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Region:Asia Pacific Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022
i-icon 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. i-icon 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. i-icon 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. i-icon 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.
i-icon 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%)
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OVERVIEWRESULTS & RESOURCESOUR PROGRESSSTRATEGIC PLAN CONTRIBUTIONS
Showing field-based data of 2021
BiH Banner Image 2

outcome XM-DAC-41146-BIH_D_1.1

By 2025, people contribute to, and benefit from more accountable and transparent governance systems that deliver quality public services, and ensure rule of law

Throughout 2021, progress was made in regards to achieving this outcome, as a result of multiple interventions on women’s political participation and leadership, gender responsive policy making and budgeting, implementation of national and international normative commitments, and the country’s path to European Union (EU) accession. To that end, UN Women strengthened capacities and increased knowledge on programme budgeting, gender-responsive budgeting, policy making and EU gender equality knowledge of 279 government officials; provided technical support to four gender equality initiatives developed by the BiH Parliamentary Gender Equality Commission, including guidelines to achieve gender responsible parliaments and conduct periodical self-assessment of parliamentary bodies; produced two reports on the status of women, men, girls and boys in the country relevant to the obligations set by the EU Gender Action Plan III and CEDAW Concluding Observations on the Sixth Periodic Report; analyzed budgetary and policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic; supported the Agency for Gender Equality of BiH in improving capacities to advocate for national and international normative commitments in BiH by developing the CEDAW Action Plan to implement CEDAW Concluding Observationsat the level of BiH institutions; and identified normative priorities and milestones for the period 2022-2025 to inform normative engagement for gender equality and support collaboration with key institutional mechanisms. UN Women also partnered with UNDP, UNICEF, ILO, and WHO to foster dialogue and support the governments at the national and sub-national levels in BiH to establish the ecosystem for systemic financing of SDGs in the country, enabling informed and targeted investment of public funds and mobilization of additional financing for sustainable development, particularly from the private sector. Based on the progress made to date, within a few years, there would be a real impact on the lives, representation, and participation of women in BiH that are currently excluded from major decision-making processes, including in terms of policy making and budgeting, implementation of normative commitments, and the country’s path to EU accession. Stronger partnerships with the government stakeholders in the future could bring about more significant changes under this specific outcome. However, intensified political tensions,as well as a detrimental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, are significantly impacting and constraining UN Women efforts and interventions in this regard.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-BIH_D_2.1

By 2025, people benefit from resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth ensured by the convergence of economic development and management of environment and cultural resources

Throughout 2021, progress was made regarding the achievement of this outcome as a result of multiple interventions in women’s economic empowerment, improvement of government policies, access to finance and improved resilience of women entrepreneurs. 80 women improved their skills and capacities on economic participation, through taking part in different activities intended to secure their economic autonomy, access to funds and build their resilience. Out of this number, 27 women entrepreneurs received tailor-made support and are now fully capacitated to run their businesses and secure their sustainability. A tailor-made support program developed for entrepreneurs is in the process of standardization with the aim to allow for this service to be available to women entrepreneurs in all areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the same high-quality standards. A knowledge gap related to the economic position of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina was filled with two key studies : Women's Economic Empowerment in BiH and Resilience of Women Owned Businesses. These studies are the backbone of evidence-based policy and programming in the field of women’s economic empowerment. In parallel, work with women and girls to benefit from networking and mentorship programs has proven to be very successful. 89 girls and women improved their capacities through the organization of multiple online meetups and their knowledge increased on topics related to career development, ICT entrepreneurship, business leadership, time management, social media, online violence, and CV and motivational letter development. In addition, through the IT Girls Mentorship Programme 2021, 19 girls and young women were encouraged to seek opportunities in the ICT sector and entrepreneurship and their professional connections were strengthened, making it easier for them to successfully build their careers in this sector. Additional efforts have been invested in improving the workplace standards through the implementation of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), and five new companies joined the WEPs initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Five WEPs Action Plans were designed and a round of meetings and workshops was organized to prepare companies for the integration phase to improve their HR and marketing practices, WEPs and gender equality, and health and security in the workplace. Based on the progress made to date, and the results that are to be achieved through the activities envisaged to be implemented in the coming period, the work of UNW BiH will significantly contribute to this outcome. e. In the future period, significant investments will be made to promote women's economic participation as the key to insuring sustainable economic growth of the country.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-BIH_D_3.3

By 2025, people have access to better quality and inclusive health and social protection systems

Significant progress in this area was made in 2021 by the national, entity, cantonal and local governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the standardization of response and driving communities' solutions to prevention of violence against women. At the level of entity Federation BiH, the Law on the protection against domestic violence has been partially adopted, and a new Entity Strategy and Action plan was drafted with the support of UN Women. Police response to cases of domestic violence was further standardized in Federation BiH with significant, measurable behavioral impact on the police sector in the Tuzla Canton. Service providers in 10 communities in Republika Srpska and seven cantons in the Federation of BiH provided standardized responses in cases of domestic violence in line with the Istanbul Convention. Four communities in BiH apply locally driven participatory prevention approaches resulting in 20 local prevention initiatives focused on harmful gender stereotypes. Those results attest to continued efforts of the entitiesy but mostly local governments in BiH to standardize responses to domestic violence cases in line with the Istanbul Convention and other international standards, as well as prioritize prevention with the participation of men, women, boys, girls and non-traditional actors such as religious leaders. UN Women has contributed to these achievements by coordinating with the involved actors and ensuring quality of results and synergies across the board. The importance of UN Women’s involvement has been stressed and valued by implementing and strategic partners resulting in the first ever policy advocacy brief on sexual violence developed and issued jointly by UN Women and three gender mechanisms (Agency for Gender Equality of BiH, Gender Center of FBiH and Gender Center RS), and Baseline Study on Criminal, Legal and Social Protection and Status of Survivors of Sexual Violene in BiH The current political and social crisis and surge of women-driven movements against sexual violence, such as “You are not alone” and “I didn’t ask for it” continue to influence the dynamic of UN Women’s work. As an additional step, UN Women has been leading mapping efforts and consultation processes among UN agencies in BiH towards joint programming to tackle sexual violence in BiH.
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The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
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