Region:Asia Pacific
Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022
World Bank Income Classification:Low Income
The World Bank classifies economies for analytical purposes into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high income. For this purpose it uses gross national income (GNI) per capita data in U.S. dollars, converted from local currency using the World Bank Atlas method, which is applied to smooth exchange rate fluctuations.
Least Developed Country:Yes
Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized LDCs as a category of States that are deemed highly disadvantaged in their development process, for structural, historical and also geographical reasons. Three criteria are used: per capita income, human assets, and economic vulnerability.
Gender Inequality Index:0.575
GII is a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa.
Gender Development Index:0.723
GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources.
Population:209,497,025
Source of population data: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision
Male:19,976,265 (9.5%)
Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)
outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_D_4.2
Women are represented and meaningfully participate in all peace and security, peace-building, recovery and humanitarian processes, including formal and informal peace negotiations and forums
There has been an overall regression on this outcome in 2022 for Afghanistan given restrictions paused on women and shrinking space for CSOs and specifically women led CSOs to operate. Nonetheless, on the Humanitarian fronts, In 2022, UN Women stepped up initiatives to enhance the participation of women in the humanitarian coordination architecture both at national and provincial levels. At the national level UN Women supported the Afghan Women’s Advisory Group to the HCT with technical support to provide guidance and information on the situation of women and girls as well as participate in both national and regional humanitarian coordination platforms led by OCHA. The Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group also consistently called on women led organizations to participate in the GiHA working group and other cluster meetings in order to contribute to the decisions, planning and analysis of the humanitarian response. In 2022, UN Women started decentralizing the GiHA working groups led by UN Women senior national staff stationed in the field. They maintained continued presence in five regions actively participating in humanitarian coordination meetings and proactively encouraging other women led organizations to join in. As of December 2022 one local GiHA working group had been set up in Northern region and two were underway in Western and Southern Regions of Afghanistan. Going forward, these forums will be sustained and given gravitas to engage with the Inter Cluster Coordination teams (ICCTs) and Regional Humanitarian Teams (RHTs), while information will be shared with women organizations and their voices raised in these forums. Conscious of the language barriers, UN Women provides translation services to ensure messages are well received by women CSO’s as well. On WPS, no national peace and security processes existed in 2022, as the peace process collapsed in 2021 after the Taliban takeover. In the absence of national platforms for women related to peace and security, UN Women, in partnership with UNAMA, undertook consultations with Afghan women across the country to feed their perspectives in UN decision-making in Afghanistan and HQ. This approach has ensured that the voices of Afghan women leaders are represented in fora related to peace, security and humanitarian issues, contributing to gender outcomes such as WPS language in the UNAMA mandate renewal.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_D_6.1
The capacity of the government and stakeholders is strengthened to assess the progress in implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, and other global normative and policy frameworks
Not Applicable in 2022
outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_O_1
Drive more effective and efficient UN system coordination and strategic partnerships
UN Women continued to convene and facilitate various platforms in driving effective and efficient UN system coordination and strategic partnerships, In specific terms UN Women ACO: § Co-chairs Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group (GiHA WG) coordination/clusters and WGs coordination: UN Women co-leads with IRC the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group. GiHA WG continues to actively participate in Inter-Cluster Coordination Team (ICCT) to strengthen joint analysis and planning on the Humanitarian Cycle Planning process. GiHA WG provide inputs into two assessments that are core planning documents for the Humanitarian Response Plan, including the Whole of Afghanistan Assessment (WoAA) and the Seasonal Food Security Assessment (SFSA). GiHA WG continues to provide technical support to humanitarian clusters in placing women and girls at the center of their response, including in the context of the earthquake in Paktika and Khost that happened on 22 June 2022 through producing gender updates to inform the humanitarian response. § Provided Strategic and Technical Support to the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT): o Women Advisory Group : UN Women spearheaded the formation of a nine-member Afghan women advisory group to advise the HCT on how to better respond to the needs of women and girls and provide advice to improve the humanitarian community’s engagement with the Taliban at the central (Kabul) and local/provincial levels. WAG provide technical support to the Afghan WAG to the UN Humanitarian Country Team (HCT). § Chairs Gender Theme Group (GTG) : UN Women as the Chair of the Gender Working Group (renamed to Gender Theme Group in 2022) , in close collaboration with RCO and UNAMA, played a pivotal role reviving the UNCT Gender coordination mechanism since the Taliban siege of power in mid-August 2021. The Terms of Reference was updated, and gender action plan developed. § Co-chair of newly established Gender and Human Rights Strategic Thematic Working Group (G&HR STWG) in 2022. The G&HR STWG is a multi-stakeholder platform that aims to enhance coordination across the women’s rights programming and advocacy in Afghanistan and subsequently define sectorial work around the Joint Strategic Framework for Afghanistan Coordination Group. It brings together key donors and partners, elevates Afghan women’s voices, and represents an opportunity to position UN Women as the first partner on women’s rights in the country. This working group has replaced the Gender Donors Coordination Group to which UN Women was also co-chairing. § In partnership with UNHCR, co-led the Protection and Social Cohesion Technical Coordination Group established in the development of TEF . UN Women active participation and engagement contributed to the inclusion of a standalone result on gender equality in the UN Transitional Engagement Framework (TEF) for 2022. §In collaboration with UN Women Headquarters, strategically leveraged its participation in the Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan (STFA) to foster effective and efficient UN system coordination on gender equality and women's empowerment . The STFA is a Multi-Partner Trust Fund bringing together 17 participating UN agencies and funds, that enables donors to channel their funding towards the implementation of the Area-Based Approach for Development Emergency Initiatives Strategy. Through UN Women's advocacy, the STFA integrated Gender Equality Marker targets, currently set at the minimum of 15 per cent of funds going to interventions with gender equality/women’s empowerment as their primary purpose, within the fund's core document. UN Women's representation in Fund meetings - both at technical working level, and in high-level Steering Committee and Advisory Board meetings - furthermore drives a collaborative engagement on gender equality and women's empowerment programming principles across participating UN agencies.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_O_2
Institutionalize a strong culture of results-based management, reporting, knowledge management and evaluation
UN Women has continued to build a strong practice on results-based management, reporting, knowledge management and evaluation. In this reporting year, ACO organized and coordinated a series of capacity building trainings on results-based reporting, strategic planning, gender-based evaluation and effective use of internal monitoring systems including RMS, Atlas, DAMs. This has been pertinent to strategic level planning alongside timely submission and approval of the 2023-24 Afghanistan Country Office Biennial Workplan and reports for 2022. Furthermore, In the second half of 2022, 6 UN Women staff members attended a programme and project management workshop organized by the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP). The workshop equipped personnel with project management tools, including on principles of results-based management.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_O_3
Mobilize and leverage adequate resources
In 2022, and despite an unprecedented Humanitarian, political, economic and women’s rights crisis, UN Women ACO succeeded in both strengthening its existing partnerships and expanding its donors portfolio. Over 110 million USD in commitments and contributions were raised from 18 donors, including 10 new donors (confirmed and prospective). UN Women ACO has also explored non-funding and technical partnerships opportunities with non-traditional donors (mainly International Finance Institutions) , including with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This success results from a threefold approach: Effective leverage of UNW’s coordination mandate and key role in several UN mechanisms, including its co-leadership of the Gender & Human Rights Strategic and Working Group (STWG), which is the UN’s main platform for human and women rights in Afghanistan comprised of over 20 different UN, Member States and International Finance Institutions (IFIs); Clear and results oriented Resource Mobilization and partnerships approach, inclusive of an evidence-based mapping, targeted outreach plan, and prioritized engagement approach. The 2022 Resource Mobilization and Partnerships plan have guided the ACO’s outreach and engagement efforts and driven a targeted and therefore efficient partnerships approach; Strong internal coordination and leverage of UNW internal partnerships expertise at country, regional and HQ levels. The ACO partnerships team has closely coordinated with partnerships focal points in RO and HQ to provide regular update on the partnerships needs, discuss potential engagement opportunities to leverage (e.g. annual consultations with major donors at HQ), and align on best practicesShowing 11 - 15 of 16
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References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).