Cai Cai

Ms. Cai Cai is the Chief of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Section, Social Development Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). UNESCAP is the largest UN entity in the Asia-Pacific region with 53 member States and 9 associate members.

Ms. Cai Cai leads UNESCAP’s regional programmes on advancing gender equality and social inclusion in the Asia-Pacific region. Ms. Cai Cai has over 20 years of rich experience with the United Nations at the country, subregional and regional levels, covering a wide range of socioeconomic issues. She has worked in the areas of disability, gender, youth, ageing, as well as health and development issues. Prior to joining UNESCAP, she worked with UNICEF and UNDP, focusing on policy development and advocacy that aimed to empower women and young people as a key strategy for pro-poor growth and sustainable development. Ms. Cai Cai holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA.

1. Primary Objective : To advance women’s entrepreneurship through enhancing their access to finance, market and technology as well as fostering an enabling policy environment

2. Relevant SDGs : SDG 1, 5, 8, 10 and 17

3. Geographical coverage: The Asia-Pacific region

4. Action Taken (What, How, Implementation period)

• Women face complex barriers to starting or expanding their businesses, including limited access to finance and technology and lack of opportunities for capacity development as well as discriminatory social norms.
• I led a multi-disciplinary team at UNESCAP to design and implement the regional initiative, “Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship Creating a gender-responsive entrepreneurial ecosystem”. This programme comprises three pillars, including policy and advocacy, innovative financing, and ICT and business skills.
• The implementation period of this programme is from 2018 to 2023.

5. Impact Created

• Improved SME policies and programmes to support women entrepreneurs in the 6 target countries of Asia-Pacific region
• Reached over 7000 women entrepreneurs through access to finance and business readiness and ICT skills building, and indirectly supported more than 20,000 individuals through income generation supporting household livelihoods improvements.
• Unlocked private capital to support women entrepreneurs with over US$ 5 million of this capital already deployed.

6. Key stakeholders and partnerships

• SME ministries/agencies, women’s ministries and financial institutions in 6 target countries
• Women’s business associations social enterprises
• United Nation’s Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
• mpact Investment Exchange (IIX)

7. Funding : Funding support was provided by the Government of Canada

8. Published: https://www.unescap.org/projects/cwe