Launch of the EU4GE Regional Programme on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Ending Violence Against Women in the Western Balkans

UNDP and UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, with the financial support of the European Union, are launching the EU4GE Regional Programme on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Ending Violence Against Women in the Western Balkans.

This kick-off meeting will bring together representatives from the European Commission, UNDP, UN Women, government representatives, and civil society to lay the groundwork for a new joint programme aimed at addressing two critical challenges to gender equality: women’s economic empowerment and violence against women.

The EU4GE Regional Programme will be implemented across six Western Balkan IPA beneficiaries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo[1], Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. It aims to increase women's participation in leadership, STEM, and green sectors, while also tackling violence against women, including online and technology-facilitated forms, by strengthening survivor-centred services and enhancing legal protections for women and girls.

For detailed information, see agenda. Register to the event here.

<sup>[1] References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of UN SC Resolution 1244 (1999).
* For the European Union, this designation used is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1244/99 and the International Court of Justice Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.</sup>