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2012 Report on the Implementation of EU Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Development 2010-2015

Link to Full 45-Page European Commission 2012 Report: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/development-policies/intervention-areas/humandev/documents/final_gap_2012_en.pdf

Includes - Annex 1: Table of received reports from MEMBER STATES and EU Delegations

Achievements:

The numbers of EU Delegations and Member States which participate in gender coordination mechanisms have increased and there are also more internal EU coordination groups specifically dealing with the GAP

Political dialogue on gender equality with partner countries takes place in many more countries (61) than reported last year (38) and it is also on the agenda in sector and macro policy dialogues in an increasing number of countries (from 32 to 48)

Gender equality is gradually being included in sector programmes beyond the traditional health and education sectors (private sector development, infrastructure, food security, climate change) both by Member States and EU Delegations  

Some progress can also be registered concerning availability of sex-aggregated indicators and use of them in different aid modalities, including in general budget support

28 EU Delegations have started to prepare Gender country profiles – a new tool which aims to facilitate integration of gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE) in sector programmes and projects

All the reporting EU Delegations in countries eligible for funding under the European Development Fund (EDF) intend to include gender equality in the programming objectives for 2014-2020

Altogether, EU Delegations seem to be geared towards a more comprehensive implementation of the mandatory requirement to mainstream gender equality in all development activities in the next programming period 2014-2020

Practically all Member States this year report that gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE) is mainstreamed in projects implemented by non state actors

All Member States now comply with the target concerning reporting on the OECD DAC Gender Marker which ensures that bilateral aid is screened for its gender equality focus

Cooperation with UN Women has been further strengthened through the signing in 2012 of the Memorandum of Understanding between the EU and UN Women as well as through partnership agreements between some Member States and UN Women. The EU also increased its financial support by almost 80% from 2010 to 2011 and remains the chief contributor to UN Women

Continued strong engagement on the women, peace and security agenda is also evident from the reporting on actions to strengthen implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1325 and 1820, including to some extent for capacity building in partner countries. Combating violence against women also remains a high priority both for Member States, the Commission and the EEAS with and increase in a activities moving beyond advocacy and statements to specific actions in the field

Challenges:

In spite of the numerous tools, mechanisms and procedures to ensure that GEWE is addressed in all development cooperation activities, the statistics of the OECD DAC indicate that further efforts are needed to ensure that women benefit equally from EU aid: less than 20% of Austria's, Italy's, Netherland's, Portugal's and the EU/European Development Fund's bilateral aid had GEWE as a principal or significant objective in 2010 and only 6 Member States were above 50% (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, and Sweden). Inconsistent reporting may to some extent explain these outcomes and needs to be corrected. Even so, the Commission and most Member States need to redouble their efforts if the objective of at least 75% of new proposals for GEWE is to be reached by 2013 (see indicator 4.4)  

At EU level, the coordination between foreign policy and development policies and implementation still needs to be improved, particularly in EU Delegations, to fulfil the political commitments in the GAP (political dialogue on gender with developing countries and reporting by Heads of Mission on these dialogues)

Insufficient technical capacities and knowledge to act as informed interlocutors with partner countries impede progress in terms of advancing the GEWE agenda at country level. More and better training, both of gender focal persons and sector specialists, remains a priority all the more so in view of the increasing number of short-term contractual staff dealing with this agenda in EU Delegations.