UN Women MCO-Caribbean joined UN agency partners to host the inaugural United Nations-Private Sector Open House, bringing together private sector representatives ranging from micro-businesses to established enterprises, students, and educators to explore opportunities for collaboration in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

With a substantial investment of nearly USD one million, the Joint SDG Fund was a pioneering initiative and the first of its kind in The Bahamas and Bermuda. It aimed to address the unique challenges faced by medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) in the creative and cultural, agribusiness, and tourism industries sectors and foster sustainable economic growth.

“It is pause for thought that this cost in terms of GDP of violence against women and girls in Grenada is 5.24%. These are significant resources that could be directed elsewhere. This is an area that I hope as duty bearers we can look at closely with a gender-budgeting lens, our new way of doing business."

Tonni Brodber, Representative, UN Women Multi-Country Office – Caribbean, recently led capacity-building workshops on gender mainstreaming for members of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname

The Bahamas Development Bank (BDB) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women Multi-Country Office - Caribbean (UN Women MCO Caribbean) recently signed a partnership agreement to provide access to low-interest loans of up to 2 million USD to agriculture, sustainable tourism, and creative businesses.

SIDS hold countless opportunities for resilience-building that can propel their progress and achievements towards sustainable development, and despite notable progress towards gender equality, they also have distinctive challenges that hinder women and girls’ empowerment and their rights. That is why UN Women co-hosted a Gender Equality Forum from 25 to 26 May in Antigua and Barbuda, ahead of the fourth International Conference on SIDS (SIDS4).

The Jamaica Stock Exchange officially marked International Women's Day with the Honourable Olivia Grange - Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Ringing The Bell to raise awareness of the pivotal role the private sector can play in advancing gender equality.

This year’s IWD theme was a significant opportunity to highlight the expanse of projects, countries, partners and thematic areas the MCO Caribbean covers across its geographic mandate of 22 countries and territories in the Dutch and English-speaking Caribbean. Here is a brief highlight of the activities surrounding IWD where UN Women MCO Caribbean facilitated, collaborated and participated in.

An Evening of Empowerment was hosted by UN Women and CIBC, one of several activities held around International Women's Day

UN Women was recently part of a gender sensitive communication workshop funded by the Global Affairs Canada Build Back Equal Project in partnership with the Canada-CARICOM Expert Deployment Mechanism implemented by Catalyse+ with facilitation by Canada’s CUSO International

The region’s progress on implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the efficacy of the United Nations partnership in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, came under the microscope this week, as regional Governments joined with the United Nations System to assess their joint response to regional development priorities under the current UN Multi-Country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework

The Barbados Statistical Service (BSS) and UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) - Caribbean have partnered to implement a regional initiative aimed at determining the contribution of unpaid domestic care work to the economy, introducing targeted questions to the Continuous Labour Force Survey.

Launch of the Dominica National Project Steering Committee for the The Global Affairs Canada-funded Build Back Equal Project which focuses on ensuring women and youth-owned businesses have access to affordable and adequate financing, fit for purpose social protection programmes, and more effective sexual and reproductive health service access

UN Women recently handed over sewing machines and freezers to the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security in Guyana to support women's economic empowerment. The equipment provided under the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative will be used as business support for women who aspire to become entrepreneurs.

Only Two Caribbean Countries Meet 30% Gender Quota for Women Parliamentarians: Region Cannot Reach Full Potential Without Including Women in Leadership Roles. This data was revealed at an EU-UN Spotlight Initiative virtual event with implementing partner Atlantic Council on, “Best Practices to Expand Women’s Political Participation in Guyana and Jamaica.”

Under the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, UN Women implementing partner Atlantic Council brought together UN agencies, Government officials from several departments, civil society representatives, academics and students to discuss the challenges and opportunities around ending GBV and enhancing women’s economic empowerment.

Six Caribbean women entrepreneurs with the support of UN Women Caribbean joined women entrepreneurs from 14 countries in Jabalpur Madya Pradesh India for the Madya Pradesh Women Entrepreneurs (MAWE) Business Beyond Borders International Conference and Exhibition.

“Empowerment is access to resources, strengthened skillsets, access to justice and social protection mechanisms. If we want to ensure men are also thriving in those areas, then we have to reframe what men see as dignity. It is not defined by power over, but your humanity and contribution to your space. We have to let young men know they have so much to offer within the formal economy, because we see them thriving in informal ways that are risky and life threatening”.

"…if we want equality in our countries, we need to understand the differences - in terms of a woman's ability to engage in the economy and being a man, and being a young person… unfortunately women are put at a disadvantage in our society because of the expectations of the roles they are supposed to play, and sometimes their own self-imposed expectations about what their potential can be in a society."

The Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center announced today a new partnership with UN Women Multi-Country Office – Caribbean to tackle the most pressing gender-based challenges in the Caribbean, which will focus particularly on Guyana and Jamaica