Dallas, United States:
Rural girls comprise 1 / 4 of the world’s inhabitants and are the spine of their economies, comprising an estimated 40% of the agricultural labor drive in creating nations as farmers, wage earners, and entrepreneurs.1 Despite their essential contributions to native economies, they proceed to face structural limitations to asset possession, equal pay, participation in decision-making boards, and entry to sources and markets. Cultural norms additionally outcome in girls shouldering most of the duty for unpaid care and home work.2
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Women from the Art Ensemble “Huobonuoma,” or “Daughters of the Moon,” showcasing their Yi embroidered costumes, an historic handcraft representing the cultural heritage of the Yi ethnic group. (Photo: Courtesy of Waipula Villagers)
Recognizing that bettering the lives of rural girls is vital to combating poverty and attaining sustainable improvement, UNDP China and Mary Kay, in collaboration with the China Women’s Development Foundation, the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges, the Women’s Federation of Yunnan Province and Yongren County Government, launched the SDG Pilot Village Project in Waipula, Yunnan Province, China in 2017.
The joint mission, entitled “SDG Pilot Village Project: Women-focused Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development” (2017-2021), addressed the structural limitations to girls’s labor market participation, together with by means of the supply of social safety and the creation of inexperienced entrepreneurial alternatives by means of ecotourism, coupled with efforts to reinforce girls’s management in group decision-making boards.
Women from the Yi ethnic group grew to become the drivers of financial progress and poverty discount by means of focused gender-specific interventions that superior an inclusive native economy and the preservation of their cultural heritage. These actions caused transformational adjustments on the native degree, advancing gender equality and accelerating sustainable improvement.
“This project shows how entrepreneurship can be a powerful tool in addressing the income gap between men and women while fighting poverty in rural areas,” stated Beate Trankmann, UNDP Resident Representative in China. “Yi women have gained the right skills and resources to leverage their cultural heritage, built solid economic foundations for themselves, and become leaders in their communities, paving the way for future generations.”
The pilot highlights the potential of multi-stakeholder partnerships, together with the personal sector, in advancing the SDGs whereas maximizing the event influence of girls’s entrepreneurship. UNDP China, along with Mary Kay China and native public sector companions, labored with girls entrepreneurs to make sure they had been outfitted with the instruments and schooling essential to turn out to be financial actors. The limitations to their participation in group decision-making constructions had been additionally addressed in order that they might actively contribute to creating an inclusive and sustainable native inexperienced economy.
“The SDG Pilot Village Project demonstrates how the private sector can play a critical role in helping achieve the SDGs with a strong focus on women’s economic empowerment and provides a blueprint on how companies can leverage their unique strengths and accelerate development results through public-private partnerships,” stated Deborah Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer, Mary Kay Inc.
“The women-focused approach of providing entrepreneurial opportunities to rural women proved to be transformative. When women started participating in economic development and consequently gained status in their communities, the whole village benefited,” stated Wendy Wang, President, Mary Kay Asia Pacific Region.
The outcomes of Phase 1 of the mission present compelling proof of the transformational impact {that a} gender-responsive method could make to localizing the SDGs and in the design of coverage and programmatic responses for a post-COVID-19 inexperienced and inclusive restoration.
The mission contributed to the next 12 SDGs:
- Goal 1. No Poverty
- Goal 2. Zero Hunger
- Goal 3. Good Health and Well-Being
- Goal 4. Quality Education
- Goal 5. Gender Equality
- Goal 6. Clean Water and Sanitation
- Goal 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Goal 9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
- Goal 10. Reduced Inequalities
- Goal 15. Life on Land
- Goal 16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
- Goal 17. Partnerships for the Goals
The SDG Pilot Village Project – Key Achievements Phase 1 (2017- 2021)
- With the mission contributing to China’s poverty alleviation marketing campaign, the proportion of villagers dwelling under the nationwide poverty line fell from 28% in 2017 to 0% in 2020 in Waipula;
- Through coaching and capability constructing, 60 households and 193 people dwelling beneath the poverty line had been lifted out of poverty by 2020;
- 210 seasonal migrant staff and 120 long-term migrant staff, the bulk of which comprised girls, had been in a position to return residence to discover a job or begin their very own business;
- 607 native girls discovered employment and raised their earnings with some rising as group leaders, taking over roles as members of the village committee and managers in native hospitality and the humanities, and
- People’s per capita earnings grew to be RMB 14,128 in 2021.
To share the story of the SDG Pilot Village Project, Mary Kay and companions have launched:
- An Impact Report on Phase 1 entitled “Piloting SDG Localization at the Village Level – A Women-focused Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development Project in Yunnan Province, China” which highlights the genesis, means of implementation and outcomes of the mission superior by means of a multi-stakeholder supported improvement course of. Read the Impact Report right here.
- A video entitled “Daughters of the Moon” that includes three girls leaders from Waipula: Yongyan Zhu, Xuefang Xia and Shiqiong Han who converse of the adjustments they’ve personally skilled by means of entrepreneurship. Partner representatives additionally describe the financial, environmental and social transformations which have taken place in the village. Watch the 11-minute video right here.
UNDP China and mission companions will quickly transfer to Phase 2 (2022-2024) which goals to:
- Accelerate entrepreneurship: improve the capability of villagers, particularly girls, and elevate their earnings;
- Promote variety and inclusion: safeguard the native ethnic tradition and empower girls, and
- Advance inexperienced improvement: defend the pure atmosphere and promote sustainable villages.
For the second 12 months in a row, the SDG Pilot Village Project has been shortlisted for the Reuters Events Responsible Business Awards beneath its “SDG Pioneer Award” class. The Awards ceremony will happen on thirteenth October in London.
About Mary Kay
One of the unique glass ceiling breakers, Mary Kay Ash based her dream magnificence firm in 1963 with one objective: enriching girls’s lives. That dream has blossomed right into a multibillion-dollar firm with hundreds of thousands of unbiased gross sales drive members in practically 40 nations. As an entrepreneurship improvement firm, Mary Kay is dedicated to empowering girls on their journey by means of schooling, mentorship, advocacy, networking, and innovation. Mary Kay is devoted to investing in the science behind magnificence and manufacturing cutting-edge skincare, shade cosmetics, dietary dietary supplements, and fragrances. Mary Kay believes in enriching lives in the present day for a sustainable tomorrow, partnering with organizations from all over the world specializing in selling business excellence, supporting most cancers analysis, advancing gender equality, defending survivors of home abuse, beautifying our communities, and encouraging kids to observe their goals. Learn extra at marykayglobal.com, discover us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, or observe us on Twitter.
About United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
As the United Nations lead company on worldwide improvement, UNDP works in 170 nations and territories to eradicate poverty and scale back inequality. We assist nations to develop insurance policies, management abilities, partnering talents, institutional capabilities, and to construct resilience to realize the Sustainable Development Goals. UNDP’s work is concentrated in three focus areas: sustainable improvement, democratic governance and peace constructing, and local weather and catastrophe resilience. www.undp.org
About China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE)
Operating immediately beneath the Ministry of Commerce, CICETE was based in 1983 with the approval of the State Council. CICETE’s principal operate, delegated by the Ministry, is to coordinate the cooperation between China, UNDP and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) together with executing their help packages in China, and managing tasks of common items provide, South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund tasks, and capability constructing tasks beneath the China-Aid program to different creating nations. www.cicete.org.cn/en/
About China Women’s Development Foundation (CWDF)
The China Women’s Development Foundation is an AAAAA basis arrange by the All-China Women’s Federation in 1988. It is a nationwide public basis which raises funds from China and different nations and areas. The mission of CWDF is to safeguard girls’s rights and pursuits, enhance girls’s high quality of life, and promote the event of girls and girls’s causes in China to contribute in the direction of constructing a harmonious society. www.cwdf.org.cn/en/
1 International Labour Organization. (2018). Rural girls at work: Bridging the gaps. https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/equality-and-discrimination/publications/WCMS_619691/lang–en/index.htm
2 United Nations. (2021, October 21). International Day of Rural Women. https://www.un.org/en/observances/rural-women-day
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