Stakeholder Group Statement of Commitments

Statement of Commitments of the UNDRR Asia-Pacific Stakeholder Group of Individuals and Organisations concerned with Gender (Gender Stakeholder Group) to the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction Manila, Philippines, 14-18 October 2024

Background and context

Marginalisation rooted in social, economic and political criteria continue to implicate on disaster and climate risk reduction/adaptation and resilience building. Despite decades of guidance provided by and the stakeholder commitments to the global frameworks – the HFA, Sendai Framework, CEDAW General recommendation No. 37 on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change – progress and advancements in gender equality and social inclusion in DRR remains limited, as underlined in the MTR of the Sendai Framework, and in the Sendai GAP

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The Midterm Review (MTR) indicates that there are two fundamental challenges to achieving the goal and targets of the Sendai Framework: disaster risk governance and DRR financing. Both of these challenges have implications on gender equality and social inclusion

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In nearly all countries, marginalised groups (e.g. women and girls, persons with disabilities, people in rural areas, Indigenous peoples, ethnic and linguistic minorities, migrants, displaced people, gender and sexual minorities, youth and the elderly) are often excluded from early warning and post-disaster recovery

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The MTR notes that while there is an increased focus on disaster preparedness that is apparent across regions; the inclusion of women and gender and sexual minorities are not yet recognised as integral components of equitable solutions in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. Improvements in inclusion and diversity are considered critical throughout all aspects of risk management, but the contribution of women and girls’ skills and capacities to prepare for disasters and ensure community resilience is under- utilised

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The recommendations for the member States include the need for integration of considerations of gender and disability into the mandates of agencies responsible for collecting and analysing disaster risk data and developing risk information

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Such (institutional) structures and processes must be centered around the engagement and needs of marginalised populations, including women, and gender and sexual minorities, ensuring more systematic engagement with existing, and emerging networks mobilising disaster risk reduction stakeholders. National disaster risk reduction platforms are considered key to facilitating broad-based participation

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Following the Sendai Framework for DRR, the Asia Pacific Action Plan (2024 – 2027) with an all-of-society approach that leaves no one behind and calls to ensure gender-responsive, disability, youth, migrant, indigenous, and other marginalised community inclusive DRR

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The APAP underlines the need for intersectional approaches that support inclusion of women and girls, people of diverse genders, children and youth, persons with disabilities, migrants, indigenous people, and other marginalised groups

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The APAP recognises the lag in inclusive governance that engages all state institutions and all stakeholders, a critical aspect GSHG underlined in its 2022 review

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Opportunities

The Sendai Framework Midterm Review found that gender and social inclusion have become priorities for many Member States. In response, the Sendai GAP was launched this year, aiming to ‘support accelerating achievement of the Sendai Framework by substantially increasing resource allocations, activities and impacts of gender-responsive DRR and substantially decreasing gender-related disaster risk by 2030’. The Asia Pacific Action Plan 2024-2027 states that it is committed to prioritizing the implementation of the Sendai and the nine key objectives of the Sendai GAP that have been integrated into the new Asia Pacific Action Plan 2024-2027 to help accelerate progress of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion. It is important to view disaster risk reduction in coherence with climate justice and resilient development

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The nine Key Objectives of the Sendai GAP is a cross section that showcases the prevailing challenges and limitations member States and stakeholders experience in advancing gender equality, women’s empowerment, and social inclusion

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In addition, there are the two initiatives of Early Warning for All (EW4All) implemented at the national and local levels in all regions to achieve multi hazard early warning by 2027), and the Anticipatory Action for a multitude of hazards, where gender equality and social inclusion are considered throughout

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Implementation Challenges
  • Readiness of the national and local governments to follow the prescriptions provided in the nine the Key Objectives of the Sendai GAP – in terms of commitment, knowledge and awareness and capacity (this may widely vary between countries, however, overall it is not at significantly high levels)
  • Readiness of the diverse communities such as rural, urban, indigenous, who are at risk for participation, empowerment (varying levels of community organization, knowledge, and awareness, availability of time and resources for engagement/other practical considerations, also the related issues of socio economic and political marginalisation limiting their engagement)
  • Seeking coherence between the common objectives sought in the DRR and CCA – pursued by different institutional and reporting mechanisms (both at the national and local government levels)
  • Assessing how to support the government/formal institutions and the community organisations on the levels of readiness to implement the Key Objectives of the Sendai GAP
Commitments by the Gender Stakeholder Group

The Gender Stakeholder Group has worked over the past years to address gender equality and social inclusion in disaster risk reduction. In the next two to three years, we commit to undertake the following actions in support of the Asia Pacific Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework and the Gender Action Plan, and report back at the next APMCDRR:

  1. SUPPORT the GAP and APAP Actions:
  • Support the GAP actions under the nine key objectives utilizing the opportunities listed above to promote gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, with the support of monitoring indicators.
  • Support the implementation of the actions captured within the APAP. 
  • A detailed support plan for the GAP from members of the GSHG is provided here.
  1. Provide guidance for governments on application

Support increasing the capacity of national and local government on DRR, gender equality and social inclusion, on implementing gender-responsive strategies, plans, budgets, policies, and programmes: 

  • We commit to carry out training for government officials under UNDRR oversight. The Gender Stakeholder Group together with UNDRR welcomes all governments and other stakeholders to take advantage of this training in the coming years. 
  • In monitoring, review if the duty bearers are delivering their commitments to include the stakeholder groups’ concerns and asks. 
  • Develop checklists and tools that are adaptable to diverse social, cultural and political contexts towards this end, engaging the local actors, women’s organisations in the process. For instance, support UNDRR and APP-DRR to develop guidelines on Gender Inclusive Disaster Risk Governance for the Asia-Pacific.
  • In the EWS4ALL and Anticipatory Action initiatives, the gender and social inclusion commitments can be taken as instruments for planning, implementation and monitoring.
  1.   Improving intersectional gender analysis
  • Promote GEDSI related ministries and organizations to actively participate in the risk assessments and recovery processes, and include their role.
  • Develop a checklist for carrying out intersectional gender analysis for the Asia-Pacific.
  1.    Strengthening inclusive risk governance
  • Promote practical processes to make inclusive risk governance functional, specifically at the local level.
  • Encourage women to recognise and assume their roles in resilience building though local resilience building mechanisms and platforms.
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