As per the UN Woman report, the poverty reduction progress was reversed leading to women and girls paying the bigger price. Extreme poverty is deepened for females globally. Before the COVID pandemic, people where living on less than $1.90 daily which fell by 8.6% from 2018.
And in Egypt specifically, supporting the "Decent Life" presidential initiative in collaboration with the Central Bank of Egypt and the National Council for Women are working on a national financial inclusion program, such as: the digital village savings and the loans associations. In these programs, 160,000 women in rural areas are supported through:
Encouraging formal registration in the digitalized savings groups, through creating bank accounts.
Increase the access to the e-payment cards to improve women integration into profitable chains.
Boost women's business and leadership through digital and financial literacy.
As well under the UN Women in Egypt, more than 6,300 women were supported to access employment or self-employment opportunities in growth-oriented sectors. And strengthened the employment of women in women-led productive clusters.
Moreover, they are supporting young women to invest in women-owned start-ups by providing support and training in the following areas: legal registration, leadership, access to markets, marketing, business development, financial management, teamwork skills, and sales techniques. Which as a result led to:
More than 300 women in villages carry our market development activities.
Reaching over 700,000 potential buyers.
In 341 villages the income increased by 30%-50%.
15 women-owned and led retail companies established.
And to promote gender equality in private companies, UN Women and UN Global Compact established the below agreement since 2010 led to 7,267 companies signed on worldwide, 70 of which are Egyptian companies, and this number is increasing weekly.
Advancing a gender-responsive private sector that attracts, retains, and promotes women employment through improving the workplace policies including equal payment.
Implementing skills development and leadership programs for women promoting more women on company boards and in senior leadership positions.
Supporting companies to tackle sexual harassment.
Promoting gender-responsive procurement and integrating women-owned businesses within corporate supply chains.
Advancing family-friendly work policies.