U.N. Women is one of the smallest organizations of the U.N. — described by Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as “the microenterprise of the multilateral system, although we are supposed to take care of half of the world’s population and its most pressing issues.”
It’s also a classic example of an agency under extreme pressure and expectation — with financing that doesn’t quite match up, Mlambo-Ngcuka told Devex during a sit down interview in New York.
The success of delivering on Sustainable Development Goal 5 — achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls — will “depend on who else wants to take some of the chunk of the actions that need to be taken,” she said.