ESCAP and UNECE will jointly convene the annual meeting of the SPECA Working Group on Gender and SDGs on 9 November 2022 in the margins of the SPECA Economic Forum taking place from 16 to 17 November 2022 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The annual meeting of the SPECA Working Group on Gender and SDGs is held annually in advance of the SPECA Economic Forum and serves as a forum for policy dialogue, capacity building and networking for government stakeholders from relevant key ministries and agencies in SPECA countries in partnership with UN agencies to discuss critical and key emerging issues for gender-transformative economic policies to empower women's decision-making and participation in the context of climate change. The meeting will contribute to efforts toward women’s economic empowerment and gender equality, poverty reduction and economic growth in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Participants will share experiences in implementing various measures and initiatives and how these measures have affected gender equality in their countries. Strategies and actions will be further discussed to identify the way forward towards advancing gender equality in the context of climate change, including women’s full economic and political empowerment in support of the 2030 Agenda.
Specific objectives of the Working Group for this Annual Meeting include:
- Increase awareness of the importance of participatory gender-transformative approaches to the design, implementation and monitoring of measures that tackle the structural barriers to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls;
- Share experiences and lessons learned on policy response including policy initiatives and measures implemented to achieve women’s full, equal and meaningful participation and decision-making in the context of climate change and discuss further policy initiatives in response to challenges and national priorities for advancing gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls;
- Identify the necessary actions and best practices to improve the enabling environment for women and girls in SPECA countries, including cross-sectoral measures and institutional coordination, public-private partnerships and active engagement of women’s associations and women beneficiary groups into consultative and decision-making processes; and
- Identify opportunities for further sub-regional cooperation on the implementation of the SDG 5 on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls.
The outcome of the meeting of the SPECA Working Group on Gender and SDGs will inform the work of ESCAP and UNECE towards the Beijing+30 review process within the context of sub-regional collaboration with SPECA countries, including in the context of COVID-19. It is expected that one or more joint initiatives will be identified for potential future sub-regional collaboration. The key recommendations are expected to identify, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, both opportunities and challenges to achieving the ambitions of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and Sustainable Development Goal 5.