Paraguay

UNDP Paraguay

has achieved the Gold Gender Equality Seal Certification!

In a challenging context with growing backlash to gender equality, UNDP Paraguay has demonstrated dynamic leadership to keep gender equality at the forefront of the office’s agenda. UNDP Paraguay’s personnel have internalized and demonstrated ownership of gender equality in their daily work, across programmes, operations, communications, and the accelerator lab. Testimonies from partners highlight that UNDP has been critical in ensuring continuity of the national gender agenda, particularly in advancing women’s political participation, strengthening women’s land ownership, and engendering public institutions.

“There is still a journey ahead, but obtaining the seal was the boost we needed to continue, as sustainable development cannot exist without equality.”

– Silvia Morimoto, Resident Representative, UNDP Paraguay

Some key achievements include:

Breaking barriers in women’s political participation

UNDP Paraguay has resisted a regressive landscape by strengthening women’s political participation, resulting in an increase from 17% to 23% of women appointed in recent elections. The office succeeded in training and empowering more than 500 women leaders and candidates, most of whom are now in decision-making positions, both in the public and private sectors.

Strengthening women’s land ownership

UNDP Paraguay supported 1,346 women to acquire land titles, which provides women with legal certainty, access to credits and capital, thus promoting a greater empowerment and community development.

Implementing the Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions

UNDP Paraguay engaged six ministries to implement the Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions, with key results on preventing and addressing gender-based violence. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Supreme Court of Justice have protocols for dealing with cases of mobbing and sexual harassment in the workplace; the Ministry of Justice has a protocol for dealing with cases of domestic violence aimed at civil magistrates; and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is developing a Sexual Harassment protocol.

Opening access for women in nontraditional jobs

The Paraguay office engaged and mobilized various stakeholders to promote sustainable management of natural resources with women forest rangers, and women in construction at diverse levels and positions.

Select good practices and innovations in advancing foundational elements of gender equality:

The office spearheaded the “Rondas de Tereré” internal initiative, which brings feminist and keynote speakers to dialogues and exchanges with the Country office – providing a safe place to talk, for example, about what is happening in the country with the backlash to gender equality.

The CO established the voluntary “Gender Empowered Team” which includes personnel from every UNDP programme and is successfully producing greater gender integration in projects.

The investment in the development and implementation of the Gender and Public Policies Certification Programme is being used not only to develop in-house capacity, but also strengthening those of key stakeholders and fostering advocacy efforts.

The platform Women in Green Commodities is using digitalization to bring together women from different parts and regions of the country and promote exchanges and empowerment.

“Part of the process, which involves assessing the impact of gender projects, allowed us to deeply examine what we do, appreciate positive achievements, and make adjustments for improvement.”

– Carmen Vallejo, Gender Specialist, UNDP Paraguay