similarly gender institutions in some countries in postsoviet space and some in the arab region tend to be viewed as topdown bodies with limited connection to grassroots women s groups and infrequent public consultations effective policymaking capacities capable of taking into account the needs of men and women are critical across all sectors from education and employment to entrepreneurship defence and housing this calls for sound collection and dissemination of appropriate data and knowledge about gender disparities across the entire spectrum of policy concerns and providing the necessary evidence for the development of sound policies that can be transformative in the lives of women and men those strategies must be supported by appropriate institutional frameworks with clear accountability mechanisms across all government institutions