Partnership agreement signed between UN Women and ATIC to provide increased access to livelihood and opportunities for Ukrainian women and girls survivors of GBV and those at-risk

UN Women has signed a partner agreement with National Association of ICT Companies (ATIC) aiming to provide livelihood opportunities, professional skills and financial support to refugee and local women, with a special focus on women survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and women from vulnerable groups. Under the partner agreement, ATIC, with support from UN Women and funding provided by the United States Government will provide women and girls survivors of GBV and those at risk, including from rural areas, from both Ukraine and Moldova, with skills and knowledge that will enable them to generate an income as professionals and/or entrepreneurs within the ICT-sector. At least 100 women, Ukrainian refugees and local women from vulnerable groups will be provided with Online Work Training to acquire necessary IT knowledge and skills to access various international platforms providing freelance services.

"UN Women is signing this partnership agreement with ATIC to increase economic resilience of local and Ukrainian refugee in Moldova through a multi-sectoral approach and model of assistance, by providing increased access to livelihood opportunities, required assets, skills and opportunities in Moldova. Through this, we hope to increase the resilience of Ukrainian refugees, women and girls’ survivors of GBV and those at risk”, said Dominika Stojanoska, UN Women Country Representative to Moldova, during the signing of the agreement.

“At ATIC, we believe in women’s right to have equal opportunities regardless their nationality or social status. We believe that no women should be left behind when it comes to the potential to impact the development of the ICT sector in Moldova and in the world. On behalf of the private sector, we strongly advocate for women inclusion and support them gain better skills, new social and job opportunities. This time the knowledge gathered within ATIC and Tekwill programs is directed towards engaging women refugees, women from remote regions, and those at-risk. It is essential to empower them, improve their safety, provide support to overcome challenges that they face, and create economic opportunities. We trust that every woman in need has the necessary potential and attitude to make use of the technologies available in the world, it is just important to ensure that technology and IT initiatives are inclusive, accessible, culturally sensitive, and that women at risk are involved and contribute to development of technologies”, said Ana Chirita, ATIC Strategic Projects Director.

The partner agreement also includes financial resources for work opportunities, job placement and internship programs for girls and women. ATIC will also implement child support programs by providing refugee children with extracurricular courses on subjects such as programming and artificial intelligence, and through the implementation of Digital Labs that provide learning spaces with trained teachers and modern technology for refugee children.

The total budget of the Partner Agreement is MDL 4, 788, 315 and the agreement will be in force until August 31, 2023.

About the Project

The partner agreement is part of the project “Promoting Gender-Responsive Refugee Responses at the Regional and Country Level” which will be implemented during 2023 by UN Women with funding provided by the United States Government. The project will address the gender-specific impacts of Ukraine’s humanitarian and refugee crisis while simultaneously ensuring that women and those at risk have strengthened access to protection services and resources.