Empowering communities through a unique partnership between Nokia and UN Women
Increasing the diversity of thought in laboratories and boardrooms is critical if we’re to unlock technological solutions to the big global challenges such as climate change, stalling productivity and access to opportunity. That requires a commitment to gender equality and increasing inclusion and diversity in workplaces and in broader society.
Leveraging our strengths to create real impact
Nokia is a global company with a presence in more than 100 countries and so we’re very proud to be able to leverage that global presence with UN Women (UNW) and commit to increasing opportunity for all. We have done this through an innovative and sustainable collaboration model, developed first as a pilot in the Middle East and Africa region in 2022 and scaled up globally in 2023/24. This partnership will impact at least 500 direct beneficiaries in 2024. Nokia leverages its people, expertise, and partners to manage local projects with UNW which contributes its gender equality and women’s empowerment expertise. The partnership’s focus is to (a) strengthen the capabilities of women to enhance their employability, entrepreneurship and agency in the online sphere; and (b) foster women’s participation and leadership in the tech sector.
To enable better employability and entrepreneurship opportunities, Nokia has designed a human-centered training approach which addresses the needs - identified through joint surveys and interviews conducted together with UN Women - of selected communities. Based on these insights, target groups were selected in the following countries:
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Jordan: women refugees from Syria hosted in the AlAzraq camp.
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Tunisia: women survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and civil society service-providers in Hammamet.
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Türkiye: women entrepreneurs, impacted by the 2023 earthquake.
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Argentina: women in underprivileged communities in Buenos Aires.
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South Africa: women in underprivileged communities of Kayamandi province.
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Philippines: women in underprivileged communities in Davao City, Davao Del Sur.
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India: young women studying in Polytechnic and Industrial training institutes (ITI's) in Madhya Pradesh.
The initiatives were executed together with twelve of Nokia’s and UN Women partners, including Nokia’s customers and suppliers, and civil society organizations working with women in the field, with a strong focus on:
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Upskilling: Nokia employees provided training across various business areas, emphasizing the use of digital and soft skills, and how these skills can enhance the participants' career ambitions.
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Mentorship: Participants have the option to seek clarification on subject matter questions even after the training sessions conclude. The India initiative is specifically focused on a newly designed mentorship concept, dedicated to preparing female college students for the professional work environment.
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Opportunity creation: Nokia engaged its partners with the aim of creating job opportunities for the participants following the completion of the training. The training centered on the participants’ established businesses, aiming to enhance their income generation through tailored support and mentorship, as well as CV writing, interviews and work ethics in the corporate world, aiming to increase participants' employability opportunities. To see some examples of the initiatives, I’ve included a few links at the bottom of this blog.
To address research outcomes (McKinsey report Jan 2023) which identified a significant drop in the percentage of women in STEM* classes during the transition from university to the workforce, Nokia developed, with UNW’s support, an inclusive internship and learnership program targeting women STEM students. The internship program has now run three times in Saudi Arabia, while the learnership program was successfully executed as a pilot in Kenya for the first time this year. In total we were able to reach 54 female students through those specialized programs.
Working with our customers to create shared value
The Action for Leadership program promotes women's participation and leadership in the tech sector within private sector companies in partnership with one of Nokia’s strategically important customers. The program follows a three-pillar approach:
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Acting together – working beyond one company.
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Sustainability challenge – introducing an urgent social responsibility or environmental topic to participants, aiming to raise their awareness and provide them with the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge about the selected area. By engaging with these critical issues, participants can better understand their impact and explore potential solutions.
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Business solutions – developing high-level business opportunities to advance UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 5: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls and the other 16 SDGs adopted by the international community.
In 2024 a second cycle was finalized with our customer Deutsche Telekom, followed by a cycle with our customer du from the Middle East and Claro Brazil in Argentina. Sixty female talents from Nokia and the participating customers have been through a four-month program cycle, creating innovative solution ideas on the given sustainability challenges.
Next steps
We are proud to announce that we are planning to scale the program to more than 15 initiatives globally in 2025, to create higher impact for a more digitally inclusive and equitable world, together with all partners involved.
