At the center of the green transformation

Xiaerbati was part of a team that provided vocational training and entrepreneurship opportunities to women in rural areas of Qinghai Province. These opportunities have facilitated access to renewable energy, increasing agricultural productivity and mitigating climate change.

“Volunteering plays a key role in supporting women’s long-term economic empowerment by building sustainable support systems and strengthening community resilience,” says Xiaerbati.

The project also trained women in Qinghai in rural carbon neutrality strategies, renewable energy technologies, agricultural production and business skills, entrepreneurship and leadership.

Through volunteering, we not only provide immediate help and resources, but also build capacity and empower young women and girls to become more resilient and take control of their future, which in turn benefits society as a whole.” Xiaerbati Daositeke, UN National Volunteer, Program Assistant with UN Women China.

The project provides a meeting point for local authorities, non-governmental organizations and civil society groups and encourages learning from examples of women’s access to and use of renewable energy technologies.

Women play a key role in rural revitalization and ecological transformation. Since women make up about 70 percent of the rural workforce in China, promoting the use of renewable energy and low-carbon agricultural transformation is impossible without mobilizing and empowering rural women.” Smriti Aryal, UN Women Country Representative, China.

Climate change disproportionately affects women, who are much more likely to be killed or displaced by natural disasters than men. At the same time, women are not equally involved in technical solutions to climate change.

Thanks to this project launched in 2023 by UN Women China, the Qinghai Rural Revitalization Office and the Qinghai Women’s Vocational Training School, women farmers in China’s western Tibetan Plateau province have opportunities to switch to green energy. This not only contributes to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in rural areas, but also enables increased productivity and, consequently, an increase in the income of women farmers.