Unlocking capital with a gender lens for a better tomorrow – new Training Programme online now!

The International Day of Banks is celebrated globally every 4 December to highlight the benefits of financial inclusion. 69% of women are still unserved or underserved by financial institutions, although recent data shows that when women are in financial control, they spend 90% of their earned income for the well-being of their families. As a result, it is estimated that if women were employed at the same rate, in the same roles, with the same pay as men, the global economy could increase from $12 billion to $28 billion by 2025. The benefits do not end here: gender diversity in workplaces supports the retainment of talent and employee motivation, and fosters creativity and stronger financial performance. Making finance work for women and investing in women can thus be seen as the silver bullet to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Recognizing this potential, an organizational task force on Gender Lens Investing was formed within UNIDO, consisting of the Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) Germany, the Gender Office, the Private Financing and Advisory Network (PFAN) and the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) to develop a “Gender Lens Investing (GLI) Training Programme”, self-paced and free of charge. Over six modules the online course introduces the tools needed to deliberately integrate gender analysis into investment projects to harness women’s full potential as leaders, innovators and agents of industrial and environmental change, and to create products that respond to the needs of both men and women.

After each module, UNIDO will award a certificate of completion to course participants. Module 1 (out of 6) is already available on the UNIDO Learning Page and pre-registration for Module 2-6 is possible here.

Ensuring that global investors and purpose-driven entrepreneurs apply a gender lens approach means helping to change the landscape of today’s economy.

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