UNCT Bahrain Gender Theme Group 2023 Annual Report

In 2023, the Bahrain UNCT established for the first time a Gender Theme Group (GTG), with the aim of strengthening collective results for gender equality and women’s empowerment in Bahrain. In line with the UNSDG Standards and procedures, the Bahrain GTG was established to facilitate inter-agency, gender-responsive, programmatic, technical and policy advice to the UNCT at all stages of the UNSDCF cycle. This timing was particularly opportune given that in 2023 the Bahrain UNCT and its national partners embarked on the process to develop the next UNSDCF 2025-2029. 

Since 2021, Bahrain UNCT has taken significant steps to increase its gender integration in joint workplanning and implementation. Bahrain was the first UNCT in the GCC sub-region to conduct the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard, resulting in important lessons on the value of the Scorecard as a flexible tool to advance GEWE at any stage in the UNSDCF cycle. In 2022, UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) and the Resident Coordinator’s Office convened the first face to face workshop in the Arab States region on the application of Gender Equality Marker during the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) joint workplanning process. The establishment of the Gender Theme Group builds on these achievements to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment is at the heart of the UNCT’s joint work in Bahrain. This effort is complemented and supported by the establishment, also in 2023, of UN Women Bahrain, the first UN Women programme office to be established in the GCC sub-region.