UN HOLDS GENDER RESPONSIVE PROCUREMENT WORKSHOP

The UN in Bangladesh organized a half day long Gender-Responsive Procurement Workshop on 18th August 2022 to increase participation of women owned and led businesses and entrepreneurs’ in UN supply chain. The workshop held at the Six Seasons Hotel, Gulshan, Dhaka -is the first step towards reducing gender gap in UN supply chains.

Around one hundred-fifty representatives from various women-owned organizations and businesses across the country attended the workshop to learn about gender-responsive procurement processes, the United Nations Global Market, and associated business opportunities.

The procurement leads from UN Agencies introduced the UN Global Marketplace platform to the participants and guided them through the registration process, solicitation stage, and bidding preparations.  Eventually this will help and encourage women vendors and entrepreneurs to get into the UN procurement system pipeline.

On behalf of UN Country Team, Ms. Gitanjali Singh, Country Representative of UN Women, in her opening remarks said, ‘Gender Responsive Procurement is more than just increasing women’s participation. It is to pay attention to socially responsible policies and practices, including in sourcing and buying.  This approach advocates for creating opportunities and outcomes not only for women owned but also for women-led and gender-responsive businesses.’

Appreciating the effort Sonia Shobhan from Soptodha Polli Crafts & Fashion said, “This workshop has been very effective and would benefit women entrepreneurs across the country. It would be very useful if UN can organize these resourceful workshops at the divisional level.”

The workshop also provided a platform for the women-led organizations to network and discuss how gender-responsive procurement can contribute to the growth and prosperity of their businesses. 

The UN is committed to leverage gender-responsive procurement (GRP) as part of its Business Operations Strategy and to create equal opportunities and outcomes for women. The workshop was led and conducted by the UN OMT (Operational Management Team) procurement team of Bangladesh.

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For more information and Media Contacts:

Shararat Islam (Communications Analyst) shararat.islam@unwomen.org; 01313475774

UN Women, Bangladesh Country Office

About UN in Bangladesh

The UN System has been engaged to support national development priorities under a new generation framework called the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), in line with the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The UN agencies in Bangladesh have been working together in a new, coherent way to support the government to implement the SDGs and to enhance the development impact in priority areas. Find out more https://bangladesh.un.org/en/about/about-the-un

Notes to Editor:

Gender-responsive procurement is the selection of services, goods and civil works that considers their impact on gender equality and women’s empowerment. UN Women has implemented tools that will increase women vendors’ business share in UN Women’s procurement spending. Find out more https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/procurement/gender-responsive-procurement