As the attached document announces, "...the Secretariat of the UNCCD, in collaboration with the Office of the IUCN Senior Gender Adviser, embarked upon the development of a Gender Policy Framework (GPF) for the UNCCD and its Secretariat.

The GPF has been drafted on the basis of: (i) an analysis of the current performance of the UNCCD in the area of gender; (ii) a survey conducted among staff of the UNCCD Secretariat; and (iii) a workshop comprising UNCCD Secretariat staff, Parties to the Convention, and representatives of civil society organizations, held in Bonn, Germany from 23 to 25 February 2011 in the side-lines of the ninth session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC9).

The conceptualization and development of the GPF was based on a review of policies frameworks and plans of action drawn up by similar institutions and international partners, including United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), UNDP, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

This GPF defines the commitment made through the Convention process to ensure the mainstreaming of gender equality through a holistic and comprehensive approach, both internally and externally. The GFP should become a guiding instrument for the implementation of the UNCCD and its Strategy."