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-BRA_D_3.1
An enabling legislation, policy and social environment is in place to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.
Obstacles towards creating an enabling legislative, policy and social environment to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls (VAWG) remain. To contribute to addressing the complex issue, UN Women actively implemented a multi-stakeholder partnership strategy actively collaborating with the federal and sub-national governments, Judiciary and the civil society, as well as the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), UN human rights mechanisms, civil society partners and, in special, women human rights defenders (WHRDs), their organizations and networks, to carve out spaces for tailored solutions to tackle VAWG. These relied strongly on strengthening networks of women and girls, promoting prevention and using a human rights-based approach to gender-based violence that acknowledges the diverse aspects of VAWG and how it impacts the rights of women and girls in all their diversity, as black, indigenous, quilombola, women in urban peripheries, among others. In this context, in 2021 UN Women worked with 516 girls from Rio de Janeiro peripheries to promote gender equality in and through sports, eliminate harmful gender norms and prevent gender-based violence as part of the project One Win Leads to Another, in partnership with the International Olympic Committee. As a result of their enhanced capacities, 41 per cent of these girls presented positive changes in attitudes towards gender norms and stereotypes and 40 presented positive changes in attitudes regarding VAWG. The CO also turned to small grants as a tool to strengtheninstitutional capacities of organizations of women and girls in sports as well as WHRDs. The grants contributed to 12 grassroots organizations enhancing their communication and networking skills, leading them to participate in local and national advocacy and networking activities, as well as to develop collective action to prevent COVID 19 spread. Among these organizations, one expanded its local network after the grant from 13 to 17 municipalities in the state of Pará, and another organization engaged with and contributed to national agendas of the women’s movements (such as the campaigns of Feminist Uprising Against Femicide, the celebration of the 15th Anniversary of the Maria da Penha Law and the International Day Against Violence Against Women). A City Law that led to the creation of the Women’s City Council of Altamira, a space to enable and catalyze the social participation of Altamira’s women in the decision-making and in policy formulation for gender equality, was approved partially as a result of the joint advocacy efforts of these two grantees. Another grantee, an organization of mangaba fruit pickers, contributed to repealing a change in the legislation that gives them the right to use the Mangaba Extractivist Reserve in the state of Sergipe, as a result of strengthened capacities on human rights and leadership. The mobilization also contributed to them carving up spaces for dialogue and incidence at state level. Additionally, UN Women also supported strategic exchanges among WHRDs and their engagement in international forums and human rights mechanisms as a platform for advocacy and collective action, such as COP 26.Following UN Women contributions, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Observatory, an initiative led by the Human Rights and Minorities Commission of the House of Representatives with the support of OHCHR, held public hearings and produced reports evaluating the implementation of recommendations made to Brazil in the context of the UPR on violence against women, women in politics, and gender perspectives on the situation of human rights defenders. These are expected to guide national counterparts on decision making, public policy and engagement with the mechanism in the next cycle of revisions, which will also be a tool for human rights-based advocacy by UN Women in the country.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-BRA_D_1.1
Women, particularly those facing multiple forms of discrimination, increasingly participate in decision-making processes; and influence formulation, implementation and monitoring of national and subnational laws, policies, plans and budgets.
In 2021, women still experienced significant barriers in participating in decision-making, influencing laws, policies, plans and budgets. However, progress was made as the Parliament adopted a new law on Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP), women influenced policy-making at the local level, and Indigenous women’s movements successfully positioned their rights in the national and international agendas. The Brazilian Parliament approved Law #14.192/2021 that tackles VAWP – the first-ever piece of legislation on this subject. It also approved the Constitutional amendment #111/2021, which generates incentives for parties to elect women and black candidates; Congress rejected four bills (CA #125/2011, CA #18/2021, Bill #1951/2021 and Bill #112/2021) that would result in setbacks for women’s political participation. Parliament also started monitoring data and evidence on women’s political participation through the new Observatório Nacional da Mulher na Política (the national observatory of women in politics). These developments represented a contribution towards the political participation of women and were partially attributable to UN Women’s efforts, which included close work with key stakeholders to advocate for women in politics, resorting to evidence-based advocacy, technical advice and campaigning. The Country Office (CO)also fostered an intersectional approach that relies on global norms and standards. As a result, VAWP was positioned in the political agenda and key government institutions started to collaborate to introduce concrete prevention and response measures. In 2021, for the first time, the federal government and the Judiciary discussed joint actions to grapple with VAWP, in a working group created and facilitated by UN Women. In the state of Maranhão, the planning and some policies women’s machinery for the first time included measures to address the needs of Indigenous and Quilombola women, demonstrating that decision-makers started to plan policies based on sustained dialogue with civil society organizations (CSOs) and on evidence on gender and race inequalities. Through the partnership with the Embassy of Norway and the government of Maranhão, UN Women provided capacity development, awareness-raising and integrated policy advice to the state and municipal authorities, as well as the civil society, that contributed to enabling gender-responsive governancee. The state women’s machinery played a pivotal role in mobilizing other government bodies, and the collaboration will continue until 2023, supported by the Government of Norway. In the municipality of Itabira, as a result of UN Women’s capacity building and technical advice to government authorities and civil society, the municipal 2022-2025 Pluriannual Plan for the first time included measures targeting Quilombola communities and demonstrated commitment to introducing a municipal plan for women’s rights and a racial equality plan. Additionally, the newly elected mayor publicly committed to installing a racial equality body, generating race-disaggregated data and building capacity of civil servants to tackle institutional racism. The collaboration between the municipality and UN Women through the project Cidade 50-50: Itabira enabled this change to happen. As a result of continued movement-building, capacity development and streamlined advocacy efforts, Indigenous women successfully positioned their rights in the national and international agenda and continued to mobilize remotely through the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of Indigenous women running for local elections surged from 473 (2016) to 707 (2020); the number of Indigenous women elected jumped from 15 (2016) to 44 (2020). Additionally, Indigenous women developed a coordinated strategy to actively participate in and influence local and national elections. This resulted from seven years of UN Women’s partnership with Indigenous women and support to movement-building. In 2021, UN Women worked closely with the Articulação de Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB, a national network of indigenous people) and with the Articulação Nacional das Mulheres Indígenas Guerreiras da Ancestralidade (ANMIGA, a national network of indigenous women), with the following contributions: UNW’s support to Indigenous women throughout the pandemic resulted in the creation of the first national Indigenous women’s mobilization network, ANMIGA, and the realization of the 2nd March of Indigenous Women. UNW also supported ANMIGA’s participation in the Amazon Indigenous Women’s Summit in Colombia, in which the advocates discussed strategies to influence the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and demand the inclusion of Amazon Indigenous women in decision-making pertaining to climate change.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-BRA_D_2.1
Policies and strategies of public and private companies and institutions to strengthen women’s economic rights and opportunities are adopted, implemented and monitored.
In 2021, UN Women contributed to changes in institutional performance and behaviour among individuals and groups through partnerships focusing on women’s economic empowerment, which were translated into new policies and strategies by public and private companies and institutions. During the reporting year, the Brazil CO enhanced the capacities of FENATRAD, the National Federation of Domestic Workers in Brazil, through a small grant. As a result, FENATRAD organized the XII National Congress of Domestic Workers, which brought together 109 union leaders from across the country, and developed a Plano de Luta, a robust and collective action plan for 2022 highlighting the need to defend labor rights, expand formalization and improve access to health, especially mental health, for domestic workers in Brazil, and outlining practical strategies for achieving those goals. Furthermore, UN Women engagement with the private sector in 2021 resulted in 38 Brazilian companies developing their gender action plans with UN Women's direct technical support through the European Union-funded Win-Win programme, which contributed to the promotion of decent work for women, as they provide concrete measures and targets for reaching gender equality in the workplace. Of these, 23 companies were Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) signatories and developed their plan in the scope of their participation in one of the two editions of the Target Gender Equality initiative, implemented by UN Women in partnership with the UN Global Compact. Besides developing action plans, these companies also made a public commitment to have 30% of their high-level positions occupied by women by 2025 as a result of their participation in the initiative. In face of the end of the Win-Win programme, in August 2021, and as part of its sustainability strategy, knowledge products (including guides and capacity building modules) on development and implementations of action plans are available online to guide those companies still in the process of elaborating their plans. The CO also supported the implementation of the 2030 Observatory, an initiative led by the Global Compact Brazil Network to support the private sector with data and evidence to strengthen business commitments and actions towards the SDGs. Also in the reporting period, the national response to the mixed influx of Venezuelan nationals became more gender-inclusive and responsive, building on the results of the two-and-a-half-year implementation of the Joint Programme Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection (LEAP), led by UN Women in Brazil, in partnership with UNHCR and UNFPA. According to the Report on Good Practices and Lessons Learned on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in the Humanitarian Response to the Venezuela/Brazil Migration Flow, UN agencies and implementing partners programmes are gender transformative. UN Women enhanced gender expertise of the Coordination Platform for Refugee and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V) – the inter-institutional and inter-agency coordination mechanism – to analyse, advise and coordinate efforts to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the humanitarian response. It also contributed to strengthening gender mainstreaming in the Brazilian chapter of the 2021 Refugee and Migrant Response Plan for Venezuela (RMRP), by addressing the specific needs of refugee and migrant women and girls in the process of socioeconomic integration. These are partially attributable tothe engagement of 14 Venezuelan women leaders by UN Women in the R4V planning process for the first time. They contributed to the analysis on gender roles and dynamics, to the identification of women’s socioeconomic needs and strategies to address gender gaps, as well as to engage men and boys for longer-term results. The R4V Platform demonstrated better institutional performance partially attributed to UN Women’s advocacy and technical assistance. With the application of the Gender with Age Marker (GAM), an increase from 37 per cent in 2020 to 47 per cent in 2021 in RMRP actions sensitive to both gender and age was observed, as well as an increase from 11 per cent in 2020 to 14 percent in 2021 in targeted actions to reduce discrimination or inequality. Three hundred and twentyCSO and UN professionals reported having used UN Women knowledge products to develop new initiatives for refugee and migrant women in their organizations.
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