In late 2020, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE) Programme, partnered with Kiva to conduct primary research on women entrepreneur financial sector borrowers in the region.
ESCAP is taking steps to mainstream gender in all its activities, to ensure that gender equality is addressed holistically in order to develop forward-looking strategies and contribute to efforts towards gender equality, poverty reduction and economic growth in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.
This policy brief is part of the interregional project “Demographic Dividend with a Gender Dimension: Entry points for Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa and Asia and the Pacific”, implemented by ESCAP and ECA for capacity development among member States.
This report analyses progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia and the Pacific and its five subregions. It also examines inequalities and vulnerabilities among different population groups. It assesses gaps which must be closed to achieve the goals by 2030 and leave no one behind.
Since the adoption of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), good progress has been made towards achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in Asia and the Pacific. Efforts have also been directed toward increasing the availability of gender data and statistics to support monitoring and reporting on such progress.
With the aim to strengthen the policy and legal environment for women-owned enterprises, the report uses multiple assessment methods to evaluate the extent of impact of the SME law on women-owned enterprises and provides policy and programmatic recommendations.
