UN official on China's role in advancing global women's development

China plays a key role in advancing gender equality and women's development globally by increasing investment in South-South cooperation, said Christine Arab, regional director of UN Women Asia and the Pacific.

Arab made the remarks in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) in Beijing ahead of the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women taking place in the Chinese capital from Monday to Tuesday.

She said China's effort to bring the world's attention to women's issues and gender equality through South-South cooperation is of strategic importance.

"Increasingly in the last decade we have seen an increase in the investment in South-South [cooperation] by China around knowledge and innovation, grassroots support to fold in focus on gender equality and women's empowerment. Globally, China is one of UN Women's top 25 financial supporters and has consistently been there since our establishment 15 years ago. And I think that China's emphasis on South-South partnership, its emphasis on sharing what has worked and talking about what isn't working, it's important, because of the fact that it is one of the leading global partners for most countries. Bringing women's issues and gender equality to the table over the last decade, it's been a very important and much needed gap," she said.

To deepen cooperation in capacity-building for women in developing countries, China has initiated over 100 training projects focused on women and children in developing countries since 2018, training nearly 4,000 talents in the field of women's empowerment.

Additionally, China has established a global training base for women's development cooperation and exchange, designing tailored empowerment programs for developing countries. Collaborative training and exchange centers have been set up in partnership with 15 countries. Leveraging the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, China has also implemented women-focused projects in more than 20 countries, with total funding exceeding 40 million U.S. dollars.

UN official on China's role in advancing global women's development

UN official on China's role in advancing global women's development

Though tens of billions of pesos spent on flood control projects in recent years in the Philippines, questions have been raised about the value of that investment as flooding from Typhoon Kalmaegi left at least 114 people dead and 127 missing, with more than 2.14 million people affected nationwide.

In Talisay City, Cebu Province, homes have been reduced to rubble, mud has clogged up streets and families are left picking through the wreckage of homes that have been swept away by floodwaters.

"I saw a banana being washed away and I grabbed it for breakfast. It's very hard because our food at home, like rice, also got washed away. We used to live here, but most of our houses have been swept away,”said Mary Jean Apog who has taken shelter in a makeshift tent built from storm debris.

Many residents in flood-affected areas have been left wondering whether money earmarked by the government for flood control projects has been spent wisely.

Between 2022 and 2025, more than 400 flood-protection projects worth over 26 billion pesos (about 441 million U.S. dollars) have been launched in Cebu, the second highest investment of all the nation's provinces.

Vince Dizon, secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) visited Talisay City on Wednesday, where he said people should be held accountable for the poor state of the region's flood defenses.

"Poorly planned, poorly executed, and we don't know if there are anomalies here. That will be up to the ICI (Independent Commission on Infrastructure) to find. But definitely, someone should be held accountable here," he said.

According to the country's disaster management authority, more than 6,700 houses were damaged in the typhoon, and hospitals, schools, and other public facilities suffered extensive damage. Power and communications were disrupted in many towns, closing schools and businesses.

Authorities have declared a state of emergency in response to the disaster.

Flood control projects under question as Typhoon wreaks havoc in Philippines