Strengthening UN Capacity for Gender-Transformative Climate Action in the Arab States
Date:
Between 14 and 16 September 2026, UN Women Arab States Regional Office successfully convened regional training for UN Women and sister agencies on Gender Mainstreaming Climate Change Outcomes in UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCFs). This dedicated training on gender-responsive work in the field of climate change and environmental protection followed regional training delivered by UN Women in 2025 on how to conduct gender mainstreaming through country analysis and strategic planning.
The training was organized in response to findings from analysis of the 2025 UN Country Team System-Wide Action Plan Gender Equality Scorecard (UNCT-SWAP GES) reports by 14 UNCTs in the Arab States. Reporting on the Scorecard performance indicators related to gender mainstreaming in UNSDCF Outcomes and indicator frameworks, investments in gender-mainstreamed UNCT programming, and progress towards results, underscored the need to strengthen gender mainstreaming in UNCT work on climate change mitigation and environmental protection. The three-days training aimed at enhancing the participants' understanding of the links between climate change and gender mainstreaming and strengthening their skills to apply gender-responsive and gender-transformative approaches throughout the UNSDCF cycle.
The training brought together focal points from UN Women, WFP, UNDP, UNICEF, IOM and FAO, creating a platform for learning and collaboration on integrating gender equality in UNCT climate action. The training introduced colleagues to resources such as the Gender Equality and Climate Change Policy Scorecard, that assesses States’ nationally determined contributions under the UNFCCC across six dimensions of gender-responsive climate action.
The training and shared resources will provide a particularly useful foundation for those UN Country Teams that are finalizing draft UNSDCFs or will embark on new UNSDCF preparation in 2027.
Participants explored the gendered impact of climate change on women and girls and examined how climate actions and interventions can either reinforce or reduce existing gender inequalities. A key learning for many participants was understanding that successful gender mainstreaming requires moving beyond counting women's participation to examine whether climate interventions are delivering benefits, empowering women, and transforming unequal power relations. Feedback from one participant highlighted the training’s “usefulness in assessing the quality of gender integration and ensuring that climate initiatives contribute to meaningful and lasting change”.
The training examined how gender equality and women’s empowerment is integrated in the Common Country Analysis (CCA) and the development of climate-related indicators for the UNSDCF. In small group work, participants reviewed existing Cooperation Frameworks, analyzed climate change outcomes and indicators, and identified opportunities to strengthen gender responsiveness and gender-transformative programming, tracked by gender-responsive indicators that measure changes in women’s and girls’ empowerment, agency, leadership, social norms and decision-making in the field of climate change.
To help gauge the impact of the training, participants will meet again to reflect on how they have been able to implement their objectives to support UN Country Teams to develop more gender-responsive climate change indicators to strengthen UNSDCF monitoring and evaluation systems, and advocate for women's leadership and participation in climate policies and decision-making processes.
As the training concluded, participants left with enhanced technical knowledge, practical tools, and renewed commitment to ensuring that climate action across the Arab States region is both environmentally effective and gender transformative. By strengthening the capacity of UN staff responsible for environmental programming and supporting their contributions to climate-related UNSDCF outcomes and indicators, the training represents an important step toward ensuring that regional climate action leaves no one behind.