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Accelerating Progress on SDG 5: Collective Solutions for Gender Equality Shared at HLPF 2025 Side Event

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 18:40:03 GMT

Accelerating Progress on SDG 5: Collective Solutions for Gender Equality Shared at HLPF 2025 Side Event

29 July 2025

On the sidelines of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2025, the virtual session “Accelerating Progress on SDG 5” brought together experts, practitioners, and advocates from around the world to examine how best to advance gender equality and empower women and girls. Organized by the UN Women Training Centre, UNITAR, and UNDESA on 15 July, the session provided a platform to share the latest data, promising practices, and brainstorm on realistic pathways to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.

The event began with presentations highlighting recent findings from key reports such as Beijing+30 and the Gender Snapshot 2024. These reports emphasized that despite progress in some areas, SDG 5 remains one of the most underachieved goals, hindered by persistent gender inequalities across sectors.

In the second half of the session, participants joined one of five thematic breakout rooms reflecting key trends that are likely to shape progress toward achieving SDG 5. Under the expert guidance of UN Women thematic specialists, each group discussed actionable strategies to close gender gaps in specific areas:

In the Expanding Women’s Participation in the Technological Future discussion, improving access to education, digital tools, and mentorship emerged as top priorities. Participants highlighted the need for scholarships targeting girls in STEM, digital safety and AI literacy training for women, and expanded access to devices, SIM cards, and identity cards as means to ensure everyone can benefit equally from the opportunities offered by technology. Promoting visible role models and increasing outreach for programs like coding competitions were also seen as crucial steps toward a more inclusive digital future.

On Empowering Women to Adapt to Climate Change, the focus was on empowering women through gender-responsive climate financing, early warning systems, and technical training in fields like agroecology and renewable energy. Inclusive policymaking, intergenerational education, and mobile forums to reach rural women were recommended, along with integrating traditional knowledge with modern science.

To enhance gender equality in the workplace, a three-pronged approach was suggested: increasing access to decent work and entrepreneurship, supporting care workers and the care economy, and fostering women-led climate-related social enterprises.

Addressing persistent financing gaps, participants suggested that countries like Iceland and Mongolia offer innovative models such as gender bonds and gender-responsive budgeting. Participants also emphasized the importance of supporting women-led small businesses, boosting financial literacy, and improving gender data transparency to better inform policy and funding decisions.

Finally, strengthening grassroots women’s organizations was the theme of the last breakout room discussion. Calls were made for more localized platforms, flexible and long-term funding, and investment in mentorship and capacity-building. Reducing barriers related to language, technology, and accessibility was seen as essential to ensuring that all women can participate and lead in shaping a more equitable future.

The session concluded with a collective sense of urgency—and optimism. Across all breakout rooms, participants stressed the importance of intersectional, localized, and sustained efforts. As the global community moves closer to 2030, these shared solutions and commitments will be vital in steering policy, investment, and innovation toward an equitable future for all.

Find the recording of the session

The Feminist Edge programme is ready for the sixth edition

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 20:02:04 GMT

The Feminist Edge programme is ready for the sixth edition

8 October 2024

August 10th 2024 marked the end of the fifth edition of the Feminist Edge, a 6 months professional development programme for gender trainers offered by the KIT Institute and the UN Women Training Centre. Since 2017, a number of highly committed and passionate professionals from across the globe come together every year, both virtually and in person, to sharpen their training skills and deepen the conceptual understanding underpinning training for gender equality.

The programme has the ambition to reposition the training for gender equality as feminist knowledge transfer and creation within a broader political feminist process of transformation. In a true feminist spirit, this is a space where knowledge and understanding circulates from the facilitators to the partcipants to the guest lecturers and back, in a process of constant co-creation, learning and unlearning, that cut across conceptual and theoretical understanding, training skills and methods, and feminist practices.

Applications are now open for the next cohort starting in February 2025 untill the 11th of November. The programme is delivered through blended learning, and include two modules of virtual classes, assignments and mentorship, and the third module (1 week) face-to-face at KIT Institute in Amsterdam. Next year edition will start on February 10th 2025 and run until August 8th 2025. More information about the programme can be found here: https://www.kit.nl/institute/programme/feminist-edge/, or in the course brochure here: https://www.kit.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/KIT_Feminist-Brochure.pdf

Testimonial

The Feminist Edge alumni network now comprises a cadre of 127 passionate and active feminists, living ambassadors of a revolutionary way to do training for gender equality that centres on the principles of participatory learning; validation of personal experience; encouragement of social justice, activism and accountability; and development of critical thinking and open-mindedness. Hear from some participants about their experience at Feminist Edge here:

"The six-month gender training program provided by Feminist Edge is unparalleled! In this period, Feminist Edge invited me to reflect on how I previously approached gender trainings, rethink my approach going forward and ultimately view gender trainings as a social transformation tool, as opposed to a technical process where information is disseminated. The course itself is the typification of feminist pedagogy principles that are now deeply embedded in my consciousness. I cannot imagine conducting a gender training outside of these principles. I am deeply appreciative, and now a strong advocate of the fact that gender trainings should go beyond the enhancement of knowledge; and should belabour to invite participants into spaces of self- reflection with a hope of triggering change in attitudes, critical thinking, innovation and open mindedness while embracing resistances. The goal of gender trainings should not be to persuade, but rather to invite participants to be sympathetic and reflect on the training content beyond the life of the training. Participants should be invited to reflect on their biases and should be given an opportunity to course correct during a training if they so wish. The possibilities of gender trainings that are infused with feminist pedagogical principles and grounded in feminist epistemology are infinite. Indeed, Feminist Edge has provided a robust foundation and plenty of food for thought for my continuing professional development. I remain optimistic about the outcomes of future gender trainings. I am now inviting my colleagues to consider taking on this learning adventure!"

Climate action and training for gender equality : Join our next Virtual Dialogue webinar to learn more (13 Dec 2021)

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 10:56:23 GMT

Climate action and training for gender equality : Join our next Virtual Dialogue webinar to learn more (13 Dec 2021)

13 December 2021

How can training for gender equality contribute to climate action?

Join us live at the UN Women Training Centre's next Virtual Dialogue Webinar to find out (13 December 2021, 10:00 NY time): https://unwomen.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MianKkXDTImUopkm83AeGw

Our four expert panellists will discuss why training for gender equality is a relevant strategy for advancing climate action, what practical examples exist of using training for gender equality to support climate action, and how we can leverage training's transformative potential to address the climate crisis.

Our panellists are:

· Dharmistha Chauhan, expert in gender and community-led sustainable development, and author of the ARROW and UN Women Training manual on gender and climate change resilience;

· Ciara Daniels, Gender, Results and Reporting Coordinator for the UNDP Global Environmental Finance Unit;

· Mairi Dupar, Research Fellow of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Gender and Social Inclusion Lead and Managing Editor of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN); and

· Eunice Wangari-Muneri, Doctoral Researcher at the resource politics and environmental change cluster of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS); and

The webinar will be monitored by Dr Lucy Ferguson, specialist in gender equality and consultant for the UN Women Training Centre, and supported by Ruya Leghari, the Training Centre’s Community of Practice (CoP) Consultant.

How can you take part?

Join the live webinar on 13 December 2021 to pose your questions to the panellists: https://unwomen.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MianKkXDTImUopkm83AeGw

You can also discuss these issues as part of the Virtual Dialogue on the Community of Practice (CoP) forum: https://trainingcentre.unwomen.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=3491

Everyone who participates in the forum or asks questions during the live Webinar will be credited in the Virtual Dialogue's official final report.

Virtual Dialogues are online discussions to exchange ideas, insights and good practices on training for gender equality. These inclusive processes of collective knowledge production are organized by the UN Women Community of Practice on Training for Gender Equality (CoP), an open platform for dialogue and a repository of training resources, institutions and opportunities.

For more information, read the Virtual Dialogue’s Concept Note or contact ruya.leghari@unwomen.org

Apply for the Professional Development Programme for Gender Trainers and sign up for our promotional webinar (7 October 2021)

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 11:42:26 GMT

Apply for the Professional Development Programme for Gender Trainers and sign up for our promotional webinar (7 October 2021)

1 October 2021

Are you a gender professional who wants to strengthen your gender training skills? Do you want to embed feminist principles into your gender training to reclaim training as a feminist process, and learn and co-create gender knowledge with a group of passionate and committed gender professionals from across the world? Then the Professional Development Programme for Gender Trainers (PDPGT) is the programme for you!

The UN Women Training Centre and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) of The Netherlands are thrilled to announce that applications for the next edition of the Professional Development Programme for Gender Trainers are open until 21 November 2021.

To hear more about the programme, meet the convenors and former participants and ask questions, sign up for our promotional webinar on 7 October 2021 (8:00-9:00 EST/14:00-15.00 CET). Register here:

https://unwomen.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gn4SCv_ASH2Xoy3tQTQtpw

The 6-month hybrid programme, beginning in February 2022, focuses on gender trainers and gender professionals who are engaged in training for gender equality. The programme aims to:

Sharpen training skills and knowledge of gender and development concepts
Enable participants to better employ learning and knowledge strategies in training for gender
Support participants to reclaim training for gender equality as a political feminist process
Renew participants as gender equality trainers and their commitment to gender training as a transformative process

Listen to this quick video snippet of PDPGT alumni who finished the course last year:

For more information on the programme and how to apply, click here: https://www.kit.nl/study/course/professional-development-programme-for-gender-trainers/

You can also email PDPGT@kit.nl for more information.

International Women’s Day 2021 IOM UN Women Joint Press Release - Launch of the I Know Gender Module 16: Gender Equality and Migration

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 08:15:31 GMT

International Women’s Day 2021 IOM UN Women Joint Press Release - Launch of the I Know Gender Module 16: Gender Equality and Migration

8 March 2021

Today, on International Women’s Day, we are celebrating the launch of a brand-new online training module, Gender Equality and Migration, developed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN Women. This module helps learners understand how gender shapes every stage of the migrant journey, and why gender equality matters in migration.

Gender Equality and Migration becomes the 16th module of the UN Women's landmark I Know Gender e-learning course, which introduces UN staff worldwide to gender equality issues. It is a unique chance to step into the shoes of migrants and see things from their perspective. Through this module, participants will learn about international migration trends from a gender perspective, how to conduct a gender analysis and how to start mainstreaming gender equality into their everyday work at every stage of the migration cycle.

IOM Director General, António Vitorino, said “this new module, with its unique perspective, reminds all of us of the humanity within migration. Every person on the move has a different story - whether they move because of imminent danger, in search of better opportunities, for love, or to re-join their families. Migrants bring with them hopes as well as capabilities, and we have the duty and the responsibility to listen to and respect them”. UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said “this course module, co-developed by IOM and UN Women’s Training Centre, is an important chance for users to step into the shoes of women migrants and understand how gender shapes every stage of the migrant journey. It also shows the power of partnership, and what we can do when we work together to leverage our unique strengths towards a shared goal”.

This interactive and user-friendly course is available in English, with French and Spanish available later this month. The module can be found on UN Women’s eLearning Campus, and will be available in the IOM E-Campus shortly. For more information on I Know Gender Module 16 Gender Equality and Migration, please contact the IOM Gender Coordination Unit (gcu@iom.int).