Investing in the inclusion of women and girls in political processes and leadership directly benefits economic growth, good governance and participatory democracy. This week, the Commonwealth Secretariat in partnership with Caribbean Women in Leadership (CIWiL) and UN Women is holding a three-day workshop in Bridgetown, Barbados on ‘Leadership for Good Governance and Social Transformation in the Caribbean’ focusing on women’s empowerment in the region.

The UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) - Caribbean, seeks to partner with Responsible Parties (Non-Governmental Organizations [NGOs] to: Implement advocacy campaigns to promote positive social norms and practices on gender equality and raise awareness of the importance of more inclusive and sustainable policies in the Caribbean to achieve sustainable development.

Under the EnGenDER Project, UN Women is aiming to conduct a Geospatial Analysis on Gender-Based Violence (GBV), Poverty and Climate Change Impacts. Proposals are invited from companies/firms outlining the methodology for gender analysis data for the design of a model for geospatial mapping of GBV and climate hazard impacts. The firm is also expected to train senior technical officers from EnGenDER beneficiary countries on the design and application of the model for geospatial mapping of GBV and climate hazard impacts.

The UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) - Caribbean, seeks to partner with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to provide support to women's rights groups, CSOs, and relevant stakeholders through the coordination of actions aimed at increasing opportunities and support to women’s rights groups to share knowledge, network, partner and jointly advocate for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (GEWE) and ending Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), including family violence, at sub-national, national, regional and global levels.

Evidence of women’s increased vulnerability is in the pre-existing social and cultural demands on women and girls as primary caregivers with the imbalanced responsibilities for care of the elderly, children and the sick. This care work increases in the immediate aftermath of a disaster and continues long after.

UN Women and the CARICOM Secretariat recently held preparatory meetings ahead of CSW66 – “Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes”.

Development of a Rapid Gender Analysis that aims to provide humanitarian actors with recommendations to address the needs of women and girls to ensure their rights and needs are at the core of recovery and reconstruction efforts.

This past year, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the tourism and hospitality sector – one of the key economic drivers of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – due to border closures or restricted movement. This economic shock also extended to craft traders, many of whom are responsible for their families’ livelihoods and are women. What did this mean for those whose livelihoods were reliant on tourist arrivals?

As the country remains in a state of national emergency, UN Women, along with its national partners and the entire UN and international cooperation system, joins the efforts in response to the earthquake. Immediate humanitarian support, protection of rights, food security and early recovery are the priorities for women's organizations and Haitian women.

The UN Women Multi-Country Office Caribbean is seeking to contract an Institute to provide virtual Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation Training for at least 50 Senior Technical Officers in selected priority areas in nine Caribbean Countries in the period August to December 2021.

Six months on, since the Category 5 hurricane battered the small island nation, UN Women assessment shows what women want is assistance to get back on their feet and back to work, not handouts.

Birthed from a desire to reunite their country which had been torn apart by civil war, the women of Rwanda began the journey of reconciliation. It was this early commitment to work together which they attribute to the country leading the world in women’s representation in Parliament.

In the Caribbean, women are often described as the foot soldiers of the political parties, yet despite a consistently strong showing as voters, their voice and needs are not always reflected; and their presence in elected and appointed decision-making positions remains limited.

UN Women Multi-Country Office - Caribbean, which covers all of the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean, invites individuals, as well as national and regional women's organisations, civil society organisations and networks of the Caribbean, to submit candidates to be a member of the Caribbean Civil Society Advisory Group during the 2016-2017 period.