AccessBank has joined the United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) initiative. The UN Global Compact and Women's Empowerment Principles, developed by the UN Women's Agency, inform companies about international labour and human rights’ standards as well as encourage businesses to promote gender equality and women empowerment.
Currently, 11 companies in Azerbaijan have joined WEPs initiative. AccessBank is the first Azerbaijani bank, which started to apply these principles.
David Tsiklauri, Chairman of the Board of AccessBank, said he was proud to be a signatory to the principles: “As leading microfinance bank in Azerbaijan, we focus on small and medium enterprises and we believe that women's representation at all levels of business management is important for the future development of the country. We at AccessBank stand for diversity and inclusion – both in our team and in the teams of the small businesses, we support. We are proud to join WEPs and be the first Azerbaijani financial institution to do it.”
Charu Bist, Acting Resident Representative of UNDP in Azerbaijan mentioned: "Women’s economic empowerment is increasingly considered to be a prerequisite for realizing gender equality, strengthening women’s agency, and achieving sustainable development for all as agreed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to reduce inequalities and to “leave no one behind”. As UNDP, we invite the companies of Azerbaijan to accept the WEPs to ensure gender equality in the workplace. We believe that in partnership with the private companies we will achieve our goal.
The Principles of Women's Empowerment (WEPs) are implemented in Azerbaijan within the framework of the UN Development Program's “Women's Empowerment in the South Caucasus” project. The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Austrian Development Agency. The main goal of the project is to strengthen the economic development of women, especially women from low-income and socially disadvantaged backgrounds, and to ensure their participation in decision-making. One of the main goals of the project is to promote the participation of the private sector in promoting gender equality and increase sensitivity to women's needs by promoting the UN Global Compact standards.
As a microfinance leader in Azerbaijan, “AccessBank” has been serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2002. Among Bank's shareholders, there are international organizations and institutions such as the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and the International Finance Corporation. Bank has 29 branches, 15 in Baku and 14 in the regions.
You can call Contact Center of the Bank, 151 or enter into https://www.accessbank.az , or social media accounts of Bank (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) to get information on the services of the bank.