GENDER EQUALITY PROJECT - UNDP Afghanistan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Gender Equality Project (GEP) aims to establish models in cooperation, coordination and
public sector effectiveness for gender mainstreaming, promotion of gender equality and
strengthening of the position of women, with selected key government and non-government
partners. In order to achieve this, the project has two outputs of: strengthening the capacity of the
WA) as a policy making and oversight body for an effective
implementation of the National Action Plan for Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) and
strengthening the capacity of sub-national institutions with the establishment of Provincial
-economic empowerment of women.
In Q2, progress under Output 1 included improving the capacity of MoWA for the collection of
gender-disaggregated data for the implementation of the NAPWA indicators and also facilitate the
integration of gender sensitive components into the policies and programmes of line ministries
(LMs), institutionalizing a networking mechanism within MoWA for the collection and
dissemination of gender specific information, and the review of three LMs and two independent
organizations.
The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) mechanism was revised and submitted for the final approval
before being implemented. In addition, support was provided to the other LMs which included the
review of budget making documents of the Budget Directorate in the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for
integrating gender in the preparation of budgets of the seven pilot ministries, development of
capacity development of female extension staff at the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and
Livestock (MAIL), closer coordination with the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs (MoHRA) for
collaborating with religious leaders on gender sensitive issues, provision of guidance for the
preparation of the gender policy of the MoHE among others. The training of Capacity
Development Officers of the UNDP National Institutional Building (NIBP) and the officials of the
Ministry of Interior (MoI) in collaboration with the UNDP Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan
(LOTFA) project enriched the outputs of the Gender Cluster through GEP. As a result of these two
interventions, both the projects have integrated gender as a main outcome of their different
initiatives
For Output 2, at the sub-national level, the GEP enhanced the capacity of the members of
elopment Councils (PWDC) in four provinces (Bamyan, Balkh, Herat and
Nangarhar) through its provincial offices in order to improve their service delivery for the socioeconomic
empowerment of women. Other initiatives to support the rural women included
improving the service delivery of the Legal Help Centres (LHC) and completing preparatory
activities for the establishment of the toll-free hotline in the three remaining provinces to assist
vulnerable women in accessing the justice system. In addition, GEP employed innovations
interventions for sensitizing the religious leaders to improve their understanding about the role
and status of women in society. Moreover, trainings for local media personnel to improve the
quality of reporting on gender specific issues were also organized.
Despite the achievements listed above, there were some challenges which impacted on the
se were within the management of the project office
and measures to address them were undertaken in order to continue with the activities.
H
ce and
required close consultations with other development partners to ensure the delivery of those
specific interventions were achieved with minimal delays.
Despite these risks and issues, GEP is committed to its goals and will continue its work in
overcoming deep-rooted gender inequalities in Afghanistan through partnerships with MoWA,
civil society organizations, and Afghan women and communities.
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