Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality

Goal 5 Targets

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere

5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation

5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate

5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decisionmaking in political, economic and public life

5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences

5.A Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws

5.B Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women

5.C Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

Source: UN Sustainable Development

The Sustainable Development Goals in Zimbabwe

The United Nations in Zimbabwe, through the 2022–2026 Zimbabwe UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (ZUNSDCF), has been central to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by closely aligning international support with the country’s own development priorities. As the primary instrument for supporting national strategies such as National Vision 2030 to become upper-middle-income society—and National Development Strategies 1 and 2 (NDS12021-2025 and NDS2 2026-2030), the ZUNSDCF has helped translate these ambitions into concrete SDG results on the ground. In partnership with Government and Development Partners, the UN has localized the SDGs through local voluntary reviews and embedded six critical transitions—food systems, education, digital connectivity, energy access, jobs and social protection, and climate action—as SDG investment pathways at provincial and district levels. Support to national coordination mechanisms, including the SDG Steering Committee, has been complemented by stronger data and evidence systems, notably the development of 51 SDG-aligned indicators to guide and track implementation of the ZUNSDCF and national progress. To enhance coherence, synergy and impact, the UN in Zimbabwe has deliberately shifted towards joint programming as the predominant mode of delivery. By 2025, joint programmes accounted for more than half of all UN support, strengthening government leadership and policy coherence across sectors. Over the first four years of the Cooperation Framework (2022–2025), the UN mobilized US$2 billion against a total requirement of US$2.8 billion, with 54.4% of this funding delivered through more than 10 joint programmes. Flagship joint initiatives driving SDG acceleration include the Health Resilience Fund, the SDG Renewable Energy Fund, the Global Partnership for Education, and the Joint UN Spotlight Initiative, followed by Sustaining the Gains. These SDG-focused programmes are further underpinned by the UN Business Operations Strategy (BOS) 2022–2025, which has generated substantial efficiency gains through common back-office services. Between 2020 and 2025, the BOS achieved a cumulative cost avoidance of US$7.9 million—exceeding its target of US$7.2 million—and enhanced value for money across UN operations in Zimbabwe, enabling more resources to be directed towards achieving the SDGs.