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UN Women’s efforts through EWMWA continue to be relevant to the future needs at country and regional levels with respect to its comparative advantage in gender mainstreaming and the relationship of trust it has cultivated with its partners through advocacy and technical and financial assistance. The programme continues to be relevant to the future needs at country and regional levels to the extent that gender responsive rights are absent in national migration laws and policies. The Regional Office serves as an ideal channel for promoting information sharing on lessons learned and best practices among sending and receiving countries and the utilization of evidence-based knowledge for formulating and implementing policies that address the gender rights of women migrant workers, especially, the most vulnerable. Furthermore, by virtue of its gender agenda and its efforts and success in empowering women migrant workers through measures such as the Standardized Contract for Migrant Domestic workers, the Regional Office is in an advantageous position to reach out to governments and use its technical and political leverage on gender rights to push forward the implementation of CEDAW GR. No. 26 and Concluding Observations in individual countries.
Overall, the project countries have not yet reached sustainable levels of collaboration and coordination at the policy level. Though in some instances, there have been some structural changes in relationships and alliances among relevant ministries and agencies, the level of mission and goal alignments remain low. Sustainability prospects are also hampered to the extent that the imbalance in political traction and common goals between the government and informal coalitions at the grassroots persist. Similarly, despite considerable achievements, stakeholders in project countries have not yet reached sustainable capacity levels in areas of research, gender analysis, monitoring, information sharing and dissemination, and mainstreaming gender into policy formulation and implementation. In order to sustain the achievements of the project, it is often necessary to have some ongoing activities to ensure that the capacity that has been built through the project is developed and maintained, and that evidence collected through research is appropriately communicated and used. Moreover, the sustainability of policy formulation and implementation efforts continue to require the availability of advice and assistance to governmental bodies in the project countries.
Gender rights issues for migrant workers are not still at the same priority level as those on labour rights in the project countries (even though countries differ in terms of degree). One possible explanation is absence of adequate understanding regarding the link between gender and labour rights in international conventions by national stakeholders. Another explanation concerns differences in funding and the duration of projects such as EWMWA, championed by UN Women, as compared to those initiated by ILO and IOM. The SDC funded part of phase III had limited funding and duration not only in view of its objectives, but also in relation to other programmes on Labor rights by UN agencies such as ILO, in the project countries. Sustained long term and sufficient funding is essential for effectively addressing the dynamic and long term nature of policy change and achieving the expected impact. The project’s effectiveness in achieving its expected results and its sustainability should therefore be assessed according to its capacity (in terms of human and financial resources as well as its ability to secure the buy-in of stakeholders within the country context) in developing and/or strengthening mechanisms necessary for advancing gender rights of women migrant workers from one policy stage to the next within the project’s budget and timeframe.
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