Waka Mere: Advancing Workplace Gender Equality 2017 – 2019

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A WEE Gateway Case Study, 2022

From 2017 – 2019, the IFC ran the Waka Mere programme on the Solomon Islands, which focused on advancing workplace gender equality. In partnership with 15 large local companies, several interventions were implemented throughout the 2-year period. Solomon Airlines directed their efforts to addressing gender-based violence (GBV).

Scaling the Financial Inclusion Pyramid in Egypt 2018 – 2020

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A WEE Gateway Case Study, 2022

AWEF undertook a financial sector mapping to identify the constraints to women’s access to, and use of, financial services while harnessing the power of digital financial services to drive female financial inclusion and economic empowerment.

By making financial services more widely available and lowering costs and barriers to access finance, financial technology (fintech) can democratise financial services to the masses.

Regional Economic Empowerment of Women Project, Lebanon 2010 – 2014

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A WEE Gateway Case Study, 2022

The Regional Economic Empowerment of Women Project (REEWP) focused on promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment through value chain promotion in Jordan, Lebanon, The Palestinian Territories and Tunisia. It was part of EconoWin – a regional GIZ programme improving the conditions for economic integration of women. REEWP has developed and implemented a unique participatory and gender-sensitive value chain approach, which contributed significantly to the project’s success in empowering women to work in higher echelons of value chains.

Alliances Programme Georgia 2008 – 2021

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A WEE Gateway Case Study, 2022

The Alliances Programme is one of the very first interventions that has taken conscious efforts to mainstream gender and focus on women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in a market development programme. There are several key lessons we can learn from the way this programme applied a gender lens throughout their project lifecycle.

Feminist Perspectives on Care Work in the MENA Region – Gender at Work (2020)

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Gender at Work, 2020 – 18 pages

This report provides feminist perspectives on care work in the MENA region because there is a dearth of credible studies and statistics on this topic. Feminist activists and scholars concur that the care economy is vital to the well-being and livelihoods of communities in the Arab region, especially where these communities encounter challenges in securing their livelihoods. Care work – essentially the care of others, whether paid or unpaid – is non-transferable, undervalued, poorly recognised and forever constituting a barrier to women’s and girls’ advancement. The report argues there is a serious need to assess the value of care work within the region as a tool for evidence-based advocacy. It also deems it crucial to incorporate an intersectional framework into any analysis of care work. Finally, it states that economic dynamics must come into play in any care work arrangements.

Private Equity and Value Creation: A fund manager’s guide to gender-smart investing – IFC & CDC (2020)

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IFC & CDC, 2020 – 109 pages

Given the business case for gender-smart investing is well established, and the fact that women around the globe have been impacted more severely by the pandemic, it is more important than ever for private investors, including private equity funds, to direct capital towards solutions that drive gender equality. While the opportunity is promising, more clarity and guidance is needed by investors to understand and put into practice gender-smart investing. The objective of this Guide is to answer two questions identified by Fund Managers as the most critical for further clarification:

  • How can Fund Managers drive the adoption of gender-smart solutions across their firm, including moving investment teams towards gender balance?
  • How can Fund Managers apply gender-smart approaches to their investment operations; including during origination, due diligence, investment analysis and decision-making, deal structuring and negotiations, portfolio management and reporting, and exit?

Gender-lens Investments Enable Women Entrepreneurs to Thrive in Pakistan – IFC (2020)

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IFC, 2020 – 8 pages

In 2019, IFC invested $2 million into Sarmayacar, supporting start-ups in Pakistan through one of the first Venture Capital funds in the country. Additional Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) funding was specifically leveraged to support Sarmayacar to invest with a gender lens. This partnership aims to demonstrate the viability of investments in women-led tech start-ups in Pakistan. We-Fi has enabled the de-risking of entrepreneurial financing for women entrepreneurs and Sarmayacar benefits from this increased support by being able to access a larger investment-ready pipeline of women-led opportunities. IFC’s and We-Fi’s support to Sarmayacar led to the development of a strategy using the principles of gender-lens investing, including the adoption of gender-related goals to actively source and develop investments in women-led companies. At its inception in 2018, Sarmayacar’s pipeline of women-owned companies was less than 10%. In 2020, the fund’s pipeline has increased to 42%.

Moving Toward Gender Balance in Private Equity and Venture Capital – IFC (2019)

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IFC, 2019 – 137 pages

Our research examines gender balance—defined as leadership teams with at least 30% of men and women—in private equity and venture capital funds and the companies they invest in within emerging markets. We explore the relationship between gender balance and fund performance, and the roles that general partners, the vehicles investing private equity and venture capital funds, and limited partners, the source of capital, can play in alleviating gender gaps in investment funds and their portfolio companies. We find that the gender gaps in the representation of women as allocators and recipients of capital put access to financing at risk for female entrepreneurs and may reduce investment returns for funds. This report answers three questions:

  • How gender-balanced are leadership teams of General Partners, which allocate capital, and of portfolio companies, which receive investments?
  • Are there benefits of moving leadership teams toward gender balance within General Partners and portfolio companies?
  • What can General Partners do to move toward gender balance in their leadership teams and those of the portfolio companies they invest in?