Dear friends and well-wishers of ICIMOD,
As I write this note in June 2022, the long shadow of the COVID pandemic seems to be retreating, and the tremendous difficulties we were facing in 2021 seem behind us. Nevertheless, reflecting on the past year, it is important to recall the challenges we faced – continued lockdowns that required us to adapt our annual workplan, and political shifts in Afghanistan and Myanmar that significantly reduced our work in these countries.
Despite the challenges, we were able to fulfil our recurring institutional commitments to both an external quinquennial review (QQR) process and a five-yearly independent gender audit. Although we would have preferred to engage in-person with the external review and audit teams, we appreciated their ability to adapt to the constraints and have listened to their feedback.
A significant finding of the gender audit was that our gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) work has historically been heavily weighted towards gender and less focused on social inclusion. Responding to this feedback, we have elevated our GESI work both as an explicit core value honouring diversity and as a key cross-cutting element of all our work in the new strategy, which will take effect from 2023 and extend through 2030.
Annual report 2021
