UN Women Note.
April 2020.
The UN COVID-19 Response and Recovery Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) is a UN interagency finance mechanism launched by the UNSG to support low- and middle- income programme countries in overcoming the health and development crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A first call for proposals to the MPTF was launched mid-April 2020.
Based on the MPTF’s call for proposals UN agencies are to develop Joint Programmes between not more than four recipient UN agencies, to finance prioritised initiatives. Following the principle of ‘Building Back Better’ in a more equal and sustainable way, UN Country Teams (UNCTs) are tasked to apply the UN Sustainable Development Group’s approved gender marker to the proposal, as well a gender lens on the description of the problem that projects aims to address.
While elements are in place to ensure that women and girls’ resilience to COVID-19 and its impacts will be strengthened through the MPTF, it presents an opportunity to increase assistance to those women who are most often left behind.
This note provides a brief overview of the underlying structural inequalities and experiences of violence and discrimination faced by indigenous women and girls. It highlights recommended actions that Resident Coordinators and UNCTs could adopt under Windows 1 and 2 of the MPTF to support government efforts at addressing the health and socio-economic dimensions of the crisis. The note also advocates for measures that can be accelerated in the longer term.
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