Europe & Central Asia RO

Women and girls across the Europe and Central Asia region have significantly strengthened their capacities to fully and equally participate in political leadership and decision-making processes, including those from diverse backgrounds. This progress stemmed from strengthened policy frameworks with continuous advisory and technical support, high-level advocacy and initiatives addressing social norms change, aligned with CEDAW General Recommendations 23 and 40, contributing to SDG 5.5 and SDG 16.7. Recognizing 2024 and 2025 as years of mega-elections, UN Women ECARO provided countries with a comprehensive methodological and capacity development package including training curricula for women politicians, strategies to address violence against women in politics, integrated policy advice and technical assistance. These efforts advanced women�s representation in national elections held in 2024 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, T�rkiye, and Uzbekistan. In four countries with local elections, women�s representation increased by 2 to 9 percentage points. Notably, Uzbekistan�s parliamentary elections and Kyrgyzstan�s local elections each achieved a 6 percentage point increase in women�s representation, following the adoption of 40% and 30% gender quotas, respectively. Women in the region are now better prepared for political participation through the implementation of the UN Women Campaign and Leadership Curriculum where 811 women leaders, aspirants, and candidates enhanced their skills, with many subsequently elected. Additionally, more than 1 million people were reached through impactful awareness campaigns emphasizing the importance of women�s participation in elections and leadership. ECARO leveraged the Gender Equality Accelerator on Women�s Equal Participation in Political Decision-Making and Institutions and addressed systemic barriers to women�s political participation by evidence-based programming, tailored policy advocacy services, and greater system-wide accountability through the SIDA Strategic Partnership Framework. In Ukraine, a baseline study on WPP was conducted, and crisis-context interventions were developed to highlight women�s political leadership. In Georgia, women human rights defenders and lawyers were engaged in inclusive political participation and constitutional reform processes to strengthen women�s political participation in crises context. Leveraging its coordination mandate, ECARO partnered with UNFPA and UNICEF to produce a regional study on gender pushback, providing critical insights to inform strategic UN programming on governance and inclusive participation. In collaboration with OHCHR, ECARO hosted the first Regional Consultation with civil society organizations, UN agencies, and exper

Women entrepreneurs across the ECA region have greater access to markets, financing, technology and networks, directly contributing towards the achievement of SDG goals 5.5 and 8.5, as a result of the Women�s Entrepreneurship EXPO initiative and platform. Launched in 2021, the EXPO 2023 is a pivotal component of the Women�s Entrepreneurship Accelerator, supported by Mary Kay, and organized by the UN Women ECARO, in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Y?ld?z Holding. 400 women entrepreneurs, from the ECA region countries, had the opportunity to showcase their services and products in their own business-design EXPO Marketplace Booths, representing 13 different sectors. Through 10 satellite events, women entrepreneurs showcased and/or sold their products in 6 countries, networked in 8 countries, attended business to business meetings in 5 countries, and participated in local pitch events in 4 countries. The work with these women will continue during 2024, after selections of five entrepreneurs per country which will be matched with mentors for 1:1 consultation. Mentors will be working with them on their company growth and preparing for the Expo Capital Quest pitching event. This was possible after 1,381 women entrepreneurs increased their knowledge on essential topics such as business planning, effective pricing, branding, and digital marketing through over 50 virtual bootcamp sessions, conducted in 10 languages in collaboration with local partners. Local partners, including chambers of commerce and industries, banks, women�s business associations, state agencies and development partners participated in panels, masterclasses, and networking opportunities at the Regional Virtual Expo. During the event, over 1,500 participants shared insights and fostered connections in 15 sessions; participants engaged in over 28,000 interactions in the event space; women entrepreneurs facilitated over 400 virtual booths which garnered over 2,550 visitors; over 900 women entrepreneurs garnered support through profile visits; and over 55,000 users were reached on social media. Almost all (92.7%) participants expressed high overall satisfaction with program activities, and 59% of participants reporting a significant increase in learning, knowledge, and skills. Through two cycles of EXPO, ECARO has built a solid network of diverse stakeholders committed to systematically addressing the capacities, opportunities, and barriers for women�s entrepreneurs� successful participation in the local, national and international markets. ECARO has consolidated a database of over 2,300 women entrepreneurs from 20 ECA countries, documenting their needs through a detailed needs assessment process run in 13 languages. Further, CO�s established partnerships with local entrepreneurship ecosystem players, launched programming in this area, and expanded their network of WEPs partners