UN WOMEN Core Contribution 2025

The context remains difficult with political backlash against gender equality and multiple global crises. Despite this, UN Women achieved a good performance during the first two years of implementation of its new Strategic Plan 2022-2025, delivering significant results:

• More than 9.5 millionw omen and girls, incl. survivors of violence, across 79 countries gained access to quality support services;
• 248 laws across 39 countries adopted, amended or repealed to advance gender equality;
• Over 1 3’600 partner organisations in 92 countries have capacities to safeguard women’s rights;
• 80% of new UN Cooperation Frameworks in 2023 prioritise gender equaIity.

Achievements at the Swiss level have been satisfactory and have produced, inter alia, the following results:

• The Strategic Plan 2022-2025 reflects Switzerland’s priorities and UN Women is committed to act as UNDS reform champion.
• Swiss pilot funding contributed to the strategic elevation of the economic empowerment pillar in the new Strategic Plan, which is showing good results,
• UN Women and the other funds and programmes report on system-wide results achieved jointlyo n an annual basis.
• Assessment on the oversight and governance function of the Executive Boards of UN Women and the other F+Ps.
• The UN Women office in Geneva is strengthened, with the humanitarian team now located there.
• Switzerland regarded as an important partner, which was exemplified when Switzerland hosted the UN Women Top Funding Partner Roundtable in April 2024.
• Eight Swiss nationals work for UN Women at the professional or higher level

In its 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, UN Women focuses on integrated approaches to address the root causes of inequality, affect broader systems change and achieve transformative results for gender equality.

The following aspects have been made a priority:

• emphasis on functional multilateralism: UN Women’s triple mandate with a focus on coordination to improve system-wide coherence, inter-agency collaboration and partnerships;
• the centrality of generating, analysing and using data to ensure evidence-informed actions;
• further enhancing organisational effectiveness and efficiency through business transformation and decentralisation.

Switzerland will continue the institutional dialogue with UN Women and actively participate in Executive Board meetings, focusing on the following priority topics:

• for the Strategic Plan 2026-2029 (to be adopted in September 2025): advocate for the continuation of the integrated approach and integration of cross-cutting themes. and strengthening of collaboration, including with International Financial Institutions.
• Support improved institutional effectiveness, in particular safeguarding the independence of the evaluation function, and actively contributing to follow-up measures of the assessment on the oversight and governance function of the Executive Board.
• Monitor implementation of the UNDS reform with a focus on inter-agency coherence and cooperation.
• Demand improved monitoring and reporting on the reform implementation as well as on jointly achieved results with other agencies.
• Work with SDC country offices and UN Women at country level to ensure gender equality is prioritized in new UN Cooperation Frameworks.
• Increase the number of Swiss professionals working at UN Women.

Switzerland is among the top three donors of core contributions (ranked 3rd) as of December 2023.

Core contributionrsa nkinq( 2023): 1. Germany; 2. Finland; 3. Switzerland; 4. USA; 5. Denmark; 6. Norway; 7. Sweden; 8. UK; 9. Australia; 10. Canada

Switzerland regularly coordinates its positions with the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), and establishes alliances with interested countries outside the WEOG.