FOR PEACE AND STABILIZATION

Women are disproportionately impacted by poverty, underdevelopment, and violence amid armed conflict. There can be no genuine and sustainable peace without the meaningful inclusion and participation of women as they play critical roles as powerful agents of change for peace and development in their respective communities.

The history of the Bangsamoro peace process is full of stories of women taking on crucial roles as advocates, facilitators, mediators, and peacebuilders.

If we are to strengthen community resilience and build sustainable peace in the region, we must continue to invest in women in the Bangsamoro.

Bangsamoro women and men must equally benefit from the gains of the peace process. It is every Bangsamoro woman’s right to be actively included and involved in the period of transition, where peace and development efforts are geared towards rebuilding communities, addressing injustices and regaining trust and social cohesion.

IN STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS

Aligned with the global goals and national priorities, UNDP works towards enhancing the capacities of institutions to plan, manage, and deliver quality social and economic services to the most marginalized, vulnerable, and at-risk sectors. 

UNDP’s efforts are directed towards strengthening national and local governance to create rights-based and gender-responsive enabling policies, deliver targeted programs that ensure no one is left behind, and establish mechanisms that provide greater space for meaningful engagement and participation of the citizens. 

Social innovation support extended to external partners include collection of sex-disaggregated data and ensuring gender balance in all research conducted. Deliberate facilitation strategies that call on more women for inputs are also employed when activities or discussions skew towards being male-dominated. 

The rapid growth of the platform sector comes with substantial “gender dividends”, given the greater rate of women’s participation, lower pay gaps, and increased flexibility that can allow women to better manage their care and economic responsibilities.

Digital transformation provides an opportunity for women to participate and leverage the use of digital platforms and technologies towards their empowerment, in the areas of leadership, public service, work, or entrepreneurship. Although substantial barriers to the realization of these opportunities continue to exist, women remain proactive in learning and finding ways to cope with the digital shift. 

UNDP works on reducing inequalities and social exclusion that drive HIV and poor health, promoting effective and inclusive governance for health, and building resilient and sustainable systems for health. UNDP focuses on promoting laws, regulations and policies that help address HIV-related issues and protect the rights of key populations. It also supports sustainable financing of HIV and health responses and identifies and promotes the most impactful and efficient investment in the HIV response. It is important to implement non-health interventions, such as reducing the stigma and discrimination, improving HIV financing, and increasing HIV ordinances, to protect and support persons living with HIV.

FOR CLIMATE ACTION

While disasters know no gender, their impacts are disproportionately felt more by women and girls. Women and children are up to 14 times more likely to die in disasters than men, and we are seeing increasing evidence of a link between the climate crisis and girls being forced into exploitation. 

Despite these increased risks and vulnerabilities, women are often underrepresented in climate action. As we see increases in the frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters, this underrepresentation can lead to a worsening of the marginalization women already face. 

In UNDP’s work, we recognize that the underrepresentation of women in risk reduction and recovery cause lost opportunities in rebuilding a more resilient community.

In Asia Pacific, the Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of the worsening climate crisis. Natural hazards further aggravate the existing gender inequality caused by underlying factors such as socio-economic factors, power dynamics, and traditional norms.

These immediate impacts range from the loss of livelihood to increased workload – care work and household recovery – to gender-based violence that is prone to occur when there is lack of safe space and women-friendly facilities in evacuation centers or transitional shelters. 

The participation of women in disaster risk reduction and recovery is essential because they provide insights and solutions from first-hand experiences. 

Women leaders play a crucial role in uncovering barriers that women face during calamities, and, at the same time, in ensuring a more inclusive recovery path through policies and programs.

While women are effective drivers of crises response, a gender inclusive approach to recovery and resilience should not focus solely on women empowerment. Disaster recovery should be an opportunity to break down the constraints that women face during disasters.