UN Women

UN Women is the United Nations entity 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, and in all deliberations and agreements linked to the 2030 Agenda. The entity works to position gender equality as fundamental to the Sustainable Development Goals, and a more inclusive world.

In the Skills Alliance for Ukraine, UN Women is represented with two projects:

• Dream & Achieve Phase II: based on the successful implementation of Dream and Achieve 1.0 implemented by NGO “Impact Force”, the second phase has advanced women’s economic empowerment of 80 internally displaced and war-affected women of Ukraine by strengthening their entrepreneurial capacities. Among all the participants, 67.5 % had ties to military service — being wives, family members of active-duty service members, veterans, or having lost family members to the war. Falling under UN Women’s broader Women’s Economic Empowerment portfolio, the program focused on equipping women entrepreneurs with practical business skills, mentorship, and access to resources. Through a holistic and hands-on approach, the program supported women in building sustainable businesses, enhancing their economic resilience, and promoting their active participation in the economic recovery of Ukraine. The initiative contributed to long-term empowerment by fostering self-reliance, increasing income-generation opportunities, and reinforcing women’s role as key drivers of inclusive economic growth.

• Through the pilot reskilling project She Drives on training women as bus drivers through an NGO partner “Foundation for Institutional Development” and in collaboration with the Ministry of Infrastructure, UN Women commits to training 100 women in the municipalities of Kyiv, Bila Tserkva, Chernihiv, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Lviv, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, and Odesa to become certified municipal bus drivers with professional Ukraine and EU bus driver certifications. The projects also aims to get 80 project participants being employed at enterprises in the field of passenger transportation.

As of May 2025:
Under She Drives:
– 100 women completed theoratical training (this includes 20 women who are family members of veterans),
– 36 women completed practical training,
– 28 women received driving license of category D,
– 9 women got employed at the municipal transport entreprises.

Under Dream & Achieve Phase II, 80 IDP women entrepreneurs have completed the training program and received start-up vouchers.