GENDER

 EQUALITY AND FEMALE EMPOWERMENT POLICY

2019-2022 ACADEMIC YEAR

Introduction: The policy comes at a critical time as global efforts to reduce gender gaps have met only partial success. Across every devel­opment priority worldwide—from education to economic inclusion—gender inequality remains a significant challenge. Building on the Agency’s decades of experience, the new policy provides guidance on pursuing more effective, evidence ­based investments in gender equality and female empowerment and incorporating these efforts into our core development pro­gramming. Ultimately, this integration is critical to achieving better results in development.

Framework: 

This policy will be implemented by integrating approaches and actions to advance gender equality and female empowerment throughout the Agency’s Program Cycle. AKFA university  will also make strategic investments to promote gender equality and female empowerment.

Hold ourselves accountable: 

Gender equality and female empowerment is a shared Agency responsibil­ity and depends on the contribution and collective commitment of all staff, with particular emphasis on senior managers and Mission Directors.

Purpose and Objective: 

The goal of the Women’s Empowerment Policy (the Policy) is to contribute to sustainable and inclusive development in the AKFA University  members  countries by empowering women and girls to participate in and benefit from the development of their societies and communities. The Policy aims at improving the effectiveness of the role of female development assistance so as to bring about greater socio-economic returns and deliver on its mandate.  The Policy is intended to guide towards integrating women’s empowerment in future operations, in line with the Career Strategy and its reform agenda based on the President’s Year Program. All IsDB Member Countries are signatories to these agreements, which include women’s empowerment as a core element. The Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, includes a specific goal of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, while recognizing women’s empowerment as a catalyst for progress across. The regions and communities supported by the IsDB Group are linked with many common factors; however, they have a vast plurality of ethnicities, languages, cultures, economic profiles and political systems. They also differ widely in levels of human development, with stable and resilient countries and communities, as well as fragile ones. The status of women and their level of participation in the socio-economic development of their communities and countries also vary across the regions. Some countries

have made huge progress in closing gender gaps in education, while others are struggling with low female labour force participation and/or high maternal mortality.

Legislation and This Policy:

At AKFA University the Females’ Empowerment Policy applied under the President’s Provisions of the Republic of Uzbekistan, on measures to further strengthen guarantees of labor rights and support women's career development. This policy has a direct effect on the Human Rights Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Pillars of the Women’s Empowerment Policy:

ACCESS - Remove barriers to women’s access to basic services and infrastructure to leverage their empowerment, skills and productive resources, thereby increasing their economic opportunities and assisting them to accumulate and store wealth and build resilience

MAINSTREAMING - Introduce approaches and actions to integrate women’s empowerment measures throughout the University programming and project cycle – from the Member Country

Partnership Strategy, to project identification, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation and learning – to ensure women participate in the workplace.

AGENCY - Enhance women’s effective engagement in the socio-economic development process,

thus enabling them to have control over resources and participate fully in the development process of their communities and countries.

LEARNING - Develop and facilitate knowledge, capacity development and learning opportunities among member countries, thereby scaling up good practices and driving innovation. 

Improving access to resources and services:

Women’s equal access to productive and financial resources is critical for their empowerment and sustainable and inclusive growth and development. AKFA University will ensure that its programmes facilitate equitable access to financial and technical resources and services for all

women, regardless of age, disability status, ethnicity, socio-economic status, geographical area or any other condition.

Mainstreaming women’s needs:

AKFA University will mainstream the needs of women, and measures that promote gender equity, in its country partnership strategies, programmes and operations, especially those with the potential for high impact on women’s empowerment. Gender analysis will ensure that women’s empowerment issues are identified then considered at all the appropriate stages, from the formulation of Member Country Partnership Strategy through the programme and project cycle development, including preparation, appraisal, implementation and evaluation. Mainstreaming women’s empowerment includes:

(i) integrating specific measures to ensure women and girls benefit from IsDB interventions;

(ii) supporting women’s engagement/participation in the project cycle;

(iii) identifying relevant quantitative and qualitative indicators that are disaggregated by sex;

(iv) allocating the financial and human resources necessary to support planned components/activities related to women’s empowerment;

(v) establishing a tracking system to monitor the women’s empowerment-related outcomes of IsDB operations, and setting targets by sector;

(vi) integrating sex-disaggregated data into relevant HR Department and identifying

Specific Details to measure achievements related to women’s empowerment.

Promoting women’s agency and participation:

Women’s empowerment has a clear dimension of agency, which involves women’s ability to control and decide on financial and productive resources and participate effectively in the development of their communities and countries among international students. AKFA University will support operations that contribute to enhancing women’s participation, with special attention to women in fragile and crisis situations.

Agency can be promoted by: 

• developing women’s leadership and organizational capabilities and skills;
•  raising awareness of women’s roles in the socio-economic development of their countries and communities;
• engaging men and boys at the local level as partners in the promotion of women’s empowerment;

• promoting women’s participation in local decision-making and service-delivery management bodies;
• piloting interventions that foster women’s role as change agents in building community resilience to climate shocks, conflicts and crisis.

Fostering learning and capacity development:

By improving knowledge, fostering learning and developing capacities to promote women’s empowerment, the AKFA University will be equipped with the skills and capabilities to design evidence-based policies and programmes, and to apply proven approaches that successfully and effectively empower women.

To this end, AKFA University will:

• produce knowledge products to identify, capture and disseminate best practices as well as highlight new trends in women’s and girls’ empowerment;
• facilitate South–South cooperation and the exchange of expertise and knowledge between Member Countries about national policies and strategies/programmes that work for women’s empowerment;
• help build the capacity of Member Administrations to generate sex-disaggregated data for planning and budgeting and for the development of inclusive policies and programmes;
• support Students’ Canceller adherence to their international commitments, such as SDG5 and other relevant global targets.

Establishing Discrimination:

Discrimination is not always direct and is often hard to detect. The claimant must show on a “balance of probabilities” (more likely than not) that adverse or negative treatment happened. The analysis should be flexible and look at all relevant factors in the situation including circumstantial evidence as well as the full impact on the affected person or group. While there may be evidence of “intent,” this is not needed to prove discrimination. Gender identity, gender expression or other protected characteristics need only be one of the factors in the negative treatment for discrimination to exist. Once prima facie discrimination is established, the burden then shifts to the organization or person responsible to either provide a credible non-discriminatory explanation, or justify the conduct or practice using one of the defences available under the Code (also see sections 9 and 10 of this policy). Right to self-identify gender International human rights principles are clear that every person has the right to define their own gender identity. A person’s self-defined gender identity is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom. For legal and social purposes, a person whose gender

identity is different from their birth-assigned sex should be treated according to their lived gender identity.

Outcomes:

The AKFA University is intended to achieve three main goals among females:

1. Reduce gender disparities in access to, control over and benefit from resources, wealth, opportunities, and services – economic, social, political, and cultural.
2. Reduce gender ­based violence and mitigate its harmful effects on individuals and communities, so that all people can live healthy and productive lives.
3. Increase capability of women and girls to realize their rights, determine their life outcomes, and influence decision­ making in households, communities, and societies.

This policy will be implemented by inte­grating approaches and actions to advance gender equality and female empowerment throughout the Program Cycle — in Agency­ level policy and strategy formulation; project design and implementation; and monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

Conclusion:

Gender equality and female empowerment are essential for achieving our development goals. Unless both women and men are able to attain their social, economic and political aspi­rations, and contribute to and shape decisions about the future, the global community will not successfully promote peace and prosperity. Realizing this policy in all of the countries in which we work to be a catalytic force for gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide and bring to fruition the vision of a world in which all people are equally empowered to secure better lives for themselves, their families, and their communities.