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-MDA_D_1.1
More women fully participate and lead in gender responsive governance processes and institutions, including in the security sector
The outcome was fully achieved . The number of women who participate and lead gender responsive governance processes exceeded the aggregated annual targets set for the Strategic Note (SN) implementation period of 2018-. Moreover, the scope of the outcome was extended in 2022 with the response to the refugee crisis resulted from Russia’s war against Ukraine. In 2022, significant steps towards the achievement of the outcome and institutionalization of UN women’s contribution to the country’s gender equality agenda were registered. A total of 2,043 public servants (including 1,533 women, representing all Central Public Authorities, including the electoral management bodies and the security and defence sectors, as well as the 201 women-led Local Public Authorities) have enhanced capacities to mainstream gender in policies, budgets, prevent and combat gender-based discrimination and harassment within their institutions. UN Women contributed to this through its continuous expert support in partnerships with Academia and Civil Society Organizations in 2022.. To sustain the results achieved, three on-line courses on “Gender equality in public administration”, “Prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace” and “Women, Peace and Security” were developed and institutionalized on the E-learning platform of the Public Administration Institute and included in the 2023 Training Plan of Public Servants from Moldova. 14 women civil society leaders, equally representing both banks of Nistru joined a Women's Advisory Board established to advance women’s meaningful participation in conflict settlement and peace processes. Three Women’s Discussion Platforms comprising 45 women from Transnistrian region were created to support women’s leadership, community-based peacebuilding and human-security. A two-year flagship project from the UN Peacebuilding Fund was secured by UN Women to promote inclusive peace, trust and social cohesion on both banks of Nistru river through the advancement of gender equality and human rights implemented in partnership with UNDP and OHCHR. At the local level, 44,932 beneficiaries, (including 24,025 women/girls and 20,907 men/boys) in 44 communities benefitted from gender-inclusive social infrastructure and services as result of 61 local initiatives implemented with Sweden and EU support with communities contributing with over 50% of the funds from local budgets and private citizens. Gender-responsive lawmaking and oversight was strengthened with the establishment of a cross-party Women’s Parliamentary Caucus in 2022 supported by UN Women along with UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF. The Caucus succeeded to table a joint bill voted into law that grants mothers the right to receive both the maternity allowance and salary , thus enabling their labor force participation, decreasing the burden of unpaid care work and securing their place of employment upon return from maternity leave. Policy frameworks advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment were further strengthened in 2022 . The Government developed key policy documents aligned with the gender equality requirements for EU candidacy status granted to Moldova in 2022. Thus, a new National Programme and Action Plan to Accelerate Progress on Gender Equality and the second generation National Programme and Action Plan for the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 were drafted. Important progress to advance Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) at national level was achieved. The Government of Moldova committed under the Updates to the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies with IMF from 7 September 2022 to strengthen gender equality efforts towards building the tracking and reporting system on gender-related spending in the public finance management. Thus, the new Public Finance Management (PFM) Strategy for 2023-2030 builds on the findings of Gender Responsive Public Financial Management Assessment , as part of Moldova’s Public Expenditure and Accountability Assessment (PEFA), released in 2022. UN Women CO succeeded to partner with the IMF office in Moldova, EU Delegation and World Bank around a common advocacy agenda to accelerate GRB in Moldova. As part of the gendered policies and development plans the national statistical system will get more attention by 2030 as the new strategy was approved and the SDG monitoring framework endorsed by the Government. Four state institutions committed to integrate gender equality principles in their policies and processes thanks to UN Women assistance. Namely, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration has a Gender Action Plan following the first Gender Audit and a revised Law on Diplomatic Service to reflect gender perspective. Concurrently, a Gender Audit of 8 internal regulations of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and the Centre for Continuous Electoral Training (CCET) was completed in 2022. The CCET adopted a Regulation to Prevent and Combat Sexual Harassment . The CEC drafted a similar regulation, subject to approval. The National Penitentiary Administration approved an Internal Regulation on P revention, Examination and Reporting Gender-based Discrimination, Harassment and/or Sexual Harassment . Humanitarian action Further to the invasion of Russia into Ukraine, the scope of the outcome was extended as UN Women Moldova engaged into humanitarian response to provide essential life-saving support, protect refugee women ang girls from gender-based violence, mainstream gender equality and contribute to better coordination of refugee response provided at the country level by the Government of the Republic of Moldova, UN Agencies, international and local CSOs. 6,277 refugee women and girls , and their families benefitted from emergency food and non-food items, protection services, social integration, livelihood and economic opportunities, and information about their rights and access to services. 36 local CSOs and women’s organizations improved their knowledge and skills on humanitarian programming and leadership and were able to meaningfully participate in the humanitarian response. [https :// bit.ly/3CFWUKA] Humanitarian coordination group and refugee coordination structures integrated elements of gender mainstreaming through their work (indicators, needs assessments, response plans and reporting), and were better able to analyse and respond to the distinct needs and priorities of refugee women, men, girls and boys. [ https://bit.ly/3GZnAst ], [ https://bit.ly/3J0qVJp ]. Actors involved in the humanitarian response (UN, NGO, Government staff, local government actors, and front-line workers) gained new knowledge and skills on how to mainstream gender into their humanitarian response, about GBV prevention and response, as well as on refugee crisis management as a result of tools, guidelines and trainings. UN Women CO as part of UNCT coordination structure for humanitarian action, established and led the Gender Task Force and managed to mobilize resources from the Multi Donor Trust Fund (Women Peace and humanitarian Fund (WPHF), Swiss Development Cooperation, US Department of State and Japan as part of gender-response management of refugee crisis. A new ToC was established based on the experience gained from the previous SN (2018-2022) implementation as well as lessons learned and country's national priorities. Women in decision making, despite the the major progress, remain under-represented, still face multiple barriers, are subjected to harassment, harmful norms and stereotypes exacerbated in the context of the energy, economic and refugee crisis faced by Moldova in 2022. The new TOC will build on the more accountable, transparent, human rights-based and gender -responsive governance which will empowers all people of Moldova to participate in and contribute to development processes and humanitarian -peace nexus.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-MDA_D_2.1
Parliament and Government adopt and implement legislation, policies, and services that address unpaid domestic and care work and improve income security and decent work for women.
The Outcome was partially achieved withsignificant results attained to the perspective of work done during the SN 2028-2022 towards the legislation, policies and services that addressed unpaid domestic and care work, improved income security and decent work for women. However, in terms of services limited progress was recorded. 300 women and men in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova (MPs and staffers) have access to childcare service within their place of work, which enable them to reconcile work and family responsibility, manage workload during extraordinary or long sessions in Parliament and overcome barriers to career progressing. The opening of chid service in public sector - happening for first time in the history of Republic of Moldova in 2022- resulted after multi-year advocacy and paved the way tocreate new child spaces in the public sector (underway in the general inspectorate of police) as well as for important legislative amendments. More Women will benefit from income security as t( https://multimedia.parlament.md/parlamentul-a-creat-cadrul-legal-pentru-serviciile-de-alternativa-de-ingrijire-a-copiilor-cu-varsta-de-pana-la-trei-ani-%EF%BF%BC/ ). The law establishes the general framework for functioning of alternative childcare services for children up to the age of 3, it regulates the requirements, tasks and responsibilities of service providers of alternative childcare services, the way of organization and operation and the types of services, as well as the supervision and protection of the beneficiaries of these services. In line with the provisions of the Law, the secondary legislation was developed that implied modifications to the Labour and Education Law, the Tax Codes as well as the Patent law. Following the legislation changes, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection developed a new National Action Plan on childcare with specific objectives and actions to increase enrolment of children in kindergartens and favour increased participation of women in the labor market. Parliament amended the Labor Code in March 2022 to include provisions related to pay transparency. The definitions of the equal pay for work of equal value were introduced, as well as the principle of the transparency of the salary system and obligation of employees to use the evaluation of the functions . To sustain and operationalize the legislative changes and enable increased participation of women in the labor market and reduce the gender wage gap, the Government approved in May 2022 a Roadmap on Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) and established a Working Group tasking the Economic Council under the Prime Minister Office for coordination and monitoring of implementation.( https://moldova.unwomen.org/en/stories/comunicat-de-presa/2022/06/a-fost-lansata-foaia-de-parcurs-privind-abilitarea-economica-a-femeilor). As stated by the president of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Policy and European Integration Doina Gherman “Women’s economic empowerment is crucial for the entire society, representing a women’s right, and, in order to ensure it is respected, we need laws, but also policies and concrete actions. (https://consecon.gov.md/en/2022/05/13/roadmap-on-womens-economic-empowerment-launched/ ) Although a crisis year, 21 women created new and around 90 women (including small producers) expanded their businesses, as a result of their engagement in Accelerator programme and voucher support. Women business owners and small producers increased their resilience to crisis thought trainings and mentorship on business and personal development, pre-accelerator/accelerator programmes as well as by accessing financial assistance through vouchers destinated for services and equipment. About 30 women were employed or passed an internship in an IT company, and other women are using their new knowledge in their current field of work. Over 800 women and girls, including from underrepresented groups, increased their engagement in the ICT sector aiming to impact equality, independence and create better access to economic opportunities, through community and support activities, Women in Online Work Programme, free access to new created IHubs in Balti and Comrat. In line with the Roadmap for WEE, the private sector increased its commitments towards gender equality. 11 companies from Moldova officially subscribed to Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in 2022. CO contribution to these results offered through extensive technical and expert support in the amendment of the legislation, conducted evidenced based advocacy on the need for institutionalization of care, provided policy advice to the Parliamentary Committee on Social, Health and Family as well as to Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, relevant national institutions, CSOs. UN Women managed to partner with UNFPA and UNICEF, to assess the costs of expanding early childhood education and care and its potential impact on employment creation and women labour participation rate. The result of the assessment will be released in 2023 based on the collection of data for cost estimation of childcare and the simulations of their impact on the employment and fiscal revenue effects. Thus, the TOC of the new SN (2023-2027) was established based on the experience gained from the previous SN implementation (2018-2022) as well as lessons learned and country's national priorities
outcome XM-DAC-41146-MDA_D_3.1
Parliament and Government adopt and implement laws, policies and strategies to prevent violence against women and girls and deliver quality essential services
Although substantive progress has been recorded, the Outcome has been partially achieved. Legal and policy milestones have been attained while the delivery of quality essential services for women and girls require additional investments. Women survivors of violence received better protection from law enforcement officials in 2022 as the number of emergency barring orders issued, increased by almost three times since 2017. (5,907 Protection Order (PO) in 2022, 2,161 PO in 2017). Women and girls feel more empowered and safer as a result of the increased number of the personalized safety plans issued by law enforcement (,4843 in 2022 in comparison with previous year 3,920). 460 women survivors of violence from Cahul, Ungheni, Telenesti, Soroca, Balti, Telenesti, Stefan-Voda and Hincesti were assisted and referred to the essential services through NGO and public service providers, out of which 14 women survivors got jobs and started a new business. This is a result of the important legislative changes, holistic communication campaigns and capacity building for service providers, including development of local referral mechanisms in Violence Against Women (VAW) supported by UN Women in collaboration with Central and Local Public Authorities (LPAs) , responsible partners, other CSOs and stakeholders in the field. The new legal framework ( law #316 ) which covers all the important provisions UN Women has been working on, was approved by the Parliament in November 2022, thus building on previous legal amendments, aiming to combat violence against women and girls in line with Istanbul Convention, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) , and Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The amendments aimed to ensure better protection for victims of gender-based violence, with particular focus on sexual violence, from justice and law enforcement perspective. This was coupled with the approval and roll out of the Intersectoral protocol for coordinated response on VAW. In addition, the development of the first ever specialized service in Ungheni for victims of sexual violence is in progress. Two standard operating procedures (SOpS) are under Government approval and the construction works of the premises for the specialized service have been finalized. Ministry of Labour and Social Protection approved the draft concept for the new Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) National Program on meeting the needs of women and girls' survivors of gender-based violence, which was informed by the Evaluation reports of the 1 st national strategy for prevention and combating VAW and DV for 2018-2022, both supported by UN Women in partnership with national NGO’s expertise coupled with CoE international expertise. Along with that, 5 small-scale programs on economic empowerment of women survivors of violence have been co-created and piloted in selected districts. MLSP and National Social Assistance Agency have available an E-learning course for social assistants on addressing and referring cases of violence against women, which will be compulsory as of January 2023. 61 people are registered and benefiting from the course by now. Over 658 professionals (518 women, 140 men) from more than 22 regions (including service providers, members of Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs), educational specialists, local public authorities' representatives, football coaches, church leaders, etc.) have knowledge to respond to cases of DV, VAW; combat gender stereotypes and advance favorable social norms. Parliamentary standing Committee for Social Protection, Health and Family has an initial draft law on psychological activity in the Republic of Moldova, supported by UNW, to be presented for public consultations beginning of 2023. The Ministry of Education and Research has available an optional course „Harmonious relations in the family" for the students in grade 8 and 9, developed by a national NGO with support of UN Women, which responds to the provisions of IC on prevention of VAW, DV. Over 69 institutions and CSOs from different regions of the country have strengthened capacities in GE and EVAW through capacity development, funding, technical assistance, including on the optional course on harmonious relationships; on use of the VR innovative tool developed previously by UN Women, on violence prevention in secondary schools supported by IP, UNICEF. Over 7,000 women from vulnerable groups (over 1,000 women victims and survivors of violence, 648 women with disabilities, 561 WLHIV, 912 elderly women, 469 single mothers, 403 women from Roma community, women refugees, other women in situations of risk) from different regions of the country have increased their knowledge and skills to exercise their rights and access available services as a result of various type of support offered by UN Women and responsible partners through capacity building, mentorship, public discussions, coupled with essential kits distribution. Last but not least, over 2,261 youth (over 1,326 girls/young women, 933 boys/young men, 2 gender diverse persons) from over 22 regions of the country have enhanced their capacity and skills on harmonious relationships, gender equality issues and ways of preventing gender-based violence (GBV) due to informative sessions using virtual reality tool, optional course integrated in the educational curriculum and other interventions implemented/supported by UN Women and responsible partners. In overall 1,400,000 interactions have been reached on social media (views, likes, etc) by the communication campaigns messages on gender equality, positive social norms, and prevention of GBV conducted by UN Women and partners. The implementation of the improved legislative framework on EVAW aligned to IC will yet require additional investments on development and providing quality essential services for women and girls survivors of violence. As the 2022 was the last year of the Strategic Plan of 2018-2022 the new SN TOC (2023-2027) was established based on the experience gained from the previous SN implementation as well as lessons learned and country's national priorities. The TOCShowing 1 - 3 of 3
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References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
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