Outcome LAC_O_2

Advancing partnerships & resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale

During the reporting year, the Americas and Caribbean region made a rigorous effort to build across the board capacities of the Country, Programme presence and Multi-Country Offices to effectively adapt to a challenging context, evolving needs for resourcing, refine the business model and approach to resource mobilization and partnerships. The Representatives and the key programme staff were equipped with the innovative knowledge and tools to scale up UN Women’s strategic engagements with the private and public sectors, optimize the benefits of the engagement in the areas of resource mobilization, technical collaboration and innovation in the region. In 2023, the RO facilitated established of the 49 regional partnerships, including with UN AFPs, public and private partners, CSOs, thinktanks and IFIs, which resulted in both increased revenue and influencing for the gender equality and women’s empowerment impacts.

Advancing partnerships & resourcing; Effectively influencing for impact & scale

In 2024 AC RO developed and submitted 16 knowledge products, including project concept notes, proposals, and presentations for private sector pitches. These outputs facilitated negotiations with potential and existing partners, leveraging high-level meetings and participation in initiatives like Generation Equality and the Feminist Action for Climate Justice Action Coalition. This collaboration set the groundwork for an official UN Women side event at COP16 on Biodiversity, to amplify women's voices and position UN Women as a strategic partner. Significant efforts in resource mobilization and fundraising for the LAC region resulted in the signature of Memorandums of Understanding and Contribution Agreements with various entities, strengthening the resource base and expanding networks. Outputs included sustained conversations with public and private sector focal points to identify donor priorities, participation in key UN Interagency taskforces, and the development of donor intelligence materials. The Unit produced 333 Talking Points documents and 236 Briefing Notes to support high-level meetings and presentations. New conversations with potential donors, including traditional and non-traditional entities, led to the signing of 6 Collaboration Agreements and 7 Memorandums of Understanding in 2024. In other hand several outputs were achieved to enhance the knowledge and capacities of colleagues across the LAC region in developing and seizing partnerships and resource mobilization opportunities. These outputs included the organization of five LAC Learning Cafes, benefiting 63 participants and improving their capacities to establish partnerships and mobilize resources; the enhancement of the P&RM LAC Teams Community of Practice channel, which distributed 33 posts and 23 updates to over 80 members, providing crucial information on resource mobilization opportunities and internal processes; and the development and release of two Standard Operating Procedures for the fundraising cycle and due diligence, along with extensive support for their adoption through capacity-building sessions, video tutorials, and pre-clearance reviews of due diligence requests. Also AC RO achieved two key results at the output level: the signing of an MOU between the UN Women Executive Director and the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in September, formalizing collaboration on comprehensive care systems, initiatives to eliminate gender-based violence, and expanding women's economic autonomy and financial inclusion, with a joint action plan to be developed in 2025; and the development of a proposal with inputs from LAC region offices to the multilateral development bank CAF, focusing on women's entrepreneurship and access to finance in the Caribbean, strengthening women's political participation and leadership, and promoting a life free of violence in politics in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Guatemala, as well as empowering women and girls through sports in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and the Caribbean. Although CAF has not yet agreed to fund the proposal, exchanges have led to the planning of a joint workshop with CAF gender leadership in Panama to establish a joint action plan in Q1 2025. By fostering strong, long-term relationships with key media outlets, the organization successfully positioned its priorities and advocacy efforts on gender equality and women's rights. In 2024, this strategy resulted in the coordination of 21 opinion articles and interviews with the Regional Director and Deputy Regional Director, featured in prominent global and regional newspapers and news outlets, including BBC Mundo, EFE, EFEminista, El País, DW, Planeta Futuro, France 24, Forbes, and Infobae. Regionally, country and multi-country offices reported 1,453 media mentions through HQ media coverage. Meltwater registered 963 mentions in leading regional media. The peak potential media reach of ONU Mujeres in the press was on November 25th, with 2.1B,