Outcome SRB_O_2

Advancing partnerships and resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale

The output cluster is completed and planned annual indicator targets achieved. The Office maintained strong partnerships and initiated new ones with relevant stakeholders including government, independent bodies, civil society, and development partners. The visibility of UN Women in Serbia initiatives and programmatic results has increased with a series of high-level events and social media campaigns, In the online sphere, UN Women in Serbia's Facebook page (over 8,5k followers) continues to generate discussion on different gender equality issues among stakeholders and wider audience, with its outreach increasing on daily basis. UN Women in Serbia’s online presence increased, targeting different and younger audiences, with an Instagram account which, for a bit more over a year, has gained over 4500 followers and is a leading profile among other UN Women Instagram accounts in the region. The Office continued partnerships with Coordination Body for Gender Equality, Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and other relevant line ministries and independent bodies. Programmes are funded by eleven donors: European Union, Swedish International Development Cooperation, Government of Norway, UK-Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Multi-Donor Trust Fund Office, Agence Francaise de Development, US International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs, USAID, Italian Government and Peace Building Fund. The Office developed 36 new joint initiatives with diverse partners. The Office implemented eight projects “Safeguarding women and girls in Serbia” funded by UK FCO, “Improved Safety of Women in Serbia” funded by Government of Norway, “Support to Priority Actions for Gender Equality in Serbia II” funded by the EU, “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” funded by SIDA, Jointly with UNFPA ”Peer Mentoring Programme” funded by the Italian government, Inception phase for the joint programme on persons with disabilities funded by PRPD Phase III of the UN Joint project “Integrated Response to Violence against Women and Girls in Serbia” to be implemented by UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women, funded by Swedish International Development Assistance (SIDA) (finalized in Q1) and Regional programme on ending violence against women in the Western Balkans and Turkiye: Implementing Norms, Changing Minds, Phase II (finalized in Q2). The Office supported local implementation of the Regional project “Strengthening the role of youth in promoting increased mutual understanding, constructive narrative, respect for diversity, and trust in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia”, funded by Peacebuilding Fund. The Office engaged in discussions on no-cost extensions for the II phase of project “Support to Priority Action for Gender Equality” funded by the European Commission and for “Improved Safety of Women in Serbia” funded by Government of Norway. Five new projects were signed. Two projects are in the hard pipelines. The Office maintains strong partnership with the UNCT. It is permanent Chair of the Gender Thematic Group and in 2023 had a 23.95% contribution to the overall GTG budget.

Effective normative, programmatic and coordination products, services and processes

The Output cluster is considered achieved as UN Women developed effective normative, programmatic, and coordination products and processes in the reporting period. The Office is recognized by the UN Women Regional Europe and Central Asia Office and the UN Serbia Country Team as a knowledge hub on achieving gender equality. All planned annual indicator targets were achieved. In the reporting period, UN Women organized, facilitated or contributed to 75 discussions on various topics on gender equality and women empowerment. The topics are listed in the enclosed attachment as well as the supporting documents. The Office produced or contributed to 52 knowledge products such as situational and sectoral analysis, policy guidelines and other research products, including 5 interagency knowledge products. There were nine distinguished innovations. UN Women Communication capacities provide a foundation for effective advocacy on gender equality and women empowerment. The Head of Office Chairs the Gender Thematic Group. UN entities in Serbia receive regular inputs from UN Women to encourage gender mainstreaming through processes such as gender review of Joint Work Plan, application of UNCT Gender Markers, UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard, Gender Equality Capacity and Learning Needs Assessment, Common Country Analysis update and annual UNCT Serbia reporting processes. UN Women coordinates the GTG platform for cooperation with women CSOs called Open Doors.

Advancing partnerships and resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale

The output cluster is completed and planned annual indicator targets achieved. The Office maintained strong partnerships and initiated new ones with relevant stakeholders including government, independent bodies, civil society, and development partners. The visibility of UN Women in Serbia initiatives and programmatic results has increased with a series of high-level events and social media campaigns, In the online sphere, UN Women in Serbia's Facebook page (over 8,6k followers) continues to generate discussion on different gender equality issues among stakeholders and wider audience, with its outreach increasing on daily basis. UN Women in Serbia’s online presence increased, targeting different and younger audiences, with an Instagram account which, for a bit more over a year, has gained over 5,900 followers and is a leading profile among other UN Women Instagram accounts in the region. The Office continued partnerships with Minister without portfolio in charge of gender equality, prevention of violence against women and economic and political empowerment of women, Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and other relevant line ministries and independent bodies. Programmes are funded by eleven donors: European Union, Swedish International Development Cooperation, Government of Norway, UK-Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Multi-Donor Trust Fund Office, Agence Francaise de Development, US International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs and Peace Building Fund. The Office developed 36 new joint initiatives with diverse partners. The Office implemented following projects: “ Safeguarding women and girls in Serbia” funded by UK FCO “Improved Safety of Women in Serbia” funded by Government of Norway, “Support to Priority Actions for Gender Equality in Serbia II” funded by the EU, “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” funded by SIDA, Joint programme on persons with disabilities funded by PRPD "Combating Violence Against Women and Girls in Serbia" funded by INL; JP "Ending Violence, Empowering Change" overall Funded by SIDA "Gender Responsive Investment" funded by AFD "UN Women Contribution to the Implementation of PRO" funded by SIDA JP "Food System for All" funded by SDG fund; Office also implemented activities related to Political Participation of Women funded by Women in Politics Fund (WiPF) The Office supported local implementation of the Regional project “Strengthening the role of youth in promoting increased mutual understanding, constructive narrative, respect for diversity, and trust in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia”, funded by Peacebuilding Fund. The Office maintains strong partnership with the UNCT. It is permanent Chair of the Gender Thematic Group and in 2024 had a contribution to the overall GTG budget.

Effective normative, programmatic and coordination products, services and processes

The Output cluster is considered achieved as UN Women developed effective normative, programmatic, and coordination products and processes in the reporting period. All planned annual indicator targets were achieved. In the reporting period, UN Women organized, facilitated or contributed to many discussions on various topics on gender equality and women empowerment. ThThe Office produced or contributed to varius knowledge products such as situational and sectoral analysis, policy guidelines and other research products, as well as to Common Country Analyses. UN Women Communication capacities provide a foundation for effective advocacy on gender equality and women empowerment. The Head of Office Chairs the Gender Thematic Group. UN entities in Serbia receive regular inputs from UN Women to encourage gender mainstreaming through processes such as gender review of Joint Work Plan, application of UNCT Gender Markers, UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard, Gender Equality Capacity and Learning Needs Assessment, Common Country Analysis update and annual UNCT Serbia reporting processes. UN Women coordinates the GTG platform for cooperation with women CSOs called Open Doors.

Advancing partnerships and resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale

The output cluster was achieved. The Office maintained strong partnerships and initiated new ones with relevant stakeholders including government, independent bodies, civil society and development partners. The Office developed 43 new joint initiatives with key partners (list is attached). Partners were engaged in project activities, normative efforts, advocacy campaigns and marking important international days. The Office maintained partnership with Coordination Body for Gender Equality (CBGE) supporting the Government of Serbia to comply with national and international gender equality commitments and EU Gender Equality Acquis. CBGE acted as key partner in enhancing institutional framework for gender equality, implementing gender responsive budgeting, gender responsive governance, implementing advocacy campaigns and other strategic activities aimed at enhancing the overall position of women in Serbia. Other government and independent institutions partners include Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, Ministry for the Protection of Environment, Ministry for Energy and Mining, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, the Ombudsman, National Academy for Public Administration, State Audit Institution, Provincial Ombudsman, Provincial Secretariat for Finance, Provincial Secretariat for Social Policy, Demography and Gender Equality and Provincial Secretariat for Economy and Tourism. National partners were supported in drafting gender responsive policy, capacity building and project implementation. The EU Commission is funding the Serbian component of the Regional Project ”Ending Violence against Women in the Western Balkan countries and Turkey: Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” and project “Support to Priority Actions for Gender Equality (GEF)”. A proposal for the new phase of GEF project is being negotiated. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway is funding the project “Improved Safety of Women in Serbia”. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) are donors for the Joint Project “Integrated Response to Violence against Women and Girls in Serbia Phase III” and for Serbian component of the Regional Gender Responsive Budgeting Project. The Foreign Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom is donor for the “Safeguarding Women and Girls in Serbia” project. A proposal for the new project phase was submitted. UN PRPD is funding the inception phase of the Joint UN Project on disability, spearheaded by UN Women in coordination with UNDP, OHCHR, UNCEF, ILO, and UNFPA. UN Trust Fund supports two women CSOs work om combating violence against women and girls with grants. A project proposal was submitted to US Embassy on combating gender-based violence against women and domestic violence with a focus on capacity building of judiciary, support services for victims and violence in digital environment. The Italian government approved the UN Women and UNFPA joint project “Peer Mentoring Program” with the goal to strengthen the role of youth in promotion of youth human rights, gender equality and increase their participation at local level. UN Women with UNDP, UNFPA, and UNESCO contributes to implementation of Regional Peacebuilding Fund project “Strengthening the role of youth in promoting increased mutual understanding, constructive narrative, respect for diversity, and trust in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia”. UN Women with UNOPS, UNICEF and UNFPA submitted a project proposal “Inclusive Crisis Response for Human Security” to UN Human Security Trust Fund with a strong disaster risk reduction, gender and LNOB focus. With FAO and UNEP, a draft pipeline initiative on food systems, to be funded through SDG Fund, was developed. Partnership was initiated with Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) on innovative and gender smart financing and policy. Cooperation with EBRD was established on the economic empowerment of women. UN Women established a Civil Society Engagement Group. Partnerships with private sector were established in pursuit of resource mobilization to support safe houses. Partnerships were made with a range of influencers, actors, Soccer Betting clubs, sportsmen and women, media and the academia in support of the advocacy and activities’ implementation. The Office provides gender-related advice to UNCT as Chair of the Gender Thematic Group.

Effective normative, programmatic and coordination products, services and processes

The Output cluster is considered achieved as UN Women developed effective normative, programmatic, and coordination products and processes in the reporting period. UN Women is recognized as a knowledge hub on achieving gender equality. The Head of Office Chairs the Gender Thematic Group. Regular inputs are provided to all UN entities in Serbia and processes such as gender review of Joint Work Plan, application of UNCT Gender Markers, UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard and annual UNCT Serbia reporting processes. UN Women coordinates the GTG platform for cooperation with women CSOs called Open Doors. In the reporting period, UN Women organized, facilitated or contributed to 61 discussions on various topics on gender equality and women empowerment. The topics are listed in the enclosed attachment as well as the supporting documents. The Office produced or contributed to 47 knowledge products such as situational and sectoral analysis, policy guidelines and other research products, including 7 interagency knowledge products. UN Women Communication capacities provide a foundation for effective advocacy on gender equality and women empowerment. Cooperation with the civil society was strengthened with the establishment of the UN Women Civil Society Engagement Group resulting in a position paper on potential normative interventions pertaining to gender equality and women empowerment. In the online sphere, UN Women continues to generate discussion on different gender equality issues among stakeholders and wider audience, through Serbia's Facebook page with 8,304 followers. The online presence increased targeting different and younger audiences with the launch of the Instagram account with the overall estimated reach of 3.5k.