Blueprint for BiH's Gender-responsive Just Transition for All

This publication was produced under the “Inclusive Decarbonization Activity” (IDA) project, which was funded by the Government of Japan and implemented by the UNDP in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The IDA project identified important elements specific for the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that would need to be considered in the transition from fossil fuels to low-carbon economy, in order to ensure that it does not exacerbate inequalities, but advances equality, particularly gender equality.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the governmental and private sector stakeholders, the project developed a Blueprint for Gender Responsive Just Transition for All in BiH, with a focus on identifying and developing concrete activities and allocating required funds to mitigate the negative, and scaling-up the positive socio-economic impacts that the transition to a low-carbon economy can have on carbon-intensive industries, SMEs, women, youth, marginalized and vulnerable communities and groups, and BiH society as whole.

The Blueprint outlines the key elements of what it takes for just transition to be gender responsive. It lays out the map for gender mainstreaming in the relevant policies- from issue definition through policy formulation, to implementation and evaluation. The publication also shows practical steps of how gender budgeting needs to be fully integrated into climate and just transition policies and how its implementation needs to be monitored. It highlights the importance of gender impact assessments are a crucial part of this process, as it identifies who is affected by the impact of just transition and by measures taken to address it. 

Furthermore, the publication offers practical guideline for governments on how to establish accountability procedures to ensure all relevant stakeholders are held accountable for operating in a gender-responsive manner to achieve set gender equality outcomes in the green job sectors. It brings forward the key elements of gender responsive planning, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that need to be put in place to ensure that interventions put in place to advance gender equality in the green job sector are having the impact they are designed to have. 

Finally, the publication guides policy and decision makers on how to ensure that employment and skills development policies designed for green job sectors are gender responsive, well informed, coherent and broadly supported by all relevant stakeholders. Among key drivers of change are skills development policies that should address the issue of occupational segregation in BiH, ensuring that women and girls fully benefit from emerging employment opportunities in a green economy. To this end, the publication recommends temporary special measures to support women-led and owned companies and projects that provide green employment and income generation opportunities for women, especially from less developed areas.  

The IDA project also provided funding for the decarbonization of at least 20 SMEs in three carbon-intensive industries (power, steel and cement), accompanied by capacity-building activities for key stakeholders, vulnerable groups and industry.