Outcome APA_D_1.3

Women and girls in all their diversity, benefit equally from opportunities, goods, services and resources, in full enjoyment of their social and economic rights and freedoms

In 2024, more women and girls have gained or will gain in the near future equitable access to high-quality goods, services, and resources that are responsive to their needs. This includes i) utilization of HIV/AIDS prevention and care services among vulnerable women and women living with HIV, ii) access to child care services through integrated vocational training and child care centers as well as those driven by care enterprises iii) access to clean energy technologies and decent work opportunities iv)skills to navigate the green economy; and, v) survivor-centered health and legal support services for women who experienced violence against women for 19 country offices in the region in case of such incidents. In the area of gender responsive climate action , UN Women also secured USD 17.5 million through strategic partnerships with financial institutions, enabling the creation of nine financial mechanisms to finance renewable energy initiatives benefiting 40% women-led and marginalized enterprises to access clean energy technologies and decent work. By collaborating with various financial actors, EmPower has improved access to financing for micro to medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), promoting gender equality in the renewable energy sector. EmPower also developed a Guidance Note on ESG assessments, which partner institutions are integrating into their due diligence processes, with planned ESG training sessions to further embed these standards. Additionally, the Girls Go Green Asia Pacific Summit (23-25 October, Bangkok), co-organized by UN Women ROAP, UNICEF, and UNEP, significantly enhanced the capacity of state and private sector actors to promote gender-transformative pathways in the green economy and reached 32 adolescent girls and young women from 20 countries to provide essential tools for navigating gender barriers in green jobs and STEM, resulting in Joint Recommendations on Green Skills . These recommendations will promote inclusive opportunities and gender-responsive green transition policies, with an emphasis on women's economic autonomy and resilience, particularly in renewable energy and green innovation. Additionally, a youth-led session on green ecopreneurship fostered peer learning and innovative thinking. During the year, UN Women continued to work with different stakeholders including UN Agencies, CSOs and Women’s groups to ensure that needs and concerns of women living with HIV/AIDS are reflected in HIV/AIDS progarmmes implemented at country level. In partnership with UNAIDS and UNFPA, support was provided to Government participants and CSOs in ensuring that country level HIV/AIDS prevention plan developed during Regional HIV Prevention Meeting include focus on addressing GBV against WLHIV and vulnerable women including FSWs. UN Women also supported improvement in utilization of HIV/AIDS services among girls and women through reviewing and ensuring that needs of girls and women are addressed through work plans developed by Country level Joint Team. In the area of Women’s Economic Empowerment, UN Women has increased or supported labour force participation for women through driving access to childcare services and encouraging decent jobs in the care sector . UN Women supported Gender-Inclusive Care Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (GICEEP) programme which enabled 3,075 women to enter and stay in the labor force, while reaching 9,683 individuals across Asia-Pacific through 14 care delivery models. A cohort of 11 Care Entrepreneurs have become more gender inclusive in their policies and practices through the GICEEP programme while increasing their revenue with 46.4%; improving their business models and leadership skills and driving decent jobs for women. These enterprises have positioned themselves as gender impact businesses for the first time, developed policies for preventing sexual harassment in their workplace and new partnerships, advocacy modalities and funding opportunities using new messaging with gender equality have been firmly integrated as part of their model. Additionally, UN Women supported the setup of 3 new care enterprises catering to 164 families and 45 women to access integrated skilling and early childhood and education childcare services through “Better Skills Better Care”, to enhance women’s economic participation through an integrated vocational skilling for women and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) intervention targeted at low-income families in India. Through UN Women's support, implementing partners SAFEEEM and Dharma Life have integrated gender into implementation and also supported partners to become more gender responsive. UN Women played a pivotal role in promoting the gender and climate change discussions, particularly at the Beijing+30 regional review where a grant for feminist journalists to cover the intersection of gender and climate change was announced. This initiative will be crucial moving forward to develop critical stories that illuminate the challenges faced by women and other marginalized groups, such as Indigenous Peoples, persons living with disabilities, and persons with diverse SOGIESC, in the Asia-Pacific region due to climate change. Through the UN Women PROTECT project support under EVAW, ASEAN launched the ASEAN Guidelines for Developing National Standard Operating Procedures for a Coordinated Response to Violence Against Women and Girls , enabling survivor-centred, multi-sectoral coordination across health, police, justice, and social service sectors. By establishing clear SOPs and performance standards, it strengthens service providers’ capacity to respond effectively to violence, ensuring women receive timely, coordinated, and survivor-centred support from essential services, reducing barriers to access and promoting their safety and well-being.

Women and girls in all their diversity, benefit equally from opportunities, goods, services and resources, in full enjoyment of their social and economic rights and freedoms

In 2023, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) took foundational steps and achieved in creating new spaces to raise awareness on different issue areas such as the care economy, safe and decent labour migration and on implementation of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Principles (WEPs). Engaging diverse stakeholders such as private sector, governments, investors, women’s civil society organizations, trade unions and recruitment agencies through 18 multistakeholder dialogues, UN Women provided an entry point for many non-traditional stakeholders to come together and have a seat at the table for creating more gender responsive policies and practices. For instance, through the 2023 WEPs Forum, UN Women raised awareness of pathways and thematic focus areas for the private sector to address gender equality and women’s empowerment, including through multi-stakeholder initiatives. Many of the participating companies were WEPs signatories and have benefitted from the UN Women engagement with these companies over the years on implementing the WEPs, which has in turn contributed to their progress that was showcased at the Forum. 92 per cent of the survey respondents (N=34) said the Forum inspired them to take further action. Similarly, through the Care Economy Forum, 58.6 per cent of survey respondents who participated in the forum (N= 17) stated that the forum inspired them to take further action. Inclusive Care Economy Forum Held from 22-23 June 2023 in Kuala Lumpur, the Asia Pacific Care Economy Forum organized by UN Women, Asia Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), a top social investor network in the region, and Kiddocare, an on-demand babysitting platform providing solutions in the care economy, the forum brought together over 200 participants from 15 countries to explore pathways for effective investment in care economy to advance women's economic empowerment, and fostered collaboration and networking among different stakeholders. It sensitized investors to the benefits of gender-lens investing in the care economy and helped raise awareness about this vital sector. As a result of these efforts, participants in the Forum agreed to establish an Asia-Pacific care stakeholder community, to support the Global Alliance for Care movement. By supporting different care enterprises’ participation in this dialogue UN Women provided 12 care enterprises with the opportunity to expand and grow their networks while learning about building an inclusive care economy also created a ripple effect from the regional to country level. The Group of 20 (G20) in India launched a regional and G20 chapter of a Care Entrepreneurship Accelerator and the G20 Delhi Declaration articulated for the first time the importance of investments in care as a means to advance women’s economic participation. This was a result of UN Women’s support the Care Work at the G20 India resulting in the Launch ‘Empower Care Initiative’ aiming to implement a national India. To date awareness raising and resource mobilization has started amongst key embassies, the United Nations partners in India and beyond. Women’s Empowerment Principles Forum With over 2,400 signatories to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and over 100 companies reporting on weps.org in Asia Pacific, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has since 2020 supported businesses in the region to implement the Women’s Empowerment Principles as well as has documented good practices to inspire other private sector actors to take action for gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. On 7-8 November 2023 in Manila, Philippines, UN Women organized the first ever in-person convening of WEPs Signatories and stakeholders in Asia-Pacific at the Asia-Pacific WEPs Forum. The Forum brought together more than 165 leaders and experts from SMEs, corporates, regulators, policymakers, and other key business ecosystem players from across the region. 89 per cent reported having a policy on prevention of sexual harassment in their organization 80 per cent reported having a non-discrimination policy in place 50 per cent reported having mandatory trainings on gender bias within their organization However, when it comes to more innovative areas, such as companies offering support for childcare through facilities or subsidies, gender-responsive procurement or forging industry wide alliances for impact that go beyond traditional corporate social responsibility measures but also look at building issue-coalitions for transformative action, companies are still at a more nascent stage and require more support and handholding. While a promising proportion of responding companies reported that they report on public platforms (46 per cent), only 34 per cent of participating companies have prioritized setting gender targets and publicly reporting on them in the next three years. At the end of the Forum, participants also made individual commitments to, for example: Advocate for safe and inclusive workplaces Advocate for gender equality in the community Apply what they have learned to their organization Examine their own biases Support more women in leadership roles In the area of migration, UN Women contributed to elevating the quality of service delivery by equipping 18,057 service providers, public servants and community leaders with enhanced skills and knowledge to provide survivor-centred services for survivors of VAW. Over 130,000 members? of community-based networks and women-led services are taking proactive measures to prevent VAW and?trafficking while extending support to survivors (see attachments for examples). Tailored pre-departure information sessions, held by women’s networks and CSOs, have equipped 326,794 women migrants with the necessary knowledge about safe labour migration practices and VAW services available, enabling them to make well-informed decisions and avail themselves of support if needed. In Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, 14 referral mechanisms and 14 joint task forces were established, with a standardized operating procedure for cross-sector referrals for women migrant workers who have experienced violence.?These results were informed by national dialogues, regional exchanges, specialized expertise and regional technical resources of UN Women, such as the ‘ ASEAN Regional Guidelines on the Development of National Standard Operating Procedures for a Coordinated Response Mechanism to VAW’ ; and ‘ A Guidance Note to Develop a Migration-Sensitive National Action Plan on VAW’ . Collaborating with UNICEF, an online database for women and girls-focused organisations in humanitarian response was made accessible to UN Women country offices and UN agencies and partners, contributing to emergency preparedness.

Women and girls in all their diversity, benefit equally from opportunities, goods, services and resources, in full enjoyment of their social and economic rights and freedoms

In 2025, more women and girls gained equitable access to high-quality goods, services, and resources responsive to their needs (Total= 2452 women and children migrants + 11 women led startups + 104 women and girls) In ending violence against women , 2337 women and children migrants were protected or assisted through UN Women's PROTECT programme in Cambodia and Thailand. Over 500 frontline duty-bearers, judicial actors, civil society representatives, and service providers from at least 32 institutions strengthened their knowledge, skills, and application of survivor-centered approaches through strategic, evidence-based beyond-training initiatives and knowledge-sharing sessions. These efforts focused on the needs of women and girls, including women migrant workers, and aimed to embed trauma-informed, survivor-centered approaches across response systems. In Cambodia, 15 institutions strengthened technical procedures, GBV case-handling practices, and coordination mechanisms to support multi-sectoral, survivor-centered services. Institutions improved their use of administrative data on violence against women, applied monitoring checklists to assess service quality, enhanced helpline operators’ capacity to implement SOPs, and strengthened coordination through application of Module 5 of the Essential Services Package on governance and coordination. In Thailand, 17 institutions improved cross-border referral mechanisms, refined SOPs, strengthened coordination across justice, social services, and civil society sectors, and enhanced survivor-centered GBV prevention and response for women, including women migrant workers, through UN Women–supported capacity-building initiatives. Across Cambodia and Thailand, service providers strengthened practical implementation of survivor-centered GBV support, including core principles, case management, and referral pathway mapping. This work was underpinned by the Guidance Note on Strengthening Cross-Border Service Referrals for GBV in the Mekong, which translated global standards into practical tools for women on the move and informed learning and coordination across 27 institutions. Through the PROTECT project, these efforts improved procedures and institutional practices across sectors, strengthening coordinated responses to violence against women at local, national, and cross-border levels. Through piloting the Statistical Framework for Measuring Femicide in Fiji and Mongolia, in partnership with UNODC and KOSTAT-COE, UN Women helped to strengthen national data systems and inter-institutional coordination. Police, judicial, statistical, and line ministries tested harmonized indicators, identified data gaps, and generated comparable, sex-disaggregated evidence on femicide. Findings will inform technical reports to the UN Statistical Commission (2027) and were elevated globally at the Global Meeting on Femicide (July 2025), positioning Fiji and Mongolia as Asia-Pacific pathfinders on data and accountability. In women’s economic empowerment , access to green economic opportunities and finance expanded through the UN Women Climate Tech Accelerator, which convened 11 women-led startups from six ASEAN countries and 90 investors and ecosystem actors, facilitating 242 curated investor–founder introductions and generating follow-up investment and market linkages. Survey results showed strong commitment, with 88 per cent of women-led climate startups agreeing to incorporate gender equality into their business models and all participants agreeing their enterprises could address the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women and girls. Over 80 per cent of respondents from 11 startups experienced business growth, including new customers, product development milestones, market expansion, and investor engagement. Women-led climate tech startups improved access to finance, with some raising capital of up to USD 250,000 and four receiving grant funding to strengthen gender equality within and through their business models. Startups were featured at curated events, built investor and mentor relationships, and strengthened their roles as advocates for women in climate tech. UN Women advanced innovation, investment, and policy reform in care systems to reduce women’s unpaid care work and expand decent work. The Korea Impact Studio on Care convened startups, investors, and policymakers from seven countries to advance care-friendly markets, responsible AI-enabled caregiving solutions, and gender-responsive policy and financing models. The UN Women Private Sector Forum mobilized public–private action to address the undervaluation of unpaid care work and strengthen sustainable care infrastructure. Through the Papa School initiative, 25 working fathers from major companies promoted shared caregiving and uptake of family-friendly workplace practices, contributing to normative and institutional change. The Special Forum on the Women’s Empowerment Principles strengthened private-sector capacity to implement gender-equal, care-friendly workplace policies. Under the TransformCare Investment Initiative Asia-Pacific, results included co-creation of four scalable care delivery models in Nepal, development of context-specific financing strategies in India, and strengthened application of the ILO–UN Women tool in Viet Nam, with follow-up actions advancing through national policy processes and a regional Community of Practice. In gender-responsive climate action , UN Women advanced equitable access to renewable energy knowledge for Indigenous and rural women by financing a Community-Based Renewable Energy Training-of-Trainers model with TONIBUNG and the Right Energy Partnership, planned for implementation in 2026. With UNEP, UN Women contributed to advancing gender integration in climate plans, financing mechanisms, and institutional arrangements in ten countries. Women’s leadership was further strengthened and the climate–GBV–DRR nexus was enhanced through the Gender and Climate Champions Academy, which reached over 400 participants through webinars and convened 22 women leaders from 10 countries. UN Women reinforced the climate–humanitarian–DRR continuum by strengthening evidence and coordination for equitable humanitarian outcomes. Following the Korail Slum fire (25 November 2025), UN Women-supported Rapid Gender Analysis that documented differentiated impacts on women, girls, gender-diverse persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant and lactating women, and female-headed households informed early response planning and prioritized assistance of the UNCT, the government and other humanitarian actors, aiming to make them responsive to needs of different groups of women and girls. Similarly, the WE Respond Dashboard was expanded to 124 organizations across 19 countries, strengthening visibility, coordination, advocacy, and access to humanitarian opportunities by women-led and LGBTQ+ organizations in humanitarian coordination. UN Women strengthened women’s leadership in green and digital transitions by reaching 104 women and girls through the Regional AI School and 113 participants from over 20 countries overall, enhancing ethical and practical application of AI for climate and resilience. Youth engagement expanded through a Youth Adaptation Dialogue at the 9th APAN Forum (60+ participants) and a COP30 Climate Classroom on AI, gender, and climate reaching over 500 young activists. Inclusive youth leadership pathways were further institutionalized through five gender-responsive Shakers Fellowship Programmes in Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Viet Nam, and Nepal, including the launch of the Viet Nam fellowship with 30 young leaders.