Northern Africa

Regional Context

Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the content consisting of the countries of Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Sudan. The Northern Region had varied responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, as is exemplified in the case studies below. Overall, the policy response to COVID-19 was highly gender sensitive with 100% of the 49 policies UNDP tracked across Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia having a gender sensitive component to them. Policies in the region generally focused on supporting industries that disproportionately employ women. Some of the best regional policies also focused on addressing pandemic-related externalities that were harming women and girls such as mental health support, domestic abuse support, and genital mutilation campaigns. Responses also appeared mostly timely in nature, pointing to either a lack of bureaucracy or a prioritization of these issues. In contrast to the regions gender-sensitive response, none of the 49 policies UNDP tracked across Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia appeared to be positively affecting the environment.

Regional Statistics

The data consists of 49 measures from 3 countries in the region, of which all 49 are gender-sensitive and 0 are environmentally friendly.

0 of the 49 policies were both gender sensitive and environmentally friendly

Exemplary Responses

Egypt

Egypt had numerous policies specifically geared towards addressing VAWG. They conducted numerous extensive surveys and produced a policy paper in conjunction with the UN and World Bank to study COVID’s impact on women in Egypt. Egypt worked with the Women Complaints Office of the National Council of Women (NCM) and women’s shelters affiliated with the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS) to better respond to VAWG during COVID to extend working hours, upgrade IT equipment, and shift to remote techniques and procedures.

Some exemplary policies included:

The MoSS also kept open eight women’s shelters, including various support services, for women and their children during COVID.
The Ministry of Justice suspended most work in courts during COVID but actually proceeded with family court cases (alimony payments, child custody cases, etc.)
As female genital mutilation (FGM) ticked up, the government launched a “mega-awareness campaign” in June and July 2020 that was a door-to-door prevention campaign that reaching 14 million Egyptians.

Algeria

Algeria's response was geared towards addressing women's economic security by providing support to sectors that disproportionately employed women and were hit the worst by the pandemic. However, Algeria did not have any policies specifically geared towards addressing VAWG or that were explicitly positive for the environment. Some exemplary policies:

Algeria implemented policies that gave bonus payments to public healthcare workers beginning in February 2020. In Algeria, women comprise 60% of workers in the healthcare sector and 11% of women in Algeria are employed in the sector.
Algeria passed a legal decree in March 2020 granting paid leave to all working mothers and pregnant women without exception across both public and private sectors.

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