Cambodia discusses plans to localize global Sendai Gender Action Plan

Phnom Penh, Cambodia – UN Women, in collaboration with the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) and the Ministry of Women of Cambodia, organised the first national multi-stakeholder dialogue to discuss how to adapt the newly introduced Sendai Gender Action Plan (GAP) in Cambodia.

The global Sendai GAP was launched in March 2024 on the sidelines of the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) in New York. The launch comes nine years after the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. The Gender Action Plan will support governments and other stakeholders in reducing the negative impacts of gender discrimination and inequality in disasters.

During the dialogue on 12 June 2024, over 80 representatives from government, civil society and development partners discussed the specific challenges and opportunities of integrating gender into the country’s disaster risk reduction.

Maria Holtsberg, Deputy Regional Director of UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, stressed: “The dialogue is a promising and transformative step to concretely discuss how to include gender as an integral aspect of disaster risk reduction and how to effectively ensure that women, girls and vulnerable groups have the capacity to prepare, respond and recover.”

HE Hang Samoeun, Minister and Vice President of the National Committee for Disaster Management of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said in his opening speech: “The people of Cambodia are particularly affected by disasters, especially vulnerable groups such as women and children. Therefore, the Government of Cambodia has paid great attention to the integration of gender issues into disaster management.” He also acknowledged the cooperation of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the NCDM in ensuring that the most vulnerable and at-risk populations are given priority in disaster management.

HE Sivan Botum, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, noted that “the dialogue is a milestone for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs as a member of the NCDM and as a national mechanism for gender-transformative action.” HE Botum added that she was confident that the dialogue would enable stakeholders to provide sectoral inputs, thereby adding value to gender-transformative disaster management.

The outcomes of the dialogue will inform further joint efforts for gender-transformative disaster risk reduction in Cambodia, including the possible development of a national gender action plan and effective localization of the Sendai Gender Action Plan.

This initiative is supported by UN Women and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) through the EmPower: Women for Climate-Resilient Societies (EmPower) programme. Supported by the governments of Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland, EmPower aims to empower women and marginalised groups to take the lead in building climate-resilient communities. For more information, visit www.empowerforclimate.org.