The IORA-UN Women Women’s Economic Empowerment Project
IORA is collaborating with UN Women to strengthen research on women’s economic empowerment, and promote the Women’s Empowerment Principles in the region, supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
UN Women’s Promoting women’s economic empowerment in the Indian Ocean Rim project was launched in 2018 with the support of the Australian Government and in collaboration with IORA. The project will be implemented over a period of three years (2018-2021) and will build on an earlier UN Women-IORA project supported by Australia, which produced a baseline study of women’s economic empowerment, Enabling Women’s Contributions to the Indian Ocean Rim Economies (2015) and an interactive infographic, Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Indian Ocean (2017).
Research: The project is supporting two substantive research reports to help fill the gaps concerning women’s economic empowerment in the region. The first study is a detailed research report on the status of women’s participation in the fisheries sector, and was launched by Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, on 17 December 2020. The second study will build upon the 2015 baseline report and explore emerging issues for women’s economic empowerment more broadly in the region.
Capacity building: The project is also conducting capacity-building activities virtually (by webinar) and in person in the region, to foster enabling environments for women’s economic empowerment. The focus is encouraging IORA-wide adoption and implementation of the well-established Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs).
The project is set to finish by 2021.
To learn more or to get involved in the project, monitor our social media for upcoming activities (tentatively listed below) or contact hq@iora.int.
Upcoming activities (tentatively scheduled, monitor our social media for updates):
- 11-20 May 2021: Virtual training: Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Tourism Sector of the Indian Ocean Rim Region.
- 28 May 2021: Webinar: Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Tourism Sector of the Indian Ocean Rim Region.
Past Activities:
- 29 April 2021: Webinar: Supporting Women Entrepreneurs and Women-Owned Enterprises amid COVID-19
The outcomes document containing recommendations from the Virtual Café on 20 April, titled ‘Supporting Women Entrepreneurs and Women-Owned Businesses Across the Indian Ocean Rim,’ is available here.
A recording of this webinar is available here.
- 20 April 2021: Virtual Café on Supporting Women Entrepreneurs and Women-Owned Enterprises amid COVID-19
This was a closed event for nominated women entrepreneurs and business owners. The Results were shared at the subsequent webinar on 29 April 2021.
- 23 March 2021: Webinar - Closing the Gender Pay Gap in the Indian Ocean Rim
A recording of this webinar is available here.
- 4 March 2021: Webinar: Gender-responsive procurement: Increasing women’s inclusion in supply chains
A recording of this webinar is available here.
- 23-25 February 2021: IORA Workshop on Gender-Responsive Government Procurement (over period of 3 days)
This was a closed event for nominated IORA government officials.
- 22 February 2021: Webinar: Overcoming inequalities through finance: Targeted financial products and services for women entrepreneurs and women-led businesses (Virtual Meeting)
A recording of this webinar is available here.
- 9-11 February 2021: IORA Workshop on Gender-Responsive Government Procurement (over period of 3 days)
This was a closed event for nominated IORA government officials.
- 12 January 2021: Webinar: Reignite commitment: Sharing the latest tools, guidance and good practices for implementing the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs).
A recording of this webinar is available here.
- 17 December 2020: Launch by Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, of the research report ‘Women’s economic empowerment in fisheries in the blue economy of the Indian Ocean Rim: A baseline report.’
The report is available here.
- 9 December 2020: Webinar: Implementing the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in Conflict-Affected States (Virtual Meeting)
A recording of this webinar is available here.
- 28 September 2020: Webinar: Economic Empowerment in Fisheries: Implementing the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in the Indian Ocean Rim (Virtual Meeting)
A recording of this webinar is available here.
- 26 November 2019: Webinar: Women’s Empowerment Principle 5: Enterprise Development in the Indian Ocean Rim region (Virtual Meeting)
A recording of this webinar is available here.
- 22 October 2019: Webinar: Women’s Empowerment Principle 1: Corporate Leadership in the Indian Ocean region (Virtual Meeting)
A recording of this webinar is available here.
- 19 June 2019: Research Validation Workshop for the “Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Indian Ocean Rim” Project, side event to IORA’s Modernising Trade Conference (Durban, South Africa)
- 17-18 June 2019: UN Women presentations at IORA’s Modernising Trade Conference, including the second Working Group on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WGWEE) (Durban, South Africa)
- 27 March 2019: Webinar: Introducing the Women’s Empowerment Principles in the Indian Ocean region (Virtual Meeting)
- 10-11 December 2018: IORA Workshop on Financial Inclusion for Women Entrepreneurs (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)
The project supports IORA’s broader work on Women’s Economic Empowerment.