13 March 2023, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The opening ceremony of the "Empowerment Now!" project is being held today. The project will be implemented by the Nationwide Movement "Yuksalish", Association for the Development of Civil Society "ARGO", the International Women for a United Future Fund - WECF with the financial support from the European Union. Project implementation period: 2023-2025.

As noted, in recent years in Uzbekistan, gender equality has been removed from the list of “forbidden topics”. A significant shift in this direction occurred in 2019. It was in that year that the Commission for Ensuring Gender Equality was created, two key laws came into force - "Guarantees of Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men" and "Protection of Women from Harassment and Violence."

Structural and institutional transformations continue in the country, legislation in the field of gender equality is being improved, the role and status of women in public and political life is being increased.

Thus, the proportion of women in political parties reached 47 percent, in higher education - 40 percent, in entrepreneurship - 37 percent. The proportion of women in leadership positions has reached 33 percent. Today, women head about 2,000 state and public organizations. In addition, the Senate of Uzbekistan is lead by a woman. In 2021, for the first time in the history of Uzbekistan, the number of women in the Parliament reached 32 percent (increased of almost two times), which allowed it to rise to 37th position among 190 countries in this indicator.

In addition, an important step has been taken towards the criminalization of domestic violence. The Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis at a meeting on March 23 adopted the relevant law in the second and third readings and sent the document for approval to the Senate. Thus Uzbekistan has introduced administrative and criminal liability for domestic violence. It also introduces liability for economic and psychological violence, sexual harassment and other crimes.

The “Empowerment now!” project contributes to the implementation of global and national Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely SDG 5+, through strengthening the capacity of civil society, women's organizations in combating discrimination against women in all its forms and, especially against violence against women.

The goal of the project: to promote a constructive dialogue on the development of gender policy, to expand active participation and growth of inclusion in the decision-making process through strengthening the rights and opportunities of women in Uzbekistan.

The pilot regions of the project are the city of Tashkent, Fergana, Kashkadarya, Navoi, Khorezm and Jizzakh regions.

Here, targeted work will be carried out to strengthen the capacity of women-led NGOs, community leaders and civil activists. Support is also provided for the initiatives of women's NGOs and women-led organizations through the provision of small grants for public campaigns to raise awareness and promote women's rights in Uzbekistan. The Project plans to conduct a School of Public Policy on Women's Rights, thematic trainings and online courses, monitoring the observance of women's rights, as a result of which, together with representatives of civil society and experts from women's NGOs will be prepared an alternative report on SDG 5+.