Realising Women's Leadership for Resilience in the Asia-Pacific Region

Women’s leadership and role in decision-making has been recognised as a critical factor for achieving the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development (including the Sustainable Development Goals), the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and regional climate change and disaster risk reduction frameworks, such as the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific.  However, the status of women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction is not as advanced as the aspirations of these global and regional frameworks.

The session will also present good practices that support and elevate women's leadership in DRR and will culminate in a short briefing note sharing these and recommendations for moving beyond vulnerability to gender equality and women's empowerment and leadership in disaster risk reduction. This session will also introduce the new WRD framework and tools to measure women's leadership and meaningful participation in disaster and climate resilience, piloted in Vanuatu. 

Session objectives are to: 

1. Showcase best practices and case studies on combatting barriers and creating an enabling environment for women's leadership in policymaking, planning, programming, budgeting, and institutionalising women's leadership at all levels and across DRR and resilience.
2. Showcase examples of women’s leadership and entrepreneurship in spearheading disaster and climate-resilient livelihood activities and food security initiatives e.g., climate-smart agriculture and clean energy.
3. Generate ideas and discussion on how the aspirations for women’s leadership in the global and regional frameworks, international treaties, and the Asia-Pacific Regional Action Plan for DRR (2021-2024) can be translated into accelerated progress and measurable actions at the regional, national, and local levels.

This partner event will be available to all delegates of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, in-person and online.