Deepening gender-responsive lawmaking

Building on the National Assembly’s existing work on gender mainstreaming, the meeting highlighted opportunities to further strengthen how gender considerations are incorporated into legislation and oversight.

UNDP Resident Representative Ramla Khalidi noted that gender-responsive policymaking requires going beyond gender equality as a broad objective. It involves examining how specific laws, policies and development goals may affect women, men and different population groups in different ways, and using that analysis to inform policy choices.

UNDP proposed a technical discussion with the National Assembly to identify opportunities for joint research, knowledge exchange and training, including ways to strengthen the capacity of deputies and staff to apply gender analysis more systematically in lawmaking and oversight.

Preparing for an ageing society and changing work

Population ageing was identified as another area where stronger policy and institutional responses will be increasingly important.

UNDP is supporting the Ministry of Health to prepare for amendments of the Law on the Elderly and is exploring how international experience and research can inform more integrated models of elderly care, bringing together healthcare and other support services.

The discussion also touched on gaps in social protection for people in new forms of employment, including platform workers such as Grab drivers, as well as workers exposed to extreme heat and other weather-related risks.
The UNDP Resident Representative shared UNDP’s ongoing research into adaptive social insurance and parametric insurance approaches, which could provide faster protection when predefined climate or weather conditions are met.

Chairperson Nguyễn Đắc Vinh noted gaps in the social insurance system arising from changing structure of labour force and welcomed further exchange and capacity building in this area.