Gender Caucus at CRIC21

UNCCD has an unwavering commitment to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment, based on decisions taken by our Parties. This commitment is expressed in our Gender Action Plan, in implementation since 2014. At our COP15 held in Abidjan in 2022, a Gender Road Map to accelerate implementation of our Gender Action Plan was also approved, to ensure that we pick up the pace towards transformative change.

We have established a Gender Caucus comprised of country champions, selected UN agencies and CSO partners, to provide expert guidance on how to focus our strategies on gender issues in drought, land degradation and desertification. The Gender Caucus is convened at each CRIC and UNCCD COP.

Established at COP14, the Gender Caucus has proven to be an effective platform to advance gender related conversations within the Convention. A strong Gender Caucus can contribute more meaningfully to the work of the Parties and help to effectively accelerate implementation of the Gender Action Plan.

In its official statement from its 19^th session, the Committee for the Review of Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 19/5) noted that “the Gender Caucus proved to be an excellent tool to increase gender-aware action among delegates and should be continued.”

The principal objective of the multi-stakeholder Gender Caucus is to provide support to strengthen the gender responsiveness of the policy and programme agenda and initiatives of the UNCCD as outlined in the approved Gender Action Plan.

• Support the acceleration of the implementation of the UNCCD Gender Action Plan (GAP) at the international and country level for all Annexes.
• Assist in identification of bottlenecks to GAP implementation at the international, country and local level
• Serve as a platform for exchange of gender expertise, information, training and tools among UNCCD stakeholders interested in gender issues and the UNCCD Secretariat

During CRIC21 – to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in November 2023 – two sessions of the Gender Caucus will be held. All Parties are cordially invited and encouraged to attend these sessions:

Gender Caucus session 1: 14 November, 13:00 to 15:00, location TBD

• Opening words by UNCCD Executive Secretary or Deputy Executive Secretary
• Overview of Gender Action Plan and Gender Road Map
• Review and discussion of CRIC Recommendations to optimize gender phrasing

Gender Caucus session 2: 16 November, 13:00 to 15:00 hours

• Panel led by FAO: “How can we utilize local knowledge and women's empowerment to create more drought-resilient dryland forests and silvopastoral ecosystems?”
• Final review and discussion of CRIC recommendations