UN Women, together with the Governments of Denmark and Norway, continues to support women entrepreneurs and rural women

The economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs and rural women in Georgia is one of the most important and pivotal areas of UN Women work. In cooperation with donor organizations and partners, countrywide initiatives have laid the foundation for many women’s entrepreneurship over the years, changing for the better the lives of not only their own families but also their entire community.

It should be noted that UN Women, together with funding from the Governments of Denmark and Norway, as well as from local partners, continues to work towards women’s economic empowerment. The aim of a recent visit to the regions of Imereti and Guria on 18 and 19 September was to learn more about the results of these activities. During the visit, the UN Women Country Representative in Georgia, Kaori Ishikawa; the Norwegian Ambassador to Georgia, Bergljot Hovland; and a representative of the Danish Embassy, Medea Gegechkori, met with local women.

The guests visited local women’s enterprises and heard about their needs and the results of their activities. They also met with members of self-help groups, learned about the progress made on the implementation of the social mobilization component and talked about the challenges that women living in Guria are facing in terms of economic empowerment.

On 19 September, the visit continued in Kutaisi, where they met with women entrepreneurs living in the region of Imereti. Ambassador Hovland said in her speech that supporting gender equality and women’s empowerment is one of the main priorities for the Norwegian Government because it is a necessary condition for prosperity and equality and, thus, for the achievement of a stable society. As the Ambassador said, she is happy that together with UN Women and other partners, they have the opportunity to support the economic empowerment of women and to contribute to the economic progress of the country.

“Women entrepreneurs are examples not only for other women but also for your own communities, the residents of the villages and the wider society,” said Ambassador Hovland. “You play a very big role and show everyone how much potential women’s involvement in the economy has. We know that women face many more obstacles when doing business, be it in finances, investments, access to resources, connecting to markets or other challenges. We are here to learn about what successes and difficulties you have had and to understand how we can help you to overcome these obstacles.”

At the end of the meeting, the simulation exercise “In Her Shoes” was held. The interactive role-playing game helps the participants to walk the path of victims of violence step by step, to realize what it is like to face those obstacles, to become more empathetic and to clearly see that everyone can make an important contribution to overcoming violence.

Support for women’s economic empowerment is provided by the Norwegian Government’s funding for the UN Women Georgia project “Good Governance for Gender Equality in Georgia” under the Women’s Economic Empowerment component, as well as by the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia programme “Women’s Increased Leadership for Resilient and Peaceful Societies”, which is implemented with the financial support of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.