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-ECA_D_1.1
Strengthened policy and financial environment to enable gender-responsive national adaptation and effective monitoring of the SDGs
The outcome was not fully achieved, but significant progress has been made by three countries across Europe and Central Asia region (Georgia, Albania, and Kyrgyzstan) in building gender-sensitive national statistics system and strengthening government capacity for effective monitoring of progress towards SDG implementation. Two countries (Georgia, Kyrgyzstan) developed their first ever National Gender Statistics Strategy (NGSS) for 2021-2023. These strategies are necessary prerequisites for addressing the increased demand for high-quality and timely gender statistics as well as strengthening gender statistics coordination and financing mechanisms, improving data access and dissemination, and boosting the use of data for evidence-based policy actions. In Georgia, concrete actions outlined in GEOSTAT’s 2022-2023 Annual Plan address current data gaps to inform actions, advocacy and policy on gender equality and women’s empowerment. In Kyrgyzstan, the NGSS outlines key actions and interventions for filling gender data gaps for effective monitoring of the Gender Equality Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2024) and informs the National Strategy for Development of Statistics for 2022-2026 scheduled to be finalized and approved by the government in 2022. In Albania, the identified priority gender data gap and needs form the basis for guiding the National Statistics Office to integrate gender-related activities into its 5-year statistical programme, the development of a comprehensive monitoring framework for the new National Strategy on Gender Equality 2021-2030, and will serve as a basis for establishing a national framework of gender-sensitive indicators to support the monitoring and reporting on SDGs and other national and international commitments. UN Women’s contribution to these achievements include demand-driven and tailored technical expertise by engaging experts, sharing best practices, organizing training, and ensuring a highly inclusive and participatory approach. Regional dialogue and cooperation through existing regional mechanism contributed to well-coordinated actions on supporting governments to strengthen SDG monitoring. Thus, through participation in the Regional United Nations Coordination Group on Data and Statistics (R/CGDS), UN Women contributed to the 2021 annual report on progress towards the SDGs in the UNECE region with a data story on the “Consequences of the pandemic on gender inequalities in domestic and care work and on economic security in Eastern Europe and Central Asia”. The report informed peer learning on policy solutions and discussions on best practices and challenges during the annual Regional Forum on Sustainable Development in the UNECE region (Geneva, 17-18 March 2021). In addition, UN Women took an active role in the UNECE Steering Group on Gender Statistics and co-led the conceptualization and development process for the Guidance Note on the Minimum Set of Questions to assess the impact of COVID-19 on Women and Men, which was discussed by the international community of gender statistics experts during the online meeting of the Conference of European Statisticians Group of Experts on Gender Statistics (28-29 September) and approved by the Bureau of the Conference of European Statisticians at its meeting (13-14 October). As a result of these efforts, national statistics offices in the region were equipped with necessary tools on integration of gender into regular statistical data collection and assessing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on women’s and men’s wellbeing. UN Women contributed to these results through its regional programs Making Every Woman and Girl Count: Supporting the monitoring and implementation of the SDGs through better production and use of gender statistics by providing strategic guidance, organizing sub-regional trainings, peer learnings, and supporting advocacy at the national and regional level. There are still significant challenges that need to be addressed such as lack of political will, limited awareness, and knowledge about the critical role of gender statistics, under-prioritization in terms of human and financial resources. Greater efforts are needed to sustain achieved results and to ensure that gender statistics is one of the key national priorities to inform and develop the evidence-based programmes and policies. Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome remain applicable. If, as expected the strategy is successful, more national statistical systems will strengthen the governance of gender statistics and will boost the use of data and evidence to inform human centered policies.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-ECA_D_1.2
Strengthened production of gender statistics to enable the monitoring of national policies and reporting commitments under the SDGs
The outcome was not fully achieved in 2021. However, some progress was made as more countries across Europe and Central Asia region are prioritizing the production of gender-related statistics for critical data gaps such as unpaid domestic and care work, and violence against women to monitor the SDGs commitments and influence national policies on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Two countries (Georgia, Armenia) have successfully completed the design and field work for their first ever time use surveys. In Georgia, the National Statistics Office (NSO) finalized field operations for a 12-month full scale survey and proceeded with data cleaning and analysis. The survey data release is set up for June 2022. In Armenia, the NSO has gained knowledge and experience for planning, designing and piloting the entire process of time use survey, which resulted in a comprehensive set of tools developed to be used by statisticians during the full-scale survey to be launched in 2022. UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) contributed to this progress through leading the training sessions, offering guidance and mentorship support, which in turn resulted in strengthened institutional and individual capacity of 26 statisticians. One country (Kazakhstan) has been guided and supported to review the survey methodology on measuring the prevalence of violence against women (VAW) in line with the latest international recommendations on measuring different forms of violence, including sexual harassment. Eight representatives of the National Statistical Committee (NSC) strengthened their capacity to conduct the next round of VAW prevalence survey in 2022 with the help of a three-day workshop (3, 5, 8 February 2021) and 12 weekly meetings/coaching sessions (March - May 2021). The new round of VAW prevalence survey will provide an updated information on intimate partner violence and for the first time will feature new forms of non-partner violence such as sexual harassment. In Armenia this work entailed close cooperation with the European Union through their Eastern Partnership (EU STEP) project and in Kazakhstan the work was coordinated with UNFPA (Kazakhstan). Overall, these investments contributed to build the national capacity to collect and report data on SDG 5.4.1 – Time spent on unpaid domestic and care work and SDG 5.2.1 – Physical, sexual or psychological intimate partner violence, but most importantly to inform and advocate for designing national care policy and preventing gender-based violence. Recognizing the existing technical challenges and the need for more disaggregated data, three countries across the region (Albania, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan) also strengthened their capacity to generate new level of disaggregation by reprocessing primary data from household/individual surveys, as a result of technical advice and guidance provided by UN Women. The ongoing household/individual survey have been assessed from the perspective of relevance and data accuracy to generate new indicators and/or new levels of disaggregation for key national priority indicators on gender equality. In Georgia new indicators on employment feed into the UN Women’s Country Gender Equality Profile. In Albania the renewed version of the PC-Axis database contains the most updated gender indicators. In Kyrgyzstan a new thematic publication on Gender and SDGs encompasses at least 10 of the new indicators. Investment in statistical processes to produce new indicators and new level of data disaggregation will ensure periodic and coherent production of these statistics from a long-term perspective. ECA RO contributed to these results through its regional programs Making Every Woman and Girl Count: Supporting the monitoring and implementation of the SDGs through better production and use of gender statistics by providing strategic guidance, organizing national trainings, and coaching sessions, and supporting advocacy at the national and regional level. Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change outcome remains applicable. If as expected the strategy is successful, then the production of gender statistics by the National Statistical Offices of target programme countries will be strengthened for timely and quality reporting on gender-related SDG, allowing decision-makers to have access to a wide range of gender data and evidence.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-ECA_D_1.3
Improved use of gender statistics by different players to inform advocacy, research, policies and programmes
The outcome was partially achieved in the course of 2021 with some progress made by supported countries within the ECARO regional programme Making Every Woman and Girl Count: Supporting the monitoring and implementation of the SDGs through better production and use of gender statistics to open-up the gender data to the public, to improve the dissemination and communication practices and to boost the data literacy and use. More gender-related data became available and accessible through different products developed by national statistical offices across the region in close cooperation and under the technical guidance of UN Women experts on data and communication. In particular, five country knowledge products (publications, infographics) were produced by Albania, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan and one regional product ensured an increased access to gender statistics in a user-friendly format. These publications directly contributed to improved access to gender-related SDGs indicators, support further discussion on progress towards gender equality, and provide evidence for the new National Gender Equality Strategy and Country Gender Equality Brief (Albania). Gender data portal was launched in Belarus in September. This product promotes the value of "one-stop shop" for gender data and statistics in an open format as part of official statistics dissemination strategy, which will significantly increase the awareness and use of data for advocacy and informing gender-responsive policies in the country. In the long term the gender data portal aims to adopt modern tools such as SDMX that allows to standardize and modernize the data exchange process among national data producers of gender statistics. It contains 167 indicators clustered in eight thematic area and every indicator can be visualized in a chart, table, or map. In addition to sex-disaggregation most of the indicators are available by main age groups, urban/rural residence, and regions.- With the aim to increase the awareness and strengthen the capacity of policy makers and civil society representatives to use gender data, 26 representatives from sectoral ministries in Kyrgyzstan (20-22 October) and 35 representatives of CSOs in Albania (6-9 April, 15-17 September) were exposed to new knowledge and practices during tailored three national workshops organized by UN Women in partnership with national statistics offices from the respective countries. The strategic guidance and support provided by ECARO, including the peer review of training materials, facilitation of specific sessions and sharing good practices, contributed to these results. The post evaluation survey revealed the need for continuous engagement of NSOs in increasing gender data literacy through development of thematic training sessions adjusted to different level and needs of users. The outcome of these training will inform the future UN Women strategy on capacity building of users to access, analyse and transform data into actions and initiatives on gender equality and women’s empowerment. A new e-learning course on Communication of Gender Data for media was developed by American University in Central Asia (AUCA) and School of Data from Kyrgyzstan in close cooperation with ECARO. This practice will be further upscaled during the Phase II of Women Count project so that students and young media professionals are equipped with basic knowledge to produce high-quality human data stories and to boost demand for new gender data in a more coherent and systematic way. Despite these important results, the use of data for informed decisions and actions is still low in most of the countries. Further investments are needed for building analytical and communication skills of NSOs and on the other hand to develop the capacity for policy makers and other stakeholders to use and transpose data into actions. ECARO contributed to these results through its regional program Making Every Woman and Girl Count.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-ECA_D_1.4
Public officials from Albania, BiH, Kosovo*, and Serbia apply GRB tools learned through exchange and capacity building activities.
The outcome was partially achieved in 2021 with significant progress demonstrated. High-level public officials from Western Balkans, participated and exchanged their experience in the regional event entitled “High-level roundtable: Budget choices in a time of pandemic: Advancing gender equality or holding it back” in May 2021. The discussions informed by four country/territory and one regional report demonstrating initial impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on budgetary decisions and gender equality enabled participants to build their capacities to take action for mitigating the adverse gender impact of pandemic. As a concrete example, in Serbia, Ministry of Culture changed their modality for subsidies to enable both women and men working in culture sector have equal access. Another achievement from Albania ensured increased budget allocated for subsidy schemes for rural women provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. In Kosovo, three special measures to assist economic recovery of women were included in the Economic Recovery Package issued by the Ministry of Finance. These achievements are based on UN Women ECA RO’s advocacy efforts together with the respective offices informed by the high-level round table. Participants of the second regional exchange of experience event on “Mainstreaming Gender in Integrated Planning System and the role of IPSIS (Integrated Planning Information System) and AFMIS (Albanian Financial Management Information System)” increased their knowledge on tracking budgetary allocations for gender equality in a transparent and accountable manner which entails an effective GRB application. The meeting report demonstrates that the event served for an analysis on identifying requisites, challenges and next steps which are necessary for application at country/territory level. UN Women contributed to this result by hosting and leading this regional event with the dedicated participation of public officials from Albania, BiH, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. The most significant achievement of this event is building the best practice example for an effective GRB application in Albania under the umbrella of the Ministry of Finance and Prime Minister’s office with the technical support of UN Women country and regional offices. Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome remain applicable. • All references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
outcome XM-DAC-41146-ECA_D_2.1
More women affected by COVID-19 crisis play a greater role and become self-reliant through strengthened economic resilience.
2,361 women including from marginalized and vulnerable groups increased their business and economic knowledge to access new sources of income and livelihood opportunities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They were empowered to play a greater role and become self-reliant through strengthened economic resilience. 500 rural women developed 26 business plans to generate new income and livelihoods with sustainable small businesses, and 156 rural women commenced economic activities with new jobs created through the establishment of 23 women-owned start-ups. A further 56 rural women created joint small-scale entrepreneurial initiatives through business knowledge and greater earning opportunities. 233 women became financially literate, and were introduced to financial products and services, and were equipped with practical skills to improve their business activities and family budgets. 169 women were educated on becoming energy efficient and introduced to energy saving technologies to enable more efficient small-scale economic activities and conscious energy consumption for their businesses and households. 24 rural women-artisans enhanced the marketing and sales prospects of their products with 43 samples of new handicraft merchandises enriched in embroidery and colour matching. 10 rural women made and sold bread to 47 women on a daily basis which in return not only generated a salary for the bread “producers” and paid utility costs of two bakeries, but also reduced the burden of domestic work/bread making by releasing “buyers” time to reinvest in livelihood activities. 550 villagers (182 women) enhanced their awareness of unpaid care work and were introduced to attitudinal and behaviour change interventions related to household and family care duties to boost rural women’s income generating activities and economic empowerment. 604 women including nationals living and working overseas affected by the outbreak enhanced their business planning skills and financial knowledge to build back their livelihoods to offset COVID-19’s economic crisis. 42 businesswomen from underrepresented groups became better equipped with knowledge and skills to start-up and expand their businesses through a UN Women supported mentorship program. 30 women-led start-ups enhanced their IT knowledge and skills through a start-up pre-acceleration program in STEM. Of these, 15 companies (owned and managed by women) generated their first sales within one month of training and 17 companies digitized their business through websites, social media platforms and e-commerce platforms. Over 200 women entrepreneurs created business growth plans and shaped business resilience ideas to COVID-19 and future shocks through the regions first Women’s Entrepreneurship Expo, a multilingual virtual platform for learning and networking. 66 women entrepreneurs from the region enhanced their business knowledge and skills to play a greater role in becoming economically self-reliant with entrepreneurial start-up or growth plans amid COVID-19 under a regional “Women Start-up Programme” pilot. UN Women provided virtual, in-person and hybrid platforms and tools to women and young girls from across the region to diversify their economic and livelihood activities, including via e-commerce platforms. At the regional level, 14 business skills development modules and toolkits increased knowledge of 90.5 per cent of participating women and young girls on better business and livelihood opportunities, during the Women’s Entrepreneurship Expo and Women Start-up Programme pilot. Products shared included six toolkits/how-to guides on: (i) Blueprint Modelling, (ii) Branding and Marketing, (iii) Entering Demand-Supply and Value Chains, (iv) Rethinking Digital Sales and E-Commerce, (v) Financial Goals and Resilience Building, and (vi) Business Pitches. A Prototype Business Plan guided women entrepreneurs to create, refine and test 16 prototype business ideas. 7 gender sensitive entrepreneurship modules enhanced women’s skills on: (i) Foundation and Introduction to Entrepreneurship; (ii) Business Idea Generation and Development; (iii) Building Business Plan; (iv) Building and Managing Mirco Small and Medium Entreprise (MSMSs) Teams; (v) Marketing Skills and Dynamic Markets; (vi) Effective Pitching and Communication Skills and Advanced Strategic Planning for MSMEs; and (vii) Financial Planning for Small Businesses. Partners included Moldova’s Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure and the Organization for SME Sector Development, ‘Community Action for rural development’ (CARD) in Kyrgyzstan, Stichting SPARK (SPARK) a regional organization, the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) “Viitorul” in Moldova and private sector organizations contributed with training platforms and entrepreneurial development opportunities for women. A further 47 organizations partnered with UN Women for the Women’s Entrepreneurship Expo as contributors, media partners, speakers and business networks.Showing 1 - 5 of 10
Disclaimer and notes
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).
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).