UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2012 – 2013

1. UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2012 – 2013 Consultation in (WHERE) (DATE)

2. Background UN Women was created by General Assembly resolution A/64/289 on 2 July 2010. Para 49: “as a composite entity, to be operational by 1 January 2011, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, to be known as UN-Women, by consolidating and transferring to the Entity the existing mandates and functions of the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women and the Division for the Advancement of Women of the Secretariat, as well as those of the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, to function as a secretariat and also to carry out operational activities at the country level”

3. Purpose of the Strategic Plan • Sets overall direction for UN Women for the next two years (2012-2013) • Identifies the results that UN Women will assist partners to achieve and how it will track progress • Strengthens UN Women’s accountability by clarifying its organization-wide commitments • Presented to the UN Women Executive Board in June 2011 for approval of the plan and budget

4. Purpose of the consultations • Articulate and validate key country and regional gender equality priorities and opportunities; • Clarify what type of support Governments (programme countries and donors), women’s groups and others in civil society, and UN orgs require from UN Women; • Build on the 100 Day Vision and Action Plan to generate agreement around the broad outcomes to which UN Women should contribute; • Understand where within the UNCT, UN Women leads, where it supports and where it partners

5. UN women’s Mandate UN Women was established to “provide, through its normative support functions and operational activities, guidance and technical support to all Member States, across all levels of development and in all regions, at their request, on gender equality, the empowerment and rights of women and gender mainstreaming” and to conduct its work in ways that “lead to more effective coordination, coherence and gender mainstreaming across the United Nations system”. UN Women is guided by global and regional inter-governmental agreements, such as CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, Security Council resolutions 1325 and others, and the Millennium Development Goals.

6. Governance of UN Women The General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Commission on the Status of Women constitute the multi-tiered intergovernmental governance structure for the normative support functions and provide normative policy guidance to the Entity; The General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Executive Board of the Entity constitute the multi-tiered intergovernmental governance structure for the operational activities and provide operational policy guidance to the Entity;

7. Executive Board Members Composed of 41 UN Member States, including: Africa: Angola, Cape Verde, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Lesotho, Libya, Nigeria and Tanzania Asia: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea and Timor-Leste Eastern Europe: Estonia, Hungary, Russian Federation and Ukraine Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada and Peru Western Europe: Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Sweden Contributing Countries: Mexico, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Kingdom and United States

8. UN Women’s Focus Areas 1) Expanding women’s voice, leadership and participation, 2) Ending violence against women 3) Strengthening implementation of the women, peace and security agenda, 4) Enhancing women’s economic empowerment, 5) Making gender equality priorities central to national, local and sectoral planning and budgeting

9. UN Women “Core Principles” 1) Providing demand-driven support to national partners to enhance implementation of international agreements and standards 2) Supporting intergovernmental processes to strengthen the global normative and policy framework on gender equality 3) Advocating for gender equality and women’s empowerment, championing the rights of women and girls — particularly those who are most excluded 4) Leading and promoting coherence in UN system work on gender equality 5) Acting as a global broker of knowledge and experience, aligning practice with normative guidance

10. Opportunities for Partners • UN Women mandate to support national partners to implement global commitments (e.g., in the General Assembly, UN Commission on the Status of Women, Security Council, etc.) • Mandate to lead and coordinate the UN system response on gender equality towards a more robust and coordinated support to gender equality priorities at country level • Close ties to interests and aspirations of women and women’s groups worldwide. UN Women was created in response to advocacy by women’s networks in all regions of the world. • With leadership at Under Secretary-General level – UN Women able to bring voices of women directly to the highest level UN decision making

11. UN Women: Challenges • Gender discrimination is pervasive in every country and society. The demands and expectations of women worldwide are diverse and UN Women’s current capacity is limited • Early days of UN Women mean that many aspects of the organization – staffing, budget, presence, etc. – are still being worked out

12. Questions for the Consultation • Comparative advantage: What are UN Women’s unique strengths? • Change / results: What are the primary changes to advance women’s rights and empowerment that UN Women and the UN should be supporting (in this country/region/globally)? • Accountability: How should government, UN and non-governmental organizations be involved in advising UN Women on its programmes and policies? • UN Coordination: What are the most effective ways that UN Women can support improved coordination, coherence and accountability within the UN on GE?

13. ComparativeAdvantage: What should UN Women be doing differently from other organizations that work on gender equality? • For representatives of women’s organizations: • What is the unique role that UN Women can play? • How can UN Women support, partner with and add value to your work? • For governments, women’s organizations and the UN: • What should be the focus of UN Women’s work in your country or region over the next two to three years? • What type of collaborations would you like to see involving different UN agencies?

14. Change/Results: • For Governments and women’s organizations: • What are the main gender equality priorities that you would like to see UN Women focus on over the next two/three years • What are the primary changes to advance women’s rights and empowerment that UN Women should be supporting within these priority areas? • Who are the key partners in your country or region with which UN Women needs to connect in order to drive implementation? • What recommendationswould you give to UN Women to improve its support to countries to make progress on gender equality and women’s rights?

15. Accountability: • How could partners be involved in tracking progress in implementing the Strategic Plan as relevant at the country level? • What kinds of consultations and documentation would be most helpful to report on progress? How often? • How would partners like to be involved in reviewing the progress of work on gender equality of the entire UNCT?

16. UN Coordination Role • For UN organizations: • Given UN Women’s mandate of leading and coordinating the UN system on Gender Equality, what are the expectations from UN Women? • For governments, women’s organizations and the UN: • In which areas do you see UN Women taking a lead role among UN and other partners, and in which areas do you see others as having a greater comparative advantage in your region or country?