Ashgabat, 26-27 November 2020: Within the framework of the joint project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan "Supporting climate resilient livelihoods in agricultural communities in drought-prone areas of Turkmenistan", online working meeting was held to discuss the draft instruction describing collection and processing procedures and the use of gender-disaggregated data in sectoral planning and budgeting for climate change adaptation.

More than 20 representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan, the State Committee for Water Management, the State Committee on Statistics, hyakimliks of Dashoguz and Lebap velayats, hyakimliks of Gorogly and Danev etraps, local farmer associations of pilot regions, Turkmen Agricultural Institute, employees of the regional FAO/GEF Project, Interstate Commission on Sustainable Development, Global Water Partnership, as well as the project team and its experts took part in this meeting.

Sustainable and successful responses to the impacts of climate change and building resilient communities require appropriate planning at both local and national levels. In this regard, the project is developing guidelines for identifying and addressing gender-specific vulnerability and needs, integrating them into adaptation planning and budgetary allocation in agriculture and water sectors.

During the meeting, the international gender consultant Ms. Gulnara Ibrayeva presented Draft instructions on collection, processing, analysis, use and storage of gender-disaggregated data to promote gender equality in adaptation and resilience to climate change and recommendations for document improvement.

Ms. Gulnara Ibrayeva noted: “Gender statistics is a unique type of statistical data, as it reflects differences and inequalities in the position of women and men in all spheres of life. It allows you to formulate tasks for future development."

As part of its collaboration with “the Government Support Program”, funded by USAID, the project is working to develop a system of indicators to assess the degree of gender-differentiated vulnerability to develop specific targeted adaptation measures for women through the development of appropriate guidelines.