UN Women Opens Applications for the Women’s Empowerment Principles Corporate Action Lab Philippines 2026 on Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Skills Development ·Responsive and Inclusive Skills Development

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), in partnership with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) through the Regional Cooperation on Labour Market Policy and Technical and Vocational Education and Training for a Twin Transition in ASEAN (RECOTwin) project, has officially opened applications for the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Corporate Action Lab Philippines 2026.

Applications are open from 15 July to 15 August 2026.

This six-month innovation programme is designed for businesses that are ready to strengthen gender equality while building a future-ready workforce capable of thriving in the country’s rapidly expanding green and digital economy.

The initiative comes at a critical time as the Philippines undergoes its green and digital “Twin Transition,” creating new employment opportunities while also exposing significant skills shortages across multiple sectors. At the same time, many talented individuals—including women, young people, LGBTQIA+ persons, people with disabilities and other underrepresented groups—continue to experience barriers that prevent them from accessing quality skills development and employment opportunities.

The WEPs Corporate Action Lab seeks to help businesses address these challenges by developing innovative, practical and measurable solutions that promote inclusive skills development and equitable career pathways.

About the Women’s Empowerment Principles Corporate Action Lab

The Women’s Empowerment Principles Corporate Action Lab (WEPsCAL) is a cohort-based programme that supports companies over a period of approximately six months.

Rather than offering theoretical discussions, the programme functions as an innovation laboratory where participating companies design, pilot, evaluate and improve real workplace solutions tailored to their own organizational needs.

Participants receive expert guidance throughout the programme while collaborating with other businesses that are equally committed to promoting gender equality and inclusive employment.

The programme is implemented under the UN Women Gender Action Lab (GAL): Innovation and Impact for Gender Equality in the Asia-Pacific, in partnership with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Why Inclusive Skills Development Matters

The Philippines is experiencing rapid transformation driven by green technologies and digital innovation.

Although these developments are creating thousands of new career opportunities, employers continue to report significant challenges in finding workers with the required skills.

At the same time, structural inequalities continue to prevent many talented individuals from accessing technical education, vocational training and quality employment.

UN Women believes that businesses can address these challenges while simultaneously improving productivity, innovation and long-term competitiveness by embedding Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) principles into workplace learning and career development.

Gender-responsive and inclusive training programmes can help businesses:

• Build stronger talent pipelines.
• Improve employee retention.
• Increase productivity.
• Encourage workplace innovation.
• Develop a workforce prepared for future labour market demands.
• Support sustainable economic growth.

Focus of the 2026 Corporate Action Lab

The selected companies will work together to answer the following challenge:

How can businesses design and implement skills development initiatives that create equitable career pathways for women and diverse talent during the green and digital transitions?

Throughout the programme, participants will receive technical support to develop practical solutions that can be tested within their organizations.

Objectives of the Programme

The Corporate Action Lab will support participating companies to:

1. Analyse the business case for gender-responsive training by demonstrating its financial and operational value.
2. Identify and eliminate unconscious bias within corporate training materials, learning environments and delivery approaches.
3. Remove systemic barriers preventing women and diverse learners from entering technical and emerging occupations.
4. Design, pilot and evaluate innovative workplace solutions tailored to their specific organizational contexts.
5. Develop measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor progress and sustain inclusive training standards.
6. Share successful practices with stakeholders across the Philippines and ASEAN to encourage wider policy adoption and scaling.

Benefits of Participating

Selected companies will receive numerous benefits throughout the programme, including:

• Access to the Women’s Empowerment Principles Gender Gap Analysis Tool.
• Use of exclusive WEPs resources.
• Development of customized organizational workplans.
• Individual technical assistance and coaching sessions.
• Innovation and problem-solving support.
• Peer learning with other participating businesses.
• Networking opportunities with experts and solution providers.
• Access to innovators working on gender equality and inclusive employment.
• National recognition.
• Regional recognition.
• Global recognition upon successful completion of the programme.

Number of Companies to be Selected

UN Women plans to select 8–12 companies for the 2026 Philippines Corporate Action Lab.

Information Sessions

Interested organizations are encouraged to attend one of the free online information sessions before submitting their applications.

The sessions will explain:

• Programme requirements
• Eligibility criteria
• Benefits of participation
• Application process
• Selection process

Information session dates include:

• 22 July 2026
• 29 July 2026
• 10 August 2026

Each session will be held online via Microsoft Teams.

Application Process

Interested companies should complete the official online application form before the deadline.

After applications are reviewed, UN Women will contact successful applicants via email.

Successful participants are expected to be notified in early September 2026, while the official programme launch is tentatively scheduled for the second week of September 2026.

Application Deadline

15 August 2026

How to Apply

Eligible companies should complete the official online application form through the UN Women application portal before the deadline.

For additional information, applicants are encouraged to review the Challenge Brief, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and attend one of the scheduled information sessions before submitting their applications.

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