Centre Stage Project: ‘Women’s empowerment during the COVID19 recovery’

The UNWTO Centre Stage Project was supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) and UN Women.

As part of their mission to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in tourism, UN WOMEN, GIZ and UNWTO have previously partnered on different initiatives in various regions. Most recently to compile the Second Edition of the Global Report on Women in Tourism and its subsequent Action Plan, which form the basis of the ‘Centre Stage’ Project.

As a service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work, GIZ counts with over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas, including economic development, gender equality or tourism. Particularly, GIZ has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to support a package of measures in 25 countries to provide support to the tourism sector with specific measures addressing vulnerable groups such as those working in the informal economy, women or innovative businesses in the sector.

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. It works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on four strategic priorities: Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems; Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy; All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience, and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.