The Union for the Mediterranean signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Health Organization (WHO) in the field of women’s access to health. The agreement will promote the engagement of UfM Member States in women’s empowerment, improving women’s access to health and addressing violence against women. Collaboration between the UfM and WHO started in 2016 to promote the project “WORTH – Women’s Right to Health,” which aims to reduce the incidence and mortality of cancers affecting women in Albania, Montenegro and Morocco, through the design and implementation of a comprehensive control strategy for cervical and breast cancer. 5 March… read more
UfM Member States will adopt a regional intergovernmental mechanism to monitor the progress made on women’s rights, evaluate gender gaps and provide recommendations to policymakers. UfM projects and initiatives specifically addressing women’s empowerment and gender equality benefit women in 20 Euro-Mediterranean countries. Within the UfM region, gender parity is estimated at 76.7% in Western Europe and at 61.2% in the Middle East and North Africa, which indicates there is still a long way to go. #EachforEqual #IWD2020 #UfM4Women #Women4Mediterranean Barcelona, 2 March 2020. The Union for the Mediterranean embraces the celebration of the International Women’s Day with the implementation of… read more
With the support of the UfM, the project “Women´s Right to Health” (WoRTH) aims at reducing the incidence and mortality of women’s malignancies (breast and cervical) in Albania, Montenegro and Morocco Among women, breast cancer accounts up to a third of all cancers, followed by cervical and colorectal cancer. General cancer rates are expected to double by 2030, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 4 February 2020, Barcelona. The 4th of February marks the International World Cancer Day, highlighting the need to increase awareness on cancer and encouraging prevention and early screenings. Only… read more
More than 7000 participants gathered at the third Edition of the World Youth Forum in Egypt, where the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, attended the closing session and commended youth on their crucial role in shaping the future of the region. In a unique partnership, the World Youth Forum hosted the first-ever Model Union for the Mediterranean, where 90 young delegates drafted ministerial declarations to address pressing issues such as youth unemployment and the impact of climate change and called for a stronger regional cooperation. The UfM collaborated with the World Youth Forum and interacted with key actors promoting… read more
The UfM gathers young entrepreneurs who presented their projects and success stories in the tourism sector, even in rural areas. Barcelona, 4 December 2019. More than 30 participants, stakeholders, members of the academia and entrepreneurs from the tourism sector gathered at the Headquarters of the UfM to discuss the sector’s role as a catalyst for job creation on both shores of the Mediterranean, especially for youth and women. The workshop was a follow-up activity of the brainstorming meeting held on sustainable tourism in November 2018. Marisa Farrugia, UfM Deputy Secretary General for Social and Civil Affairs and responsible for the… read more
26 November 2019, Brussels. Around 70 participants hailing from the national Civil Protection Units from the UfM Member States convened in Brussels for a Technical Working Group on “Preparing for efficient mutual assistance in the Euro-Mediterranean Area” under the framework of the UfM and jointly organised by the European Commission. The discussions during the meeting focused on the following three areas: host nation support, preparedness for response, risk assessment and situational analysis to support rapid response in case of natural and man-made disasters. The purpose of this working group served to facilitate the identification of priorities for an action plan for efficient… read more
19-21 November 2019. The UfM Women Business Forum 2019 took place in Barcelona on 19-21 November within the margins of the Smart City Expo World Congress. It convened women entrepreneurs, national women business organizations, international leading organizations and business support schemes from the Euro-Mediterranean region to share knowledge and ideas on various business opportunities, good practices and innovative and successful business models. This year’s forum focused on promoting the role of women in the circular economy and in tech and innovation. During the roundtable on Women in the Circular Economy, challenges and opportunities for women in the Euro-Mediterranean region were discussed and different business models were presented. Circular economy models are complex and require the mobilization and… read more
The present article, written by the UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, is based on the findings of the UfM Progress Report on gender equality endorsed by the UfM Ministers during the Ministerial meeting on Strengthening the role of women in society held in November 2017 in Cairo (Egypt). It was first published in the Bled Strategic Times, a publication of the Bled Strategic Forum. Despite numerous international agreements affirming their basic rights, and universal recognition of their key role in society, poverty and illiteracy rates remain higher among women than men. Women are also more likely to be victims of… read more
Representing more than half of the total population, young people constitute one of the greatest assets for stability and development in the Euro-Mediterranean region. Yet, more than a quarter of the region’s youth are unemployed and youth unemployment has been twice higher than adult unemployment in recent years. To face this, the UfM Mediterranean Initiative for Jobs (Med4Jobs) aims at cultivating an entrepreneurial culture and support the development of necessary skills for the youth. Framed within this regional initiative, the Mediterranean New Chance (MedNC) and the High Opportunity for Mediterranean Executive Recruitment (HOMERe) projects have improved the socio-professional integration of… read more
Barcelona, 18-19 July 2019. UfM Ministries in charge of gender equality and women issues, national statistic institutions, regional and international organisations, business women associations, cooperation agencies, donors and civil society regional networks gathered in Barcelona for the UfM Regional Dialogue on Women’s Empowerment on 18-19 July 2019. The meeting was the opportunity to present a first set of indicators that will allow to accurately assess and monitor the progress made on women’s rights and gender equality. Participants also opened a dialogue to start building a regional framework of gender data and statistics based on the selected indicators. The launch of this monitoring mechanism… read more
