Donor Agencies’ role in mobilizing private capital to advance gender equality goals

In recent years, donor governments have increasingly begun to use innovative finance approaches to mobilize private capital to complement public funding and fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) funding gap. Simultaneously, many donor agencies are now setting gender equality as a strategic priority and demanding clear targets and impact for the empowerment of women and girls, but there also is a lack of clearly stated connections between the processes and goals of gender lens investing and development approaches and programming.

A new publication by the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) aims to bridge this gender and finance expertise by presenting  possible roles and approaches for donor agencies that want to engage in Gender Lens Investing (GLI). It includes an annotated bibliography of helpful resources in GLI, and a consideration of how to think about gendered power dynamics in financial processes.

As an active member of the DCED Women’s Economic Empowerment Group, UNIDO contributed to the publication, building on ongoing conversations and interviews across the field of GLI with many fund managers, gender experts, civil society organizations, and donor agencies. In line with the publication’s recommendation calling for more gap-bridging efforts, UNIDO’s Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) Germany in collaboration with the UNIDO’s Gender Office, the Private Financing and Advisory Network (PFAN) and the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP), is currently finalizing a 6-module online course on Gender Lens Investing to be launched this spring 2022, enhancing clarity and mutual understanding of terms and approaches used in both gender and finance expertise.

Access the publication here.

For further information contact Jessica Neumann (J.Neumann [at] unido.org (J[dot]Neumann[at]unido[dot]org))