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-PAK_D_6.3
Legal frameworks and policies to advance women’s leadership and participation in decision making and in humanitarian action and economic empowerment
A wide array of stakeholders, including women peacebuilders, CSOs and peace networks like Af-Pak Women Association has been engaged to establish and strengthen partnership. The strategic partnership has established with National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) to pave the way for advocacy to promote women's leadership in peacebuilding by prioritizing government’s focus on the role of women in peace and security, and potential development of WPS National Action Plan. UN Women PCO aligned the workplan with NACTA’s Outreach Policy to address national priorities. The strategic partnership also allowed UN Women PCO to share lessons learned and pathways to promote women's leadership in peacebuilding. This will act as an important step towards advancing legal frameworks and policies that promote women's leadership and participation in decision-making and in humanitarian action and economic empowerment. At a local level, for the first time, 25 female faith leaders in Karachi were engaged to strengthen their concepts of peace and inter-faith and intra-faith harmony. As a result of this endeavor, these diverse faith leaders took leads in organizing 04 community engagement sessions reaching 105 women, to promote peaceful co-existence and emerge as local female faith leaders. Engaging female faith leaders has paved the way to increased opportunity for women to voice their issues and empower them to take lead and participate in decision-making. At a regional level, Afghan and Pakistani women peacebuilders had increased opportunities and platforms to strengthen women's leadership role and highlight their voices, concerns and experiences of conflict and promote regional peace and stability through UN Women’s supported bilateral and regional dialogues (16 events), capacity building sessions (7 sessions) and community engagement events (37 events). To increase women's role in political and electoral processes, PCO initiated a participatory gender audit of the Election Commission of Pakistan. The gender audit aims to ascertain the extent to which the commission has embraced gender mainstreaming in its work, organizational structure and in its processes. The gender audit will enhance the collective capacity of the ECP to examine its activities form a gender perspective, and identify strengths and weaknesses in promoting gender equality issues. For 2023, PCO plans on initating a gender audit of the federal parliament, that will pave the way for increasing women's role in leadership positions and help build a pipeline of women leaders.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-PAK_O_1
Enhanced coordination, coherence and accountability of the UN system for commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment
The outcome was achieved during the year. The UNSDCF was finalized and signed by the government this year. Within the UNSDCF, UN Women leads the Outcome group on Gender Equality, and led all consultations and technical discussions leading to the finalization of the Outcome 2 problem statement, theory of change and results framework. The UNSDCF will go into implementation from 2023. The commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment of the UN system was exemplified during the monsoon floods in Pakistan. The gender theme group (GTG) - a forum chaired by PCO - was instrumental in integrating gender perspectives in humanitarian response following the disastrous floods of 2022 in Pakistan. PCO mobilized the UNCT to carry out a separate gender needs assessment following the floods, which aimed to inform all flood-response and rehabilitation decision-making. The GTG is now leading this exercise through its technical advisory committee and informing the humanitarian response plan on a regular basis. As chair of the GTG, PCO also finalized the UNCT SWAP Scorecard exercise by engaging a lead consultant and inter-agency team of 12 agencies. The SWAP Scorecard report and action plan have been endorsed by the UNCT and are being taken forward for implementation.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-PAK_O_2
Increased engagement of partners in support of UN-Women’s mandate
The outcome was achieved during the year. PCO engaged with partners through collaboration on joint events, research and advocacy efforts, amplifying global observances including International Women’s Day (IWD) 2022, 16 Days of Activism and HeForShe campaign for engagement of men and boys. During the year 2022, through collaboration, partners including government institutions, CSOs and private sector have increased capacity to take lead on campaigns and outreach on gender equality issues. The private sector including Soorty and Nishat has demonstrated commitments on the agenda of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) by increasing the outreach of these campaigns in corporate sectors. Effective advocacy also resulted in 25+ new companies joining the WEPs network.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-PAK_O_3
High quality of programmes through knowledge, innovation, results-based management and evaluation
This outcome was achieved during the reporting period. In line with the PCO Vision - developed in 2021 - and the Strategic Note (2023-27), PCO continued to expand its programmatic scope through quality implementation and innovative solutions to advance the GEWE agenda in the country. New programmes and projects were designed and discussed with potential donors and partners, including in the areas of women political participation, women in technology, financial inclusion and humanitarian assistance. These new initatives were in addition to PCO's traditional programming in the areas of women economic empowerment, women peace and security, ending violence against women and girls, governance and human rights. High quality of programmes and quality implementation was ensured through robust monitoring mechanisms, 6-weekly Managers' and Programme Meetings, project reviews and periodic trouble-shooting sessions. Finally, for enhancing capacity of staff on Project Management based on RBM principles, 9 PCO staff members attended a Project Management training hosted by ROAP in Bangkok. The training increased staff capacity (and resultant application) of topics such as risk management, project management and stakeholder engagement.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-PAK_O_4
Improved management of financial and human resources in pursuit of results
The financial resources and delivery of results were regularly monitored. Options were explored to minimise costs with enhanced results e.g. inter programme linkages were explores for efficiency and effectiveness. New positions continued to be advertised as a part of the new PCO organogram, with qualified staff being selected after an exhaustive recruitment process. The new organogram - among other changes - also includes a PA pool to help streamline workflow. The first job swap was also rolled out in 2022 in the HR department, between PCO and ROAP.Showing 6 - 10 of 10
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References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).