ObjectivesFund scope
Although Georgia has made significant progress in the past three decades towards greater gender equality and women’s empowerment, current data shows that gender inequality is a significant impediment to sustainable and inclusive development in the country. Women are still severely underrepresented in the Parliament and local government while women’s meaningful participation in decision-making processes remains linked to various structural and functional barriers within and outside political spaces. An absence of special measures for women prevent them from effectively pushing back against systemic forms of discrimination, stereotypes and harmful practices like gender-based violence, trafficking, and infringement on women’s economic rights. Furthermore, unaddressed issues lie at the foundation of many imbalances and include the exclusion of certain groups of women (i.e., those living in rural areas), inequality in marriage institutions and family relations, and significant violations to the rights of women, girls and LGBTQIA+ people.
Gender inequality is a systemic problem that has roots in the national patriarchal value system that nurtures adverse social norms, causing and reifying widespread forms of social injustice. In a coherent and holistic manner, stakeholders of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality (UNJP4GE) in Georgia apply solutions for this wide range of issues and others like the economic empowerment of women, promoting the reproductive health of women and girls, and sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC).
Phase III of UNJP4GE is centred on the creation of an enabling environment for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Strengthening the capacities of government at central and local levels, and across the executive, legislative and judicial branches. It also involves engaging civil society and raising public awareness about gender equality in three core ways:
- Output 1: Legislative and policy frameworks are further enhanced towards women’s economic and political empowerment, ending violence against women, the eradication of harmful practices, the enhancement of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.
- Output 2: National institutions have improved capacities to deliver on Georgia’s commitments on women’s economic and political empowerment, ending violence against women, the eradication of harmful practices, the enhancement of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.
- Output 3: Right holders have improved capacities and access to greater opportunities to advance women’s rights, diversity and inclusion and become leaders for bottom-up social change towards greater gender equality, social inclusion and human rights.
Support to the Government of Georgia is part of a bid to help fulfil national commitments to reinforce gender equality and eliminate gender-based violence and harmful practices, and improves avenues of recourse and assistance for survivors gender-based violence, particularly long marginalized communities (LGBTQIA+ and women living with disabilities).
Strategic framework and theory of change
Stakeholders at UNJP4GE focus on removing structural barriers to women’s leadership and enhancing women’s meaningful participation in decision-making at all levels by focusing on systems and institutional cooperation and change with bodies like Parliament and local councils, political parties, public administration and the judiciary. Action is also geared towards strengthening youth participation in democracy building and increasing civil society and grassroots communities involvement in participatory policymaking at national and local levels.
With a human rights-based approach at the heart of the programme, UNJP4GE is fully aligned with national priorities by way of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2021–2025, and the Strategy for Sweden’s Reform Cooperation with Eastern Europe for 2021–2027 results areas 1 (enhancement of human rights, democracy, the rule of law and gender equality) and 4 (inclusive economic development). The programme takes a holistic approach by working across three interrelated levels—normative, institutional and grassroots—in applying multi-tiered programming approaches, providing policy advice, technical assistance, and infrastructure and capacity development support.
This type of approach is enacted to strengthen national systems and public advocacy through resources mobilization and raising awareness on core programmatic issues. Moreover, applying conflict sensitivity, humanitarian principles and the do-no-harm principle, UNJP4GE activities have been designed for roll out in the Georgian conflict-affected region of Abkhazia. Initiatives promote zero tolerance of violence against women and offer tailored CSO-run services to victims and survivors. Stakeholder aims in Abkhazia are to work on transforming societal attitudes to enhance gender equality and women’s rights by bringing Georgian and Abkhaz societies closer in terms of values and paving the way for the implementation of sustainable confidence and peacebuilding interventions.
> $55M 
$55M - $25M
$25M - $5M
< $5M
