The award winners presented their experiences and led discussions on how their services could be replicated and tailored to the specific circumstances of other countries.

For the first time, gender-responsive service delivery awards were presented to PS innovations and initiatives that improved services.

The awards rewarded new programs that increased the quality and affordability of services for female users and improved women’s access to health, education and employment services by recognising different constraints they faced, such as discrimination, gender roles, mobility, and low socio-economic status.

 The United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration selected the award recipients for the category and the first-place winners were from India and Egypt, and the second place winners were from Korea and Oman.

The winning program from India was designed to increase access to justice for poor women who were victims of sexual violence, while the Egyptian winner was a health outreach program.

In its citation, the UN said there were two awards presented to Korea for a program to self-empower young women at risk of prostitution in the Seoul metropolitan area, and for an online resource centre for women whose employment had been interrupted due to reasons such as family or childcare responsibilities.

The winner from Omanwas an initiative by the National Association for Cancer Awareness to introduce Mobile Mammography Units (MMU) as an alternative to hospital-based radiological facilities.