Project Summary

Despite some significant milestones, progress towards gender equality in Azerbaijan faces a number of challenges. Many of these challenges (such as sectoral and occupational gender segregation, the disproportionate distribution of unpaid domestic work and gender-based discrimination in the workplace) are similar to those featured in the global trends in gender equality . According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, Azerbaijan scores highly in reducing the gender gap in educational attainment and health but exhibits gender gap in empowerment (the extent of women's participation in decision-making) and smaller gap in economic participation and opportunities.

A series of UNDP-led assessments and studies carried out between 2011-2018 revealed that gender specific obstacles to greater women participation and inclusion stem from a range of factors, including:

• restrictive socio-cultural practices and gender based discrimination (marginalization of women and girls in the family and community based decision making, domestic violence and coercive control, gender stereotyping, rigid gender based distribution of family duties and responsibilities, early marriage and school dropouts);
• weak links between local women entrepreneurs and financial institutions and absence of gender sensitive financial service's targeting women entrepreneurs;
• lack of networking and capacity building opportunities available for women and girls;
• gender-neutral corporate policies in the private sector.

The project will aim to bring a transformational change by scaling-up the Womens' Resources Centres (WRCs) network as main hubs to share information and knowledge with women on public services and educational and income-generating opportunities offered by state; private and development partners; and  sensitising private sector to gender needs. While employing the WRC model, which has proven to be a sustainable and effective mechanism in UNDP's previous work at the grass-roots level for women's empowerment in Azerbaijan's regions, the project's strategy also includes testing of innovative approaches, such as improving women's access to markets, via digital technologies. Through this approach, women, particularly the poor and socially excluded, will be provided with skills, economic opportunities and relevant information to be self-employed and/or to join the formal labour sector; corporate policies will become more gender-responsive, and, as a result, gender inequalities in the labour field will be reduced. Additionally, an environment conducive for the realisation of women's economic potential will be created to combat some key structural barriers for women's economic empowerment in Azerbaijan. This project is part of a larger UN WOMEN-implemented and SDC-funded programme “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus”, representing an additional phase of the UNDP gender programme.

Project Objectives

The overarching goal of the project is to ensure that women, particularly the poor and socially-excluded women, are economically empowered and participate in the decision-making. The project specifically aims to support poor and socially-excluded women in increasing the level of their economic activity through capacity development and network building and sensitise the private sector to gender needs and interests of women by promoting Global Compact’s Women Empowerment Principles.

Expected Outcomes

Project Accomplishments