In May 2022, the UN Women Regional Office for Arab States and the Government of Finland organized a two-day workshop titled “Women Building Peace in the Arab States: Regional Synergies and Cross-Learning” to highlight women’s mediation efforts in their communities and the lessons learned from interventions under the regional WPS programme and the Syria WPS programme.

UN Women’s new report “Women's Participation in Local Mediation: Lessons from Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen” sheds light on the diverse mediation roles women have played to resolve conflict and restore social cohesion in their communities.

Morocco’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, through its Department of Financial Studies and Forecasting (DEPF) in partnership with UN Women Morocco and with the support of the French Development Agency (AFD) and the European Union (EU), has conducted a new study on "Gender Analysis of the Contribution of Labour Utilization to Improved Living Standards: A Retrospective and Prospective Analysis in Light of the Recommendations of the New Development Model”.

The objective of this regional assessment is to look at the implications of the macroeconomic response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Arab region. The regional mapping allows for identification of the dominant trends and policy priorities across different areas of interventions and looks at the potential implications of [largely] gender-blind macroeconomic responses and investments during the first six months of the pandemic.

This desk review summarises global and regional trends and best practices and techniques for reaching out remotely to women and girls who experience violence, including during lockdowns and to survivors of online violence.

This study and brief aim at providing insights on how gender and other intersecting inequalities impact the risk and vulnerability to HIV for women and girls in Africa.

The analysis included in this report builds upon data collected through the LEAP project and sought to provide evidence around key resilience issues.

This report presents the results of the independent evaluation of UN Women’s ‘Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities’ (“Madad”) programme and offers lessons and recommendations for future programming on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Synthesis report includes country specific annexes for Iraq, Jordan and Turkey.

Given the unique vulnerability of Syrian refugee women to GBV and specific linkages to economic vulnerability, UN Women together with UNHCR and the ILO commissioned a study to explore the (relationships between livelihoods and protection risks for Syrian refugee women, with specific aim to ensure programming is designed to mitigate risks and maximize positive outcomes.

This brief presents a summary of the results of the independent evaluation of UN Women’s Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities (“Madad”) programme and offers lessons and recommendations for future programming on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

This analysis of the existing NAPs-WPS of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen was undertaken to assess and demonstrate the direct relevance of the plans to each country’s COVID-19 response. While NAPs-WPS are relevant in every crisis, the analysis highlights particular areas of overlap with specific global responses to COVID-19, thus providing critical evidence of the value of implementing nation action plans on women, peace and security in the current crisis.

Thanks to the support of the European Union (EU), and the Government of Japan and other donors, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) implemented the ‘Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities in Iraq, Jordan and Turkey’ programme. Building on the programme implementation experience, UN Women set up a no-cost collaboration with FAO to conceptualize a gender-sensitive resilience index based on FAO’s Resilience Measurement Analysis (RIMA) Model (FAO, 2016). The analysis builds upon data collected through the Madad programme monitoring and sought to provide evidence around key resilience issues.

In Iraq, the UN system is committed to supporting the government to overcome these unparalleled crises, through the 2020-2024 United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) designed to support the State and Iraqi people to achieve their National Development Plan targets, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. This includes supporting a diversified economy, preceded by reforms to encourage private sector investment, to make the country more resilient to oil shocks and to boost employment in highly productive sectors.

The brief highlights the significant role women play in the response to combating the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as health care professionals, home-based caregivers, and through their role as social facilitators and coordinators within communities. The response to the COVID-19 crisis highlights event more their essential contribution at all levels. In Morocco, women account for 57% of medical staff, 66% of paramedical staff and 64% of social sector civil servants.

As Iraq enters a new recovery phase in 2019, the country now faces the challenge of addressing the short- and long-term consequences of conflict and mass population displacement. Conflict-affected women, specifically, face numerous challenges in accessing employment, including limited economic opportunities, individual- and community-level barriers, legal restrictions, and exacerbated vulnerability, particularly for displaced people and female-headed households. In the Iraqi context, the nature...

Why Gender Matters in the Discussion on Returns to Syria

The regional programme Men and Women for Gender Equality produced a brief that includes 10 strategies to engage men and boys in partnership with women and girls to achieve gender equality. These strategies were developed and field-tested during the three years of implementation (2015-2018) of the programme in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine.

The two-year programme “Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities in Iraq,  Jordan  and  Turkey ” aims to strengthen the resilience of women affected by the Syria crisis. This fact sheet presents the key data and objectives of the programme in Jordan.

Factsheets of countries where UN Women is implementing EUTF Madad programme

The Madad Newsletter highlights stories of the programme beneficiaries as well as partners supporting the efforts to build resilience in Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. The newsletter includes some of the latest updates on the implementation of the programme.