The UN in Bangladesh organized a half-day long Gender-Responsive Procurement Workshop on 18th August 2022 to increase the participation of women owned and led businesses and entrepreneurs in the UN supply chain. The workshop held at the Six Seasons Hotel, Gulshan, Dhaka -is the first step towards reducing the gender gap in UN supply chains.
Around one-hundred-fifty representatives from various women-owned organizations and businesses across the country attended the workshop to learn about gender-responsive procurement processes, the United Nations Global Market, and associated business opportunities.
The procurement leads from UN Agencies introduced the UN Global Marketplace platform to the participants and guided them through the registration process, solicitation stage, and bidding preparations. Eventually, this will help and encourage women vendors and entrepreneurs to get into the UN procurement system pipeline.
On behalf of the UN Country Team, Ms. Gitanjali Singh, Country Representative of UN Women, in her opening remarks said, ‘Gender Responsive Procurement is more than just increasing women’s participation. It is to pay attention to socially responsible policies and practices, including in sourcing and buying. This approach advocates for creating opportunities and outcomes not only for women-owned but also for women-led and gender-responsive businesses.’
Appreciating the effort Sonia Shobhan from Soptodha Polli Crafts & Fashion said, “This workshop has been very effective and would benefit women entrepreneurs across the country. It would be very useful if the UN can organize these resourceful workshops at the divisional level.”
The workshop also provided a platform for the women-led organizations to network and discuss how gender-responsive procurement can contribute to the growth and prosperity of their businesses.
The UN is committed to leveraging gender-responsive procurement (GRP) as part of its Business Operations Strategy and to create equal opportunities and outcomes for women. The workshop was led and conducted by the UN OMT (Operational Management Team)procurement team of Bangladesh.