EU-UNIDO projects highlight gender equality as key to climate action
02 June 2022
STOCKHOLM, 2 June 2022 - Ensuring that women and girls equally lead, participate in and benefit from environmental action are key priorities for the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Speaking at an event held in connection with the Stockholm+50 conference, three women who participate in EU-UNIDO projects around the world told their stories.
Opening the event, Gerd Müller, UNIDO Director General, and Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, both underlined that a healthy planet is impossible if gender inequalities persist. Therefore, women’s voices as leaders of circular economy, climate technologies and environmental preservation must be recognized and amplified.
Three projects from the EU-UNIDO cooperation portfolio were highlighted during the event.
Amira Saber, Member of the Egyptian Parliament and Secretary General of the Foreign Relations Committee, participates in the Parliamentary action on climate and energy project, which helps catalyze greater engagement of women MPs in renewable energy, energy access and sustainable transport issues. She said that “voices of women are not well represented in the issue of climate change, neither as negotiators, nor as policymakers. Through my NGO, which was founded to close the gap between civil society organizations and policymakers, we’ve been helping with many trainings to build the capacity of women-led organizations, to train women, to give them data and to help implement their projects on the ground.”
She continued, “I want all the women figures in senior policymaking who are influential in their countries and in their surroundings to understand and to stand very solid on the importance of the critical issues, which we’re talking about: climate change.”
Lep Mary, a Cambodian business owner, is part of the CAPFISH project, which supports the Cambodian government’s efforts to achieve sustainable development, climate resilience and inclusivity of the country’s freshwater and marine fisheries resources. Mary noted that “with the support of the UNIDO-CAPFish project, we are able to address most of our challenges related to food safety compliance while enhancing capacity of our suppliers along the value chain on food safety practices. The support will also help to improve environment plans regarding waste management and the safety of workers.”
The Youth Rising project supports vocational education and training for young people in Liberia. Esther Gheh Isatta Javillie, who is part of the project, said that ”the local carpenter producers are all-male. We have this stereotype in Liberia that technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is really for males”.
The event was organized by UNIDO and the EU in association with the Stockholm+50 conference, which commemorates the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment and celebrates 50 years of global environmental action. It was moderated by Cecilia Ugaz Estrada, Director of UNIDO’s Office for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women.
Watch the full recording here.
Learn more about the projects
CAPFISH project
- Project brochure
- Project briefing note
- Gender Factsheet
- Gender Analysis of the Post-Harvest Fisheries in Cambodia
- Business Profile of Supported Enterprise – Lep Mary
Parliamentary Action on Climate and Energy
Youth Rising project
Learn more about EU and UNIDO priorities
Resources from the European Union
- EU Gender equality and empowering women and girls webpage
- EU Gender Action Plan
- EU Global Europe factsheet
Resources from UNIDO
- UNIDO Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women webpage
- UNIDO Guide on Gender Mainstreaming: Energy and Climate Change Projects
- UNIDO Guide on Gender Mainstreaming: Environmental Management Projects
Further information:
Nicolas Schmidt (UNIDO contact person): N.Schmidt@unido.org
Fredrik Björksten (EU contact person): Fredrik-Magnus-Gustav.Bjoerksten@eeas.europa.eu