VIENNA, 29 November 2021 – The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the need to strengthen an enabling environment for women and to support them as agents of change for inclusive and sustainable industry. At the 19th session of UNIDO’s General Conference, a thematic event was organized to recognize the outstanding achievements of UNIDO teams in this field, with the 2021 Gender Equality Mobilization Award (GEM Award).

Entitled “Women as levers of change for a sustainable industry during COVID-19 and beyond”, the award ceremony featured champions of gender equality from governments and the private sector, as well as representatives of the teams receiving the GEM Award.

While the COVID-19 pandemic reinforces existing gender inequalities, speakers highlighted the need to use the crisis as an opportunity for change.

“The post-pandemic economic and industrial recovery measures constitute a unique opportunity to institute bold measures for more resilient, inclusive and sustainable economies that put women front and center in the post-COVID-19 industrial landscape,” said keynote speaker, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, UNIDO Goodwill Ambassador and former President of the Malta.

In the same vein, Pirkko Hämäläinen, Permanent Representative of Finland to UNIDO, emphasized that “it is of utmost importance that we do not forget about women and girls, especially those experiencing multiple and intersecting inequalities and discrimination, as the Member States build back better.” Therefore, “the rights and status of women and girls and gender equality is our top priority in development policy.”

The ensuing panel discussion highlighted the impact of gender equality measures, using the awarded initiatives as examples.

The GEM Award in the category “Technical cooperation projects and programmes” went to the UNIDO Madagascar Field Office Team for the implementation of the third pillar of the UN MPTF programme entitled “Reinforcing Surveillance, Case Management, and Infection Prevention and Control in Support of Madagascar’s COVID-19 National Response Plan.”

Miarisoa Patricia Rakotonirina, Secretary-General of the Ministry for Population, Social Protection and Advancement of Women of Madagascar, highlighted that the UNIDO interventions focused on women and disadvantaged families as main beneficiaries. She then described how the project created opportunities in green industry, thus especially enhancing the resilience and livelihoods of women micro entrepreneurs and informal workers, a group particularly hard-hit by the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic.

Looking forward, Volatiana Rakontondrazafy, UNIDO Country Representative in Madagascar, explained the intention to further strengthen support to the Government in empowering women in the industrial sector, with a particular focus on circular economy and regional interventions to maximize impact.

The GEM Award in the category “normative and convening initiatives” went to the team behind the multi-stakeholder Gender and Energy Compact, a joint initiative of UNIDO, ENERGIA and GWNET launched at the High-level Dialogue on Energy at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2021.

The Gender and Energy Compact is already supported by six governments and more than 45 other actors, noted Katharina Proestler, Gender, Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist at the UNIDO Department of Energy, who represented the awarded team.

Ecuador was one of the first countries to have signed the Compact. Enith Patricia Carrión Quezada, Advisor to Ecuador’s Vice Minister of Electricity and Renewable , stressed that there is still much work to do to achieve gender equality in the energy sector. To identify the key obstacles women face in developing a career in the sector, the Ministry has prioritized statistical assessments and data analysis that inform targeted policies to advance gender equality.

The GEM Award in the category “good organizational and management practices” went to the team that developed an automatic gender baseline reporting system for electric mobility projects.

Based on more than three million coded and tagged pieces of data from international databases, and with the ability to measure progress over time, “our reporting system facilitates, simplifies and accelerates UNIDO gender analyses so that new transport investments can be designed with due consideration to gender dimensions,” explained Amin Erfanian Daneshvar, Project Coordinator in the UNIDO Energy Systems and Infrastructure Division.

This organizational approach to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women was equally underscored by Joanna Edghill, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Megapower, an electric vehicle supplier in the Caribbean. She described how the company supported the government of Barbados in switching to a renewably powered electric public bus fleet that is accessible for people with disabilities and parents with strollers. Charging stations for the company's electric cars are placed in well-lit areas close to building entrances, a factor probably contributing to women buying 29% of Megapower’s vehicles sold. “In the private sector, we can integrate gender equality into our business. We can create effective partnerships with public sector and academia to work on gender and climate change initiatives,” said Edghill.

In presenting the 2021 GEM Award, UNIDO Director General LI Yong reiterated the importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment in UNIDO’s mandate. He highlighted that “the three initiatives that receive the Award can serve as examples and as a basis for future activities.”

An overview of the nominations received and awardees of the 2021 UNIDO GEM Award can be accessed here.

The recording of the event is available in Arabic (as from 5:55:40), Chinese (as from 5:54:00), English (as from 5:54:30), French (as from 5:57:00), Russian (as from 5:53:00) and Spanish (as from 5:42:00).

For further information please contact:

Office for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women

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