Kathmandu: The EU-UN Joint Programme, Empowered Women, Prosperous Nepal (EWPN), in collaboration with private sector associations, convened the Provincial Workshop on Gender Responsive Procurement (GRP) in Surdarpashchim Province. This workshop brought together businesses, cooperatives, aggregators, and private sector leaders around a shared agenda: making markets work for women.
UN Women Nepal stated that with women owning nearly one-third enterprises in Nepal yet underrepresented in supply chains, GRP is not charity, it’s smart strategy. Furthermore, Global Evidence consistently shows that businesses perform better when women-owned enterprises are intentionally included in procurement systems.
Aligned with the Government of Nepal’s 100 Action Points on Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), they emphasized that this agenda encourages business to promote gender equality across value chains, reinforces the commitment to expand women’s access to productive resources, markets, and decent work opportunities as a pathway to sustainable and inclusive development.
UN Women Nepal concluded that GRP remains one of the most practical and impactful ways to translate gender equality commitments into measurable economic action.
