Foundations

Photo: UN Women/Second Chance Education Programme

Kavita Manjhi is among more than 50,000 women who have been supported through UN Women’s Second Chance Education programme in India which is helping women re-enter formal education, get vocational and skills training, and secure employment or entrepreneurial opportunities.

UN Women believes in the ability of business and philanthropy to play an active and central role in transforming our world to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UN Women is thankful for the support for gender equality and women’s empowerment it has received from its foundation partners, including:

Ant Foundation

The Together Digital Programme was officially launched at the W20 Summit held in Indonesia in July 2022. The programme aims to support women-led MSMEs to better participate and thrive in the digital economy.

Ant Foundation, a private charitable foundation established by global technology provider Ant Group, partnered with UN Women to launch “Together Digital”, a 5-year programme to support women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and empower them to participate and thrive in the digital economy. Currently being piloted in China and Indonesia, the Together Digital programme has reached over 500 women entrepreneurs with training on digital skills and business management including gender-based digital entrepreneurship. Additionally, the project has reached over 70,000 people through online campaigns contributing to increased public awareness of women's entrepreneurship.

BHP Billiton Foundation

Beneficiaries of the Second Chance Education programme in India, funded by the BHP Billiton Foundation, pose for a group photo. Photo: UN Women/Second Chance Education Programme

UN Women’s partnership with the BHP Billiton Foundation centers on the Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning Programme. The global programme aims to ensure that marginalized women and young women who are at risk of being left behind have access to, participate in and achieve quality learning, entrepreneurship and employment outcomes through second chance education and vocational training. In Asia and the Pacific, the BHP Billiton Foundation funds the programme’s chapter in India.

Fondation CHANEL

Former UN Women Deputy Executive Director Åsa Regnér and Executive Director of Fondation CHANEL meet to discuss programmes in China, Nepal and Viet Nam. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Fondation CHANEL has supported UN Women’s activities in Asia and the Pacific through three different projects from women’s economic empowerment to climate. In Vietnam, Fondation CHANEL supported a three-year project to strengthen women’s livelihoods and participation for greater resilience to climate change. In China, another three-year project was implemented to strengthen rural Chinese women’s economic resilience to escape poverty and adapt to climate change. The third three-year project was set in Nepal and focused on leveraging women’s leadership and empowerment in value chains and transforming social and economic norms for planet 50:50.

Rockcheck Puji Foundation

UN Women, ACWF and Rockcheck Puji Foundation come together in September 2021 to jointly announce the launch of the Supporting Women to Recover from the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 Project. Photo: UN Women/Shi Jieyu

The Rockcheck Puji Foundation, acting as the CSR branch of the Rockcheck Group, funded a UN Women programme to support women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and workers to recover from economic loss brought on by COVID-19, build the resilience of women-led SMEs to future shocks and promote women’s leadership and capabilities in awareness raising on COVID-19 preventive measures and recovery.