Celebrating Care: Recognizing and honouring support and care providers

[Joint Press Release]

Kathmandu, Nepal — Care and support are the backbone of healthy, inclusive, and resilient societies. They enable individuals, families, and communities to thrive, making it possible for everyone to work, learn, and live with dignity. Recognizing this vital role, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 29 October as the International Day of Care and Support in 2023, underlining care as essential for achieving gender equality, sustainable development, and social justice.

In Nepal, UN Women Nepal and ILO Nepal have laid crucial groundwork for strengthening the care economy through sustained policy advocacy and evidence-based initiatives. This includes conducting a care costing assessment, followed by a care needs assessment and the piloting of community-based care models. Their joint efforts, reinforced by research and policy briefs on public investment in care, aim to reduce unpaid care work, enhance women’s economic participation, and promote decent work by recognizing, valuing, and regulating care work.

This event builds on these efforts and appreciates the often-unseen contributions of care and support staff who sustain our societies and institutions.

During her opening remarks, Ms Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, United Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC), stated, “To our support staff- you are the heartbeat of this UN House. Care is central to Nepal’s culture, yet still unequal. Let’s make care visible, valued, and a national priority.”

In 2025, global momentum to strengthen care systems has accelerated through major international commitments, including the priority theme of the 72nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW72), the World Health Organization’s resolution on the health and care workforce, and the International Labour Organization’s 2024 resolution on decent work and the care economy.

In Nepal, however, care work continues to be undervalued and largely informal, with women carrying the disproportionate share of unpaid and low-paid care responsibilities. The paid care sectors also face a larger gender pay gap than other industries. According to the ILO, women in the global health and care sectors earn approximately 24 per cent less than men—one of the widest gaps across occupations. As Nepal experiences demographic shifts, ageing populations, and changing family patterns, urgent action is needed to address the care crisis through multisectoral and whole-of-society approaches.

Mr Numan Özcan, Director of the ILO Country Office for Nepal, highlighted, “Transforming care into decent work requires recognition, regulation, and redistribution. Without this shift, we risk deepening gender disparities and missing a critical opportunity for sustainable and equitable growth in Nepal.”

Ms Patricia Fernández-Pacheco, Country Representative, UN Women Nepal, stated,“Care is not just a gender or labour issue, it’s a justice issue. Recognizing, valuing, and investing in care work is essential to reducing gender inequality, promoting inclusive development, and ensuring human dignity for all.”

Within the UN system, care and support are essential to the wellbeing and productivity of all personnel. The UN Country Team (UNCT) in Nepal remains committed to appreciating its support staff—those whose dedication sustains the daily functioning of the UN House.

Alongside domestic workers in our homes, their work reflects the values of care, solidarity, and service. This year’s observance of the International Day of Care and Support at the UN House celebrates those who make our workplaces and homes nurturing environments, including the UN Clinic staff, Staff Counsellors, Security and Safety Team, Cleaning Staff, and support volunteers, whose care ensures the wellbeing of all. This observance is also a call to action: to recognize care as essential social infrastructure, to invest in decent care work, and to promote the equitable redistribution of care responsibilities. This overall reflects our ongoing joint efforts through the Empowered Women Prosperous Nepal Programme, a joint initiative of the Government of Nepal, the European Union, and the United Nations aimed at advancing gender equality.