UNIDO Conference stresses importance of women empowerment

Participants reiterated the need to strengthen system-wide cooperation to further empower women; one example mentioned is UNIDO's programme in Mozambique, which gives young women the chance to become independent. 

In February 2010, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) hosted a two-day summit on “women’s economic empowerment, accountability and national ownership,” which was co-organized by the United Nations' Interagency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) and the OECD DAC Network on Women and Gender Equality (GENDERNE).

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), six out of ten of the world's poorest people are women who, as the primary family caretakers and producers of food, must shoulder all burdens: tilling land, grinding grain, carrying water, cooking, etc. The summit, which brought together over 150 experts, therefore helped define innovative strategies for women to empower themselves as well as to lift them out of poverty.

For Rachel Mayanja, the chair of IANWGE, there are some positive trends in gender equality even though many challenges still persist, particularly for women in the developing world: “We lag behind in the implementation of women equality; but who is responsible, and who is accountable? There are so many aspects that need to be taken care of, including women’s health, women’s rights, justice for women, women’s access to land and finances, women’s physical security, protection against violence, and women’s situation in conflict and post conflict countries”.

For UNIDO, the specialized UN agency dealing with industrial development, the economic empowerment of women - and specifically “women in industry” - is of utmost importance: “You cannot reduce poverty without wealth creation; that is the reality all over the world. But when women have equal access to education, and are able to participate in business and economic decision-making, they become a key driving force against poverty. Therefore, we must enhance wealth creation possibilities for women,” said UNIDO Director-General Kandeh K. Yumkella, “we need a conducive business environment and targeted entrepreneurship activities, like the programmes for girls that we implement in secondary and vocational schools”.

Yumkella specifically referred to the Entrepreneurship Curriculum Programme (ECP), a powerful tool aimed at developing the entrepreneurial attitudes and skills in academic and technical schools. ECP's approach is unique as fosters the bottom-up development of a competitive private sector through grass root-level training. Through ECP, UNIDO assists interested countries in developing their own entrepreneurship curriculum through syllabus, teachers' guides, textbooks, assessment guidelines, training of teachers, etc. Ideally, a nation-wide curricula focusing on entrepreneurship could be established within the education system.

Mozambique is one of the countries that have successfully adopted the ECP approach: after gaining its independence in 1977, a brutal civil war destroyed much of the country, with traumatic effects on its people. In addition, widespread cultural practices work against women empowerment. Rafael Bernardo from the Teacher Training Department of the National Institute of Education in Mozambique said “the culture and the habits of the people can prove to be an obstacle to women and their development. Culturally, women must stay “behind the men.” Families send their boys to school but not the girls.” Bernardo added: “Women usually do not have the means to even consider anything else but getting married at an early age. But change has to start from the top where the government should mobilize traditional leaders and educate its people. ”

In 2007, the Government introduced the ECP into the formal secondary and tertiary education system as a strategic component to develop the private sector capacity of its youth. Already, and in less than three years, the ECP's impact on young girls has been particularly significant in many provinces of Mozambique: they gained the knowledge and skills to be confident enough to pursue entrepreneurial activities and thus started to earn revenues which, in turn, often translated into greater prosperity for their families and communities. From 2008 to 2009, the number of students grew from 13,745 to 30,225 students. The government plans to upscale the programme so that an estimated 400,000 students can be trained in 311 schools by 2012.

The ECP is a fundamental investment in Mozambique’s future, by helping youth and young women towards wealth creation, independence and overcoming poverty.

Empowering women and gender equality is the theme of this year's International Women's Day, and it is not a new concept for international organizations. Whether it is a massive disaster of the magnitude of the Haiti earthquake, or in any poor community throughout the world, there is one thing we know for sure; women are both most affected by, and the most effective solution to, poverty. Gender equality is a condition for inclusive, democratic, violence-free and sustainable development.

Read Piassa's story: a young woman on her way to entrepreneurship

By Andrea Liebman