Supporting UNCCD Parties to embrace gender equality and women’s empowerment as a guiding principle in LDN projects

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Gender mainstreaming workshop in Lusaka, Zambia
ARE Boyer | IUCN

In 2018 and 2019, IUCN with UN Women and the UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) facilitated gender mainstreaming workshops in the Caribbean, the Philippines and Zambia to support development of gender-responsive Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) projects. These workshops, as part of the "Anchoring agreements on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Rio Conventions" project, aimed to meet the specific needs of Parties toward meeting implementation of the UNCCD Gender Action Plan and national LDN targets. The workshops utilised a unique, participatory methodology, bringing together stakeholders from national and local governments, CSOs, women's groups, and more, to gain a better understanding of gender considerations in LDN specifically, and in the project cycle in general. These workshops complemented a help desk mechanism that provided tailored feedback to nine LDN project proposals made to major funding mechanisms. 

Last update: 14 Aug 2019
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Context
Challenges addressed
Desertification
Lack of technical capacity
Scale of implementation
National
Multi-national
Global
Ecosystems
Agroforestry
Theme
Habitat fragmentation and degradation
Gender mainstreaming
Legal & policy frameworks
Land management
Land degradation
Location
Lusaka, Lusaka Province, Zambia
East and South Africa
Caribbean
Southeast Asia
Impacts
  • Stregthened the capacity of 143 stakeholders (85 women and 58 men) on gender considerations in LDN projects, which enhanced gender integration in project concept notes and in UNCCD matters. 
  • Through the help desk mechanism, IUCN and UN Women supported integrating gender into nine project proposals, totaling over USD 45 million in requested funding to major financial mechanisms. 
  • The lessons learned from the workshops informed development of a gender and LDN manual and policy brief by UNCCD and UN Women that will support initiatives by Parties to UNCCD. 
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 5 – Gender equality
SDG 15 – Life on land
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