In October 2019, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese people took to the streets to protest the imposition of new taxes and the worsening economic, social and political crises gripping the country.

This brief provides a set of recommendations to take stock of health, economic and social aspects of this unprecedented crisis to develop an exit strategy and to take advantage of this exceptional period to upgrade the mechanisms and structure in Tunisia. It also makes recommendations to adopt a gender approach in government post-COVID-19 strategy.

Risk communications and community engagement (RCCE) are essential tools to ensure that people are aware of the dangers posed by COVID-19 to themselves and their families, and ensure their involvement in national and local efforts to stop the spread of the virus as well as minimize disruptions to their lives and livelihoods. But in order for RCCE efforts to be effective, they need to be gender-responsive and include all segments of societies, particularly the most of vulnerable and marginalized social groups. These guidelines explain the vulnerabilities of different social groups to COVID-19, and how to address these vulnerabilities in RCCE efforts and plans.

This brief suggests that domestic violence has increased in Palestine due to the conditions created by the COVID 19 pandemic, which in most cases resulted in a lockdown of survivors of violence with their abusers. With families in lockdown, helplines are seeing a surge of cases requesting a multitude of services.

This brief highlights emerging evidence of the impact of the recent global pandemic of COVID-19 on violence against women and girls. It makes recommendations to be considered by all sectors of society, from governments to international organizations and to civil society organizations, in order to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, at the onset, during, and after the public health crisis, with examples of actions already taken.

UN Women Achievements Report gives a comprehensive overview on the main programmes implemented by UN Women Egypt during 2018 in collaboration with its various partners across the four impact areas: Women’s Political Empowerment (WPE), Women’s Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence against Women (EVAW) and Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality. It also features the main achievements of the programmes while highlighting the progress made under communications and partnerships.