Outcome WCA_D_4.1

A comprehensive and dynamic set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in Peace, Security, Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) settings is strengthened and translated into gender-responsive laws, policies, and institutions in West and Central Africa.

At the regional level, UN Women has provided significant support to regional organizations such as ECOWAS and ECCAS in integrating gender issues into Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) regional strategies. Specifically: ECOWAS Resilience Strategy and ECCAS Humanitarian Strategy : UN Women has supported the integration of gender issues into these regional strategies, ensuring that gender considerations are embedded in the resilience and humanitarian frameworks of ECOWAS and ECCAS. Network of Women's Organizations in the Sahel : UN Women has supported a network of 100 women's organizations in the Sahel region. These organizations have strengthened their capacities to exercise leadership roles towards achieving gender equality and women's empowerment. This network has been influential in the review of laws and policies in their respective countries, advocating for gender-responsive legislation and policies. Influencing Transitional Policies : Tremendous efforts have been focused on influencing transitional policies and processes to ensure they take into account women's priorities. This includes advocacy and capacity-building initiatives to ensure that women's voices are heard and their needs are addressed in policy-making processes. Overall, UN Women's efforts at the regional level have been instrumental in promoting gender equality and women's empowerment through the integration of gender issues into DRR strategies and the active involvement of women's organizations in policy review and advocacy.

A comprehensive and dynamic set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in Peace, Security, Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) settings is strengthened and translated into gender-responsive laws, policies, and institutions in West and Central Africa.

In 2025, UN Women operationalized the global standards (1325, Sendai) by strengthening the capacities of 113 institutions to integrate gender into their core mandates. Political and Legal Frameworks: Advocacy efforts have helped to embed gender considerations in the Reconciliation Strategy (Burkina Faso) and the National Dialogue (Niger). Regarding resilience, the adoption of the SADDD data guide and a ministerial decree in Senegal have institutionalized women's participation in disaster risk management. Institutional Strengthening: In Mauritania, governance has been strengthened by a permanent electoral monitoring mechanism (CENI/MASEF) producing official parity statistics, and by the creation of a Pedagogical Tribunal training future magistrates in GBV justice standards.

A comprehensive and dynamic set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in Peace, Security, Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) settings is strengthened and translated into gender-responsive laws, policies, and institutions in West and Central Africa.

In West Africa, UN Women has invested in the creation of an enabling environment for women's participation in peace processes. UN Women has worked with other partners to support all countries to develop National Action Plan for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 . In this vein, 22 countries out of the 24 covered by WCARO in the West and Central Africa region. UN Women is supporting NAP implementation by strengthening coordination and supporting the establishment of NAPs secretariats by ministries of gender and allocation of national budget for the implementation of the NAPs. WCARO has started to set up strong group of women with expertise on gender and DRR. They are influencing some regional DRR processes and have started to be invited to participate in the AU group of experts on DRR. UNWOMEN strategy for more impact was to focus on capacity building of actors, development of tools and guidance on gender and DRR and advocacy.

A comprehensive and dynamic set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in Peace, Security, Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) settings is strengthened and translated into gender-responsive laws, policies, and institutions in West and Central Africa.

The regional office supported Chad to elaborate its first Nation Action Plan (NAP). A final version was produced and submitted by the Ministry of Gender to the office of the prime minister for an official adoption. The process was led by the Ministry of gender and a national multisectoral committee. UNWOMEN played a strategic role until its finalisation. UNWOMEN also supported Cote d'Ivoire to update its NAP and identify priorities for the two upcoming years. A three days workshop was organized under the leadership of the Ministry of gender and participants from governemental institutions and civil society organizations to validated key priorities and defined a coordination mechanism to garantee effective implementation of the NAP. Since UNWOMEN has become a full member of Interagency Standing Committee (IASC), was able to influence the policies, criterion and key documents such as strategies, action plans, into being more gender responsive, empowering women including Women Led Organizations as key actors and decision makers in the Humanitarian cycle. In relation to this, UNWOMEN now is conretely influencing the Humanitatian Country team in the different countries in the region with the introduction of gender policies, women empowement and localisation of Women Led Organizations , feminist, and organisation working on gender issues in the humanitarian sector. Including the regular production or development of gender assessment, gender alerts and gender rapide