Outcome MDA_D_1.1

More women fully participate and lead in gender responsive governance processes and institutions, including in the security sector

The outcome was fully achieved . The number of women who participate and lead gender responsive governance processes exceeded the aggregated annual targets set for the Strategic Note (SN) implementation period of 2018-. Moreover, the scope of the outcome was extended in 2022 with the response to the refugee crisis resulted from Russia’s war against Ukraine. In 2022, significant steps towards the achievement of the outcome and institutionalization of UN women’s contribution to the country’s gender equality agenda were registered. A total of 2,043 public servants (including 1,533 women, representing all Central Public Authorities, including the electoral management bodies and the security and defence sectors, as well as the 201 women-led Local Public Authorities) have enhanced capacities to mainstream gender in policies, budgets, prevent and combat gender-based discrimination and harassment within their institutions. UN Women contributed to this through its continuous expert support in partnerships with Academia and Civil Society Organizations in 2022.. To sustain the results achieved, three on-line courses on “Gender equality in public administration”, “Prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace” and “Women, Peace and Security” were developed and institutionalized on the E-learning platform of the Public Administration Institute and included in the 2023 Training Plan of Public Servants from Moldova. 14 women civil society leaders, equally representing both banks of Nistru joined a Women's Advisory Board established to advance women’s meaningful participation in conflict settlement and peace processes. Three Women’s Discussion Platforms comprising 45 women from Transnistrian region were created to support women’s leadership, community-based peacebuilding and human-security. A two-year flagship project from the UN Peacebuilding Fund was secured by UN Women to promote inclusive peace, trust and social cohesion on both banks of Nistru river through the advancement of gender equality and human rights implemented in partnership with UNDP and OHCHR. At the local level, 44,932 beneficiaries, (including 24,025 women/girls and 20,907 men/boys) in 44 communities benefitted from gender-inclusive social infrastructure and services as result of 61 local initiatives implemented with Sweden and EU support with communities contributing with over 50% of the funds from local budgets and private citizens. Gender-responsive lawmaking and oversight was strengthened with the establishment of a cross-party Women’s Parliamentary Caucus in 2022 supported by UN Women along with UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF. The Caucus succeeded to table a joint bill voted into law that grants mothers the right to receive both the maternity allowance and salary , thus enabling their labor force participation, decreasing the burden of unpaid care work and securing their place of employment upon return from maternity leave. Policy frameworks advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment were further strengthened in 2022 . The Government developed key policy documents aligned with the gender equality requirements for EU candidacy status granted to Moldova in 2022. Thus, a new National Programme and Action Plan to Accelerate Progress on Gender Equality and the second generation National Programme and Action Plan for the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 were drafted. Important progress to advance Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) at national level was achieved. The Government of Moldova committed under the Updates to the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies with IMF from 7 September 2022 to strengthen gender equality efforts towards building the tracking and reporting system on gender-related spending in the public finance management. Thus, the new Public Finance Management (PFM) Strategy for 2023-2030 builds on the findings of Gender Responsive Public Financial Management Assessment , as part of Moldova’s Public Expenditure and Accountability Assessment (PEFA), released in 2022. UN Women CO succeeded to partner with the IMF office in Moldova, EU Delegation and World Bank around a common advocacy agenda to accelerate GRB in Moldova. As part of the gendered policies and development plans the national statistical system will get more attention by 2030 as the new strategy was approved and the SDG monitoring framework endorsed by the Government. Four state institutions committed to integrate gender equality principles in their policies and processes thanks to UN Women assistance. Namely, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration has a Gender Action Plan following the first Gender Audit and a revised Law on Diplomatic Service to reflect gender perspective. Concurrently, a Gender Audit of 8 internal regulations of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and the Centre for Continuous Electoral Training (CCET) was completed in 2022. The CCET adopted a Regulation to Prevent and Combat Sexual Harassment . The CEC drafted a similar regulation, subject to approval. The National Penitentiary Administration approved an Internal Regulation on P revention, Examination and Reporting Gender-based Discrimination, Harassment and/or Sexual Harassment . Humanitarian action Further to the invasion of Russia into Ukraine, the scope of the outcome was extended as UN Women Moldova engaged into humanitarian response to provide essential life-saving support, protect refugee women ang girls from gender-based violence, mainstream gender equality and contribute to better coordination of refugee response provided at the country level by the Government of the Republic of Moldova, UN Agencies, international and local CSOs. 6,277 refugee women and girls , and their families benefitted from emergency food and non-food items, protection services, social integration, livelihood and economic opportunities, and information about their rights and access to services. 36 local CSOs and women’s organizations improved their knowledge and skills on humanitarian programming and leadership and were able to meaningfully participate in the humanitarian response. [https :// bit.ly/3CFWUKA] Humanitarian coordination group and refugee coordination structures integrated elements of gender mainstreaming through their work (indicators, needs assessments, response plans and reporting), and were better able to analyse and respond to the distinct needs and priorities of refugee women, men, girls and boys. [ https://bit.ly/3GZnAst ], [ https://bit.ly/3J0qVJp ]. Actors involved in the humanitarian response (UN, NGO, Government staff, local government actors, and front-line workers) gained new knowledge and skills on how to mainstream gender into their humanitarian response, about GBV prevention and response, as well as on refugee crisis management as a result of tools, guidelines and trainings. UN Women CO as part of UNCT coordination structure for humanitarian action, established and led the Gender Task Force and managed to mobilize resources from the Multi Donor Trust Fund (Women Peace and humanitarian Fund (WPHF), Swiss Development Cooperation, US Department of State and Japan as part of gender-response management of refugee crisis. A new ToC was established based on the experience gained from the previous SN (2018-2022) implementation as well as lessons learned and country's national priorities. Women in decision making, despite the the major progress, remain under-represented, still face multiple barriers, are subjected to harassment, harmful norms and stereotypes exacerbated in the context of the energy, economic and refugee crisis faced by Moldova in 2022. The new TOC will build on the more accountable, transparent, human rights-based and gender -responsive governance which will empowers all people of Moldova to participate in and contribute to development processes and humanitarian -peace nexus.

More women fully participate and lead in gender responsive governance processes and institutions, , including in the security sector

The Outcome was partially achieved. However, important progress towards the outcome was registered. The 2021 snap Parliamentary Elections 2021 resulted in a historical record of 40 women elected (39.6%) versus 25.7% in 2019 and 20.8% in 2014. The nearly 20% increase in the number of women legislators from 2014 is the result of the first-time application of both the 40% gender quota adopted in 2016 and the placement provisions enforced in 2019. UN Women Moldova CO led the advocacy efforts for gender quota and placement since 2014 together with CSO and development partners. Despite the historic milestone, women candidates continued to be subjected to gender-based electoral violence in the 2021 race for Parliament. A total of 106 cases of sexist and discriminatory remarks and 7 acts of physical and emotional assault were directed at women candidates, of which 77 cases were reported on gender.monitor.md managed by Gender Equality Platform (GEP) and Promo-Lex with UN Women support. The monitoring report published by GEP points that 82% of the total 113 cases of electoral violence directed at women were perpetrated by men [1]. The Government formed after the snap parliamentary elections, led by a female Prime-Minister, has three women ministers and a woman Governor of Gagauzia as ex-officio member, out of total 17 cabinet members. While the new Cabinet has 11% more women versus 2019, it is far from parity. Although UN Women and CSO partners advocated in 2021 that the 40% gender quota for Cabinet is still observed [2], these were unsuccessful and actions to reinstate the quota in the Government Law shall continue. Important strides to advance gender responsive governance were undertaken in 2021 both in terms of improved capacities, but also adopted gender sensitive local policy documents and budgets. At local level, an estimated 177,791 inhabitants, including 91,812 women from 42 communities (38 rural and 4 urban) are expected to benefit from improved local policies and services, as result of endorsed gender responsive local development strategies valid up to 2025 and 2022 local budgets, reflecting the different needs of women and men. Women mayors lead 30 of the 42 communities with endorsed gender responsive budgets. These achievements were possible due to improved capacities of over 428 local government representatives, incl. 409 women of which mayors, accountants and local council members to lead and implement local gender inclusive governance solutions, thanks to UN Women expert support and mentoring [3]. A total of 2,124 public servants [3,4], including 1,813 women, from local and central public authorities (all line ministries, including from Security and Defence, mayors, local councillors and local government staff) have enhanced capacities to apply the gender equality perspective in policymaking and budgeting, and in securing workplaces free of gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment thanks to capacity development support provided by UN Women. Women continued to be under-represented in the security and defence sectors. They constituted only 21.8% of the military personnel in 2021 (20.4%, 2020), while women’s share in the civilian personnel continued to exceed that of men – with 57.1% women versus 42.9% men in 2021, compared to 60,6 % women and 39,4 % men in 2020. While the overall share of women in police slightly decreased in 2021 to 20.56 % from 21,88 % in 2020, the representation of women in managerial positions has increased from 6% in 2020 to 11% in 2021. UN Women continued to support the Women’s Associations from Police, Interior and Defence to consolidate their capacity and voice to exercise influence in the male dominated sectors. The meaningful participation of women in security and defence is expected to advance due to a new 1325 National Action Plan (NAP) for 2022-26 drafted with UN Women support expecting approval in 2022 [5]. UN Women partnered with OSCE to enhance the gender expertise of women negotiators engaged in the Transnistria conflict settlement and launched a process to establish a Women’s Advisory Board jointly with OSCE and Sweden to advocate for the inclusion of gender equality issues in peace negotiations [6]. Based on the progress to date, the current TOC remains largely applicable as women still face multiple barriers to get elected and in governing, are confronted with violence and sexism, societal norms and stereotypes on women and men’s roles in decision making.