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Mali's central and northern regions have been plagued by in recent years. Terrorist groups have taken control of many remote villages, causing mass displacement, while maternal mortality rates are up to 35 times higher than in developed countries. Access to maternal health services is nearly impossible. In this complicated scenario, the United Nations Population Fund () is equipping the maternity ward at Sominé Dolo Hospital in the Mopti region. UNFPA partner sends mobile health units to rural areas of Mopti to reach women and girls with essential services and transport critical cases to health centers.

Women and girls were disproportionately affected by the devastating floods that hit Pakistan in 2022. Nisha, a seven-year-old girl from the Mirpurkhas District of Sindh, had to endure months of displacement and walk several miles every day to access clean water after her home and latrines were destroyed. Sampa, a 55-year-old widow, fell ill after drinking contaminated water during the floods. With the responsibility of caring for her ten-year-old child, she struggled to fetch water daily in the scorching heat. The efforts by the International Organization for Migration ) to construct latrines, handwashing stations, and lead-line hand pumps in Nisha and Sampa's villages brought relief and improved access to clean water and hygiene services.

Survivors of female genital mutilation advocate tirelessly to end the harmful practice, empowering communities and challenging entrenched cultural norms.

“Every day a woman's right is abused,” said Riya William Yuyada, who fled South Sudan when she was a baby, but decided to return more than 20 years later to create a women’s movement for peace, Crown the Woman. “When women are part of peace, it is more sustainable.”

Across the world, women and girls are leading the fight for peace and equality. Yet despite their essential role in peacebuilding, women human rights defenders still face challenges when it comes to getting a seat at the tables of power. This of the explores how women are trying to bring peace to conflicts around the world, with grassroots activist Riya William Yuyada, Laila Alodaat, Deputy Secretary General at the Women’s International League for ����AV and Freedom, and Nicole Ameline, former chair of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

is a global campaign that aims to engage women across the world in shaping solutions for the future. Through various channels, the campaign seeks to connect with women and understand their vision for the world and their expectations from the international community. Central to this initiative is the "We the Women" , which serves as a platform for women to voice their perspectives on global priorities and how leaders can address them. You can take the survey until the end of March.

Three women human rights defenders and peacebuilders were honored by the on . William Yuyada, Laila Alodaat, and Sara are supporting women and girls in their efforts for peace and have been working tirelessly to assist victims and their families and communities, identify the needs of women and marginalized groups, and much more. Their work is crucial in conflict settings, especially when women's voices are silenced or ignored.

Tahani lived in a small village in Yemen and believed her role was limited to managing the household. After marrying, she left her village due to the country's decade-long conflict, and the new couple moved to a displacement site in central Yemen, where she became pregnant, but her daughter died due to lack of medical care. Shatha, who worked for the International Organization for Migration (), met Tahani and encouraged her to join a workshop where she discovered her talent for making accessories. Tahani has built a small business and is now able to earn an income and support her family.

Women are paid less than men in the same jobs; they do most of the unpaid household and care work and often have difficulty accessing finance and other wealth-creating resources.

Ana Andrić appreciates how women in Herzegovina are active in all segments of mountain development, from the organization of excursions, to mountaineering, skiing and other activities. Ana, along with hundreds of women from Herzegovina area have been hiking through the Čvrsnica and Prenj mountain ranges for more than a decade, striving to restore life in its villages and contribute to the promotion and preservation of these mountain idylls. She knows that achieving gender equality and women’s well-being in all aspects of life is more crucial than ever if we want to create prosperous economies and a healthy planet. But the trend of underrepresentation of women in the labour market in Bosnia and Herzegovina is constantly present. The ‘Sustainability of Protected Areas’ project, financed by the Global Environment Facility and implemented by in Bosnia and Herzegovina is working to protect nature and biodiversity beyond mountains.

Çiğdem Kudret was raised in a household where women were discouraged from working outside the home and had never experienced financial independence. After six months of training, in 2019 she joined the production team of a women's cooperative established in the Hatay province of southern Türkiye. However, after a devastating earthquake in 2023 the cooperative suffered significant losses, leaving only 10 percent of their products salvageable. With the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations () support, the founder of the cooperative, Atiye Sönmez Erdoğdu, relaunched the cooperative’s e-commerce efforts and rallied other members to resume production despite the challenges. 

Women are paid less than men, do most of the unpaid household and care work, and often struggle to access finance. To address this situation, governments, institutions, and development actors must commit to transformative change. This includes introducing fairer tax systems, promoting women in leadership, addressing unpaid care work, expanding employment opportunities, and dismantling policies that hold women back. UNDP's helps institutions create equal opportunities. With the as our guide, and partners are working to unleash women's economic power. This International Women's Day, let's invest in women and accelerate progress. 

World Bank's report,  assesses the gap between legal reforms and actual outcomes for women in 190 economies. 

The International Labour Organization recognizes progress in improving gender equality within national business organizations, stressing the need to remove barriers for women.

The  (CSW) - dedicated to the promotion of global gender equality- . During this two-week event, the UN, its agencies, and civil society will gather in New York to discuss the implementation of the on gender equality and human rights of women and girls. The session will focus on accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions, and financing with a gender perspective.

On International Women’s Day, we celebrate women and girls around the world and we applaud all they have achieved in the fight for equality. Yet they still face immense obstacles. One of the key challenges in  is an alarming lack of financing, with a staggering USD 360 billion annual deficit in spending on gender-equality measures. It’s time to provide support and funding to women’s organizations on the front lines. Let's join on 8 March, as we rally behind this year's call to “”.