UN joint study on the status of gender equality and women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction and the WRD Knowledge Hub

UNFPA, UNDRR and UN Women, organised an introductory webinar on the United Nations joint study on the status of gender equality and women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction and the Women’s Resilience to Disasters knowledge hub.

Disasters continue to exacerbate many of the prevailing gender inequalities that exist in societies. If disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) do not include positive measures to close the gender gap they cannot fulfil the transformative ambitions of the post-2015 agreements.

In this context, a United Nations joint study on the status of gender equality and women’s leadership in DRR (the study) was conducted. The study identifies what needs to change in the approach of the United Nations system as a whole to make significant practical progress on gender equality in DRR by 2030. It asks how the United Nations system, and each individual entity, can better support Member States to empower women and promote women’s leadership in disaster and climate risk governance to underpin risk-informed sustainable development that leaves no one behind. It makes nine recommendations including ensuring a gender-responsive Mid-Term Review of the Sendai Framework for DRR, and enhancing UN entity support to Member States to promote gender-responsive implementation and reporting of the Sendai Framework and reviewing all UN system DRR/CCA tools and methodologies to ensure they are gender-responsive.

In this critical moment and to support the UN family and Member States in this important endeavour, the Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) knowledge hub was recently launched, bringing together traditionally separate communities, to share knowledge and good practice, and contributing to the implementation of the recommendations. It offers a wealth of resources, to help countries secure gender-responsive DRR policy frameworks, processes, and practices – placing women’s leadership centre stage.

Against this backdrop, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) convened this introductory webinar.

The webinar was a great opportunity to:

• share and unpack the recommendations from the study to support gender-responsive implementation of the Sendai Framework, in particular through the midterm review of the Sendai Framework,
• introduce the Women’s Resilience to Disasters knowledge hub, offering a wealth of resources to support countries with upcoming DRR processes and integrating gender-responsive approaches into their DRR frameworks and practice, and
• explore the possibility of establishing a specific gender work planning mechanism to support the implementation of the Sendai Framework to 2030, potentially a gender action plan similar to the climate change and environment treaty plans.

Speakers from UN Agencies as well as Member States introduced the study, its recommendations, and the WRD knowledge hub and shared reflections on these resources.

AGENDA

Welcome and Opening Remarks:

• Ms. Åsa Regner, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
• Mr. Ib Petersen, Deputy Executive Director/Management of the United Nations Population Fund
• Ms. Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of UNDRR

Presentations: 

• Introduction of the Study, Ms. Paola Albrito, Chief Intergovernmental processes, Interagency cooperation and Partnerships Branch, UNDRR
• Overview of the recommendations of the Study, Mr. Massimo Diana, Deputy Director, Humanitarian Office, UNFPA
• Introduction of the Knowledge Hub, Ms. Paivi Kannisto, Chief, Peace, Security, Humanitarian and Resilience Section, UN Women 

Intervention: 

• H.E. Mr. Kimmo Laukkanen, Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland for Disarmament and Humanitarian Affairs, Minister-Counsellor

Closing:    

• H.E. Mr. Jeffrey Roach, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Australia to the UN in Geneva