UN Women EmpowerWomen

UN Women EmpowerWomen

<div id="toc">
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_background"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Background</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_news"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">News</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_history"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">History</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_goals"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Goals</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_partners"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">Partners</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_see-also"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_references"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_external-links"><span class="tocnumber">8</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></li>
</ul>
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<h2 id="w_background">Background</h2>
On 23 September 2013, "United with support from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Canada">Government of Canada</a> launched the Knowledge Gateway for Women’s Economic Empowerment at (<a href="http://www.empowerwomen.org">www.empowerwomen.org</a>). The Knowledge Gateway is an open global community for women’s economic empowerment with the mission to offer a user-friendly, demand-driven one-stop platform where one can find and share resources, materials and tools on women’s economic empowerment, and connect with experts, peers, networks and potential partners.

The vision of the Knowledge Gateway is to create a space where women and girls can take advantage of free high quality online training, e-courses, e-books and other learning opportunities and other services offered by UN Women and its partners that could help their personal and professional growth.

Its main components are the <a href="http://www.empowerwomen.org/knowledge-library">Knowledge Library</a>, which houses up-to-date materials, technical resources and best practices on business and economic opportunities for women; the <a href="http://www.empowerwomen.org/knowledge-circles">Knowledge Circles</a>, where members can participate in expert-led e-discussions or start peer-to-peer discussions on women’s economic empowerment; the <a href="http://www.empowerwomen.org/learning-center#maindocumenttype=438ee402b82f4e649a4603ad5c7bad9e&content_type=da2eaa0458ef4a8186222178e54017c6&page=1">Learning Center</a>, which offers access to learning resources, webinars, online courses and other curated materials for professional growth; and a <a href="http://www.empowerwomen.org/knowledge-network">Knowledge Network</a> which allows people to search leaders, experts, peers with similar interest and expertise. Its community members currently spans across 100 countries worldwide.
<h2 id="w_news">News</h2>
<ul>
<li><b>2015 call for Global Community Champions for Women’s Economic Empowerment</b></li>
</ul>
We are seeking applications from dynamic and creative women and men from all over the world to champion women’s economic empowerment. Are you passionate about gender equality and women’s economic empowerment? Do you want to apply your skills to make a difference in your own community and beyond? <a href="http://www.empowerwomen.org/news/2015-call-for-global-community-champion-for-womens-economic-empowerment">Apply now!</a>

Due to high demand, we are extending the deadline for applications to <b>4 February 2015</b>. We are also encouraging applications in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.
<ul>
<li><b>E-discussion: Grow your business and contribute to gender equity. A possibility?</b></li>
</ul>
This e-discussion on “Grow your business and contribute to gender equity. A possibility?” is co-organized by UN Women and the SEED Initiative and runs from 30 September to 16 October 2014. It will serve as a follow-up discussion to the Business Hub launch in Nairobi and allow for additional inputs, suggestions and sharing of good practices.

<a href="http://www.empowerwomen.org/circles/grow-your-business-and-contribute-to-gender-equality">Find out more and participate!</a>
<ul>
<li><b>Training topics for upcoming Knowledge Gateway’s webinars</b></li>
</ul>
The Knowledge Gateway is planning to provide online training for women who would like to acquire and develop job-related skills. Webinars will be on getting a job and knowing your rights in the workplace. To ensure that this training is relevant and meets your needs, we would like to hear your suggestions on specific training topics you would be interested in. <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J2QZM7Q">Click here to take the survey!</a>
<ul>
<li><strong>UNCTAD and ILO publication: <a href="http://www.empowerwomen.org/~/documents/2014/04/08/21/20/empowering-women-entrepreneurs-through-information-and-communications-technologies">Empowering Women Entrepreneurs through Information and Communications Technologies</a></strong></li>
</ul>
This guide has been produced by UNCTAD in collaboration with the ILO to bring clarity to some of the key underlying ICT dynamics that are of relevance for women’s entrepreneurship and to set out a method for conducting an assessment which integrates these dimensions. It aims to serve as a comprehensive resource to support the formulation of evidence-based policies empowering women entrepreneurs through ICTs.
<h2 id="w_history">History</h2>
In October 2011, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) now- under the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Foreign_Affairs,_Trade_and_Development">DFATD</a>) and UN Women organized an international Conference on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Ottawa. The conference assembled more than 100 global experts, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, development practitioners, academics and, business and industry leaders and UN system experts and leaders to share their experiences and best practices on how to break down the barriers to women’s economic empowerment with the view to achieve gender equality. Participants, from both the developing and developed world, identified ways to realize the economic potential of women, expand their access to markets, and strengthen women’s economic security and rights.
As a result of the Ottawa Conference, UN Women and the Government of Canada committed to jointly develop the Knowledge Gateway for Women’s Economic Empowerment. The Knowledge Gateway seeks to respond to the demand for a multilingual and multi-dimensional platform that offers information and knowledge sharing solutions for evidence-based cutting-edge research, data, technical resources and good practices that are replicable and scalable. It will also provide networking and mentoring opportunities for women entrepreneurs and gender equality advocates practitioners and policy makers and programme managers from around the world.
<h2 id="w_goals">Goals</h2>
The ultimate goal of the Knowledge Gateway is to contribute to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, including for the most excluded groups of women.
It is expected that this goal will be achieved through:
<ul>
<li>Increased collaboration and networking on women’s economic empowerment by connecting users from developing and developed countries and bridge silos between different stakeholder groups.</li>
<li>Increased access to, use of, and sharing of information, knowledge and resources on women’s economic empowerment by users from developing and developed countries.</li>
<li>Greater influence by women and gender equality advocates on policies and strategies to promote women’s economic empowerment.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="w_partners">Partners</h2>
Partners include:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Conference_on_Trade_and_Development">UNCTAD</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Industrial_Development_Organization">UNIDO</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_Organization">UNWTO</a></li>
<li>"United</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Labour_Organization">ILO</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Global_Compact">United Nations Global Compact</a></li>
<li>the "World</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Development_Research_Centre">IDRC</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.egfar.org/our-work/transforming-institutions/gender-agriculture">Gender in Agriculture Partnership</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_World_Banking">Women’s World Banking</a></li>
<li><a href="http://wiego.org/">WIEGO</a>, <a href="http://www.iaffe.org/">IAFFE</a></li>
<li>The <a href="http://www.seejane.org/">Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft">Microsoft</a> and</li>
<li>the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coca-Cola_Company">Coca-Cola Company</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="w_see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wikigender.org/un-women/">UN Women</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="w_references">References</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://unwomen.cida.gc.ca/eng/home.html">UN Women-CIDA International Conference on Women’s Economic Empowerment</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.international.gc.ca/media/state-etat/news-communiques/2013/09/23a.aspx?lang=eng">Canada helps launch website for women’s economic empowerment</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/9/knowledge-gateway-press-release#sthash.It9aNR5l.dpuf">Global Knowledge platform launched to galvanize women’s economic empowerment</a></li>
<li><a href="http://aas.cgiar.org/activity/news/official-launch-knowledge-gateway-women%E2%80%99s-economic-empowerment#.Uo5dONJeZ8E">Official launch of knowledge the gateway for women’s economic empowerment</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/11/prweb11348981.htm">Two Weeks Ahead of #GivingTuesday, Momentum Builds Globally and Across America</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/coca-cola-unbottled/joining-forces-for-womens-economic-empowerment">Joining Forces for Women’s Economic Empowerment</a></li>
</ol>
<h2 id="w_external-links">External links</h2>
Website:<a href="http://www.empowerwomen.org">Knowledge Gateway for Women’s Economic Empowerment</a>