UN Women and WFP join forces to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in Iraq

In collaboration with the Government of Iraq, UN Women and WFP’s joint work will leverage gender-transformative programme opportunities and will focus on women’s leadership, economic empowerment, social protection, resilience and livelihoods with regards to the impact of climate change, ending violence against women and girls, Women Peace and Security (WPS), gender and humanitarian development peace actions, food security and nutrition, and school-based programming.

“We thank WFP for this collaboration and hope that this agreement will cement the important work of UN Women and WFP in ensuring that the needs of women, men, girls and boys are met,” said Dina Zorba, UN Women Representative to Iraq and Yemen. “By incorporating a gender-inclusive lens in the implementation of projects, this will contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG5) on Gender Equality.”

“We value this partnership and will exchange technical expertise plus develop research with UN Women, to expand our support for the Government of Iraq to incorporate a gender perspective to address the needs of women and girls,” said Ally Raza Qureshi, WFP Iraq Representative. “We will respond to climate change and work to have an impact on gender mainstreaming at the national level through joint programmes, initiatives, advocacy and coordination.”

The agreement also sets out terms by which equality and empowerment will be championed in strategic projects, including school-based programming addressing the complexity of requirements around girls’ education in Iraq and food security. Digital innovation for development will also be a parallel priority.

UN Women and WFP are committed to promoting and advancing the agenda on gender equality and women empowerment by strengthening collaboration and coordination on joint activities, projects and programming.

About UN Women

UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

About WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.