UN Women launched "Buy from Women" campaign in honour of International Women's Day
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UN Women launched the “Buy from Women” Campaign in honour of International Women's Day to bolster rural women’s economic empowerment. The campaign brought rural women entrepreneurs from across Kyrgyzstan to Bishkek and Osh so that they could demonstrate and sell a plethora of products. The “Buy from Women” campaign aimed to encourage and support women's entrepreneurship for their creditable work.
As part of the campaign, the organizers set up points of sale for the products of women entrepreneurs in two locations in Bishkek and one location in Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s biggest cities. The points of sale were supported by major shopping and business centres in the cities and were visited by thousands of buyers.
Moreover, organizers launched a competition for the best media product about entrepreneurship to draw the public’s attention to the challenges and problems that women entrepreneurs face in their endeavours. Finally, as a result of the campaign, organizers will conduct a hackathon that will involve interested IT specialists to develop a prototype of a mobile application. The platform will display information about the goods and services of women entrepreneurs from all regions of Kyrgyzstan.
As stated by Ozonnia Ojielo, UN Resident Coordinator in Kyrgyzstan, today, 65% of women of Kyrgyzstan live in rural areas. "Rural women and girls are catalysts to achieve progress across all goals and targets set by the Sustainable Development Agenda. The UN system in Kyrgyzstan will always support the government's initiatives aimed at the empowerment of women,” he said.
“We express our deep gratitude to the women who contribute to the country's economy. Everything that is presented at the action today was only a small part of what women from rural areas produce. We are faced with the task of joining efforts in supporting women and men in entrepreneurship so that the Kyrgyz economy takes the path of recovery,” said Ulziisuren Jamsran, UN Women Representative in Kyrgyzstan.
Gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls is a precondition for the eradication of poverty and essential to achieving progress across all goals and targets set by the Sustainable Development Agenda. The Rural Women's Economic Empowerment Joint Programme (JP RWEE) facilitates transformation through rural women’s leadership, making gender equality and women’s empowerment a reality. Support to women's economic empowerment allows for increased influence, education, and information for women to decide the use of their income, savings, and loans, and the ability to make decisions about their life.
The “Buy from Women” campaign was made possible by JP RWEE programme, which is implemented by UN Women, WFP, FAO, and IFAD, and funded by the governments of Norway and Sweden. The campaign was coordinated by the Public Association “Fund for the Development of Women Entrepreneurship” (FDWE) and supported by the Government of Japan under its COVID-19-response initiative.