Outcome MDA_D_1.2

By 2027, a more accountable, and transparent, human rights-based, and gender-responsive governance empower all people of Moldova to participate in and to contribute to development processes. ( UNSDCF Outcome 2)

The Outcome has not been fully achieved. However, significant progress was made to integrate gender equality into governance systems and ensure increased accountability towards gender equality commitments. Building on existing legal and institutional frameworks for advancing gender equality, the Government took important strides to advance the institutionalization of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) and to align national SDG framework with EU standards, incorporating lessons from the implementation of the Agenda 2030. The Ministry of Finance continued to implement the 2023-2030 Public Finance Management Strategy which explicitly refers to introducing gender perspective in the budget planning and execution. This strategy is an important milestone and a solid ground for further improvements in the normative work and the overall public finance management, which aligns with CEDAW recommendations to the state party (15, 1(e)) on “Establishing mechanisms to monitor gender-responsive budgeting in all sectors”. In 2024, the Ministry of Finance issued an Annual Budget Circular with clear gender provisions , mandating public institutions to incorporate adopted gender equality policies into their budget programmes. Benefiting from continued expert support and guidance provided by UN Women, the MoF instructions explicitly tasked the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (MLSP) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI) to integrate gender aspects into their budget planning for 2025. This initiative has led to the transformation and review of their budget sub-programmes through a gender perspective, which was closely guided during specific mentoring sessions of the ministries’ working groups. Eight budget sub-programmes for 2025 developed by the MLSP now include GRB interventions aimed at addressing disparities in social protection and labor market access for vulnerable groups. Additionally, the MAFI has incorporated GRB elements into subsidy programme to enhance access for female-led agricultural businesses.? An important milestone achieved towards integrating gender equality principles across public policy development and implementation was the adoption of the Government Decision No. 386/2020 on the planning, development, approval, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of public policy documents. By amending this decision, with expert guidance and recommendations provided by UN Women, the State Chancellery redefined the framework for strategic planning and policy development, to ensure that gender considerations are systematically embedded at all stages, from ex-ante analysis and objective setting to policy impact assessment. Additionally, the State Chancellery took a lead role in ensuring evidence-informed policy development by revising the SDG monitoring framework ( GD 953/2022 ) which now tracks 130 gender-sensitive indicators (68% fully available, 10% partially available, 17% missing). UN Women, in partnership with UNICEF and National Bureau of Statistics extended technical and expert support to these efforts, coupled with capacity development of the State Chancellery and other public servants’ skills on SDG monitoring (37 officials from 14 ministries) and project management (10 staff certified). In 2024, the Parliament reinforced its commitment to combat Domestic Violence driven by a strong leadership of the Women’s Caucus . With extensive support provided by UN Women, critical changes were introduced to Law 45/2007 , explicitly defining "femicide" as the most severe form of GBV, while simultaneously leading awareness raising initiative to promote safer lives for women and girls. Finally, the Central Electoral Commission led dialogues to combat violence against women in elections including gender sensitive monitoring . Despite concerning evidence gathered during the 2024 presidential election s monitoring, which identified 72 cases of sexist language (87% by men, 13% by women), 58 women aspirants and 157 newly elected women at local level demonstrated increased confidence to contribute to policy-making process or to run for Parliamentary Elections. Moreover, Roma and youth networks are using their voices to become leaders and inspire their peers via conferences and Marching . Considering the progress made in 2024, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome are still applicable and expected to contribute to a more sustainable gender-responsive governance, and increased women’s decision-making role in the coming years, thanks to the ongoing commitments and signed Agreements between UN Women Moldova and the Government of Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and the European Union.

By 2027, a more accountable, and transparent, human rights-based, and gender-responsive governance empower all people of Moldova to participate in and to contribute to development processes. ( UNSDCF Outcome 2)

The Outcome was not achieved, but important progress has been already recorded in the first year of implementation of the Strategic Note. The Government significantly strengthened national legal and policy frameworks for advancing gender equality in Moldova in 2023. Thus, the Government adopted five (5) key policy frameworks: National Programme for Accelerating Progress on Gender Equality , National Programme for Preventing and Combating of Violence Against Women and Girls , National Programme for the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, National Programme for Women in Business and Public Finance Management (PFM) Strategy for 2023-2030 . The new PFM strategy introduces, for the first time, a systemic approach towards the integration of gender equality principles in the budget cycle. The above listed were among the nine conditionalities of Moldova’s EU candidacy status, which Moldova fulfilled and was admitted to start the EU accession negotiations in December 2023. UN Women Moldova provided expert support in drafting the framework documents, engaged in consistent advocacy with national institutions and development partners, and facilitated broad consultations prior to their adoption. Moldova’s public policies adopted in 2022-2023 registered a moderate increase in gender-responsiveness by 0.98 points reaching a score of 1.86 (out of 4 as highest scoring) compared to 0.88 in 2015-2016, according to the “ Gender Mainstreaming in public policies index” produced by a national think tanks (the Center for Partnership Development). UN Women collaborated with national institutions and UN Agencies in supporting the co-creation and extensive consultations to facilitate the balanced inclusion of women and men’s needs in 6 of the total 17 assessed policies, which scored highest on gender mainstreaming under the Index. This includes the 1325 NAP, the national security program, Youth, Education and Employment programs, and the National Development Strategy “Moldova 2030”. The Parliament strengthened its gender responsive lawmaking and oversight in 2023 thanks to the leadership of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus supported by UN Women along with UNICEF, UNFPA and UNDP. The consultations and public hearings hosted by the Women’s Caucus around the National Programmes on Gender Equality and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls facilitated their inclusive adoption. More women are encouraged to stand for elections, including from under-represented groups, as a result of the “Women run” campaign initiated by the Women’s Caucus, which complemented UN Women’s efforts. Women parliamentarians engaged in joint advocacy, leading to the ratification of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 190 on preventing workplace harassment and violence. Furthermore, the Women’s Caucus enhanced legislative oversight over the implementation of the Equal Pay legislation adopted in 2022Women notably enhanced their meaningful participation in democratic processes. In the 2023 Local Elections in Moldova, 146 of the 301 women (49%) trained under the UN Women Political Leadership and Candidate Curriculum, entered the electoral race with 55% of them, including two women with disabilities, successfully getting elected. The Government of Moldova enhanced its ability to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through a data availability assessment of 337 nationalized SDG indicators. The analysis revealed data availability for 64% (215) of all SDG indicators, partial availability for 14% (48) and lack of data for 22% (74). From the 137 gender-sensitive indicators, data is available or 56.2% (77), partially available for 23.4% (32), and missing data for 20.4% (28). The assessment, the Roadmap to address the SDG data gaps, and the Instructions for data providers were developed by the National Bureau of Statistics with UN Women and UNICEF support. The original strategy and ToC for this outcome remain largely applicable. The policy documents adopted in 2023 will expand women’s participation in decision-making, especially in security and conflict negotiations, improve financial access and enhance protection from violence for women and girls. The strong partnership with government, civil society and development partners allowed UN Women to fully exercise its mandate by providing timely gender expertise aligned with global norms. Leveraging Moldova’s EU integration momentum and the strong recognition of UN Women as the GE agency delivering successfully on its triple mandate, the CO managed to secure additional 2.5 million USD already in 2023 for implementation of the Governance outcome. This will enable the office to make a lasting contribution to improving the lives of women and girls in Moldova in the coming years.