Building on the progress made on gender in 2019, the UN-REDD Programme continued in 2020 to support 10 partner countries in integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment principles within REDD+ action.

In particular, this support has helped many partner countries to take large strides in incorporating gender into their safeguards-related work. In Peru, a gender perspective was integrated into the country’s first summary of information on REDD+ safeguards, wherein gender is noted as a cross-cutting element, participation of stakeholders is disaggregated by gender and links to key gender-related PLRs are established in the discussions of safeguards. In Côte d’Ivoire, safeguards-information parameters include a criterion on gender equity in decision-making and an indicator measuring gender-equitable benefit-sharing Myanmar’s SIS working group includes a seat for the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement as well as setting a target of at least 30 percent female representation within REDD+ working groups.

Partner countries are also progressing well in integrating gender in a cross-cutting fashion. In Chile, such efforts included: 1) integrating a gender approach into the draft design of the Benefits Sharing System; 2) supporting women beneficiaries in a proposal to promote the productive chain focused on non-timber forest products, and 3) proposing draft gender indicators for CONAF institutional management arrangements and PES projects. Similarly, in Colombia, support was provided on community forest management efforts, which involved the integration of a gender-responsive approach in related capacity building, tool development and stakeholder engagement activities. These efforts, among others, have resulted in 1) an increase in women’s participation from 15 percent in 2018 to 40 percent in 2020; and 2) the integration of a gender perspective in the national guidance for CFM.

In January, through the Dgroup on REDD+ and Forest Governance, the UNREDD Programme organized and hosted a webinar titled ’Empowering rural and indigenous women in forest-related climate actions’. The Programme also launched two social media campaigns to highlight the crucial role women play in forest-based climate solutions. The first, for International Women’s Day, was undertaken in March, and the second, for International Day of Rural Women, was undertaken in October. For the latter, a short video (available in English, Spanish and French) was also released on the vital role rural women play in REDD+ and forest conservation efforts. The two media campaigns together reached more than 450,000 people on Facebook.

In late November, the UN-REDD Programme undertook a brief online survey to explore the effect of COVID-19 on the participation of women and men in forest conservation and REDD+ and to identify ways to further promote the equitable and active participation of women and men across its support and activities. Results from this survey can be viewed here.

A draft gender-focused UN-REDD Information Brief, showcasing the Programme’s gender approach and recent case studies and good practices, has also been developed (to be released in Q2 of 2021). In addition, a gender perspective has also been integrated into other drafts of UN-REDD Information Briefs, such as those on summaries of safeguard information, linking REDD+, the Paris Agreement, NDCs and the SDGs and forest tenure and REDD+. Although the data is still preliminary, the UN-REDD Gender Marker results for the 2020 Technical Assistance programme show that its gender responsiveness is improving. In 2020, 42 percent of TA outputs achieved a GEN 2 (gender-responsive) rating. This is an increase over previous years, in which only 22 percent of outputs achieved a GEN 2 in 2018 and 34 percent in 2019. There was also an increase in GEN 1 (gender-sensitive) ratings.  In 2020, 56 percent of the outputs were assigned a GEN 1 rating. This contrasts with the results in 2019, wherein only 40 percent of the outputs received a GEN 1 rating (in 2018 56 percent of the outputs were also assigned a GEN 1 rating). These improvements are positive to see, particularly given the need in 2020 to adapt gender support so that it was grounded in the realities of UN-REDD support around COVID-19 and its effects.