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UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

In Moldova, promoting gender equality is a national priority aligned with the UN Women Strategic Note (2023–2027) and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.

Gender-responsive public procurement (GRP) is a key tool to advance women's economic empowerment, increase participation of women-led enterprises in public tenders, and integrate gender equality into supply chains and public spending. 

Gender-responsive procurement (GRP) as part of the women’s empowerment principles, is a powerful tool to boost women's economic empowerment, promote gender equality, and build more equitable societies. It contributes to the implementation of the Women Empowerment Principle nr. 5 “Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women” aiming to facilitate the participation of women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in public procurement, infusing gender equality throughout the supply chain, diversifying male-dominated sectors, and supporting supply chain diversification, among other initiatives. Gender-responsive procurement should be understood not only as supporting women-led businesses to get public procurement contracts, but also as supporting gender-responsive enterprises regardless of ownership, thereby potentially allowing all women and men to benefit from decent business and employment opportunities.  

Rationale 

GRP is a relatively new concept for Moldova. Some of the international corporations in Moldova implement it as part of their CSR commitments at regional and international level. However, the level of public procurement in Moldova GRP is not directly considered. The need to integrate gender-responsive measures in public procurement was identified and agreed upon by the members of the Economic Council under the Prime Minister and, as a result, included in the Road Map on Women Economic Empowerment of the Economic Council.

By incorporating gender equality measures into the public procurement process, GRP supports the socio-economic benefits of gender equality. Positively impacting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and promoting economic growth, implementing gender equality measures in procurement enhances the economy's productivity, resulting in improved quality and pricing of goods and services.