The United Nations Joint SDG Fund has injected nearly $1 million into this programme which takes steps to facilitate the sustainable economic empowerment of women, youth and people with disabilities and their greater access to financial mechanisms, knowledge sharing and capacity building particularly in areas of agribusiness and fishing.

Women in St. Lucia will benefit from a social protection project, funded by Global Affairs Canada, that will boost women’s economic resilience by tackling the barriers that exacerbate their vulnerabilities to achieving economic empowerment. Co-led by UN Women and UNFPA, in partnership with the Government of St. Lucia, the Build Back Equal project was launched today at the Bay Gardens Inn to provide sustainable opportunities for women’s economic growth that will contribute to COVID-19 recovery.

The 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66)—the second largest UN intergovernmental meeting in New York—closed its two-week long session today (14 to 25 March) acknowledging the important role of women and girls as agents of change for sustainable development, in particular safeguarding the environment and addressing the adverse effects of climate change.

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Deputy Executive Director Yannick Glemarec will join other world leaders at the first World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) held today and tomorrow in Istanbul, Turkey. The first gathering of its kind, the Summit aims to place humanity—people’s safety, dignity and the right to thrive—at the heart of global decision-making and initiate a set of concrete actions and commitments to enable countries and communities to better prepare for and respond to crises. With more than 5,000 expected participants, the programme will include seven high-level leaders' roundtables on priority action areas.