Arab States RO
Strategic note period
2022-2025
Other resources (non-core)
Country Indexes
UN Women in action: Strategic insights and achievements
View annual report narratives for the year
Advancing SDGs: UN Women's impact and key achievements
In 2025, UN Women delivered one of the most significant regional outcomes in the Arab States by expanding access to essential protection services at scale while strengthening women’s participation and leadership across peace, recovery and governance processes. This combined normative and humanitarian influence demonstrated how centring women’s protection, voice and agency drives more sustainable and gender?responsive outcomes.
Amid rising needs and service disruptions, UN Women and its partners ensured that over 600,000 women, girls and families accessed food and non?food assistance, cash transfers, dignity kits, psychosocial support, legal aid and protection services. Evidence showed meaningful improvements in women’s safety and decision?making, including a 37.8% reduction in harmful coping strategies, women becoming 2.6 times less likely to view violence as unavoidable, and over 95% reporting increased awareness of their rights and available services.
At the regional level, UN Women played a leading role in shaping and advancing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Support to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt strengthened the development, extension and implementation of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 National Action Plans (NAPs), as well as the monitoring systems needed to track progress. These efforts enabled more women to influence peace and transition processes—such as contributing to national dialogue platforms and assuming leadership roles—while ensuring Women, Peace and Security commitments remained responsive to emerging priorities.
UN Women also reinforced regional leadership spaces, including through the Arab Women Mediators Network and the Regional WPS Working Group, engaging more than 200 women peace actors and convening around 100 stakeholders during the Regional WPS Open Day marking the 25th anniversary of UNSCR 1325. These platforms helped shape a shared regional narrative and strengthened cooperation among governments, regional organizations, civil society and UN partners.
Across crisis settings, UN Women embedded gender expertise in humanitarian coordination mechanisms, supported women?led organizations with resources and capacity?strengthening, and provided sustained political and technical support through the Regional Office—ensuring coherence, evidence?based action and continuity of services even in highly volatile environments.
Collectively, these efforts resulted in expanded protection, strengthened participation, and greater influence of women in shaping the decisions that affect their lives, advancing progress toward SDG 1, 5 and 16 across the region.
Amid rising needs and service disruptions, UN Women and its partners ensured that over 600,000 women, girls and families accessed food and non?food assistance, cash transfers, dignity kits, psychosocial support, legal aid and protection services. Evidence showed meaningful improvements in women’s safety and decision?making, including a 37.8% reduction in harmful coping strategies, women becoming 2.6 times less likely to view violence as unavoidable, and over 95% reporting increased awareness of their rights and available services.
At the regional level, UN Women played a leading role in shaping and advancing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Support to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt strengthened the development, extension and implementation of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 National Action Plans (NAPs), as well as the monitoring systems needed to track progress. These efforts enabled more women to influence peace and transition processes—such as contributing to national dialogue platforms and assuming leadership roles—while ensuring Women, Peace and Security commitments remained responsive to emerging priorities.
UN Women also reinforced regional leadership spaces, including through the Arab Women Mediators Network and the Regional WPS Working Group, engaging more than 200 women peace actors and convening around 100 stakeholders during the Regional WPS Open Day marking the 25th anniversary of UNSCR 1325. These platforms helped shape a shared regional narrative and strengthened cooperation among governments, regional organizations, civil society and UN partners.
Across crisis settings, UN Women embedded gender expertise in humanitarian coordination mechanisms, supported women?led organizations with resources and capacity?strengthening, and provided sustained political and technical support through the Regional Office—ensuring coherence, evidence?based action and continuity of services even in highly volatile environments.
Collectively, these efforts resulted in expanded protection, strengthened participation, and greater influence of women in shaping the decisions that affect their lives, advancing progress toward SDG 1, 5 and 16 across the region.
Advancing SDGs: UN Women's impact and key achievements
In 2024, over 470,000 women, girls and their families across the region, including in Gaza and Lebanon, experienced significant improvements in their lives through access to humanitarian assistance, as UN Women scaled up this assistance in response to the conflict in the region. In a survey conducted by UN Women with over 10,000 respondents across the region (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria & Yemen) in refugee camps and host communities, women reported on average a 41% reduction in the use of negative coping mechanisms, such as begging, child labor, or engaging in risky or exploitative work thanks to the delivery of food and non-food items. The surveys also indicate that women were 1.6 times less likely to accept violence as inevitable in difficult circumstances and 98% of women reported an increased understanding of their rights to seek justice when needed as a result of access to psychosocial support and legal assistance. Further, 60% of women reported they felt safer as a result of comprehensive protection programming provided with support of UN-Women. Women are now better equipped to make informed decisions about their health, protection, and personal well-being, contributing to a significant improvement in safety perceptions, including for their families. This shows the significant benefits of targeted humanitarian assistance provided by UN-Women. To address the urgent needs arising from conflict and displacement and achieve these results, UN Women, conducted rapid gender analysis to gather data on the specific vulnerabilities and needs of women and worked with and through women-led organizations to offer life-saving assistance, including food, unconditional cash transfers, dignity kits, and protection services, to safeguard the dignity and well-being of women and girls.
UN-Women's data and analysis was also used by international actors to inform decision-making and drive meaningful action. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch, OHCHR, and the International Court of Justice featured this data in their global reports, noting the importance of the data for protecting women's rights and monitoring /informing adherence to International Law. The data included information on famine, harsh childbirth conditions, and women’s mortality in Gaza and Lebanon, and was further widely shared through media and social media platforms, bringing global attention to women’s rights violations and the specific vulnerabilities of women in conflict situations and crises.
These efforts directly contributed to Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) and Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) by enhancing women’s access to justice, protection, and essential services, without discrimination based on gender. These responses also aligned with UNSCR 1325 by integrating women’s leadership and participation into humanitarian action, ensuring that their voices and needs are central to emergency response efforts.
UN-Women's data and analysis was also used by international actors to inform decision-making and drive meaningful action. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch, OHCHR, and the International Court of Justice featured this data in their global reports, noting the importance of the data for protecting women's rights and monitoring /informing adherence to International Law. The data included information on famine, harsh childbirth conditions, and women’s mortality in Gaza and Lebanon, and was further widely shared through media and social media platforms, bringing global attention to women’s rights violations and the specific vulnerabilities of women in conflict situations and crises.
These efforts directly contributed to Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) and Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) by enhancing women’s access to justice, protection, and essential services, without discrimination based on gender. These responses also aligned with UNSCR 1325 by integrating women’s leadership and participation into humanitarian action, ensuring that their voices and needs are central to emergency response efforts.
Advancing SDGs: UN Women's impact and key achievements
The response in Syria is a flagship example of the kind of impact ROAS had in response to major crises that affected the region. Specifically, humanitarian actors responding to the crises accessed expert advice through UN-Women on gender-responsive humanitarian response. Affected women received needed goods and services through the ROs gender-responsive humanitarian assistance. Finally, women increased their voice in peace processes through the existing Women’s Advisory Board (WAB) and women’s civil society in Syria (peace-humanitarian nexus).
On 6 February 2023, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and aftershocks rocked southeast Turkey and Syria. Capitalizing on its coordination mandate, ROAS ensured the activation of a gender-responsive humanitarian action through the Gender Working Group (GWG). The GWG influenced the work of the protection cluster and the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse working group, and advised the Humanitarian Leadership Group for the Syria-Türkiye cross-border response. Humanitarian response actors could rapidly access UN Women’s gender analysis to inform response plans due to the production of the only post-earthquake analysis. The analysis findings were integrated in the 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview for Syria. The GWG diligently advocated for women's enhanced participation in decision-making around earthquake response and introduced reforms in collaboration with the UN and other entities. Similarly, the regional Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, co-chaired by ROAS with OCHA, produced gender analysis and engaged in advocacy to strengthen the gender sensitivity of the humanitarian response to the earthquake.On gender-responsive humanitarian assistance, 240 vulnerable women and girls in camps accessed psychological support and care services, alongside longer-term livelihoods interventions. Of these, 150 women in 4 widow camps enhanced their digital skills through vocational trainings, followed by job placements in civil society organizations. Additionally, 90 women increased their media and life skills through trainings and coaching. Women also enhanced their participation in the management of their camps by establishing and running women-led committees. The committees focus on voicing internally displaced Syrian women’s needs and priorities to camp management and humanitarian actors, to ensure that humanitarian response integrate and address those needs.
On women’s voice in peace processes, the political access and influence of the members of the WAB in Syria increased, despite a stalled political process. WAB's outreach efforts increased, opening opportunities for dialogue with grassroots women and strengthening constituency building. The support ROAS provided strengthened WAB's position as a women-led peacebuilding entity, contributing also to the work of UN Special Envoy for Syria.
On 6 February 2023, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and aftershocks rocked southeast Turkey and Syria. Capitalizing on its coordination mandate, ROAS ensured the activation of a gender-responsive humanitarian action through the Gender Working Group (GWG). The GWG influenced the work of the protection cluster and the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse working group, and advised the Humanitarian Leadership Group for the Syria-Türkiye cross-border response. Humanitarian response actors could rapidly access UN Women’s gender analysis to inform response plans due to the production of the only post-earthquake analysis. The analysis findings were integrated in the 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview for Syria. The GWG diligently advocated for women's enhanced participation in decision-making around earthquake response and introduced reforms in collaboration with the UN and other entities. Similarly, the regional Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, co-chaired by ROAS with OCHA, produced gender analysis and engaged in advocacy to strengthen the gender sensitivity of the humanitarian response to the earthquake.On gender-responsive humanitarian assistance, 240 vulnerable women and girls in camps accessed psychological support and care services, alongside longer-term livelihoods interventions. Of these, 150 women in 4 widow camps enhanced their digital skills through vocational trainings, followed by job placements in civil society organizations. Additionally, 90 women increased their media and life skills through trainings and coaching. Women also enhanced their participation in the management of their camps by establishing and running women-led committees. The committees focus on voicing internally displaced Syrian women’s needs and priorities to camp management and humanitarian actors, to ensure that humanitarian response integrate and address those needs.
On women’s voice in peace processes, the political access and influence of the members of the WAB in Syria increased, despite a stalled political process. WAB's outreach efforts increased, opening opportunities for dialogue with grassroots women and strengthening constituency building. The support ROAS provided strengthened WAB's position as a women-led peacebuilding entity, contributing also to the work of UN Special Envoy for Syria.
Advancing SDGs: UN Women's impact and key achievements
The attitudes and behaviours of men and women shifted towards greater gender equality, more equal sharing of childcare and domestic work, and less intimate partner violence, contributing to regional implementation of SDG targets 5.1, 5.2 and 5.4. Under the umbrella of the regional Men and Women for Gender Equality programme, 756 people (336 fathers, 336 mothers and 84 children) in Egypt, Morocco and Palestine engaged in a unique regional gender transformative parenting programme designed and implemented by UN Women in partnership with local CSOs. The evaluation of this programme revealed the following key results among beneficiaries:
Adults held more positive attitudes towards gender equality. The percentage of targeted adult beneficiaries with positive attitudes towards gender equality increased by 16.8 percentage points (12.9 for women, 20.5 for men), rising from 71.9% at baseline (76.8% for women, 67% for men) to an average of 88.7% at end-line (89.7% for women, 87.5 for men).
Caregivers increased their use of positive parenting techniques. The percentage of targeted adult beneficiaries with improved utilization of positive parenting techniques increased by 10.73 percentage points (8.16 for women, 13.12 for men), increasing from 76.74% at baseline collected at the beginning of 2021 (76.57% for women, 77.16% for men) to an average of 87.47% at end-line survey compiled by mid-2022 (84.73% for women, 90.28% for men).
Men engaged in domestic work more equally. The percentage of targeted women who report male partners undertake housework equally with them increased by an average of 7.4 percentage points, rising from 11.2% at baseline to an average 18.6% at end-line.
Men engaged in childcare more equally. The percentage of targeted women who report male partners undertake childcare equally with them (i.e., feeding them, bathing them, changing diapers or clothes, and supporting children’s schoolwork) increased by an average of 12.86 percentage points, rising from 14.84% at baseline to an average of 27.7% at end-line survey.
Men engaged in less verbal and physical intimate partner violence. The prevalence of verbal intimate partner violence reduced by 20.76 percentage points in Palestine and 8.5 percentage points in Egypt, as reported by women. The prevalence of physical intimate partner violence decreased by 8 percentage points in Palestine, as reported by women.
These results will be brought to scale in 2023 through a third phase.
Adults held more positive attitudes towards gender equality. The percentage of targeted adult beneficiaries with positive attitudes towards gender equality increased by 16.8 percentage points (12.9 for women, 20.5 for men), rising from 71.9% at baseline (76.8% for women, 67% for men) to an average of 88.7% at end-line (89.7% for women, 87.5 for men).
Caregivers increased their use of positive parenting techniques. The percentage of targeted adult beneficiaries with improved utilization of positive parenting techniques increased by 10.73 percentage points (8.16 for women, 13.12 for men), increasing from 76.74% at baseline collected at the beginning of 2021 (76.57% for women, 77.16% for men) to an average of 87.47% at end-line survey compiled by mid-2022 (84.73% for women, 90.28% for men).
Men engaged in domestic work more equally. The percentage of targeted women who report male partners undertake housework equally with them increased by an average of 7.4 percentage points, rising from 11.2% at baseline to an average 18.6% at end-line.
Men engaged in childcare more equally. The percentage of targeted women who report male partners undertake childcare equally with them (i.e., feeding them, bathing them, changing diapers or clothes, and supporting children’s schoolwork) increased by an average of 12.86 percentage points, rising from 14.84% at baseline to an average of 27.7% at end-line survey.
Men engaged in less verbal and physical intimate partner violence. The prevalence of verbal intimate partner violence reduced by 20.76 percentage points in Palestine and 8.5 percentage points in Egypt, as reported by women. The prevalence of physical intimate partner violence decreased by 8 percentage points in Palestine, as reported by women.
These results will be brought to scale in 2023 through a third phase.
Results and resources
- Results overview
- Total resources
- Development results and resources
- Organizational results and resources
Budget
Expenses
Outcome
Result statement
IATI identifier
OutcomeRAS_D_7.1
Outcome result statementRO focus on SDG 5.1.1 and as related to EVAW and WEE
IATI identifierXM-DAC-41146-RAS_D_7.1
Budget
Expenses
Outcome
Result statement
IATI identifier
OutcomeRAS_O_4
Outcome result statementUN-Women in the Arab States is an accountable and trustworthy development organization that manages its financial and other resources with integrity and in line with its programmatic ambitions and fiduciary obligations
IATI identifierXM-DAC-41146-RAS_O_4
OutcomeRAS_O_5
Outcome result statementUN Women in the Arab States effectively leverages and expands its partnerships, communications and advocacy capabilities to increase support for and financing of the gender equality agenda, while securing sustainable resourcing for the delivery of its own mandate
IATI identifierXM-DAC-41146-RAS_O_5
OutcomeRAS_O_6
Outcome result statementUN-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.
IATI identifierXM-DAC-41146-RAS_O_6
OutcomeRAS_O_7
Outcome result statementWith its unique and inclusive culture, UN Women is an employer of choice in the Arab States with a diverse and highly performing cadre of personnel that embodies UN values.
IATI identifierXM-DAC-41146-RAS_O_7
OutcomeRAS_O_8
Outcome result statementUN Women efficiently and effectively discharges of all business processes that advance integrated delivery of its mandate at HQ, Regional and Country levels, including through shared services.
IATI identifierXM-DAC-41146-RAS_O_8
Resources allocated towards SDGs
View SDG data for
Our funding partners contributions
- Chart
- Tabla
Regular resources (core)
$1.17 M in total
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Other resources (non-core)
$9.38 M in total
Regular resources (core)
$1.17 M in total
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| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) | $583,051 2023
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)
Total contribution:$583,051
Development:$583,051(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
$583,051 2022
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)
Total contribution:$583,051
Development:$583,051(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
2023
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)$583,051
Total contribution$583,051
Development$583,051(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
2022
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)$583,051
Total contribution$583,051
Development$583,051(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Other resources (non-core)
$9.38 M in total
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| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| European Commission | $1,022,817 2023
European CommissionOECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$1,022,817
Development:$1,022,817(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
$1,022,817 2022
European CommissionOECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$1,022,817
Development:$1,022,817(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
| Finland | $1,358,854 2023
FinlandOECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$1,358,854
Development:$1,358,854(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
$1,358,854 2022
FinlandOECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$1,358,854
Development:$1,358,854(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
| Germany | $515,716 2023
GermanyOECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$515,716
Development:$515,716(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
$515,716 2022
GermanyOECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$515,716
Development:$515,716(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
| Netherlands (the) | $502,847 2023
Netherlands (the)OECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$502,847
Development:$502,847(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
$502,847 2022
Netherlands (the)OECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$502,847
Development:$502,847(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
| Norway | $865,659 2023
NorwayOECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$865,659
Development:$865,659(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
$865,659 2022
NorwayOECD-DAC donor
Total contribution:$865,659
Development:$865,659(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
| United Nations Women as Administrative Agent for Joint Programmes | $424,738 2023
United Nations Women as Administrative Agent for Joint ProgrammesUnited Nations pooled fund
Total contribution:$424,738
Development:$424,738(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
$424,738 2022
United Nations Women as Administrative Agent for Joint ProgrammesUnited Nations pooled fund
Total contribution:$424,738
Development:$424,738(100%)
Humanitarian:$0(0%)
|
2023
European Commission$1,022,817
Total contribution$1,022,817
Development$1,022,817(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Finland$1,358,854
Total contribution$1,358,854
Development$1,358,854(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Germany$515,716
Total contribution$515,716
Development$515,716(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Netherlands (the)$502,847
Total contribution$502,847
Development$502,847(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Norway$865,659
Total contribution$865,659
Development$865,659(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
United Nations Women as Administrative Agent for Joint Programmes$424,738
Total contribution$424,738
Development$424,738(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
2022
European Commission$1,022,817
Total contribution$1,022,817
Development$1,022,817(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Finland$1,358,854
Total contribution$1,358,854
Development$1,358,854(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Germany$515,716
Total contribution$515,716
Development$515,716(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Netherlands (the)$502,847
Total contribution$502,847
Development$502,847(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Norway$865,659
Total contribution$865,659
Development$865,659(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
United Nations Women as Administrative Agent for Joint Programmes$424,738
Total contribution$424,738
Development$424,738(100%)
Humanitarian$0(0%)
Strategic plan contributions
- Impact areas
- Systemic outcomes
- Organizational output
Documents
Arab States: Gender equality in the law
13 May 2025Results stories
