UN WOMEN MENA Regional Program 2023-2026 UN WOMEN MENA Regional Program 2023-2026 - UN WOMEN MENA Regional The purpose of UN Women's regional program in the MENA region - Dare to Care - is to contribute to changing the prevailing social norms in the region regarding men's participation in child care and household chores. Through greater involvement of men in the home, conditions are created for women to replace unpaid work with paid work outside the home, which contributes to strengthening women's rights and economic empowerment.
The programme works towards three outcomes:

Outcome 1: Communities across the MENA region demonstrate an increased involvement of
men and boys in caregiving and household responsibilities and more empowerment of women
and girls

Outcome 2: Key institutions effectively transform patriarchal masculinities and social norms -
with a focus on advancing caregiving and household responsibilities of men and boys and
women’s participation in paid employment

Outcome 3: More men and boys are able to take their share in caregiving and household
responsibilities with more enabling laws and policies that promote their caregiving and
household responsibilities, and paternity leave.

The programme works towards three outcomes:

Outcome 1: Communities across the MENA region demonstrate an increased involvement of
men and boys in caregiving and household responsibilities and more empowerment of women and girls

Outcome 2: Key institutions effectively transform patriarchal masculinities and social norms -
with a focus on advancing care giving and household responsibilities of men and boys and
women’s participation in paid employment

Outcome 3: More men and boys are able to take their share in care giving and household
responsibilities with more enabling laws and policies that promote their care giving and
household responsibilities, and paternity leave


The support to UN Women amounts to SEK 75 million for the activity period 1 October - 30 September 2026. Syftet med UN Womens regionala program i MENA-regionen - Dare to Care - är att bidra till att förändra de rådande sociala normerna i regionen avseende mäns delaktighet i vård av barn och sysslor i hemmet. Genom större engagemang av män i hemmet skapas förutsättningar för kvinnor att ersätta obetalt arbete med betalt arbete utanför  hemmet vilket bidrar till att stärka kvinnor rättigheter och ekonomiska egenmakt. 

Stödet avser 75 MSEK för aktivitetsperioden 1 oktober 2023 - 30 september 2026. The overarching goal of the intervention is to have more women and girls across the MENA region benefitting from the transformation of patriarchal masculinities and social norms that is achieved using the caregiving and household responsibilities of men and boys as entry point. This transformation will contribute to UN Women's ambition of increasing womens participation in the workforce in the region by 5 per cent, from 20.4 per cent (2021), to 25 per cent (2025).

Based on the programmes goal and theory of change, three outcomes guide the programmes implementation. The programme is designed to promote the involvement of men and boys in unpaid care and domestic work as entry point to bolster gender equality, with a focus on womens economic empowerment.

Outcome 1: Societies across the MENA region demonstrate an increased involvement of men and boys in caregiving and household responsibilities, leading to the empowerment of women and girls

Outcome indicator:

Indicator 1.1: Reduction of gender gap in time spent on unpaid care and domestic work by men and women from target communities and those impacted by the youth-led social movement.

Target: 60 minutes per week

Indicator 1.2: Extent to which the youth-led movement and the social norms change model in target communities contribute to increase gender equality and womens economic empowerment.

The first outcome is aimed at increasing involvement of men and boys in caregiving and household responsibilites, which will be achieved through two outputs.

First, a youth-led social movement contributes to increase the amount and quality of time that men and boys invest in caregiving and household responsibilities, and to empower women and girls economically. The social movement will be established and rolled-out by UN Women with an aim to impact more than 1 million people. Of those, more than 50 000 will be impacted by changes for caregiving and household responsibilities of men and boys brought about by organizations participating in the regional social mobilization (private sector, CSOs, etc.). Online audiences of the campaign who believe that men and boys need to equally participate in caregiving and household responsibilities will increase by at least 20 per cent.

Second, targeted communities evidence progress towards social norms change for the participation of men and boys in caregiving and household responsibilities and further gender equality. 

In doing so, UN Women will use the methods from MWGE phase I and II that has been proven to be most effective (peer-to-peer and positive deviants approaches) together with a specific analysis and parameters for identification of target communities, and detailed techniques and methods to be utilized to engage with the different target groups. 

One CSO or CBO in each target country will be contracted through competitive Calls for Proposals to implement this model in 1-2 selected communities per country.  The exact demographics of the communities where the model will be implemented are yet unknown, as the communities will be identified as part of the selection process of the implementing partners. UN Women estimates that the model will target one community that has between 20,000 and 60,000 adults living in it, and that positive changes will be made by the programme in between 5,000 and 15,000 adults from every community. This means that, in total, the model of the programme will target between 60,000 and 180,000 adults, with the objective of achieving positive changes that are documented in 15,000-45,000 adults.   

Outcome 2: Key institutions effectively transform patriarchal masculinities and social norms, focusing on advancing men's caregiving and household responsibilities and supporting women's economic empowerment 

Indicator 2.1: Percentage (and number) of young male beneficiaries of youth-serving institutions who increase their time on unpaid care and domestic work (by age, location)

Target: 30% of young men beneficiaries of change programmes (estimated to 50 000, with exact number to be confirmed upon completion of gender audits) 

Indicator 2.2: Increased percentage (and number) of young women targeted by youth-serving institutions who are willing to enter in paid labor market (by age, location)

Target: 20% from baseline (estimated to 50 000, with exact number to be confirmed upon completion of gender audits)

The outcome will be achieved by two outputs.

First, the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Egypt, the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication in Morocco and the Ministry of Youth in Jordan will be engaged to achieve impactful change within the structure and portfolios of the institutions and to produce impact at scale in the young men and young women beneficiaries of the institutions across three countries. 

These institutions all have Action Plans developed during the gender audits as part of MWGE phase II. The Action Plans will be built upon when it comes to results at organizational level. Also, selected programmes and services of the institutions will be supported, hereby institutionalizing and rolling out comprehensive tools and curricula developed within the MWGE programme when it comes to fatherhood and gender transformative parenting programmes.

Priority will also be given to the role of the respective National Women's Machinery to strengthen their cooperation with youth serving institutions. The National Women's Machineries are a national institutional mechanism created under the Beijing Declaration, to ensure the mainstreaming of gender equality and the empowerment of women in government institutions, policies and programmes. By cooperating with the National Women's Machineries in the region interministerial cooperation is strengthened. 

UN Women will utilize its partnership with the Arab Women Organization, an intergovernmental organization affiliated with the League of Arab States, as regional convenor to bring the national institutions, and the women's machineries, together to exhange lessons and good practices, and to ensure common system for monitoring. 

Second, religious institutions contribute to transform patriarchal masculinities and promote women's economic empowerment. Cooperation with religious institutions will take place in two separate partnerships. A new partnership with a religious institution will be entered into to influence Islamic discourses and teachings in Muslim communities. Capacity building to Sheiks and Imams will be provided through the partnership and religous decrees that promote gender equality will be proposed for enactment and dissemination. Knowledge products produced by Musawah under MWGE programme will be utilized as needed. 

In addition, a regional partnership with a specialized organization will be undertaken through a Call for Proposals to facilitate the engagement of religious institutions at regional level. Focus will be Sunni Muslim actors, but also promote inter-faith dialogues. 

Outcome 3: More men and boys are able to take their share in caregiving and household responsibilities with more enabling laws and policies that promote their caregiving and household responsibilities, and paternity leave

Indicator 3.1: Number of men who can potentially benefit from the changed normative frameworks in target countries

Target: 40 547 285 men (27 692 909 in Egypt; 9 784 376 in Morocco; and 3 070 000 in Jordan)

Indicator 3.2: Number of laws, reformed or enacted for a more equal and meaningful paternity leave

Target: 3 (1 per country)

Indicator 3.3: Number of national policies reformed (i.e., national gender policies, youth policies, etc.) or approved to promote the caregiving and household responsibilities of men and boys

Target: 3 (1 per country)

This outcome addresses the lack of normative frameworks in MENA and low priority in national agendas to males unpaid care and domestic work. The outcome will be achieved by two ouptputs. 

First, a regional network of universities and research institutions, and regional programme's knowledge products, advance the transformation of patriarchal masculinities and social norms through data and evidence. The intervention will support the development of strategic evidence, knowledge products and advocacy materials to advance regional and national policy agendas and legal reforms in favour of men's and boy's involvement in caregiving and household responsibilities. The regional consortium of universities for gender equality and women's empowerment will be formed by at least 18 universities, and will act as a gender knowledge hub in the region, giving special attention to 1) the care economy and the involvement of men and boys in unpaid care and domestic work, and 2) gender and climate change. The work of the consortium of universities will be utilized by MENA communities of researchers, governments, UN agencies, CSOs and private sector.

Second, National Women's Machineries, women's CSO and other key stakeholders catalyse legal and policy reforms in favor of more equal and meaningful involvement of men and boys in caregiving and household responsibilities, with a focus on paternity leave and its uptake by men. The National Women's Machineries will play a central role in creating a policy agenda at country level, with Arab Women Organization playing its role convening this agenda at regional level. Labor unions, private sector companies, business associations etc. will also be engaged in dialogues and advocacy activities. Financial partnerships with women's CSOs at national level may also be established by UN Women in order to facilitate engagement of the feminist movement to succeed in these advocacy efforts.