UN Women Strengthens Partnerships to Advance Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Central Asia
Date:
Astana, 28 January 2026. UN Women’s Central Asia Liaison Office and the UN Women Country Office in Kazakhstan hosted the roundtable “Advancing Partnerships for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Central Asia”, convening international partners. The event built on the political momentum generated by the Astana High Level Meeting marking the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action in February 2025. It was co organized with the Embassy of France in Kazakhstan and focused on strengthening coordination and strategic engagement across the region.
Opening the roundtable, Ms. Elisa Fernandez Saenz, Deputy Regional Director of the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, emphasized the need to translate momentum into coordinated action and partnership: “This roundtable is an opportunity to turn political momentum into coordinated action: to think in a solution-oriented way, identify common ground, and strengthen partnerships that can accelerate progress for all women and girls across the region.”
In his remarks, H.E. Mr. Sylvain Guiaugué, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Republic of Kazakhstan, reaffirmed France’s commitment to partnership-based action: “Our feminist diplomacy is one of cooperation, results, and coalition-building.”
Across Central Asia, participants highlighted both progress and the need to accelerate implementation, noting developments such as the criminalization of domestic violence in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, strengthened protection mechanisms in Tajikistan, enhanced gender policies in Turkmenistan, and increased women’s political participation in Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.
Participants agreed that consolidating and scaling results will require stronger regional coordination and deeper strategic partnerships, alongside closer alignment of regional priorities to keep gender equality and women’s rights at the center of policy development and international cooperation. They also underscored the importance of exploring innovative financing mechanisms and expanding long-term, multi-stakeholder partnerships to support transformational and sustainable impact, particularly in the context of constrained resources.
The UN Women Central Asia Liaison Office, established in December 2025, was recognized as a platform to support countries in aligning efforts with Beijing+30 commitments and advancing shared regional approaches. Participants further committed to continued collaboration across priority thematic areas, including Women, Peace and Security, women’s economic empowerment, gender-responsive budgeting, and the prevention of gender-based violence, through coordinated regional and country-level action.