Asian Development Bank, UN Women sign 5-year agreement to raise women’s status in Asia-Pacific

[Press Release]
[For immediate release]

(From left, first row) UN Women Executive Director, Sima Bahous; ADB President Masatsugu; and Vice President, Bambang Susantono. (Second row) UN Women Deputy Executive Director, Anita Bhatia; Chief of Gender Equality Thematic Group at ADB, Samantha Hung; and Officer-in-Charge at UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Sarah Knibbs.

Bangkok, Thailand/Manila, Philippines/New York — UN Women and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an agreement today to continue working together to promote women’s equality and empowerment in Asia and the Pacific.

The memorandum of understanding formally extending the partnership to March 2027 was signed in an online ceremony by the bank’s president, Masatsugu Asakawa, and the executive director of UN Women, Sima Bahous.

The two sides had been cooperating since 2016 under an earlier 5-year agreement. They did a joint report, Gender Equality and the Sustainable Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific, which set a baseline for monitoring progress on gender equality within the framework of the United Nations goals and identified priority actions to achieve them. In 2020, ADB provided USD 1.5 million in funding for a UN Women project in India, Advancing Gender Budgeting in Select States; the project will continue under the new agreement.

Under the renewed partnership, the two sides will cooperate to:

• strengthen gender data and statistics to track and monitor the Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 5 on gender equality
• promote gender-responsive governance tools to ensure accountability and resources on gender equality
• support women’s entrepreneurship and gender-responsive value chains
• prevent gender-based violence
• advance knowledge, evidence and tools on gender and climate change

The renewed partnership creates opportunities for sustainable financing for gender equality – a key priority under UN Women’s strategic plan for 2022-2025. ADB and UN Women will be able to increase knowledge of financing gaps, give priority to gender equality in financing decisions, and assess policy impacts to leverage new and innovative financing approaches.

“ADB’s strong partnership with UN Women is helping to break down the barriers facing women and girls across Asia and the Pacific, and to build a more inclusive, transformative future,” Asakawa said. “We are committed to achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls to maximize their full potential.”

Bahous said the new agreement was even more important as the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years has exacerbated pre-existing gender inequalities and pushed back gains that women had made.

“The renewed partnership between the Asian Development Bank and UN Women will help to proactively stall this regression and accelerate progress to empower women, reduce gender gaps across all areas to improve the lives and livelihoods of women and girls in the Asia and the Pacific, and to stimulate the region’s potential for economic growth,” she said.