Global challenges
Social & Economic Inequality
Scroll
Enabel strives to ensure equal access to quality basic services and social protection mechanisms, to provide sustainable business opportunities and decent jobs and to address discriminating practices and gender stereotypes that are detrimental to inclusion.
We adopt a rights-based approach aiming at strengthening the capacities of duty bearers and empowering those in marginalised situations, who face the biggest barriers.
Our approach
Sustainable business opportunities and decent jobs
Enabel focuses on shaping and building inclusive markets that foster women entrepreneurship and digital entrepreneurship that empowers young entrepreneurs. We support partner countries in maximising employment impact of investments and economic growth by focussing on decent jobs for youths through technical and vocational education and training and employment promotion.
Fair and sustainable agricultural value chains
We empower small-scale producers and their organisations to capture a more significant part of added-value along the value chain. Making value chains fairer and more inclusive for every actor and particularly the weakest ones is key. Enabel also works towards equitable access and control over land as a human right.
Closing the digital divide
Enabel works on strengthening digital literacy, digital skills and digital rights awareness to ensure that the effects of the digital divide on inequality are addressed effectively. We also empower our partners to reduce the gender digital divide through projects promoting women’s political leadership, entrepreneurship and legal empowerment and the fight against gender-based violence.
Addressing conversion factors: SRHR and family planning
Many socio-cultural and environmental factors determine the degree to which people can realise their full potential. Rapid demographic growth is one of these structural problems as well as the gender divide in access to quality, affordable, accessible healthcare and jeopardises sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and adolescents. Providing for SRHR and access to quality family planning services are strong levers to change power relations that institutionalise inequality.
Education and health services and redistribution through social protection mechanisms
Equitable and affordable access to quality public services like education and health are the first redistribution measures for (fragile) countries. Investing in education, including technical and vocational education, and affordable qualitative public health facilities is crucial in reducing inequalities.
More on social & economic inequality
The world is facing huge challenges in realising the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Enabel wants to contribute with its experience and expertise in five specific domains: Peace and Security, Climate Change and the Environment, Social and Economic Inequality, Urbanisation, and Human Mobility. In our search for adapted solutions we take into account the inevitable ongoing population explosion and we strongly believe in empowering women and youths.
This brochure describes how we address social & economic inequality in our projects.
Download the brochure
News & Events
News
13 November 2025
Digitalising civil registration to accelerate inclusion
Read our position paper to explore Enabel’s key insights and recommendations for inclusive digital civil registration.
Read more
News
04 November 2025
Cybersecurity for a secure and inclusive digital society
Read our position paper to explore Enabel’s key insights and recommendations for building a safer, more inclusive and sustainable digital future.
Read more
News
03 November 2025
Equity in action: Gender equality and inclusion strategy
Enabel reaffirms its commitment to equity and inclusion through its new strategy: Equity in Action.
Read more
Events
31 October 2025
Belgium fully supports multilateralism as a vector of social progress at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha
Belgium participates in the Second World Social Summit for Development in Doha (Qatar), which aims to promote social development globally.
Read more
30 October 2025
Belgian private sector interest in Ukraine
Enabel, through Belgium’s BE-Relieve programme (2024–2029), is scouting for partners to drive Ukraine’s green & circular reconstruction.
Read more
News
27 October 2025
Navigating communication across cultures
Annelies Van Erp, former Junior Expert, now unites media and international cooperation as press officer at Search for Common Ground. Read her story.
Read more
