Gender mainstreaming in UNFPA
Gender equality, equity and the empowerment of women are the cornerstones of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). UNFPA has been at the forefront of efforts to mainstream gender equality concerns into development policies and programmes, especially in the critical areas of sexual and reproductive health, reproductive rights and the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
UNFPA has adopted gender equality and women’s empowerment as an organizational goal within its multi-year funding framework (MYFF), ensuring that it is reflected in all other organizational goals and that it is central to the human rights based, culturally sensitive approach, which guides all UNFPA policies and programmes. In addition, UNFPA has a specific gender and development programme area (one of three core areas), which provides specific resources and gives attention to gender-specific focuses, such as women’s empowerment strategies and gender-based violence.
The commitment of UNFPA to gender mainstreaming is clearly reflected in the MYFF, the UNFPA strategic direction and in many other documents, some examples of which are provided below.
The UNFPA multi-year funding framework
The UNFPA MYFF is a strategic plan that aims to strengthen the contribution of the Fund to the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action. It seeks to enhance organizational effectiveness in achieving development results, an important factor in increasing partners’ confidence and mobilizing resources. The second MYFF (2004- 2007) is the main policy document of UNFPA as well as its strategic resource and management tool.
The MYFF includes a strategic results framework and an integrated resources framework. The strategic results framework specifies clearly defined organizational results and indicators to monitor progress towards these results, and the strategies to achieve them. The strategic results framework adopts a...