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Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Co-laboratory of Solutions for Women's Economic Empowerment
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is to construct an innovation portfolio aimed at expediting the closure of gaps in women's economic empowerment
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
Under the umbrella of SDG 5, both public and private institutions in Bolivia, alongside NGOs, have developed some solutions to address gender gaps. However, despite some evidence of progress, there remains a lack of evidence regarding how these solutions are effectively addressing gaps and where strategic innovations are needed. Given the urgent imperative to accelerate the closure of gender gaps, it is essential to pinpoint areas where innovations can best focus resources.
In recent months, the AccLab, in collaboration with UN Women, two NGOs, and an academic institution, has gathered available quantitative information on gender gaps in Bolivia and presented it in easily accessible infographics (http://testsite.pnud.bo/). This effort alone has raised awareness of the complexity of the issue among women and institutions, including those already engaged in gender gap initiatives. We believe that visually comparing the evidence of the existing gaps with the current solutions being implemented by institutions will facilitate the identification of areas requiring strategic innovations.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023, it is projected to take 149 years to achieve gender parity in Latin America at the current rate of progress. The following data from Bolivia highlights the urgent need to accelerate the closure of gender gaps:
In terms of women's economic autonomy, only 20.4% of women have access to credit, compared to 32.4% of men. The labor participation rate for women is 52%, whereas it is 60% for men. Additionally, 70% of women earn incomes below the national average, while this figure for women is 55%. Women also spend 29-53% of their time on care activities, while men allocate only 10-13% of their time to such tasks.
Furthermore, concerning women's decision-making autonomy, only 1 in 10 directors of large enterprises are women, and the ratio is 1 in 8 for SMEs, while 8 out of 10 women work in the informal economy.
Finally, regarding personal autonomy, 7 out of 10 women have experienced some form of violence, with 58% having encountered digital violence.
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
In recent years, there has been a perception of regression in certain indicators regarding gender parity, such as the participation of women in leadership positions within business chambers. A recent study confirmed that the participation of women decreased from 16% in 2022 to 13% in 2024.
Regarding women in the informal economy, the digital divide has improved access to digital and economic resources, as well as new markets. However, only young women with digital skills can use these services due to their digital literacy.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
By identifying evidence of gaps and solutions for women's economic empowerment, the main institutions supporting this topic will be able to identify strategic innovations to accelerate the closure of gender gaps
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
The institutional ecosystem identifies the strategic innovations required to accelerate the closure of gender gaps and organizes to implement them according to their specific roles
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
UN WOMEN
What sector does our partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
UN Women is participating in the design and implementation of the initiative, including the contribution of some economic resources for its implementation.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
CECI and IES Foundation
What sector does our partner belong to?
Civil Society
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
CECI and IES Foundation are participating in the design and implementation of the initiative, including the contribution of some economic resources for its implementation.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Women Economic Forum in Bolivia
What sector does our partner belong to?
Civil Society
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
UN Women is participating in the design and implementation of the initiative, including the contribution of some economic resources for its implementation.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Institute of women and bussinesses (IME)
What sector does our partner belong to?
Academia
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
IME is participating in the design and implementation of the initiative
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Electronic Government Agency and Information and Communication Technologies (AGETIC)
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
AGETIC is participating in disseminating the call for mapping solutions and organizing conversations with institutions to identify strategic innovations
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
What are the gaps on which institutions are concentrating more solutions to close them and why?
What are the gaps with less concentration of solutoins to close them and why?
What are the strategic gaps for ripple effects?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Explore
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Using data visualization techniques will enable an easy comparison of gaps with solutions and provide the necessary information to foster collective intelligence among representatives of key institutions and co-create an innovation portfolio. We will employ these methods because we aim to encourage new modes of dialogue using evidence to shift the current mindset, acting as a seed to promote system transformation.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Solutions mapping, through the application of a questionnaire, will gather solutions from the public sector, the private sector, and civil society for women's economic empowerment. Although there is information about solutions, it remains isolated and does not provide evidence for identifying strategic gaps and innovations. By utilizing the identified methods, we collect and present the information together.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
The identification of a strategic innovation portfolio for women's economic empowerment will open opportunities for institutions of the ecosystem to propose new solutions, new evidence, where to scale up solutions and to articulate with new institutions to imporove impacts in gender gaps closure.
END OF ACTION LEARNING PLAN: Thank you! The form saves automatically and your submission has been recorded. You may now exit this window.
The identification of a strategic innovation portfolio for women's economic empowerment will create opportunities for institutions within the ecosystem to propose new solutions and evidence, determine where to scale up existing solutions, and collaborate with new institutions to enhance the impact on closing gender gaps
1No poverty
5Gender equality
17Partnerships for the goals
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