This newsletter captures the latest updates on the implementation of the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) in Lebanon. The newsletter includes the key highlights and achievements of the WPHF programme partners' towards enhancing women’s participation in the Beirut Port Explosion’s response and recovery process.

UN Women and OCHA jointly examine the extent to which issues of gender equality were factored into various stages of the 2020 Flash Appeal in response to the Beirut port explosions.

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.

This guidance note seeks to assist policy and programme actors to conduct rapid assessments that are fully responsive to gender and intersectionality. It is focused on three critical steps: the development of assessment surveys/questionnaires, their implementation, the analysis of findings and resulting recommendations.

This document outlines UN Women’s response plan for the 2020 Beirut Plan – a plan that works across the humanitarian-development-peace and security nexus to provide immediate relief to those in need, and to ensure that longer term recovery and reconstruction both addresses the needs of women and girls, and promotes gender equality.

Crisis management or emergency situations such as COVID-19 can have serious impacts on the lives of women and girls, if gender dimensions are not considered. Issues such as care work, economic autonomy, physical or sexual violence, women's participation in decision-making, disaggregation of data by sex, gender analysis, and irregular migration are just some of the areas of concern that must be part of an effective response to the health crisis that the world is going through right now.

Arab Declaration on Progress in the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action after 25 years

In 1995, over 17,000 representatives from 189 nations met in Beijing at the Fourth World Conference on Women. The historic meeting resulted in the unanimous adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; an agenda considered to be the “Bill of Rights” for women. 25 years after Beijing, Member States, civil society organizations and women’s rights advocates from across the globe are coming together to review the implementation of this agenda. Our newsletter will focus on the individuals and institutions leading this global process in the Arab States region.

This brochure aims to provide a preliminary summary of the achievements of the Arab countries in implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 25 years after its adoption, focusing on the intersections of the twelve areas of concern with the sustainable development agenda.

On the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, UN Women’s “Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights for an equal future” campaign demands equal pay, equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work, an end to sexual harassment and violence against women and girls, health care services that respond to their needs, and their equal participation in political life and in decision-making in all areas of life.

Humanitarian needs continue to grow with nearly 132 million people in need of assistance in 2018, due to conflict, persecution, and natural disasters. The average humanitarian crisis now lasts more than nine years, and periods of forced displacement more than seventeen. Women and girls who make up approximately half of this 132 million face daily discrimination and violence. The breakdown of protection mechanisms and destruction of essential services and economic structures in crises hits the already marginalized hardest.

Considered the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women's rights, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action has been reprinted in this special edition, which also includes a copy of the political declaration reached at the 23rd special session of the General Assembly in 2000, which reviewed progress towards the Platform for Action five years after its adoption.