World Bank Income Classification:Low Income
The World Bank classifies economies for analytical purposes into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high income. For this purpose it uses gross national income (GNI) per capita data in U.S. dollars, converted from local currency using the World Bank Atlas method, which is applied to smooth exchange rate fluctuations.
Least Developed Country:Yes
Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized LDCs as a category of States that are deemed highly disadvantaged in their development process, for structural, historical and also geographical reasons. Three criteria are used: per capita income, human assets, and economic vulnerability.
Gender Inequality Index:0.575
GII is a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa.
Gender Development Index:0.723
GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources.
Population:209,497,025
Source of population data: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision
Male:19,976,265 (9.5%)
Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)
More women lead, participate and have access to business opportunities to advance sustainable and inclusive growth (Outcome 7)
Funded by the EU Partnership Instrument, this regional initiative aims is to support sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic growth by promoting economic participation and empowerment of women in Asia and EU countries. It aims to enhance the capacity of private sector companies to implement the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) by promoting decent work opportunities for women and integrating a gender perspective in the business environment and practices. The action focuses on the role that the private sector can play in support of women’s economic empowerment in partnership with the public sector and networks of women’s entrepreneurs, women-led groups and associations.
More women lead, participate and have access to business opportunities to advance sustainable and inclusive growth (Outcome 7)
Complementary indicators are identified as those in the results framework that are not repeated verbatim in the results framework of another United Nations entity, but are related or provide different but complementary lenses or insights into the same issue, high-level result and/or area of complementary work, such as a Sustainable Development Goal target.
Complementary
UN Women reports on this indicator in a global scope, signified by "(Desk Review)" at the end of the indicator statement (see the Our Global Results page for the global result)
Common indicators are those that appear verbatim the same in at least two entities' results frameworks and are drawn, where possible, directly from other globally agreed frameworks.
Common
Knowledge: Women’s networks, public institutions and the private sector in the EU and Asia share expertise and knowledge to advance an enabling business environment for women’s economic empowerment
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
Data reported for 2022 results against this indicator was obtained as part of a learning process on social norms and therefore may not accurately reflect the results obtained. Internal reviews of data collected on social norms across relevant indicators, coupled with external reviews, are informing the design of UN Women’s principled approach to social & gender norms change. This will be reflected in changes to the indicators to be introduced in the Mid-Term Review of the Strategic Plan.
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
Capacity development and technical assistance: Women-owned business and entrepreneurs have increased capacity to engage with governments and private sector companies in policies and dialogues for advancement of women’s economic empowerment in selected countries in Asia
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
Data reported for 2022 results against this indicator was obtained as part of a learning process on social norms and therefore may not accurately reflect the results obtained. Internal reviews of data collected on social norms across relevant indicators, coupled with external reviews, are informing the design of UN Women’s principled approach to social & gender norms change. This will be reflected in changes to the indicators to be introduced in the Mid-Term Review of the Strategic Plan.
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
Advocacy and representation: More private sector companies implement the WEPs, including the gender-sensitive business culture and practices in EU and Asia
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
Data reported for 2022 results against this indicator was obtained as part of a learning process on social norms and therefore may not accurately reflect the results obtained. Internal reviews of data collected on social norms across relevant indicators, coupled with external reviews, are informing the design of UN Women’s principled approach to social & gender norms change. This will be reflected in changes to the indicators to be introduced in the Mid-Term Review of the Strategic Plan.
UN Women reports on this indicator in a global scope, signified by "(Desk Review)" at the end of the indicator statement (see the Our Global Results page for the global result). In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
More women lead, participate and have access to business opportunities to advance sustainable and inclusive growth (Outcome 7)
Significant Progress was made in supporting more women to lead, participate and have access to business opportunities to advance sustainable and inclusive growth. Women-owned businesses (WOBs) and women entrepreneurs have become more gender inclusive, better equipped to scale and improve business performance, have established relevant connections with financing mechanisms and facilitated other partnership opportunities. WEA strengthened capacities of women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses, especially through innovative ecosystem approaches in areas such as unpaid care and gender-lens investing. Overall, entrepreneurs reported that the WEA entrepreneurship trainings had the biggest impact in: helping their businesses become more gender inclusive (29.9%) gaining knowledge and tools to up-scale their businesses (23.2%) improving business performance, establish relevant connections and identify financing mechanisms (18%) (please refer to Final report in supporting document as evidence.) WEA mobilized and trained 3,096 women across all WEA countries (since programme inception in 2019) that aimed to increase access to entrepreneurship and leadership training programmes (e.g., business training, financial education and/or technical skills).To measure the effectiveness and impact of capacity-building activities, particularly those focused on entrepreneurship, WEA developed a set of impact-based surveys to collect data from entrepreneur beneficiaries who participated in various trainings across the WEA countries. A total of 353 responses were received from women entrepreneurs and WOBs across the WEA countries between September 2021 – August 2022. UN Women’s holistic approach to work with governments and private sector towards an ecosystem for advancing women’s economic empowerment has contributed to the above results. It encouraged the central role of the private sector in advancing women’s economic empowerment (WEE) and promoting a gender-inclusive economic recovery. Working with the private sector, commitment and actions from the private sector to drive more responsible business conduct, have been leveraged during the reporting period. Building on the successful implementation of the WEPs Awards 2021, WEA organized the third WEPs regional awards to recognize exemplary business practice for gender equality aligned to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). This year, the Awards generated significant interest, resulting in 1208 applications this year compared to 700 received in 2021 (cumulative values). The success of the WEPs Awards establishes it as a powerful vehicle at both national and regional level to raise awareness of the WEPs among key stakeholders, create openings for collaboration, and mobilize the private sector to commit to and act to become more gender inclusive. UN Women’s knowledge products have also reached a wide audience and significantly contributed to UN Women’s holistic COVID-19 response and specially to address unpaid care work and awareness-raising and public advocacy for a gender-responsive recovery has also been essential. Its efforts will also seed interest in a larger regional agenda on the care economy that will capitalize on Asia-Pacific global moments in 2023. For instance, the WEPs “Trends and Opportunities to Advance Gender Equality in Business in Asia and the Pacific” developed and launched by UN Women in 2022 provides valuable insights on the progress made by companies on the level and depth of promoting WEPs and gender equality across supply chains and highlights gaps where actions are still needed. UN Women built further momentum and awareness on the Care Economy through the development and launch of the Care Entrepreneurship Think Piece entitled ‘Can Inclusive Care Entrepreneurship be a pathway to address gaps in the childcare sector in Asia and the Pacific?‘ and disseminating key findings from the Think Piece in various fora including during the WEA Closing Forum in August 2022 and the 2022 Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) Global Conference in Indonesia. On the theory of change, there also remains a need to assess how the Programme has affected and can support the most marginalized women. While UN Women Country Office efforts target the most marginalized groups in most cases, the WEA project targeted middle-income countries as well as the “missing middle” of women-owned SMEs as strategic entry points to demonstrate gender-responsive business models. Linking these different target groups in integrated programme approaches could be explored, for example, through the work on gender-responsive procurement (GRP). Efforts to expand and increase the income of women-led SMEs could promote their inclusion in supply chains of large companies, including multinational enterprises. In turn, these SMEs could be mobilized to employ and source products and services from relatively more disadvantaged women in the community. Similarly, efforts to reduce the disproportionate share of women in unpaid care work could target marginalized women to gain access to decent work and income (including in the care economy itself), through improved access to and availability of affordable child and elder care. Social norms change is WEE with a view to working across the individual, systemic, formal, and informal levels to stimulate transformative change. It will require UN Women to leverage its expertise in research and data, generation and dissemination of knowledge products, advocacy, and holistic approaches to capacity building of actors to influence policy changes and support implementation of gender-responsive practices at all levels. It will also necessitate clarifying how synergies across thematic areas will be leveraged and identifying opportunities where UN Women could be positioning itself for the future. An important learning is that programmatic efforts have reiterated that private sector engagement is fundamental in the journey to advancing women’s economic empowerment and gender equality. Resource mobilization to maintain the visibility on WEE achieved through WEA and the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) approach has a critical role to play in supporting the private sector to implement the WEPs. While WEA constructively engaged with policymakers to identify and propose solutions for challenges faced by women in the private sector, securing buy-in and advancing policy level changes proved to be very lengthy and required significant efforts. Targeted and prolonged capacity building of public stakeholders will be necessary for transformational legislation and gender mainstreaming practices. Moreover, with increased requirements for accountability set by and among governments and investors, Transparency & Accountability will continue to be a key priority area for future normative and policy work. Three years was a limited amount of time to fully implement and document the impacts of all the various assets created. As such, a key challenge moving forward is the sustainability of the assets created in terms of continued implementation. Resource mobilization to expand WEPs support at field level - beyond the current WEA countries - is critical to ensure a consistent approach.Disclaimer and notes
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).