UN Women Executive Director to call on businesses to power up sustainable development and women’s economic empowerment in Davos

unwomen.org - Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, will travel to Davos, Switzerland for the 47th Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) from 17 - 21 January. At the WEF, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka will meet with leaders in government, civil society and business, to strengthen alliances to drive women’s economic empowerment and call for active engagement and leadership of business in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals and advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.

On 17 January, the Executive Director will join a roundtable discussion on women’s economic empowerment, hosted by Tupperware Brands, where the results of new research about confidence as a driver of women’s economic earning will be presented. Later that day, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka will provide special remarks on “the challenge of connecting the unconnected from a perspective of women and girls” at a special programme of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development and WEF, “Internet for All”. Together with ITU, the Executive Director will also announce EQUALS: The Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age, a global partnership platform that will pool experiences, expertise and resources to scale up good practices that ensure no woman or girl is left behind.

Women’s economic empowerment critical for safeguarding food security

Ensuring people have food security at all times and in all places is essential--and women's economic empowerment is one of the key ways to do that, whether working as vendors, feeding their families or participating in other parts of the food chain.

Cyclone Winston earlier this year, the largest to ever make landfall in Fiji, tore through the country's food supply--affecting up to 100 percent of crops in the areas most heavily hit. The storm has had a ripple effect through Fiji's entire population, economy and agricultural sector.

UN Women’s Markets for Change project, part of of the Women’s Economic Empowerment program, provides people with the resources they need to help families and the economy thrive. Click through to learn more.

asiapacific.unwomen.org - Author: Ellie van Baaren

Before the cyclone Rakesh Prakash and his family relied on the income they received from the produce they harvested on their 10-acre farm in Toge, near Ba. Twice a week they would harvest 300-400kg of eggplant, chillies, cow peas and spinach and take it to the local market to sell to market vendors, who would then on-sell it to the public.

While Mr Prakash, his wife and parents hid under their bed, flooding caused by Tropical Cyclone Winston destroyed the majority of those crops. The loss has undermined not only his own family’s livelihood, but also that of the 15-20 market vendors and countless customers who relied on his produce each day.

Preliminary assessments carried out by the Government indicate show around $120.2 million of damage to the agricultural sector, the majority of which is damage to crops. Up to 100 per cent of crops in the most affected areas have been damaged. The ripple effects are reaching the entire length of the country’s food supply chain, and beyond.

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Pakistan’s Fiza Farhan joins UN High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment

We're always excited to see women bringing their specialized skills and knowledge to bear in the fight for women's rights, so we were thrilled to learn of the appointment of Fiza Farhan, co-founder and CEO of the Buksh Foundation, to the new United Nations High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment. Experts on the panel focus on the intersection between economic growth and gender, and use their unique expertise and power to motivate work toward the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, a primary one of which is gender equality. Read below and click through for the full article to learn more about how Farhan and others are on the vanguard of fighting for gender equality, economic empowerment and a more sustainable future.

asiapacific.unwomen.org - In an announcement today Ms. Fiza Farhan from Pakistan has been named as Member of the first ever High-Level Panel of the UN Secretary-General on Women’s Economic Empowerment. The establishment of this distinguished panel was announced in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos with UN Women - the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women - serving as its secretariat.

The panel will provide recommendations for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to improve economic outcomes for women and promote women’s leadership in driving sustainable and inclusive, environmentally sensitive economic growth. It will provide recommendations for key actions that can be taken by governments, the private sector, the UN system and other stakeholders, as well as policy directives needed to achieve the new targets and indicators in the Sustainable Development Goals which call for the economic empowerment of women, and benefits all. The panel is backed by the United Kingdom, the World Bank Group and UN Women.

Read the rest here.