IFC and Gender
AT A GLANCE Expanding opportunities for women is smart for economies—countries that do not fully capitalize on one-half of their human capital run the risk of undermining their competitive potential. Recognizing the important contribution women’s entrepreneurship makes to economic growth, IFC is committed to creating opportunities for women entrepreneurs to realize their economic potential, as a part of its mission to foster sustainable private sector growth in developing countries. IFC’s experience shows that banking on women entrepreneurs is profitable as women entrepreneurs have excellent repayment rates, are good savers, and contribute positively to their community’s wellbeing. IFC’s Gender Program was established in 2004 to mainstream gender issues into IFC’s work, while leveraging the untapped potential of women as well as men in emerging markets. IFC provides financial products and Advisory Services to: o Increase access to financial services for women entrepreneurs o Reduce gender-based barriers in the business environment and investment climate o Improve the sustainability of IFC investment projects
ACCESS TO FINANCE IFC has expanded access to credit for women-owned small and medium enterprises by collaborating with financial institutions to enhance the delivery of financial services and business support to women entrepreneurs. IFC has directly contributed over $50 million through commercial institutions for loans and Advisory Services to women entrepreneurs. Through women-targeted interventions, 1,300 loans were disbursed to women entrepreneurs and 1,900 women entrepreneurs were trained. The program is also planning to bring a gender perspective to other IFC access-to-finance products, such as leasing and credit bureaus.
INVESTMENT CLIMATE To support legal, regulatory, and policy reforms that foster women’s entrepreneurship, IFC’s Gender Program finalized a practitioners’ guide—Gender Dimensions of Investment Climate Reform: A Guide for Policy Makers and Practitioners—following an extensive review process that included the donor community. The guide highlights the economic rationale for gender inclusion in legal and economic policies and provides step-by-step guidance on integrating gender issues into the investment climate reform agenda including: o Business start up and operation o Business taxation o Trade logistics o Special economic zones o Alternative dispute resolution o Investment policy and promotion o Secured lending o Public-private dialogue
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IFC’s Gender Program introduced specific gender reform indicators to the monitoring and evaluation framework of its investment-climate business line, signaling the importance of removing genderspecific barriers in the investment climate to further promote women’s participation in the private sector. IFC also supports the inclusion of gender issues in the private sector policies of governments in Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific region. Specific countries include Ghana, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, Solomon Islands Tonga, Tanzania, Timor Leste Tunisia, Uganda, and Vanuatu.
SUSTAINABILITY IFC and the Global Reporting Initiative have partnered to develop a resource document, titled Embedding Gender in Sustainability Reporting, that will be launched in the Fall of 2009. The document brings a gender perspective not just to governance and workplace issues that are typically associated with sustainability reports, but also to issues in the supply chain, the local community, consumers, and investors. The resource guide will inform organizations’ sustainability reports and a number of new gender indicators will be considered in the next version of the GRI’s Core Reporting Framework.
Updated August 2009 Media contact: Katia Theriault, E-mail: ktheriault@ifc.org, Phone: (202) 458-9704, Cell: (202) 203-8223
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