Age, Gender and Diversity Accountability Report 2024
Leveraging the power of forcibly displaced women and girls
Fathia, 37, a Sudanese refugee lawyer in Chad, hired under UNHCR-APLFT initiative to provide legal assistance and raise community awareness on Chadian laws. © UNHCR/Ying Hu
“I see women not just as survivors, but as peacebuilders and agents of change. My organization supports women and girls in all their diversity”
Samia El Hashmi, Founder of the Women-led Organization ‘MUTAWINAT’
What were major achievements in 2024?
The Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) Accountability Report 2024 presents the efforts made across UNHCR to operationalize the UNHCR Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity and its core actions. It provides a global analysis and multiple examples of AGD-inclusive programming, accountability to affected people (AAP) and gender equality. The report incorporates sections with examples of how AGD has been mainstreamed across the work of the organization; how AGD considerations were applied in working with diverse groups; how the organisation has progressed on other institutional efforts, including applying diversity in its workforce and alignining with United Nations-wide accountability frameworks on gender and disability. In the corresponding sections on the Core Actions on gender equality, this year’s edition has expanded on the organizational efforts to advance the rights and inclusion of women and girls across sectors.
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2024
AGD-INCLUSIVE PROGRAMMING
81% of countries collected official population statistics disaggregated by age, sex and nationality.
1.4 million children and caregivers received child protection services.
75% of operations incorporated disability inclusion into their programming.
56 % of operations incorporated the needs of LGBTIQ+ persons in activities.
PARTICIPATION AND INCLUSION
55% of reporting operations provided extensive support for the participation of refugees and asylum-seekers in programmes.
122 country operations conducted participatory assessments consulting with 263,318 people.
COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPARENCY
144 active HELP websites in 32 languages reached 13.6 million people.
FEEDBACK AND RESPONSE
59 refugee operations and 10 IDP operations reported that at least 75% of people had access to safe feedback and response mechanisms.
4.3 million people used UNHCR-supported feedback and response mechanisms.
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AND ADAPTATION
Almost 39,000 households were reached with post-distribution monitoring on financial assistance.
WOMEN AND GIRLS’ PARTICIPATION AND INCLUSION
46% of reporting refugee operations and 50% of reporting IDP operations indicated that at least 50% of leadership and management positions in community structures were held by women.
18% of UNHCR-funded partners identified themselves as women-led organizations.
INDIVIDUAL REGISTRATION AND DOCUMENTATION
Women and girls represented 52% of the 2.7 million new individuals registered in proGres and issued with individual documentation.
EQUAL ACCESS TO AND CONTROL OVER ASSISTANCE
56% of more than 5.3 million recipients of financial assistance were women.
EQUAL ACCESS TO LIVELIHOODS, HEALTH AND EDUCATION
57% of over 8.7 million health consultations conducted were with women and girls.
54% of the participants in livelihood and economic interventions were women.
45% of DAFI scholarship recipients were women.
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND RESPONSE SERVICES
1.6 million people – primarily forcibly displaced women and girls – were reached by GBV prevention and response services.
AGD-Inclusive Programming
In 2024, UNHCR made progress in improving the availability of population data disaggregated by age, sex and nationality, including through statistical modelling and cooperation with academia, with 81 per cent of data disaggregated in official statistics from 180 countries. UNHCR’s core registration, identity and case management system, proGres, was used in 110 countries to register 2.7 million forcibly displaced individuals, providing data that supports AGD mainstreaming across programmes as well as targeted protection and assistance interventions.
AGD considerations were amplified in the revised UNHCR Programme Handbook, and increasingly reflected in strategic planning: 75 per cent of operations incorporated disability inclusion in their 2025 strategies, and 44 per cent addressed the protection needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) persons.
Sectoral activity management systems, notably those for cash assistance, health and livelihoods, continued to track detailed AGD-disaggregated data to support inclusive and targeted assistance.
Mother-of-six Maizala, left, discusses her situation at the Lianda settlement for IDPs in Mueda district, Mozambique, where she and her family are being accommodated. Back home, Maizala was a farmer who supported her family. © Hélène Caux
Manal, 42, a Syrian refugee in Zaatari camp, Jordan, joined a mobile repair course provided by UNHCR’s funded partner, Blumont, becoming the first woman mobile technician in the camp. © UNHCR/Shawkat Alharfoush
Accountability to Affected People
55 per cent of UNHCR operations (out of 66 reporting) provided extensive support to refugee participation across programming phases, and 122 countries conducted participatory assessments reaching 263,000 individuals of diverse age, sex and other profiles. To foster community participation and initiatives, 251 Grant Agreements were granted to organizations led by displaced and stateless persons in 45 operations, worth US$ 2.2 million and representing a 135 per cent increase from 2023.
A global assessment of digital communication channels undertaken to better tailor two-way communitcaion with individuals and communities, indicated that more than 80 per cent of approximately 120 countries communicate with forcibly displaced people through websites, social media and messaging apps. UNHCR Help websites were active and updated in 144 countries and were accessed by 13.6 million people, while targeted digital information platforms were launched to improve information on voluntary refugee return.
By the end of 2024, the Digital Gateway, a UNHCR platform designed to enable forcibly displaced and stateless people to have enhanced online access to personal data, information, services and solutions, had 98,000 accounts created in five pilot operations, corresponding to approximately 239,000 individuals (51 per cent women and girls).
Some 4.3 million forcibly displaced used UNHCR’s supported feedback and response mechanisms, a significant increase from 2.5 million in 2023. Globally, 59 operations (out of 78) reported that at least 75 per cent of people had access to safe feedback and response mechanism for refugees and asylum-seekers, and 10 operations (out of 22) reported the same for IDPs. Additionally, post-distribution monitoring for UNHCR multi-purpose cash assistance programs was conducted in 74 countries and reached more than 38,700 households validating cash as the preferred means of assistance by forcibly displaced people and highlighting a 98 per cent satisfaction rate with UNHCR’s cash assistance.
Gender Equality
Women’s participation in decision-making and leadership roles recorded some progress from the previous year, with 46 per cent of reporting countries achieving or surpassing 50 per cent female participation in refugee and asylum-seeker leadership structures, and 50 per cent in IDP populations.
52 per cent of the 2.7 million individuals registered in 2024 were women and girls, with individual registration of women facilitating their access to services and protection, enhancing legal recognition and contributing to reduce vulnerabilities to exploitation and abuse.
Women represented 54 per cent of participants in UNHCR livelihood programmes, and 56% of overall recipients of UNHCR multi-purpose cash assistance, with the percentage of women as primary collectors of cash assistance ranging between 32 and 63 per cent in the four largest UNHCR cash operations (Ukraine, Lebanon. Afghanistan, South Sudan).
According to UNHCR’s 2024 Public Health Global Review, 57% of more than 8.7 million health consultations benefitted women and girls, while maternal and reproductive health services included over 733,000 antenatal care (ANC) consultations and 138,000 assisted deliveries, contributing to the well-being of pregnant women and their children. UNHCR’s gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response services reached over 1.6 million people in 86 countries, mostly women and girls.
UNHCR continued to invest in women-led organizations (WLOs), directly or through an active role in inter-agency initiatives such as the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund. In 2024, 87 per cent of all UNHCR-funded partnerships were with national and local organizations, and 18 per cent were with WLOs. WLOs accounted for some 20% of grass-root partners receiving UNHCR Grants Agreements.
Shankaron Abdi, 18, a Somali refugee born and raised in the camp is a leader, mentor, and an unwavering advocate for girls’ education and empowerment, helping shape the future for countless young girls who look up to her as a role model. © UNHCR/Mohamed Maalim
Sakina, a female entrepreneur in Razi Town, Herat, operates a thriving bag production business supported by UNHCR’s Small and Medium Enterprises program. With the financial assistance she received, she expanded her workshop, and increased her workforce to 22 employees, including 15 women. © UNHCR/Oxygen Empire Media Production
Organizational Accountability
UNHCR continued to contribute to the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP), meeting or exceeding in 15 of the 17 applicable key performance indicators, as well as to the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS), meeting or exceeding in 12 of the 15 of the indicators. An internal Gender Steering Committee was established to follow up on UNHCR’s requirements under the United Nations System-Wide Gender Equality Acceleration Plan (GEAP, and UNHCR opted into the new United Nations Secretariat Strategy on Protection from Violence and Discrimination of LGBTIQ+ Persons.
Efforts on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment were reaffirmed in the new Policy on Addressing Sexual Misconduct embedding a victim-centred approach. UNHCR launched the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategic Framework 2024–2026 reinforcing its commitment to gender and diversity in the workforce.
Challenges
UNHCR continues to make progress in collecting disaggregated population data, including through statistical modelling. Yet significant gaps remain, especially at subnational level, as well as for some population types such as IDPs, or specific groups such as persons with disabilities and LGBTIQ+ persons. While an increasing number of operations used the gender and disability markers, organizational capacity and consistent use of AGD tools remains an area that requires further investment.
Barriers such as discrimination, insecurity, illiteracy, and limited access to information prevent the full participation of women and marginalized groups in planning and decision-making on activities that affect their lives. While digital communication tools are expanding, low digital literacy and poor connectivity persist and hinders the full outreach and use of such tools particularly by women, older persons and persons with disabilities. Feedback and response mechanisms have improved in quantity and reach, but their integration into programming remains uneven and the closing of the feedback loop is often challenged by insufficient human resources.
Despite gains in female participation and in the reach of inclusive or targeted services, women and girls still face barriers to exercise their equal participation and leadership as well as to fully and independently access services, due to cultural norms and safety concerns. Legal obstacles to personal and property documentation continues to hinder access to rights and services in some situations. As some of their representatives highlighted in the UNHCR Global NGO consultations, WLOs still face challenges in directly accessing funding for their activities, and in equal participation in coordination forums, despite being often at the forefront of the humanitarian response.
The ongoing funding crisis and the significant cuts in human and financial resources, threaten the continuity and quality of AGD programming, especially in field operations. Human resource constraints also hinder implementation and monitoring, and the efforts to proactively reach out to various individuals and groups within affected communities for meaningful participation. Successful local initiatives, including those led by women, youth, LGBTIQ+ individuals, cannot be adequately funded to continue and scale up effectively.
Zakia Khudadadi, bronze medal winner of the women’s Para taekwondo K44–47kg category. © UNHCR/Elif Gulec
Rohingya refugee women receive training in electrical works repairs as a way of earning income and contributing to their community. © UNHCR/Shari Nijman
What next?
Building on the evidence and insights of the 2024 AGD Accountability Report, UNHCR should continue to progress in a series of measures to sustain and advance its commitment toward the core actions of its AGD Policy.
- Continue disseminating the AGD Policy across all levels of the organisation, promote peer exchange of promising practices, and ensure staff and partners complete and apply UNHCR AGD-related learnings to enhance AGD mainstreaming and inclusive-programming.
- Continue to invest in consistent disaggregation of both population and operational data (as a minimum by age, sex, and as possible by disability and other diversity characteristics) and streamline indicators to focus the efforts and better support AGD analysis. Systematically apply disaggregation across sectors, in assessments, monitoring, and post-distribution activities, while aligning the use of organizational markers with UN-wide standards.
- Ensure meaningful participation of forcibly displaced people of diverse AGD profiles at all stages of the programme cycle, using both traditional and innovative digital tools, including through a responsible use of AI to improve efficiencies in the way the results of direct community engagement and consultations are gathered to inform programs.
- Maintain and diversify communication channels based on community preferences. Continue to develop platforms like the Digital Gateway that enable people to manage their data, obtain information and access services, while addressing barriers related to digital literacy and connectivity, particularly for women, older persons and persons with disabilities.
- Integrate gender analysis throughout the program cycle and maintain investments in gender-transformative action. Continue targeted support for women and girls’ access to education, health, livelihoods, GBV and other protection services, and strengthen partnerships with women-led organizations (WLOs), including through direct funding for their initiatives, advocacy for increasing support to pooled funding such as the WPHF, and by promoting their systematic inclusion in coordination structures.
These suggested actions will contribute to better addressing the multiple and intersecting protection risks and needs of forcibly displaced people of all ages, genders and diverse characteristics; promote their capacities and skills; and integrate their feedback and recommendations in UNHCR programs. This requires organisational commitment, staff capacity and dedication, operational presence and continious investment in learning and tools.
The current funding crisis grappling UNHCR, particularly its field operations, will inevitably pause, or even regress, pathways towards quality programs and effective protection interventions that the UNHCR AGD Policy promotes.
Experiences from country operations covered in the 2024 AGD-Report
The AGD Accountability Report 2024 includes examples across multiple UNHCR operations, Regional Bureaux, Divisions and Entities. You can consult the interactive map below for a summary by location, and read the full report to discover these examples more in depth.
