While much has been done throughout Europe and Central Asia (ECA) to reduce gender gaps in areas such as health, education, access to economic opportunities and agency, many countries continue to face challenges related to gender equality.

In May 2014, the World Bank will host the ECA Regional Gender Knowledge Forum (RGKF) to support an exchange of ideas on successful interventions that have addressed gender-specific challenges in the region. The theme for this year’s event is “women’s empowerment.”

The event will also feature a competition designed to identify exemplary projects related to women’s empowerment in selected countries. Proposals are solicited from a wide variety of key stakeholders—including NGOs and local governments. Winners of the competition at the national level will be invited to attend the event in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to be recognized for their work, exchange lessons learned, develop partnerships with peers from other countries, and receive training to help maximize the impact of their projects.

This year’s event promotes the inclusion of (i) IDA countries, as gender remains a special theme for IDA17, and (ii) countries in Central Asia, as the World Bank currently has limited activity specifically addressing gender inequality in this sub-region. The countries selected to participate are Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. 

For more information, contact: Helena I. Makarenko (hmakarenko@worldbank.org)