Build Back Equal

This project aims to advance economic and social equality for women and girls in Dominica Grenada Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The initiative supports these four Eastern Caribbean countries to address the most pressing challenges to gender equality exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis including in the areas of women’s economic empowerment including paid and unpaid care work gender-responsive social protection and sexual and reproductive health and rights. It works with governments communities the private sector and regional bodies to develop and implement critical legislation frameworks and systems. The project seeks to increase access to skills training and social and sexual and reproductive health services for women girls and marginalized and vulnerable groups. Project activities include: (1) providing technical assistance to governments to develop and implement legislation frameworks and policies on paid and unpaid care work. This includes budgeting for paid and unpaid care work and data collection and analysis on unpaid care work through Labour Force Surveys and subsidized childcare cost; (2) providing business skills training including financial management and digital marketing for women-owned micro- small and medium-sized enterprises. This includes in the care tourism and agricultural sectors and unemployed and underemployed women; (3) providing technical assistance to governments to implement public assistance programs for women with children up to five years old including priority access to childcare and sexual and reproductive health services; (4) providing technical assistance to governments and training for service providers on integrating social protection services into and digitizing sexual and gender-based violence referral pathways; and (5) providing technical assistance to governments on legislative and policy reform where the law bars or hinders access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and technica

The expected results for this project include: (1) strengthened women’s economic opportunities and participation in targeted Caribbean countries including addressing the unequal distribution of unpaid and domestic care work in communities and households; (2) improved gender-responsive social protection systems especially for women and marginalized groups; and (3) enhanced quality and accessibility of sexual and reproductive health and rights frameworks and services for women and adolescent girls especially for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.