Explainer: Five key ingredients for partnerships that work for women and girls
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Strong partnerships are essential to making sustainable development work for women and girls in Europe and Central Asia. But partnerships alone are not enough. Financing, data, technology and international cooperation must actively support gender equality, rather than overlook it.
Despite global commitments, gender equality remains one of the world’s most underfunded priorities. An extra $360 billion annually is required to realize gender equality and speed up progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UN Women works with governments, civil society, the private sector and international partners across Europe and Central Asia to ensure that women and girls are at the centre of financing, policymaking, innovations and partnerships.
Here are five ways to make global partnerships work better for women, and how UN Women is putting them into practice across Europe and Central Asia.
1. Make gender equality part of every partnership
Gender equality is not only Sustainable Development Goal 5, it is also a prerequisite for achieving the entire 2030 Agenda. Every investment, partnership and development programme should consider its impact on women and girls. This is a requirement, not a nice-to-have.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Gender Equality Accelerator Joint Programme demonstrates how coordinated action can advance gender equality. Implemented by UN Women, UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF, with funding from the European Union, Denmark and Sweden, the programme tackles the root causes of inequality: eliminating violence against women and girls, empowering women economically, and increasing women’s participation in leadership and decision-making.
Working alongside national institutions, civil society and development partners, the programme addresses structural barriers women face, while helping the country advance its commitments under CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, and the 2030 Agenda, ensuring that no woman or girl is left behind.
UN Women is also building creative partnerships to make gender equality a priority for everyone. In 2025, UN Women and the International Publishers Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding to harness the transformative power of the publishing industry in advancing gender equality and women’s rights.
That same year, UN Women joined the Frankfurt Book Fair for the first time, recognizing the power of literature to shape conversations and inspire change. In 2026, the partnership continued at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, exploring how children’s books can challenge gender stereotypes, amplify diverse voices, and inspire more inclusive stories for future generations.
2. Invest in gender-responsive budgeting
Government budgets can either reinforce inequality or help reduce it. Gender-responsive budgeting ensures that public spending and fiscal policies reflect the different needs of women and men, making public finance more effective, transparent, and accountable.
Across the Western Balkans, more than 200,000 women have directly benefited from gender-responsive budgeting initiatives supported by UN Women and funded by Sweden and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
By integrating gender equality into national and local budgets, countries and territories, including Albania, Kosovo, and Serbia have expanded women’s access to resources, services, and economic opportunities, helping to bridge the gap between policy and lived realities for women.
3. Unlock out-of-the-box collaborations for gender equality
Public funding alone cannot close the gender financing gap. Governments, development banks, private sector and philanthropic organizations need to work together to mobilize more investments in gender equality.
UN Women Europe and Central Asia and Henkel, represented by Persil, launched a new partnership under the HeForShe movement to challenge gender stereotypes and promote the equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work.
Through the partnership, Persil will use its global platforms to encourage men to take a more active role in everyday household responsibilities. The collaboration aligns with UN Women’s broader Care Action Agenda for Europe and Central Asia (2026–2030), which promotes care as both a gender equality and an economic priority.
4. Invest in better gender data
Better decisions start with better data. Sex-disaggregated statistics and gender-specific indicators help governments understand who is being left behind and where resources are needed most.
Yet many national statistical offices face declining financial support. A recent survey found that nearly seven in ten have experienced reduced international or domestic funding for statistics since January 2025.
To address this challenge, UN Women, UNFPA and the UN Development Coordination Office, with support from the Joint SDG Fund, strengthened gender data systems in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova.
The programme improved the production and quality of gender data, strengthened monitoring of SDG 5 indicators, particularly on violence against women, and helped national statistical offices to better translate data into policy-relevant insights.
5. Give women’s organizations a seat at the table
Women’s rights organizations and feminist networks bring local knowledge, community trust and practical solutions. Yet they remain underfunded, too often excluded within global partnerships.
Across six Eastern Partnership countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine - UN Women and UNFPA, with funding from the European Union, are implementing the regional programme “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together against Gender Stereotypes and Gender-Based Violence.” The initiative supports civil society organizations in changing harmful social norms, perceptions and practices on gender equality while empowering women and girls to fully exercise their rights.
In the Western Balkans, the European Union-funded regional programme “EU 4 Gender Equality – Women’s Economic Empowerment and Ending Violence Against Women,” implemented by UN Women and UNDP, also partners with civil society organizations to advance women’s economic empowerment while addressing violence against women.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls governments, private sector, civil society, and international organizations to work together so no one is left behind. At the heart of this effort is SDG 17, which focuses on revitalizing the global partnerships for sustainable development.
With just four years left until the 2030 deadline, it is worth asking how much progress has been made - and what challenges remain. During the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which took place from 7 to 15 July, several goals were reviewed in-depth, including SDG 17.