Tunis, September 26th, 2024 - UN Women Tunisia and Nokia organized a roundtable on technological solutions to address violence against women, including online violence, in collaboration with representatives of government, civil society and the private and the Embassy of Finland. The roundtable continues the work initiated in 2021 through a partnership between UN Women and Finland that brought together national stakeholders to develop a comprehensive set of recommendations, including to the private sector, to address violence against women.

This roundtable links progress made in Tunisia with the global partnerships between UN Women and Nokia that aims at increasing women’s participation and leadership in the online sphere. Together, UN Women and Nokia are leveraging digital solutions to empower women, enhance their employability, and promote gender equality. The discussion focused on harnessing technologies such as conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Progressive Web Apps (PWA), and integrated chat and text-based support to address violence against women, with an emphasis on online violence. It also highlighted the importance of basing such interventions on solid data and information from service-providers, including civil society, and ensuring that women without access to the internet are included in technical solutions.

The roundtable provided an opportunity for stakeholders to present and discuss innovative solutions, receive feedback, and agree on the next steps to implement these solutions in Tunisia. Such multi-stakeholder efforts are in alignment with the Pact for the Future, adopted by global leaders at the United Nations on 23 September, and the Global Digital Compact, which calls on all actors to ensure that the digital world is safe and accessible to all.

Tackling Online Violence

Tunisia has made significant strides in combating violence against women, particularly with the adoption of the landmark Law 58 in 2017, which addresses all forms of violence against women. However, research by UN Women shows that nearly 19% of women in Tunisia have faced online violence, with 41% experiencing repeated incidents. The roundtable underscores the need for collaboration among the government, civil society organizations, and the private sector to eliminate violence against women and girls.

Florence Basty, UN Women Tunisia and Libya Country Representative, highlighted the innovative partnership with Nokia, noting that "this collaboration leverages technology and private sector commitment to combat violence against women in new ways."

Finnish Ambassador to Tunisia and Libya, His Excellency Teemu Sepponen, expressed pride in Finland’s role, stating, "It’s encouraging to see Finnish tech companies leading the development of ethical AI solutions to advance gender equality and end violence against women."

Karim Dridi, Nokia's country director for Tunisia, emphasized, "We are thrilled to collaborate with UN Women in Tunisia as part of our global partnership, using technology and AI to empower women, improve lives, and promote gender equality."

Neuvo Inc. Global also expressed pride in the recognition of its ethical AI ecosystem. "We are confident that, alongside UN Women and Nokia, we can provide effective solutions to help national partners in government, the private sector, and civil society address the challenges facing Tunisia," the company stated.

UN Women co-chairs the Gender Theme Group (GTG) of the Tunisia UN Country Team (UNCT), together with UNFPA. UNCT Gender Theme Groups are inter-agency bodies mandated to provide strategic support to strengthen gender mainstreaming efforts, ultimately achieving greater results for women and girls. In 2024, UN Women has implemented a comprehensive plan to enhance the GTG’s capacity to fulfill these functions in line with the global standards and procedures.    

Informed by good practices piloted in the Arab States, UN Women Tunisia worked with GTG members to develop the 2024 Annual Workplan. The plan is results-focused, aiming to improve the UNCT’s implementation of global gender mainstreaming standards. It fully reflects the priority actions identified in the 2022 UNCT Gender Equality Scorecard assessment, which tracks performance across seven critical dimensions of UNCT’s work.  The Annual Work plan places particular emphasis on strengthening UNCT capacities to track investments in gender-targeted and mainstreamed projects, while monitoring and reporting on gender results in the UN Country Team joint workplan.

With guidance from UN Women’s Regional Office for the Arab States, the Tunisia GTG received comprehensive training in April on the latest updates in gender mainstreaming tools and practices, to support the UNCT to implement its commitment to gender equality. The workshop provided essential training and valuable insights on the UNCT Gender Equality Marker (GEM), which tracks resource allocation towards gender equality across the UN’s Joint Work Plan (JWP). Additionally, the Tunisia team explored how correctly using the gender, youth and peace and security markers in joint work planning can enhance UNCT efforts to leave no one behind in UN programming in Tunisia.

This capacity-building initiative was further strengthened on September 23, when the UN Women’s Regional Office for the Arab States delivered a comprehensive training session to the GTG in Tunisia. The training focused on the latest updates to the GTG Standards and Procedures, the UNCT-GEM, and the UNCT System-Wide Action Plan Gender Equality Scorecard (UNCT-SWAP GES). Participants from the United Nations Resident Coordination Office (RCO), UNDP, UNFPA, UNAIDS, and OHCHR engaged in collaborative discussions on how to enhance accountability for gender mainstreaming in all areas of work.

A key outcome of the training was the review of Tunisia’s progress on the Gender Equality Scorecard. Participants reviewed progress in implementation of the Scorecard performance indicators since the 2022 comprehensive report and identified five priority indicators to be reported on in the 2024 report, with agencies assigned to lead their implementation, in line with best practices.

This collaborative approach demonstrated GTG’s commitment to facilitate greater UNCT accountability for gender mainstreaming. Additionally, RCO committed to integrating these indicators into the Terms of Reference for the development of the next UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), ensuring that gender equality remains a core priority in future development plans.