EmPower Academy 2026: Free UN Women AI and Green Skills Series
UN Women's EmPower Academy 2026 is back with 4 free webinars on AI and green skills for gender-responsive climate action. Open to youth in Asia-Pacific. Apply by 22 July.
OPPORTUNITIESTRAINING & WORKSHOP
EmPower Academy 2026: UN Women Brings Back Free Webinar Series on AI and Green Skills
Registration closes 22 July 2026. Five days. Don't sit on this one.
UN Women has relaunched the EmPower Academy with a four-part intensive webinar series on artificial intelligence and green skills for gender-responsive climate action. The series runs from late July through mid-August 2026, it's free, and it's designed specifically for young people aged 15 to 34 living in Asia and the Pacific.
This isn't a repackaged online course. After the first EmPower Academy drew over 2,000 applications, UN Women built this webinar series in direct response to what young people said they wanted: a space to learn practical skills and connect with peers across the region. The sessions are short, focused, and built around tools you can actually use.
What the Series Covers
The EmPower Academy webinars sit at the intersection of three areas that the sector increasingly treats as inseparable: gender equity, climate action, and digital skills. The series is built around a deliberate progression; from foundational concepts in AI and gender through to applied climate tools, entrepreneurship, and a final graduation session where participants see how it all fits together.
Session 1: Introduction to Gender-Responsive AI
24 July 2026, 10:30 to 13:00 Bangkok time
The opening session tackles something most AI training programmes skip entirely: the gender dimension of artificial intelligence. Who builds AI systems, whose data trains them, and who gets left out of the benefits are questions with direct consequences for climate resilience and gender equity. This session introduces participants to these dynamics and equips them with a framework for assessing AI tools through a gender lens.
Session 2: AI for Climate Action
31 July 2026, 10:30 to 13:00 Bangkok time
The second session moves from theory to application. Participants explore how AI tools are already being used in climate monitoring, adaptation planning, early warning systems, and community-led environmental initiatives across Asia and the Pacific. The focus is practical; by the end of the session, you should have a clearer picture of which tools are relevant to your work and how to start using them.
Session 3: Eco-preneurship Essentials
7 August 2026, 10:30 to 13:00 Bangkok time
The third session addresses the entrepreneurship layer of the green transition; specifically, how young people can build sustainable livelihoods and organisations around climate solutions. Eco-preneurship isn't just a concept for startup incubators in capital cities. It's increasingly relevant for grassroots changemakers, community-based organisations, and youth-led initiatives working on everything from waste management to regenerative agriculture to clean energy access. This session covers the essentials: business modelling for impact, identifying green market opportunities, and designing ventures that hold up over the long term.
Session 4: Graduation Day and Toolkit Demo
12 August 2026, 10:30 to 12:00 Bangkok time
The final session brings the cohort together to mark completion of the series and demonstrates a practical toolkit participants can take away and apply in their own contexts. If you've done the three preceding sessions, this one ties everything together. If you can only attend one, it's the least valuable of the four in isolation; the toolkit makes more sense once you've been through the earlier content.
Who the Series Is For
Eligibility is deliberately broad. If you're aged 15 to 34 and based in Asia or the Pacific, you can register.
UN Women has built the series with a specific intention to centre those who are too often sidelined in climate and digital spaces. That includes young women and adolescent girls, gender-diverse youth, young climate activists, persons with disabilities, and Indigenous youth. You don't need a professional background in technology or climate policy to participate. The sessions are designed for learners at different starting points, not just those who already have sector experience.
The series is free. There are no application essays, no selection rounds, and no stipend attached; just four high-quality sessions you register for and attend.
One Practical Note on Registration
Each webinar requires a separate registration. Signing up for one doesn't enrol you in the others. If you want to do the full series; which UN Women recommends for the best experience; you'll need to register four times, once per session. Do it now while the deadline is still open.
The registration window closes 22 July 2026. After that, registration links will close regardless of remaining spaces.
Why This Matters for the Sector
The intersection of gender, AI, and climate action is no longer niche. It's increasingly central to how the development and humanitarian sector approaches the green transition. The evidence base on gendered climate impacts is solid; women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region face disproportionate exposure to climate shocks, and they're also underrepresented in the digital economy that's shaping how those shocks are managed.
Programmes that sit at this intersection and equip young women, gender-diverse youth, and marginalised communities with practical skills aren't just responding to a gap. They're building the kind of localised, gender-responsive capacity that frameworks like the Paris Agreement's Gender Action Plan and the SDGs have been calling for; but that institutional machinery rarely delivers on at the community level.
That's the gap the EmPower Academy is trying to close. Four sessions won't close it alone, but they're a serious start.
Register Now
Registration closes 22 July 2026. Register for each session you plan to attend using the links above.
For questions, visit the UN Women Asia-Pacific regional office channels or contact the EmPower Academy team via the registration platform.
For more training, fellowships, and capacity development opportunities across the humanitarian and development sector, stay with Community For Development.
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