2 June 2025. The European Union, UNDP, and UN Women launched a new regional initiative to accelerate gender equality and empower women in the Western Balkans. Coming at a time when the world marks 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most visionary agenda for women’s rights, the programme reflects a shared commitment to sustained progress in a changing global landscape.

The three-year initiative, entitled EU4GE Regional Programme on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Ending Violence Against Women, will be implemented in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, and it will focus on increasing women's participation in leadership, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and green sectors, while also tackling violence against women, including online and technology-facilitated forms.

Enrica Chiozza, Head of Sector for Civil Society, Social Inclusion, and Human Capital Development at the Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood of the European Commission, stated that while important strides have been made, achieving full gender equality in the Western Balkans requires continued commitment and collaboration. “The EU remains unwavering in its support – working closely with international organizations, regional partners, and national governments – to empower women, dismantle systemic barriers, and build a more just and inclusive society for all.”

Ivana Zivkovic, Assistant Secretary General, Assistant Administrator and Director, UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States, underscored the programme’s transformative potential “New technologies are reshaping the world of work, but they are also becoming new arenas for violence and abuse. Yet despite these challenges, deliberate action, digital tools, and future-facing skills can become powerful equalizers - helping to connect women to markets, financing, knowledge, and networks that allow them to not just participate, but lead and thrive.”

Across the Western Balkans, more than half of women active online have experienced technology-facilitated violence, according to the 2023 study The Dark Side of Digitalization: Technology-facilitated violence against women in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The most common forms include receiving unwanted or offensive content or messages (39.7%), inappropriate sexual advances or content via social media (30%), and hacking of personal accounts (25.4%).

The new EU4GE regional programme will respond to these issues by ensuring access to women to multi-sectoral, inclusive services and building capacities of institutions to deliver by improving the capacity of institutions to deliver coordinated, survivor-focused care. It will also equip women and girls with the knowledge and tools to recognize and report online and technology-facilitated violence.

Meanwhile, recent data highlights continued gender disparities in STEM fields. From 2019 to 2023, women comprised just 38.4 per cent of tertiary graduates in STEM programmes across Europe and Central Asia. In the labour market, their presence in the highest-paying STEM occupations is even more limited, with women holding just 14% of these roles. Beyond STEM, gender stereotypes continue to pose significant barriers to women’s entrepreneurship and labour participation, restricting their access to opportunities, resources, and support.

To close this gap, the programme will focus on dismantling structural barriers to women’s participation and unlocking greater economic opportunities for women in entrepreneurship, STEM, and emerging sectors by strengthening women’s leadership, leveraging the power of networks and regional cooperation, transforming deeply rooted gender perceptions.

Elisa Fernandez Saenz, UN Women Deputy Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia emphasized that the relevance of this programme cannot be overstated. “As we embark on this joint journey, let us reaffirm our commitment to creating a future where women live free from violence and have the opportunities to succeed and lead. I invite all stakeholders to join this mission and work together towards our shared goals of gender equality and women’s empowerment,” said Elisa Fernandez Saenz.

Sonja Lokar, an international civil society activist from Slovenia who attended the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 and the official launch of the programme, concluded by saying: “Keep our core values intact: equality, solidarity, freedom, inclusion, the right to life for all living things in this world, global peace! Resist the anti-gender movement and policies. Insist, persevere, and innovate!”

Through its dual focus on economic empowerment and freedom from violence for women, the new EU4GE regional programme will contribute to the realization of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, reinforcing the region’s commitment to gender equality.

^{* *For the European Union, this designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. For UN Women, references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).}