year (January 2023) an equally strong commitment was signed on women economic empowerment in the region in the area of digitalization. The “STEM Economy” therefore became the second pillar of the regional initiative (see page 7). 7 B. Milestone 2 – Two (2) Arab Media Powerhouse Committed, CNN Arabic and ITP Media Group - 90 million viewers By May 2022, UN Women had secured the commitment of 2 regional media powerhouses through MOUs, to support women’s economic empowerment in an unprecedented way for UN-media partnerships, as the collaboration focuses on collectively achieving a distinct development objective: the surge of women employment. ITP Media Group, has over 60 media brands attracting 50 million people per month, including Arabian Business, CEO Arabia, Harpers Bazaar Arabia. CNN Arabic, reaches 40 million viewers per month. These regional partnerships complement the partnerships established with national media entities, through which national journalists are supported to – through regional and national data - highlight the benefits of WEE, on regional, national and community level. C. Milestone 3 – Regional United Nations Cohesion amongst 22 UN Agencies By June 2022, and through the United Nations Regional Collaborative Platform’s Issue Based Coalition (IBC), co-chaired with UNFPA – the two agencies secured and agreement amongst 22 UN agencies to focus distinctively on data cohesion, advocacy and unified policy-support provision to Resident Coordinators in the Arab States, on WEE. In 2023, it was decided to narrow the work further on advocacy for legal amendments, by strategically using data from the ESCWA, UNDPA, UNFPA, UN-WOMEN joint program “Gender Justice and the Law” (see Milestone 4). D. Milestone 4 – Four (4) Agencies joining hands for Gender Justice in the Arab States In March 2023, the “Arab States Gender Justice and the Law 2022”, was launched including a regional analysis, a regional Dashboard and 15 Legal Country Reports for 15 Arab States. Resulting from a solid partnership between 4 Regional Agencies: UN Women, ESCWA, UNDP, UNFPA and UN Women regional offices. The Arab States Gender Justice Report 2022, examines six areas of legislation, including “employment and economic benefits” but also correlated legal brackets such as “personal matters and family life”. E. Milestone 5 – Commitment of 520 Private Companies in the Arab region By March 2023, UN Women had managed to gain the commitment of no less than 520 private companies throughout the region through the Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs). Beyond signatures, UN Women has moved towards “Arab States - Regional Strategy on Private Sector Engagement Strategy” designed to support the companies to implement the WEP principles, particularly: 1) the proportion of women’s employment and retention, 2) the proportion of women in leadership positions, 3) addressing gender stereotyping in marketing and 4) monitoring. F. Milestone 6 – Building a Coalition of National Banks and Regional Banks for Financing and Partnerships By March 2023, three countries had established partnerships with national banks in support of women economic empowerment. Morocco through the National Association of Banks; Jordan, 8 through the Amman Stock Exchange, and of course the Central Bank of Egypt which is supporting a large scale women financial inclusion program. Additionally, 2 regional Banks, the IsDB and the EBRD are strongly engaged in the area of WEE in the Arab States. G. Milestone 7 – Building a coalition for ODA (donors) In Q3 2022, UN Women engaged with 8 donors, all with a strong track record in the Arab States, and with particular interest in sustainable impact at scale, and hence supporting distinct “disciplines” out of the multi-disciplinary set up of this program. A Round Table is therefore planned for Q 4, 2023. H. Milestone 8 – Establishing the first Regional Statistics and Data Platform on GEWE for Transparent Monitoring of Women Employment in the Arab States In March 2023, UN Women Arab States launched the first ever Arab States regional data platform with multi sectoral data on WEW, through 144 indicators in 17 Arab States countries. I. Milestone 9 – Sharpening and deepening partnerships with Academia – A regional Consortium of 18 Universities UN Women partners with a number of academic institutions for national and regional research. In the area of working with men and boys, these partnerships include the University of Jordan’s Center for Strategic Studies (CSS), the Information and Research Center at King Hussein Foundation (IRCKHF), l’Institut Arabe des Droits de l’Homme (IADH). And the partnership with Cairo University, has led to the establishment the first and only Gender and Development Course with Curricula in a public University in Egypt and with the American University of Cairo, the UN Women partnership between AUC’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) and UN Women program “Women Economic Empowerment Program – Entrepreneurship support”, supports women entrepreneurs to help reduce the gender gap in the Egyptian entrepreneurship ecosystem. And the American University of Beirut, where the partnership is mainly focused on the area of Women Peace and Security. In 2023, the first-ever regional consortium of universities in the Arab States for addressing social norms through engaging men and boys is being established to support the Women Employment Program – through a partnership between 18 Universities and UN Women Regional Office for Arab States In 2023, and in partnership with the Arab Women Organization (AWO). VII. A Comprehensive Program Design: Surging women employment at scale and speed In parallel with achieving the nine milestones in 2022/2023 (listed above) and solidifying critical partnerships for the regional program, UN Women embarked on what became one of the most difficult components of this program; the analysis of how exactly/operationally any country can achieve a 5 % surge in women employment in the region – given the current economic challenges and given the low level of employment overall