WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACCELERATOR CELEBRATES 2ND ANNIVERSARY, ANNOUNCES IMPACTFUL INITIATIVES TO DRIVE CHANGE

Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator logo (Graphic: WEA)

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- The Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA), a strategic multi-partnership initiative established by five UN agencies and Mary Kay Inc is celebrating its second-year anniversary by announcing progress on several programmes designed to impact five million women worldwide by 2030.

The programmes and knowledge products, which further demonstrate WEA’s commitment to maximising the development impact of women’s entrepreneurship in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), will be rolled out in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a statement.

The strategic programmes, all shaped with a unique focus on gender, are the joint outcome of the collaboration between the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), UN Global Compact (UNGC), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women with the strategic support and funding of Mary Kay.

In collaboration with ITC SheTrades, the Accelerator will offer a guided curriculum supplemented by on-the-ground training for women from developing countries interested in entrepreneurship and/or planning to integrate into regional and global value chains. The 2021 in-country training sessions will take place virtually in Brazil, Colombia, India, and Mexico.

As part of WEA’s objectives for 2020-2021, the ILO is focusing on strengthening advocacy for women’s entrepreneurship development in Mexico and Brazil. In Mexico, WEA and ILO will be releasing findings from an assessment on framework conditions that impact women’s entrepreneurship development.

Gender-responsive procurement (GRP) can have a transformational impact on domestic and international economies and contribute to women’s economic empowerment.

WEA has participated in the Generation Equality Forum in Paris (June 30-July 2) through the ‘Drivers of Change’ Programming, hosting a panel titled ‘Building a Transformative Strategy for Gender-Responsive Procurement’, aiming to create awareness around the complex and interconnected barriers of women’s entrepreneurship and to promote GRP.

UN Women’s main contributions to the Accelerator’s GRP line of work in 2021 include establishing the Business Case for GRP through the launch of a community of practice (CoP) in July in collaboration with UN Global Compact to engage stakeholders from the private sector.

On Sept 28, the Accelerator will hold a virtual event titled ‘Joining Forces to Drive Change’, convening the senior management of ILO, ITC, UNDP, UNGC, and UN Women with introductory remarks from Mary Kay.

-- BERNAMA