1. Issue-Based Coalition on Gender
ECA Regional Working Group on Gender (RWGG)
Joint presentation by UN Women and UNFPA
5 December 2016
The entire presentation will be done by Ingibjorg on behalf of UN Women and UNFPA, the co-chairs of RWGG.
At the end of the presentation, Alanna will add her additional points.
This presentation summarizes our key achievements in 2016 and the next steps for 2017.
Background Information
ECA Regional Working Group on Gender (RWGG) was established at the beginning of 2016 with the TOR approved by the Regional Directors.
RWGG is now being transformed into Issue-Based Coalition of Gender to expand the partnership and collaboration with non-UN regional actors in the context of SDGs.
RWGG consists of 11 UN agencies/entities, co-chaired by UN Women and UNFPA.
The membership of non-UN actors is currently under consideration, and RWGG members will discuss at their next planning meeting on December 15th.
RWGG member agencies are:
FAO
ILO
UNDP
UNECE
UNEP
UNESCO
UNFPA (co-chair)
UNICEF
UN Women (co-chair)
WFP
WHO

2. Issue Brief & Guidance Note for SDGs
Issue Brief No. 4 on Gender (a par tof Regional Advocacy Paper)
Regional Guidance Note on Gender & SDGs
Objectives
To support UNCTs to better understand the major gender trends and issues in the region
To provide UNCTs and GTGs key advocacy messages on gender, linking with SDGs
To support UNCTs and GTGs in SDGs nationalization and implementation process in a gender responsive manner.
To share country examples and promising practices from the region + key additional resources
Timeline
Fully revised version prepared in mid-Nov
Finalization after RD’s review in Dec.
Outline - finalized
First Draft in mid-December (delay due to the prioritization of Issue Brief on Gender)
Finalization in Q1 of dissemination
Collaboration with key non-UN partners
No (only by RWGG 11 UN agencies + drafting team of other 13 issue briefs)
Advisory Group consisting of key regional actors will review and comment on the draft and to support dissemination in 2017 (TOR being drafted by UNDP and UNFPA)
Gender Mainstreaming
RWGG provided gender-specific inputs to mainstream gender in all other 13 Issue Briefs
Gender is the main focus, presented as an accelerator and solution for the SDGs implementation
The slide summarizes the key main deliverables of RWGG this year to contribute to SDGs.
Issue Brief on Gender (as a part of the 14 issues briefs of Regional Advocacy Paper)
Issue brief itself will be discussed during the Session Item 2 “Update of the Regional Advocacy Paper”, so no need to go into details during the presentation. The table shows how Issue Brief on Gender will be different from the Guidance Note and how it will complement the Guidance Note.
Regional Guidance Note on Gender and SDGs
While Issue Brief on Gender provide key advocacy messages and an overview of key regional gender issues, the Guidance Note is to provide more practical “how to” mainstream gender in the SDGs nationalization processes.
This is the main deliverable of RWGG, as specified in the 2016 Joint Work Plan.
Co-Lead Agencies are UNFPA and UNDP, with the support of UN Women and UNICEF
Since we had to prioritize the Issue Brief first, the timeline for this work has been delayed. The first draft will be ready in mid-December.
We need commitment from all the 11 member agencies to review and comment on the draft once it’s ready in mid-December.
UNDP and UNFPA are currently finalizing the TOR for the advisor group to bring non-UN regional actors in the finalization and dissemination process.

3. Gender SURGE Capacity on SDGs in 2016
SDG-related support to partners in duty stations
Kosovo integrated SDG 5 Targets into National Development Strategy
Turkey organized Regional SDGs meeting for Government partners.
Turkmenistan organized awareness raising and capacity building sessions for the government on gender and SDG indicators.
SDG related support to GTGs and UNCTs in duty station
Kyrgyzstan supported GTG to mainstream gender to SDGs nationalization process.
Moldova advocated for a twin-track approach of gender in the development of the UNDAF.
Ukraine ensured gender equality is fully reflected in the country analysis and the SDGs national consultation.
Support to Other Courtiers & Regional Initiatives
Participant from Kyrgyzstan provided support to Ukraine on mainstreaming gender into national sustainable development agenda.
Participant from Moldova conducted workshop with governmental and civil society organization partners on Gender and SDGs in Kyrgyzstan
Provided inputs to the Regional Guidance Note on Gender and SDGs.
RWGG support to TOT participants
RBM Training provided to GTGs/TOT participants in BiH, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine.
Information sharing (examples and resources on gender and SDGs) via Inter-Agency Yammer
We have regional gender SERGE capacity (ECA Regional gender roster), consisting of the 32 gender experts across 18 countries from 9 UN agencies, who attended the Training of Trainers (TOT) in November 2015 in Istanbul. They are available to support UNCTs and GTGs in their own duty station as well as in other countries to strengthen gender integration in SDGs process and UNDAFs/CCAs.
The slide highlights some of the key activities reported in 2016 (not full list >> full list will be provided in the report)
From April to November 2016, 52 activities were carried out by the participants in their duty station countries. 88% of activities covered SDGs. 12 activities were carried out in other countries and regional initiatives in ECA region.
TOT participants actively supported non-UN partners (such as government, CSO, media, academia) in SDG nationalization/implementation.
Various technical support was provided to GTG’s, UNCT’s and other UN partners, strengthening SDGs integration in UNDAF, sharing knowledge on SDGs and strengthening gender capacity of key partners.
RWGG supported these TOT participants by:
Organizing RBM training in 6 countries for GTG and TOT participants (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine)
Sharing country examples and resources on Gender and SDGs via inter-agency Yammer
UN Women will be sharing the report in December to provide more details.

4. Knowledge Management in 2016
Knowledge Generation at Regional Level
Regional analysis on UNDAFs
Regional analysis on Gender Theme Groups (GTGs) and Results Groups on Gender (RGGs)
Issue Brief on Gender
Regional Guidance Note on Gender and SDGs (in progress)
Knowledge gathering and sharing across 18 countries
Inter-Agency Yammer, connecting GTG/RGG members and TOT participants across 18 countries + RWGG members
Share resources and country examples on SDGs, UNDAFs, Data, etc.
In 2016, RWGG put significant efforts in the areas of 1) knowledge generation at the regional level; and 2) knowledge gathering and sharing across 18 countries (where UNCTs present).
Knowledge generation at the regional level
We have completed the following materials to share with RCs, UNCTs and Gender Theme Groups
Regional analysis on UNDAFs and CCAs from the 2014 UNDAF roll-out countries (12 countries) with key findings and recommendations
UN Women is currently updating this report by adding the analysis from 2015 UNDAF roll-out countries (Albania and Montenegro) and BiH. The update report will be available in January 2017.
Regional analysis on Gender Theme Groups and Results Group on Gender (18 countries) with key findings and recommendations
Issue Brief on Gender
Ongoing work
Regional Guidance Note on Gender and SDGs (currently in progress)
Knowledge gathering and sharing across 18 countries
We have established an Inter-Agency Yammer, online platform to connect all the GTG member and TOT participants across 18 countries as well as RWGG members.
We are collecting and sharing key resources and country examples on SDGs on a regular basis.

5. Gender Analysis of 15 UNDAFs and CCAs
Key findings
Recommendations
CCAs of Albania and Montenegro were better at identifying key gender issues, compared to 2014 roll-out countries. But, it did not translate into more gender specific outcomes.
If CCA identifies key critical gender issues and UN’s comparative advantage, it should be translated into gender-specific outcome(s).
Outcome statements in 15 countries:
48% gender specific or sensitive, but 31% gender blind.
Reduced number of outcomes (4) resulted in no-gender specific outcome (Albania and Montenegro).
At least one outcome statement should include specific behavioral change of rights-holders and/or duty-bearers to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Out of 592 outcome indicators in 15 countries:
37% gender specific/sensitive and 25% gender blind
211 were possible to disaggregate data by sex, but only 81 indicators out of 211 (38%) were disaggregated by sex.
A lack of gender statistics (ex: GBV/VAW).
At least one indicator per outcome should be gender specific or sensitive (including sex disaggregation).
Where possible/relevant, disaggregate baseline/target by sex to measure gender equality.
Enhance national capacity on gender statistics and data (ex: GBV/VAW).
Environment/DRR is weakest thematic area:
9 out of 94 outcome indicators were gender sensitive (9.6%) + Weak gender analysis in CCA
Need further collaboration with UNEP and UNDP at CCA and UNDAF drafting stages
UN Women ECA Regional Office recently added three more countries to the regional analysis of UNDAFs (which was first conducted in 2015 with 12 countries from 2014 UNDAF roll-out countries) – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Montenegro. >> so in total UNDAFs from 15 countries being analyzed.
Albania and Montenegro are the two 2015 UNDAF roll-out countries.
The table on the slide summarizes the key findings and recommendations from the analysis across 15 countries.
We see some improvements from 2015 UNDAF roll-out countries (Albania and Moldova), but the overall gaps and issues with the application of twin-track approach of gender (i.e. gender mainstreaming + gender focus) still exist in these two UNDAFs as well as from 2014 UNDAF roll-out countries (12).
Final report on updated UNDAF/CCA analysis (including the 3 additional countries) will be available in January.
UN Women RO plans to share the updated report with RDs, UNCTs, GTGs and Regional Working Group on Gender.
UN Women plan to update the report further next year in 2017 once we have the final version of UNDAFs from 2016 UNDAF roll-out countries (Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Ukraine)

6. Analysis of 15 UNDAF from ECA region: Twin Track Approach of Gender in Outcome Statements
2015
This slide shows how many of outcome statements are gender specific, gender-sensitive, gender-neutral or gender blind.
2015 UNDAF-rollout countries (from Albania and Montenegro) show an improvement in UNDAF outcomes in terms of gender mainstreaming (i.e. having more gender sensitive outcomes).
However, they failed to have gender-specific outcomes (although CCAs heighted key gender issues and UN”s comparative advantage). Application of Twin-track approach of gender (gender focus + gender mainstreaming) is still big challenge.
It seems that having only 4 outcomes in total in these two countries made it even more difficult to have a dedicated outcome on gender (compare to other 2014 roll-out courtiers that had more outcomes)
FYR Macedonia, Turkey, Serbia, Kosovo have done relatively a good job with application of twin-track approach (i.e. good balance of gender focus + gender mainstreaming)
FYR Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro are the only countries that did not have any gender-blind outcome statements.
For next steps
PSG Needs to better support Results Groups at the preparation of joint work plans to ensure the twin-track approach of gender at the output, activity and budget level.

7. Key Challenges Next Steps for 2017
A lack of commitment from some member agencies for attending meetings and providing inputs
A lack of information sharing from some member agencies on upcoming events and initiatives – preventing the joint efforts and coordination
>> RDs to ensure that the assigned members allocate their time to contribute and share information in a timely manner for joint planning, programming and advocacy
Next Steps for 2017
Planning Meeting among RWGG 11 UN agencies on Dec. 15th to develop Joint Work Plan
Partnership with key regional non- UN actors on Gender/SDGs >> consultation meeting with key partners in early 2017
Joint work on gender and SDGs with key regional actors, using the Regional Guidance Note on Gender and SDGs
Support to UNCTs, GTGs/RGGs though technical support, SURGE Capacity and Knowledge Management work
This last slide summarize the key challenges and next steps
Key challenges
As the Issue Based Coalition on Gender, we are now expected to expand our partnership and joint work with non-UN regional actors on gender in the context of SDGs. However, this would not work unless us, the 11 UN agencies, are more committed to work together as One UN.
As summarized in the slide, this year, we are still facing key challenges due to the lack of commitment and information sharing from some of the member agencies. We need Regional Directors’ support to ensure that the assigned members of RWGG actively contribute to the joint work of RWGG and share information in a timely manner.
Next Steps
In 2017, we need to put more efforts into strengthening partnership and joint work with key non-UN regional partners on gender and SDGs. This needs to be further discussed at our planning meeting on December 15th.
We welcome any suggestions for our work in 2017.
>>> Please ask Alanna/UNFPA at the end of the presentation to see if she has additional points to make