The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are to host the launch of the regional Network of Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) on  15 April 2021.

The Network aims at expanding limited opportunities for girls and women in educational and workplace contexts in the Western Balkans with the focus on STEM fields. 

The initiative falls under the wider agenda on Women’s Economic Empowerment: Areas for joint actions in the Western Balkans, and the Common Regional Market (CRM) Action Plan endorsed by the Western Balkans’ leaders at the Sofia Summit last November. As a preparation for the launch of the Network, the RCC commissioned in 2020 the Mapping of Gender-Related Policies, Programmes and Mechanisms on Gender Disparity in STEM in Western Balkans that identified a number of STEM initiatives in the region and offered a set of recommendations for decreasing gender disparities in the region.

In addition, a day before the Network launch, on 14 April, RCC is to present a study on the “Economic benefits of gender equality and women empowerment in the Western Balkans 6 (WB6)” aiming to shed light on the labour market in the WB6 from a gender perspective and assess the economic benefits of empowering women through the labour market indicators.