Gender

To effectively strengthen gender equality, the intersection between gender and other factors, such as age, ethnicity, socio-economic status or any disability, must be taken into account. It is also vital to address discriminatory structures, and gender-based social norms and stereotypes that are the root causes of gender inequality. Action by women in the public and private spheres of life is crucial.

Since the commitments made at the Generation Equality Forum in July 2021, Luxembourg has been able to make tangible progress. In addition to taking positions in international and European fora, Luxembourg has implemented concrete measures: after revising its gender strategy, making it resolutely progressive and tailored to meet current global challenges, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation has developed several operational tools and sector-specific sheets to ensure gender is integrated and actually taken into account in the management of the Luxembourg Development Cooperation’s programming and project cycle. More specifically, the various actors within Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation are being equipped with the appropriate tools to facilitate the implementation of different development cooperation and humanitarian activities.

Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation is also continuing its work on developing actions to prevent and combat all forms of sexual and gender-based violence with all its partners, including Luxembourg’s NGDOs, through the improvement of their internal procedures for the prevention, detection, treatment of and protection against all types of sexual and gender-based violence.

With its multilateral partners, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation is continuing a number of partnerships that work directly on the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women. In 2023, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation continued to provide financial support to the core budgets of UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as to the gender funds of UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation also supports a large number of initiatives that bring together several UN partners in order to strengthen women’s rights in different sectors. Thus, the Education Plus initiative, implemented by UNAIDS, and co-led by UNFPA, UN Women, UNESCO, UNDP and UNICEF, aims to mobilise high-level political commitment to ensure access to secondary education for girls, including education on health and on sexual and reproductive rights. Thus, at the end of 2023, 15 African countries (Benin, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Gambia, Lesotho, Malawi, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana and Zambia) made political commitments to join the Education Plus initiative. In addition, support for the UNICEF/UNFPA joint programme for the eradication of female genital mutilation continues and, since 2022, Luxembourg has funded the UN Women sustainable finance programme, which aims to increase the volume and quality of funding for gender equality.

Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation also finances interventions, projects and programmes at regional level and at the level of specific countries. In 2023, six new gender equality projects were funded by Luxembourg, four with UNFPA as lead partner and two with UN Women.

For example, in Central America, with Luxembourg’s support UNFPA has been able to launch a new regional programme to reduce the number of pregnancies among teenage girls in Afro-descendant, Creole, Garifuna and Miskito communities in the coastal region of Central America and the Caribbean. Luxembourg’s contribution totals EUR 6 million for the 2023-2026 period.

In Brazil, Luxembourg has decided to continue its support for the joint work by UN Women, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and UNFPA to combat the inequalities and human rights violations faced by women and girls, whether Venezuelan, migrants, asylum seekers or refugees. Luxembourg’s contribution of EUR 1.5 million to the third phase of this programme (2023-2025) will enable the three agencies to work together on incorporating human rights and gender equality into the new generation of public policies on migration, asylum and statelessness.

In Benin, Luxembourg is supporting a UNFPA project to train approximately 740,000 girls and boys in sexual and reproductive health, economic empowerment, leadership and participation and to support the associated institutional ecosystem. With a budget of EUR 4.75 million for the 2023-2025 period, the project hopes to encourage young people to become powerful agents of change and transformation in their communities.

With a contribution of EUR 500,000 for the 2023 to 2025 period, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation is also working alongside UN Women in Ethiopia to support the Ethiopian Government to produce and adopt a national action plan on women, peace and security for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000).

In Mali, Luxembourg is contributing EUR 4.7 million to the training of 150 midwives as part of a project implemented by UNFPA (2023-2024). The project’s expected outcomes are to assist 80,000 deliveries, to improve the knowledge of 300,000 women in health and rights, and to provide holistic care for 1,000 cases of rape and GBV (gender-based violence).

In Burkina Faso, UNFPA launched a new project to strengthen the resilience and contribution of women and young people to the effects of climate change. Luxembourg is supporting this project with a contribution of EUR 5 million for the 2023 to 2025 period. The project focuses on three areas: capacity building, improving the financial inclusion and socio-economic integration of women and young people, and strengthening women’s economic empowerment in order to prevent GBV.

The West Africa region has some of the lowest health indicators in the world, particularly for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). For example, a new regional programme with a budget of EUR 1.5 million was launched in 2023 with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). This project aims to support IPPF’s national partners in the West Africa region, specifically in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde and Benin, to defend and strengthen the SRHR of the poorest and most disadvantaged populations, who are often underserved and deprived of care.

In addition, in Senegal, Luxembourg is contributing EUR 500,000 for the 2022-2025 period to fund the VIMOS project, which is implemented by civil society actors and focuses on preventing sexual violence and female genital mutilation among young women, as well as on the development and support of care for victims.

Furthermore, in the Sahel, Luxembourg is continuing its support for gender equality through several dedicated programmes (e.g. the UNFPA Illimin project on education and sexual and reproductive health in Niger; the World Food Programme’s project entitled “Breaking Barriers for Girls’ Education” in Niger; and the FEVE IMPULSE sub-regional project on health and sexual and reproductive awareness, run by ENDA Santé), as well as in a cross-cutting manner through all its bilateral commitments.

In Afghanistan, the Thrive project run by German NGO KIRON Open Higher Education provides Afghan girls and women with access to online courses and marketing training, as well as English language courses, so that they can set up a small business and have a certain degree of financial independence. Since November 2023, 50 women have taken part in this project.