Welcome to the United Nations
| Women 20 Coalition including USA, South Africa, Indonesia and UN-ITC |
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The international community finds itself in a rapidly changing environment, faced with a long path towards recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. With the common goal of ‘building back better’ in mind, public and private stakeholders must work together not only to assess and mitigate the effects of the crisis on the socioeconomic landscape, but also to leverage the opportunity to create a more resilient and inclusive future. Women have an important role to play to achieve a sustainable economic recovery and make progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One such area, where the role of women should be rapidly scaled up is with respect to public procurement. Governments spend $9 trillion USD on public procurement every year. This can account for approximately 10-15% of GDP in developed countries and up to 40% of GDP in developing countries. Women account for only 1% of public procurement opportunities worldwide, due to barriers related to access to information, complex procedures, and strict financial and qualification requirements, among others. Boosting women’s participation in public procurement opportunities is smart economics. Co-hosted by the Women20 (W20) Indonesia and US Delegations, Women Entrepreneurs Act Initiative (WE Act), and International Trade Centre’s (ITC) SheTrades Initiative, this side event will focus on supporting increased women’s participation in public procurement globally through awareness-raising and advocacy. Panellists will share the experiences of their countries in unlocking women’s potential through public procurement opportunities in an effort to facilitate knowledge sharing and inspire countries interested in creating new programmes or upgrading existing ones. |
