Sweden, Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland announced their commitment to supporting the second phase of the EmPower Programme “Women for Climate-Resilient Societies” on 6 March 2024, only two days prior to International Women’s Day. EmPower is supported by UN Women and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and was piloted with support from Sweden in Cambodia, Bangladesh and Vietnam from 2018 to 2022. The second phase began in 2023, and the project was expanded to also include the Philippines and Indonesia.
The project aims for women to build climate-resilient livelihoods and bringing women’s leadership to the forefront of the energy transition and climate action. UN Women and UNEP hope to triple the number of women, who are supported by the program. The projects aim is for more than 100,000 women to benefit from access to climate-resilient livelihoods and services by 2027. According to Marlene Nilsson, UNEP’s Regional Director and Representative for Asia and the Pacific, the transformation into low-carbon and climate-resilient economies must encompass and prioritize the needs of vulnerable and marginalized communities.
The countries have commited to support the project until 2027 and the project is now funded with USD 21 million in funding in total, bringing together partners from governments, civil societies, financial institutions, the private sector, UNEP and UN Women.
Source: unwomen.org
