Outcome VNM_D_1.1

SN Outcome 1 [CF Outcome 2] Climate Change Response, Disaster Resilience and Environmental Sustainability By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will benefit from and contribute to safer and cleaner environment resulting from Viet Nam’s effective and gender responsive mitigation and adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, promotion of circular economy, the provision of clean and renewable energy, and the sustainable management of natural resources.

During 2023, in collaboration with UNDP and GIZ, UN Women provided technical support and joint advocacy for the improvements of legal and institutional environment to effectively addressing the vulnerabilities that women and girls in facing the risks of climate change and disasters in Viet Nam. In particular , in 2023, the government adopted language in its resource m obilization plan ( RMP) for the Just Energy Transition Partnership that commits to designing a “just” energy transition RMP creating of which wherein gender considerations are taken into account , , a gender equality minimum standard of practices established, fair job opportunities and introducing effective social protection measures for those groups most disadvantaged in the energy transition process. This commitment has significant implications for enabling a special social protection scheme for the affected communities, including women and girls, counting them as actors and drivers of sustainable development [1] https://en.baochinhphu.vn/full-remarks-by-pm-pham-minh-chinh-at-cop26-11142627.htm for a “just” energy transition process to ensure that no one is left behind . The RMP was launched during COP 2 8 . In November 2023 at COP 28, the government announced the Resource Mobilization Plan (RMP) of US$15.5 billion made up of public and private funding for implementing the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). The RMP has one chapter on the opportunities and challenges of the ‘just’ transition, presenting risks for employment and reskilling for workers in energy sectors, risks for income, livelihoods and social assistance of the most vulnerable groups, and risks of access to affordable electricity for low-income groups among others. The chapter highlighted the differential impact on women, men and disadvantaged groups in the transition process. Ensuring a “just” transition is one among eight priority areas under the RMP. Seven projects related to employment and reskilling, impact assessment on vulnerable groups, and the development of a mechanism to ensure affordable electricity prices for low-income households and MSMEs are identified. UN Women has worked closely with other UN agencies including UNDP- the Secretariat for the JETP , UNEP and ILO- an agency on social protection within the UNCT to ensure the strategic engagement in high level policy dialogues and discussion with MONRE and MOLISA to promote gender sensitive JETP which corresponds with RMP. Early engagement with government actors and UN agencies efforts has contributed to fostering the government’s recognition of the opportunities and challenges women and other marginalized groups are facing in the energy transition process toward a just and sustainable outcome.In addition, guidelines on mainstreaming gender and GBV issues into the DRR plans at local levels have been developed, with technical support from UN Women, in collaboration with Viet Nam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority and the Disaster Management Policy and Technology Center (DMPTC). The guidelines was approved by the government which can be considered as a significant milestone for addressing gender issues in the context of National Strategy on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control through 2030 with a vision toward 2050. This guidelines aims to equip local DRR planners with a practical tool to systematically analyze, prioritize and mainstream gender and GBV issues in DRR plans at commune, district, and provincial level, taking into account the local context. The guidelines were officially launched and piloted in Lao Cai province and Da Nang city. With UN Women’s support in facilitating the application of the guidelines, a provincial DRR plan was developed based on rigorous analysis of the climate vulnerability situation through a gender lens and GBV issues in each province as well as extensive consultation with relevant stakeholders. As a result of this evidence-based decision-making process, the plan has been significantly improved with the incorporation of gender analysis and concrete measures to protect women and other vulnerable groups such as ensuring safe evaluation for women and children in the context of natural disasters. The proactive engagement of VNDDMA, provincial DRR authorities, and other stakeholders has set a crucial foundation for expanding the gender and GBV mainstreaming in DRR plans on a wider scale in the upcoming years.

SN Outcome 1 [CF Outcome 2] Climate Change Response, Disaster Resilience and Environmental Sustainability By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will benefit from and contribute to safer and cleaner environment resulting from Viet Nam’s effective and gender responsive mitigation and adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, promotion of circular economy, the provision of clean and renewable energy, and the sustainable management of natural resources.

The outcome was achieved in 2022 through the government approval of important strategies and tools, strengthening partners’s capacity, promoting the collection of sex and age disaggregation data for disaster monitoring and increasing leadership on women in climate change decision-making. Regarding the approval of policies, in 2022, a more gender responsive National Strategy on Climate Change (2021-2030) (NSCC) was endorsed. The new strategy, for the first time, includes a section on ‘Ensuring social security and gender equality’ as one of its critical tasks and solutions for climate change adaptation. This improvement in gender integration in the NSCC responds to UN Women and partners’ efforts in advocating for more gender-responsive climate change policies in Viet Nam over the last few years. Since 2020, UN Women and partners have provided technical support to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) to successfully mainstream gender in the Nationally Determined Contribution of Viet Nam to the Paris Agreement (NDC), setting up national commitments on climate change. After the NDC, in 2022, the government developed the new nationwide NSCC to meet its international commitments. To support MONRE on gender mainstreaming in the NSCC, UN Women and GIZ commissioned a gender review of the previous NSCC (2011-2020) in order to identify gaps and provide recommendations for gender mainstreaming. Moreover, consultation with a women-led CSO network on climate change was also organized to understand their concerns and priorities. UN Women and GIZ worked closely with the NCSS drafting team to provide timely inputs and advice during the drafting process. Additionally, two technical guidelines on gender mainstreaming in disaster management of the country were developed by Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority, with technical support from UN Women. They are: (1) Guidance on gender mainstreaming in the updated Community-based Disaster Risk Management Programme; and (2) Guidance on the development of gender-responsive disaster evacuation plans at the community level. Both guidance documents provide tools and experiential technical assistance for government officials and practices to ensure the vulnerability, needs, and capacity of women and men are fully integrated into all stages of the disaster management plans and evacuation plans. The work on sex, age, and disability disaggregated data for disaster monitoring has been further promoted in 2022, to inform disaster preparedness and response decision-making with more gender sensitiveness. UN Women provided technical support to Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority to continue collecting of sex, age and disability disaggregated data for disaster monitoring, through rolling out the guideline on the collection of gender statistics , developed in 2021, in more provinces. In 2022, 290 disaster management officials at the provincial, district, and commune-level in the two provinces of Ha Tinh and Quang Tri were trained and then conducted the data collection in their provinces. Collected information will be consolidated and integrated into the Viet Nam Disaster Monitoring System of VNDMA. The guideline was also used by other organizations such as FAO and UNICEF to support the data collection in other provinces. Since early 2022, the collected SADDD in these provinces were used to generate impact-based forecasting of disasters hitting the provinces and guide response actions with gender, age, and disability sensitivity. The collection of SADD data for disaster monitoring has been documented and shared as one of good practices in ASEAN on gender responsive disaster mangement. https://asean.org/book/ensuring-gender-responsive-disaster-risk-reduction-good-practices-from-asean/ Besides, in order to increase the voice and leadership of women in climate change discussion and decision-making, in 2022 UN Women supported Viet Nam Women’s Union to strengthen its institutional capacity to better perform its role in the Steering Committee on Disaster Management. 67 core staff (66 female and 1 male), including presidents or vice-presidents of Women’s Unions of 41 provinces in the northern and central region of Viet Nam participated in trainings on “Gender Analysis and Advocacy in Disaster Risk Management” to strengthen their capacity in raising gender issues in the Committee on Natural Disaster Management. Viet Nam Women’s Union organized a Policy Dialogue on “ Supporting women’s climate-resilient livelihood development and recovery after COVID-19 ”. The event attracted more than 100 women, women-led cooperatives, and women-owned SMEs from all over the country sharing challenges that they are facing in the development of climate-resilient livelihoods and businesses. Government leaders from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Labor, Invalid and Social Affairs, and the Social Policy Bank dialogued with women on government policies and programme to support women’s economic development in the context of climate change. The event was live-streamed on the website of Viet Nam Women’s Union at Livestream chuong trình Ð?i tho?i chính sách "H? tr? ph? n? phát tri?n sinh k? thích ?ng bi?n d?i khí h?u sau ?nh hu?ng d?ch Covid-19" » Báo Ph? N? Vi?t Nam (phunuvietnam.vn) In 2022, the women led CSO network on gender and climate change enhanced their capacity through the implementation of gender and climate change initiatives, with support from UN Women. As follow-up actions of the ToT training for CSOs organized in 2021, eight CSOs received funding support of around USD1,000 from EmPower and the Blue Water Fund of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the implementation of their initiatives to promote gender equality in climate change in their working areas in Son La, Ha Noi, Da Nang, Nghe An, Thai Binh, Quang Tri, and Ben Tre province. As a result, from January to May 2022, 563 women, and 392 men, of which 9 people with disability and 186 ethnic minority people directly benefited from these initiatives, through learning new knowledge and skills as well as taking action on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. CSO women leaders are also recognized for their role and contribution to climate change actions by community people and local authority leaders. These key results will contribute to the achievement of UNCF Outcome 2 that people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will benefit from and contribute to a safer and cleaner environment. It will support Viet Nam in implementing its commitment to gender equality and climate change under the SDG agenda.